Private Finished Lily in the Sky

As they moved Kir kept tapping away at his phone, pausing only briefly as Lily explained how she was especially fond of milk chocolate before finishing whatever it was he had been doing and putting the phone away.

Meanwhile Mir smiled as they guided Lily down this secondary street. At the end of this lane there was another alcove like they had seen in the school section of the station, but much smaller. A transport pad that was a little less used because it was out of the way. Perfect for a small group trying to get away from the crowds.

"We have one more thing to show you before we return to the planet. Would you please close your eyes and allow us to lead you somewhere? We will not let any harm come to you," Mir asked as they stepped up onto the transport pad with Lily. Once again Kir waited to select their destination until Lily confirmed she was ready.

If she declines to close her eyes they wouldn't really be bothered, it would just be less of a surprise to her. "We believe you will enjoy it either way but as we understand it, pleasant surprises are fairly enjoyable," Kir added so she would know she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to.

Kir tapped in the destination and, well, the travel was instantaneous between the pads so there really wasn't much different. Still they had a little ways down the hallway to go so very slowly and carefully KirMir guided Lily towards their destination.

After a minute or two the paused and there was the sound of Kir reaching out to do something on another touch screen before a door opened and they stepped out of the main hallway into a smaller room. Even without sight Lily would have been able to hear the acoustics change as they stepped into this circular room.

Leading Lily to the center of the room, KirMir stopped and both bodies turned their heads to look at Lily. "Ok, you can open your eyes now Lily," Kir said with the faintest hint of excitement in his voice.

They stood in a round room with a concave ceiling and throughout the whole place there were holograms projected of the various constellations and arrangements of the start sin the night sky. Effectively they were standing within an adjustable map of the celestial bodies in their galaxy and beyond. Utterly beautiful. And they were the only ones there.

Well, only living beings there anyway as the sound of a small robot rolling into the room might have caught Lily's notice. It stopped and beeped for Mir to reach out and tap a chip to before releasing its package to her hands. A small white box with a stylized diamond shape design on it.

"These are from Diamond Confections. It sounds like they would be more expensive than they are but the diamond signifies quality, not price in their culture. They make some of the best chocolate treats that are available to the average consumer on the station," Mir explained as the robot whirred back out into the hallway and the door closed them off in the quiet, calm and beautiful room.

Inside the box was a half dozen handmade milk chocolates, each with the same diamond design drawn on them with white chocolate lines.

KirMir were relieved that they had managed to lead Lily there without her becoming uncomfortable with having her eyes closed or some accident like her tripping over something. They were not experts in romantic surprises, but they had just followed one guideline: do something she might enjoy, even if it seemed minor or trivial to them. Of course the location being quiet and well away from any crowds had been a deliberate attempt to ease both of their concerns.

They watched with satisfaction as Lily's eyes widened in excitement and wonder. Both Kir and Mir had remained relatively motionless as they waited for her to take it all in. For someone's first time in the holo-observatory theater it was probably a lot to take in. Plus their delivery had arrived with almost perfect timing, ensuring that Lily was thoroughly impressed.

"We are glad that-," Mir was cut off as Lily stepped forward to give her a kiss. Softly, with her glowing happiness reflected in her lips for sure. She returned the kiss in their own gentle way, but KirMir was woefully lacking in experience with being kissed by someone else. It left them a little speechless. It was probably fairly obvious they had not been expecting the kiss. The faint blushing on both their faces was pretty clear.

The effect was only magnified when Lily stepped back from the one kiss only just to go over and do the same thing with Kir. They were still running high on the feelings the kisses had given them but they found they could at least react properly. Kir wrapped his arms around Lily and held her close to him as he leaned in to give her a second, slightly longer kiss. "We are glad you like it. The room is reserved for a little while so you may explore the map if you like," he whispered back to her as he held her softly.

Mir stepped over to the center of the room and uttered a command to the room in a soft but clear tone, "Map display, navigate to the Sol System." There was a faint beep and then the map around them shifted and expanded out as they zoomed in from where they had been on the galaxy view to the solar system level display. KirMir could maybe have tried to display their home system for her but they did not intend to do so any time soon, if ever. Above anything else, even death itself, they feared being sent for by representatives from their home. Therefore the less their home was known, the safer they were.

Kir was mostly quiet, standing there and holding Lily as her eye reflected the light from the various colored balls and rings that made up the planets in the system view. Had they been more skilled with romance they might have said something like 'but it doesnt hold a candle to you,' but they did not. No, he just stood there and smiled happily.

As Lily broke them all from quiet reverie Mir smiled back at her and stepped closer again. She shook her head though, "no that was the Milky Way Galaxy and this is the solar system that we are currently in. Here, you might have been thrown off by the way it is displayed." She gave a few more verbal commands and then the display shifted to more clearly show they were in fact viewing the system Earth was in. Her tone was gentle but it came out bluntly, as facts stated. Her hand passed through what started to become more clear as the planet Venus as she reached the others.

"We cannot show you where our homeworld is Lily. It could put us at great risk if they were to learn where we are now. Possibly you as well," Kir explained as he gave her a squeeze. Technically they were murderers wanted back on their home planet. Murders of necessity of course, but the corporations back home didn't care about why. In theory they could just send a representative to request they be extradited but there was the real possibility of an agent being sent to eliminate them and anyone that got in the way.

The mood shifted a little sour unfortunately but KirMir hadn't intended to be rude or ruin the day. Hopefully Lily wasnt upset.

Kir was already holding Lily, with arms around her waist so she didn't have far to go to gently rest her head against his chest. Then from the other side Mir put her arms around both of them and joined in from behind Lily. Almost like a protective cocoon of bodies. Which, given what else they had to tell her, was oddly poetic and possibly a little bit of a disturbing thought depending on how you looked at it.

"You don't need to apologize, it was just a mistake and a question about something you didn't know was dangerous. You neither offended us nor made us upset," Kir said very softly as they all stood there in a group. Then Mir added on, "We're just happy to spend time here with you."

There was a comfortable quiet pause as they stood there together and the map of the solar system slowly began to move in a simulation of how the planets orbited the sun. "We realize it is not a pleasant thing to talk about but we would like to explain what happens when we are separated too far. It's important that you are aware," Mir began with a little bit of hesitation. They didn't know how grossed out Lily would be.

Still, it needed to be said so Kir took over to put it as simply and plainly as they could. "Approximately 20 feet is our maximum, reduced if there are obstructions. Past that, one body ceases living and collapses. The remaining body's cells begin to divide rapidly and it forms a cocoon to regrow two new bodies as that one too collapses. It is not pleasant to watch but it is not something we can control," he went on slowly, sparing her the goriest details. In summary, if it happened in public there would be a huge scene with a corpse and giant alien cocoon forming wherever the bodies had been. They didn't want to just leave her to deal with that mess unprepared, though their intention was not to have her witness that kind of thing if they didn't have to.