S.P.E.C.T.O.R – [A Sci-fi space adventure with fantasy elements]

“The only proper controls you need to care about are the ones that change the seat position,” Rowena said as she pressed one of them, causing Adam’s seat to recline, before pressing another and causing it to return to its normal position.

“And this one that activates and deactivates the restraints,” Rowena said as she pressed another button, causing parts of the chair to expand around Adam’s shoulders, ribs and thighs, making it so that he couldn’t move those sections of his body very much.

“Why do you need to be fastened in so securely? If the elevator goes that fast, shouldn’t it achieve weightlessness?” Adam asked.

“Sure, if they turn off the artificial gravity, you could gain a couple of minutes of weightlessness, but what happens when they apply the brakes?” The inertia sends you straight into the bulkhead at a rapid speed, making you go splat.”

[Superhearofangirl (Earth): Damn, that’s kind of nasty.]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Well, the Orbital elevator pod is moving so fast that they have to slam the brakes on to make sure it stops in time. The artificial gravity removes the inertia the passengers feel when the brakes are applied. Diva Rowena is still correct in saying that if they turned off the artificial gravity, most people would die from impacting the bulkheads the instant the brakes were applied.]

“Looks like we will depart in just over a minute,” Rowena said as she looked up at a digital display over the entry door that was counting down and currently read:

[Departure: 01:13]

After speaking, Rowena focused on making herself comfortable in her own chair before pressing the button to activate the chair’s restraints and reclining feature.

A little over a minute later, Adam felt the pod shudder slightly as it started its descent towards the planet and the digital display changed to read:

[Arrival: 02:36]

[Justiceistruth (Earth): two and a half minutes. 😮]

[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Damn, that’s fast.]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): It’s probably because of the accelerated speed the pod is descending at, if we assume that Solarian Prime is the same size as Earth. It would take the ISS about 5 minutes to fall to Earth.]

[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): What’s the ISS?]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): The International Space Station. It’s the space station we saw on the stream when the streamer left Earth.]

[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): Ohhhh, that thing.]

“Since we have some time, I wanted to ask you something that’s been bugging me since we spoke about your marriages earlier,” Adam stated as he turned to Rowena.

“What’s up?” Rowena asked calmly as she relaxed with her eyes closed.

“Am I right in thinking that the long-lived races tend to take mates instead of getting married? I’m confused because you always talk about your ‘husbands’ yet when we were talking before about life-mates, you spoke about taking mates instead of getting married.”

“I see,” Rowena replied as she opened her eyes and turned to look at Adam before explaining.

“You are correct in general; however, it’s down to the pair in question which route they take. The finite races get married because they expect to spend the rest of their lives with that one individual, though that doesn’t always come to pass and many end up divorcing each other. 

The long-lived races, on the other hand, understand that it is very rare for two fellow long-lived partners to stay together for the rest of their lives, since they can live forever unless killed. Over time, feelings of love, lust and all that fade, and they can eventually grow tired of each other and end up separating and finding new partners.

Because of this, they see no point in getting married, though of course, if two individuals are serious enough, they can always enact the life-mate ritual.”

“So how come you married Philip?” Adam asked curiously.

“I respected the customs of his race as I have done for all my previous husbands. Even though they were mostly from long-lived races, and we weren’t married, I call them all my past husbands for simplicity’s sake when talking about them with others like yourself.”

“How many times have you been married?” Adam asked curiously.

“Seven times, two were with finite races whom I did indeed marry; the other five were with long-lived races.” 

“And they were all men?”

“They were. I’m not really into women. I might occasionally kiss a friend playfully when we have been drinking, but I am not romantically attracted to them like Stacey or Aphrodite.”

“I guess that’s why you have been able to resist Aphrodite’s charms for so long.”

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Damn it. 😞]

“It certainly helped, though it definitely wasn’t easy, especially when I was younger,” Rowena replied with a sigh before adding, “Her pheromones affect everyone, whether you’re into women or not. It’s only because I have built up such self-control over my life that I was able to resist her.”

“So why have you only had twelve children?” Adam asked.

[CEOHopkins (Earth): So I’m not the only one curious about this.]

“What do you mean by ‘only’? I’m proud of having had twelve children, thank you very much,” Rowena retorted with an angry look that said that if the seat did not secure her shoulders in place, she would have crossed them angrily.

