Chapter XVII
“Wait, where are we going?” I ask Knox as he speed-walks through the halls.
We made it past the paparazzi and through the crowd of bustling scientists on the main floors.
Now, we’re in a more secluded section of Comet XI, reserved for higher-ups and top-secret projects.
Nowhere near the TIS department in which I’m supposed to be working.
“I already told you, remember?” Knox squeezes my hand, dragging me along with his long strides. I don’t think he realizes how sore he made me. Three days of being folded like a pretzel has fucked up my skeletal structure.
“Knox, I don’t remember anything other than you wrecking me with your big, hard– “
“Mr. Beckett! You’re back!”
My eyes bulge as Knox’s assistant startles us. I’m sure he heard what I’d just said but he thankfully ignores it.
“Gomez. Things are tense. Tell me you have a plan,” Knox greets him professionally.
“We’ve got something huge, Mr. Beckett.”
Gomez scans his badge, leading us into a sterile laboratory with ceilings as high as the sky.
The ventilated air is so pure it hurts to breathe.
He guides us along a platform with yellow rails, and we pause in front of two intricate machines that look like a mix between a hospital bed and a spaceship.
I would’ve thought they were recovered UFOs if it weren’t for the Comet XI logo printed on the side of each one.
An Alpha wearing a lab coat and safety glasses announces herself with the click of short heels against the concrete floor. She stops in front of us with calculated grace in each movement.
“I’m Dr. Ritza, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Beckett.”
She extends a hand to Knox while I tilt my head down and huddle behind him. I feel like I shouldn’t be here. This is no place for an Omega.
“It’s a pleasure to officially meet you as well. I’ve heard a lot about your work in bioengineering. This is my partner, Arius. He innovated the three-three-four telescope model from TIS.”
Knox’s hand lands on my lower back, lightly shoving me into the conversation. I blush at his description of me. Partner? Partner could mean anything. Did he mean work partner? Or partner partner? We never talked about making our relationship public.
Dr. Ritza observes me as if she just now noticed that I’m standing here. Surprisingly, I don’t see judgement in her sharp gaze. I see intrigue. I see someone looking upon me as if I’m the next piece of their puzzle.
“Perfect,” she mutters before tapping away vigorously on a tablet in her hands.
“P-perfect?” I question her, glancing at Knox briefly, but he looks just as confused.
“The both of you. Sit. Let's check your vitals,” Dr. Ritza strolls down a ramp and stops near two stools beside a counter covered with sterile medical supplies. Knox and I follow, unsure what’s happening as we sit side by side.
“What exactly is it you’re working on?” Knox asks while Dr. Ritza fumbles with things on the counter.
“To put it shortly, we have a new device that will use the electromagnetic waves in your brain and connect them to compatible wavelengths billions of lightyears away, therefore allowing you to see, or at least feel outer space without physically being there.”
Knox and I gawk at her words while she casually attaches blood pressure cuffs to both of us. That can’t be possible. All we need is a simple distraction to diverge everyone’s minds away from me and Knox hooking up in the elevator. We don’t need to alter our brain waves to do that.
Knox breaks away from my gaze to glare at Gomez. He’s probably thinking the same thing I am. This is too much for one measly little scandal. Gomez shrugs, shrinking back as Knox and I struggle to pick up our jaws from the floor.
“I’m sorry, you’re sending us to outer space? Without a spaceship?” Knox asks for confirmation while Dr. Ritza continues checking our vitals.
“Yes… If it works.”
“I told you this would be monumental,” Gomez defends himself.
“This sounds dangerous,” I comment, heart rate picking up at the thought of something going wrong.
“It is,” the Alpha admits, “But the chances of it working are admittedly slim. This will only be the first official run.”
“Why us?” Knox whispers, grasping the weight of this project.
“You’re a healthy, knowledgeable Alpha and you have a healthy, compatible Omega.
You’re also the same age with similar upbringings.
The brain chemistry between the two of you will be useful, and your shared knowledge of outer space will allow you both to come back with information that could reshape history as we know it.
Though, I’ll warn you that you might have different experiences.
An Omega’s brain waves function on a slightly different part of the spectrum than an Alpha’s. ”
My body shivers, perturbed by how much she knows about us and our chemistry.
