Samuel thought to himself that it would be better if they never met again.
The distance between different planets was vast, and under normal circumstances, there was very little traffic between them. Aside from interstellar merchants and essential migrations, travel was rare. This was especially true for the distance between the Home Star and the frontier planets. Even in the top-tier mecha piloted by Samuel, the journey took more than two days to complete.
Consequently, Winslow did not spend the entire trip sitting on that familiar sofa. On the first night, under Samuel’s arrangements, Winslow and his little white snake moved into one of the few vacant rooms available on the mecha.
Before today, Samuel had already envisioned the scenes of his private interactions with Winslow on the ship. With only the two of them present, away from the male’s various suitors and fanatical admirers, Samuel intended to interrogate the male mercilessly regarding his origins and goals. He had even planned to use force if necessary.
In reality, however, Samuel had not proactively said a single word to Winslow since the mecha departed. The abnormal heartbeat and his own disheveled state before departure had severely interfered with his judgment. He simply had no time to seize the opportunity to interrogate him.
When evening arrived, Samuel silently pointed out the room where Winslow would stay. The Marshal appeared incredibly well-behaved, showing none of the decisive, cold-blooded image he usually maintained.
Lying on his large black bed, Samuel stared at the ceiling with a blank mind. He told himself that tomorrow, he would definitely force the male to reveal his purpose. With that thought, he slowly closed his eyes.
Across the wall, Winslow clearly sensed that the female Marshal seemed to be avoiding him. This behavior had started the moment they boarded the mecha. Winslow wondered if something had happened that he was unaware of. His confusion lingered, especially since everything had seemed normal when they ate together a few days prior.
He recalled the moment he had asked about his accommodations for the night. He was fairly certain his eyes had not deceived him; Marshal Samuel looked as though he wanted to turn and flee the moment he saw him. Winslow carefully reviewed his interactions with the Marshal and realized they were few and far between, making this behavior quite a mystery.
Unable to find an answer, Winslow stopped overthinking. After taking a simple shower, he lay down and prepared to sleep. He turned off the lights, closed his eyes, and maneuvered his mental power into his mental domain.
This time, the mental domain was different from before. In addition to the starlit sky, Winslow saw several small, meteorite-like objects. He assumed they were meteorites. Winslow’s consciousness moved forward, manifesting a mental tentacle to poke them. They were very hard stones of various sizes and irregular shapes.
He wondered what these were. His consciousness continued to extend and drift through the vast mental domain. These meteorites had appeared out of nowhere in the previously empty space. Some were jagged and irregular, while others were small and round. He controlled his mental tentacles to touch them one by one and counted thirty-six such meteorites in total. The largest was the size of a person, while the smallest was the size of a fist.
As he floated further, he saw a peculiar thirty-seventh meteorite. He wrapped more tentacles around it and studied it for a long time. Although he could not determine exactly what it was, Winslow was certain that this meteorite possessed something the others did not, a sense of vitality. Seeing that he could not uncover more, Winslow stopped dwelling on it, exited his mental domain, and fell into a deep sleep.
It was a night without dreams.
The next morning, Winslow woke up naturally. He was not yet fully awake, and his emerald eyes were misty with sleep. He blinked hard several times until his vision cleared. Once awake, Winslow felt that this morning was different from usual. He noticed a faint fragrance in the air, though he could not tell where it originated.
His gaze swept across the black, white, and gray decor of the room. The minimalist furniture was arranged neatly. He considered that perhaps the change in rooms was causing him to feel slightly out of place. With that thought, Winslow rose from the bed, his long silver hair brushing against the dark sheets as he prepared to wash up.
On the other side of the mecha, Samuel was grimly taking one cold shower after another. In space, there was no distinction between day and night; the view outside was a constant deep blue with distant, glowing stars. However, there was an electronic clock inside the mecha cabin for reference. Samuel had been taking cold showers since the early hours of the morning.
The culprit was the little white snake currently tied up on the bed. When Samuel thought about what the snake had done, his face turned completely red with embarrassment. This morning, at the moment the scent of cedar and strong liquor filled the room, Samuel had been jolted awake from a dream.
At that time, he did not feel anything was wrong. He had been dreaming of a certain silver-haired deity. The sensations of the dream felt so real that his brain momentarily stalled. Then he realized where those sensations were coming from. He had angrily tied up the drunken, dizzy snake and thrown it aside before heading to the bathroom.
