Dome of Souls (Book 2 of 2, after Story Less Told)

Ch2: Osirian Family Tradition

October 23rd. Christophe's eyes opened abruptly and simultaneously as his pupils adjusted to the light. The glass door of his sleeping pod swung open and his eyes flickered as he checked his calendar schedule and a prompt 8AM waking as usual. He stepped out of his sleep pod and into the small-ish bedroom, pristine white from the marble floors to the white brick walls and the immaculately folded silk sheets on the bed that could have passed for brand new and never used. He raked his pale copper-colored dreadlocks back into a pony-tail as he turned towards the door. The door made a pleasant tone and slid open as a tall brunette entered the room to greet him.

"Good Morning, Dear." she said passing him and grabbing a white leather bag full of whatever. He stepped forward and peered out the window at the bright blue sky. Turning robotically to give her a kiss as she passed him, as if choreographed like clockwork.

"Morning Izleena, Gym?" he asked.

"After breakfast, just for an hour or so." she shrugged.

"Don't wear yourself out before lunch, it's a lovely day for a walk to the diner." he reminded.

"You did clear your schedule for the party, right?" she asked.

"Of course, dear. 1:28PM, Upper terrace, Timber Manor." he rattled off.

"Just making sure. Is there anything special you'd like for breakfast?" she asked, handing him his cleanly printed light blue, button-up shirt.

"I have an idea." he smiled, giving her an affectionate hug.

The kitchen was as sterile as the bedroom, even the cutlery. Allwhite marble and chrome fittings without a water mark or scratch. Christophe slid a knife across a cutting board to rake some freshly chopped onions into the pan to cook. He seemed laser-focused on his task, as if he was being judged by a panel of experts for a million dollar show prize.

"Hey..." She muttered to him to get his attention. "Where are you?" she whispered.

"Right here." he replied, turning and giving her a kiss as his rapidly chopped green peppers without looking.

"I can always tell when you are distracted." she said sliding the eggs over to him and practically hanging over his shoulder.

"There is no scientific explanation for how you do that, you know." he said with slight amazement. "Hostile situation on Nogrea, no matter how many times you explain the facts, they just don't care." he admitted. Christophe number 7 is at a meeting as we speak, negotiating."

"Okay, but when negotiations are over, I want you here. It's your birthday. You deserve one day a year where you don't have to sign treaties and convince people not to kill each other. I know you can be in 40 places at once, but today they need to be all relaxing and doing something enjoyable. I don't want every Christophe clone doing work while the one here pretends to be relaxing. Take a break, something just for Christophe, okay?" she said lovingly scolding.

"I'm sorry, this was supposed to be wrapped up before you even woke, these damn border disputes just tend to have extra innings." he sighed.

"And any other day I'd leave you alone, but this is special. You're turning 600...that only happens once." she insisted. "Plus, you did something special for mine."

"Technically it can happen infinite times if I engineer better bodies. Actually this one is less than a year old, it's the new prototype." he smirked.