I guess she saw the tabloids. Insecurely, I rub my neck where I hadn’t even considered hiding Knox’s bite marks.
Something tells me he had planned for that.
Dr. Ritza draws our blood before inserting each vial in an advanced machine.
“That will do for now,” she says, dismissing us and strolling away.
Two days later, we’re back early in the morning. She has us change into plain orange outfits, safety goggles, and head pieces that feel priceless with intricate wires, sensors, and buttons digging into my temple.
I breathe deeply as I meet Knox inside of a floor-to-ceiling cylindrical glass chamber where we’ll be tested for compatibility with the space machinery.
The spacecraft beds are officially titled Quantum Force Transfer Stations.
They lie intimidatingly in the center of the room, being prepped for our journey.
Standing in place beside me in the wide tube, Knox reaches for my hand.
“We don’t have to do this. We can step out any time,” he whispers as Dr. Ritza and her assistant fumble with a control panel on a platform below us.
The glass door to the cylinder slides shut, sealing us in with a puff of crisp air.
The entire thing is clear glass, but it still feels intimately private.
“It’s not just about covering the scandal anymore. I’m too curious to step out. We could go to space, Knox…together. That sounds like a dream.”
“It does. Do you actually think it’ll work?” he stares straight ahead, careful not to disturb the delicate electronics on his temple by moving too much. I do the same, swallowing down queasy excitement in my gut about our random circumstances.
“I don’t know, but to even just feel a part of outer space would be amazing. I’m going to pay attention to any star forms and dust clusters. Really try to gouge the structure of the universe beyond.”
Knox’s handsome reflection smiles in the cylinder wall. He squeezes my hand before dropping it as we brace for the tests to begin.
“Alright,” Dr. Ritza grabs our attention through the headset speakers. “The first test is visual. You’re going to see flashes in the corner of each eye. All you have to do is follow them with your peripherals, and the headset should pick up on it.”
“Got it,” I reply sharply, desperate to prove that Omegas deserve to be in these positions. Studying the unknown alongside Alphas and Betas.
Not much happens. My vision blurs and I become hyper focused on the mission at hand. My forehead sweats beneath the expensive headset device because I’m anxious of possibly messing up and not seeing the flashes. But then they begin and I smoothly do as she instructed.
It goes on for a few minutes. Left, right, upper left, lower right. Each little flash is like a star, sparkling with hidden mysteries of the boundless universe. My eyes follow like they can catch them and unveil their secrets.
Then it stops. I blink a few times and I’m back to staring at Dr. Ritza’s stern gaze beyond the cylinder. The migraine that follows makes me scrunch my face with pain. I groan through my teeth but force my eyes open to glance at Knox’s reflection. He appears unfazed as he comes back to awareness.
“It’s alright, Arius,” Dr. Ritza’s voice is calm in my ear. “You focused your vision a little sooner than you were supposed to. A common danger response for Omegas. That’s all. The headache should subside shortly.”
I take some deep breaths and let the wave of pain pass.
This is good. This is important for science.
At least everything worked as it should.
Dr. Ritza looks pleased with whatever results are displayed on her fancy tablet.
If all I have to suffer is a headache, I’d say that’s worth it to see the stars from galaxies away and potentially discover something new.
Dr. Ritza keeps us contained in the cylinder for a long time, but I hardly notice because I’m so fascinated with this whole process.
She runs many lucrative tests on our vision, hearing, memory, and reflexes.
By the time we’re done and stepping out of the cylinder, my stomach rumbles, but not as loud as Knox’s.
Despite the two of us being side by side for the last few hours, I plaster myself against him with a sigh of relief.
I feel like I can move freely now that we’re done with the priceless head pieces.
“How was it for you?” I ask Knox as an assistant guides us to a lounge where we can eat.
“Good. I didn’t feel a thing, but I was more worried about you than me anyway. Is your head better?”
“Yeah. It was a brief ache, but it went away like she said it would.”
We enter a fancy, beige seating area with modern plant decorations and a minimalist design. Relaxing together on a sofa, we wait for food to arrive. Instead, Gomez reaches us first with newfound enthusiasm.
“It’s working!” he announces in a singsong tone.
“What is? The quantum force transfer stations?” I perk up, but Gomez shakes his head and taps the screen of his work phone.
