Rowan heard a voice in the darkness. It called to him, "Sweetheart, it's time to wake up." Then came a pinprick of light in the void. That dot swelled and brightened until it encompassed his entire field of view. His ears started to catch the sounds of seabirds and waves riding up onto a sandy beach.
The light faded and he grew to sense his own body. Feet, legs, chest, arms, neck, and finally the eyes. He willed them to open. They fluttered and then he saw Paige looking down at him. She was wearing a white sun dress and the brightest smile.
"Paige, your bruises, they're completely healed." He put his hand to his throat, noticing slight differences from his usual tone. "Where am I? Did I die? How long have I been out?"
Paige smiled and answered. "You've been asleep for a week. Your heart stopped, but I made sure your brain never lost activity. I had to make your death as realistic as possible to the admiral. Otherwise he would have come for you."
"You killed me in front of the admiral?"
"Yes, and I threatened to destroy any republic forces attempting to come to the station. I declared independence!" She gripped his hand. "Isn't that nice?!"
"Where am I?" He looked around to see a bedroom that seemed like it came out of a vacation magazine. A wide white bed stood atop a white tiled floor. Easing himself up he saw full length windows providing a view of the sea.
"You're on Avior 7 Rowan, with me."
He shook his head and muttered, "Paradise." He slipped out of bed and stood up. Turning to his lover, he hugged Dicia Paige for a long time before noticing something was off. He pushed her away gently and put a hand to his abdomen.
"A six pack? I have a sixpack now?" He ran to a mirror in the bedroom and pulled off his shirt. Rowan found he no longer had the pudgy body he worked hard to get rid of. Instead, he had the muscular physique of a swimmer, toned but not bulky. He looked at his hands and then turned to Paige.
"This isn't my body is it?"
"Sweetheard, I'm several hundred years old, and I intend to live for hundreds more. The creatures who inhabit the station, who inhabit me, have so many stories to tell. But I fell in love with the one human who slipped onto me in a smugglers blockade runner. Your body wouldn't last nearly as long as I would like. I just needed your brain, I can make that last a whole lot longer."
Rowan pressed his fingers into his face and body. "I'm a cyborg now. So now I'm going to live a lot longer huh?"
She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Yes! Isn't that wonderful? You and I will get to spend the rest of our lives living in this paradise!"
Something caught in Rowan's throat as he tried to speak. "It's over. It's all over. But isn't Avior 7 protected by treaty?"
"And who's going to stop me from keeping you here? I've put the station in geostationary orbit over where we live now. No one will be able to get to you with me protecting you. Plus they think you're dead. No one's going to care about a few newly constructed buildings on an archipelago."
Rowan grabbed her hand and walked to the sliding glass door and stepped onto the balcony of the beach bungalow. He put his hand over his mouth and closed his eyes. He was here, he had arrived. The pain and weariness that he had acquired over the years of work back home and on the station felt like they were draining from him.
He turned to Paige, hugged her. While he hugged her he said, "Paige now that I know more of the truth. I want you to know that I love you, and that I will love you forever. You never have to worry about me. Whatever ground rules you set I'm fine with. So long as I have you, I'll be truly happy."
"Oh sweetheart. I know these centuries will be bliss."
"I cannot judge you, and I fully accept your past, no matter what. Please believe me. I'm fully yours, but I do have some questions."
Rowan could see the wariness and the relief of acceptance in her eyes. "Fine, go ahead, ask away."
"This body, Paige." He pointed at her. "It never set foot in the control section did it?"
She turned away and held onto the railing. "We had spoken for two years. I wanted to see you so badly. I wanted to actually feel what it was like to touch the man I loved. So I carefully constructed an extension of myself and skinned it in one of the cyborg repair facilities of the human section. I had everything set to fake my arrival on the next shuttle to the station, but the graxlians had to eviscerate Connor. And then that fox girl had to throw herself at you. I had to accelerate my plans. I couldn't let Carmen and Indigo have you all to themselves. I wouldn't allow it."
"The escape pod, the explosion…"
"All faked. Rowan, you were so brave. Please forgive me."
"There's nothing to apologize for. I can never know what it's like to be an advanced AI stuck running a space station for hundreds of years with no one to talk to. The way the republic left you all alone. Well, let's just say I understand." He cupped her cheek and kissed her lips. "So what do you want to be called? Dicia or Paige?"
