Freda walked downstairs to the parking lot with Sysko's keys in her hand and stared at his car. The cherry red convertible sat in a parking spot like an omen of bad fortune. She sighed deeply, heaving her shoulders. It wasn't that she didn't look forward to driving his car, the exact opposite was true. But accepting the offering from the alien felt one step closer to giving in to his ludicrous demands. She clicked the button to unlock the car and climbed behind the wheel, sliding into the soft leather seat. It was the most comfortable vehicle she had ever sat in. As she turned the key in the ignition and heard the engine come to life, she let out a deep breath and backed out of her parking place. The car handled like a dream as she pulled onto the road on her way to MIT.

As she navigated the streets of Boston, she decided that Sysko wasn't such a bad guy. In fact, he was actually pretty nice. He’d been nothing but helpful to her and her sister, but what she disliked most was that he was an alien invader who wanted to turn her into one of his kind. Why did the Draxos believe that they could just claim humans willy-nilly and turn them into dragons? Humans were meant to be human. That's all there was to it. She was born on this planet. She grew up here and she planned to die here. Not on some distant, alien world across the galaxy. But as she pulled up in front of the robotics laboratory, she thought for a moment about what it would be like to travel through the stars as Sysko's bride and see all that the galaxy had to offer.

Since the cyborgs had attacked Earth, humanity could never go back to sleep and forget that there were other lifeforms in the universe. From now on, humans would always know that aliens existed and that meant things would change for better or worse. Everyone seemed convinced that the Draxos were here to help, unlike the cyborgs of the Archon Empire.

When Freda came to the front door of the building, she found a sign on the door that read, “closed until further notice.” She growled and gritted her teeth. The school had shut down and she had not been informed. What ever happened to going on with business as usual? She sat down on the steps in despair, rested her elbows on her knees, and her chin in her hand. What was she going to do now? She’d already missed a week of school and work on her dissertation. That's when she heard the door behind her swing open. Dr. Higgins walked out and put his hand on her shoulder.

“What are you doing here, Freda?” he asked.

“I came to continue work on my project, and I needed to get out of the house. Everything is so crazy. I just want a little bit of normalcy. When is the school opening back up again?”

“The administration is giving it another week for repairs and clean up. But faculty is allowed inside. I can let you in if you want.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” she said, standing.

She grabbed her backpack, slid it over her shoulder, and followed Dr. Higgins inside. He seemed to have a strange tick she’d never noticed before. Probably still shell shocked from the attack, she thought. Inside, the smell of the old building hit her nose and it immediately made her relax. A smile curved on her lips as they walked into the robotics lab and she found her project sitting where she had left it last. The broken computer parts had been cleaned up and replaced and everything looked tidy and normal. She placed her backpack in her locker, grabbed a pair of goggles and a lab coat, and went to work. Professor Higgins returned to his office to do some administrative tasks and she was left with her robots and artificial intelligence in the laboratory.

She ran a diagnostic screening on her robot and then continued to work from where she’d left off on the programming. It felt as if it had been forever since she had worked on her project. After several hours of diligent focus on her AI program she uploaded it into her robot and tested the connections. All of its systems were running smoothly and she booted up the robot and brought it to life.

“Good afternoon,” she said to the robot.

“Good afternoon,” it said in a clipped voice.

Freda smiled with glee that her robot had responded. She had been working on this project for over a year. As she sat in the lab and conversed with her machine, she felt like she was finally getting somewhere. After running a final systems check, she told her robot good night and turned off the interface. When she looked at her watch, she realized that it was already five o'clock and she had agreed to meet Sysko for a date at six.

“Crap,” she muttered as she pulled off her lab coat and goggles on her way out. She grabbed her backpack and hurried down the hall, out the door, down the stairs, and hopped into Sysko's convertible before hurrying home. When she got to her apartment, she found Lottie sitting on the couch, eating cereal and watching the latest news about the Draxos on television.

“Don't you ever get tired of learning about those dragons?”

“No,” Lottie said. “It's my new obsession.”

Lottie watched the endless stream of Draxos propaganda on television, and Freda grumbled as she held her backpack to her chest. She glanced at her watch and noticed that she only had half an hour to get ready for this ridiculous date with Sysko. She dropped her backpack on the floor and went to her bedroom.

Freda quickly changed into the one dress she owned, a simple black knee-length tea dress that she’d worn to her college graduation. She brushed out her long brown hair and applied an extra coat of makeup. Instead of the usual colorless lip-gloss she wore, she decided to apply the red lipstick she used on rare occasions. After blotting the lipstick to a reasonable shade, she took one last look at herself in the mirror and left the bathroom. She slipped into a pair of pumps that she never wore because they pinched her feet, but made her legs look great, and walked down the hallway into the living room. Lottie almost dropped her second bowl of cereal when she saw Freda. Instead, she sputtered and choked as she sat her bowl on the table and stood.

“Wow!” Lottie spurted as she tried to gulp down her last bite. “You look amazing.”

“I'm going through a lot of trouble for this date,” Freda said grumpily.

“That's like the one nice outfit you even own, isn’t it?” Lottie said. “How hard was it to put that on and apply some red lipstick.”

“Hard enough,” Freda said looking at her watch. “Mr. Wonderful should be here any minute.”

“I believe it’s Admiral Wonderful,” Lottie corrected.

There was a knock at the door and Freda and Lottie looked at each other.

“That must be Admiral Wonderful now,” Freda said walking to the door.

