After nothing but theory and problem sets for so long, Brad was enjoying working with his hands again. It wasn't like being back on the boat at all. He saw the sun every day and went to sleep next to Reka every night. All things considered, it was the best summer he'd ever had. He was getting laid and getting paid. Who could ask for more?
They weren't even at the "building the machines that make the machines" stage yet. What they were working on was more like infrastructure: pipes, valves, ducts, and so on. Whatever was supposed to go on here would involve managing a lot of water, air, and heat, that was for sure. There was another crew doing electrical but they didn't talk much. Brad's team was the cool guy team, a real bunch of bros.
It was actually pretty amazing what the government could do when they really decided to make something happen, rather than fund some project that was never supposed to be completed so they could skim off the top indefinitely. Dozens of prefabricated buildings had already been assembled on site, and armies of workers were throwing up more permanent structures every day. This "research park" was more like a city that had been built from scratch, seemingly overnight. The place had everything a city was supposed to have. There were restaurants, a laundromat, two bars, even a movie theater. Most of the workers were commuters like him who came everyday on shuttles from the city, but some people actually lived here full time in what looked like a giant barracks that was already there when he showed up. Maybe it was an old abandoned Army base from World War Two?
They called the place Stardust City.
"Stardust City, what a joke," Alex said cynically while tapping his clipboard.
There was a big master plan, a layout for the whole system to support the planned reactor complex. Alex Kagan had access to it; common wrench-turners and pipe-hitters like Brad did not.
"Whaddya mean a joke?" Brad asked, grunting with exertion as he humped a sack of gravel to the collection point.
"I mean it's a joke," Alex repeated. "This will never work. We're building all this stuff for nothing. Fusion is complex, Brad. There's a reason we haven't figured it out yet. No amount of money will help."
Alex wasn't such a bad guy once you got to know him. While Brad and his crew were working he was there to point and gesture and tell them what went where, but he wasn't like those tyrannical Chief Petty Officers he remembered from the service. Alex treated his work crew like humans, not drill bits to be used hard and tossed out once they wore down. Reka hated him though. The first time he tried to invite Alex to eat lunch with them she gave him a look that he never wanted to see again. Brad couldn't exactly avoid Alex, either. He was the supervisor for Brad's whole team.
"A lot of smart people said this could work, Alex," Brad argued back, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
"A lot of smart people lied to the government and convinced them to spend a trillion dollars on bullshit," Alex ranted. "Politicians aren't smart at the best of times, and they'll believe anything as long as a suit with 'doctor' in front of their name tells them it's true."
Brad couldn't really argue with that one. "But it's a paycheck, right?"
Alex nodded. "It's a paycheck."
They shared a moment in companionable silence. "Say," Alex began.
"Yeah?" Brad answered.
"How'd you and Reka get together anyway?"
God, that was a hard question to answer.
"Well," Brad stalled, trying to think of something that made sense and wouldn't make Reka seem crazy.
"Come on man, cut the bullshit. We've been out here working together for a month and I still feel like I barely know you. How'd a guy like you end up with a woman like her?"
Brad should have felt insulted, but he understood exactly what Alex meant. Getting with Reka was a god damn miracle as far as he was concerned. What did she see in him anyway? A thought struck him.
"She's a European," Brad offered.
Alex was incredulous. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know, man," he gestured vaguely with his hands. "These European supermodel types always have ugly boyfriends. It's like they're so hot they don't care. They want to be the 'good-looking one' in the relationship. Loyalty is more important to them."
"And that's what you are, loyal?" Alex pressed.
Brad snorted. Buddy, you have no idea. I'm her willing slave. "Wouldn't you be? I'm not fumbling this bag, bro."
"I don't know," Alex didn't seem convinced. "Haven't you seen how other girls look at you now? They're all wondering what you have that let you pull someone like Reka."
"Let them wonder," Brad dismissed the idea out of hand. "We're never apart, you know? Except when I'm actually in class or working out here with you, we're joined at the hip."
"Yeah, I noticed," Alex said quietly. "She kisses you goodbye every single time, even if you're just going to the bathroom or something. That's not normal man."
"Reka likes her routines," Brad defended her. "She's really formal and old-fashioned, acts like we're already married, and pretty much focuses on our relationship twenty four/seven. You know, I don't think she has any other friends. We really do spend all our time together. Nobody ever texts or calls. She doesn't have social media. My current theory is she grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She's seriously strong and doesn't understand how a lot of things work."
He paused for breath. Maybe he volunteered a little too much information, but he didn't want anyone thinking badly of Reka.
"So she's traditional?" Alex asked leadingly.
Brad blushed. Yes and no. "For the most part," he said, the words tumbling out of his mouth awkwardly. Alex looked like he wanted to ask more, but thought better of it.
******************
Reka's Point of View
This simply wasn't going to work.
Reka now knew enough of the deep magic, the physics of this world, to have a good grasp on what was and was not possible.