“The distraction!” he explains before flipping the screen around to show us a magazine cover displaying a picture of Knox and me in the cylinder. Knox leans forward, reading it carefully with his eyebrows drawn together.
“The first compatible Alpha and Omega to reach the stars,” he mumbles the caption before glancing up, “So, everyone will think that it was all for science?”
“That’s right,” Gomez declares proudly. “The public will believe that the chemistry between you two was necessary all along for this project to work! Which isn’t entirely a lie.”
“Gomez, you’re a genius!” I cheer along with him.
This is great news. The scandal is practically water under the bridge, and we still get to be a part of an amazing project. But when I glance at Knox again, he isn’t smiling with me.
“Thank you, Gomez,” he dismisses his assistant. As he retreats, I continue staring at Knox until he explains why he’s upset. It doesn’t take long for him to sigh through his nose and confess.
“This isn’t just for science. I don’t like hiding the fact that you’re mine.”
My stomach flutters at the declaration.
“Drama doesn’t stay hot forever. Everyone will mellow out eventually. Maybe once people get used to seeing me around you, they won’t glance twice once we…make things official.”
We’ve never discussed what we mean to each other after our raging pheromones subsided, but I’m pretty sure the answer is the same for the both of us.
Everything.
Knox means everything to me. But mating is a big commitment. One that could cost him his status and his job due to the outrage from others. It’s unheard of for such a prolific Alpha to settle with a defiant Omega nobody. Especially one who has already earned a bad reputation.
The door to the lounge slides open. I’m slightly surprised, and very unhappy to see Jaimie stroll in with the food cart.
His jaw is set tight, eyeing me like a cobra while remaining professional.
I stare him down while he settles platters of food in front of us, but a firm squeeze on my thigh draws my attention.
I glance at Knox, finding his eyes still on me and his hand possessively on my leg.
Jaimie pretends not to notice and makes a swift exit.
“Whether others know it or not, we’re together now,” Knox mutters.
A laugh escapes my throat.
“Are you asking or telling?”
Knox wraps his arms around me and places firm kisses on my mouth.
“Telling. You’re mine.
I press our foreheads together, basking in his Alpha scent for a minute until my stomach twists painfully. We need to eat something. Leaning away from each other, we observe the food. Immediately, I frown.
“The hell is this?” I grimace at the mushy, gray muck with steam rising from it. It hardly looks edible.
“Space food with necessary proteins and calories to keep us healthy for the transfer beds. It’s not as bad as it looks,” Knox explains, lifting a spoonful to my mouth. “I tried it back at BOW camp.”
I blow on it, expression timid as I accept the smallest nibble.
Chewing thoughtfully, it’s bland as hell as I swallow it down, but my stomach allows it.
My appetite has been a little weird since Dr. Ritza told me to quit my suppressants cold turkey.
I can’t be on them for the project. And I’m already feeling the effects because I haven’t actually taken them for days due to the elevator incident.
They’re in my dorm room and I’ve been staying at Knox’s house since the scandal.
He helps himself to the rest of the muck on the spoon before bringing another scoop to my lips.
“How long did she say we’d be on the beds for?” I ask, letting him continue feeding us both.
“Three to four weeks, but for us, it will feel like thirty minutes or so.”
“I hope it works…and that the side effects are minimal.”
We eat a few more bites in silence before Knox puts the spoon down and grips my chin firmly.
“What is it?” he reads my expression like a book, and I cave instantly with a sigh.
Now that we’re together again, our past has been haunting me. For seven years, I shut down any thoughts of Knox, letting the world convince me that I needed to straighten up and behave like a proper Omega. Now, it’s like I’m undoing everything I was taught. It’s a mindfuck.
“The last time I saw you, Knox…you were going to BOW camp, and I couldn’t go because I’m an Omega. Space equipment isn’t built for Omegas.”
“Well, it is now. This is different,” Knox guides his hand along my cheek.
“Dr. Ritza knows what she’s doing. And she knows what’s on the line if you get hurt.
We’re going to space, and then we’re coming right back down to earth.
That’s it. In and out. Realistically, we probably won’t see anything anyway.
Technology like this still has a far way to go, but let’s just be happy we’re doing it together. ”