“No, that’s not necessary.”
After a few minutes of scanning and recalibrating his device a couple of times, the doctor was finished. He rose and turned to leave when Ellie stopped him with another question.
“Doctor, I left Alliance Planet Two without any preparation and whereas Valentin has thought of almost everything he has forgotten one essential thing because he isn’t a woman.”
The doctor could already read her thoughts, but it was impolite to say so and he was charmed by her innocence around the subject. “I can offer you birth control,” the doctor said causally. “I know that human women on Earth like to take it, as do women on Reima Two. It’s perfectly safe and will prevent you from getting your monthly cycle and will prevent pregnancy. It will be effective immediately.”
Ellie had been forced to go off her birth control when she joined House Rega. Even though the tab she used to collect the blood was efficient she didn’t like her mood swings due to her monthly cycles, “What does it require? And what are the side effects?” She knew that if she returned to the Empire, she would have to give it up but if it meant not having her period when she was with Valentin over these two weeks, that was worth it. She never understood how some women loved attention from their men when they had their periods, she just wanted to crawl into bed for days with a book.
“No side effects except you do not bleed every month and your hormones will be more constant. It is regulated by a small device I’ll place in your arm or thigh, your choice. You won’t even feel it. We can remove it at any time.”
“Yes. Can you do it now?” Ellie was thrilled at the idea. “My period is supposed to begin in two days. Not very romantic is it?”
“I agree, it could have been better planned.”
Ellie laughed, “As if Valentin knows when my period is.”
The doctor gave her a serious look, “Of course he knows.” He could never understand why human woman put up with human men who never took the time to know anything about them. Women were the most wonderful and fascinating creatures. If it was up to him, all human women would be saved from the barbaric practices of human men. The doctor retrieved his device with the blue light and pressed some buttons. The light turned to yellow and he asked her, “Arm or thigh?”
“Does it hurt?”
The doctor shrugged, “A little.”
“Thigh,” she answered and pulled down her trousers.
The doctor chose a place on her thigh and she felt a small pinch.
He scanned her, “All finished. Is there anything else?”
“Not, that I can think of. Thank you.”
The doctor turned to leave, “It was nothing. Enjoy your time on Reima Two and contact me if you need anything, the headache returns, or you have any questions about your health.” Then he couldn’t help himself he had to say it, “Don’t forget you are within the boundaries of Reima Two now. We are the Empire that never was. We use technology without the weights of religion. We govern ourselves as equals and rank ourselves according to merit.”
“Okay I’m looking forward to seeing your planet,” Ellie was surprised by the doctor’s words and she didn’t know how to respond. Obviously, he was immensely proud of his home and its people, and there was nothing strange about that except that he was a doctor saying it, she supposed. She watched him leave and then returned to her research about Reima Two and Valentin. Now she was able to fly through the copious amounts of information about him on the GC database. She was impressed that Valentin had managed to become such an important man in such a short amount of time. However, it did give her pause that he had done some questionable things in his life. However, she thought to herself, Hasn’t everyone who is successful done at least one questionable thing? What I need to know is what kind of man is he overall? Does his good outweigh his bad enough for me?
Then she thought about the UCs required to live on Reima Two and didn’t want to be beholden to him but didn’t know if she would be able to work there and make her own UCs. The last thing that she wanted was to move from one cage to another, no matter how much she loved Valentin if she didn’t have her own life, she would resent him. She knew that in the Empire when she married, House Rega would allow her a stipend of a considerable amount of UCs, however, she doubted that Jei would offer her the same deal if she married Valentin and used the UCs to move to Reima Two.
Ellie did extensive searches to see if she could find a job with the studying she had been doing on Alliance Planet Two and she was pleased to see that there were comparable positions, but even more exciting was that Reima Two did not keep their women on planet and that she was allowed to serve on a ship if she wanted. She thought of her mother then and almost began crying. She wiped back some stray tears and wondered what her mom would have thought of Valentin or her following in her footsteps and becoming an engineer on a spaceship.
Ellie jumped when her door chimed.
She got up and answered it.
Valentin smiled, “Are you hungry?”
“Is it the dinner hour already?”
“We don’t observe those religious Alliance rules here. You can eat whenever you want. But yes, I’m hungry, so to me it’s time for supper. Come let me take you to my private dining room. I’ve had my chef make my father’s favorite dish from Earth.”
“What’s the dish?” Ellie asked curiously as they stood in the doorway.
“Croatian Black Risotto. As you know, there are lots of tasty fish on Alliance Planet Two.”
“Yes,” Ellie agreed enthusiastically. “There are and they are delicious, but the Alliance Planet Two chefs refused to make me sushi no matter how many times I asked, no begged, for it.” She smiled remembering. “I’ve never had black risotto, but I’m sure I’ll like it if it’s a human dish. I don’t mean to be snobby; the Empire just doesn’t have the variety in food that Earth has.”
“The Empire’s obsession with health has made that impossible, but maybe things are changing. It’s promising to see human restaurants opening.”
Ellie sighed, “I hope for every human living in the Empire that’s true.” She noticed that he had also changed his clothing. It was a tight dark purple one piece that accentuated the most attractive parts of his body, “Is that your uniform? Did you design it as the commander?”
“Yes,” he was a bit taken off guard by her question. “Do you like it?” He felt awkward asking, but he didn’t know why she asked in the first place and was curious to see where this conversation would lead to.
“It’ll do,” she said seriously and then grinned, letting him know that she was only joking. “It’s not unlike the Imperial maximum class uniforms but a different color. It’s strange that the men’s clothing is so much more attractive than the women’s.”
“I wish I would have known your feelings about this before; I wouldn’t have gone through the trouble making sure you had Imperial dresses to wear on Reima Two.”
“You bought me other clothes?” Ellie asked, trying to decide if this was sweet or stalker behavior.
“What were you going to wear for two weeks? Don’t look at me like I’m a crazy person. You can buy your own clothes if it makes you more comfortable. I only did it to be hospitable and to save time.” Valentin couldn’t decide if telling her his mother picked the clothing out would make this better or worse, so he kept that information to himself.