The plan wasn't bad exactly. They would take the water-making element, configured as deuterium and tritium, and bind it in a tiny crystal that the workers were calling stardust, then bombard it with neutrons. The closer the element was bound, the more the fuel would be forced together, and eventually fusion would occur. Unlimited power.
If only it were so simple.
Making the crystals was going to be a problem. To grow and cut the stardust crystals into the proper atomic structure they would need mechanical artificers of such precession, down to the picometer at least. And the engineering tradeoffs were not favorable.
A crystal tight enough to bind the fuel would not hold together well, and a crystal stable enough to hold together would not be tight enough to bind. The kings and princes funding this arcane research were in for disappointment. No amount of dickering with crystal structures could make this feasible. Unless...
Magic could make up the difference, Reka knew. She could stabilize the crystal, but not as she was now.
The funny thing was she really had very little need for magic these days. Her mind had caught up to the old Reka's knowledge, and Brad was always there to help her with situations she didn't understand. It'd been several months since she needed to use distraction magic to extricate herself from a situation.
The problem was this world ate magic. Any spell she cast, any enchantment she might weave, would rapidly decay into nothingness in the open air. If Reka wanted to make something real, something that would last, she'd need a specially-prepared chamber with magic circles drawn on the walls. The magic circles would keep the magic in, prevent it from dispersing, and then it could be used.
She wrinkled her nose and sighed. No, that wouldn't work either.
Such a magic conservation room would have to be charged every day for months until she had enough to stabilize even one crystal. Her poor boyfriend was already providing her all the seed he could! She drained him every night and he never complained once. The thought of using another man's seed to speed up the process made her gag involuntarily.
The other engineers looked at her like she was mad. If you knew what a disgusting thing just entered my mind you would retch as well, my fellows.
Blood then? Perhaps not from a man but from an animal? She knew the life magic department had a lot of lab rats. It would be terribly dirty work, perhaps requiring hundreds of rats a day to fully charge her magic room.
Hmmm, if not a room, why not a box?
The notion made immediate sense. The stardust crystals would be tiny. A box would serve, a small box with magic circles drawn on the inside, a box just large enough to kill and drain a rat within.
Still, this would not be the work of a day or even a month. Magic circles were delicate, precise things, and she was out of practice. Magic circles that created impenetrable barriers were the most complex of all.
She sighed. Reka knew what she would be doing for the next year. The day was almost spent, and she thought of returning to Brad's embrace. That awful warlock had schemed to be placed in charge of Brad's party, but she was watching, ever wary. The second Alex Kagan stepped out of line he'd regret the day he was born.
Her bond with Brad was stronger now. After absorbing so much of his seed she could sense him when he was near and her heart fluttered.
"My love!" she cried in happiness, rushing to embrace him. Reka cared nothing for propriety and pulled him into a deep kiss.
There was sweat on his upper lip. It tasted of love and joy and devotion and submission and...
Oh.
This was bad. She could taste his feelings in his bodily fluids now. Every kiss was like a narcotic. She needed him, but there were all these people around. Reka didn't fully understand this world, but not making love in public was one of the basics.
She breathed in deeply and tried to steady herself.
"Let's...let's go on the bus, my love," she said, shaking like a leaf.
"Okay, Reka, whatever you say," Brad agreed.
She grit her teeth. Brad's obedience was not making this easy! She guided him to the back seat and tried to position him at an angle where what they were doing would not be visible.
Once the shuttle started moving she leaned over and whispered in his ear, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice. "Brad, I need you, rightnow, pull out your member discreetly."
Brad looked confused for a moment, but still did what she asked. "Reka, what..."
"Hush!" she commanded. "You know how you hold back your seed to prolong our pleasure when we make love? Don't do that today. I need you now!" Then she bent down and took him in her mouth.
After a few months of trial and error Reka felt she was quite good at pleasing her boyfriend with her mouth. She would tease him and look up into his eyes and gradually build him up to a huge release. There was no such artistry here. Her mouth worked as furiously as their first encounter.
She could hear him breathing heavier, trying to stifle his moans. She could feel his heartbeat in his cock. She bobbed faster.
Brad's hips started bucking into her mouth. His member swelled slightly and pulsed against her lips, the telltale signs of his impending release.
Cum for me, my love!
She took him to the base, his pubic hair tickling her nose as she gulped down his seed. With every swallow she felt herself calming down by degrees.
Once Brad was spent Reka rose and tucked his member back into his pants. It didn't appear as if anyone was looking in their general direction.
That was close.
"Reka, what was that about?" Brad whispered in exasperation. "You couldn't wait until we got home?"
Reka didn't answer, instead kissing and licking the sweat on his neck while entwining his fingers with her own, savoring his feelings. They spent an hour like that, all the way home.
When they arrived at the university drop off point she physically picked him up and carried him back to their chambers at a full run.
"Reka? What are you doing? How are you this strong?"