The Cycles of Revelation Series
Artifact of the Dawn: Connected (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)
Episode 84: Ardyn and Jevan are now connected more closely than ever, and it will take some getting used to.
The next day Ardyn awoke in Jevan’s arms, much as he’d done for months. Yet, their new bond made for a deeper connection than he’d ever felt with anyone. While Jevan was still deep asleep, Ardyn could clearly feel his presence in his mind. Ardyn no longer felt alone, and it fulfilled a need he never realized he had.
Whatever it was about his physiology that caused their bond to be much deeper than it ever had been between two Medellans, neither of them was complaining. It had been a painful transition, and they were still navigating the newness of their bond, but the closeness they now shared was worth it.
Before Jevan even opened his eyes, Ardyn was aware of his slow climb into wakefulness. “Good morning,” he thought, kissing Jevan’s temple as he blinked awake. Ardyn didn’t even need to ask how Jevan was feeling. He just knew. It was still a little overwhelming, but not as much as it had been the day before.
Jevan pulled him into a tighter embrace. “Good morning yourself,” Jevan said with a fond chuckle. “I think you wore me out last night.”
Ardyn ducked his head into the crook of Jevan’s neck. “Sorry.”
Letting out a hearty laugh, Jevan hugged him fondly. “Don’t be sorry. It’s been a long while since I’ve had a night like that.”
“I never imagined having a connection like this with anyone,” Ardyn said, snuggling into Jevan’s embrace. “It will take time to get used to, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“Neither would I, dear heart,” Jevan said, conveying all the love he could through their bond.
After spending a lazy morning in bed, they finally rose and showered together before making their way down to the hospital wing. Amyra had made them promise to come by for a full scan after they’d completed the remainder of the bonding ritual and gotten some rest.
Amyra was in a meeting, so the receptionist escorted them to a small lounge that was equipped with a replicator. After replicating some tea, they settled in to wait, having nothing else planned until that evening. Keryth would have already sent one of his techs to fly their families back to their homes in Maala’naa and Yanen, knowing that Jevan and Ardyn were planning to visit soon.
While they waited, they practiced their new telepathic connection. While they appeared to be sitting quietly, they were having a boisterous discussion within their minds. The only outward sign were the occasional laughs they exchanged.
When someone finally escorted them to Amyra’s office, she smiled at them both warmly as they entered. “You’re both looking a lot better. How are you feeling?”
Pointing to the monitor he still wore, Ardyn asked. “Why don’t you tell us?”
Laughing, she shook her head in admonishment. “Your vitals are all good, but that doesn’t always tell me how you are.”
“Last night was perfect,” Jevan replied. “I think this new bond between us made the encounter even more pleasant.”
Ardyn agreed, despite feeling bashful talking about it. “It… yes, it did.”
“Good, I’m glad,” Amyra said, coming over to remove the monitors from each of them. “I’ve let Tamaryn know you’re here and he’s going to join us. Follow me, please. We’d like to run some additional scans to make sure everything in your systems has stabilized. I don’t want you two to run into any problems during your trek through the forest tomorrow.”
As they arrived in the exam room, Tamaryn was just beaming in. “By the looks of things, I take it the consummation was a success?”
Flattening his ears, Ardyn’s face heated, even as he nodded shyly.
“Since you were the first one to collapse yesterday, let’s get you on the exam bed first, Ardyn,” Amyra said, activating the equipment.
After they were both scanned, Tamaryn and Amyra spent a few moments analyzing the data. “The changes in both your genetic structures are remarkable. I’ve seen nothing like this before,” Tamaryn said.
“Thankfully, it doesn’t look like the changes are dangerous,” Amyra added. “Jevan, your telomeres are longer than we expected and are completely stable. The changes to Ardyn’s telomeres are what’s most remarkable. They have also lengthened because of your bonding. If our preliminary findings are correct, you could both live very long, healthy lives.”
“Can you tell how long we’ll live?” Ardyn asked.
“We’ll need to do a more in-depth analysis,” Tamaryn replied. “However, based on my previous research, you could both live well over two-hundred years if the new lengths of telomeres are accurate.”
Jevan whistled. “Over two hundred? I’ll be old and frail long before that, won’t I?”
Tamaryn shook his head. “Based on everything we know, your body doesn’t show signs of aging until your telomeres have deteriorated beyond a certain point. We’ll need to run additional tests at a few intervals to gauge the rate of deterioration they’re showing after your pair-bonding. That will give us a better idea of when you can expect to see significant signs of aging, and give us a more accurate prediction of your potential lifespan.”
“You seem really confident, but your analysis before didn’t predict this telepathic link that Jevan and I have developed,” Ardyn reminded them.
“Good point,” Amyra admitted. “We need to analyze all the data more closely. We clearly missed something, so we’ll need to go over everything again.”
“I’m planning to consult some techs in other scientific fields,” Tamaryn added. “This may take some time, but we’ll figure out what we missed. Now that the Medellan and Athla’naa people are no longer holding each other at arm’s length, others may eventually wish to pair-bond as you did. So, we’ll need to understand how and why this happened.”
“Is it safe for us to leave for Maala’naa tomorrow?” Jevan asked.
Amyra looked at Tamaryn with concern but ultimately nodded. “You have both stabilized and we’re not seeing the rapid changes in your genetic structure we were seeing yesterday. However, if you go, bring your communicators with you, and check in regularly. If anything goes wrong, contact someone immediately so we can come get you.”
Slipping his hand into Jevan’s, Ardyn nodded. “That’s easy. It hasn’t even been that long, but I don’t think I could imagine life without those communicators anymore.”
“They are an integral part of our lives,” Tamaryn agreed. “If I recall my history correctly, the development of long-range communication systems sped up the technological advancement in our society. Our world transformed from a mostly rural agrarian society to one centered on large urban centers and manufacturing.”
Crossing her arms, Amyra frowned. “That’s what eventually led to the rise of the Aria’asharra. They were concerned over the environmental effects of everything we were developing.”
“They weren’t entirely wrong,” Tamaryn admitted. “We could have caused the environmental collapse of our entire world if we hadn’t started paying attention.”
Leaning against the medical stasis bed, Amyra sighed. “I know, but their methods were too extreme. Look at what they did to us! All of us who were left to rot here are now stuck twelve hundred years in the future. Everyone we had ever known on Aria’naa is long gone.”
“Why does that matter?” Ardyn wondered. “Weren’t you leaving to live in a colony that would have taken you many years to travel to?”
“Yes, but we’d still have been able to communicate with them,” Amyra replied. “Not as quickly as we can now, but still faster than it would have taken us to travel. I was looking forward to sharing all our progress on Maal’dak Five with my family back home.”
“Well, we’re now part of your family, so you can share it with us,” Tamaryn said, giving her a little smile.
Ardyn smirked at their interaction. “I think they like each other.”
Giving him a look, Jevan agreed.
Excusing themselves, they headed for the door. Ardyn turned back and noticed Tamaryn had come a step closer to Amyra. “Thanks again. I’m sure we’ll see you both when we get back. We should get our packs and provisions together for tomorrow.”
Having been caught, Amyra and Tamaryn stepped apart, their ears flattened as they waved goodbye.
“Yeah, they definitely like each other,” Jevan thought with a laugh.