Chapter 8

A week later

Telemachus exited the Command Deck. His shift was over, and he was on his way to his quarters when a voice stopped him.

"Rhade?" Beka came up behind him. "You wanna walk with me to the Obs Deck?"

"Certainly." Telemachus folded his hands at the small of his back and walked beside her. "Something on your mind?" he asked, seeing her bite her bottom lip.

Beka bit down a little harder, then sighed. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then closed it again.

Telemachus waited patiently, giving Beka the time to organize her thoughts.

The silence lasted until the reached the Obs Deck. Thankfully, it was empty except for Trance, who was

tending one of the plants.

Telemachus cleared his throat, and Trance looked up and smiled. "Leaving," she said, taking the hint. The gold alien paused halfway to the door and said; "Rommie, engage privacy mode."

"Acknowledged," Andromeda said, her voice coming out of nowhere and everywhere.

Trance smiled again and left, the door hissing shut behind her.

Beka leaned against the railing, facing the enormous window that gave Obs Deck its name.

Telemachus stood behind her, hands still folded at the small of his back.

Beka sighed. "Tle-," she paused. "How do you say your first name again?"

He smiled patiently. "Telemachus."

"Telemachus. I just," Beka hesitated. "I wanted to say... I'm sorry."

Telemachus frowned. "For what?"

"For almost killing you two times in a week," she replied sadly.

Telemachus shook his head, moving to stand beside her. "You don't need to apologize," he said, not looking at her, just staring straight ahead at the stars. "Well, for the first time, yes, perhaps, but the second time it wasn't you, just some... alien wearing your face.

"I don't blame you, Rebecca," he said softly, moving as if to put a hand on her arm, then hastily drawing it back. "If you ever want to talk to me, Beka, about anything, I'll always listen." Telemachus smiled, gently slipped something into her palm, and turned heel and walked away, keying the door open. "Deactivate privacy mode," he ordered, then walked down the corridor after keying the door shut.

Beka stood there, watching the stars, then peeked down at the object he had given her. It was a silver chain, on which was a gold locket shaped like a book. Engraved on the inside were a few lines from an ancient Earth poem by Ernest Hemmingway. She read it out loud.

"I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul."

End note: I just wanna say that yes, the romance is going rather slow, because, like I said before, I'm a fantasy writer, not a sci-fi writer. (Immortal Elves = slow romance) Silver Spider, I've never talked to you before, but I loved your fanfic Invictus; it inspired me. Those two lines of poetry at the bottom were from Silver Spider's fanfic.