Joe drew in a sharp breath and woke up, startled by a large, writhing figure that could barely be seen through his blurred vision in the dark room. His whole body twitched strangely in shock, but he managed to keep himself from crying out. His pain faded as quickly as a fleeting dream when he discovered that the ominous shadow was none other than Maggie's head and the curls surrounding it. As usual, the girl woke up shortly before he did, and hovered quietly beside Joe, watching him sleep. It would be terrible, the man thought, if she wasn't so lovely.
Other than that, he wasn't thrilled about this rude awakening.
"Ugh...you can't do this anymore," he complained.
"What to do?" she asked innocently.
It hangs over me every morning like this. I know it makes you happy, but having a mini heart attack every time you wake up is no fun. "
"I apologize. I will work hard to change this habit."
"Please say."
He wasn't quite sure why this was happening. After she decided to "synchronize their sleep cycles" (Maggie
ese means "go to bed together") and within a few days, she started doing it. After sharing a VR pod with a girl for so long, Joe did so without reservation. Those first few weeks had eliminated any nervousness he might have had about physical contact and skin-to-skin contact, otherwise he would never have been sharing a bed with someone as lovely as Maggie.
That was all well and good, but Joe still felt a little uneasy. Like any normal man, he wants to indulge in other nighttime activities with cute girls by his side. The problem was that he didn't know how to pose the question tactfully. Maggie wanted to experience a variety of things at least once, so he had a feeling that if he asked, she would agree to do it. The first time was more or less a "free pass," but will there be a second? Or a third? What if Joe's performance was so underwhelming that Maggie decided she never wanted to act again?
The solution is simple. Joe just wanted to make sure their first time was special, that it wasn't just a "quick shout-out before lunch" or something like that. He felt the need to deepen their intimacy first, which is why he volunteered for a special outing. Maggie liked the idea so much that she immediately made the necessary arrangements. She had been looking forward to this trip and today was the big day. She packed a few essentials into a small duffel bag and smiled from ear to ear. Her good attitude was a contagious positivity that brought Joe to a smirk of his own.
He did notice one small detail of the girl's preparation, but he wasn't quite sure.
"Wait, you want to take down Azgod Kalar?" He raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go?"
"Something. Are you sure the resort allows pets?"
"……Wait a moment."
Maggie stared into the distance beyond the horizon, and Joe noticed her coiled hair twisting tighter for a moment.
“Their policy is that pets without fur are allowed,” she declared.
"Okay, that's fine. But snakes are cold-blooded, right? Is that okay in this heat?"
"...You know the word 'cold-blooded' is misleading in naming, right?" She narrowed her eyes.
"……What?"
"Cold-blooded. Adjective. Refers to animals whose body temperature changes with changes in their environment, such as fish and reptiles."
"Oh. Oh! No, I know. I mean, isn't it dangerous? Not overheating or anything?"
"Thank you for your concern, but it is not necessary. Round pythons have been genetically engineered to be more resilient than their original genome. As a result, they are able to withstand temperatures up to forty degrees Celsius, which is higher than our destination's average temperature of twenty-nine degrees Celsius Much higher."
"That's good. How about swimming? Can it swim?"
"Not sure. However, even if it can't, Azgod'Kala
You will also learn it quickly. It turns out that it is indeed a most learned specimen. Please allow me to demonstrate. "
The girl raised her hand and gave a thumbs up. In response, her pet snake crawled from the back of her neck to her shoulders. It coils the end of its small tail into the shape of a spring, tilts the tip of its tail upward, and then lifts its tail slightly. It took Joe a moment to realize that Azgodkara was imitating his master's gestures in his own way. It's neat, but it also has some confusing implications.
"You...teach snakes tricks?"
"Yes. Do you want to see more?"
"Well, of course."
Joe actually had something else to say, but Maggie was so enthusiastic and eager to show off the results of her pet's training that he couldn't say "no."
"As you just saw, it can reflect my approval or disapproval."
She gave another thumbs up, and then another, both the same as before.
"It also helps emphasize my recurring confusion about human irrationality."
The girl feigned confusion and cocked her head to the side, causing the snake to stand up and twist its body into the shape of a question mark.
"In the end, I taught it an alternative, albeit suboptimal, mode of transportation."
She held the little snake in her palm, raised it above her head, and then made a spinning motion with the fingers of her other hand. Then Azgod'Kala
Bite the tip of its tail with your mouth and flex its tiny muscles, turning it into a wheel instantly. It rolled down Maggie's arm, bumped lightly against her cheek, then formed a small pile on her shoulder. The girl smiled and rewarded the little one by gently stroking his spine. Azgodkara seemed to be enjoying it, as its body lost all tension and hung over her shoulders like a wet noodle.
Joe was so impressed by this that he completely forgot to ask the snake if it was capable of learning tricks in the first place.