“Well, considering your age, I just expected you to have many more, considering how you appear to love children,” Adam replied before adding thoughtfully, “unless of course you didn’t get with your first husband until quite late.”

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): Oh boy, I don’t think this will end well.]

“Are you trying to insult me, or do you seriously not know?” Rowena asked as she gave Adam a sideways look.

“Insult you? Know what?” Adam asked in confusion.

“About the birthrates of the long-lived races.”

“Why would I know something like that? I haven’t been in the universe very long, and I’m not dating one of the long-lived races.”

Rowena studied Adam for a few moments before sighing and saying, “Fine. The long-lived races naturally have a lower fertility rate compared to the finite races.”

“Seriously? Why?” Adam asked in surprise.

[CEOHopkins (Earth): Now it makes sense.]

“We don’t have a definitive answer for this, just a speculation that when the progenitors made the first of our kind, the universe intervened and made it so. Because we long-lived races can theoretically live forever, we could easily overpopulate the universe if we kept breeding like Rabitousers, who, for reference, seem to have the highest fertility rate of any race in the universe but also coincidentally have far shorter life-spans.”

“I see. I’m sorry. I meant no offence,” Adam said apologetically.

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t have snapped since you are indeed new to the universe,” Rowena replied before adding, “You should know that my having twelve children at my age is actually an impressive feat.

[Superhearofangirl (Earth): An impressive feat? Is it really that hard for the long-lived races to have children?]

[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): 😮‍💨It is. My husband and I have been trying for our first child for over 700 years now.]

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): 😱]

[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): I guess they don’t need to worry about protection. Kekeke.]

[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Dude, really not the time.]

“I see. Are all your children and grandchildren still alive?” Adam asked in a gentle tone.

“No need to use that tone with me. “I already forgave you for your earlier remark since you didn’t mean any harm,” Rowena replied, waving her hand as best she could since her shoulders were still restrained before she continued. “To answer your question, no. Of my children, only Stacey’s father, James, and two of his elder siblings are still alive. His elder siblings are the union of me and another member of a long-lived race.”

“Ignoring James for a while,” Adam said as a dark look appeared in his eyes at the mention of the man before he asked, “What races were the fathers of your other two surviving children?” 

“My, we are interested in knowing more about me, aren’t we?” Rowena remarked with a beatific smile.

“Well, I am dating Stacey, so even if we aren’t now, we will probably be family in the future.”

[OfficialLorelie (Felinia 7): Family, huh? 😏]

[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): 🫣]

“Wow, I didn’t know it was that serious, and here I thought it was just about the sex,” Rowena teased, causing Adam to roll his eyes.

Rowena smiled at his response before saying, “My oldest is called Seren. She is a pure Brood since her father was also Brood and my first mate or husband.

The other is called Tires. He is half-Deverinian and my fourth child from my fourth husband.” 

“So you had eight children from your remaining three husbands?” Adam asked in surprise.

“I only had James with Philip, so that leaves seven with my other two husbands, the first gave me four children and the second gave me three,” Rowena replied before winking as she added, “I wanted to make up for what I couldn’t have before.” 

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Yeah, right? I bet she just loved the sex and kept getting knocked up.]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): Jealous much? 😏]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Shut up. It’s not like you have any kids.]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): That’s because I haven’t been trying to have them as I have been working on building my business.]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Your mate must be lonely at home; how about I go keep him company? 😏]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): …]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): What’s this? No whitey response? 😏]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): He probably already has company right now, so there is no reason for you to offer.]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): Few people do. Rowena does, since she is such a close friend and I needed to talk to someone about it in the past, but other than that, I have kept it quiet.]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Perhaps revealing it in a stream filled with viewers was not the best choice.]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): Honestly, after seeing how happy Rowena has been in this stream with Adam, I’m done trying to hide it. I only did it initially so that Erkath Fashion’s reputation would not be not severely affected once the news broke; however, now that Rowena is part-owner and we have the new Earth Fashion line ready to release in a few days, the impact won’t be so bad.]

[CEOHopkins (Earth): Still Erkath. Your husband is cheating on you, and that’s just not right. You should have left him long ago, since having you, the owner, being affected by this could damage your company far worse than if the news got out.]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): I know what you’re saying, Emma, but you don’t understand how relationships for us long-lived races work. Rowena already touched on it before when she said that over time we can grow bored with each other and that is what has happened with us.]