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  The next morning, she grabbed her bag with her court costume and one gown and slung it over her shoulder.

  She turned to face Meiron as he finished getting dressed.

  He stared at her. “Where did you get that outfit?”

  She looked down at the leggings and the open-front dress fastened by a corset. “It is one of the new designs that the ladies asked me to get in. Gowns are nice, but having leggings is more practical for attending to the guests.”

  “I don’t know if I am a fan of that or not.”

  She grinned. “It will make it easier to travel.”

  He sighed. “But so much less fun.”

  He took her bag from her and wrapped an arm around her waist as they left the manor for the short trip to the airfield and the hangar containing the skimmer.

  The local skimmers were only available to the ministers of the Kloa government for this kind of thing, direct travel for business was the only way to get a skimmer flying.

  They walked to the skimmer, and to her surprise, Meiron settled into the pilot’s seat.

  “You can fly?”

  “I can pilot a skimmer, yes.” He chuckled.

  She sighed and wadded her bag into a storage compartment. She settled next to him and strapped in.

  The ceiling of the hangar slid back, and they took off.

  Their conversation was oddly work related, but she enjoyed it. When they arrived, the staff greeted them with the same graceful charm that Bella had experienced at home with Yimra.

  When she had that realization, she looked around to see if anyone else had noticed her personal shock. She thought of the other manor as home. It had taken less than a week and she was already attaching the thought of home to living with Meiron.

  Liosha smiled softly at her. “You were a thousand miles away.”

  “I just had a realization. Now, what do you think this club needs to provide you to make you happy?”

  They were sitting in the staff dining room, and Bella did what she did best, she took notes and she listened.

  She was called to Meiron’s office in the afternoon, and he was all business for once.

  “We need to do a quick tour to the other clubs.”

  Bella nodded. “Right. When?”

  “This afternoon we will leave and head to the next property, and we should have completed our travels in three days.”

  “Oh, good. The folks here seem to have the same concerns that they do at home.”

  He gave her a slow smile. “Home?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Yes, I think of it as home. Now, what do we need to get done here before we move along?”

  “Have you met most of the staff?”

  “I have.”

  “Then, we are good. We can move on.” He got up and escorted her to the door.

  To her surprise, he was serious. They took their leave of Liosha and the rest of the staff at the Face-to-Face Club.

  The third visit finally gave her the answer she was looking for. As long as they were on business, the order to return her to the capitol could not be put into effect.

  “When were you going to tell me?” She was rubbing her forehead.

  “Right before we landed at home. I arranged the registrar to make his way to the manor, and we will be arriving within a few hours of him. He will meet us at the airfield.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “So that is the reason for this tour?”

  He shrugged. “More or less.”

  “Wouldn’t we have been better off to remain there and just get a local registrar?”

  “They were under orders not to do it. We had to travel and make it look normal.” He grimaced.

  Bella sighed. “Why don’t we just get registered here?”

  Meiron blinked. “Here?”

  “Sure. We can still do it when we get back to the manor, but if you want to remain a couple, steps need to be taken.”

  He nodded grimly. “Right. Give me a moment.”

  Meiron made a call, and she stood with her hands folded in front of her and her summer-weight gown floating idly in the breeze coming through the open windows.

  An hour later, she was standing next to Meiron and their blood was being registered as they formalized their vows.

  Crossing the universe for a green-card marriage had not been what Bella had in mind, but as she looked into Meiron’s eyes, she suspected that this was what her recruiter had had in mind all along.

  Epilogue

  Recruiter Norz stepped into his charging station. At the Lunar Base, Minerva Twill rubbed her forehead and prepared to animate another one of the dolls somewhere in the world.

  A group of Ontex had volunteered to help with recruitment, but the human race was still petrified of aliens on their planet. A projected consciousness was the best option, but Ontex were not skilled at it. Minerva had volunteered to help with the project, leaving her Citadel and splitting her mind into different segments that could run the dolls. If one was killed or injured, they could simply activate another.

  She was Recruiter Norz every three hours, all around the globe. The Tival who guarded her only knew that whatever animated her body could also detect talents.

  To be so close to her home, to her family, was stressful. Her sisters were now twenty-two, twenty-six and twenty-nine. She wanted to know where they were and how they were doing, but she wasn’t even allowed that much.

  Eight years since she went up in the first wave, and now, she could see her home every time she looked at the view screen. Minny had to settle for being close to home, because home was forbidden to those from the first wave.

  She sighed. She just wanted to see her family one more time before the baby was due.

  Minny ran her hand over her belly and whispered, “You have aunties living on that world, and you are going to be the first citizen of the moon. Isn’t that exciting?”

  The kicks she got in response proved that she was right. It was definitely exciting.

  Author’s Note

  I have always had Norz being played by a human running an Ontex suit. Minerva will feature in a future book, I just don’t know where.

  Object was the side effect of me writing when my mind was a thousand other places. Summer is coming and I just want to go out and feel air and sun and snacks.

  Thanks for reading,

  Viola Grace

  http://www.violagrace.com

  [email protected]

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.