
The Virtual Reality 1
The Virtual Man
Jaded from an ugly divorce, and traveling to the edge of colonized space on a luxury starship, Tiana Weiss books a suite equipped with a holographic chamber. Anticipating a vacation in a virtual world limited only by her imagination, without men, Tiana finds, to her surprise, the chamber comes equipped with its own holographic attendant, resembling a Greek god straight from Mt. Olympus.
Discovering the 'holograph,' for which she felt an unwanted, inexplicable, physical and emotional attraction, is actually Derek Hart, a brilliant computer programmer and escaped convict. Tiana's trip takes on the proportions and heat of a comet trying to wrench free from the gravitational pull of a collapsing star as she begins trading her anger and hurt for wanton desire.
Two brilliant minds, two battered hearts, two passionate lovers battle their own hurts, struggle for physical survival and desperately seek to unravel a conspiracy that threatens the existence of 25th century earth.
Sensuality Rating:
SIZZLINGGenre: Furturistic/Science FicitonLength: 68,500 words
THE VIRTUAL MAN
Nikki Sinclaire
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
ABOUT THE E-BOOK VERSION: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to one LEGAL copy for your own personal use. It is ILLEGAL to send your copy to someone who did not pay for it. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book.
THE VIRTUAL MAN
Copyright © 2008 by Nikki Sinclaire
E-book ISBN: 1-60601-156-1
First E-book Publication: October 2008
Cover design by Christina Perez
Cover models Tanya Weaver and Chris Durant
All cover art copyright © 2008 by Nikki Sinclaire
All logo copyright © 2008 by SirenPublishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
Printed in the U.S.A.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
To the love of my life, who, after twenty-three glorious years of marriage, still sets my blood on fire! Without your love and encouragement there would be no book. I love you!
THE VIRTUAL MAN
NIKKI SINCLAIRE
Copyright © 2008
At the Courthouse
"No!" Tiana hissed as she slapped Darius-20, her robotic legal representative for her divorce proceedings, on the side of its metal head, stomping her high-heeled sandaled foot on the antique marble-floored lobby of the Georgia Justice Center. Would her nightmare of a marriage never end? Attempting to steel her resolve, knowing it was going to be either sobbing or screaming, she brought her temper back under control. Nothing was going her way today.
Let me try to explain this to the tin can one more time, she thought in despair.
"It takes seventeen days to travel to the Magellan Outpost and I'm not scheduled to return to Earth for two years." Counting carefully on her fingers, as if speaking to a child, she continued, "This is my job. I have to go. I have to go in an hour. You need to---"
Tiana's explanation was cut short by a loud thud, accompanied by the sound of furniture legs scraping across the marble floor. She was sure something or someone was about to fall on her. Startled from her diatribe she turned toward the sound and saw a man falling at her feet.
Hmmm, maybe this is a good omen. It would be nice to have men falling at my feet ... making it easier to kick them in the balls, step on their faces and, should they happen to have one, rip out their little hearts with the stiletto heel of my shoe!
Wow, where did that thought come from? Tom, her cheating, abusive, soon-to-be-ex-husband had really done a number on her. She was becoming a man-hating cynic. She eyed the stranger at her feet.
Great! He's blatantly staring up my dress!
"Are you okay? Would you like me to spread my legs wider to give you a better view?" Her sarcasm seemed lost on the stranger, who was now sporting the sneaky, shit-eating grin of a little boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
The man was wearing the bright orange jumpsuit of a Galactic Alliance prisoner. Just her luck. As she's trying to get rid of one deadbeat, another one drops in her path. Maybe it was her perfume. Eau de Bum! Guaranteed to drive the parasites in your life wild with lust!
The man stretched his hand out to her. Without thinking, or realizing the consequences of her action, Tiana automatically grabbed it to help him up. Prisoner or not, he was a human being and the least she could do was help him up. Besides, the sooner he got up, the sooner he would look somewhere else. As their hands touched, Tiana's heart raced, her breathing became erratic and she swayed on her feet. To add to her predicament, heat rose up between her legs and she felt herself involuntarily twitch at the unexpected contact. There was a sexual sensory connection in that touch that she had never felt before. Alarmed in that fraction of a second that it took to feel the jolt of lust, she let go of the stranger and pulled her hand back, watching in shock as he fell back down, his eyes seeming to reconnect with her panties.
This time his gaze did not bother Tiana. Instead, she felt empowered and energized. She felt his eyes searing and elating her most personal area, much as a laser would cut through a steel plate.
The stranger quickly regained his composure and helped himself up. As he raised the fullness of his frame up off the floor, his gaze progressed up her body with leisurely confidence. She felt a wave of heat following it, burning wherever his eyes lingered. Tiana stood her ground watching his body go up ... and up ... and up.
Okay, he's bigger than a bread box.
His hair and beard were long and scraggly, not quite to her liking, but he sure smelled good. He smelled like, well, a man. Plain and simple he smelled like a man, not like a bottle of men's cologne, sissy soap or sweat for that matter. Tiana watched helplessly as his brilliant blue eyes swept over her face, making contact with hers, and a smile more potent than a thousand disruptor cannons took her breath away.
Er, excuse me, sir, would you mind removing your ugly jail jumpsuit so that I may check out your body and relieve my curiosity? Arghh!!! Cancel that thought. Control, control, control, Tiana. He's a criminal, for crying out loud.
She was not going to let this piece of incontrovertible evidence of the fact that men had evolved from prehistoric swine rattle her. He had been shamelessly looking up her dress, for goodness' sake. Orange Jumpsuit Guy was no different than Tom. He had one thing in mind and she knew it wasn't discussing weather programming.
"I am now," he finally responded to her inquiry after several seconds of silence. "With regards to your legs, they're spread just fine, but I am much obliged for the offer." The man spoke with a sexy drawl that hijacked her thoughts back to her teen years. Back to those summer afternoons at her parents' ancestral home, in one of the few still rural parts of the North Georgia mountains. Those days life was simple. It had been spent lazily sipping sweet tea on the front porch with her family, talking about everything, yet nothing in particular.
With a grin, he cocked his head and said, "So, my fair goddess, are you busy for dinner ..."
Oh my, there's a mouth to die for underneath that beard, with killer white teeth and full yummy lips. I wonder what his tongue would feel---No! Stop! That's my vagina thinking, not my brain. Clearly, the last thirteen months without sex had taken their toll on her.
With her knees unexpectedly quivering, heart racing and desire burning through her body, Tiana was formulating a shameless answer to his question, but was too shy to say, "Woo hoo! Ditch the outfit and let's have dinner at a clothing-optional restaurant, baby!" when he continued and finished the question, "... twenty years from tonight?"
Reality check, Tiana. This guy's a criminal. He's not taking a twenty-year business trip.
"Here, let me check my calendar," she responded with a sarcastic smile, batting her eyelashes at him, as she searched through her purse.
Where is my laser stunner? The darn thing is so small you can't ever find it when you need it.
Unable to produce her laser stunner on short notice, she grabbed one of her luggage tracking labels and slapped it over the man's mouth.
I hope it hurts like hell when he rips it off.
"Save it for someone who cares, pervert. You're just like my ex. All sweet, sexy and charming on the outside, but inside you're a Dalutian vampire just waiting to drain every drop of life out of its mate, and when you do, you simply toss her aside and replace her with a younger one." Tiana's demeanor exuded confidence on the outside, but inside, tears were threatening. This incident just added to her pain. She had given her heart completely to her husband and he had repaid her with treachery, deceit and heartache. Love. She would not repeat that mistake. Ever!
Apparently realizing that the situation was getting out of control, the Marshall who was escorting the annoying convict stepped in, mumbled something to the prisoner and pulled him away.
As she watched the prisoner being led away through the atrium, Tiana heard Darius-20's composed voice warn, "Ms. Weiss, let me remind you that I am the property of the state. By Statute 4756.2.a.1 if I am damaged during contractual services for your relational disassociation proceedings you will be responsible for the cost of all repairs."
The encounter with Orange Jumpsuit Guy having pushed Tiana over the edge, her anger flared at the clueless robot.
"Look, tinhead, I didn't want nor ask for this 'relational disassociation.' Based on where I find myself at this time, if I am not divorced and on my starship by the time it's ready to launch I will gladly invest however much money it takes to disassociate you from the state, disconnect your speech chip, bury you up to your neck in my front lawn and leave you to be a fire hydrant, an ugly fire hydrant I might add, for the neighborhood dogs. Do I make myself clear?"
"Very well, madam, let me speak to the Judge and see how I can resolve your issue," it responded in that exceedingly monotonous and irritating voice assigned to most Artificial Intelligence units. She despised AI units, though, human males so far had not proven themselves to be much better.
As the Legal-Bot hovered away to argue on her behalf, Tiana mumbled her doubts about her husband's mother's profession as well as the legitimacy of Tom's birth into his family and threw herself on one of the large, yet very uncomfortable visitor chairs in the courthouse lobby. Reclining, she basked in the warm sunshine seeping in through the skylight that covered the large room. Looking down at her with seemingly mocking smiles were the holographic images of the 182 men and women who at one point or another had served as governors of Georgia, her beloved birthplace. Five of these public servants had later served as President of the United States, and one had been elected by the Galactic Alliance as its Prime Minister, the highest office in the galaxy. Well, I didn't vote for any of you, so stop staring at me.
As the heavy paneled door from the judge's chamber slid open, Tiana watched her Legal-Bot hover out. Too bad it didn't have a facial expression to be read. Come to think of it, it didn't even have a face. She stood up and met it halfway.
"Tell me you have good news."
"Madam, you made a wise decision when you selected me over the other older Darius model Legal-Bots," Darius-20 responded, its computer-generated voice seemingly tinged with a touch of arrogance. "I am well worth the premium you paid. My upgraded knowledgebase covering all Earth regulations as well as all intergalactic laws and decrees allowed me to present case law reminding the Judge that in Johnson of Earth vs. Arklexir of Sigma III the parties involved ..."
Interrupting the self-absorbed machine, "I don't have time to hear about your vast store of knowledge, you bucket of bolts, simply bottom-line me!" While they're working on artificial maturity, robot manufacturers need to develop a patch for the AI ego, thought Tiana. What a nuisance.
"Very well." the robot appeared to resign itself to Tiana's lack of interest in its prowess. "The court has agreed to allow you to finalize your piece of the disassociation at this time, while granting your husband a six-week extension. Your part of the marriage will be dissolved today and his will remain in full force until he either appears in court or the Judge has him arrested for contempt of court, whichever happens first."
"What? I will no longer be married to him, yet he'll still be married to me?"
Will I never be rid of him? Hey, maybe there's a silver lining here. Maybe he'll get arrested for contempt of court and they will throw his bony butt in jail next to six-foot-six Panty Peeper Guy. I'm sure they have a lot in common. Tiana bit her lower lip as she remembered the pangs of lust the tall criminal had caused within her.
"Correct. That is where our planet's recent adoption of intergalactic law, specifically Sigma III's planetary matrimonial bylaws, enters into the proceedings. According to the new code, each individual is an independent participant in the marriage, therefore, you can receive your disassociation status today regardless of his actions. Now, if you will allow me to scan your retina, I will enter it into the record and you will, be a maritally unencumbered woman."
Recognizing the finality of this last step, Tiana stood still as a red beam emanating from within the robot's glossy black faceplate scanned the retina in her left eye. Surprisingly, she felt tears welling up.
It had to be the effect of the retinal scanner. Tom wasn't tear-worthy. Besides, she didn't cry, at least not in front of an AI.
After dispensing with the Legal-Bot, and making her final payment, she walked out into the bright afternoon sunshine. She looked up. The blue sky formed a radiant backdrop for transports of various models and sizes that hurried to and fro. Even the heavy Atlanta traffic couldn't hide the majestic beauty of Earth's southern skies. It was a beautiful day, one she hoped she could remember and treasure for the next two years. Heading for the sunlight-deprived Magellan Outpost would take her to the furthest edge of the Omicron quadrant. This, her latest assignment, should jumpstart her idled career, but more importantly it would help her get away from any and all memories of Tom and the less-than-spectacular end of her once promising marriage.
Entering a transport in front of the courthouse, Tiana instructed it, "Intergalactic Spaceport." The taxi reduced the verbal command to a set of coordinates and within seconds whisked her up to a southbound traffic pattern approximately a thousand feet in the air. The spaceport was a scant several hundred miles south of the courthouse, hovering over the Gulf of Mexico, so she knew it would be a short ride.
The Convict
45 minutes earlier
"Mr. Hart, at the risk of interrupting the intimate conversation in which you and my Bailiff appear to be engaged," began the clearly irritated Judge in a frustrated drawl, "do you think you might be able to give me your undivided attention long enough for me to pronounce your sentence?"
"My apologies, your honor, it won't happen again."
"Son, that's what you said the last ten times I've had to get your attention back on this trial. This is your future we're dealing with here. This is not a game."
"It's the Bailiff's hair, your honor. My client is partial to redheads. Did you know that---" the Legal-Bot for the defense was not able to finish its statement as it simply froze into place and powered down.
"Now see here, Mr. Hart, Legal-Bots are government property and even considered sentient life by many. Who gave you the access codes to turn that Darius unit off?"
"I didn't do a thing, your honor. My legal counsel seems to be malfunctioning. I think this is grounds for a mistrial."
"The hell it's malfunctioning!" the Judge stood up, glaring at Derek Hart, the single most annoying defendant he had dealt with in his thirty-plus years as a Galactic Circuit Court Judge. All semblance of civility departing his demeanor, he continued, "During this trial you have made a mockery of our legal system. You have rerouted security cameras to the women's locker room. You have altered the Prosecution-Bot's gender. You ... you even had the audacity to link my access badge to the records of a well-known criminal."
Throwing his gavel at Derek, narrowly missing him, the Judge continued, "Damn you, Hart, I was strip searched by my own security team!"
Quieting for a moment to regain his composure, the Judge sat back down as the redheaded Bailiff brought the gavel back to him. Giving her a nasty look, he snatched it back and returned his attention to Derek.
"I may not be able to prove you were behind these outrages, but rest assured that I know you were. There will be no mistrial and I have made it my business to leave no room for the slightest hope of an appeal for you."
Restablishing his judicial demeanor, the Judge directed his attention at his computer access point and took a few moments reviewing what Derek guessed was probably the verdict.
"The defendant will please rise," the Judge instructed while continuing to focus his attention on the jury's decision. "Derek Hart, you are hereby found guilty of 32 counts of grand larceny and cyber invasion. I sentence you to twenty Earth years of imprisonment at the Lunar 5 Correctional Facility with no eligibility for parole."
Putting the note down on the wide bench before him and, in frustration, brushing his large hand down and across his face, the judge continued. "Let me tell you, son, setting aside all the crap you have put this court through, it truly grieves me to see a brilliant, creative mind such as yours, with such potential to serve all interstellar life, be shut away. However, let this judgment serve to remind the public that no one, regardless of their brilliance, position or capacity to benefit society, is above the law."
With that, the Judge's gavel came down hard and echoed throughout the pale gray court room. Minutes later, it was still echoing within Derek's mind. Devastation and disbelief, but not surprise, yanked him back to reality with the pull of a tractor beam latching onto a ship traveling at sub-light speed. He felt as if his life force had been extinguished.
Derek Hart had always been a 'bad boy' growing up, with his devil-may-care attitude, but he was innocent of these charges and had done nothing to warrant the kind of a sentence that had been levied upon him this day. His shenanigans and humor gave release to his constantly working, gifted mind. He had a woman to thank for his predicament. A woman he had loved. The She-Bitch had done a thorough job framing him. If he had been on the jury, he would have voted for a conviction as well.
Wearing an ubiquitous electronic prisoner restraining suit, and having been denied the use of a laser razor or even a comb, Derek felt like an automaton shuffling out of the courtroom, escorted by his own personal Space Marshall. Apparently the authorities had thought that in his hands, the most innocent items could have easily been turned into weapons. They were right. His heart was heavy and he felt like he had just been buried alive. Despite the blow his life had just taken, however, Derek's mind was anything but lethargic. He knew he had to plan a way to escape.
As he stepped out the door and into the atrium lobby, he barely glanced at a woman, not more than five feet away, who was dressing down her Legal-Bot. Her next move startled him.
Damn, she hauled off and hit it.
He liked a woman with spunk, but this one clearly had an anger problem. Looking at her more closely, temporarily forgetting his dejection, he took in her timeless beauty. What he wouldn't give to incur her wrath.
Hit meee, hit meee, he thought, chuckling under his breath.
This woman, no, this goddess had flaming red wavy hair cascading down to the middle of her back, and skin as smooth as silk, gently kissed by freckles. Her full, round breasts, challenged by the whack she had just given her Bot, were doing their best to squeeze out of her top. The woman's nipples were tantalizingly erect, either from anger or air-conditioning, and frankly, he didn't care which. Her luscious legs ended underneath a thin, tight skirt that came down to mid-thigh and did little to hide the soft curves of her bottom. This woman was neither thin nor fat. In his opinion, "voluptuous" was the best adjective for a body like hers. Voluptuous, yes, but she also had a cuteness and cuddliness to her that would make anyone's worst day feel like the first day of spring. She was just darling. Taking a deep breath, he caught a whiff of her perfume and felt his dejection rip away, to be replaced with hope and a strange sense of belonging. Life rushed back in.
The next thing he knew he was tripping over an end table like an awkward teenager, losing his balance and falling before the subject of his exclusive attention. His face landed just inches from her beautifully sandaled feet with perfect little toenails polished red. They couldn't be real toes; they had to be strawberry candy. Hey, can I have one?
Looking up at the woman, his eyes didn't make it past her dress, as his position on the floor gave him a clear view of her pink-lace panties.
Wonder if they're edible? his sex-starved brain speculated.
Under the Marshall's watchful eye, she turned to him.
"Are you okay? Would you like me to spread my legs wider to give you a better view?" Her voice was like thick honey, smooth and golden but dripping with sarcasm.
He looked into her eyes for the first time. Surrounded by thick lashes her green eyes were angry, yet tinged with sadness. What was her story, he wondered. Time stood still as she captured his gaze and he was drawn in. He felt himself swimming in them; pools of sparkling emerald green, reminiscent of the Caribbean waters he had explored as a boy. Those eyes held the same mystery for him now that Earth's ocean had held for him then. They pledged fiery passion. They promised unparalleled, wild, heart-thumping adventure.
Derek had to touch her. He had to experience the softness of her skin firsthand. He had to know what it was like to feel this woman's heat skin to skin. Stretching his hand to her in a supplication for help, she met him halfway and wrapped her soft, lithe hand around his. The contrast between her softness and his ruggedness was clear. What caught him completely off guard, however, was how his body reacted to the touch. It was just a touch, no different than a handshake at a business meeting, yet it set off a rush of lust that fell over him like a tidal wave. It was as if Derek and the woman had known each other for ever.
Did she feel the same connection I just felt?
The redheaded beauty took her hand away as quickly as she'd given it, leaving Derek to fall back on the ground with the same uninterrupted view.
Ouch! Wait, is that a moist spot on those delectable pink-lace panties? Guess that answers that question.
Quickly, Derek gathered himself and stood up while he allowed his gaze to wander over her curves. He must have stood up too quickly, for he felt lightheaded when he spoke.
"I am now," he responded. Flashing the woman an impish, boyish smile. "With regards to your legs, they're spread just fine, but I am much obliged for the offer."
Much obliged? I haven't said that in years, what's wrong with me?
Thinking quickly, Derek tried to come up with a clever line to get her attention, but his usual quick thinking froze up and instead his mouth spoke without the benefit of his brain.
"So, my fair goddess, are you busy for dinner ..." his breath was failing him. Please, oh please, don't let me say anything stupid. Giving her the full impact of his best killer smile, he then completed the question, "... twenty years from tonight?" Okay, that was really stupid.
Derek watched as her delectable mouth curved into a wicked smile and she batted her eyelashes at him. His line had amused her and caught her attention.
"Here, let me check my calendar," she said as she started digging through her purse. She was going to give him her phone number or network address, or perhaps her business holo-card.
I could correspond with her from prison, perhaps schedule a conjugal visit or two and maybe ...
His thoughts were interrupted as in one smooth move she took a sticky black label out of her purse and slapped it across his mouth.
"Save it for someone who cares, pervert. You're just like my soon-to-be-ex. All sweet, sexy and charming on the outside, but inside you're a Dalutian vampire just waiting to drain every drop of life out of a mate, and when you do, you simply toss her aside and replace her with a younger one. " She glared at him.
Cool, she thinks I'm sweet, sexy and charming.
Amused by the whole situation, Marshall Troy Delaney chuckled, then walked over, took Derek by the arm and led him away.
There's no harm in him flirting one last time, he thought. He won't see any females of any species for the next twenty years.
Truth be told, Delaney sympathized with Derek. There were too many questions left unanswered during the trial. The boy just hadn't helped himself with his antics. Delaney deemed himself a good judge of character, and he didn't see anything but integrity and strength in Derek's. Such were not the characteristics of a thief.
"Come on, Romeo," he said as he ripped the label off Derek's face and handed it to him. "We have a flight to catch."
"But Marshall, didn't you see that? She wants me," Derek joked, gingerly folding what appeared to be a luggage tracking label and storing it in his pocket. "She wants me bad."
"So does Bruno on the moon," the Marshall laughed. "He might be a convicted murderer, but he couldn't possibly be more dangerous than this woman."
Derek just chuckled.
Entering the prisoner transport vehicle, Derek couldn't get his little goddess out of his mind. He had been with many women in the past, but for some reason, this one was so totally different from any other. She was beautiful and incredibly sexy, but that wasn't it. This woman made his heart sing and his spirit soar. She was full of fire and presented the kind of challenge he thrived on.
Why couldn't he have met her before that cursed Melinda? At least with this redhead what you saw was what you got, good or bad. Instead he had gotten involved with a two-faced viper who had eventually brought him to destruction. Derek owed his fate to stupidity and love. Perhaps those two words meant the same thing, he speculated. He had fallen in love and had foolishly let his guard down. Melinda was beautiful, sexy and intelligent. What's more, she had fallen head over heels in love with him, or so he had thought.
In reality, he had been a fool. When 'greedy, callous and deceitful' are joined to 'beautiful, sexy and intelligent,' the result is a deadly poison that eventually tears the life out of those that drink of it. He had satisfied his thirst at her fountain and the venom had cost him his freedom --- maybe his life.
At the Spaceport
Tiana's transport descended into the spaceport's passenger departure pad and she disembarked. Not much had changed since the last time she had traveled offworld. The spaceport was still just as busy and loud as the last time she had been here. Having dispatched her bags to the ship earlier, Tiana grabbed her travel satchel and ran for the starship's docking gate. Catching her flight would be close. Running full-tilt, she almost took out a really good-looking man traveling with his two kids. Recognizing him as a recent hire to her team, she thought, Oh, what was his name? Marcus, that's right, Marcus Long. They would be traveling on the same ship to the Magellan Outpost. She was surprised that he was bringing his children.
"Sorry, Marcus, I guess we're all running late."
"No problem, Ms. Weiss. I'll see you aboard," he responded respectfully to his boss as he gathered his children to him like the protective father he appeared to be.
Calculating the best route, Tiana zigzagged her way to the gate, arriving just as the last tram leaving for her ship was about to depart. She shoved her way into the packed car and sat down . Several minutes later, she watched as Marcus and his kids leisurely got on the tram. She smiled to herself as she realized her haste had been completely unnecessary.
Tiana felt the tram start to move and watched as the gate was left behind. Looking out the window, she admired the many starships that were docked on that side of the spaceport. Georgia, being a major business and trade center, attracted starships from most parts of the Galactic Alliance, as well as traders and merchants from the independent planets. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, she allowed herself to relax for the first time that day. She was on her way. She would not have to deal with or see Tom at the very least for the next two years. She was a free and single woman and would make sure she remained that way. The trip to the Magellan Outpost would take about two and a half weeks. Tiana wanted to make the most of her "alone time." Her position at Interstellar Engineering afforded her the privilege of first-class accommodations when she traveled, so she had reserved a deluxe holographic suite. Her house on Earth, while spacious and in one of the city's better neighborhoods, was not equipped with a holographic chamber. She had at times considered adding one, but with the technology being as new as it was she was still waiting for prices to come down before buying. Like everything else on Earth, where she was concerned, the purchase would have to wait. For now, time aboard a luxury starship with a holographic chamber at her disposal would be just the vacation she needed.
As the tram approached the starship, the engineer in her could not help but appreciate its design. It was a current model Terran Cruiser. She knew that the purpose behind the design was to facilitate the ship's transitions to and from hyperspace; as a woman, she appreciated it as a true work of art.
Looking the immense ship over, she admired the sleek hull, with its needle-like nose seamlessly expanding back into what could have passed for a pair of wings, making the ship look similar to a very large manta ray, an endangered species of fish that she had seen as a little girl at the Georgia Aquarium. Along the top of the ship, running front to back, a large, backbone-like glass atrium enclosed the luxury suites. One had her name on it! The glass gave the suites an unobstructed view of the stars, planets, comets and other wonders of outer space. Off to each side, within the wings, were a pair of state-of-the-art hyperdrive engines. The engines were encased in a newly patented rubber alloy developed by Interstellar. It was extremely temperature resistant and reduced noise and vibration to a gentle hum.
Rita Andrews --- a fellow partner at Interstellar Engineering, coworker on the Magellan project, travelmate and Tiana's best friend --- had been the project leader on the development of the new alloy. Good old Rita had been the one person Tiana had turned to after Tom's betrayal. She was a "rough-edged" engineer type, opinionated, temperamental, but with a heart of gold.
There was nothing Rita would not do for a friend, including helping her drown her marital sorrows with a bottle of liquor she had not synthesized but actually brewed from scratch in her lab at home from an old Earth formula she found during one of her research projects back in her home state of Tennessee. Rita had told her that back in the late twenty-second century, in the days when people still consumed alcoholic beverages, it was a readily available drink named after its original maker, whose name sounded something like Zak, Shaq or maybe Mac, with a last name of Daniels. Clearly this man must have been a genius, for after a few glasses of the stuff she had totally forgotten about Tom and all her problems. On the other hand, he might have also been an evil scientist bent on taking over the galaxy, for the next morning, she woke up, if you could call it that, with a horrendous headache and a desire to give up food for the rest of her life. Nutritional synthesizers mimicked the taste of alcohol without the intoxicating effects, but the real thing, as made by Rita, packed a punch.
At the starship passenger entry zone, Tiana exited the tram and joined the queue to enter the elevators that whisked them up to their respective accommodation levels. Her suite number was 1005, port-side on the uppermost deck of the ship. "Open door," she commanded as the ship's computer obeyed her pre-programmed voice pattern and slid the door open.
As she entered what would be her home for the duration of the trip, Tiana looked around. Not bad. Her suite was made up of a comfortably furnished great room, with food-synthesizing facilities on one side and a bedroom with an adjoining bathroom on the other. Tiana walked across the great room, straight through an open set of glass double doors. Standing on a cozy balcony overlooking a fifty-foot-wide walkway on the Promenade Deck directly below, she breathed in the various smells coming from the restaurants and shops that flanked it. Though passengers were to remain in their suites during take-off, and the Promenade deck was deserted, she could hear the hustle and bustle of ship personnel getting ready for the onslaught of people that would make their way there as soon as the ship achieved orbit. Still looking down at the Promenade, she caught a glimpse of movement to one side. Did a naked man just run across the walkway? I must be seeing things.
Looking up and directly in front of her, a transparent sheet of steel tempered glass, another one of Rita's patents, rose up from the opposite side of the walkway, past the other balconies, stopping in line with her ceiling and finally curving over her and her neighbors' balconies, forming the glazed atrium she had noticed earlier from the tram. Once in space, the view would be spectacular. For now, she could see other ships arriving at or departing from their assigned docks.
Walking back into the great room, Tiana tossed her bag on the floor, and collapsed on the great room's plush L-shaped couch. She had lain there for a few minutes gathering her thoughts when a nicely modulated male voice jolted her out of her relaxed state. "Welcome aboard. I will be your Personal Attendant for the duration of ..."