After the two got up and walked around, the couple packed their bags and headed towards the train station. Their destination was at the other end of the three-hour subway ride. Joe immediately inserted himself into the ship's entertainment suite, while Maggie silently surveyed the scenery as they flew past, just like last time. However, unlike her trip to the big city Dave-157, this particular trip was more enlightening and entertaining for the girl. The second half of the supersonic train's route took her through a vast tropical jungle, untouched by growing industry. It is almost teeming with life, providing girls with an opportunity to observe Earth's flora and fauna in their natural habitat.
Admittedly, what I saw was nothing to write home about. Butte
po
D-4 was a planet that supported life but never developed its own ecosystem. When the British colonists first arrived, they brought Earth's creatures to thrive there as part of their efforts to terraform the planet. Most people would consider such flora and fauna to be bland, but Maggie is not most people. "She didn't have the opportunity to study the human home in depth, so the transplanted flora and fauna still intrigued her." If anything, she was a little too interested. She considered doing some minor damage so the subway would make an emergency stop, giving her more time to admire all the wildlife. Thankfully, she dismissed the idea almost immediately. She could always come back later and delve deeper into the overgrown area, which would satisfy her curiosity and not be worth the delay to her and Joe's plans.
Indeed, while it's fun to observe nature under a microscope, that's not the purpose of this outing. The couple will spend the next few days at Amelia-10, a huge resort spanning some 130 kilometers of beaches. A very popular tourist attraction throughout the Battang area, it's almost impossible to book a reservation for the next six months. Fortunately, the "diplomatic status" that comes with Maggie's citizenship gives her access to hotel rooms reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries. Of course, it's all on the government's bill.
Hotel rooms weren't a concern for the couple, though. As soon as they got off the train they made a mad dash for the beach. Well, let’s use an analogy. The train station was far away from the ocean, so no matter how hard they ran, there was no way they could get there. Still, they rushed to the taxi rank. It didn't take long before they came to the seemingly endless golden sandy beach and crystal clear water. The couple found some changing rooms and changed into swimsuits. In Maggie's case, she proudly brags about the red and black string bikini that Joe helped her pick out. The man was only wearing a pair of loose swimming trunks with a wave pattern and a white T-shirt. He was a little worried about getting too much sun, and for good reason. In the lower and middle tiers of big cities like Dave-156, natural light is extremely rare.
However, when Joe steps onto the beach, he is faced with another, more personal problem. That said, everyone on the beach looks like they jumped out of a movie. These women are beautiful, shapely, and dressed in gorgeous swimsuits that probably cost more than a 10-year space movie subscription. Of course, none of them can match Maggie's cuteness. It was the people who really bothered Joe. They were all tall, dark, handsome, muscular men. Compared to them, this guy looks like a bunch of sticks and rags pretending to be a man. He felt a little out of place, but he didn't want to let it bother him too much. Sure, those guys all looked great, but he had the best girl in the system, probably the universe.
"We?" He held out an arm to Maggie.
"Let's." She grabbed it happily.
"It's a little empty, though," the man said.
"In what way?" asked the girl, interrupted by her pet.
"I mean, this place is supposed to be booked for months, right? So why are there so few people out?"
"From what I observed, a significant number of tourists were either asleep or hungover from the party. They were unlikely to leave their hotel rooms before noon."
"Yeah. Well, I guess we have more room."
Things settled, the couple strode confidently across the beach in search of a good spot to claim the day as theirs. These words naturally attracted the attention of many people, most of whom were directed at Maggie. Some people blatantly took photos and made some videos, but no one really got close to the couple. If anything, they seemed to give way for some reason. Joe was a little confused, but grateful for the extra personal space. After watching too many romantic comedies, he was expecting some hunky young guy to show up and try to steal his girlfriend. He was actually a little sad that he was missing out on that cliche experience.
After a few minutes, a staff member approached them and earnestly asked them to move to another part of the beach. Apparently the couple entered the glitter without knowing it
s sa
d Cove, a semi-private and very exclusive stretch of beach. This explains the relatively small number of attendees, not to mention their attitudes. These are rich and powerful snobs who really don't want to breathe the same air as rabble-rousers like Joe and Maggie. The man awkwardly apologized to the waiter and left the area with the girl. He wanted to say it politely, but inside he was angry. Not just the sassy bastards, but the taxi driver who dropped them off here without saying a word. Joe was half-tempered to write a stern letter to his company, but decided to focus on what was important rather than dwell on it.
Anyway, after resolving their misunderstanding, the couple hopped on an intercity tram and headed to a much more relaxed and informal beach. The area is much denser with tourists, who are about the same class as Joe. Maggie is the more prominent one here, but at least the people here are much friendlier. The two of them finally found an empty umbrella to rent, and were later enthusiastically invited by another couple to play volleyball. But they had to say no. Joe because he didn't know "vola
ia
"Volleyball" is what it is, Maggie, because she's here to swim, not bounce a glowing inflatable cube in the dark.