The snake had repeated its old tricks. For some reason, despite his high rank, Samuel had not detected the snake crawling over to him. By the time he felt it, the creature had already coiled around him and forced his pheromones to release. Samuel took cold shower after cold shower, turning the pheromone purifiers in both the bedroom and bathroom to their highest settings. This was only the second time he had ever used them.
The previous night, Samuel had fallen into a deep sleep immediately upon closing his eyes. He felt his consciousness drifting in the void for a long time before he finally opened his eyes. He saw a starry sky that was deep blue like ink. It looked similar to the interstellar space he saw during combat, yet it was different. In the actual universe, planets of all sizes sat in an orderly fashion, surrounded by floating meteorites. Often, due to special magnetic fields, these meteorites did not strike planets. However, exceptions occurred, and the meteorites that hit planets were known as interstellar meteoric iron. They were extremely hard and often used for military equipment.
The place he was currently in looked like the universe, but there were no planets or meteorites. Then, he saw the familiar stones. He tried to move forward to see if the stone was the one from his memory. As he reached out, he suddenly realized he had no hands. In the dream, Samuel’s slow-moving brain wondered where his hands had gone.
Suddenly, he felt a soft object touching him. Samuel was so startled that his slow thoughts stopped entirely. He looked around stiffly and found that the surrounding meteorites were covered in transparent tentacles. He wondered if the thing on his body was also a tentacle. As his brain continued to function slowly, a silver-haired male with an obscured face appeared in his sight.
Samuel tried to open his eyes wider, but it was no use. He shook himself and realized the silver-haired male was looking at him. Then, more tentacles wrapped around him. It seemed he had also become a meteorite. Under the touch of the male’s transparent tentacles, Samuel felt himself go limp, and the surrounding scenery gradually blurred. As he reached a climax, Samuel was still wondering where his hands had gone.
The scenes from the dream reappeared in his mind, and the scent of his cedar and liquor pheromones grew stronger. His face was so dark it looked as though ink might drip from it. He took a deep breath to push the chaotic images out of his mind and pressed the control button to increase the water pressure. After he was thoroughly clean, he returned to the bedroom while drying his hair. As expected, the little white snake had vanished again. In the silence of the bedroom, a white towel was turned to ash.
The next day, Samuel did not carry out his plan for a forced interrogation. Although the little white snake had been present when his pheromones were released, the root cause was his dream of a silver-haired deity who looked exactly like Winslow. Having experienced such a dream for the first time in over a hundred years while the subject was in the next room, Samuel did not want to feel that way again.
From the second day until they arrived at the Home Star on the third day, Samuel did not sleep again, nor did he leave his bedroom.
When the black and red mecha entered the Home Star’s territory, the environment outside the window changed significantly. Winslow sat by the window, holding a cup of hot tea and quietly observing the prosperous planet. Outside, high-tech skyscrapers stood in rows. On the city streets, hovering cars and subways sped by gracefully. It was night, and the soft glow of the hovering vehicles blended with the vibrant neon lights of the streets. The prosperity flashed by, and the mecha reached its destination.
As the mecha landed slowly, Winslow stood up to gather his things. He did not have much. His clothes and the gifts from the soldiers were all stored in his spatial button, which he found very convenient. However, by the time Winslow stepped off the mecha, he had seen no sign of Samuel. Out of curiosity, he looked back at the open cabin door. He waited for a while, but no one appeared.
Winslow wondered if Samuel had already left. While he was confused, a deep and respectful voice came from the side. “Hello, Lord Winslow.”
Winslow turned around and saw a female insect with short brown hair standing three meters away. He was wearing black athletic gear with a high collar and tactical boots. Winslow studied the stranger. Based on his temperament, he looked like a disciplined soldier, yet he was not in uniform. Winslow noticed a single silver line on his shoulder.
“Lord Winslow, please allow me to introduce myself,” the insect said. He placed his right fist over the left side of his chest and bowed slightly like a gentleman from the previous century. “I am Marshal Samuel’s personal guard. You may call me Arthur. The Marshal has prepared a residence for your stay on the Home Star. Please follow me.”
Arthur politely gestured toward a hovering car nearby. Winslow nodded and thanked him politely. He took one last look at the empty mecha cabin door and followed Arthur away.
Standing by the window of the mecha’s master bedroom, Samuel remained expressionless. Upon closer inspection, however, there was a sense of struggle in his eyes. He watched Winslow follow his guard off the mecha and disappear into the hovering car. Samuel exhaled heavily and closed his eyes, hiding the struggle and the faint, unacknowledged emotions within.
He decided it would be better if they never met again.