She was even more shocked to find an attractive young man standing just a few feet away from her. Tiana jumped to her feet and interrupted the extremely polite Personal Attendant. "How the hell did you get in here? Didn't your mother ever teach you to knock?"
Startled, the Personal Attendant responded with a straight face. "I didn't get in, I materialized, and, since I was programmed, not born, I have no mother."
Tiana stared dumbly digesting what she had just heard. She had forgotten the suite was a holographic chamber. The 'man' in her suite looked so real. He, or as the case may be, it, was around five-eight, with dark-blond hair, brown eyes and a fairly average body. The one thing that stood out was that its features were too perfect, in a sterile, created in a lab kind of way. At least his voice was pleasant. She had heard that they were now making holographs that were anatomically correct. Her mind wandered as the prospect of what the next couple of weeks with her very own live-in personal attendant unfolded in her mind. Very quickly, her mind wandered right back. Yuk. Not.
"Well, George, Fred or whatever your name is, from now on make sure you knock before you materialize."
Without a response the Personal Assistant dematerialized before her very eyes, and seconds later Tiana heard a knock that appeared to be coming from nowhere in particular.
"You've got to be kidding." She chuckled. "Come in."
Her Personal Attendant materialized and addressed her as before. "Welcome aboard. I will be your Personal Attendant for the duration of the flight. I come in five different styles and you may select any of them at any point during the flight. This is my default style," it stated, gesturing at its body, "but I also come in Barbarian," it pointed out as its body took the shape of a wild-looking, loincloth-clad warrior with muscles rippling throughout its body. "Academic." the attendant's body changing shape, becoming a nerdy looking professor dressed in a tweed jacket. "Spy," it said, changing into a sophisticated-looking man wearing a black tuxedo, "and finally, Gigolo." The final style had slicked-back hair, a pencil-thin mustache and a flowery shirt open all the way down to its navel.
"I also have the female equivalent of all five styles, starting with ---"
"I'll go with the plain and boring male default style. I don't need to see any others," Tiana stated, not letting her Personal Attendant complete the demonstration. Truth be told, she didn't want to see the female equivalents. She was sure they would all be skinny and perky. Skinny and perky just like Chrissie, the slut maid she had caught having sex with her ex-husband.
"Please listen carefully," the Personal Attendant continued, "as I explain the operation of your chamber as well as its safety features. The XHA-45 holographic chamber is the latest of its kind, boasting new, high-resolution matter projectors. The system's console can be materialized anywhere in the room by simply requesting it, in your own words, with a command such as 'computer, materialize console.' The chamber understands over 8,500 different languages and planetary dialects and is programmed to understand what you are requesting without requiring that specific commands be used. Simply address the chamber by beginning your commands with the word 'computer.' Once you do so, you will have the computer's attention. You may then make your request in plain language the way you would speak to another sentient being."
The Personal Attendant continued on, describing everything from how to change the suite's décor to how to use the bedroom as a fully autonomous escape pod in case of a shipwide disaster. Tiana felt her eyes glazing over after a while but she did her best to listen, paying particular attention to the suite's emergency features. It paid to always be prepared.
"Any questions?" it asked, finally finishing its long winded monolog.
The Escape
As the prisoner transport arrived at the spaceport, Derek spoke to the Marshall for the first time since the courthouse. "How are we traveling? Military or commercial transport?"
"Not that it should matter, but we will be boarding a short-range freighter that will take us to Lunar 5 where you will be serving your time. I will sign you over to the Warden and be back here in time for dinner. Be smart and make life easier on both of us---don't try anything funny."
Though his fate appeared sealed, Derek was in too high a spirit to throw in the towel. Who was that woman? He was heading to prison for the next twenty years, yet he was giddy over the cute little redhead at whose feet he had fallen. He wondered what her name was. More importantly, he wondered why he cared. Instead of torturing himself with guilt and regrets as he had been for the last few months, his new attitude had him focusing on his surroundings and preparing to avail himself of any opportunity for escape. As he and the Marshall strolled through the spaceport's baggage checkin area, Derek applied that genius IQ and his outside-the-box thinking to solving the most significant problems of his life. He needed to figure out how to escape and clear his name.
Much to his and the Marshall's surprise, the same woman from the courthouse shoved past them, almost running into some man and his two kids. She was probably worried about missing her flight. He would be missing the next twenty years. The Marshall turned his attention to the woman, taking his eyes off Derek and, for just a second, releasing his grip on Derek's arm.
"Hey, look, Romeo. It's your new girlfriend. I think she's come to see you off."
A plan came together in Derek's mind in a fraction of the time it takes most people to blink. This was the opportunity he had been anticipating. Knowing he had at best two or three seconds to make use of it, Derek hurled himself onto a conveyor belt moving checked luggage. Behind him he could hear the Marshall cursing and giving chase. The belt quickly dumped Derek on an anti-gravity luggage transport, which proceeded to scan the destination code off the label in his pocket and, having identified the starship on which it belonged, sped off at a fairly significant speed.
Derek hit the flat, rectangular deck of the transport harder than he normally would have. Apparently, the Marshall had reacted quickly and had already activated the restraining suit. Not only was the outfit designed to be an eyesore and an abomination to fashion designers everywhere, but it was also equipped, he recalled, with a built-in magnetic mesh that enhanced the pull of gravity, and thus increased the prisoner's weight by a factor of five. Theoretically, the suit made it easy to recapture an escapee.
Yes, he supposed, it would have been easy to recapture him if he had not planned his escape out in detail in the seconds it took to jump from the Marshall's side onto the conveyor belt. Derek's fingers raced across the keypad of the suit's locking mechanism as he tried to hack it open. In a matter of seconds, Derek had slipped out of the unlocked suit, relieved a large suitcase of its contents, and concealed himself inside.
Momentarily, he felt the suitcase being moved from the transport to its destination's cargo hold. He knew that at this point, the luggage transport would return to the terminal taking with it the restraining suit that was still stuck to its deck by the enhanced gravitational pull. Derek was certain that the Marshall would waste precious time tracking the suit through its built-in homing device, under the incorrect assumption that he would still be in it.
Derek opened the suitcase he'd used for his getaway and got out, for the first time realizing that, having discarded the single garment he had been wearing, he was now stark naked.
Immediately, he began rummaging through the sea of luggage in the ship's cargo hold, trying to find suitable clothing so he could mingle with, and become lost among, the 1,200 passengers a starship this size probably carried.
"Hey, buddy!" The voice seemed to echo in the hold. "You, naked man! What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here."
No shit, Sherlock. The words rang in Derek's ears with the urgency of a fire alarm.
Realizing he had been discovered by one of the ship's baggage handlers, he ran to the nearest exit hatch, quickly scaled the ladder and escaped onto what appeared to be some kind of a mall with restaurants and shops. Fortunately, it was deserted. All the passengers must still be in their staterooms settling in and awaiting liftoff, as safety rules required. Lucky break!
The fact he had made it this far attested to the fact that Lady Luck had been smiling upon him. Wasting no time, he hoisted himself up onto a balcony directly above him and tried the door that led into the suite. He had to get out of sight. The door was locked. Knowing his very freedom depended on it, he kept on climbing from balcony to balcony until, at long last on the top floor, he found an unlocked door. Hiding to one side of the balcony, he looked through the glass, past the curtain sheers. The holographic Personal Attendant, one of his own designs, was delivering the customary pre-flight instructions to the room's occupant.
The Suite
As the Attendant waited for the beautiful redhead's response, the ship vibrated softly, indicating its departure from the spaceport.
"No, I think I'll manage," she told it, turning away. As the hologram exited, she commanded, "Computer, materialize console." The room's console materialized before her.
Derek watched from the balcony as she searched for a program. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized her. It was none other than the woman at the courthouse. Why her? What was fate up to? For the second time in the same day, he asked himself the same questions. Why did he care? What was it about her?
She was not 'supermodel' beautiful, but, that had never appealed to Derek. Was it the fiery red hair or the soft pink complexion with the cute little freckles? It had to be her eyes. What eyes! His thoughts returned to the sadness he had observed in them earlier. How could such a sweet little thing --- Okay, okay, darling sex goddess --- have anything to be sad about. She ought to be waited on hand and foot by all other inhabitants of the galaxy, and have all traces of sadness erased from her life before they ever happened.
Entranced by the captivating woman, he wondered what it would be like to bring those eyes back to life. Wait a minute, that's how I got into this mess. He remembered the 'love' he had shared, how he had given his heart completely, just to be used and framed for her crimes. All his dreams and aspirations cruelly crushed by the person he had trusted with his soul. What an idiot he had been. He would not repeat that mistake. His heart was permanently closed for repairs and no one, particularly someone of the fairer sex, was allowed in!
As Derek watched silently, the woman selected and executed a program. All furnishings and decorations in the room vanished for a few seconds, showing the empty room in its true form, as the computer rearranged matter into what Derek recognized as his ancient Earth Roman Bath program. The back wall sported four evenly spaced ionic columns, holding up a vaulted ceiling. Centered within each pair of columns and built directly into the wall were arched niches proudly displaying sculpted busts of Caesar Augustus, whom he had modeled after one of the janitors from his former company. A six-foot-wide bathing pool ran the length of the wall to the left of where he stood, with fountains on either side cycling what he knew to be water at a perfect 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Between the pool and the back wall was a polished tiled deck with a stone bench to one side and a massage table on the other. Fragrant Tyrenian orchids floating on the water completed the scene.
Derek had a plan. "Computer, materialize console and a barber," he whispered.
Apparently satisfied with her selection, the redhead went into the sleeping area and undressed. On the way to her Roman Bath, she grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. By the time she came out, Derek was ready for her. Wearing nothing but a short toga, he nodded formally from his place in the middle of the room.
"Greetings and salutations, empress. My name is Derek Erecticus, your humble servant and masseur." Derek had wanted to add a character with that name to the program, but quality control rejected the idea as being too cheesy. Now, with the rest of his life hanging in the balance, he would be that character. To be in the room with her wearing just a towel, that was living!
Tiana stood there, dumbfounded. She had heard that the realism of characters within holographic programs had been significantly improved in the last few years, but this one was amazing. The program's author had not missed a single detail. She studied the virtual man before her. It was more realistic than her Personal Attendant. It had a handsome, clean-shaven face, curly jet-black hair, baby-blue eyes, finely sculpted legs and clearly defined, muscular arms, all framing a brawny chest and a ripped torso to die for. She would have probably designed him minus the chest hair, and perhaps given him more of a tan, but overall, the programmer had outdone himself or herself. It must have been a woman who designed this work of art. He had one hell of a user interface!
"Shit, don't you guys ever knock?" she snarled, hoping the computer would finally get the message.
"I beg your pardon, Ms. Weiss, but your humble servant is merely part of your program."
"How do you know my name?"
"The ship's computer and I share the same database. I looked it up for your benefit."
Tiana supposed that made sense. "Well, call me Tiana. Ms. Weiss sounds old and matronly."
The last thing she needed, particularly after the day she'd had, was to feel old and matronly.
"As you wish, Tiana," Derek replied. She had never heard her own name sound better. It seemed to roll off his tongue.
Tiana crossed her arms, tilted her head and stared at him, her cursed engineering curiosity getting the best of her. Finally breaking the silence, she asked, "Are you anatomically correct?"
Appearing a little flustered, he responded after a short pause. "Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"
Is he blushing? Since when did they program modesty into these things?
"Just curious. They seem to have done a really outstanding job on you. The programmers, I mean. You are a close approximation of a real man, less sterile than my Personal Attendant."
"Actually, I am your new Personal Attendant. I am an upgrade."
Tiana walked slowly up to him. This was one hell of an upgrade! She'd have to have a word or two with her technical support people upon her arrival at the Magellan Outpost. Slowly circling him, she lifted the back hem of his toga, exposing two perfectly formed butt cheeks.
"What an amazing amount of detail. Look at the curvature, the skin tone. Hmmm."
Tiana hauled off and slapped the right cheek to see what would happen. It bounced and even turned a shade of red. She placed her hand on it and it felt warm to the touch. She squeezed it and it felt soft, yet muscular. Derek silently allowed her to experiment. As she continued her examination, she moved directly in front of him and lifted his toga , this time exposing his manhood. Tiana outlined it with her index finger. As her nail grazed him, she was surprised to see his penis hardening.
"Very anatomically correct indeed," she murmured. "And nicely sized." The engineer in her was fascinated as she thought through all the algorithms that must have gone into that simple reaction.
She heard Derek clear his throat, apparently to get her attention.
"I am programmed to respond to all stimuli," he stated with a straight, emotionless face, even as his penis grew longer and thicker.
"Of course," she responded nonchalantly. "I'd like my massage now."
That's odd. He got a stupid smirk on his face when I said that.
Tiana casually walked to the massage table, undid her towel in the front and lay down on her belly, draping the towel over her back. She turned her thoughts to the Magellan Outpost. What would it be like living in a settlement with minimal sunlight? Would she be able to endure the two years? How would she manage ... Ohhhhh!
Derek had adjusted the towel so that it just covered the soft curves of her butt and upper thighs, leaving the upper portion of her body completely exposed. In the process, his fingers had touched her. Shivers traveled up and down her spine and those shivers had now settled deep, somewhere inside her feminine folds. Her lust quotient had made a jump from non-existent to hyperspeed in a fraction of a second, and she had the moisture to prove it!
What just happened? Is that damn thing leaking electrons on me or something?
She listened, hyperaware of the hologram's every sound as he picked up a bottle of oil and opened it. She could hear and almost feel the oil as he poured it onto his large hands. As the heat of his skin warmed the oil it started to release an intoxicating smell throughout the room. When would she feel that touch? Where would she feel first contact?
She felt him begin by gently rubbing the instep of her left foot, first with his fingers and palms, then with his knuckles. The highly anticipated touch set her body to quivering. She felt the day's stress begin to melt away. The warm oil made his touch feel like silk gliding on her sensitive skin. He exercised her toes, giving each one his undivided attention, before, too painfully slow, he began making his way up her calf.
A soft moan escaped her delicate throat as she felt the strong and gentle hands continue their upward trajectory along her thigh.
With both thumbs side by side on the back of her thigh and the other fingers on either side of it, Derek continued massaging his way up her leg, slowly, taking his time. She felt his hands make their way underneath the towel to where her upper thigh merged into her now soaked center. How could a stupid hologram, a computer program, make her feel this way? It felt so real.
Without missing a beat, he repeated the bittersweet torture on her other leg, beginning with her tired and aching foot and making his way up to where her leg met her already very wet sex.
A pragmatic engineer, she had never been overly sexual. How could she be this aroused? By an artificial intelligence unit no less! Why am I not grossed out? Although others use AI's for personal gratification, that just isn't my style. I can't be this needy!
It wasn't even a 'he,' she kept telling herself. It was rearranged matter instructed to behave in a particular way by thousands of lines of computer code. It had no will, couldn't think and couldn't feel. As he, or rather, it reached her most personal of places, it stopped.
Much to her surprise, Tiana heard another little moan, this time one of disappointment, escape her now very dry throat. Her heart was beating fast and her breathing was difficult. She felt him slowly fold the towel so that it just covered the lower half of her ass. As the cool air hit the newly exposed skin, she shivered. Those parts of her skin that were still covered jealously ached for the same freedom.
For what felt like the longest pause of her life, Tiana did not feel his touch.
At last, she felt his hands reconnect with her quivering body . He started with the exposed upper half of the sensuous curves of her bottom, with confidence and assurance massaging his way up her back and sides. He was sure taking his time!
She attributed this to the fact that he was a piece of programming, a virtual man. Had he been flesh and blood he would have selfishly jumped her by now. But damn, he sure looked, felt and smelled like a man!
Tiana felt his hands approach the sides of her breasts. Instinctively, her body having a mind of its own, she lifted her chest slightly off the table, in an effort to give him better access to her now swollen and very sensitive breasts.
"Please turn over," she heard him say. It was not a question. Her mind stood by helplessly as her body obeyed the command without hesitation.
As she flipped over, her breasts came into his view. She looked down at herself. The little buds of her nipples were standing at attention, surrounded by pink areolas that looked so much darker and flushed than they normally did. Moving her gaze to the Derek's face, she saw a variety of emotions in it. There was admiration, appreciation, lust and what she would have interpreted in a human expression as an all-out battle to retain control of his emotions.
The towel slid the rest of the way off and onto the floor. The coolness of the room washed across her breasts and lingered between her legs in a powerful wave. He stared at her for a moment before continuing. Resisting the urge to squeeze her legs together, Tiana wondered why the hologram looked like he was having a hard time breathing. That was odd, since it didn't actually need to breathe.
Too bad he was just compiled code and not a man. What she wouldn't give to have a real man love her, cherish her and take her right here and now. AI's were nice, but she had never been able to bring herself to have sex with one of them---they weren't real. It would be like masturbating with a computer, and that was just too weird for her.
She watched as he positioned himself at the head of the table. Letting her gaze wander down his body, she spied what appeared to be a painfully large, very difficult to hide erection underneath the thigh-length toga. That was odd. She had not requested one. How did he get one? Since when did computer geeks program holographs to react to nudity and sexual situations on their own without the user's touch or command? In her engineering mind, she tried to think through what kind of sensor equipment would be required for the computer to detect her nudity and alter Derek's penis to an erect state? Oh, hell! Who cares?
Not being able to withstand her curiosity any longer, she lifted his toga and, as she looked up from the table, watched his cock spring out and hover just inches above her face. She could actually smell the scent of his manhood. The programming of aromas within holographic chambers was still in its infancy, yet she could smell his masculine musk, and it was driving her wild. But wait --- it was even leaking a drop of pre-cum. Without thinking, she reached out with her tongue and licked the drop of his elixir off the tip of his sex. The taste was uncannily accurate and incomprehensively delicious.
Mesmerized, Tiana watched as Derek, ignoring her actions, poured oil onto his hands and began massaging her shoulders and working his way down to her breasts. She closed her eyes and focused on the erotic touch. It started gently, almost like a whisper brushing across her chest as he traced circles with his fingers on her sensitive breasts.
Was this part of a normal massage?
Finding his way, he traced the outlines of her nipples next, finally, lingering on the extremely aroused tips. She felt his gentle touch hover there for a while. Suddenly, and without warning, he firmly kneaded her breasts with the palms of his large hands while simultaneously pinching her nipples with thumbs and forefingers. The resulting shock threw her over the edge. The orgasm hit her like a nuclear explosion that began at her center and washed over her entire body, quick but intense.
Tiana held onto the massage table as the room spun out of control. She nearly blacked out. Minutes later she opened her eyes to find him staring at her. She managed to sit up on the table and slowly regain her composure.
All that from having my breasts touched? She turned to Derek as she got off the table. Why does that stupid hologram look so smug? She looked away and headed for the suite's bedroom.
"Set a wake-up call for nine, Earth time, tomorrow morning. Exit program."
All matter was rearranged back into its original design. Had Tiana looked back, she would have seen a very naked and still painfully erect Derek, staring at the sways of her curves as she walked away in her birthday suit.
The stress of the day and the intensity of her release came crashing down on her. Tiana crawled into her bed and within seconds, her body floated up and hovered just inches above its gravity suspension field. She silently praised the genius of whomever it was that had invented anti-gravity beds. How prior generations had ever been able to rest while lying on their primitive mattresses was beyond her comprehension. I am so thankful for modern, state-of-the art conveniences.
Tiana relaxed and, for the first time in months, felt safe. She didn't understand why, but in her mind she imagined this feeling of safety taking on a physical form. The form was that of a tall, dark stranger who was stark naked. Tiana felt the warmth of covers being drawn over her and the sweet gentleness of being tucked in. She unwittingly smiled as she slid into sweet slumber.
The Wake-up Call
"Good morning, this is your wake-up call," she heard a sexy, masculine voice whisper next to her ear in a delicious southern drawl that reminded her of home.
Why was that drawl, that voice, so familiar?
"Go away. I'm on vacation and I don't have to get up if I don't want to," Tiana whined at the talking alarm clock as, diving under the covers, she turned her body around and floated to the foot of the bed, trying to get away from her exceedingly handsome alarm clock.
Gingerly, she lifted the covers at the foot of the bed just enough to slip her head through them. Was she dreaming? She took a deep breath and was overwhelmed by what appeared to be the smell of bacon, eggs and cinnamon rolls. Her imagination must be playing games with her.
"Per your instructions, it's time to get up," she heard the same voice say as she felt strong but gentle hands brushing her hair back and away from her face. This time she detected what was clearly a man's breath, except it was not like her ex's stale, morning doggie breath, and it wasn't minty or sweet, either. It was just, well, a man's breath. Did such a thing really exist? She was not a morning person, but this one seemed full of promise and rife with potential.
Slowly, Tiana forced her eyes to open one at a time. As they focused, they focused on a man's face. It was last night's hologram, her --- what did it call itself? --- Personal Attendant. This time, though, instead of a Roman toga he was wearing a white, long-sleeved cotton shirt with front laces and light gray chino pants. Hmm, Roman toga or fashion statement? She'd decide her preferences later. This was some good software! She looked out at the great room and noticed a program was running. Deactivating the anti-gravity field, she rolled off her bed and realized for the first time that she was still naked from last night's massage program.
"Computer, dress me in a robe."
The computer materialized a skimpy garment made of black see-through material with feathery trim on the sleeves and edges upon her still very exposed body. Obviously, a programmer's idea of a joke.
"Would you care for matching shoes?" she heard her Personal Attendant ask.
Tiana felt her irritation stir as a flush crept up her cheeks.
"You know, you are an AI. The 'I' is supposed to stand for the word 'intelligence,' not 'idiot.' Watch yourself! Who the hell programmed this, this, whatever it is, to be the default robe?" She wasn't sure how, for holograms weren't supposed to change a program's factory defaults, but somehow she had a feeling this one was responsible.
"Computer, replace the default robe with a fluffy white and very opaque robe."
In the blink of an eye, the computer replaced the skimpy piece of lingerie with a soft, fluffy white robe protecting her nude body from his gaze. Did my Personal Attendant just pout?
Stepping out of her bedroom, she walked into a deserted, rustic, rooftop café with a view of what was probably late-nineteenth century to early-twentieth century Paris. She could see the Eiffel Tower in the background.
"Please step this way, mademoiselle, your breakfast awaits you." The French accent was pitiful. She was glad to at last find a flaw in his programming.
She followed her attendant past a small dance floor with an adjacent bar, which she assumed was for nighttime use, and took a seat at a white wrought-iron, glass-topped, table at the far edge of the brick terrace, overlooking a boulevard. It was set with a single place setting of fine, all-white china and sterling silver flatware. At the center of the table, a single crimson rose stood inside a thin, finely cut crystal vase.
As she sat at the table, the robe slid off the top of her legs, parting to the sides and exposing everything below the belt to her Personal Attendant's gaze. With a mischievous grin, he quickly snapped her linen napkin open and, availing himself of the opportunity, placed it on her extremely bare lap while innocently caressing her thighs. Ignoring the flush his action caused, she directed her attention to the food before her.
"Wait a minute." She stopped sniffing the exotic aroma of her favorite coffee. "How did you know my favorite breakfast is cinnamon rolls with bacon and eggs, not to mention my special brew of coffee?"
"Fret not, mademoiselle. In order to better serve you, I linked to Earth through the galactic-net and downloaded your restaurant records for the past five months. Cinnamon rolls, bacon and scrambled eggs topped with a tall cup of Brazil Ipanema Bourbon coffee were a recurring theme, specifically at the bistro which you seem to frequent."
"Oh. Thank you," she stated with not much conviction as she took her first bite. "You also downloaded the recipe, didn't you? How many privacy laws have you broken since last night?"
"Mademoiselle, how can holographic programs be subject to either Earth or intergalactic law?" he asked with a devilish grin.
"I'm not a Legal-Bot, but I'd say the woman that programmed you, not to mention the owners of this ship, are in deep crap."
"What makes you think I was programmed by a woman?"
"Let's see, your outfits are fashionable and color coordinated and, well, somehow I think the design of your physical attributes was carried out by a woman who obviously appreciates such things. However, my guess is that your predecessor was probably designed by a man. Not as handsome and rugged as you." She smiled, then frowned.
Wait a minute! Am I flirting with a computer program? I really need to start dating. Tiana, you're pathetic. This is not healthy, this is not natural.
"You don't seem to have a very high opinion of the males of your species," he stated, maintaining his devilish grin as he sat next to her.
"Let's just say I am not terribly impressed with their character, their ethics or their loyalty."
"Tiana, I am so sorry, it sounds like you have had some rough bumps in your life and with your loves," Derek replied with a true note of compassion in his voice.
Tiana laughed. "While the word bump,`` particularly on a log, a rotten one at that, accurately describes my ex-husband, it does not come close to describing his actions."
It felt good to laugh. It had been ages since she had laughed, at least while sober.
"Derek, you are luckier than you know. Being a hologram, you don't feel, so you will never have to suffer through the emotions of loneliness, sadness and betrayal. That's the worst one, betrayal. It is as if someone took a knife, sliced you open and gutted you of everything you believe in and hold dear. I will never trust another man for as long as I live."
"What about me? Do you trust me?"
"You're not a man. You are a virtual man, a program, with built-in artificial intelligence."
Was that hurt she saw on the handsome face before her? What incredible attention to detail!
"Besides," she continued, "who would you tell? Don't they erase the passengers' memory space from the main holographic computer after each flight?"
"True, but I, ah, my programming is so much more than just artificial intelligence. I am designed to feel, sense, entertain and laugh. In a very real sense, I possess the sentient qualities that humans value. Unlike most holographic creations that are, in fact, just artificial intelligence, before I carry forth an action, I am able to not just analyze it, but to imagine it and feel it. Prior to waking you up this morning, I took into account my observations of you. You looked sad last night. A simple wake-up call would have sufficed, but you looked like someone who needed to begin her day by having her favorite breakfast in Paris, during, shall we say, a slower and more graceful time period of history. I can first imagine the emotions that my actions are likely to cause before I carry them out."
"One would think that humans, having had these sentient abilities for thousands of years, would pay them more heed," Tiana conjectured.
"Well, while I agree that history should mold the present and redeem the future, don't forget that humans are not perfect. To err is human, right?"
"To err might be human, but it takes a real jerk to not only throw away seven years of marriage, but to use the very sentient qualities you are talking about to return love with spite."
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Reaching across the table, Derek wiped away a tear before it could scurry down her cheek and cupped her face in his hands.
"Do you want to talk about it? I'm a good listener."
Okay, that proves it. A woman definitely programmed him.
"No. Well, yes. I don't know," she replied, frustrated with herself and her mixed-up feelings.
"If he hurt you, if he let you go, he's definitely the galaxy's biggest loser, that much is clear," Derek said. "I'd love to hear your story and share your memories, that is, if you're comfortable."
It couldn't hurt could it? It was standard procedure to erase the user portion of computer memory storage after each trip, so it would be safer than telling a therapist, much cheaper and a heck of a lot easier the morning after than Rita's primitive alcohol-laden solution. Maybe it would make her feel better to verbalize her pain.
"Okay. I just went through a divorce after being put through seven years of mostly hell."
Derek reached out and straightened a red curl off her forehead. Tiana felt the pads of his fingertips lightly brush her skin. As his fingers continued moving the renegade curl back into place, time seemed to stand still. By the time she felt Derek's fingers reach her scalp and lay the curl in place, she had classified the action as a caress, a singeing erotic caress. It felt like sexual energy shot out of his fingers and traveled through her sensitive skin all the way down to the all-of-a-sudden rather moist and hot center of her body.
How does he keep doing that?
"Tiana, you can't summarize seven years of any relationship in a single sentence," Derek said, holding one of her soft hands. "Please let me help you carry your burden. Talk to me."
Tiana stared into the man's, err, hologram's blue eyes and saw compassion and a very real desire to help. Saying she was very confused would have been an understatement.
With his thumb, Derek gently stroked the back of her hand ,bringing down her walls of Jericho. Kindness shattered her last attempt at resistance.
"Very well, I'll start at the beginning," she said, accepting his offer but refusing eye contact.