That's what the girl did. She grabbed Joe's hand and almost dragged him into the water. Then, for Azgodkara's sake, she had to leave immediately. This little snake has no difficulty swimming, but it hates sea water. This is conveyed by squeezing Maggie's wrist like an exasperated bracelet. The girl found this development a bit of a shame, but she had to leave Azgod 'Kala
, sunbathing with the rest of their stuff, while she and Joe went swimming.
In fact, it would be more accurate to say that he went to find the sink. He struggled to stay afloat because he couldn't swim. He practiced in the virtual world, but reality, as usual, proved more difficult. Of course, he was in no danger of drowning. He had a swimming mask with a built-in respirator, not to mention Maggie was with him. The girl had no difficulty moving underwater or struggling to hold Joe's hand. At some point, the guy gives up trying to swim altogether, allowing Maggie to take him wherever she likes.
He somewhat regrets his decision when she drags him a few kilometers from the coast so she can observe marine wildlife up close. They were in so deep that a search and rescue drone showed up to pick them up, only to be chased away. The couple began their exploration of the ocean, which led them to discover more than fish and algae. They stumble upon an ocean floor littered with starship wreckage. The fragments are so old that they are almost invisible beneath the coral and algae growing around them. Maggie loves suspense, so she tries her best to figure out where the shard came from. Thank goodness Jo was there to control her enthusiasm or she would have dug up the whole place and destroyed the coral colony in her search for answers.
After thoroughly examining the wreckage, the girl came to a somewhat disappointing conclusion. There are no buried treasures or ancient secrets to uncover. In fact, there was no crash at all. All these bits and pieces on that early freighter model were retired when it got too old. During the terraforming process two centuries ago, some of its remains were placed in the ocean as artificial reefs. It's a strange way of recycling and repurposing outdated technology and materials. Maggie found the topic mildly interesting, though nothing more exciting than the wrecked space pirate fleet she low-key hoped to find.
Joe, on the other hand, couldn't care less about that crap. He watched with rapt attention as the pale-skinned beauty sailed gracefully through the gentle currents, dilute sunlight dancing around her. It's a whole new way to enjoy and appreciate Maggie's cuteness. She took his breath away again. Literally. Actually, no. That's his mask. His girlfriend dragged him to about 20 meters below the surface, which is beyond the recommended depth for the rebreather. This inexpensive device is designed for novice swimmers just off the coast, rather than on extended dives to places like coral reefs. It could only last so long before it failed completely, causing Joe to suddenly become short of breath.
Joe managed to stay calm and tugged hard on the arm Maggie was using to drag him away. When she turned her attention back to him and noticed that there were no bubbles coming out of his mask, she immediately understood the problem. She put her other hand on Joe's face and concentrated for a moment. With a barely audible click, she fixed the ventilator and restored it to its oxygen-producing function.
"Ah, thank you. I knew I should have found a better model," he complained.
There was no way his voice could reach Maggie underwater, but that didn't stop her from hearing him. She pretended to be a little worried and said a few words to him bluntly.
"The failure was mine. I should have noticed the malfunction sooner."
"It's okay, it's okay. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that you fixed it so easily."
"Who are you? How did you get here?"
"I...kind of wish you could share your breath with me. Mouth to mouth, you know?"
This was yet another movie cliche that Joe loved so much that he wanted to try it out in real life. Granted, he didn't know how the hell the girl breathed. She has no equipment and has not sprouted a set of gills. However, her breasts are still expanding and contracting, and occasionally bubbles are coming out of her nostrils, so there must be air circulation going on.
"We can still do that if you want," she said with a coy smile.
"Yes, please."
After a moment, the mask came off and their lips closed. Joe couldn't help but close his eyes as Maggie's heat filled his entire body. He even put his arms around her, pulling her close, prompting her to return the hug. Then they were rudely interrupted by the exploding search and rescue drone. The human-sized submersible robot picked up a malfunction signal from its mask and came to its aid. This seemed to make Maggie angrier than Joe, because of how she blew up his little electronic brain with a mean look.
The man questioned whether this was really necessary. Then his girlfriend pulled him in to redo the underwater kiss, which convinced him that, yes, it was real. This time, their embrace lasted for nearly ten minutes until both were satisfied. Maggie repairs the emergency response device and drags Joe back to the surface. They started walking toward land, although it was obvious that the guy's head was somewhere in the clouds. It wasn't until they returned to shore and reunited with Azgod Kalal that he finally cheered up.
"Is it really okay to use your brainpower like that?" he asked. "Aren't you tired anymore?"
