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This wasn't what he'd hoped for. Alex thought as he walked away from Tristan working. He'd wanted to magically get his Tristan back. But that hadn't been realistic. He paused and turned to watch Tristan pick up a stone, move it next to the one he'd already placed and move on to the next. There was something automated about his movement, as if his mind had shut down, and a program was running the body. He knew that wasn't true since even as he watched Tristan snapped words to someone who wasn't there.

The priestess had left soon after Tristan had begun working as if he was another one of her people. She had no idea what damage an unsupervised Tristan could cause, but after watching him for twenty minutes, during which Tristan had done nothing other than move one stone from where he found it on the ground to a place along the wall, Alex had had to walk away.

He couldn't help. The priestess had made that clear. Alex couldn't do the work and expect the boon to be granted to Tristan. He was the one bound by the promise; he had to work for the reward. It didn't matter Alex was the one who wanted the bound broken; the person affected needed to do the work. After all, she'd said so calmly Alex had almost planted a knife in her heart, what if Tristan didn't want the be released from the promise? What if he was happy as he was?

They'd noticed him placing stones along the foundation then, and that had answered the question, so she'd gone back inside.

He looked in the hover. Jacoby was still at the control. Looking straight at head in that way people on too much Stim tended to, thinking they were looking at what was there when instead they were lost in thoughts racing so face they couldn't understand them. It was why it wasn't a good idea to just sit down when Stimmed up; you needed to keep moving, like Tristan had done.

"Jacoby."

The man started and looked around. "Sorry, I was..." he motioned to the blank screens "it's the Stim."

"I know. Go to bed."

"Why? Aren't we heading out soon?"

Alex shook his head. "This is going to take longer than planned." He gave Jacoby a rundown, had to repeat it when the man spaced out. "Just do get some sleep, if is going to be a few days, at least."

"It sounds to me like she's conning you. Getting him to do work without having to pay for it."

Alex chuckled. "It's just stones stacked on top of one another, not exactly something that's going to survive the elements." Then again, Tristan was the one doing the work, normally he did high quality work. But there was no way to know in his current state. "So no I doubt she's looking for free labor. Do to sleep."

Jacoby headed to the back where the bunk bed was. The extra bed were each couches on the side that reformed.

"Take the top one," he said as Jacoby went to sit on the bottom bunk.

"I thought that was yours."

"Just take it. I'm tired of having to climb up there." Jacoby didn't argue.

Alex sat and did a check of the hover's system. Then tried to use it to connect to the network, but that had been disabled to keep the corporation form tracking the stolen hover. He decided on some sleep too. The trip here hadn't been the most restful. Tristan hadn't slept much, spending most of his time in the bed huddled and sometimes crying.

Alex lied down then turned on his side to bury his face in the pillow and breathe in Tristan's smell. He hugged the pillow tightly keeping his nose in it. He shoved the pain down.

A few days, he told himself. A few days and this would be over. Tristan would be back and Alex would be.... He shoved the emotions down. It would be over that was the important thing. He just had to keep it together for a few days and then Tristan would be back.

When he woke up, it was dark.

He looked outside, but there were no lights. He could see some in the town, but nothing here. The House was completely dark. Samalians didn't need as much light as humans did. He knew that from all the times Tristan had complained about Alex needing to depend on light enhancing goggles. He'd suggested getting visual implants, but Tristan had just looked at him then shaken his head.

Tristan hadn't come back to the hover and he couldn't see where he might be. The planet's satellite wasn't up at the moment. He tried to remember its name, but couldn't. He'd read about it in his research on Samalian's myths, something about a son being exiled. He could check, he had the data chip in his pack, but it wasn't something needed at the moment.

He considered going back inside. He could do a sensor sweep. The hover didn't have anything powerful, but it would be enough to find Tristan, unless he'd wandered off to the forest. If he had, then they might never find him. Even in his current state Alex had no doubt the Samalian could lose himself there and never need to return.

But he didn't. If Tristan had vanished, he didn't want to know. If he was going to be alone again, he wanted to make believe for a while longer he wouldn't. And it was so quiet out here. Like around Tristan's house, with only the forest and the distant animals for occasional sounds.

He got back in and headed back to the bed before he became too morose. A few more days and he wouldn't have to worry about any of this.

* * * * *

He woke to the sound of people talking. Not close, he quickly worked out, but many. He exited the hover and what might have been the entire population of the town was entering the House. How would they all fit in there? Would some of them stand on each other's shoulders? Not his problem, he reminded himself. Tristan was back at work although now he had to go further to find stones.

With nothing else to do Alex went for a run. To the town, then the edge of the forest and back to the hover. The Temple was quiet again, and in the distance he could see motion in the town, so whatever service had gone on, was done. He took two knives and practiced.

At some point, Jacoby looked out the door, bleary eyed, made a face at him and when back inside. Later the Priestess left her small cabin halfway between the House and the forest.

"I wish you a fruitful day," she said, watching him move.

He thought about just ignoring her. Seeing her brought back the waiting he had to do. That he wasn't in Tristan's life right now. That they weren't home, wherever that would be now. But his grandmother's voice sounded in his head, pleasant, even when she was pointing out he did something wrong. 'Politeness is free, Alex. It costs you nothing to return it.'

