Benjamin South stared coldly through his back window, at a beautiful purple, green, and orange flower arrangement. The entire back yard of the office had been converted into a lush garden. Classical music streamed through the top-of-the-line speaker system in his office. The effects it had on magic and brain waves were quite fantastic.
But they weren't helping him. His first year had been a fantastic start to the UP, but since then, his career had been sloping. Even with the beautiful music streaming through his blood stream, soothing his magic, his recently well-managed temper wanted to flair.
He kept fighting the urge to unleash a fireball and burn the whole garden down. He supposed this was what former porn addicts felt like. All it took was an innocent flash of thigh, a hint to much flesh, and the urge grips them. Benjamin was a reconciling temper addict, in a manner of speaking. The beginning of his term went fantastically. Every one was in agreement with him, and the UP ignited to create one of the fastest recoveries in galactic history. Nova Corp. has been a huge part of that.
Benjamin's mind trailed worriedly to reports that William Nova had been involved in some kind of bombing on another planet. Aralia, was it? His mind wandered as he worried for the safety of one of Xap's greatest inventors.
--
His wandering mind brought him to a serene scene, as Bach's 3rd Brandenburg Concerto narrated the scene. It was bronze tinted world, and he was a masquerade, surrounded by enormous hoop skirts and smart dressed chaps. The room spun madly as the dancers picked up their almost erratic waltz. Benjamin found himself in the middle of it, the dancers continuing to spin and dance a mad waltz, occasionally bumping into him. People spun in to his view, and spun back into the enormous crowd. They all wore masks, making them indistinguishable.
"REGULATE MAGIC!" One screamed, dipping his bride towards Benjamin before vanishing into the crowd.
"SAVE THE WHALES!" Another pleaded, a girl spun into Benjamin's face, beofre she rejoined their partner and they disappeared.
"CLOSE DOWN NIGHT CLUBS!" An older gentleman shouted, slyly dancing witha silver haired woman, before vanishing into the crowd.
These shouts continued. Benjamin found himself standing still in the midst of a constantly-changing frenzy of people, each sharing his views on what he should do. The song changed to one he didn't recognize, the tempo picking up as the shouts became more frequent and more erratic. Suddenly, there was a consistent circle of people around him, at least a dozen men and women, all paired, circling around him, shouting their views all at once. Benjamin couldn't take it anymore.
"SHUT UP!" He floated above them all as the music stopped. "DON'T ANY OF YOU UNDERSTAND?" Benjamin screamed, at wit's end. "THE MORE FREEDOM WE HAVE, THE MORE WE THRIVE AS UNITED PAXANS!" The room went still as thousands of masked people stared up at him. They looked at him strangely.
--
The President of the United Paxans awoke slowly, groaning. Even in his dreams, none of them understood. Who could blame them? We'd all lived in a world where one ruler made all the decisions, told us what he could and couldn't do. A Conservative Republic was a new way of looking at things.
Although he had spent less than a day on Earth, Benjamin was taught the many points of a conservative republic from a TV screen. A ranting blond man at wit's end, like him, laid it all out. It all clicked in his mind. And he knew from that point on, that's what he wanted for Pax.
Of course, that was before he died.
---
Derek Dubois stared happily at a computer screen in the Imprecarris mining facility. Imprecarris members milled about, teleporting here and there, dropping off reports at his desk and generally going about their business. The results were all satisfactory. They were officially back in the dimensional plane they originated from. The stars were all the same, and all investigated planets were confirmed as the kinds in the Saeculum Galaxy. He stood up from his desk, his smile disappearing as he walked past the perfectly functioning automated mine that was digging up Magnifanium and other materials. He reached a door, one of few in the factory. It was a very tough, rugged, door, one of few in the factory. He opened it carefully, peering past it onto a large bridge between the mine and the factory. He stepped through coolly, closing the door behind him. He looked around to be sure no one was watching, and he pulled left sleeve back carefully, to reveal...
A Nova Phone. He pressed a couple of buttons on it's sophisticated touch screen and the holo-projector emitted a blank white stream, like a movie projector without any film in it. Suddenly, the whitness faded as a more sophisticated image appeared. A woman appeared, looking so real you'd think you could reach and touch her.
She was strikingly gorgeous, with long black hair that was smooth as silk, covering her elegant kender ears. Her eyes were such a gorgeous light pink-purple color, that reflected the innocent joy in her soul. She had curves that needed warning signs, and legs to drive any man crazy. But that was the least of it.
A smile broke across her face. It was enough to break the ice off the coldest heart, renew the fire in any lost soul.
And than she laughed. A joyous sound that could make a whole room brighter.
"It's always so silly to see you in that uniform." With a small voice that rang like sweet, golden bells.
A feeling filled the soul of Derek Dubois, a feeling Nosferatu could never experience. And it was... Joy.
--
When he was with her, we felt completed. He had a purpose, a reason to exist.
When he was with her, the world didn't matter. Only them.
When he was with her, he was complete!
"So that's why the sheets were missing." Derek said simply, stifling a laugh.
"Yeah. So you need to come home." The beauty replied.
A monotonous ring tone came from Derek's Nova Phone, and he glanced at it sharply.
"Oh. Baby, I gotta go. See you later this week, okay?" She frowned, and nodded her head, before Derek hurriedly shut down the holo-call, answering the video call request.
It was Benjamin, sitting in his office. "Nosferatu-" He started, before Derek cut him off. "Derek, if you please, sir." He interrupted, hurriedly. "Oh. Yes, sorry. Derek, have you heard the news from Aralia?" This was a suddenly very embarrassing moment for Derek.
He would have, if he hadn't been talking with his gorgeous girlfriend for the past hour. But how was he going to answer? His panicked reaction must have shown on his face, because Benjamin smirked, chuckling.
"You've been talking to her, haven't you?" Derek nodded his head ashamedly.
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad to see you've found somebody, Derek. You've worked hard for me and deserve a break. Get back to work, find a report on Aralia, and get somebody down there. There's a lot of rumors about William Nova going around. Find out the truth for me."
"Yes, Mr. President."
"And take care of that girl of yours." He said with a smile, cutting the video feed.
Derek thought about the information he had just been given, opening the door quickly and making his way through. What did he mean when he said there were rumors about William Nova? Could one of Xap's greatest inventors be in danger? Damn. That was Syra's husband. She'd been on assignment for about a week now. He needed her to finish it. As he made his way to the desk, the only thing he was sure about was that Syra could not find out about this.
---
As Syra made her way to her desk, the only thing she was sure about was that Derek could not know she had been spying on him.
Ever since she'd undergone the grueling training to become a full-fledged member of the Imprecarris, she had learned to be suspicious of authority. It wasn't a lesson they directly taught their members, but it was something she had picked up from them. When she had come back from assignment, she had stopped short of dropping off her latest report to find her boss sneaking his way to the door. Suppressing her signature and teleporting on top of the bridge, she had listened to his hour-long conversation with his girlfriend, and his conversation with President South.
Most people knew she couldn't be contacted due to her latest undercover assignment. Her Nova Phone was stashed in her locker still, and she never got Ms. Green's message that William was okay. She left Xap without even picking up her gear.
---
Benjamin sat back slowly. He was surprised Nosferatu, er, Derek, had found a girl. He'd really turned his life around since he'd known him. Since they'd gone through the portal. How he wished he could do the same.
----