Lottie squealed like the kid she was as Freda pulled open the door. She found Sysko standing on the other side with a cheesy grin, a tailored suit, and a bouquet of red roses. This time he had added a heart-shaped box of chocolates to his dating repertoire. He shoved it all into her hands and she accepted it as he seemed to congratulate himself with that continued cheesy grin.

“I have come to escort you on our courtship ritual date,” Sysko intoned.

Freda took the flowers and chocolates and passed them to Lottie who was waiting on the other side of the door. Her sister bounced up and down like she needed to pee, squealing and gritting her teeth with excitement.

“I think my sister wants to go out with you more than I do,” Freda said. “Is there any way we could trade?”

“Trade? My fated mate for her sister? Don't be absurd,” Sysko said, his face falling and his eyes drawing together to cause a deep crease between his brows.

“I just thought I'd give it a shot,” Freda said. “I have a lot to do and my sister has nothing to do except sit around and watch Draxos infomercials.”

“You are my one and only mate,” Sysko said, placing his hand on his heart. Or at least on what Freda assumed was his heart. She didn't know that much about Draxos anatomy.

Sysko extended his elbow in offering to Freda.

“Shall we?” he asked, his grin returning.

“Sure, let's go,” she said, taking his arm.

“So did you buy a new Porsche or did you come in your spaceship?”

“I drove my speeder. But we should take the car to the restaurant. I don't think they have spaceship parking,” Sysko said as they walked down the hall.

They took the stairs to the main floor and exited the building. Freda handed Sysko the keys to let him drive his own vehicle. It only seemed fitting since he did own the thing. She wasn't really sure how she felt about having his car parked in front of her building. It wasn't a very good part of town, and those kinds of vehicles were not common in the area. She was constantly afraid that the hubcaps would be removed or someone would steal the hood ornament. But when they got to the car, it was in perfect condition.

“Human courtship ritual,” he announced. “I am opening your door for you.”

“Right,” she said muttered, sliding into the seat.

He closed the door behind her and went around to the driver’s side. He looked at her with that cheesy grin as he sat behind the steering wheel and turned the key in the ignition.

“I'm taking you to Dominic’s,” he said. “A five-star restaurant in the city. I've heard it's impossible to get reservations, but I was able to get one for tonight.”

“Impressive. Do you do that for all of your human dates?”

“I have never had a date with a human. You are my one and only, Freda,” he said.

Sysko parked in the lot behind Dominic’s, arriving at her door before she could even blink. These Draxos were quick, even in their bipedal form. He offered her his hand and she stepped out of the vehicle.

“May I say that you look lovely this evening,” he said, offering her his arm again.

She slid her hand through his elbow and muttered a muffled, “Thank you,” as they walked across the lot and entered the building.

The atmosphere in Dominic’s was 100% upscale. It smelled of garlic, baguettes, and steak. The tinkling of conversation and music filled her ears. Dominic’s was a classic Italian bistro mixed with modern contemporary dining. There was track lighting in a snakelike pattern across the ceiling and the walls were all made of rustic brick. The maître d' showed them to a private table in a corner with a candle burning near a blooming bouquet of yellow roses.

“May I suggest tonight specials?” the maître d' started.

He continued telling them the day’s specials and just hearing about the fantastic food made Freda's stomach grumble. She was a college student, living on a college student budget and most of the time she ate her own cooking. Her mother had taught her to cook well, but sometimes it was nice to be treated to someone else's efforts. Especially if that someone else was a chef in a five-star restaurant.

“I will have the braciola,” she said.

“I will have the same,” Sysko said, handing the waiter the menus. “And your finest bottle of wine.”

“Very good,” the maître d' said, taking down their order. “The sommelier will be right with you.”

The sommelier returned with their bottle and poured their glasses. Freda took a sip of the Merlot and the flavor rolled over her tongue. It was nutty with slightly leathery undertones. She was not of big fan of dressing up in fancy clothes, but she was a fan of red wine, and the treat of such a vintage was something she definitely appreciated.

“To our first date,” Sysko said, holding his wineglass up to her as if he wanted to toast.

She clinked her glass tentatively against his and he smiled with satisfaction.

“Human courtship ritual, toasting to our love,” he said.

“Hold your horses there, buddy,” she said with a chuckle. “Nobody said we were in love. This is our first date. Remember?”

“It is I who loves you, Freda Hayes,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember. You're in a thrall. I'm the love of your life, etc., etc.,” she said, taking a long sip of wine this time.

She hoped that the wine would calm her down and loosen her up for the date. She’d promised to give Sysko a chance, but sometimes he just seemed like an extremely tall, extremely well built, dork.

“I have traveled across space, fighting the cyborgs with the hopes of saving my people and the people of the galaxy. In all of that time, I have hoped that someday my fated mate would reveal herself to me. But never did I imagine that she would be so beautiful, so intelligent, or as brave as you, my dear Freda,” he intoned with his hand on his heart.

Freda resisted rolling her eyes. He said some really sweet things. It made her want to believe him.

“So, you’re fighting the cyborgs because they attacked your people five hundred years ago, right?”

“That is approximately correct,” he said.

“Approximately?”

“A Draxos cycle is not exactly a human year.”

“I see.”

“But yes, the Draxos were attacked approximately five hundred human years ago with a virus that sickened our entire population. A good portion of our females died and ever since then the birth rate of female dragons have declined every cycle until now there are almost none.”

“But you have a sister, right?” she asked. “Lottie told me.”

“I do. My sister Joon is a brilliant scientist, working on a cure for the plague.”

“She sounds like an interesting woman,” Freda said.

“My sister is a determined scientist. She’s a lot like you.”