He pushed the feeling remembering her brought back. He hadn't contacted her in a long time. For her protection, he told himself.

He paused and faced her. "Morning," he answered. "Do you know where he slept?" he indicated Tristan.

She looked. "I am not aware he has slept. He was still working when I went to bed."

Alex nodded. Hopefully that was a sign of Tristan's determination of getting this done as fast as possible. He'd seen him work through the night when he'd been captivated by some new machine he'd acquired.

"Do you know if he's eaten?"

"Unless he hunted during the night, not that I am aware of."

"I'll go make sure he eats." He paused, about to reenter the hover. "Do you have a service every day?"

"Service? Ah, you mean a gathering. Yes, every morning we gather to thank the Source for the opportunity this new day brings. You can join us, if you wish. The source is there for all."

"That's okay. I don't believe in this stuff."

She canted her head. "Truly?"

Alex shrugged and went in to grab a handful of nutrient bars.

Tristan was working, stacking stones. They were now four rows high, from the wall to where the Defender needed to go. Tristan had even started the walls that marked the small alcove. It was a lot of work to be done in the dark, Alex thought, but it didn't all look stable.

"Did you eat anything?"

"I'm working."

"Tristan, you need to eat."

"Once I'm done."

"Tristan, you--"

"Will you shut up and let me work!"

Alex took a step back in reflex at the anger in the tone, but Tristan wasn't looking at him. He was glaring in the opposite direction. At nothing.

"I don't care! Unless you're going to start helping just shut up!"

Alex placed the bars on the ground by the House's wall for Tristan to find when he got back there and left him to work and argue with his dead father.

A few days, he reminded himself. Just a few days,.

* * * * *

Life was so boring, Alex quickly realized. How did normal people do this, day in day out, this not having anything to do? How had he ever lived this way? Well, he hadn't. He'd always had things to do. A computer and the network, coercion jobs. Even back when he was a corporate lackey, when he was home, he'd do some on his own time to practice.

He wished he could do that here. He thought as he walked through the town, but as far as he could hear, there were no computers here. Well, there had been the weather station, and they did have farming equipment, but the one wasn't anywhere as powerful as he needed to do even the simplest of coercion, and the others weren't connected to the network which told him they might not have been acquired legally.

Didn't anyone here have an actual computer? What did they do all day long?

That was his boredom talking. They worked. They tended the field, looked over their herd of animals. Those in the town prepared food, worked leather and hides. And didn't wear any clothing. That had been a bit of a shock. Although a pleasant one. They didn't bother covering themselves when they saw him, which told him that the priestess and her guards had dressed for his benefit.

Maybe he could go running naked next time. He missed that. Just him and Tristan, running in the woods around his property. The things he'd imagined they could do there those first few weeks.

He shoved the memories away. That was part of a life that wasn't even real. Him thinking he'd get a kind and loving Tristan. It wasn't who he was. He'd learned to accept that in time.

Nothing.

Not one computer connected to the planetary network. This town might as well be on a deserted planet for all the connectivity it had.

He headed back to the hover to find Jacoby had removed some panels and taken out tools. "Afternoon," the man said.

"What's wrong with the hover?"

"Nothing, as far as I know. I just need something to do while we wait for Tech to be done."

"His name is Tristan. You need to get use to that."

"I know him as Tech. The town knows him as Tech. When we get back he's going to go by that name again, so why bother?"

Alex looked at the man. Just how delusional could he get? And then reminded himself that he had been far more delusional than that, seeing only caring when Tristan hadn't beaten him up as badly as he could have. That being forced to have sex was a sign he cared because he'd kissed the back of his neck. He couldn't judge, but Jacoby was in for a major disappointment when Tristan was back to himself.

"So you're just going to take it apart and rebuild it?"

"I'm going to give it a proper adjustment. By the look of things no one fixed it up since this thing was taking out of the manufacturer's factory. Had a nice walk?"

"A boring one. Not one computer I can use here. Nothing. How do people live without the network?" Alex climbed on the roof of the hover and looked at the fields where he could see the animals and people. He went in to grab binoculars and watched them work.

They were naked, as was everyone else. And were divided into two groups. One stayed at the edge of the herd while the other did the actual herding. He couldn't hear them but there was clearly a communication system between the groups.

The group herding was composed of men, Alex smiled as he watched them. He'd thought that Tristan's ease with nudity had been a Tristan thing, but maybe it was a Samalian one. He stopped watching looked over his shoulder at Tristan. The longing hit him so hard that he had trouble shutting it down.

He went back to watching the herders and caught a couple step away, talking, head close. They moved out of sight from the others, but not from Alex's and began--okay, he didn't need to see that. Considering how long it had been since he'd had sex, he had no interest in watching others do it.

He focused on the herds again, and noticed one of them drop to all fours while running, but before he could question it, a high pitch sound came in the distance. He quickly found it. A hover approaching. Too far to make out details, but the herder had heard it too, and they were scrambling to herd the animals toward the town.

Everything about this scream 'bad thing' to Alex.