"Usually, yes. However, I specifically took three days off," she replied cheerfully.
"Do you have a holiday?" he asked flatly.
"Of course, Joe. I am now an employee of the Third British Empire. As such, I have certain rights and privileges, which go along with my responsibilities. One of them is to temporarily suspend my computational work at my own discretion. I have fully Took advantage of this option so I could fully dedicate myself to this trip.”
"I get it. I gotta say, it's been worth it so far."
"indeed."
"Now, let's see if I can get a tan without getting scorched?"
"..."
"That's a metaphor, Maggie." He sensed her confusion.
"I know. I was just wondering why you thought increasing melanin was necessary."
"Oh, nothing, really. It's just something you do when you go to the beach."
"I understand. In this case, I will work hard with you."
Joe tried to imagine what Maggie would look like if her skin, instead of blindingly white, was golden. Not that appealing.
"I don't think you look good like that."
"I can always restore the ship to its default state later," she noted.
"So...oh, you just want to see if you can get a tan?"
"Yes."
"But it's just sunbathing. Is it really that important?"
Joe knew better than to question Maggie's strange motives, but in this case, he couldn't help himself. He liked her as she was and felt that the change in skin color would somehow taint his impression of her. It was a stupid and selfish thought, but he liked to think he would be allowed to do it occasionally.
"This is a valuable experiment for my ongoing research into the human condition."
In fact, as inconsequential as it may seem, the tanning process could reveal the secrets that helped Maggie perfect her mostly human veins. In fact, she had been trying since she first met Joe. The result of her first attempt was that her body was approximately 71% human, which she later increased to 93%. However, her goal is not 100%. Conjuring up a complete human body was easy for her. The problem with this is that if she poured her immense consciousness and mental power into it, such a vessel would instantly shatter. At the same time, she believes it's important to maximize consistency with her streamers. The solution proposed by The Observer Maglaslak is to use a modified human body that can withstand this pressure.
This was easier said than done, as genetics was not an area Maggie was particularly interested in or particularly good at. She needs to decipher the mysteries of the human genome, hence why seemingly innocuous experiments like tanning are necessary. Sure, she might have found these things online, but, as usual, that takes away the fun of discovering things on her own. She has made great progress since then and has set a personal goal to increase her ship's humanity rating to 95% without compromising its integrity. However, this increase serves no real purpose and is mainly for Maggie to get a high score.
Joe didn't know anything about it, and he didn't want to know the details. At her insistence, he shrugged, said, "Okay," and that was that. They spend most of their time bathing in sea water and sunlight, but their skin color shows no noticeable change. By night, Joe was exhausted. He would have liked to use his brain on Maggie and enhance their intimacy, but the underwater drama left him exhausted, and he passed out once they entered the hotel room.
The couple spent the remaining two days on the beach, much like the first, except less diving and more mindless splashing in the shallows. They also participated in a number of other location-appropriate activities, such as riding a rocket banana boat, playing water sports, and eating too much seafood. Maggie also entered some random ocean trivia competition, which she ended up being disqualified from because she was so bad at it. She was a little disappointed, but not surprised. All the official competitions she attempted to enter ended this way because she didn't agree with the idea of "holding back." "Well, except for the community baking competition a few weeks ago. She got kicked out of that shop because anyone who ate her handmade starberry cupcakes heard strange noises, whispers that they couldn't understand. if.
Another remarkable thing happened on the third day. Maggie built what she called a sandcastle. However, the structures she carved had some strange, seemingly impossible geometries that made Joe's brain hurt a little. He had a feeling there was some kind of space magic involved, despite the girl's repeated assurances otherwise. All onlookers who saw it agreed with the man that there was something wrong with that thing. The military apparently agreed, because Agent Johnson, wearing a camouflage-patterned one-piece swimsuit, appeared in front of the statue with a sour look on his face, crushed the statue with his foot, and left without saying a word. Joe was a little surprised by her sudden appearance since she was supposed to stay with Dave-156, but he knew better than to question it.
Aside from these minor annoyances, the couple had a great time before heading home that evening. Joe was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to take their relationship to the next level like he wanted to, but regardless, he's happy with how things turned out. He left Amelia 10 feeling a little closer to Maggie, a clear sign of progress. It would be a while before he had the courage to take that big step in the bedroom, but that weekend at the beach was a good start.
However, this brief vacation had an unfortunate, unexpected side effect. Several people took photos and videos of the beautiful girl in a black and red bikini without her knowledge or consent and spread them online. It happens all the time, but this particular batch of images was picked by an automated algorithm belonging to some authority. The message circulated among the stars for about a week, before Maggie received a scathing letter.
This is on behalf of Melinda Sparkstal (Meli), the heroine of "First Love"
da Spa
klesta
) issued a cease and desist order, Sparkstar's image rights were "stolen" by her.