"After college I married my handsome and popular college sweetheart, Tom Houser. When we were first married, we were very happy. We had both graduated with degrees in nanotechnology from the Mars campus of the Institute of Nanoscience, and had subsequently found jobs back on Earth, in Atlanta, Georgia, the very metropolis I had grown up in. During the day, I worked hard and quickly climbed the corporate ladder at my employer, Interstellar Engineering. I made partner in record time."
"Okay, I'm impressed. Just working there is a coup for any career, much less making partner. They're easily the best and most successful nano-construction company in the galaxy."
Tiana glanced up, meeting his gaze. "How do you know so much about nano-construction companies?"
"I have an unfair advantage." He grinned slyly.
"I keep forgetting you're a computer program with access to every database in the galactic net."
"I take that as a personal compliment. I interrupted, please continue."
"Tom and my relationship was fine until I received my first promotion a year after joining Interstellar. I had achieved in a year what typically took others five or so to accomplish. Shortly after my promotion, Tom was laid off. He became bitter and resentful of my success.
"He suggested having a baby and I delightedly agreed. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to have children, he accused me of sabotaging our efforts so that my career wouldn't suffer. The genetic and fertility experts we consulted all agreed that there was no medical reason why we were unable to conceive. Not having a target for his frustration, Tom blamed me."
"Tiana, please tell me you didn't believe that crap. It was NOT your fault."
"Well, I must admit Tom was very convincing. To make matters worse, two years ago, in December, my father, Dr. Anthony Weiss, died in a freak accident while traveling home from a conference in his private space yacht. My mother died when I was young so when he died I was left alone in a miserable marriage. I still miss him so very much." Her eyes grew damp and her voice cracked with visceral emotion.
Derek reached out for her other hand. She could feel his masculine strength through that simple touch. It was as if, through his touch, he was giving her an injection of raw courage.
Was that anguish she was seeing in his face?
"That spring Tom and I started getting along better. It was then that I finally became pregnant."
Tears rolled down Tiana's cheeks.
"I just knew that now, with the baby and all, things would work out between us. The empty hole in our family that I thought only a child could fill would disappear. Tom became very attentive to me during the pregnancy. He even hired a maid. Not an AI, mind you, but a person." Tiana paused as Derek brushed away more of her tears, the warmth of his hand touching her heart.
"The pregnancy was going well and our relationship appeared to be returning to solid ground. Until, that is, one day when I came home early and caught him screwing the maid.
"That very day I lost the baby." Tiana paused for a few seconds, unable to get the words out, "It was a little girl. I had failed."
Her tears spent, Tiana sat there in sad, poignant retrospection. She wondered what Derek would say. Life had dealt her a tough hand to play out and no one could do anything to change that.
After a few seconds of silence, Derek simply reached out and cupped her face tenderly. "Tiana, I am so, so sorry. Please know that you are not responsible for Tom's cruelty, jealousy or infidelity. That is all on him. You are a beautiful and intelligent woman. You are loyal, committed and caring. I feel compelled to say that you are exactly the kind of woman a man would be blessed with the fortune of Midas to be with."
"Then why, at twenty-nine years of age, don't I feel like a blessing waiting to happen? Why don't I feel beautiful or relationally capable?" Tiana sobbed, baring her frustration and self doubt. Why am I so comfortable sharing my wounded heart with this AI?
His strong and masculine hand was comforting. Tiana marveled at the soothing power of his touch. Why couldn't Tom have been more like Derek? Why couldn't she have married Derek instead? Whoa! I'm doing it again. Of course he's perfect; he's a figment of someone's imagination. He, it, is a program, not flesh and blood. This isn't real. I'm not in Paris. I'm in a damn holographic suite, in a starship that is in the middle of nowhere, running a program.
Forcing herself to calm, she pulled away from his comforting hands. "You're not real. Don't confuse me!"
"I am with you, right here, right now," he stated quietly, almost in a whisper. "I am as real as you want me to be and I will take care of you. On my honor, I give you my word."
His words crumbled her weakened defenses, causing Tiana to discard all logic and consigning her remaining cares to the wind. Emotions that she would rather have forgotten surged, taking control of her mind. Why couldn't real men be this caring? Why did she feel so safe at this very moment?
Caressing her face with one hand, his other lifted her hand to his mouth. Kissing her palm, the searing heat shot through her blood, igniting long dormant emotions, branding her heart, awakening her mind and firing up sensual passion.
He steadied her as he brought her close. As she leaned into his chest, her hands were driven to touch, to caress and to express desire. Through his shirt she could feel his hard, tight muscles. Her hands wandered down his taut torso, reaching the bottom of his shirt, sneaking underneath to retrace their steps up, past his stomach and on their way to his nipples. The reality of the warmth of his skin fought with the knowledge that he was an AI. Tiana gently traced the nibs with the tips of her nails, bringing them to life.
Lost in a haze, she looked up at his eyes. They were alive and seemed like they could look right through her and into her soul. It was as if she had always had a special bond with the soul behind the eyes. Tiana helplessly watched as his mouth, moved down aiming for hers. She was entranced and there was nothing she could do. She couldn't take looking into his gaze anymore, it was hypnotic and intoxicating.
Closing her eyes, she waited expectantly for the feel of his kiss. Seconds ticked by until her patience was rewarded. She felt the soft caress of his lips as they gently brushed past hers, teasing. He came back for another pass, this time, still light as a feather, searing all along its path. It was like an out-of-body experience. She wasn't herself; clearly she was sensing what someone else was doing. The tip of his tongue gently teased her upper lip. She felt herself responding, pursuing his tongue right back into the warmth of his mouth, the same mouth that had voiced his concern, his support and his comfort. How could he feel so real? Gentleness turned to passion as his tongue ravished her mouth, taking what she gave and returning it fourfold.
Her eyes remained closed as Derek smoothly undid the belt of her robe, allowing it to open, exposing the naked front of her body to his gaze.
Tiana couldn't remember ever feeling more beautiful or cherished.
His hands entered her robe at the waist, touching and feeling their way up the soft flesh of her sides. As he reached the curves of her breasts, he gloried in them, taking his thumbs and gently massaging her now fully aroused peaks. He took his time, kneading her breasts as, eyes closed, she drowned her sadness in a sea of sensation. As his thumbs continued torturing her engorged breasts and nipples, with a swift move of his other fingers he pushed the robe over her shoulders. She felt it fall past her arms, dropping at her feet, leaving her exposed in all her glory, as bare as the day she was born. She could feel the gentle breeze of the Paris program washing across her nakedness.
"Computer, run 'Victorian Bedroom'," she heard him say.
Curiosity getting the best of her, she opened her eyes. She was standing in a bedroom unlike anything she had ever seen before, except, to a lesser degree, in movies, an old style of entertainment she had discovered during her college days. Curtains of deep red velvet highlighted a large room with floors that appeared to be made of wood. She ran her bare toes across it to get an idea of what it felt like. It was smooth, but textured at the same time. With trees being an endangered resource, wood was no longer used for construction and decoration purposes, but for the first time in her life, she understood what the attraction to its use had been centuries before.
Against the center of one wall stood an old mattress-style bed with lots of lacy, fluffy pillows and a bright, airy comforter depicting a selection of spring flowers that she recognized from her botanical history books as having been extinct for years. Aside from the visual differences, this wasn't your run-of-the-mill anti-gravity bed like she had grown up with. Gently, Derek led her to the old-fashioned bed and laid her down on it. This bed didn't fight gravity, but rather used it to full advantage. She felt herself sink into the comfort and softness of a mattress and closed her eyes to feel these new and delicious sensations.
Hey, mattresses aren't bad. Guess that's the end of my breakfast ... or is it the beginning?
"Close your eyes," she heard him whisper in a deep, guttural tone that sent shivers across her exposed flesh.
She was his for the taking, yet she knew not why. She waited, wondering what would happen next. She felt the mattress give as he lay down beside her and took her into his arms. She placed her head on his chest and listened to the beating of his heart, not questioning its presence in a hologram, as he gently stroked her hair. Tiana felt all her worries, all her problems, melt away. There was comfort and protection in the strong arms that held her. She kept her eyes shut, as if fearing that opening them would take her away from the moment.
She had been ready for him and, in fact, wanted him to have his way with her more than she had ever wanted anything else. Much to her surprise, however, he just held her, caressed her and lulled her to sleep with his warmth and compassion.
The Friend
It was late afternoon Earth time before Tiana woke from her nap, still cradled in Derek's arms. She was confused and not a little upset with herself. She had been willing to give herself physically to a computer program, an artificial intelligence unit not unlike her Legal-Bot. Thankfully, Derek had, well, respected her? She was losing her mind. She had allowed herself to be seduced by a program that opted to respect her instead of pleasuring her. Maybe he, it, wasn't programmed for sex. But be it a he or an it, Derek sure had aroused her senses to full attention.
Damn good program!
Without saying a word, Tiana got off the bed, dressed and left her suite. She didn't have to explain herself to a computer program or waste politeness on it.
Derek stayed in the bed, wondering how much longer he could keep up the deception before she figured out he was not the product of a programmer's imagination, but a stowaway, technically, a criminal stowaway, and alerted the ship's authorities. To his astonishment, his biggest fear wasn't getting caught and spending the next twenty years in prison. It was getting caught and spending the next twenty years apart from Tiana. Putting the thought away, he closed the Victorian Bedroom program, hoping he would get another opportunity to use it with her.
He couldn't help himself. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything else.
Tiana Weiss. A beautiful name to go with a beautiful woman, he thought. He was trying to think down his erection, but it would not budge.
Knowing where the sadness he had read in her eyes had come from only made him want her more. What kind of a combination moron and monster could willfully hurt such a divine creature? The side of him that was every bit the alpha male, protector of the fairer sex, rose to the surface. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way, if ever. Melinda had never needed his protection. By the same token, snakes in the grass are not known to need anyone's protection.
As she stepped out of her suite, Tiana activated her phone, conveniently housed in a pair of lenses implanted in her corneas. The set came with a matching communications chip implanted under the skin near her left ear, which, using her bone structure, served to both capture and transmit sound between her and the caller. Contact phones, as they were commonly referred to, were the latest thing on the market and had been a present from her now-ex-husband.
"Call Rita" she ordered. Two rings later, Rita answered, her image displaying in Tiana's contacts.
"Well hey there, stranger," Rita said. "I'm assuming you're on board?"
"Made the flight by the skin of my teeth, but I did make it. What are you up to? Where's your suite?"
"Top level, Suite 1052. Come on over."
"I'm just down the hall from you in 1005. I'll see you in a minute. End call."
As Tiana terminated the communication, Rita looked down at the head of her Personal Attendant, which had been quietly engaging in some rather 'personal attendance' to her before and during the conversation.
"Well, darlin', I'm afraid we'll have to finish this later," Rita drawled in her very southern way. "Tiana is a little conservative and I just don't want to make her little mind explode right now. Run along and synthesize us some chocolate truffles."
It would be so good to see Rita, thought Tiana as she knocked on Suite 1052's door. The last couple of weeks, both she and Rita had been so busy packing and preparing for their tour of duty in the Omicron quadrant that they had not had much of a chance to see each other.
"Computer, open door," Tiana heard Rita order, followed by the swish of the door sliding open.
As she stepped inside, Tiana glanced around. The suite was identical to hers. Rita, wearing just panties and a T-shirt that read 'Eat G.R.I.T.S.,' got up from the couch and greeted Tiana with a hug. On the back, the shirt explained what G.R.I.T.S. stood for: Girls Raised in the South.
"Darlin', it's so good to see ya. I've been so worried about you having to face that slimy hound dog of a husband of yours in court yesterday. Wait, that's an insult to hound dogs, isn't it? Tell me, how did it go? Are you doin' okay?"
"Everything went well, stressed, but well. Tom didn't even bother showing up, can you believe it? The court allowed me to finalize my side of the divorce and they'll deal with him later. As of yesterday afternoon, however, I am a free woman."
"Yeah, but how do you feel?"
Dang it! Rita could always see into her soul.
"I feel like hell. I should be happy to be rid of him, but instead, I'm just plain heartbroken. The feeling of failure and inadequacy color my days and hours."
Rita embraced her.
"Darlin', it's going to be okay," she said, her tone communicating the motherly love she felt for her younger friend. "You'll see, pretty soon you'll be dating some alien with five penises and Tom will shrivel up and be ancient history."
Tiana laughed, "Rita, you have this unique ability, no matter what the circumstances, to make me laugh. On a more serious note, though, I'm done with dating! I'm done with men! I'm certainly done with marriage! I plan on avoiding the Y-chromosomally-challenged sector of the species like the plague from now on!"
"Chocolate truffles, ladies?" Rita's holographic personal attendant interrupted presenting them with a tray of the mouth watering treats.
As she snagged a truffle off the tray, Tiana wondered why Rita's suite still used the old-style holographic Personal Attendant. She hadn't given it much thought, but such upgrades were typically systemwide across all the holographic suites. Strange, though for some inexplicable reason, she was glad at the thought that perhaps she was the only passenger with 'Derek Erecticus' in her suite.
Great, now she was feeling possessiveness and jealousy over the stupid program. Ah, damn good program.
"Tiana, I don't know about this business of giving up men, though. There's at least one man that I just know you are going to want to have a repeat performance from," Rita teased with a wicked grin.
Tiana stared back at her with caution in her eyes. Rita was a bit wilder than she was, and there was no telling where the conversation was headed.
"And just who exactly is this paragon, Ms. Andrews? After that last debacle, you better not be thinking about fixing me up." Tiana clearly remembered Rita's attempts to take her mind off her troubles by fixing her up with a couple of her guy friends. All she had wanted to do at the time was hide from her mean, disappointing life and meeting new people did not meet this criteria. Besides, she was not planning on ever trusting another man with herself. Relationships of the heart only brought pain and new opportunities to be abused. It was a testament to the fairer sex's incredibly stupid tendency to forgive and forget that any woman was still married.
"Though I still maintain that you should allow me to find you a good man, or at least an above-average one, no, that is not what I am doing, at least not this time. The one man I know you'll let back into your body is none other than the smooth, hard and wet Jack Daniels."
Having said so, she whipped out a bottle of the old Earth liquor she had brewed in her lab.
"This is one man that you don't have to handle on your own. What do you say we share him later on tonight? Ya feelin' kinky?"
"How much of that stuff did you bring?"
"Honey, I brought enough of this to last us the next two years if it has to. It gets lonely out here in space and a girl's gotta have her a man to keep her warm at night."
Tiana chuckled. "Rita, you're developing a sexual attraction for an ancient Earth drink."
"No, no, no," she said with a sigh, putting on a sexy red dress that clung to her curves like a glove. "I just happen to think that every so often, it's nice to kill a few excess brain cells and forget how sorry reality can actually be."
A deep, heartfelt sadness shone through the blonde's cool blue eyes. This was a side of Rita Tiana had never seen before. For the first time since knowing Rita, Tiana wondered why the other woman had never married, even though Rita was ten years her senior.
The two women headed out of Rita's suite and soon found themselves walking down the ship's Promenade Deck. On their left they had the best the luxury starship could offer in the way of restaurants, shops and nightclubs. To their right, however, was the stark opposite. On that side, the clear glass wall gave them a breathtaking view of space and the natural beauty that the Milky Way held in store for those who simply took the time to look.
As they leisurely strolled down the Promenade's walkway past a gaming arcade, Tiana noticed Marcus Long, along with his kids, waiting in line with several other fighter pilot wannabes of various ages to use one of the holographic chambers that appeared to be running the popular Terrilian Assault Battle Simulation game.
Seeing her, Marcus waved. As Tiana waved back, Rita noticed the interplay.
"You know, darlin', he's available."
"You never give up, do you? He's got two kids, what makes you think he's not married?" Why couldn't Rita leave her to her quiet, asexual existence, last night notwithstanding?
"He's a widower."
"Not that I'm looking, but if I were, I think he's younger than me and besides, I'm his boss."
"Don't be such a prude. He's not that much younger than you, he's 28."
"How do you know so much about this guy? What do you do, introduce yourself to men by saying, 'Hi, my name is Rita, please state your name, age and marital status'."
Winking, Rita replied, "No, of course not silly, that would be rude. When I meet a man I first explain to him that I have this friend who's bound and determined to grow her hymen back like an Ambrosian lizard and that if she doesn't get laid soon she is going to become a recluse and go live in a cave in the middle of an asteroid belt. Then I ask what his name, age and marital status is."
Tiana blushed as she noticed that passersby were overhearing their conversation and beginning to stare.
"Girl, would you keep your voice down? People are staring."
"What did I say?" Rita retorted with a chuckle and an innocence that Tiana knew did not exist within her eccentric friend.
"Actually, Rita, Marcus is another prime example for not getting involved in a relationship. He probably loved his wife very much and she died on him, leaving him brokenhearted to fend for himself and their two kids. That's one man that I'll bet would love to be able to go back in time and do things differently."
Rita's expression grew solemn, same as it had earlier at her suite.
"Tiana, darlin', I know Tom hurt you and that he wasn't worthy of your love, but please don't let this gut-wrenching, life-challenging experience twist you all up for the rest of your life. When you meet that special someone and the two of you bond, truly, truly join the way men and women were meant to be together since the beginning of time, there is no amount of pain that can ever make you regret the time that you did have together. Tom clearly wasn't for you, but I'll bet your life mate is out there somewhere and you will eventually find each other."
How dare she! Tiana felt anger coursing through her veins, and before she knew it her anger had spilled forth from her mouth.
"Okay, Miss Smarty Pants, Miss Give Me a Jack Daniels Neat, what makes you such an expert on love? If you are so knowledgeable on the subject, then where the hell is your life mate? I haven't seen you on that rosy garden path. Why aren't you married?"
A soft, sad, regretful smile shaped the edges of Rita's mouth as she quietly answered her friend's question.
"What makes you think we never found each other? We were together for a little while. Life ripped him from me, but I tell you, I wouldn't trade that time with him for eternity with any other man."
Ashamed of her tirade, Tiana said, "Rita, I am so sorry. I didn't know. You never told me."
Her breath catching, Rita replied, "I didn't mention it because it pains me to talk about it, but I treasure that man's love in my heart. A simple brush of his lips across mine and the ground would shake and the stars would fall from the sky. His smile could warm me better than any bottle of whiskey ever could. Tiana, what I shared with him, the one man who was made and predestined exclusively for me, was precious beyond words. Any pain I feel at no longer having him with me pales when compared to the privilege of having known him and rejoiced in our union. The kind of love that I'm talking about is selfless to the point that even altering time for selfish gain is not an option if it means taking happiness away from the one you love.
"You ought to talk to Marcus sometime. He might surprise you and dissipate some of your bitterness."
Renewed Pursuit
Several days into the flight, Captain John Maverick was livid. His strong and rugged six-foot-two frame stood straight and imposing. His normally gentle brown eyes focused on his Security Officer with an intense glare that could have breached the hull of a battle cruiser a light year away. Being a kind and fair man, he typically did not let his temper get the best of him, but this was not a typical situation.
He was tired of excuses. The safety of the 1,200 passengers on board and the ship's crew rested upon his broad shoulders. To make matters worse, they were entering a sector of space that was not fully colonized by the Galactic Alliance. In many ways, the sector resembled the proverbial wild and lawless West of ancient American history. Protecting the people under his care was his job, his sworn duty, and he was not one to take the protection of his wards lightly.
"What do you mean you can't locate its source?" Maverick demanded as he ran his fingers through his still-full head of thick brown hair lightly dusted with gray. "Someone has been tapping into our central computer, opening up a com link through the galactic-net, mind you, not just a com link, but a secured com link that we can't intercept, and downloading information, and now we have an intermittent beacon sending out signals that a Chihuahua with a cold could follow and you can't locate the source of any of it? Commander, maybe I need to offer your job to whoever is responsible for creating havoc with my communications!"
Commander Cathy Hollinger, an Amazon of a woman who could almost look at the captain eye to eye, understood her superior's concern. She was an attractive woman in her mid-twenties, smart, tough and, having served her career to date under the captain's tutelage, was fiercely devoted and loyal to her mentor.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said, showing signs of a rarely seen nervousness, "but whoever is doing this is covering his or her tracks very well. We don't know the origin, can't decipher the message and have yet to identify the method."
"Listen very carefully. I have a thousand alarms going off in my head, all telling me to be extraordinarily concerned. My gut is screaming at me and I'm listening. I want you to leave this room and do not come back until you know who's doing this. Run background checks, check the logs on legitimate communications, hell, get dressed as a maid and run manual scans of each individual room and occupant, but find out where these transmissions are originating. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir," she barked, availing herself of the opportunity to leave the bridge.
As his Security Officer headed out the door with a new urgency to discover the source of the strange signals, Captain Maverick, a veteran of the Terrilian war and the recipient of multiple decorations, hoped he hadn't been too rough on the younger officer. She was one of his best, just like the rest of his officers. They were all one of his best. He had no doubt she would get to the bottom of this. He just hoped it would be before anyone got hurt.
"Captain, we are being hailed by a Galactic Alliance Law Enforcement cruiser," reported the Communications Officer "They have ordered us to drop out of hyperspace and prepare to receive a Space Marshall, sir."
"They're not giving us much room to refuse, are they? My hunch is that this surprise visit is probably related to the strange transmissions. Acknowledge the request and provide them with docking instructions. Helmsman, drop us out of hyperspace. Commander, bring me my sidearm, I don't like this breach of protocol. As soon as the good Marshall is aboard, I want us back in hyperspace and on course. Let's attempt to keep to our schedule. I'll go down to the shuttle bay and receive our new passenger."
Making his way through the brightly lit, metal decked service corridors, the Captain pondered the puzzle before him. Unauthorized communications were one thing. He could easily envision a paranoid passenger not trusting the ship's on-board communications system for conversations of a discreet nature. But now, somewhere on board there was a homing device that on a daily basis transmitted a purposely scrambled and cloaked signal. To make it harder to locate, each time, after transmitting for a few minutes, the beacon would shut down. The ship's itinerary and flight plan were well documented and available for public review, so it made no sense to plant such a device to track the ship itself. It was simply not necessary. The device was targeting the location of one of his passengers. Someone on his ship, either knowingly or unknowingly, was being tracked and reasons for doing so were rarely honorable. Which one of his 1,200 charges was being targeted, he wondered. And, more importantly, why?
As he walked into the shuttle bay, the smell of exhaust and the sound of the giant external bay doors locking shut alerted Captain Maverick that the shuttle bearing his uninvited guest had already docked. Before he could search the faces moving about, a distinguished-looking middle-aged man approached him with an extended hand.
"You must be Captain Maverick. I am Marshall Troy Delaney."
"Marshall, welcome aboard. Your hail and order to stand down was most unusual. I don't mean to be short, but what the hell is going on?"
"Please accept my apologies for interrupting your flight, Captain. I would not have done so had it not been deemed necessary. I have reason to believe that an escaped convict is hiding aboard your ship."
Captain Maverick's eyebrows rose fractionally. "What are we dealing with, Marshall? How dangerous is this person?"
"Fortunately for all involved, I don't believe he's dangerous at all." Delaney took out a picture of Derek Hart and showed it to the Captain. "He's a white-collar criminal. Actually, at one point in his life he was a bit of a celebrity amongst the eggheads in the scientific community. Seems he's some kind of a genius in the field of holography. Probably owns the patents to a good portion of the components used to design the holographic suites on this ship.
"The guy is loaded, yet it wasn't enough for him. Seems he programmed a Trojan horse into the higher-end home-use holographic chambers his company was selling. Customers would pay through the nose for one of his chambers, and innocently install them at home. The chamber's AI would watch the occupants, determining by their actions when they would be gone for a length of time, communicate the fact to him and, having learned the home's security codes, would unlock it when his cronies showed up to ransack it. Every job, in essence, was an inside job."
"If he was that smart, why did he bother with petty theft and breaking and entering? Why not something more challenging? I assume he didn't do it for the money since it sounds like he already had plenty."
"That's a good question that was never answered during the trial. Maybe he just wanted to experience power over his customers. Who knows? The point is that he was found guilty and computer crime being what it is these days, he and the moon are going to become very well acquainted during the next twenty years."
"Marshall, something has been going on that perhaps is related in some way to the search for your escaped convict. Since we left Earth several days ago, my Security Officer has detected several unauthorized transmissions over the galactic-net between our ship and Earth. As you can imagine, that in itself is not so strange. During my tenure as Captain of this vessel, I have encountered such transmissions before and relatively easily traced them back to their source. This time, however, the transmissions are untraceable. Whoever is riding piggyback on the ship's communications network is cleverly hiding their location. My security people are very, very good, yet they are no closer to finding the source of the signals. In addition, a homing device has been activated and is intermittently issuing its signal. We are currently assuming, or at least hoping, that the two separate anomalies are in some way related."
"Well, if my man is the one issuing the signals, rest assured you will not find their source. He's that good. We'll have to find him directly through more conventional means. He is a master of technology."
Vacationing at Sundes II
The twin suns showered their rays upon Tiana's skin. She had never experienced anything quite as freeing as sunbathing in the nude before. She had simply mentioned to Derek that she had always wanted to vacation on Sundes II, a tropical ocean planet with a smattering of islands where the indigenous population worshipped the planet's two suns. Next thing she knew, he had written a holographic simulation of the planet for her. She tried explaining to him that even her generous expense account didn't cover customized programming but he had insisted it would be complimentary. Who was she to argue?
He had done an admirable job. She could feel the cool breeze caressing her sun-warmed breasts. The gentle roar of the waves came and went as they, in typical sporadic fashion, rolled upon the beach. She could even smell the vast ocean's salt and seaweed.
Tiana slowly opened her eyes. Men and women, all as naked as she was, wandered to and fro along the wide expanse of beach. Looking at the ocean, she watched a familiar figure slowly walking out of the water. With every step, more of his body became exposed to her gaze as it rose out of the water. The pads of muscle over his shoulders and chest were unmistakably Derek's. Another few steps brought his tight abdomen out of the water for her perusal. Her patience was finally rewarded as another few steps revealed the blackness of his curls followed by his manhood. Tiana watched mesmerized as drops of water made their way down the length of his body flowing in free-form patterns that she imagined tracing with her tongue.
As Derek approached his lounge chair, adjacent to hers, his eyes diverted from the chair and fixed upon her body as the look of a man who had not eaten in days filled his handsome mug. Tiana just watched him looking at her, saying nothing for fear of breaking the spell of the moment.
"Nice outfit," he finally said.
"Glad you approve, particularly since you wrote the program void of bathing suits," she retorted tartly.
"I simply wrote the program as true to the planet and its customs as possible," he defended. "The Sundesians are sunworshippers. They believe that the rays emanating from their two suns carry their gods' messages to them. For this reason, their laws forbid the covering of their bodies. That way they can be as in tune with their deities' desires as possible."
"How convenient. I'll bet they are a male-dominated society, aren't they?"
"Quite the opposite. It is their women who govern and legislate most of their laws."
Typical snotty AI, she thought, thinks it knows everything.
"Cut out the history lessons and pass me the sunscreen nanos," Tiana told Derek abruptly.
"Sorry, we are on Sundes II. Nanos are not allowed because---"
"No, no, don't tell me. They interfere with the sun gods' ability to communicate their will to their people."
"Right. Now you're getting the hang of it." Derek smiled.
Oh no! The smile, she thought. I'm melting, I'm melting. If clothes are going to be outlawed, then that damned smile should be outlawed too.
"Derek, I am a fair-skinned redhead. I don't tan. I burn and I freckle, but I don't tan. I need my nanos."
"No you don't. What you do need, however, is milk from the cuidian aloe plant. It grows in most tropical climates except for Earth."
"I am not drinking some plant's milk. That sounds gross."
"No, silly girl, you don't drink it. You apply it to your skin," Derek corrected her and chuckled. She was such a provincial city girl.
"Oh yeah, well, how am I going to get it on my back, huh? Nanos are way easier. You just need to ..."
"No, Tiana, you just need to relax and I'll apply it to your skin."
Unconsciously squeezing her legs together, Tiana felt an agonizing twinge between her legs at the thought of Derek's hands rubbing her body. The memory of what had happened the last time he had massaged her was still fresh in her mind.
"I'm naked, I'm not going to let you rub some gooey plant crap all over me," she reasoned.