"Paige! A million times Paige! I hate the name Dicia!" She kissed him back several times. "Come on, I bet you want some breakfast." She pulled him by the hand out of the bedroom and to the kitchen.
Rowan could only eat about half of the bacon and eggs Paige had served him. It seemed like his cyborg digestive system told him exactly how much he should be eating. He patted his stomach and took a swig of coffee. He looked at Paige who was resting her chin on her hands and stared at every move he made while he ate.
"So, how did you like it?"
"It was delicious. I take it we'll be getting shipments from the station?"
"Yep!"
"Eventually I would like to see if I could grow some food down here. Like a little garden. I bet the veggies would taste better with real sun and air."
"I can't wait for you to cook me dinner with food you've grown and caught. Rowan, what's wrong?" She looked concernedly at him.
"I'm so dumb. What about Carmen, Indigo, and the rest? Even Stefan? Are they alright?"
She put her hands on his. "They're all fine. Lora and Indigo got a little banged up in the fighting, but nothing serious and they're better now."
He gave a wan smile. "I'm glad that they're safe."
Paige sighed, "I knew you'd be sad."
Rowan put up his hands. "No! I accept the situation. I'm happy, I really am."
"Shut up for a minute sweetheart and listen. I wasn't born yesterday and I know how long term isolation can affect someone's sanity. Even with me around you all the time you'll eventually get bored. Also the girls are my main source of income after docking fees. I need various supplies to keep me in working order so I need that cash. After they heard I plucked your brain out and put it in a cyborg body, they were a little ticked off."
"They went on strike, didn't they."
"What can I say? Aliens like earth girls and I needed them. They had me over a barrel."
"So what happened?"
"We came to an agreement."
Rowan started to hear the whine of a shuttlecraft touching down somewhere near.
"Ah, right on time." She trotted to the door. "Come on sweetheart! Don't keep them waiting!"
Rowan followed Paige out the entrance of the bungalow and down a stone path lined with palm trees. Maintenance robots were putting the finishing touches to the compound, including a twenty foot tall electric fence. At a landing pad, he saw a shuttlecraft powering down its engines.
The hatch of the craft hissed open and inside two figures came out. One had the ears and tail of a fox, and the other had pink hair and was running full-bore at him.
"Darling!" Carmen screamed holding an inflatable ring and wearing the skimpiest bikini he ever saw. He was amazed it still clung to her. She did one of her flying leaps, but now with his new body he was able to catch Carmen. Rowan had to wait for Carmen to stop kissing him before he could say a word. She hopped off him and gave him a look up and down.
"Rowan, is that really you?"
Indigo gave him a hug. "Yeah Teddybear, what happened to your cute belly? I'm going to miss that."
"Yes Carmen, my mind is right up here. I just got a new chassis. Paige, is this part of the deal?"
Paige grimaced. "Yes, I've let Indigo and the cyborgs visit you on their vacation days. So like once a month."
Carmen pinched him. "But I get to see you more often than that, I get to see you every weekend. Isn't that nice? Also, don't forget about the boy upstairs Paige, you promised."
Rowan raised his eyebrow and said, "What's that Paige?"
"The last term for their work agreement was that you would help them part time. The schedule is flexible. But they're right, it will help revenue. There's such a big backlog now that the station's back to normal."
"The aliens want their cuck back, those bunch of pervs." Carmen muttered.
Paige grabbed his hand. "Logan's still up there Rowan. Would you mind terribly if you took control of him and did one day of work a week?"
"But I thought I was done?"
Paige and Carmen got on their knees and begged. "Please!"
"Girls, do I have a choice?"
Both of them bit their lips and shook their heads.
Rowan slumped. "Fine, I can do it one day a week. But that's it!"
…
That night Rowan lay in bed with his best three girls, with Paige and Carmen in his arms. Indigo was curled up in a fetal position by his feet. The marathon session of lovemaking had finally made his new body weary. He was just about to dose off when in his mind's eye he got a message.
…Logan is being prodded awake by Lora and Siren, will you answer?...
"Why do I feel like I'm going to be busier than ever?" He selected yes.
THE END