Beyond the Empyreal Stars

16.

16.

"What are you doing here?" Odette asked as she relaxed, hands drifting to her sides. She looked at him what she hoped was confusion, but her happiness definitely slipped through. "And how did you get in?"

Duke shrugged, holding up a key. "Padric gave Clark a copy a few months ago. For emergencies."

She raised an eyebrow. "Does this qualify as an emergency?"

He shook his head, shoving his hands and the key into the pockets of his jacket.

Both eyebrows were raised then. "And you know there is a security system, correct?"

"No, I didn't, actually," he admitted. "Would something happen other than having an alarm go off?"

Odette was about to speak, but Evangeline beat her to it. "I knew it was you, Duke Mitchell. Your body scans as you approached the house indicated who you were. Had you been completely dominated by a Whispian, however, the appropriate measures would have been taken for the extraction and..."

"Thank you, Evangeline," Odette called out. "That is enough."

Duke looked in awe around the room. "What was that?"

"Um...Evangeline," she answered, giving him a tight-lipped smile. "She is my personal artificial intelligence system. Say hello to Duke, Evangeline."

The AI's voice filled the room. "Hello, Duke Mitchell."

"Whoa," Duke whispered just as his eyes met hers once more.

They stood just a few feet away from each other, both staring and trying to find the differences. Odette could see the shadow of a beard along his jawline, the dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, and the brightness in those eyes as he looked at her. She thought he would hate her for what had happened, for what she really was...but it seemed like all he cared about was that he got to see her again.

"You really did not think you would see me again, did you?" Odette asked quietly.

He smiled, shaking his head as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. "When a girl gets on a spaceship and leaves the planet without saying a word to you...well, can you really blame me for thinking that?"

She laughed softly. "No, I guess I cannot."

He looked at her even closer. Maybe he was expecting her to change color or grow four more arms or maybe even a tail. But when she didn't...well, he was still staring. And all the staring made a blush creep up Odette's neck and onto her cheeks.

Duke noticed.

"You had us all believing you were human. All of you did, even Padric."

She swallowed hard, eyes casting down to the carpeted floor. "That was the assignment..."

"Not the whole assignment, though, right?"

"...and there were a few more things that needed to be done for it."

He was silent for a long moment before speaking again. "You had us believing you were human...and you couldn't look more human than you do right now when you're blushing."

Odette's gaze snapped back up to him as Duke stepped forward, his eyes leaving her only to lift to the holographic screen behind her.

"So this is what you have hidden in this room. I'm sure none of us have ever been in," Duke said. He lifted his hand to the holographic screen, obviously expecting it to completely pass through, but felt the distortion of air around it. He jerked his hand back. "Weird. And here I thought holograms were a thing of the future."