"I'm an AI, it's not like I am going to enjoy it or anything. My purpose is to see that you are well cared for, and allowing you to burn while in paradise would not be caring for you. Besides, if you don't like the way it feels you can always stop running the program. You're not scared of me touching you, are you?"
"Of course not. I don't know why I'm even discussing this with you. You don't exist. You are a set of ones and zeros on the chamber's active memory. You will do the part of my back that I can't reach."
"Computer, materialize a bowl of cuidian aloe milk," Derek ordered.
A bowl containing a thick, white-green substance materialized in Derek's hand.
Smiling as he bent down to her, Derek handed the bowl to Tiana and warned, "Make sure you don't get any on your beautiful hair because---"
"I know how to apply lotion to my skin without messing up my hair, I don't need some stupid computer program to tell me what to do," she curtly cut him off.
A little self-consciously, Tiana started applying the concoction to her unclothed body as Derek watched.
The stupid hologram is staring at me with a stupid grin on his stupid face.
Quickly rubbing the aloe milk into every square inch of the front of her body, Tiana stopped, quite satisfied with herself.
"If I need you to do my back, I'll let you know when I flip over later on. In the meantime, please notice Mr. Human Wannabe, that I didn't get any on my hair or anywhere other than those parts of my body that actually required it."
"You rubbed it into your pubic hair," he stated, as if pleased he'd caught her on a technicality. AI's were so darn literal.
"Yes, but I meant to do that. That part of my body has never seen the sun and I am not about to burn it," she retorted snottily. Why am I even bothering to explain myself to this thing?
"Well, if you had allowed me to finish what I was saying earlier, I would have explained that aside from protecting the skin from the rays of the sun, the milk from this particular aloe plant disintegrates hair upon contact."
"Disintegrates hair?" Tiana looked down at her now totally bald pussy. "Shit! You are a dead man!" She jumped out of her lounge chair and swung an angry fist that just missed Derek's face. "And don't go making yourself disappear, either, or so help me I'll delete your sorry ass."
Derek ran as fast as he could straight for the water and, taking a few steps into it, dove in and disappeared under the surf. Tiana followed just a second or two behind him.
Where the hell is he? I'm going to tear him apart limb by limb, starting with his dick.
She stopped all motion, neck deep in the refreshing ocean water. Tiana listened intently for any sound that would give away Derek's position. He wasn't human so he could probably stay underwater as long as he needed to without having to come up for air. Still, she would find him. He had made a fool of her and she would make his electronic body pay. She was mad as a hornet. She was so angry that she couldn't see straight. She was so ... very ... horny. The stupid program seemed to have that effect on her. No matter what either one of them ever did, it eventually made her hot for him. Not him, it. It is not real.
"Ungh!" Tiana cried out as she felt a pair of hands reach from behind her and caress her breasts, holding each nipple between a thumb and index finger. The hands simultaneously pulled her back into a rock-hard chest.
"Damn you, Derek," she half whispered and half cried out. Tiana tried to extricate herself from Derek's hold, but with each squeeze of her breasts and each pinch of her nipples, a portion of her energy fled her. Her body was too weak to fight. It was as if she was under a magic spell and her muscles refused to obey her.
Tiana closed her eyes as her legs relaxed and ceased to hold her up. She was kept from sinking into the water exclusively by the hold Derek had on her now aching and extremely sensitive breasts.
"Don't try to get away or I'll stop pinching your nipples. Or worse, I'll take my hands away from your breasts," he whispered hoarsely. The heat of his breath on her ear made her even hotter.
"Don't take them away," Tiana begged. She reached down with her hand and rubbed her now smooth mound. Finding her clitoris, Tiana flicked at it with her middle finger hard and fast. She needed release.
"Oh no you don't," she heard Derek whisper softly in her ear as he removed one hand from her breast and directed it down to keep her from touching herself. How did he know what she was doing? Was he that in tune with her? There had to be a way to tone down the holographic chamber's sensors.
Much to her relief, he slid the intruding hand around her hip and took over the job she had been doing just a moment ago, from behind. Tiana spread and stretched her legs wrapping them around the back of Derek's thighs as she gave herself up to the buoyancy of her body in the water. Her center desperately searching for his manhood. .
She felt Derek's teeth nipping at her neck, each nibble followed by soft gentle kisses that soothed her.
"Do you like what I'm doing to you?" she heard him whisper. Tiana didn't answer.
"If you don't respond I'm going to have to stop," he threatened before repeating his question, "Do you like what I'm doing to you?"
She'd be damned if she was going to give him the satisfaction of giving him an answer.
"Yes, I like what you're doing to me," she heard herself say, unable to fight her treasonous body. "Don't stop."
Her will and her mind were not working together. She was an educated, sophisticated, woman. Why was she so out of control? This minute, she would kill if she had to in order to hold on to the sensations pulsing through her lust-filled body.
A high-pitched scream escaped her throat as she felt Derek's middle finger enter her. His index finger continued the job of tantalizing her engorged, hypersensitive clitoris without missing a beat.
Thank goodness for his big hands.
Derek's other hand moved from the one breast to the other. He stroked her breast upwards, each time finishing with a pinch to her aching, over-sensitized nipple. His hand's rhythm on her breast matched that being applied to her most intimate parts.
Changing his method of attack above the water level, Derek moved his mouth from her neck to her ear, where he allowed his tongue to, gentle as a feather, lick all the way around the ridge of her ear, finally sucking the soft fleshy part into his hot, waiting mouth. In between the caresses his lips levied on her, she felt him nip her with his teeth from time to time, not hard enough to hurt her, but hard enough to sharpen her senses.
Tiana was settling into Derek's rhythm. He was working her into a frenzy when he once more upped the ante.
"Goodness gracious!" She arched her back some more, trying to spread her legs wider as she felt Derek's thumb gently pushing at her back door.
Tiana screamed as the myriad of feelings she was enduring became an orgasm that exploded and surged upwards from the heat between her legs, expanding to every part of her conscious being.
The ship's Security Officer had, after much effort, succeeded in tracing the transmissions to a specific state room. Marshall Delaney looked forward to recapturing Derek and heading back. Deep space missions no longer held any appeal or enticement for him. Not since the war.
Suspecting he would find Derek at the source of the transmissions, the Marshall, along with two Galactic Alliance Enforcement officers and the Captain, now found himself directly outside the luxury suite that he hoped held Derek. The Captain had suggested that they proceed with caution and watch the suite for a while just to make sure all was as it appeared. Impatiently, Marshall Delaney agreed that it was odd that Derek had given himself away so easily, but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? Besides, he hated space travel and was more than ready to go home.
Time to collect his prisoner.
"Okay, people," he whispered to his team. "On the count of three ... one ... two ... THREE!" The team moved in, overriding the door's controls and opening it. The three officers, weapons in hand, rushed into the suite's great room. What met the good Marshall's eyes caused him great consternation. Instead of finding Derek, the room opened up to reveal a man and a woman, probably in their mid-or early-60s, stark naked running a holographic program that could have jumped right off the pages of the ancient Earth tome, Thousand and One Nights.
"What is the meaning of this and what are you perverts staring at?" Inquired a very angry man while attempting to shield his nude wife from the strangers' shocked eyes.
Marshall Delaney wished he had paid heed to the good Captain's advice. Derek had set them up to keep them busy and away from his real location. What's worse, like a fool, he had fallen into the trap. He'd be lucky if the couple didn't sue.
Marshall Delaney could tell that the Captain was biting his lip, doing his best to keep from laughing at the predicament the Marshall had landed them in.
"Marshall Delaney, I'd like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Leckelman. They are celebrating their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. I had the privilege of meeting them when they joined me in my private dining room for a celebration dinner a few nights ago."
The Marshall pierced the Captain with a look that could have wiped out an entire division of Terrilians.
Shielding his eyes, the Marshall spoke to his two officers. "Head back and meet me in the Captain's office." Turning to the now covered but extremely irate couple, he withdrew his identification. "My apologies sir, ma'am, please pardon the interruption. I am Space Marshall Troy Delaney. I am tracking an escaped felon and, in the process, investigating some illicit communication signals that were traced back to your stateroom. This is obviously a horrible and awkward time for me to be asking, but have either of you made unauthorized transmissions since the start of the trip?"
"Marshall, as the Captain just said, my wife and I are celebrating our forty-fifth wedding anniversary we have not communicated with anyone anywhere, nor do we have any plans to do so. Getting away from people is why we are on this trip."
"I pray both of you will accept my humblest of apologies for my thoughtless intrusion. Rest assured it will not happen again," the Marshall promised in the most humble tone he could come up with.
He turned and, with the Captain following closely behind him, left the stateroom. His thoughts melded with his anger as he faced the fact that Derek had made a fool of him once when he escaped at the spaceport and had just finished making a fool of him once more. Derek Hart, I will find you even if it means searching every square inch of space dust in the universe. This was no longer just a job for him. It was personal.
The Discovery
Ahh, this is the life. Tiana leaned back in the comfortable lounge chair in the ship's beauty salon as a team of nanobots applied a final coat of red polish, her signature color, to the nails on her perfectly pampered fingers and toes.
I really need to do this more often!
Between the soothing skin treatment of Llegorian mud and the hair follicle stimulation, she had not only added four inches to her already long and beautiful head of hair, but now her skin looked and felt ten years younger. Perhaps she ought to heed Rita's advice and start flirting with younger men.
She allowed her mind to wander, but this time she wasn't thinking about her bad experiences or about Tom. She found herself, strangely enough, not even thinking about younger men. Images of her holographic Personal Attendant took over her mind. It, no, not it, he was so kind and gentle. Since the strange experience when he had brought her to orgasm for the first time through a simple massage --- okay, okay, and by driving her boobs to the point of insanity --- he had somehow known she wasn't emotionally ready to go any further physically and had limited his advances to just pleasuring her. He was always there to serve her breakfast when she woke up, and he was always there to tuck her in at night, no matter how late she arrived from her outings with Rita. Not only that, he had the face of an angel and the body of Adonis, and for the remainder of the flight she owned him!
The remainder of the flight ... Her mind slowly drifted back to reality. She would lose him/it at the end of the flight. Its memory banks would be erased after the trip and her face, her name and their times together would be forgotten as if they had never happened. Derek was a program, not a man, yet her heart sped up when he was near and her mind kept finding its way back to thoughts of him when he wasn't.
Get a grip, Tiana; you're losing touch with reality!
She was going to miss this ... program ... when she reached the Magellan Outpost. The ship was currently in orbit above their first port of call, the ice planet of Tetras 3. They would spend the day loading and unloading passengers, refueling and preparing for the next leg of the trip. Rita had wanted her to catch a shuttle down to the planet and go skiing with her, a once in a lifetime opportunity, yet all she felt like doing was staying in her suite and spending time with ... a hologram? Damn it, she was withdrawing further from reality to spend time with a man who didn't really exist, in a computer-generated fantasy.
News from Earth was playing on a viewing monitor directly to her left. Deep in thought, she was not paying attention to it until a familiar face on the screen caught her eye. It was the man who had accosted her at the courthouse.
"... Managed to escape while at the spaceport waiting to be transported to the Lunar 5 penal colony. Mr. Hart, formerly a research scientist and part owner of Holographic Dreams Inc., a manufacturer of holographic chambers for both the personal and commercial markets, is not considered dangerous, but was the subject of a much-publicized trial that left many questions as to who his accomplices had been, unanswered."
A second photo of the escaped felon, without the beard and with neatly groomed shorter hair, flashed on the monitor, causing Tiana's stress to surge back up to pre-beauty salon levels as the announcer continued, "Anyone seeing this man is asked to please contact Galactic Alliance Law Enforcement immediately."
The picture was the same image as her holographic suite's Personal Attendant. The computer program she had been attracted to since she set foot on this ship. Her fantasy was turning out to be more real than she had anticipated.
Damn him! Not only had this poor excuse for a human being made fun of her at the courthouse, he had escaped, followed her all the way into her suite and made himself at home pretending to be part of the room itself. No wonder Rita's Personal Attendant was different from hers. Hers wasn't made of lying, deceiving and conniving flesh and blood. She had gotten her wish, her virtual man had come to life. Her very own Pinocchio, lies and all. But what did he want with her? Why her? Tiana was angry, yet she also felt a thrill and sense of lightness at the fact that Derek was a real man. And what a man! But if he was a real man, why hadn't he had sex with her? Men just weren't THAT unselfish. Maybe he didn't find her sexually attractive. After all, she was the one who had an orgasm that first night, not him.
Tiana needed answers, and she was going to get them from Derek, the man.
Derek monitors transmissions
Back at Tiana's suite, Derek was keeping himself busy, console on his lap, searching the databanks from flower shops near Tiana's home back on Earth in an effort to try and figure out if she had a favorite flower.
Real macho, Derek. You're pussy-whipped by a woman who doesn't even know you exist. Literally.
Even though he had been cooped up in Tiana's suite pretending to be a fixture, waiting on her hand and foot, the time had just flown by. If time does indeed fly when you are having fun, then he must have been having a blast. And why wouldn't he be enjoying himself? Tiana was incredible. She was beautiful, smart, relaxed and totally transparent in her interactions with him. With Tiana, what he saw is what he got. Even though she thought he was a virtual reality character she was always kind to him. It was the little things she did, such as waiting for him to sit down with her before beginning to eat a meal. She was never derogatory in her interactions with him even though, to her, he was no more than a computer program. Everything from the way she giggled to the way she looked at him first thing in the morning when he performed his 'wake-up call' duties for her hinted of deeper feelings than those between a user and a computer program.
At the next port of call, Arcadia 10, he would need to make good on his escape. Even if he was caught, the Galactic Alliance had no jurisdiction there, for Arcadia 10 remained independent and had no extradition treaties with other worlds. In essence, it was a haven for those who dabbled in questionable activities. With his intelligence and skillset he ought to be able to make a good living and a fresh start there.
He would miss this adorable vision of beauty and femininity. He couldn't get involved with her even if he wanted to, which, after his last experience with an affair of the heart, he certainly didn't. Not with any woman. In the meantime, though, she sure felt right, but he would have to continue to hold his lust back. He would not break her heart any more than he would allow her to break his, but the niggling fear of losing her versus recapture surfaced to shake his resolve.
Damn, network traffic between here and Earth sure is slow today, he thought.
Derek kept losing his signal regardless of any adjustments he made. It was almost as if someone else was trying to hide a signal within the ship's com link into the galactic-net. One hidden signal didn't degrade the speed of the network much, but two, by their very stealth nature, would certainly cause this type of delay.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Derek's fingers moved like lighting across the console's keyboard entering a decoding routine to work in conjunction with the encryption routine he had written years earlier for his company's holographic chambers. He would use both routines in tandem to reverse-engineer and decipher the other transmission competing with his for resources, assuming there was one. If someone was getting in the way of his synthesizing flowers for Tiana, he was going to find out who it was and put them out of commission.
"Computer, execute program and play results."
As the computer followed his instructions, Derek heard a mechanically scrambled voice transmit over the room's sound system. Best as he could tell, at least one of the parties in the conversation was on the starship.
"... arrived from the planet. It's butt-cold down there. Do you have her room number?"
"Yes, she is in room 1005, one of the luxury suites," a second mechanically scrambled voice responded/ "Remember, it must look like an accident. I cannot risk the law pointing a finger at me."
"Do not insult me by telling me how to do my job, human. I've been doing it since before you were born. Scorpio, out."
As the conversation ended, Derek's heart sank. Room 1005 was the very one he was sitting in. Tiana's room. What was Tiana involved in that someone had hired an assassin to do away with her? Was she a felon? Who was she, really? How stupid could he be to once more fall for a woman with criminal involvements?
Nice girls don't have contracts taken out on their lives.
What was he to do? He couldn't judge her guilty without a lot more information. He knew what that felt like. Who was he kidding? Even if she was some kind of criminal, he couldn't let this Scorpio person kill her. "With information comes responsibility," he remembered his father instructing him during his teen years. Derek still missed him. By keeping what he had heard to himself and doing nothing, he would be signing her death warrant. His plan was to sneak off the ship on Arcadia 10, and disappear amongst its masses.
But he couldn't just leave her at the mercy of a killer. Darn nuisance! Darn female!
Escaping into the population of Arcadia 10 was now out of the question. His plans would need to change. The first priority now was to protect Tiana. He would need to find out more about her background and would need to devise a plan for staying close to her after the ship landed on Magellan. He would also need a contingency plan in case he was recaptured. In true Derek form, his multitasking brain began working out all three plans as he established another communication channel to Earth. The flowers would need to wait. He would hack into her Legal-Bot and gather a few facts.
Tiana Confronts Derek
The nailpolish was barely dry when Tiana stormed out of the beauty salon. She made a pitiful sight: face flushed, towel wrapped around her wet hair, barefoot, with foam pedicure separators between her toes and her shoes in hand, cursing all men under her breath. She felt angry and betrayed. The man had seen her naked, for crying out loud. He had tasted her breasts and his finger had been buried deep inside her. What's worse, each time she had found it a pleasant experience.
Okay, okay, powerful, all-encompassing, earth-shattering, body-melting orgasms were more than just a pleasant experience, but that is beside the point.
"What are you looking at butthead?" she chastised a man who was apparently amused by her appearance as she walked by.
Her ire increased. Clearly he had taken advantage of her. What really pissed her off was the fact that, well, while believing him to be a virtual man, her memories of their time together were seductive, but now that she knew she had been kissed, fondled, massaged, caressed, stared at --- Okay, that's enough Tiana --- while nude by a real man, not a computer program, she found herself wetter than she'd ever been in her life. Her depth of anger was met by an equal dose of confusion. She should be contacting the authorities and letting them deal with this Personal Attendant impersonator, but instead, she was marching to her suite and going to get some satisfaction by having it out with him. This was personal, and so would be her revenge! She was not about to let the ship's authorities handle her personal business. But why was it so personal, damn it? He was just a low life who meant nothing to her. Right?
"Call computer in 1005," she ordered her phone as she continued the highly undignified strut to her suite, trying to convince people who walked by that she was modeling a new fashion trend.
"How may I help you?" she heard the computer respond.
"Computer, lock all console access to my command only. Register my voice pattern as the sole access code and dematerialize any active consoles."
"Console access changed. One console dematerialized."
"Computer, let's create a new program. Call it 'Playtime with Tiana' and base it on ..."
Derek turned quickly to the door as he heard it open. After being so abruptly shut down and locked out of the system earlier, he half expected to see a Space Marshall walk in. If it wasn't for Tiana needing him, he would have left the room and found a different place to hide. Much to his relief it was Tiana.
"Hi, Derek sweetie, it's so good to see you're still here."
Like where the hell else was he supposed to be?
Her body vibrated with anger. The frigid tone of her voice shouted to him, in no uncertain terms, that he was in deep shit. Had she found him out? Had she turned him in?
As she tossed her shoes to the side and removed the toe separators, she gave him a big grin that he accurately perceived as trouble, and sweetly continued, "You know, not having ever had a hologram of my own to play with, I'm curious as to how one would react to sex."
Hey, things are looking up.
"I think I would like to play a little game with my little hollow wallow buddy," she said, giggling as she baby-talked him.
Derek didn't know what to say, which was a good thing, for she didn't give him a chance to respond.
"Computer, run 'Playtime with Tiana'."
Derek watched as the room flickered to empty and what appeared to be a dungeon materialized in its place.
Oh, crap, the chick can program.
To his right there was a body cage hanging from the ceiling just large enough for a human body to fit inside. Across from him, directly behind Tiana, he spotted a medieval rack complete with a leveraged tightening wheel that made it easier for someone her size to 'stretch' someone his size.
Double-crap, she's a really good programmer.
"Computer," she ordered in a seductive voice, "replace my Personal Attendant's clothes with a loincloth."
Derek watched as his clothes vanished and a carefully positioned loincloth replaced them.
"Never mind, computer, replace loincloth with a g-string."
To Derek's chagrin the computer replaced the loincloth with a microscopic garment that must have been made from light-brown dental floss. She then approached him, placed her hands on his chest and slowly drew them to his sides, softly scratching his chest and nipples as she went along. Next he felt her attack him with her tongue, first tantalizing and tormenting one nipple, then, without pulling her tongue off his body, she dragged it across his chest to the other one and proceeded to sample its taste with gusto.
I'm okay with this, Derek thought as the sensations she was generating upon his chest overtook him.
"You know," she continued, "you've pleasured me, but I haven't pleasured you yet. That's just not very fair of me, now is it?"
Nope, not fair at all, nope, nope, nope.
No sooner had he gotten used to what she was doing than he felt her working her way down past his tight stomach muscles, approaching the top of his g-string. Oh ... my ... goooooodnesss! Derek's cock stood at attention turning the front of the g-string into a pup tent, his hands lose and limp at his side.
She was going to blissfully place her sexy ruby red lips upon his ... WHOA, WHAT'D SHE DO?
While Derek had been floating around in sexual la-la land, Tiana had snapped a pair of handcuffs that were hanging from the ceiling around his now useless wrists.
"Computer, retract chains."
Slowly, a winch in the ceiling above pulled the chains tighter, shortening their length and raising Derek's arms up into the air, dragging his helpless body up with them, leaving his feet hanging just a couple of inches off the ground.
"Now let's dress me appropriately. Let's see, computer, replace my clothes with the 'Torrid Tiana' outfit."
Derek's jaw dropped, and found himself unable to contain a moan of shock (or pleasure, he wasn't sure which) as he stared at Tiana standing before him wearing a black patent-leather bra and panties with a matching black patent-leather corset, all decorated with metal studs. Around her neck she had a black patent-leather choker with a metal ring that he assumed was probably used for ...
Who was he kidding, he had no clue what the metal ring was for.
Black patent-leather six-inch spike-heeled sandals highlighting her pretty little toes, newly polished red, completed the outfit.
Goodness gracious, was he developing a foot fetish now?
She continued speaking in a low, sexy mixture between a sultry groan and her good ol' Georgia drawl.
"Very nice. I just know we are going to have so much fun tonight. Just you, and me, and a few of my toys."
"What kind of toys do you have in mind?" he asked, trying to keep his voice under control to avoid betraying the panic he was now beginning to feel.
"Oh, just a few little things that won't inconvenience you any since you are a computer generated character. If you were a human being, though, made of flesh that can tear and blood that can gush out of an open wound, then matters would be different. It's a good thing holographs don't feel pain."
"Computer, end program!" Derek commanded in panic as he hung there, watching and realizing the computer no longer obeyed his commands.
"Silly boy, the computer only responds to human commands."
Tiana walked over to a gothic-looking armoire he hadn't noticed until now. She opened it, revealing an impressive collection of rods, switches and whips. After taking her time and carefully inspecting each one under Derek's concerned gaze, she finally settled on one.
"I think we'll go with a cat o' nine tails," she stated matter-of-factly.
Derek prayed she was referring to an alien kitty cat. His hopes were quickly dashed when she approached him with a mean-looking leather whip in her hand. Each one of the nine 'whips' split off into nine strands that he had no doubt would rip through his skin in no time. If he hadn't been so unnerved he would have calculated out the total number of strands. At the moment, though, such a calculation held little interest for him.
"Ah, Tiana, I don't think this is a good idea. Don't forget, the upgrade gave me the ability to feel emotions and pain."
"Darlin', I would never hurt you. Computer, turn off my Personal Attendant's ability to feel pain. There, now you won't feel a thing, and I'll be able to whip you even longer, relying on the fact that I won't be hurting you. Do scream and pretend like it hurts, though."
"Hello, it doesn't work that way. I wasn't designed to be able to turn off my senses, you know."
"Oh, don't be such a big baby. You're not real. Pain is not a reality to you."
Tiana lifted the whip and swung it with all her might hitting the wall beside him, just inches from his manhood. Derek heard the whoosh of the whip, felt the breeze that it created sweep across his chest and down past his favorite organ, followed by the loud crack as it hit the wall.
"Shit!"
"Oh, dang it, I missed," she teased. "I was hoping on landing all 81 little strands on the tip of your holographic cock. Guess I'll have to try again."
She released his cock from the pouch of the g-string. Wickedly, she stroked her long red nails down its length and back up. Teasing the very tip of his manhood, she bent down and wrapped the thin strands of the whip around its base, beginning to pull the leather tight. Tiana placed her hungry mouth on his cock and began to tongue the tip. She sucked him as she pulled the cat-o-nine tail strands tighter.
His rod twitched and pulsed with desire. It tremored with the need for release. He was getting closer. Tiana attacked his engorged member with a lust she had never felt before, for anyone or anything. Derek appeared confused between the need to breathe and the need to moan as both actions merged into a single sound that gave him away. He was readying to come. Tiana continued stoking his fire, feeling his cock twitch each time she pulled closer to the tip, until she sensed he was standing at the very edge of desire and about to jump off. Releasing him from her mouth, under his protesting and disaproving gaze, she brought a second whip into play and hit the wall with it.
"NO! Have you lost your mind? You must be a pretty sick puppy to get off on inflicting pain upon another sentient being."
He still wasn't admitting he was human. Oh, well, she would just up the ante.
"Stop being such a sissy! Hmm. Maybe I'll try something a little different."
Turning back to the armoire, Tiana thoughtfully perused the selection of whips and, after placing both whips back where she had originally gotten them from, selected a long bull whip.
"Darlin', you're just gonna love this one. It is made of one-hundred-percent Peruvian llama leather. It won't sting as much as the cat o' nine tails would have, but it is easier to aim and it will rip up a bigger and deeper piece of your," she giggled, "anatomy."
In utter shock, Derek watched her approach carrying what appeared to be an eight-foot bull whip.
She's too small to wield that big whip, he thought, moments before she swung the whip around the top of her head then flicked it straight ahead of her, where it made a loud cracking sound.
So much for that theory.
Derek's cock still ached from the sight of her, not to mention his need for release, but his blood hadn't pumped this fast ever!
Tiana stopped for a moment, looked at Derek with her most intense, studious and academic look, before saying, "Did you know that when properly used, the tip of a bull whip travels so fast it causes a sonic boom? That's what the crack you just heard is, you know."
"I'll bet you're a lot of fun during a game of Trivial Pursuit. Why don't we play that?" Derek joked in the hopes that she would give up the current game.
"You whine way too much. I haven't even touched you yet," she said as she lifted the whip back in the air.
"Stop! Okay, okay, I know what you're after. I admit it, I am not a hologram and I am a human being just like you. Please, put the whip down."
"What! You? Not a hologram? Surely you jest!" she teased in her finest southern belle drawl. Tiana appeared to truly be enjoying herself.
"No, I'm serious. I'm the man who stumbled next to you at the courthouse back on Earth. Do you remember me? Please let me down and I'll prove it to you."
"Well, if you're a real person, not a computer program, and I let you down, won't you be mad at me? Now I really can't let you go. Why, you might try and whip me back."
"I would never do that. A gentleman never hurts a lady."
"Well, true, but you're not a gentleman, you're a convict that was, if I understood things correctly, on his way to jail on Lunar 5. Did you not like the other boys? Is that why you escaped?" she continued in a pouty tone.
Derek finally began to understand. She'd been playing him.
"Okay, I think I get it. You're trying to teach me a lesson, aren't you? How did you find out I was human? What gave me away?"
"The wall-sized 'wanted man' portraits that Galactic Law Enforcement is broadcasting across the galaxy were a good first hint."
"Now will you let me down? Please?"
"Only if you promise to tell me how you got yourself into this mess. I've observed you for close to a week and I don't believe you are the thief you have been convicted of being. A liar, a voyeur and a pervert, maybe, but not a thief."
"I promise. Just please let me down, my arms hurt."
Tiana giggled, looking quite pleased with herself. She was no longer mad at Derek and, surprisingly, neither felt any danger from him nor seemed to give any credence to his conviction.
"Computer, end program," she ordered. Instantly, the cuffs around his wrists, along with the rest of the dungeon, dematerialized and were replaced with the room's regular furniture. A very naked Derek Hart dropped the full two inches to the floor, landing on his muscular legs.
Tiana dropped back onto the couch and made herself comfortable. "For the record, Derek, I still think you whine too much."
