The Dead Dove Locker -- "I don't know what I expected."

[Mamorien]

I have just uploaded chapter 20 of THE GREENFIELD FAMILY.

Here we witness the aftershocks of what happened at the party. As each member of the family and everyone in their immediate circle gets the news of the incident, all other concerns get pushed aside as they all come flocking to Paula's side. Could this terrible event actually end up being a catalyst for the kind of change that Raven has been hoping for?

https://storiesonline.net/n/52852/the-gr...-family/20

Princess of the Void (alien abduction romance).

Grant watches Lomanza industriously command her new subordinates. Though the bridge crew seem confused and concerned by the new non-Vora majordomo, their training and Taiikari obedience quickly kick in, and the yes, ma’ams and as you command, ma’ams follow in short order.

“I’ll be right back,” he says.

Sykora gives him a quizzical glance but nods.

Grant descends the command deck steps and loiters by their rise. He tips his tricorne to Lomanza as she approaches. “Majordomo.” He indicates the dim area of the bridge beneath the command deck’s balcony, occupied by ticking, humming mainframes rather than crew. “Would you step aside with me for a moment?”

Lomanza looks quizzically at him but nods and follows him into the shade. “How may I serve, Majesty?”

“Now and then when I’ve thought of you, I’ve seen you as the enemy,” Grant says. “I want to give you a fair shake.”

That would please me, Majesty.

“That would please me, Majesty.”

“How has your time aboard the Pike been so far?” Grant asks. “I know you’ve been dealing with a cold shoulder from the command group. Have you been acclimating besides that?”

“I have, Majesty. My reception doesn’t bother me, I assure you. I understand it. And the lodgings are very nice.”

“That’s good.” Grant fidgets with a ring. “I just want to make sure—you haven’t been outside of your room much, I’ve heard.”

“You have, I suppose, noticed that we are a very social species,” Lomanza says. “My mind does not work that way. I enjoy the quiet.”

“Is that—uh, never mind.”

“Go on, Majesty.”

“I shouldn’t pry.”

“I am entirely at your disposal, Majesty. Pry away.”

“Do you reckon that’s a result of your implant?”

“Not at all. In fact, when they rooted around in here—” She taps her forehead. “They told my parents there was a way to fix it. But I said I didn’t feel broken. Not in that way, anyway.”

“In some other way, then?”

“I was an unhappy child,” she says. “I made few friends. I found myself, many times, under rule by emotions that I had trouble regulating, and that feeling of helplessness became something of a feedback loop. I would read about how wonderful it was to be given a mind that could be happy or sad, how emotions were part of the fullness of life, and it rang quite hollow. To me, the fullness was… different.”

“Different how?”

Lomanza hums. “How to explain… I suppose I was spellbound by the systemic nature of things. By watching everything fall into place. To behold the gorgeous mechanisms beneath the skin of the world. Laws of nature and Empire and their intersection. Great impossible purposes. I found more in common with celestial bodies than with my podmates. Once I was given cause to weep when considering the beauty of the hydrological cycle. The chemical and hormonal tides in my mind infuriated me. Why, even when I understood the systems at play, did I fall prey to them? Why, even when I knew shame was a mechanical process, of orbitofrontal cortices and neurotransmitters and spiking cortisol, was I always so ashamed of myself?”

Behind her the databases tick away, casting her in their teal light.

“In most echelons of Taiikari life, such a reclusive nature is a deficiency to be addressed. I found myself oddly protective of it.” She studies the skin of her knuckles, as if supervising some chemical reaction beneath her skin. “I wanted control. Becoming a majordomo was how I took it.”

https://www.scribblehub.com/read/1419041...r/2223556/
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/120617...-the-world