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It was completely dark outside the compound. It could have been 11:00 PM or it could have been 3:00 in the morning. None of this mattered, however, to the two men in the compound. One was working diligently with machines and the other was filling in paperwork, or at least trying to make it look this way while he took a few small naps. He was tired enough that he couldn't help it. When Sips finally stirred awake and spilled hot coffee for the third time, he decided it was late enough. He simply couldn’t get anything done being this tired. He cleared his throat, and Sjin looked over, eyes mostly alive and attentive, with just a touch of tired in them. Sips smiled at this. The man was just so utterly devoted to helping Sips create the world’s best dirt, and… Sips’ face darkened a little. His memory always seemed foggy here. Frankly, it seemed more likely that his memory was accurate, but he didn’t believe himself. It just didn’t make sense. He and Sjin had just been in the world, messing about, and then… They showed up. Everything changed. The spaceman, the dwarf, and the scientist. They united all different people into one central world… Somehow. And, from the day that happened until now, Sjin had never left Sips’s side.
Sips realized he had kept Sjin waiting there, staring at Sips, expecting a command. Sips cleared his throat and began again.
“It’s… It’s getting dark out, Sjin.”
“It’s been dark for a while, Sips,” replied the man.
“Well, yes, but… I think we’ve done enough work for today. I’m so tired I can’t do any more. So… I might be heading to the compound dormitories. I suggest you go to bed as well. You’ve done a lot today, from the morning until the morning again, and… You’ve earned some sleep. Frankly, so have I.”
“Aww, Sips! We can get so much more done! If we work ‘till tomorrow evening, we can finish! Honestly finish! We can pull the lever and everything, and the dirt will ship out by Christmas Day!”
“Sjin,” Sips said, defeated. He had been in this same situation many nights… Well, early mornings, technically. “It will be a while before we finish. 'Honestly finish.' It will go faster, though, if we work at maximum productivity and efficiency. The only way to do that is to get three things: Enough food, enough water, and enough sleep. So… Honestly, Sjin. When I see you like this… It-It worries me, ok?”
“Oh, so Sips finally admits that he cares about poor ol’ Sjin. I’ve only been waiting for-Like, since we started messing about, before we were even trying to make Sips Co. Premium Dirt.”
“Shut up,” he said, his face going a little pink. “Anyways,” he continued. “It isn’t Sips Co… If you promise me that you’ll continue to give 1000% in the day, but you’ll stay healthy.... If you eat when you’re hungry, drink when you’re thirsty, and... Sleep, Sjin. Sleep when you’re tired…Then it will be Sjips Co. again, like it was for a mere few days… Forever. As long as you hold up your end of the deal. I’m giving you an incentive to take care of yourself because… As much as I deny it, and as much as I act like I’ve got a heart of steel… As much as I act like all I care about is business, money, and… The Sips Co. motto of Big Money, Big Women, Big Fun, I… I do care about you. You know that, right?”
“I…” stuttered Sjin.
“Please, Sjin. Take care of yourself. For… For me. Okay?”
“I’ll-I’ll try to, Sips,” he said, smiling a little.
“Thank you,” replied Sips, having broken into a small grin. “You head to the dormitories, I’ll be there in about ten minutes. I’m going to get some fresh air.”
“OK. See you then, Sips.” said Sjin, walking out into the cold night air. Sips followed after a few minutes and stood in the darkness, staring up at the Moon, one tiny light amidst a sea of darkness, chaos, and confusion.
After a few minutes, Sips felt a hand on his shoulder, and heard the familiar voice of Xephos.
“It won’t last forever, you know,” he said. “I can only do so much to delay the inevitable. Eventually, he’ll figure it all out.”
“I know,” said Sips.
“You’ll need to tell him.”
“Today isn’t that day, Xephos.”
“Then when will it be that day? You can't keep putting it off. He will find out. Why can't you tell him, anyways? What is it, Sips? Afraid he’ll be mad? He’ll be even angrier if he finds out himself.”
“It’s not that… It’s… I spun this company, this lie, all so he’d be busy, all so he’d… Stay. As much as I feel guilty, I was correct. He would leave if he knew we were finished here.”
“But you couldn’t convince him all on your own. So when we asked you to help build the Jaffa Factory, that’s why you agreed, wasn’t it?”
“You knew that already. Don’t try to guilt-trip me.”
“Guilt-trip you? If I wanted to guilt-trip you, I would tell you that, when you told me to help you with Sjin, I… You know what I do? I take him to YogLabs, and I-”
“No!” Exclaimed Sips. “You agreed that you would never tell me what you had to do to preserve my facade. That was part of the deal.”
“Fine. The point is, this won’t last forever. There’s only so much I can do, Sips. I am, after all, just a spaceman.”
“Are you, though? Because it’s becoming extremely hard to tell whether you’re a mortal or a god. I don’t know, this whole thing just seems… Evil, somehow.”
“Oh, I know this is cliché, but… There isn’t really any good or evil. I mean, to a certain extent, there is evil. But there hasn’t been any evil in a long time. Now there’s just those of us who are powerful and those of us who are more powerful. The key to not becoming too absorbed in your power is very simple: Power and a touch of humility. As long as you have a touch of humility, you won’t abuse your power on others.”
“Xephos… You… You do have a touch of humility, right?”
“Of course I do, Sips. I feel bad about Sjin. But it must be done. He belongs with you, but if you can’t admit your feelings for him, he’ll leave. I certainly care about Honeydew and Lalna and… And Honeydew… And all of them. So, I’m still human. I’ve got a touch of humility. Oh, and, remember… Don’t tell anyone about our deal.”
“Of course.”
“Well, yes, but… Especially… Honeydew. He’s been…. Concerned… About me lately. Hearing this won’t do him any good.”
“Okay.”
“And also…. Never, ever, ever… Tell Rythian,” Xephos almost growled.
“Rythian? Isn’t he that stuck-up emo mage that worked at Sips Co. for a few days?”
“Yes. He may be stuck-up, but he’s powerful. And… He sees things other people don’t. Sometimes he forgets his place and thinks that the universe revolves around him for a while. That’s… That’s when he gets… Unpredictable. Dangerous.”
“Oh-Okay, I guess… Thank-Thank you, Xephos. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Sips.”
Sips heard the odd magical sound as Xephos’s flying ring activated and he soared off into the sky. He exhaled deeply and laid down in the grass, staring at the stars. “Hell may as well take me now,” he mused. After a few minutes, he got up, dusted the dirt and grass of his suit, and then went to the dormitories. He opened the door slowly and and shut it slowly, too. He didn’t want to wake Sjin. The form in the bed’s lack of reaction to the sound confirmed that he was, indeed, asleep. Sips sighed deeply and looked at him. He found him so adorable when he slept. He was just a simple farmer and mechanic, nothing much more. He just laid there sleeping peacefully, not at all bogged down by the realities of the wide world. Sips slowly got into his bed and sighed yet again. Sjin had made his life so complicated… But every moment of it had been such a gift. He had always hoped to one day just be honest with Sjin, who was clearly head-over-heels for him, and then Sjin would stay... But he didn’t, he did this instead. Now, he’d screwed up any hope for all those silly thoughts. As he drifted to sleep, the last thing he muttered was “Hell may as well take me now.”