Solving the Puzzle
Tiana felt a blush claim her face as she stared at Derek's exposed and rather large ... red alert, red alert, dangerous thoughts in attack formation! "Okay, Mr. Hart, you appear to be real enough, but you don't seem to be wearing any 'real clothes'. Would you mind putting something on?" She managed to get the words out, instantly cursing herself for suggesting he cover himself.
"I can't," he responded without making any attempt at covering himself, quite comfortable in his current state of undress and arousal.
"What do you mean, you can't?"
"When you ended the program, you also ended my clothes."
"Well, put on whatever it was you were wearing when you snuck in here."
"This is what I was wearing when I snuck in here."
"Computer, dress this man in jeans and a black T-shirt ... err ... make that a black muscle shirt."
The computer complied immediately by materializing the requested items of clothing on Derek's body. The full impact of her actions sunk in. She had dressed him in a muscle shirt so she could continue to admire his body. What was she thinking!!!
"Okay, I've fulfilled my end of the deal," she said. "I've let you down and out of the goodness of my heart I've even clothed you. Now it's your turn. How in the world did you get into this mess? The news feed said you were some kind of scientist."
Derek was starting to relax, but she could still see a little distrust in his eyes. Good. That'll teach him. She chuckled to herself.
"I was, or rather, I am. Six months ago I was the top expert in holography in the galaxy. I was a red-hot commodity, at least, until I met a certain lady, and I use the term 'lady' rather loosely, by the name of Melinda Harris. I met Melinda at a symposium at which I presented a paper on creating high-definition holographic objects with limited computing resources, my specialty, and the single piece of the puzzle that made holographic chambers affordable and therefore available to the masses. She was everything a man could hope for, or so I though at the time, and I fell hard for her."
Tiana squirmed in her seat at the thought of Derek with another woman. The thought of him getting physical with any female bothered her, but the thought of him caring for, or worse, loving another woman really pissed her off. Now that she knew Derek to be part of her reality, she found herself wantonly attracted to him, perhaps even emotionally attached to him.
This is crazy, the man is an escaped convict.
Derek continued his story.
"I kept records of my work at home and often worked remotely from the house. To my delight, Melinda. being not just my lover but a colleague, was extremely interested in my work. I'd bounce ideas off of her. She would help me refine holographic objects. It was the perfect relationship."
The word 'lover' in the context of the conversation made Tiana sick. Bitch!!!!
"Twice I caught her logged in under my user ID, looking over my latest refinements. I didn't think much of it, as she was helping me with the work, but since it was a security breach and violated company policy, I asked her not to do it again and changed my password. Both times she apologized, and promised it would be the last time."
"I then started seeing reports on the nightly news of houses being burglarized. In each and every case, the house's security systems were bypassed as if it had been an inside job. All these homes belonged to wealthy people and had one other thing in common. They all had the household model holographic chamber I had designed. Eventually the Galactic Bureau of Investigation put two and two together and started checking out the chambers' logs. Melinda was using my research, my company's flagship product, to case the houses, track the owners' movements, then rob them blind.
Tiana could see Derek's pain etched on his handsome face. His expression showed the feelings of betrayal he had thus far kept from her as he continued his story.
"When the GBI tracked it all, wrongly, to me, Melinda disappeared. She just vanished as if she had never existed. It was the perfect frame and I was the perfect chump. My company went bankrupt and I went to jail. What hurt the most was that my stupidity had cost my family its name and its honor. For the first time in my life I was actually glad that my father was dead. It spared him the pain of seeing me, his only son, going to prison and seeing the family name tarnished to a humiliating state that it will never be able to recover from."
Visibly upset, Derek took a deep breath. "When you saw me at the courthouse I had just been sentenced to twenty years, and the Marshall you saw me with was escorting me to the Lunar 5 penal colony."
"When you fell in front of me that day," Tiana asked, feeling both embarrassed and wary, "why did you mock me?"
Derek looked stunned. "You thought I was mocking you? Tiana, I'll own up to worship, adoration, immature behavior and heavy drooling, perhaps, but not to mocking. Why do you think I tripped and fell on my face? When I first laid eyes on you I melted into putty. My legs became noodles. I became irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was the vision of you, the beautiful and adorable creature that God had laid in my path at my darkest hour. Tiana Weiss, it was you who gave me the strength to escape and not give up on my life."
"So you followed me to the ship in the hope of meeting me?" Ohhhh, how sweet, my own little stalker. "But how did you track me down?"
"You know, you really should be more careful who you stick your luggage ID labels on," he answered with a triumphant grin. "Besides, you hurt my upper lip. Want to kiss it and make it better?"
Hmmnn, I should have stuck the label on his crotch. That's it. No more talking. Time to make out!
As if he could read her mind, Derek swept down on Tiana. She felt his urgency and his need from his kiss. Or maybe it was her own deep desire she was projecting onto him. Either way, if she didn't kiss him, taste him, and savor him right now she was simply going to implode.
As they merged into the kiss, Tiana felt like Derek had set off a wave of passion that burned its way down to her heart and then, like the ripples of an ion pulse in the midst of space, exploded, spreading warmth and contentment throughout not just her physical body, but also to her very soul. How could one kiss do so much to her? How could one kiss move her to the point of such desperation for a second one? She felt Derek's arms pull her to him. She knew she should resist, but instead, her arms reached up and encircled the tall man's neck, pulling him down to her with the same urgency with which he was claiming her. She allowed her fingers the pleasure of running through his soft and curly hair, caressing the nape of his neck.
Tiana felt Derek's kiss slow down. The passion of having to immediately have her appeared to be changing to one of enjoying and delighting in her. He expertly explored her mouth, paying his respects to every minute detail. His velvety tongue glided across hers, flicking back and forth, tasting her until she could almost feel her body melt into a pool of hot lava; lava which he and he alone had ever heated to this level. Not to be outdone, her tongue responded by sliding underneath his and savoring him. She reached out and gently nipped the tip of his tongue.
Where had that come from? I am a civilized woman. I don't bite.
Derek's moan of pleasure mixed with surprise at her challenge, corrected that perception. She was a woman in heat for her man.
Yes, I do bite and I probably also scratch and claw.
As Tiana felt Derek pull away from the kiss she almost flew into a panic, as if she couldn't survive a single moment without it. She quickly calmed down as she felt him nipping at her neck. One moment, he was gently nuzzling her and the next he was nipping at her.
His hands reached up and cupped her head as he allowed his lips to wander aimlessly over her face and neck. He licked and kissed his way up, finally resting upon her eyebrow. He kissed and tended to that eyebrow as if it were the most sexual part of her very being.
Who would have ever thought eyebrows to be an erogenous zone?
Not to be distracted into complacency, he moved on. When she felt him nuzzling and kissing his way across the top of her ear, she thought the sensation would kill her. He hadn't even made a move to steal second base yet and she was tottering between passing out and ravaging him. Her panties were soaked with her desire for him. Her heart was clambering to know him. She was edging down a slippery slope. She was starting to turn her heart over to him. This simply could not be happening. It was just lust from being on the rebound, she reminded herself. She had no intention of belonging to anyone ever, but it didn't change the reality that she was immersed in. Derek's kisses were claiming her. It's just lust. They were branding her with a searing heat that was bonding their hearts together. It's just lust. She struggled to stop the searing connection. She must not get emotionally involved with this, or any other man, yet she was becoming his, irreparably his. What if he was another Tom? She couldn't take having her heart betrayed once more.
Too fast. Too fast.
Gathering what little strength and logic she had left, Tiana managed to utter the words that neither she nor Derek wanted to hear, "Derek, I ... we shouldn't ..."
"Yes, I know. Trust me."
Hell, I do trust you. It's me I don't trust!
She silently admitted that she wanted him. She wanted him more than she had ever wanted any other man, including Tom.
Tom. Tom who? Control, control, control, potential heart-wreck ahead!
Every alarm she had protecting the secured perimeter around her heart was going off. Loudly! Unfortunately, her heart wasn't listening. Her defenses were crumbling and she was beginning to raise the white-hot flag of surrender. To make matters worse, she was surrendering to a man she barely knew who was wanted across the galaxy for crimes he supposedly had not committed. Or so he said.
"My angel of mercy, I would never do anything to rush you or dishonor you in any way."
Derek desired this woman more than his very breath, but he meant what he said. That fact scared him to death. What was he going to do? He had made up his mind to never trust or feel for a woman for as long as he lived, but not allowing his heart to feel what it felt for her right now would be worse than death itself.
He thought he had loved Melinda. If that had been love, then what was this all-consuming emotion he felt for Tiana that wrenched his heart right out of his chest and laid it at her feet? Her pretty little bare feet with delicious little toes polished red, mind you!
These new feelings that this strangely exotic woman brought out in him were a hundred times more potent than anything he had ever felt before and permeated his mind, body and very soul. Derek didn't know exactly when it happened, but it him like a ton of bricks. This, not whatever it was he had felt for Melinda and others before her, was real love.
I, Derek Hart, am falling in love with Tiana Weiss and there isn't a thing I can do about it.
The one thing he could do, however, was protect her. He would not allow anyone to harm her, regardless of his own fate.
Derek pulled away, gentling and soothing her passion with tender strokes down her back.
"Tiana, there's something you need to hear."
The Killer
As Derek finished playing a copy of the transmission he had intercepted earlier, Tiana sat in quiet shock.
"I don't understand. I have no personal enemies. My ex-husband may not like me very much, but I'm out of his life now. There's no real need for him to want me dead. Besides, he's the one who cheated on me, not the other way around. I'm the one who should want him dead."
"What about your job? Would anyone there benefit from seeing you dead?"
"I suppose someone would need to take my place if I was dead, but I'm high enough in management that my replacement would probably be recruited away from another firm. We don't have any potential Partners waiting in the wings at this time."
"There's got to be a reason for someone wanting to kill you."
"Yes, I know, but it's not terribly obvious," she said, frustration seething inside her.
"People do odd things for incomprehensible reasons. In my case, I'm still trying to figure out why Melinda would have gone to all the trouble of establishing and maintaining a relationship with me and then deciphering my code, just to steal a few household items. Seems like a lot of effort for a comparatively small payoff. There are much more profitable things she could have done with access to my code. For one thing, she could have stolen it and sold it to the competition. She would have made a lot more money."
"Yes, that doesn't make much sense either." Tiana paused, tilting her chin and furrowing her brow as she thought.
She is so cute, Derek thought. I wonder if she does that when she's analyzing a complex engineering problem.
"Unless, that is, the goal was to frame you, rather than making a profit."
"Frame me? Why?"
"Perhaps to get you out of the way? Clearly, no one in your company profited by your professional demise, since it is no longer in business. Are there any competitors who will benefit from you being in prison and the failure of your company?"
"No, at least not in the short run. The home holographic chamber market has gone into a recession. People are afraid to bring an artificial intelligence 'creature,' for lack of a better word, into their homes. The prevalent opinion is that the chamber's computer could spy, blackmail and potentially even physically harm a home's occupants. It would be like allowing a perfect stranger to live in your home with you."
"Okay, let's assume that nobody profited from your conviction and explore another possibility. Why would anybody want to neutralize you? You are, after all, one of the galaxy's most prominent and, might I add, sexiest scientists," she added in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"You mean, besides every other scientist in the universe who failed to qualify for the 'sexiest scientist' title?"
"Now don't go inflating that fat head of yours, Mr. Hart. What were you working on at the time you were framed?"
"I was just working on improvements on the home holographic chamber. Nothing terribly earth-shattering. However, now that I think about it, there was a contract we had just landed that I hadn't started working on yet. I was planning on using some of the concepts from the home-based unit to create an even smaller holographic projector, one about the size of a man's watch, with limited functionality, specifically that of generating a holographic person. Think of it, this holographic person could move about freely without being limited to the confines of a holographic chamber. They could be used as maids, gardeners and so forth, and at the end of the day, turned off and the watch-sized device stored on a shelf."
"Interesting. Perhaps someone didn't want you working on that project."
"Who? The maids' union?"
"I'm serious, Derek. Just think about it."
"Sorry. Let's get back to you, though. Why would anyone want to kill you? What are you working on?"
"Well, my stop is the last stop for this starship. I am heading for Earth's Magellan Outpost, where I'll be heading up a project to build a space station."
"Who would benefit from the station not being built? What's the station's purpose?"
"Well, supposedly it is to be used for scientific research. I've looked at some preliminary plans and I have to admit that there are some inconsistencies between its stated use and the layout of the facilities."
Derek straightened. His career in holography had taught him that where inconsistencies existed the potential for disaster followed closely behind.
"What do you mean by inconsistencies?"
"Well, for one thing, it's sorely lacking in lab space. One would think that at a scientific space station, lab space would be plentiful. In addition, for a space station of its size, it is sorely lacking in dormitory space, bathrooms and waste facilities as well as recreational space. I had been so self-absorbed by the overwhelming nature of my personal problems that I didn't question the design. My job, after all, is to build it, not design it."
"Okay, why would anyone build the largest research facility in space and barely put any scientists in it? Computers and robots have their place, but artificial intelligence is not advanced enough for frontline scientific research yet."
"That's a good question. Can you hook me up with one of your 'back door' connections to the galactic-net?"
"Sure," he smiled wickedly, "if my mistress would be kind enough to allow me to have computer access without beating me or hanging me from the ceiling."
"Mistress ... Mistress Tiana ..." she pondered. "You have to admit, it does have a nice ring to it."
Derek's mind wandered as he considered the possibilities. Tiana didn't give him a chance to respond.
"You can have computer access back, but I am making no promises with regards to not beating you," she said with a grin even more wicked than his.
"Computer, restore computer privileges to Derek Hart using his voice as the security code."
"Derek Hart," he stated for the computer's benefit.
"Access for Derek Hart has been reestablished," responded the computer in its usual smooth tone.
"Computer, materialize console." Without wasting a minute, Derek established the connection, this time routing it through the communication systems of two other ships in the vicinity, making it even harder to trace both its origin and destination.
"What are you going to look for?" he asked as he turned the console over to her.
"I think I'll start by doing a little checking on our client, the Galactic Science Foundation. It doesn't make any sense for them to build the odd design they commissioned Interstellar to build. They're smarter than that."
"Just remember the old saying, 'follow the money'."
Tiana stretched out on the couch under Derek's detailed scrutiny. Her dress rode up her legs as she relaxed, leaned her head back into her arms and prepared for the search. The soft white skin of her delectable thighs and recently pedicured little feet stood out in stark contrast to the dark green velvet of the plush couch. Derek sat on the other arm of the couch's 'L,' taking in the view and hoping the dress would ride just a little higher. He wondered what kind of panties she was wearing today. Now that she knew he wasn't an AI, his voyeuristic privileges would probably be seriously curtailed.
"Computer," she began, totally focused on her task, "Access Interstellar Engineering's accounting database and identify the bank and account number from which payment is received for the Omicron quadrant space station project."
"Please enter security code," the monotone voice returned.
"Tiana Weiss."
"Voice recognition confirmed," the computer acknowledged. "Sol Savings and Loan, account number 5529289302787."
Tiana turned to Derek. "Can you get me into the Sol Savings and Loan central computer system?"
Derek's fingers glided across the console's keyboard for just a few seconds. "Okay, we're in."
Damn, he's good, she thought. I wonder what he's like ... never mind. Focus, Tiana, focus ...
"Computer, provide me with the name and location of the account holder for the previously selected bank account number."
"Galactic Science Foundation, Pluto Outpost."
"I thought they were headquartered on Mars?" Derek questioned.
"They are, but they do have field offices throughout our solar system. Computer, please identify any deposit patterns within the selected account that match up with the payments made thus far from the selected account to Interstellar Engineering."
The computer barely broke a sweat before returning a response.
"Each time a payment is made to Interstellar Engineering from the selected account, three deposits from three different banks are received into the selected account totaling the amount of the payment issued to Interstellar Engineering."
"The source of the money appears to be outside the GSF," Derek extrapolated, turning his attention to the computer. "Computer, are these deposits received before or after payment to Interstellar is issued and is there any pattern to the amounts deposited?"
"The pattern is random in both cases."
This time it was Tiana's turn to interpret the computer's response. "That means that in each case there are three deposits of varying amounts deposited into the GSF's account when a payment is issued to Interstellar. When added, in every case, all three total the single payment issued. To further remove attention to these deposits, their timing is random. The plot thickens. Computer, identify from which banks the previously selected deposits are initiated."
"In each combination of three deposits the same three banking institutions are always used: First Intergalactic Bank, Mars Trust Bank and Mother Earth Savings and Loan."
"Derek, let's make your job a little more challenging this time. Can you get us into the Galactic Reserve Bank?"
Derek's skilled hands glided across the console's keyboard performing their magic. Minutes later, they were in.
"Computer, who are the account holders and where are they located?"
"The identity of the account holders on all three of these accounts is classified. All three of these accounts were opened from the Pluto Outpost."
"Pluto is starting to become a recurring theme? What's on Pluto?" Derek asked.
"Well," Tiana hesitated, wondering if she should really share what she knew. "I have visited Pluto before. A few years ago, when I was working on a top secret weapons project for the Galactic Alliance. It is not common knowledge, and I could probably go to jail for telling you this, but the Alliance has an intelligence office in orbit around Pluto that, if asked, they would claim does not exist. Based on the information we have just gathered, it would seem that the space station is likely being financed with military money, not GSF money. Pair that with the fact that its design does not really complement its supposed function, and it becomes painfully obvious that the station I'm supposed to build is actually some kind of military facility. My guess is that I would have eventually been given just enough information to ensure the job got done right, but there's no telling."
"So, if we follow this new train of reasoning, who would benefit from your demise?"
"If I had turned down this assignment, then Interstellar would have had to hire someone from the outside, with the appropriate skills and security clearance. We have no one else in our office with the background to handle a project of this size and complexity. Our competitors might have benefited, assuming they had the right personnel on board, or---" she stopped, deep in thought.
"What?"
"Or perhaps an enemy of the Galactic Alliance."
"That would certainly add another level of complexity to this situation."
"Computer, access my professional files and cross-reference them with the top names in nanotechnology construction within the last five years and get me a list of those nano engineers whose backgrounds would be suitable to manage the construction of a space station the size of a small town."
The computer quickly returned an answer. "There are six engineers in the galaxy with the experience and qualifications to lead such a project. They are Cecily Binghamton, Tiana Weiss, Claire Lawrence, Ofelia Reinhardt, Benjamin Murray and Tom Houser."
Tiana felt like she had been kicked in the gut.
"Tom Houser? The ex-husband from hell? The biggest thing he's ever built was a doll house. Don't get me wrong, Derek, he's smart, but he lacks the experience I was fortunate to get early in my career. That was one of our many problems. He was always jealous of my success. Computer, list out the three largest projects Tom Weiss has managed during his career."
"In order of magnitude, Tom Weiss has been the Principal on Franklin Station in the Omicron quadrant, Excalibur Station in the Omicron quadrant and New Sioux City in the Omicron quadrant."
Tiana's mind was spinning out of control.
"I was married to Tom his entire career. He didn't do any of those jobs. He would have had to be on site for long periods of time and he was never gone from home for more than a couple of weeks at a time. That information is wrong."
"Computer, where are the six engineers you listed at this time?"
"Cecily Binghamton is deceased, Tiana Weiss is on this ship, Claire Lawrence is deceased, Ofelia Reinhardt is deceased, Benjamin Murray is deceased and Tom Houser is on Arcadia 10."
"I guess that explains why he couldn't make our court date, but what the hell is he doing on Arcadia 10? That's our next port of call."
"Tiana, let's think this through", Derek suggested, grasping his head as if he were trying to keep all the information his brain was processing from leaking out. "All the qualified engineers are dead except for you and your ex-husband and we know someone wants you to join the list of corpses."
Derek took a moment, stood up and stretched. Looking up at the ceiling reminded him of 'Play Time With Tiana'. He quickly sat down.
"We also know that even though Earth's population database lists your husband as being qualified, he really is not. Why would anyone alter the database to make Tom appear qualified and kill off all the truly qualified people?"
"Well, the obvious possibility is that someone wants to ensure that Tom is considered for the job. But why? He wouldn't be able to lead such a complex project. The nanobots involved in such construction are very sensitive. The slightest deviation in their instructions and we could wind up building a useless blob of metal. Nanoconstruction is a very precise science, and it's not for all nano-engineers."
"Let's get even more creative. Computer, list other research and development firms that have been paid out of the GSF account that also show the same pattern of deposits from the selected three accounts as Interstellar Engineering."
"There are four other firms whose payments follow the established pattern. These are Bowman and Grier, the Bradford Group, Holographic Dreams, Inc. and Moon Machines, Inc."
Tiana saw Derek's face turn a ghastly shade of white.
"What's wrong?"
"Holographic Dreams, Inc. is the company I was part owner in. I was also in charge of the research and development group. Computer, what was Holographic Dreams paid for with these monies?"
"The invoice states that it was a down-payment on the 'portable people' project."
"Derek, was that the new project you were about to start working on?"
"Yes, and now that I think about it, it was a GSF project."
"What if you were framed to keep you from working on the project?"
"True, but why not have me killed instead? It would have been easier."
"Yes, but think about it. By killing you, they would not have taken your company down with you. Others could have taken your notes and continued your work. It would have taken longer, but the project could have continued. With the negative publicity that the breakins generated, they took out your firm altogether. With you in jail, it would be years before the patents for your work could be reassigned, particularly if you decide not to sell them while you were in prison. Besides that, after your conviction, your security clearance should have been cancelled and the military would not allow a convict to work on a top-secret project."
"How is it that you can be both beautiful and brilliant?"
"Who says I'm beautiful?" Tiana replied half curious and half begging for him to take the credit for thinking so.
"I say so." Derek got up from his side of the couch, walked over to Tiana and settled down next to her luscious, curvy body. Gently, he reached out and brushed a stray red curl off her lightly freckled forehead. How could one woman be so beautiful, yet so naively vulnerable at the same time? It made him want to eat her alive.
Derek lifted her chin with his index finger, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"You are extraordinarily beautiful, sexy as hell and I am having a really hard time keeping my hands off you."
When their eyes met, the spark of passion lit a flame that Tiana felt all the way to her soul. She felt the heat of Derek's body engulf her and send her heart racing out of control. Why did this man have such an effect on her? She couldn't look at him. She closed her eyes as she realized she was yielding control to him. This time there were no thoughts of his not being real to take away from her sensations. He was all man. He was all flesh and blood.
Derek's fingers continued down as he grazed her ear with his index finger. The touch was light as a feather and sent shivers up and down Tiana's spine. She was slowly sinking into a whirlpool of desire for this man whom two weeks ago she did not know existed, yet she now felt a certain sense of trust for. She knew he would never willfully hurt her. How she knew this she couldn't rationally explain, she just knew it.
As his fingers continued their upward trajectory, she felt them come together behind her head, supporting it as his thumb softly and carefully wiped a tear off her face. What was that tear doing there? The emotions were too much. She knew what was coming. She felt his breath, his masculine, testosterone-filled breath on her cheek. Her lips parted as if they had a mind of their own, ready to let him, no, ready to encourage him to kiss her. He was now so close she could taste his essence. The anticipation of his kiss stretched every second into an eternity.
At long last, just as every nerve in her body was ready to explode from the anticipation, his mouth hungrily closed in over hers sending a rush of emotion through her that made her feel like she was the most beautiful and desired woman in the universe. Tiana further permitted her tongue to sample the velvety smoothness of his. She tasted him, as he explored her mouth with the gentleness of a lamb and the assurance of a conqueror. Derek indulged her tongue, taking it prisoner, a very willing prisoner, and then releasing it, only to do it again. He licked the very edge of her eager mouth softly, before waging an all out assault on it, staking his claim on her.
Her hands slowly lifted off the couch, heavy with the weight of the pent-up emotions Derek was releasing within her and found their way into his soft, jet-black hair. She caressed his locks, tangling her fingers in and through them as he kissed her, taking all that she gave him, returning it with interest. One of her hands worked its way down from the softness of his hair to the hardness of his shoulders. Tiana allowed herself the indulgence of getting intimately acquainted with the finely sculpted muscles on his shoulders and chest, causing him to yield a grunt of pleasure into her already scorching mouth.
Something was wrong.
They seemed to both be losing themselves in one another, an otherworldly lightheadedness absorbing them as Derek barely realized Tiana was falling head-first into an abyss, an abyss from which she might never be able to climb out.
"Computer, disconnect power to all synthesizing equipment and ventilate room at maximum exchange rate," he choked out, fighting the wave of drowsiness mixed with dizziness that fought to overcome him.
Concentrating his last bit of conscious thought on his actions, he shook his heart's desire in an effort to bring her back.
"Tiana, wake up, sweetheart. You are not allowed to die on me, you hear!" He yelled with more urgency than he had ever felt for anything or anyone.
The clean air began to clear his fogged brain. Seeing no response, he bent over her and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, doing her breathing for her. She felt cold. Tiana did not seem to be responding. Could the strange gas have gotten to her before he realized the imminent danger?
A slight cough burst from Tiana's lungs as she desperately tried to suck in as much of the fresh air the computer was pumping into the room as she could.
"That's it, my darling, you're going to be fine. You're going to be fine." Derek found himself with his arms wrapped around her and tears flowing down his cheeks as she slowly came to.
"Damn, Derek, your kisses pack one hell of a punch," she murmured, confused, not yet understanding what had happened.
All he could do was hold her to his chest, her now-warmer cheek pressing onto his very wet one, while he gently and possessively stroked her hair as if it were the most beautiful thing in the world, mostly because, well, it was. Just then, Derek heard a noise directly outside the front door. Someone was out there trying to get in. The door lock was being overridden. It had to be the killer, coming after his precious Tiana.
Derek responded quickly. "Computer, materialize fully loaded laser disruptor set to scatter mode, security code Derek Hart."
Derek Discovered
"So, Captain, how do you like these long deep-space runs?" Delaney asked. The two men sat across from each other at a small table on the starboard side of the bridge, sipping Tallasian tea as they anxiously watched Commander Hollinger, hunched over the console at her post conducting genetic scans. Neither one liked the idea of a convict running loose amongst 1,200 unsuspecting passengers.
"It's only a two-and-a-half-week run each way with some time in between, it's not bad. When I was in the military anything less than six months was considered a short run. Besides that, our ships weren't exactly this nice. We were just glad they had a toilet."
"Was that during the Terrilian war?"
"Yeah. All available space on a star destroyer back then was used for fuel, weaponry and ammunition. You always had a lot more room on the return trip." Captain Maverick dropped his eyes to the table sadly, remembering what it was like. "If you were lucky enough to get a return trip. I was a young lieutenant fresh out of the Academy back then. Lost a lot of great friends and some not-so-good friends, but regardless, they were all good people. Damn Terrilians!"
"Is that why you like flying this sector of space?"
The Captain smiled an acknowledgement to the Marshall that he wasn't far from the truth.
"Marshall, once a military man, always a military man. I left the service, and now command a pleasure ship. Most people on board aren't even traveling to any specific planet or station. They are on this ship just to relax, enjoy themselves, and then return to Earth to their regular lives. And mind you, there's nothing wrong with that. To me, however, this ship, this quadrant of space, is my life.
"I think of myself as still being on duty. In my mind, I am patrolling this sector of space, monitoring Terrilian activity. If I sense anything amiss, I report it and do anything I can to keep those arrogant humanoids out of the quadrant. After I was wounded during the war, the military gave me a Galactic Medal of Honor, patted me on the back and put me behind a desk. Marshall, let me tell you, it's boring behind a desk."
"Do you have a family, Captain?"
"I surely do. My crew," the Captain stated with pride. "But I know that's not what you mean by a family. Yes, there was somebody once, but I'm afraid the Terrilians stole that from me."
"Captain," interrupted one of the Bridge Engineers, Bradley Milton, from his post "we seem to have a malfunctioning food synthesizer in one of the Executive Level suites. Suite 1005. We have tried taking it offline to repair it, yet we have been unable to. It seems to be locked up in some kind of a synthesizing loop."
"Are you sure it's not one of our passengers making enough caviar for their five-hundred closest friends?" the Captain responded with a sarcastic twist to his words. He'd seen the excesses that his wealthy passengers went to in order to try and outdo each others' parties.
"I'm positive, sir," replied the younger man. "It seems to be working with a significant quantity of carbon and hydrogen molecules. I don't know of any known food item that requires high concentrations of those two elements."
"Mr. Milton, send an emergency relief crew to the room immediately and, whatever you do, shut off that synthesizer."
"Captain, the malfunction has us completely locked out of the suite's computer. It will have to be done from inside the room"
"Then get us an emergency crew up there. I'll go disable it. Commander Hollinger, you're with me." As he headed out with his Security Officer, the Captain turned back to his engineer. "Mr. Milton, tell the relief crew to bring artificial breathing equipment."
"I don't like the sound of that, Captain," interjected Marshall Delaney as he jumped into action, "I'll go with you."
"Just stay put Marshall. A broken food synthesizer is not a law-enforcement concern."
"Based on your hurry and level of alarm, I believe it is, Captain. Besides, as an officer of the law I am allowed to walk anywhere on this ship I deem necessary."
Captain Maverick clenched his teeth. He didn't need a self-righteous, egotistical cop getting in his way, but he knew that the Marshall was correct, it was a law-enforcement officer's right. Who knows, it might turn out to be useful to have an extra pair of hands along. It was probably nothing, but he didn't like the sound of those two elements 'cooking' together.
The last time he remembered a situation similar to this one ... Well, he was not going to think about it. It couldn't be. Not this long after the war and surely not on a pleasure transport.
No words were uttered as Captain Maverick, with Commander Hollinger and Marshall Delaney following closely behind, rushed to Suite 1005.
Once at the suite's door, the Captain ordered:
"Computer, override lock and open door. Security code, Captain Jonathan Maverick."
The computer quickly complied. The emergency crew hadn't arrived yet, but the Captain went ahead and entered the room, followed by his Chief of Security and Marshall Delaney. They were met by the wrong end of a disruptor pointed straight at them by a nice-looking man he immediately recognized from the picture the Marshall had shown him of Derek Hart, the escaped convict, with a beautiful red-haired woman laying on the couch directly behind him. Captain Maverick assumed she was probably one of his passengers. Derek Hart appeared to be protecting her, from them.
"Don't move a muscle if you would like to keep all of your body's molecules within the same general vicinity," Derek stated sternly. "Computer, contact ship security and have them send a small detachment."
"I am ship security," stated Commander Hollinger, stepping up beside the Captain.
"Then why are you trying to kill this passenger? And you, Marshall, how are you involved in this plot?" Derek responded.
Marshall Delaney stepped up and addressed Derek.
"Mr. Hart, nobody is trying to kill anybody. The Captain here is excited about something having to do with your food synthesizer and, frankly, I'm here to take you back. If you go willingly and nobody gets hurt, I'll see to it that your sentence is not increased for your escape."
"A professional assassin just tried to kill Ms. Weiss by synthesizing some lethal gaseous concoction. I hope you'll forgive me if I don't just take your word that you're on the right side of the law."
It was Captain Maverick's turn to try and talk some sense into the escaped convict.
"Mr. Hart, I'm not going to lie to you. You are correct to be concerned, but we are the least of your worries. Somehow your food synthesizer, got locked out of the central network and flooded the suite with Methane. My crew detected this malfunction and that's why we are here."
Marshall Delaney looked at Derek and challenged, "Mr. Hart, you are one of the few people around who could have pulled off a stunt like this. How do we know you're not the one who tried to kill Ms. Weiss?"
"Kill me? He saved my life. If it wasn't for Derek I would have fallen asleep and never woken up," Tiana defended Derek.
"Marshall, in case you haven't noticed, I was in here with her. I would have died too. Besides, I designed the system that runs everything in this suite. I know it backwards and forwards. If I had done whatever it was that just happened, I would have covered my tracks and you would have never been the wiser." Derek paused, unable to keep a mischievous grin off his face. "By the way, how are Mr. and Mrs. Leckelman doing? Incidentally, Captain, I hope you don't mind, but I ordered them a bottle of champagne and paid for it from your entertainment account. I figured it was the least you could do."
The Captain couldn't keep a smile from his strong countenance even though the joke was at his expense. Clearly, this character knew his way around the ship's computers. Turning to the Marshall, he stated what was obvious to everyone in the room.
"Marshall, I can't speak for his prior crimes, but I have little doubt that Mr. Hart was not the source of this accident. If he---"
"It was no accident!" Tiana interrupted. "A professional killer is trying to kill me, and if it wasn't for Derek he would have succeeded. Marshall, where were you and the rest of 'our galaxy's finest' ten minutes ago? Captain, is this how you protect and take care of your passengers? From my perspective, you should be thanking Derek for picking up the slack and doing the job that you should have been doing!"
"Ms. Weiss," the captain struggled for patience as he realized she had just called him an incompetent idiot without actually saying the words. "I understand you're upset over this unfortunate situation, but we don't actually know that anyone is trying to kill you. And as for you, Mr. Hart, kindly put the disruptor down and surrender to me immediately or we will be forced to shut down power to the suite and take you anyway."
"What will happen to Derek?" Tiana asked as she stepped over the couch and protectively stood between Derek and the Captain.
"I will take him back to prison and if he goes quietly, I won't press charges against you for helping a criminal elude the police and harboring him in your room."
Derek's face was an open book to the Captain. This supposed criminal held to a code of ethics. He was very protective of the red-haired woman. He would not allow any harm to come to her. Derek's response, when it came, wasn't a surprise.
"Computer, remove disruptor," Derek ordered.
As Tiana watched him being escorted away, she felt her heart sink. Now she wished he had only been a hologram. But he wasn't. He is a real man, and I do mean a real man. To make matters worse, she realized for the first time since their meeting that he now occupied a special place in her life. The thought of her existence, her career, her new start without him seemed untenable, barren and foreign. Clearly she had gotten used to having him around and he had awakened the lust within her. After the horror of Tom's betrayal she knew she wasn't developing romantic feelings for Derek, but she did owe him for saving her life. Little Miss Fix-it rose to the top. Derek was innocent and she needed to do something, but what? How could she best help him? Her Legal-Bot! Maybe there was some technicality they could both cling to for an appeal. Both cling to? Just till I have mind-blowing sex, then I'll be fine.
"Computer, call Legal-Bot Darius-20."
All during her divorce proceedings she had refused to grant the robot the courtesy of acknowledging him by his name, or treating him in any way the same as she would a sentient being. Let's face it, it was a machine. An arrogant, self-absorbed machine, but a machine nevertheless.
Over the suite's speakers, the robot's tone was cold enough to freeze the pitchfork off the devil. "What can I do for you, Ms. Weiss?"
She would have to suck up.
"Darius, I'm glad I caught you. I left in such a hurry that I forgot to properly thank you for the way you successfully handled my case. You were right. Any other Legal-Bot would not have been able to resolve the situation without your panache and skill. I want to apologize for my rudeness to you at the courthouse. I was extraordinarily stressed from the difficulties surrounding the divorce. Your intelligence and knowledge of the law gave me my freedom and I failed to ever thank you."
"Well, Ms. Weiss, I am glad to see you came to your senses and have realized my value. I am prepared to forgive you."
With that ego the damn thing has got to be male!
"Oh, Darius, thank you for your forgiveness," she exclaimed using her best damsel-in-distress tone. "It will allow me closure on that dark period of my life. You are indeed the best in the business."
Gag me. I think I'm gonna to throw up.
"You are correct, I exist at the top of my field."
"You know, that's actually the secondary reason for my call, the fact that you are the best in your field. I am in need of some legal advice and no Legal-Bot but Darius the Great will do."
Old Warriors and Old Enemies
Derek found himself in a small holding cell locked in by an energy containment field. He hated the idea that he was going back to prison, but even worse was being separated from Tiana. I must be nuts. Ever since he laid eyes on her at the Justice Center, he had felt an intense, intimate and personal connection with her. He had never felt that connection with anyone else. What he had felt for Melinda paled in comparison. He had committed himself to never readmitting a woman into his heart, yet this connection was beyond his control. He was in love with her. It didn't take his genius IQ to figure that one out.
Derek was very grateful for the time fate had given him to get to know Tiana, but I have to have more, he thought obsessively. He had to get himself out of this situation to be with her. He needed, for his own survival's sake, to hear her voice. He needed to nuzzle her neck, taking in the sweetness of her fiery red hair. Tasting her, kissing her, was as necessary to him as breathing. She had become his life, his very breath. He would venture to the very gates of hell and back if he had to, just to find himself in her embrace. This was what his parents had experienced. Now he understood their commitment, absorption and enthrallment with one another.
"Mr. Hart, may I have a word with you?" The Captain said, coming into view on the other side of the energy field.
"I don't know, Captain, do you have an appointment? My schedule is full the rest of the day."
They both shared a laugh as the Captain let himself into Derek's cell and sat down across from the prisoner.
"Mr. Hart, what makes you think someone is trying to kill Ms. Weiss and how exactly do both you and she fit into this puzzle? For that matter, I'm not sure I even know what the puzzle is."
"Call me Derek, Captain. At the risk of sounding like a cliché, it is a long story."
"Well, Derek, seeing as you aren't going anywhere, you probably have time, so the least I can do is make myself available and listen."
Derek looked at the Captain speculatively, finally making up his mind to relate his story. At this point, he didn't have much left to loose, and he certainly couldn't protect Tiana from inside his cell.
After leaving Derek's cell, Captain Maverick had conducted a similar interview with Tiana. It was clearly a quirk of fate that had brought those two together, yet without that quirk, Tiana would probably be dead and Derek would more than likely be in jail.
Upon returning to the bridge, the Captain found Marshall Delaney waiting for him.
"Ah, Captain. You're back."
"Is there something more I can do for you, Marshall?" the Captain politely acknowledged him, but had no time for social pleasantries.
"I was wondering if you'd allow me to buy you a drink. Our discussion on the Terrilian war was cut short and, frankly, being fascinated by the subject, I'd like to continue it."
"Oh?"
"Yes, I hadn't gotten around to mentioning it when we were interrupted, but I too was in the service during the war. Recounting war stories is one of my favorite pastimes, and I think we have a lot to talk about."
The Captain recognized the Marshall's approach for what it was. They were both on the same wavelength. They were a couple of old soldiers who could smell when something wasn't right. More than that, they were a couple of seasoned veterans who recognized enemy footprints. Marshall Delaney was right, they needed to talk.
"Marshall, I'd be honored." Turning to Commander Hollinger, he said, "Commander, the good Marshall and I are going to step across the way to Alexander's Lounge for a bit. You have the bridge."
"Aye, sir." The look in the Commander's eye clearly indicated that she knew something was up. The Captain never took social calls or breaks.
Walking with the Marshall into the lounge, the Captain's mind was still trying to sort out the information he had gathered. The situation was too enigmatic. Without more information, the picture was too incomplete to know how to respond. What was the real purpose behind, at least, the two projects Derek and Tiana had been involved in? Clearly there was some military value involved, but what? Thus far the homing beacon remained unexplained. What part did it play in the bigger picture?
The two veterans sat at the long, smooth Plexiglas bar and ordered a couple of beers from the Bar-Bot. The music was sedate and mellow, matching the lighting. A perfect place to share their intelligence, discuss hunches and combine forces.
"So, Marshall, what branch of the military did you serve in?"
"I was in military intelligence. I didn't see the kind of action you did, but let me assure you, the kind of action I saw was every bit as nightmarish."
"Were you a field agent?"
"At times. I spent some time operating out of Terril itself. Very little was known about the Terrilians at the time. In order to fight and defeat an opponent you have to know their strengths and weaknesses. I was on the planet to investigate what those may have been."
"What else did you do?"
"Not much, my cover was blown and my time on that godforsaken planet was short-lived. After I returned I went to work at the facility orbiting Pluto." He hesitated for a moment. "You know, the one that doesn't exist," he finished with a wink and a grin.
"I was moved into the counterespionage division," the Marshall continued, pausing as if he were carefully calculating how to ask his next question. "Tell me, Captain, how is it that when you were told that the food synthesizing unit in suite 1005 was malfunctioning and using up stored carbon and hydrogen elements you immediately knew what it was doing? Are you a chemist?"
Captain Maverick knew where the conversation was headed. They were both on the same wavelength.
"I could ask you the same thing, Marshall. You seemed to be as aware of what was happening as I was."
"Captain, you mentioned that you served on a star destroyer. Was it the IGS Ronald Reagan?"
"Matter of fact it was. I take it then that you are familiar with Colonel Katia Reginald's dossier?"
"I merely read the reports. I was involved in a different operation at the time. What exactly happened that day?"
Painful memories surged within the Captain's tortured soul. Memories of the only woman he had ever loved. A woman, and fellow officer, who had been killed, along with a dining room full of her peers that infamous day fifteen years ago.
"The reports pretty much covered it. Colonel Katia Reginald of the Terrilian Armada," he emphasized her name and position with disgust, "had infiltrated our ranks. We knew her as Lieutenant Cecilia Hammonds. Right under our very noses, as it was later discovered, she sabotaged numerous missions and assassinated several of our key officers. Every one of her assassinations looked like an accident. We suspected nothing."
Looking up from the table and directly at the Marshall, the Captain continued, "That day a short-circuit in the electrical system caused a malfunction within the food synthesizing unit in the main dining room. The malfunction generated a large quantity of odorless gas. It was the lunch hour, the dining room was full. Most of the victims didn't know what hit them." The Captain grimly paused, as he relived the painful memories of what had been without a doubt the worst day of his life. The day that not only saw him lose a number of friends and comrades, but also the woman that owned him heart and soul.
"Others, like Mr. Hart did earlier today, figured out something was wrong and tried to get out, only to find that the same short-circuit had also rendered the doors inoperable. They all succumbed before they were able to manually override the door controls. Eventually the gas ignited and blew a hole in the ship's hull. I watched the bodies of my fellow soldiers get sucked out into space and float away. No funerals, no goodbyes.
"As I'm sure you already know from the reports, we traced the supposed malfunction to a computer access point that Lieutenant Hammonds had used. We apprehended her, but she escaped while on the way to the brig, killing the soldiers who were escorting her. Security logs showed that she made her getaway by donning a spacesuit and jumping out of the shuttle bay doors. We don't know what happened after that."
"I can fill in that piece of the puzzle for you, Captain," the Marshall interjected. "Reconnaissance logs showed that a Terrilian ship stopped at roughly the same place where we believe she jumped off the ship and then turned around and headed back to Terril. We assume that ship was her ticket home."
The two men sat in silence nursing their drinks, until a female voice broke into their somber mood. "I take it you gentlemen believe that this Terrilian super spy is the one who tried to kill me?"
"Ms. Weiss," the Captain, recognizing her voice, snapped without bothering to look at her, "do you make it a habit to listen in on other people's conversations?".
"Only on those rare occasions when someone is trying to kill me. By the way, Marshall, I, too, have been to the Pluto facility that doesn't exist. Mind if I join you guys?"
"You may as well. It appears you've been part of the conversation all along," Marshall Delaney retorted, appearing equally frustrated at her intrusion.
"Thank you. Now then, gentlemen, I believe we were discussing the possible identity of the person who is trying to kill me?"
"Ms. Weiss." The Captain turned to face her fully. "I want to be perfectly honest with you. If, in fact, it is Colonel Reginald who is trying to kill you, I strongly recommend keeping you in protective custody. The woman was the Terrilians' most successful operative during the war. She's very, very good at what she does. She's brilliant, ruthless and one hell of a strategist."
"Ms. Weiss, what do you know about the Terrilians?" queried Marshall Delaney.
"All I know is what the history books tell us. They tried to kill off Earth citizens living on their planet and the Galactic Alliance came to their rescue, thus the war. Now Terrilia is quarantined by the Alliance and our ships are not allowed to go beyond the Omicron quadrant into their space."
"I'm afraid there's a little more to the story that you need to know. In the late twenty-second century, when Earth's population had grown beyond what the planet could reasonably sustain, colonies were established on Terril, a planet very much like Earth but rich in the natural resources that Earth had run out of long ago. That much you know. What you don't know is that the planet was lightly populated by a genteel, peace-loving race of humanoids who welcomed the newcomers with open arms. At the time, millions of humans had chosen to seek their fortunes in this new frontier, and relocated to Terril. As was bound to happen, nature took its course and eventually the native Terrilians and earthlings began to intermarry."
"What nobody knew at the time, however, was that the native Terrilians' DNA, at conception, magnified the non-Terrilian DNA rather than impose its own. In other words, if a very strong human mated with a native Terrilian, their children would possess roughly four times the strength of a normal human. The resulting product of such human/Terrilian marriages was children with genetic capabilities far advanced from those of either race. This new breed of humanoid had superior strength, superior intellect and an amazing resistance to disease, which allows them to live for hundreds of years and age very slowly. In essence, a race of super humans was created."
"Along with superior genes typically come a superior ego and a superior arrogance," the Captain interjected. "This new race was no exception. After a while, those of the new race lorded their superiority over both the original native Terrilians and those who were still purely human and began a genocide program to 'purify the planet.' As its citizens were being targeted, Earth came to their rescue. The rest you know, the war lasted for three years and was fought in the very space through which we are now traveling."
Tiana was stunned.
"Why would the Alliance keep the Terrilians' origin and superior abilities from the general public?" she asked, completely aghast at the depth of deception of her government.
The Captain looked at Tiana, allowing his paternal instincts to surface. He addressed her with a patient and steady tone that he had long ago hoped to some day be able to use with his own daughter. A daughter he would never have.
"To avoid a panic. People don't like the idea of an alien race being out to exterminate them. Terrilians look and act just like humans. They could be your next-door neighbor, your child's teacher, perhaps even your spouse, yet they are a race that is set on exterminating the original race that created them, the human race. If they exterminate the human race, they could easily seize control of the Alliance and rule the galaxy. It's all about ego, arrogance and power."
"So what does this Terrilian assassin look like?"
"She is a brunette, five feet ten inches in height, looks young, perhaps in her early twenties ..."
"Wait a minute," Tiana interrupted the Captain, "the war was fifteen years ago. She's got to be at least in her forties now."
Tiana's naiveté drew a chuckle from the Captain.
"According to our records, Colonel Reginald is much older than that. She is seventy-eight. You forget, Terrilians don't age at the same rate we do. She will still look much the same today as she did fifteen years ago."
Relationships Old and New
The familiar ring of her phone sounded inside Tiana's head. It was Darius.
"Excuse me for a minute, gentlemen, I have a phone call that I have to take."
Stepping away from the bar and moving to a quiet corner, Tiana answered the call.
"Darius, how good to hear from you!" Strangely enough, she actually meant it this time.
"Hello, Ms. Weiss. I trust my call finds you well."
"Much better now that I'm talking to my legal eagle."
"I have researched the facts in the case, the backgrounds of the judge, jury members, Legal-Bots, etcetera, basically anything that would provide Mr. Hart grounds for an appeal, and I am afraid that while I have found various technicalities that would provide such grounds, none of them are significant enough to provide us even a miniscule chance of reversing the conviction."
"Darius, I'm crushed. I was convinced that if anyone could, you would find a legal solution to Mr. Hart's highly unfair situation."
"Well, I researched the problem from the angle that you asked me to, and there is very little there to provide any hope. Mr. Hart could pursue an appeal, but all it would do is draw out the process and, after his attempt to escape, he'll wind up incarcerated while he awaits resolution, so there is not much to be gained from pursuing this option.
"However, since I am one of the galaxy's finest legal minds, I pursued other more, shall we say, creative alternatives for handling Mr. Hart's situation. I can share these with you if you would like."
Okay, make me suck up some more and beg you, tinhead.
"Oh, Darius, I knew I could count on you. Please tell me what you found."
"Well, it may not exactly be what you were looking for, but I did find one provision in the newly adopted intergalactic law that might accomplish the desired result, which, as I understand it, is to keep Mr. Hart from going to prison."
"As always, you are correct." All this sweetness is going to make me vomit.
"Mr. Hart was convicted of grand theft. Intergalactic law considers grand theft a non-violent crime and is not viewed as harshly in other worlds as it is on Earth. To simplify the issue for you, my dear, in most other worlds if your neighbor catches you stealing from him, he would simply kill you, within his rights under the law, or code, as they refer to it, and it would never go to court, whereas on Earth things are viewed a little differently. There are more pressing legal needs in lesser developed frontier planets such as cannibalism, slavery, etcetera, which make better use of their legal systems."
"But Darius, how does this help Mr. Hart? He was found guilty and sentenced on Earth."
"Well, there is a little-known provision in intergalactic law that allows a convict of a lesser, non-violent crime to be redeemed."
"Redeemed? How is that to be done?"
"You have to find a woman on a planet classified by the Galactic Alliance as a frontier planet and have her agree to wed Mr. Hart."
"What!"
"I can hear you, Ms. Weiss, there is no need for yelling, and you heard me correctly. Life on frontier planets is very tough, so for decades, Class 1 and 2 frontier planets have held to a law that provides for a person to 'redeem' a member of the opposite sex who has been convicted of a non-violent crime by marrying them. In the case of Mr. Hart, you would need to have a woman claim that she requires his help in order to survive the grueling rigors of colonizing a frontier planet. She would also need to vouch for him that he would not repeat his crimes. The specific code that I'm referring to is found on Title 251, Part 10, Chapter 43, Section 2 of the Intergalactic Code."
"Does this woman have to live on a frontier planet before the marriage?"
"That is the beauty of it. No, she would not. She would simply have to live within the jurisdiction of one of these planets with her new helpmate, in this case Mr. Hart, after the marriage takes place. If I understand your itinerary correctly, the closest government-classified frontier planets to your current position are Arcadia 10 and Tarsus, where the Magellan Outpost is located." Darius sounded quite pleased with itself. "Eventually the Alliance will figure out this loophole in the law and remove it, but as of right now, it is an integral part of galactic law. I must say, this is merely one of the many kinks and wrinkles I have discovered in the Intergalactic Code."
"What's to keep Mr. Hart from marrying and then divorcing?"
"The law does require that the marriage stay in force for a minimum period of two years, after which point it may be terminated."
"Darius, you're a genius. I'm in your debt."
"Well, I will debit my fees from your account and we will consider the debt paid in full. Goodbye, Ms. Weiss."
Tiana's head was spinning. She had found a way for Derek to retain his freedom. He just needed someone to marry him and redeem him. He was financially well off, so he could certainly hire a woman to marry him if he chose to.
What if he hired a prostitute for the job? What if they wound up actually consummating the marriage? Why did these thoughts bother her so?
For some reason she wasn't able to think of an acceptable way for Derek to secure a wife. Any way she looked at it, there were dangers involved for him. The wrong kind of woman could blackmail him, threatening not to fulfill the two-year waiting period. He could wind up with another conniving, slime-sucking, belly-crawling, maggot-eating snake in the grass bitch like the one he had been dating prior to being incarcerated. Such an unscrupulous female would likely abuse her position and seduce him. He could wind up having sex with his wife! What's worse, what if Derek fell for this 'wife'!
He had been very kind to her. He was innocent. She owed him her life. It was her moral duty to help him. She knew she would never resort to blackmail, the sex would be great, and besides, it would not be much of an inconvenience. Darius had just said Tarsus, the planet that the Magellan Outpost was on, was a government-classified frontier planet. She was going to be working there for the next two years anyway, so it wasn't like she would need to change her plans. In addition, her work day would consist of very long hours seven days a week, so they would probably rarely see each other.
Her mind was made up. She had come up with a reasonable solution to Derek's dilemma. She would just have to marry him.
"Woman, are you nuts?" Rita asked Tiana as they shopped their way down the Promenade Deck.
"Probably."
"Do you love him?"
"Don't be ridiculous, of course not."
"You are nuts, aren't you? You've known him for less than two weeks and you're prepared to marry him so he won't have to go to jail for crimes that as far as you know he might have committed."
"Rita, I want to help him like he helped me. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was a basket case when I came on board. He took care of me, gave me strength and self-assurance and even though he knew I was willing to sleep with him, he respected me knowing that the timing wasn't right. He's a good man. He is not a criminal, I am totally convinced of it. Besides, being married, even if it is a marriage of convenience, will hopefully provide me with an additional barrier from potential suitors, not that I expect there to be many at the outpost. After two years we can then go our separate ways. Oh, look at that cute top ..."
"Don't change the subject, girlfriend. How many liters of Jack Daniels is it going to take me to get you over him after you go your separate ways?"
"It's under control. We are just friends who help each other out."
"Are you nuts?"
"Asked and answered, girlfriend! All I can do at this--- Rita? Where are you going?"
Tiana watched as Rita, without another word, rapidly walked away from her. She seemed totally focused on something or someone at a shoe store across the Promenade.
"Rita, hey, Rita! What's going on? See a good pair of shoes or are you just trying to end our discussion?"
Rita walked into the small shoe store and looked around the sales floor for the face she had seen out of the corner of her eye. What is that bitch doing here? I thought she was dead. Turning to one of the Sale-Bots she asked, "There was a woman in here just now, she looked to be in her early twenties. She was a brunette, tall, wearing a black T-shirt. Where did she go?"
"I am sorry, madam, but I did not see anyone fitting that---excuse me, you cannot go in there, that area is off-limits to passengers. Madam?"
Ignoring the robot, Rita headed for the back room where the merchandise was stored and began searching through it, ripping boxes open, looking in supply cabinets, emptying out closets, and frantically searching any place where a person could possibly hide.
"Madam, if you do not leave this minute I will be forced to call security," the Sale-Bot warned from outside, apparently too afraid to follow her into the back room. Guess that along with artificial intelligence comes artificial chickenhood, Rita reasoned.
Feeling little guilt over what others would perceive as strange behavior on her part, Rita turned to answer the cowardly robot. As she did, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. Her legs gave out and she felt herself falling, falling into a deep, dark void of unconsciousness.
Rita saw what appeared to be a bright light coming at her. She must be dead. A Southern Baptist all her life, she knew that eventually she would meet her maker, and while she had no doubt that the good Lord would let her into Heaven, she also knew he'd be confronting her on some rather questionable behavior.
I sure hope God is not pissed at me.
Little by little she opened her eyes. A handsome and distinguished face was staring at her; a familiar handsome and quite distinguished face. A face that sent shivers up and down her spine, set her heart to racing and made her stomach weak. As a matter of fact, her stomach was so weak that she threw up on him.
Oh, no, I must have gone out drinking and went and got myself dead. To make matters worse, I think I just hurled on God. Oooh, this is not a good start to eternity.
As she kept trying to open and focus her eyes, Rita recognized the face. It wasn't God after all.
"Jonathan, what the hell are you doing in heaven?"
"You're not in heaven, Rita."
"Oh, shit! You mean I got demoted? I thought me and Jesus had an understandin'?"
She tried to get up and, as pain shot through her head, she quickly changed her mind and lay back down. Captain Maverick carefully put his arms around Rita to help her gain her balance.
"Relax. You're not dead, sweetheart. At least, not yet, anyway. To my everlasting delight, apparently you're too mean and ornery to die before a ripe old age."
"Well, if I'm not dead, what the hell happened to me? Where am I?"
Rita's eyes continued trying to focus as she scanned the room and noticed she wasn't alone with the handsome man who was now busy trying to get himself cleaned up after her little 'accident.' Sitting on a couch across from her was Tiana with a very puzzled look written all over her face.
"Captain, you two know each other?"
"In the Biblical sense," Rita answered for him.
Crap, Tiana is staring at me with a stupid Cheshire cat grin on her face.
"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a dying woman before?"
Tiana just kept smiling and staring.
Was she making a fool of herself in some way? Perhaps she ought to just shut up.
"Ms. Andrews and I knew each other a long time ago during the war."
"In the Biblical sense," Rita clarified once more, soliciting a bout of hysterical laughter out of Tiana and a blush out of the rough-and-tough former military man. Confused as to what was going on, Rita decided for a second time that her best course of action might be to shut up.
"Rita, it's been fifteen years since I last saw you," the Captain began. "The Alliance declared you dead. What the hell are you still doing alive, battered, and on my ship?"
"What, the Alliance got something wrong? Well, glory be," she responded rather tartly.
"Well, that explains it. I feel much better now. I guess I'll have to read the passenger list more carefully from now on. Damn it, woman, I've mourned you for fifteen years! What did you think you were doing in that shoe store, anyway? Couldn't find your shoe size?"
It was all coming back to her now.
"Jonathan, I saw her."
"Who? The Easter Bunny? Here I always thought he was a boy bunny!"
"No. I saw Lieutenant Hammonds. That's who I was chasing. Damn bitch hasn't aged a day since the war. It's just not fair, you know."
Captain Maverick shouldn't have been surprised. In fact, he fully expected the Terrilian agent to be on board, but suspecting and knowing were two different things. Now he knew for sure, and the fact added a deeper dimension to the danger his passengers were in.
"I suspected she might be the one who attempted to kill your buddy here."
Tiana grimaced as if she expected Rita to be mad at her. "I haven't had a chance to fill her in on all the details yet. I was getting to it when she ran off."
"Somebody tried to kill you and you didn't tell me right away?" Rita raised her blond eyebrows, making them nearly disappear into her hair.
Defensively, Tiana responded, "It's not like I didn't have other pressing things to discuss with you first. Besides, what about you? You never told me you were in the military."
"You never asked. Besides, I was very young. I must have only been three or four at the very most. In doggie years."
Captain Maverick smiled affectionately at Rita and shook his head. "I'd forgotten how stubborn you became when cornered."
"What else haven't you told me about your past?" Tiana pursued, apparently aghast that the Captain knew her best friend better than she did.
"Ladies, let's all take a deep breath and relax. Rita, you need some rest. You're in my office and you'll be safe here. I'll post a guard outside. The medic said you'll be fine as long as you rest, so Ms. Weiss and I will leave you alone so you can take a nap."
"I don't need a stinkin' nap! Just who do you think you are, telling me ..." Rita began, trying to sit up.
"Rita, while I'm thrilled to have you back from the netherworld I'm also mad enough to throttle you for letting me think you were dead all this time, so it's either resting here or in the brig!"
"You know, you used to be a lot nicer."
"That was fifteen years ago. Now I'm a grumpy old fart."
"You're not old," Rita responded, shooting a sexy little smile back at him that he knew would melt him and turn him into a drooling, infatuated idiot if he didn't immediately leave the room.
"Would you please just heed my simple request and rest, you dadburn female," Captain Maverick said as he and Tiana left the room.
Nodding to the doctor and confirming his order to the guards that no one was to disturb Ms. Andrews, the Captain shut his office door and escorted Tiana, at her request, to the brig to visit Derek.
The Proposal
Still reeling from the exchange she had just witnessed between the Captain and her dearest friend, Tiana stood in front of Derek's cell. She could feel the static from the energy field protecting the opening wreak havoc on the small hairs on her arms. If she got too close it would make for a really bad hair day.
"Hi."
"Hi, yourself. As always, you're a sight for sore eyes, beautiful."
If he calls me beautiful one more time I will have to get myself arrested, locked up in the brig naked with him and ... ARRRGHHHH! If desire burns calories, I'm sure I just lost ten pounds. Deep breaths, Tiana, deep breaths.
Tamping down her desire for Derek, Tiana opted for confident camaraderie and told him, "I've got sort of good news for you. I heard back from my Legal-Bot."
"What did it say?"
"He said you could file an appeal, but that it probably wouldn't do you any good. It appears everything was done by the book in your case. Your conviction would more than likely not be overturned."
"I thought you said you had good news."
"As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, I said sort of good news. Though the appeal looks bad, he did find a way for you to retain your freedom. In perusing his legal knowledgebase, Darius 20 ..."
"Don't keep me in suspense," snapped Derek.
"You know, I think it's that darn Y chromosome," she snapped back.
"I'm sorry? Y chromosome? Tiana, you are not making any sense."
Crossing her arms and cocking her head to one side, Tiana gave Derek her 'I am now removing your testicles with a cheese grater' look until he quieted down.
"I think it is that darn Y chromosome that renders all males genetically unable to wait or listen. Now hush and let me finish."
Taking a deep breath, Tiana pondered for a few seconds how to say it, and then just blurted it out.
"You need to find a single woman residing on a legally classified frontier planet. She needs to marry you and, in return for aiding her in her efforts to forge a life on said planet for two years, your sentence will be commuted. Essentially, in exchange for your freedom, you would be agreeing to voluntary servitude to help in the Galactic Alliance's efforts to colonize this sector of space."
Tiana smiled, quite pleased with herself, as Derek stared at her with a confused expression on his handsome mug.
"Frontier woman? Marry? Tiana, sweetie, what are you talking about?"
"Damn Y chromosome! There's a provision in intergalactic law, which Earth, as I assume you're well aware of, has recently adopted, that might be of interest to you. If a woman who needs a husband is willing to redeem you, which means she is willing to make herself responsible for you and marry you, then you are allowed to go free so you can help her with the rigors of life on a frontier planet."
Tiana gathered up all her courage, and fought back all her insecurities. Okay, here goes nothing.
"As it happens, with my job transfer, I am considered a registered occupant on the Magellan Outpost, which is classified as a frontier planet by the Galactic Alliance. I would be willing to help you out by redeeming you and marrying you in order to keep you from going to prison."
"How long would we need to stay married?" he asked abruptly.
Tiana immediately regretted having made herself vulnerable. No good deed goes unpunished, she thought. Her heart ached at Derek's callousness. He was willing to let her help him, but he wanted to make sure he could dump her and move on as quickly as possible. Obviously he didn't harbor any feelings for her.
"After a period of two years we would, of course, divorce and go our separate ways," she answered, lifting her little chin up in the haughtiest way she knew how.
"That's awfully kind of you to offer. Thank you. I suppose I would go on with you to the Magellan Outpost after the wedding?"
"For the two-year period you would need to be working for me. That justifies the Alliance dropping the prison sentence. The law requires that you be involved in improving the planet so as to enhance its habitability and commercial prospects. Constructing a space station qualifies as such."
"Okay, I accept your offer and at the end of the two years we will go our separate ways. I will work hard for you and uphold my end of the bargain."
Tiana felt Derek's words rip her heart right out of her chest. Of course he'd accept so quickly. Anything with two legs and breasts would suffice. He doesn't even have to look for a bride. What was I thinking?
"As my legal residence has already been recorded, we do not need to be on the planet for me to redeem you, therefore, we can get the Captain to marry us immediately and the two-year clock will start ticking."
As Tiana walked away, her very soul felt so wounded it sent tears to her eyes.
Damn, I should get the prize for being the universe's biggest idiot.
She had allowed herself to develop feelings, for someone who clearly did not reciprocate them, and she had now made matters worse by agreeing to a marriage of convenience that was completely for his benefit. There wasn't even anything in it for her. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Once she was out of Derek's sight, the weight of her situation came crashing down on her. She broke down with a loud sob and allowed the tears to flow. She sank down, her back to the wall and sat there for what felt like an hour, allowing her grief to wash over her until she had no more tears to shed.
"Are you okay?" she heard a gentle voice say. Tiana looked up to find a pretty woman with grey eyes and shoulder length blond hair squatting down not more than twelve inches in front of her. The woman had a soft, concerned look on her face. It was the one look Tiana would not have ever pictured on the face of Commander Hollinger, the ship's Security Officer.
"I guess so."
"It must be hard to see someone you care for locked up. I'm really sorry."
"That's not it. Commander Hollinger, do you ever feel like your heart has a mind of its own and it is bound and determined to engage itself with the wrong guys?"
"Actually, no, Ms. Weiss. The guys I meet typically run the other way when they find out what I do for a living,. It would appear that men don't like butt-kicking women in a social setting. I have yet to meet a man who doesn't immediately begin some macho posturing."
The thought of some poor soul making undesired advances on the Amazon-sized woman did amuse her.
"Please, call me Tiana. You are so pretty. I can't imagine men not flocking to you."
"Well, unfortunately, that's my reality," Commander Hollinger responded with a sad look in her eyes. "Regarding Mr. Hart, I can't tell you whether he did what he was convicted of or not, but I can tell you that man would willingly sacrifice his life for you. I saw it in his actions and in his eyes when he thought we were there to kill you."
"I think you misread the situation, he was just doing the he-man, protect the weaker sex thing. He may be in lust with me, but his intentions toward me are not romantic."
"I'm afraid I am not qualified to tell you much of anything about romantic attraction, but it's obvious that he does at least care for you a great deal. I would give my right arm to just once find a man who cared for me enough to want to protect me the way Mr. Hart protects you."
"You really think so?"
"No, I know so!"
Tiana simply shook her head. This from a woman men are afraid of. No, the Commander just doesn't get it.
The Wedding
What the hell am I doing?
Confused, disconnected and highly emotionally charged thoughts of her impending wedding raced through Tiana's brain. It wasn't like she hadn't been married once before, and she understood she was doing it to help out a man she ... liked a lot ... even though he did not feel the same way and had no intention of staying married to her past the two-year mark, but deep down, not even understanding why, Tiana, was taking this wedding seriously. She wanted, however short the duration, for this to be a real marriage. She wanted their union to become as important to Derek as it was to her. She knew the risk she was taking in allowing her hopes to soar, but she couldn't help herself. For some strange reason, she really liked the idea of being his wife.
Rita was the maid of honor and, after much coercion, the Marshall had agreed to serve as Derek's best man. There wasn't any of the pomp and circumstance of her first wedding, but she was every bit as giddy as she had been the first time around. The only other person in attendance was John Maverick, who, as captains have done since ancient wooden ships had first set sail thousands of years ago across the oceans back on Earth, would be presiding over the ceremony.
As she followed Rita into the Captain's private dining room, she looked up at her groom. Derek looked so handsome in the suit they had shopped for together. He had purchased, with her help of course, a dark gray suit that fit his well-toned body like a glove. Underneath the suit, a classic white Martian-cotton shirt, with buttons instead of the more commonly used adhesive seals, highlighted every ripple of her fiancé's torso. Shoes made of authentic Aurelian rhinoceros leather, not the more commonly used artificially synthesized version, completed the look.
The outside wall of the room was made of Rita's patented steel tempered-glass alloy, giving them a breathtaking view of space. Derek had somehow managed to talk the schedule-conscious Captain into dropping out of hyperspace for the duration of the wedding, directly in front of a passing comet. Not many girls ever had the opportunity to be married with a blaze of fire as a backdrop.
Her wedding dress was simple. She wore a short, pleated white skirt that fell halfway between her knees and the curve of what Derek had referred to as her 'sweet cheeks.' Underneath her skirt a lacy thong --- Rita's suggestion --- was waiting for her husband to discover at the proper time. Above the waist she wore a stylish, long-sleeved lacy white blouse. Derek kept looking at it. She figured he was probably trying to determine whether or not she was wearing a bra. He would just have to wait to find out.
Of course, no outfit would be complete without the proper shoes. She wore her favorite pair of white, high-heeled sandals, which she knew highlighted her muscular legs in a way she hoped would clear Derek's brain of all activity other than her seduction.
There were no rings, no flowers and within a short five minutes they were husband and wife, Derek was no longer a ward of the Galactic Alliance and the Captain had returned his ship into hyperspace.
He was now her responsibility. She sure hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid.
As they walked back to Tiana's suite, an awkward silence engulfed them. She knew what she wanted, but she didn't know what his expectations would be. Would he make love to her? Would the relationship that had developed between them resume its natural course and continue to grow or would this contrived 'wedding for freedom' business result in them now becoming simply roommates? Two business partners watching the clock tick for the next 730 days.
As they reached her suite, wordlessly, Derek, in one swift, fluid motion picked her up and cradled her tenderly in his strong arms.
"Derek, what are you doing? I'm too heavy."
"As if, my pocket-sized Venus. What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to carry you over the threshold. You are my bride, aren't you?"
Okay, right answer!
Touched by the romantic gesture, she put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his hard, muscular chest.
"Computer, open door."
Derek carried her in as if she was light as a feather. He didn't care what it took; by the time the two years were up she simply had to fall in love with him and want to stay together.
"My, how sweet." Derek's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar female voice as the door closed behind them. "Derek, darling, you never carried me over the threshold."
A good-looking, tall brunette stepped out of the bedroom pointing a disruptor at them.
"Melinda! What in the world are you doing here?"
"Derek," Tiana interjected, "that's Chrissie, my former maid."
"Well, it appears that your slut ex-maid and my snake in the grass ex-girlfriend are the same person. What an incredible coincidence, huh. My, my, it's a small galaxy after all. It's a small, small galaxy."
"Oh, Derek, I sure have missed your sarcasm. Let's go easy on the name-calling, though, you might accidentally piss me off and I might accidentally disrupt a hole through your wife's tits."
Derek slowly put Tiana back down on her own two feet. As he did so, his hand accidentally slid up her thigh, under her dress and onto her curvy bottom. He felt his insides, not to mention his outsides, twitch with lust.
Shit, shit, shit, not a good time to get aroused!
"You know, Melinda, the different pieces to this complicated puzzle are starting to come together," Derek said. "Between seducing Tiana's husband so that he would become your pawn and seducing me so that you could derail the Portable People project, not to mention killing off several other scientists and engineers, you've been very busy, haven't you?"
Hating his pseudo-superiority, she responded sarcastically, "Not bad, Derek, darling. Has the little woman, and I do mean little, been helping you with your homework? I see you've found someone else to lead you by the balls."
Slowly, Melinda, alias Chrissie, walked the length of the room, placing herself between them and the door as Tiana continued Derek's train of deductive thinking.
"Conniving bitch, traitorous whore, hmm, there's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there. I think you go by a couple of other names as well, don't you?" Tiana said, letting her temper get the better of her.
"Ah, the carrot-topped twit thinks. She even speaks. Correct so far, but I fear that the knowledge of who I really am is a little beyond your pea-size human brain. You know, sweetie, there's more at play here than just my sleeping with both of your husbands. If it's any consolation, though, Derek was the better fuck. Weren't you, stud?" she said, feasting her eyes upon Derek and eating him alive with her look, her intent, obviously, to taunt Tiana.
For centuries, redheads have carried the unfair reputation of having an anger problem. All her life, Tiana had lived up to this reputation, yet, for the most part, she had maintained control during the past couple of weeks, and she had really thought she had turned things around. She knew Chrissie had slept with her ex-husband, and while the knowledge had cut through her deeply, she had managed to keep her anger under control. Knowing that this woman had hurt Derek had also been unpleasant, but even throught that, she had kept herself under control. She was trying. She was really, really trying to behave herself and be the civilized woman that, as a member of one of the most advanced species in the universe, she was expected to be. She had convinced herself that she had turned the corner on her anger and that, for the rest of her days. She would handle all situations with a calm demeanor and the dignity that her lofty position in the galaxy's engineering community demanded, regardless of what anyone ever did or could possibly say. Unfortunately, she had not counted on ever hearing another woman use the word 'fuck' in relation to her new husband.
Tiana grabbed a vase off an endtable and hurled it at Chrissie. No, actually, it wasn't Chrissie she was hurling the vase at, it was Melinda whom she was going to tear apart limb from limb. She was the one who had defiled her new husband and who had, well ... She really pisses me off. The fact that the two women were the same person was irrelevant.
"Bitch!" Tiana yelled as the vase hit its mark, injuring as well as temporarily distracting Melinda, who in turn fired the disruptor in Tiana's general direction, barely missing her.
Before Melinda knew what was happening, Tiana had hurled herself upon her and, holding her by her hair, was repeatedly beating the other woman in the face.
Derek availed himself of the opportunity and grabbed the disruptor off the floor where Melinda had been forced to drop it before gingerly approaching the two struggling women.
It had all happened so quickly, but as she was about to vent her anger with another blow to Melinda's face, Tiana felt a sharp pain on her side and subsequently found herself hurled across the room and right into Derek with a force she knew human beings were incapable of. As Derek and she hit the wall, they both had the wind knocked out of them. Tiana watched as Melinda swiftly got up, apparently unscathed despite being hit by a vase and getting pounded on by a very angry redhead. Just as quickly, she scowled at Tiana with a lifetime of hate blazing in her eyes and ran out the door, avoiding Derek's disruptor shot.
Abandon Ship
"Captain, we have disruptor fire in Suite 1005"
Acting quickly as he ran off the bridge, the Captain hailed his Security Officer and ordered, "Commander Hollinger, dispatch a security team to meet me in Suite 1005. Weapons at the ready."
He had a very good idea of who had probably fired the disruptor.
Hurrying down the corridors leading to the section of the ship where the first-class suites were located, he saw a woman running at him, stopping in her tracks as soon as she saw him. Seeing the woman took him back fifteen years to the time when he had last seen her. The day the MPs had taken Colonel Katia Reginald of the Terrilian Armada, alias Lieutenant Cecilia Hammonds, away to await execution as a spy. Colonel Reginald had never made it to her cell. She had overpowered her escort and made her escape, leaving their lifeless bodies behind as a reminder that Terrilians were physically superior in every way.
This time, he was not taking any chances. Captain Maverick quickly drew his disruptor and fired at her as she ducked to the side, making her escape down an adjacent corridor. Wasting no time, the Captain called for reinforcements and gave chase. She was heading in the direction of the ship's central engine room. He had to hurry, for she could certainly cause some damage in there. This woman had cost him fifteen years of pain. Fifteen years of mourning. Fifteen years that he could have spent with the love of his life. Fifteen years that he could have spent with ... his wife.
Captain Maverick chased the Terrilian spy into the engine room. As he walked in he was greeted by the lifeless body of one of his ship engineers. His neck had been snapped like a twig.
Stepping over the body, the Captain proceeded silently. She had to be somewhere nearby. If she still had the disruptor, he would already be dead. The room was full of pipes, energy containers and a variety of mechanical control systems behind which she could be hiding. As he rounded a corner he almost tripped on a second corpse. He recognized the face. The lifeless body belonged to one of his trainees, barely eighteen. The way his head hung limply to the side indicated the way he had been killed. The Captain heard a noise to his left and quickly turned. As he did, he saw a magnetic degausser hitting the floor after bouncing off a pipe. Oh no. He had fallen for the oldest trick in the book.
Before he could turn back, a swift kick in the gut reminded him of why he shouldn't have looked away. Damn Terrilian! A second kick sent his disruptor flying across the room and behind a couple of reactors. He didn't sit around waiting for the third kick. Instead, with the nimbleness of a man half his age, Captain Maverick rolled out of the way and drew himself up to his feet.
They both now stood, in fighting stances, assessing each other's weaknesses. They were two old warriors, still fighting a war that should have been long over but knowing the enemy never rested.
"Tsk, tsk, Jonathan. You know you can't possibly beat me. I am genetically superior. How about we both go our separate ways and leave this argument for another day?"
"Sorry, but no. Why destroy tomorrow what I can destroy today and should have destroyed on yesterday's yesterday. I'm not much on procrastination. Besides, where will you go?"
"Why don't you let me worry about that? I did just fine the last time our paths crossed."
Captain Maverick's response was a flying kick that hit its mark on the Terrilian's beautiful chin, sending her sprawling across the slick metal floor of the engine room.
Jumping back to her feet, refusing to give the Captain an opportunity for a second strike, she rubbed what was sure to become a nasty bruise on her chin.
"My, my, you've been working out. Okay, suit yourself, Johnny boy. I have, shall we say, a little time to kill."
With that, she delivered a low roundkick to the back of the Captain's knees that sent him to the floor. She followed the attack by jumping up in the air, intent on landing with both feet on the Captain's ribcage. Not being terribly keen on having his ribcage crushed, Maverick rolled out of the way, kicking her square in the center of her back. Had she been human, he would have cracked her spine and the fight would have been over. Even though her face reflected the pain he had inflicted on her, she got back up to resume the fight.
As they squared off, the Captain thought he was seeing things when he noticed a perfect circle being cut out of the wall from outside the ship. Knowing there was nothing but space on the other side, and that in a matter of seconds, once the hole was completed, the ship's inside pressure would push everything in the room out through it, he quickly ran through the door leading back out of the engine room and activated the airlock.
Through the glass window on the door he saw his old enemy activate an energy field around herself and throw down a little round explosive device that adhered to the metal floor. As the hole was completed, Captain Maverick watched as his longtime enemy was sucked out into space. On the other side of the hole was a small ship that quickly attached a tractor beam to her.
"This is Maverick," he called the bridge. "We have an explosive device in the engine room that's going to blow, as well as a hull breach. Drop us out of hyperspace immediately and send an emergency engineering team to the engine room on the double. Secure an energy field around the hull breach."
"Aye, Captain." Commander Hollinger acknowledged. At least he had his most unflappable officer on the bridge, giving him the confidence to continue his other duties without worry.
If the device went off before they were out of hyperspace or before they had it contained, they could be blasted light years off course. He just prayed it was a small device as he ran at top speed away from the engine room, literally, for his life.
A dizzying feeling enveloped him for a few moments as the ship abruptly dropped out of hyperspace. He knew that to have done so as quickly as Hollinger had was no easy task. If they lived through the experience, he would have to give her a raise!
Seconds later, Captain Maverick heard the device go off. He felt the ship rock and prayed they wouldn't be hurled into a planet or asteroid. He just hoped his crew had secured the energy field around the engine room in time.
"Commander Hollinger; damage report."
"Captain, it's not good. We were able to partially raise the energy field on the inside perimeter, but not along the outer hull. It appears to have been a plasma explosion so there's nothing left in the engine room to try and patch up. I am recalling the emergency engineering team. I need them elsewhere. There's a chain reaction echoing through the power grid. I don't need to tell you what will happen if the reaction reaches the power generator, or worse, the central power core. As soon as I am able I'll check on our coordinates."
"Carry on, Commander. I know you're doing your best."
Another explosion rocked the ship. He felt his feet lift off the floor as the ship's artificial gravity failed. The lights flickered and went out leaving the ship's interior in total darkness for a few seconds, while the emergency lights came on-line.
This is not good. The power generator must have blown.
The Captain could hear air circulating through the vents, indicating that environmental controls were still on line, but he also knew that was a temporary state of affairs. His ship didn't have much time left.
Experience had taught him that a secondary chain reaction was now in progress and would soon reach the central power core. Within minutes every power supply along the path of the energy conduits would be ignited. In five minutes, at most, the reaction would reach the ship's central power core, at which point matter would meet anti-matter.
Bad things usually happened when matter and anti-matter got together.
"This is Captain Maverick," he called the bridge. "Commander, send out a distress signal and call for everyone to abandon ship."
"Aye-aye, Captain," responded the ship's Security Officer with as much calm as if she had just been asked to fetch him a cup of coffee ... except that would have probably pissed her off. This kind of discipline and ability to deal with pressure was what made his crew as good as it was. He just hoped they would all live through this. As for himself, he had to get to Rita. He would not lose her again!
In the Escape Pod
"Attention all hands, prepare to abandon ship."
Tiana and Derek listened to the shipwide announcement intently from within the suite that had been their home for the past two weeks.
"All passengers, please proceed immediately to the nearest escape pod and abandon ship. I repeat, the Captain has given the order to immediately abandon ship. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill."
Tiana looked at her husband of less than an hour as he reached for her hand and gently guided her into the bedroom, where two chairs had already folded out of the wall.
"Derek, what about Rita? We can't just leave her."
"She's probably in her own escape pod by now, and, if I read the Captain accurately, I have a feeling he'll not leave her side."
"I hope you're right," Tiana responded, sounding half convinced.
They both buckled themselves in as Derek instructed the computer.
"Computer, seal escape pod."
Tiana watched as the doors to the bathroom and the great room were hermetically sealed.
Wait a minute! Didn't the bathroom come with the escape pod?
"Computer, launch escape pod," Derek said.
A feeling of nausea came over Tiana, then receded just as quickly as it came, as the escape pod separated from the doomed vessel. Through the pod's single window they could see the starship, slowly being blown to smithereens as individual anti-matter receptacles were breached and instantly combusted as matter met anti-matter. Each time, flames would shoot out into the void of space until all the oxygen in the given compartment was consumed. Each time the brightness of the flames was quickly replaced by the ominous darkness of space, the spectacle made all the worse by the knowledge that as the flames were gone, so were the lives of any poor souls who might have been nearby.
Other escape pods, looking from the distance much like fireflies out on a summer night, moved away from the ship. Tiana hoped her best friend was in one of them. She silently said a prayer for Rita, Marcus and his twins and the rest of her Magellan team.
As their pod moved even further away, they watched the ship diminish in size until it vanished completely. They stared at the spot where the ship had been, trying to catch one last glimpse of it. Their patience was rewarded as they witnessed one last explosion that permanently sent the ship, and anyone left in it, into oblivion.
The pair continued to stare out into the vast nothingness of space, unable to move. How many of the twelve-hundred people they had been travelling with had just lost their lives? Would anyone ever know the answer? Derek slowly slipped his hand into Tiana's, who held it and squeezed with desperation.
"Well, what now?" Tiana wondered out loud.
"If I understand things correctly, escape pods are programmed to automatically set their bearings based on their position relative to the stars and take us to the nearest registered spaceport. That would have to be one of the ones on Arcadia 10, since we were almost there when we abandoned ship."
Tiana sighed. She wondered how many members of her team had survived. Her thoughts went not just to Rita, but to Marcus and his children as well as several others. As the Project Manager she would need to take roll of the survivors and notify the next of kin of those who were lost.
"Arcadia 10 is a port of call for ships that travel this sector of space. Once I gather my team, we should be able to obtain passage on another ship and continue on to the Magellan Outpost."
Tiana didn't like the expression on Derek's handsome face as he said slowly, "Well, it depends on which of the planet's spaceports the pod lands at. Until you decided to make an honest man out of me, I had been planning on making my escape when we reached Arcadia 10, so I did a little research over the galactic-net and found that the planet is not unified into any kind of centralized government. There is one continent called Arivet, which is relatively civilized. That's where starships usually refuel and conduct business. But for the most part, the planet is either primitive or a haven for pirates and outlaws."
"Let's hope we land on Arivet. I'm quite accustomed to modern-day comforts, you know," she replied trying to hang on to her courage through humor.
Derek gave Tiana a reassuring smile. "And I, your humble husband, will do my best to make sure you have them."
Husband. Your ... husband. HER husband! Her husband. She liked the way that sounded. There was comfort in those two words --- for the next two years, of course.
"Derek?""Yes?"
"Are we supposed to stay buckled to our seats the whole time we're in here?"
"I suppose. What else would we do?"
"Well, umm," she began, nervously licking her lips.
Tiana's face went through a metamorphosis right before Derek's eyes. Her mouth took on an impish smirk and he could have sworn he saw little flames inside those emerald-green eyes he had lost himself in so many times.
"We haven't exactly consummated our marriage yet," she finished.
What? Sex? Now? As we propel to goodness knows where in this tin can? I'm okay with that.
Derek let his actions answer her unverbalized question. He unbuckled his seat belt and allowed his body to float weightlessly off the chair. Tiana followed his lead as they floated into each other's embrace.
"Husband, I want you naked, and I want you naked now."
"Do your damage," he replied as he floated vertically before her, hands by his sides, not moving a muscle. He'd let her remove his clothes any way she wanted and in any order she wanted. He was HER husband. To enjoy, play with, take pleasure in and give pleasure to, in any way she saw fit.
First, she crawled down his body and removed both his shoes and socks. Tiana gently rubbed his feet and planted a feather-light kiss on top of each one. Allowing herself to float up along his body she stopped as she reached his eye level. The passion she saw in his eyes, the scorching heat she found in them, seared right through her and down to her passion spot. Maybe a couple of rolls while suspended in mid-air with Derek would get him out of her system.
Her hands trembled as they unfastened the first button on his shirt, exposing the very top of his chest. Why were her hands trembling? She had unbuttoned other men's shirts before. Spreading the shirt collar, she gently blew across the light hairs upon his magnificent chest. One down, however many more to go. Undoing the next button in the same fashion, she lowered her mouth and planted little butterfly kisses all over the exposed portion of his chest. Goodness gracious. She hoped the trip to Arcadia 10 would be a long one.
Undoing button number three brought her gaze to the center of his muscular belly. The top of his 'six-pack,' as they called it. Why, she did not know. She wasn't aware of anything in the galaxy that was bundled in packages of six. Oh, well, who cares? Lightly, she ran her index finger down his stomach muscles, watching each one tighten as it was individually touched. What a sight! And she was only just getting started. He had given her complete power over his body; his hard, solid, muscular body. Why? Why was he putting her pleasure first?
As the next button was unfastened she was greeted by Derek's navel. Smothering it with soft, gentle little kisses, she ran her tongue around and in it. She could see his muscles doing funny things under her incessant siege as he strained for control.
One button left. Tiana started to undo it, but her trembling hands would not let her complete the job. Oh hell! Without giving it another thought she tugged at both sides of his shirt, ripping the button off and sending it tumbling through the air past her. Without undoing the buttons on his cuffs, she then, in one quick move, drew Derek's shirt down past his shoulders and his muscle-sculpted arms to his wrists, where it kept his arms firmly in place behind his back. Entranced, she watched his stomach muscles contract and the bulge in his pants throb at her as the result of her action.
Tiana didn't waste the moment. Releasing her grasp on the shirt, she quickly found his waist and allowed her hands to explore. As she moved her fingers up over the rippling muscles of his torso, her touch became more urgent. She not so gently scratched his chest as she tantalizingly brought her tongue down upon one nipple and then the other. Derek let out a deep moan, confirming how deeply under her spell he was.
"But there's more," she whispered.
Derek's manhood was fighting and straining to break out of the confining pants. Noticing, she lowered her mouth to it, and without granting it the freedom it so desperately craved, she gently but firmly ran her teeth the full length of it.
"Tiana, you are driving me to the very edge of insanity. Please let me out."
"How bad do you want me to let you out?"
"Real bad! Please!"
Slowly she undid the button at the waist of his pants. She wasn't going to be rushed. Taking her fingers, she slid them over the top of his pants and beneath his underwear, caressing her way around his waist. She cupped Derek's bottom, then raked her nails across his cheeks as she pulled her still trembling hands out.
Derek tried to free himself from his shirt but Tiana immediately stopped what she was doing and locked eyes with him.
"You may not touch me until I give you permission. If you free your hands I will stop what I'm doing and leave you high and dry."
"You wouldn't ... "
"I don't suggest you try me."
Tiana returned her attention to Derek's pants or, more accurately, to what was straining to get out from them.
Carefully unzipping his pants to avoid damaging the goods, Tiana lowered Derek's pants and underwear and hurled them past his legs. Zero gravity was definitely underrated! Once relieved of its covering, Derek's cock sprang out, taking advantage of the freedom it had been granted. Tiana stared, fascinated with her new toy.
Pushing back a bit, she floated in front of Derek and reviewed her work thus far.
"Much better," she commented as her eyes washed over Derek's nude body.
Now it was her turn and she would make Derek watch and suffer as she stripped.
First thing to go were her shoes. Derek hungrily watched as Tiana, suspended before him, slipped off her sexy little sandals. Not that they had hidden much of her pretty little feet with her dainty little toes polished red, mind you. Stretching out, she rubbed Derek's chest with one foot while she crooked her other leg behind his neck. Slowly she worked her way down to his cock, which looked like it had grown another inch, and then gently stroked it and caressed it with her talented toes.
Derek moaned in ecstasy as she tormented him in his defenseless state. He was allowing her control. Was he that aware of her needs? Did he realize that doing so was a critical step in gaining her trust?
Looking down her body, she realized the lack of gravity had allowed her short dress to hike up and over her waist, leaving her thong exposed to Derek's gaze. It was beyond damp. She wanted this man so bad it hurt but she would be patient and make the most of their first time together as husband and wife.
"Derek, you made me soak my panties. What do you think I ought to do?"
"Take them off," was the quick and succinct answer. "I want to see you. I want to see all of you."
Floating before Derek, Tiana brought her knees up to her chest and managed to roll her overheated body onto her back, placing her womanhood at her husband's eye level. She then slowly slipped her panties off, giving him an unobstructed view of how wet she was for him. Taking advantage of her weightless state, she then straightened her legs, while still bent at the knees, leaving her feet curled up underneath her bottom and spread her legs for her new husband's benefit.
Derek's lustful eyes were riveted to the apex of her body. Was he wondering what her next move would be? He looked entranced. Entranced by her. She could see the carnal desire written all over his face. Carnal desire for her and only her.
Tiana continued to relish the complete control she had over her new husband. His desire for her seemed to render him as putty in her hands. A small part of her wondered when he would wrest control from her and take his own pleasure.
Still holding the same position, she unzipped her skirt and removed it. Lastly, she removed the blouse, confirming Derek's suspicion that she had not been wearing a bra.
Floating perpendicular to Derek, Tiana stretched out her legs, wrapping her feet and ankles around the back of Derek's head, slowly pulling herself closer to him. It was time for him to service her.
Tiana felt a surge of anticipation as her sopping wet pussy achingly slowly approached its destination. Derek seemed to immediately understand what she wanted, no, what she demanded from him. As Tiana approached his mouth she could feel his hot breath on her wetness. For the first time in forever Tiana felt all woman and all feminine as raw sexuality took her over.
When her slick and swollen folds reached their destination, Tiana let out a loud gasp. She felt so beautiful and so incredibly sexy. Derek reached out with his tongue, finding her opening and took a taste.
Tiana arched her back and took in another gasp of air as his tongue expertly explored her body's most private of places. She felt his tongue mimicking the motions of lovemaking that would soon bind them together. Taking his time, Derek savored her, exploring and sucking her nether folds with delight. The bittersweet sensations caused by her husband becoming intimately acquainted with her love canal, along with his purposeful avoidance of her clitoris, caused in Tiana a deep desperate ache for release. An ache that felt better than any pleasure she had ever had.
Taking apparent pity on his now entranced wife, Derek turned his exclusive attention to the little love button he had been so shamelessly ignoring thus far. Derek sucked Tiana's swollen clitoris into his mouth and began flicking it with the tip of his tongue. With a slightly less than gentle nip, he sent his wife over the edge. Tiana's release swept over her like a tidal wave. Arching her back to the point that her head was now pointing at Derek's feet, she tightened her legs' grip on Derek, grinding her searing sex into his expert mouth. Tiana screamed her release into the confines of the cramped escape pod, knowing there was no one around to hear, but also not caring if the universe heard.
Riding the aftershock, "Oh, Derek" were the only words she could form. Saying his name made her realize that her marriage had yet to be properly consummated and she couldn't have that!
Tiana released her hold on Derek's neck and, performing a swan dive worthy of the best water ballet dancers in the galaxy, she flipped and came up facing Derek. She quickly undid the buttons on his cuffs, releasing him from the bondage of his shirt, realizing that he could have done so himself but had yielded to her.
Regaining the use of his arms, Derek grabbed her hips, lifted her weightless body and impaled it on his throbbing member. As he entered her for the first time, Tiana felt full and complete. Derek moved his beautiful bride up and down along his shaft, grazing her engorged and eager-for-attention clitoris with each passionate stroke. Tiana wrapped her legs around her husband's waist, using the added leverage to help push him deeper and deeper, digging her nails into his shoulders with each thrust.
Taking advantage of her weightless state, while impaled on his cock, Tiana arched her back. Big mistake. Doing so left her clitoris, exposed and at Derek's mercy. He showed her none. Bringing his thumb down to her already sensitive button Derek began to lovingly caress it. Clenching her vaginal muscles, Tiana's control was shattered for the second time, giving in to the start of an intense climax. Tiana's release pushed Derek over the edge of the delectable precipice he had been walking on for some time. Husband and wife simultaneously erupted into an explosion of mutual pleasure that took them all the way to paradise with no return ticket.
Tiana Gets Hurt
A bit later, Tiana awoke, sated, floating with Derek's muscular arms around her and his penis still in her. With her head on his chest, she could hear the steady beat of his heart. At that very moment, she felt complete. She required nothing else. She barely knew this man, yet she felt so right in his arms, and so right being his wife. When she was with him, nothing else mattered. In his embrace she felt secure in a way she never had before. Not with Tom and so different from her father, who had always cared for and protected her. In Derek's arms it was quiet, it was peaceful, and she felt safe. She was light years away from where she was supposed to be, in an escape pod, heading for goodness knew where, yet she really didn't care. For the first time in her life, she felt at home.
"Good morning, princess."
"It's not morning. We're in space. There is no morning."
"Hey! No engineer speak while I am being romantic." He chuckled softly. "If, in fact, we just woke up, then by my definition it is morning, and since I woke up with you, by any definition it is a good morning."
"You sure seem to have your 'definitions' down, don't you. Well, in that case, good morning."
I wonder if this would be a good time to let him know that I am in 'deep like' with him. What to do? What to do?
Tiana was bubbling over with feeling for her new husband and she wanted to tell him and find out how he felt about her, but the fear of rejection kept her from speaking. She wasn't going to play the fool once more; after all, this was a marriage of convenience. Maybe the coming two years would change things. Yup, she would make sure things changed indeed!
"I'm going to see what this pod is able to synthesize for lunch." Derek unwrapped his arms from around her and floated to the scaled-down food synthesizer in the escape pod.
Oh no! Holy loneliness! Hmm ... my, but this man has a great butt!
She stared at him, taking in every graceful move he made as well as every contraction of every muscle visible to her, which, in his currently naked state, was all of them. Gracious! She was feeling moisture between her legs once more. It wasn't only sexual, though. Her heart just jumped for joy at being cocooned in the escape pod with him.
"Wait a minute," she started, "you can't have it both ways. If it's morning you have to have breakfast and you can't have lunch without first having breakfast, after all ---"
Fate did not give her the courtesy of finishing her sentence. The shockwave from the matter/anti-matter reaction, which had been expanding ever since the ship's explosion, had finally caught up with the escape pod. The small craft shook violently, throwing Derek and Tiana across the small space. Derek hit a flat part of the wall, and though his very breath was knocked out of him, the damage to his person was minimal. Tiana was not so lucky. As she flew across the escape pod, she managed to slice her bare leg on the edge of the bed. It all happened so quickly that the first hint she had that she was hurt was when she saw blood freely floating past her dazed eyes. Another ricochet of the shock wave slammed into the escape pod, wreaking havoc for its inhabitants and throwing Tiana at the opposite wall, while Derek, trying to get to her, held on for dear life. This time it smashed her, head-first, into the wall. Darkness and silence fell upon Tiana as she replaced consciousness and awareness with peaceful slumber.
Derek takes care of her
Derek's worst fears were materializing before his eyes. Tiana was bleeding profusely and had taken a serious blow to the head. With the escape pod spinning out of control, he still managed to get to her. He struggled to secure a safety belt from one of the chairs to his thigh, getting the leverage he needed to reach Tiana. Derek dragged her weightless body to the other chair and buckled her in.
Wasting no time he opened the pod's medical kit and placed a temporary pressure bandage on her leg wound to stop the blood loss. The very fact that she was bleeding in a weightless environment meant that she was still alive and her heart was still pumping.
His next priority was to get the pod under control. Buckling himself back into his own seat, he accessed the computer.
"Computer, engine status!"
"Stabilizers have sustained damage and are offline," the computer responded in its usual calm monotone. "Recommend taking manual navigational control of the escape pod."
"Computer, materialize navigational controls."
A familiar set of controls materialized before Derek with a circular view panel, suspended at eye level, providing him a 360-degree picture of the space around the pod. He was lucky he had taken flying lessons during his teen years, on similar short-range vehicles such as this one. Quickly assuming control, Derek tried his best to manually do what the stabilizers were unable to --- keep the pod from spinning. Their speed had tripled since the shockwave had hit, but slowing down would have to wait since they were rapidly drifting off course. Derek quickly recalculated and reset their course trajectory for Arcadia 10. From what he could see, the stabilizers were damaged beyond any repairs he could effect from inside the ship. He had to do his best to guide the spinning sphere of metal to some form of a landing on Arcadia 10, now looming large and directly in front of them.
"Computer, slow down and achieve orbit."
"Orbit cannot be achieved. Recommend resetting a course away from Arcadia 10."
Yeah, right, I can barely steer this thing now and you want me to bypass the only planet in the vicinity that sustains life?
"Computer, switch to complete manual control."
In the distance, Derek could see other escape pods burning up from entering the atmosphere too fast and at too sharp an angle. Clearly, theirs was not the only escape pod damaged by the shockwave. The only survivors would be those who knew how to pilot a craft.
Like fighting a bucking bronco, Derek managed to correct the angle of entry and slow the pod down a bit. They were still going too fast. Flames engulfed the pod as it hit the atmosphere, but the little craft still managed to hold together. Once inside the atmosphere he should be able to control the pitch a little better.
Rather quickly, the inside temperature rose well past safety levels as Derek fought to remain conscious and to maintain an entry angle that would provide the small craft with some breaking power without incinerating it.
Just as he thought he would pass out and lose the battle, the pod, having hit the lower layers of the ionosphere, and seen its speed reduced to safer levels, began cooling off. Derek increased the entry angle so as to further reduce their speed and engaged the front thrusters, slowing even further, but not enough.
The small craft had sustained enough damage that the best Derek could hope for would be a controlled crash landing. Skimming over the tops of what appeared to be trees hundreds of feet in height, Derek looked for the most suitable place to crash-land. The decision was taken from him as the wounded craft lost altitude, ripping a trail through the tree tops. Derek prayed that they wouldn't hit a tree trunk head on. The pod, not mention himself and Tiana, would not survive.
Just as quickly as it entered the trees, the faithful little craft zipped out of the forest and crashed into a large lake, skimming over its surface much the same as he and his dad used to skip rocks on the surface of a lake when he was a boy. He just prayed that Tiana would hold on until he could tend to her wound.
Unpleasant as the bouncing was, it was what kept the ship from becoming a giant crater on the surface of this little explored world. Finally, beaching itself on the far side of the lake, the escape pod came to a stop.
Derek unbuckled his seat belt and began tending to his wife's injuries.
Derek Tends to Her Wounds
Tiana was still unconscious. In a way, Derek was glad. He would hate to see her in the kind of pain that accompanied a wound like the gaping gash on her leg. He retrieved the skin regenerator from the medical kit, but found that it was damaged and wouldn't even cycle on. Derek recalled his days as a boy, when he had joined the Galactic Scouts. He'd earned his medical badge on a short excursion to Mare Ingenii on the far side of the Moon. One of the younger scouts had been hit by a tiny meteorite on the arm. The suit had held together, saving the boy's life, but once back at the ship, the gash had needed to be repaired 'the old-fashioned way' with needle and thread. He still remembered the young boy crying as the pain increased with each stitch.
Much as it distressed him, Derek, after thoroughly cleansing his own hands and removing the pressure bandage, applied disinfectant to the wound and began sewing it shut. Halfway through the procedure he heard Tiana moan. She opened her eyes and realized what he was doing. She grimaced from the pain and looked at him. Looking at her eyes, he expected to see shock, pain or even redhead anger at his infliction of pain. Instead, he saw an elemental trust, a glimpse that she was beginning to believe in him. He had never experienced this type of implicit belief. He felt humbled by this amazing woman.
After the work was done and he had rebandaged the wound, he addressed her.
"I'm sorry I had to hurt you. How do you feel?"
"I have a headache and it hurts right here." She pointed to a swollen spot on the left side of her head.
"I examined that before addressing your cut. The skin is not broken, but it is badly bruised. Relax, honey."
"Derek! I have a hole in my leg, I've lost at least a hundred quarts of blood, I'm stark naked and I have a lump on my head the size of a baseball. Don't tell me to relax!"
Derek grinned. His fiery little redhead was back.
With a sniff and a sigh at the fact he was finding any humor in this situation, Tiana demanded, "Unbuckle me and get me my clothes. I'm getting dressed!"
As Derek unbuckled her and she tried to stand up, she felt her wounded leg give out under the pain caused by the flexing of her muscles. Falling to the floor of the pod, she inhaled, trying to swallow her cursed pride.
"Derek, I don't think my body is quite ready for gravity yet. I'm not sure I can walk until this thing heals."
Derek picked her up as if they were still in zero gravity. His action caught her by surprise. He was still naked. She was still naked. Her soft breasts caressed the hardness of his chest. The reaction this chance contact evoked inside of her was unmistakable. She could feel her vaginal muscles clench and release, experiencing a delicious tingling from her breasts to her womb.
How can I be getting turned on when my leg and head are throbbing?
Derek laid her on the anti-gravity bed and helped her back into her clothes. She couldn't quite decide if that was good or bad. Much to her frustration the bed didn't work and she just lay there, under the influence of the planet's gravity.
"I'm afraid nothing on the escape pod that requires power is operational. Not the bed and definitely not the food synthesizer."
"What? How will we eat? Do you know how to fix it?" The mere thought of not having food or even chocolate gave her voice a note of alarmed panic.
"The power circuits are all fried. I already checked. We're lucky they lasted as long as they did considering the beating we took up there, not to mention the one we experienced as we crashed. Hey, what are you doing? Stop that, you'll hurt yourself."
Tiana kept slapping the very spot on her head that she had bruised.
"Dang it! My phone is not working either." She sighed.
"There probably aren't any Galactic Alliance satellites orbiting this planet. Of course your phone won't work."
"The communications chip is underneath the skin right where I got hit. It must be damaged. I can't even get it to cycle on. I just hope we get rescued before we starve to death," she said a bit petulantly, already experiencing pangs of hunger.
"We won't starve. Arcadia 10 is populated by a wide variety of animals. I'll just have to go hunting for our food."
"Eeew! Yuk! Don't be ridiculous. We can't eat animals! Have you seen what they eat or smelled one at a menagerie?"
"Tiana! What do you think you are synthesizing when you create a hamburger? You are synthesizing a piece of a dead cow that has been extruded, formed and cooked --- you know, had heat applied to it. Didn't you take Earth history in high school?"
"Reading about what the human race ate back when we were still savages is totally different from actually eating what they ate! Have you ever eaten animals?"
"Yes, when I was a Galactic Scout, but I can't claim to have ever hunted."
"The hunting part should be easy, all you have to do is walk up to an animal and kill it, but eating one ... I just don't know about that. They pee and poop, Derek. What if you eat one of the parts that contain the poop before it has, you know, pooped?"
"I suppose we'll just have to make sure we select our ... parts ... carefully before we eat them," he chuckled. "Tell you what, you lay down and try to get some rest while I go out and hunt us up some dinner."
"I'm not making any promises to eat whatever you catch, though. What about water?"
"Tiana, we're right next to a lake! We have all the water we need."
"But not for drinking! Have you already forgotten what I said? Animals pee and poop. They are probably dumb enough to pee and poop in the lake where they drink."
"I'm sure there is some survival gear in here somewhere, and, a water filter is the first thing such kits typically include. We'll filter the water before we drink it. Does that sound okay, Princess Picky?"
Tiana didn't respond. She was not committing to anything. Thirst might be preferable to drinking lake water.
Taking a knife with him, Derek set out to hunt. He wasn't sure what he was hunting for, but how hard could it be? He had read a variety of books by an early-twentieth century author by the name of Edgar Rice Burroughs and he remembered how the central figure in some of the books, a fellow by the name of Tarzan, would hunt with his bare hands. He also remembered reading how Tarzan would fashion weapons out of tree branches with his knife. He could do that too.
Derek looked for a game trail that might be used by the local animals to come to the lake and drink. Sure enough, he found one and followed it into the neighboring forest. Walking down the trail he soon found himself surrounded by a sea of green. He had never seen so much real plant life in one place before. The trail was bordered by large ferns next to wild flowers, next to tall grasses, next to a variety of other small plants and vines he didn't even recognize enough to classify. Interspersed amongst the lush vegetation were trees like the ones they had crashed through, rising hundreds of feet into the air with majestic reddish brown trunks that, if hollowed out, could fit two escape pods at the base.
Seeing a small bird with beautiful red and blue plumage fly by, his eyes followed it until it landed on what appeared to be a patch of extremely large and very beautiful red roses. Each one of the flowers was a good twelve to fifteen inches in diameter. Perhaps he'd take back a dozen and surprise Tiana with them. He watched intently as the little bird stuck its beak inside one of the flowers, probably going after the nectar. His mind quickly turned to thoughts of Tiana and sampling her 'nectar' before the crash. He had it bad for the little redhead!
Derek's thoughts were quickly jerked from Tiana as he watched the flower open up and swallow the little bird in the blink of an eye. A single feather gently floated to the ground.
Not only was he not taking any of those flowers back to Tiana, he would seriously need to watch where he peed in this jungle!
Getting to a small clearing, Derek decided this would be the place from which he would hunt. Remembering some of Tarzan's tricks, Derek checked to see which way the wind was blowing, went off the trail and found a place to hide downwind so that his scent would not be detected by any animals that might wander by. Quite pleased with himself thus far, Derek, after making sure there were no flowers larger than those he would consider normal by Earth standards nearby, settled in and waited for his prey.
He must have waited for what felt like at least an hour before he heard the rustling of leaves and twigs underneath the paws of an animal. Not ten feet from him, he saw what appeared to be a small doe, no more than four feet in height, with only minor cosmetic differences from the ones he'd seen in zoos on Earth, carelessly looking around and leisurely strolling down the trail. With his heart beating rapidly, and his knife in hand, he prepared to pounce on it. This would be too easy. He almost felt sorry for the little animal. He would grab it from behind and either stab it in the heart or slice its throat like Tarzan did in the books he'd read.
Carefully stepping so as to avoid alerting the dumb animal, he approached it slowly, like an animal stalking its prey. This must have been how the ancients felt when they had hunted to provide for their families and their tribes. Derek felt energized and more alive than he'd ever felt.
At last, within a couple of feet of his prey, Derek, with all his instincts and senses ablaze, threw himself at the animal. No sooner had his feet left the ground than the animal let out what sounded like a loud moan and darted for the cover of the forest, leaving the hunter to land with a thud hard on his stomach in the middle of the game trail.
Okay, that didn't go too well.
Getting up off the ground, Derek dusted himself off and watched as his and his mate's lunch ran down the trail and eventually disappeared.
Perhaps I could try a different approach, I could hide and ...
A loud, low, angry moan shattered the silence of the forest. Derek turned and looked at the spot where he had last seen his prey and saw instead a large deer-like creature that stood, he guessed, around ten feet in height with mean-looking antlers running full-throttle down the trail straight for him. Oops, suddenly, he remembered that the Tarzan books were classified under fiction. Derek didn't bother analyzing the situation or wondering how Tarzan would have handled things. He turned and ran as fast as he could back the way he had come.
It took a while, what with not having the comfort of the anti-gravity features of her bed, but Tiana finally managed to fall asleep, only to be awakened by loud banging on the hull of the escape pod and thunder-like growling directly outside. With great effort, she stood up and hobbled over to the window to see what was going on. As she reached the window, she saw a large tiger-like creature with a head at least three feet in diameter and long, sharp-looking canine teeth rise up on its hind legs to peer in the window at her. Tiana froze. Her first thoughts were of Derek. Had this thing eaten Derek and was it now coming after her for its second course? She had her answer within seconds as she saw Derek run out of the forest with ... a very large deer-type animal chasing him. Hearing Derek, the large cat turned away from the pod and headed in Derek's direction.
With threats to his life in front and behind him, Derek thought he was a goner. He veered off to the right, hoping that perhaps he could get to the water before the two creatures converged on him. To his amazement and relief, once the two creatures saw each other they didn't bother chasing after him. The buck lowered his antlers as he and the tiger squared off.
Tiana watched the surreal scene as it unfolded before her. She moved to the door to open it for Derek, who was now running in her direction.
"Tiana, grab the medical and survival kits and whatever else you can and get out, quickly!"
Err, hello. Get out, as in outside?
"Hurry, Derek. Get in before they come after you," she yelled, fear paralyzing all but her vocal cords.
"No! Come on, Tiana, we need to get out of here before one of them kills the other."
Tiana stood in the pod's doorway staring at Derek as if he had lost his mind.
"Tiana, trust me!" he yelled as he continued running.
She just stared blankly at him, not wanting to leave the perceived protection of the escape pod.
"Okay, move it, sweet cheeks!"
That got her attention. Huffing and grumbling under her breath, she grabbed the medical kit and the survival kit, along with a few other potentially useful items, and hobbled out to meet Derek. He didn't bother asking, simply grabbed her, laid her across his arms and carried her off without losing much speed. As Derek ran down the beach, Tiana looked back at the battle taking place. It wasn't long before the saber tooth tiger, for that is what it must have been, emerged as the victor. Tiana watched as the angry cat then turned its attention back on the escape pod. The powerful paws ripped and smashed the already weakened and damaged hull of the escape pod. Finally, with one last shove, the wall gave and the cat entered the pod. Having done so must have thrown off the balance of the pod, for it slid into the lake and sank, taking the powerful carnivore with it.
Panting, Derek stopped, gently put Tiana down on the beach and collapsed next to her with his head on her healthy leg. Tiana lovingly caressed his face and ran her fingers through his jet-black hair. This was the second time in as many hours that he had saved her life. More importantly, though, he hadn't lost his.
"Derek, it looks like in just a few hours it will be dark. Where are we going to sleep? We have no shelter."
"We'll need to sleep up in a tree. If we sleep on the ground we'll be eaten before morning."
"How are we going to do that?"
"Leave it to me."
Before sundown, Derek completed what appeared to Tiana to be some kind of a platform between two level branches. She was amazed at his ingenuity. He had tied a series of thick bamboo stems appearing to each be roughly three inches in diameter together using some kind of a vine and had then, also with the vine, secured the platform to the two branches forming the supports. He had left enough space between the tree trunk and the platform that the only way an animal could get to them would be by walking over one of the support branches while holding on to another branch directly above. It was a feat for which opposable thumbs and the ability to walk upright were definite requirements.
Once he completed his project, he climbed down to her. Smiling encouragement, he asked, "Well, what do you think of our first home as husband and wife?"
Out of her elements of urban civilization and computerized comforts, she said, "It has a nice airy look to it. Do you really think I can climb up?"
"Probably not, but I think I have just enough daylight left to build you an elevator."
"An elevator?"
"Don't expect anything fancy."
Tiana stared in disbelief as he gathered more vines and began twisting and knitting them together. In no time he had made a long rope that, after climbing up to the platform, he draped over a branch directly above it, on a spot he had carved and smoothed out with his knife. The end lying on the ground ended in a harness that went between her legs and around her waist.
"Step into the harness, place the second loop underneath your arms and hold on tight to the rope," he yelled down to her.
"Okay, I'm in it and I'm holding on tight. Now what do you ... AHHHH DDEEEEERRRRREEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!"
Tiana was rapidly raised up to the platform some forty feet in the air as Derek, having jumped off the branch while still holding on to the rope, descended to the ground, allowing his weight to lift her.
"Weehah!" Derek yelled in exhilaration as he dropped to the jungle floor. "Okay, now get on the platform and take off the rope."
"Don't you ever do that again, you overgrown child! You nearly gave me a heart attack," Tiana shrieked at him as she quickly sought the safety of the platform. When she looked down she saw a joyful grin on his face. He seemed quite pleased with himself.
He enjoys making me mad. The big oaf actually enjoys it. If I throw up I'm going to make sure it's on him.
Looking around the platform with a slightly less agitated demeanor, Tiana noticed that he had also stacked up a large amount of long grass, forming a primitive mattress for her. He had also, despite the rush to get all the work done before sundown, taken the time to leave a beautiful red, yellow and orange petalled flower in the middle of the grass mattress. Okay, he may be a pig, but he's a sweet pig.
"I'm going to look for food," Derek called up to her. "You'll be safe up there."
"How can I get down if I need to?"
"I don't know. I haven't figured out that part yet."
He's enjoying this way too much.
The Wound Becomes Infected
Tiana slowly awoke from another restless night's sleep. They had been stranded on Arcadia 10 for three days and things weren't looking any better. Her wounded leg was redder, the pain had increased and she was feeling rather poorly. The medical kit had been very limited in its contents. While it boasted a skin regenerator, infection-seeking nanobots and various other medical instruments, they didn't do her a bit of good on this primitive world without power. Infections had been easily treatable since the early twentieth century, yet here she was hundreds of years later with an infected wound that, left untended, could kill her.
Derek had been able to find various fruit trees nearby and she was very grateful that they had had plenty to eat, but they were both getting real tired of their fruit-only diet.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Derek greeted her. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, fine," she responded as she tried to sit up. A dizzy spell threw her off balance and she immediately lay back down to avoid the possibility of falling off the side of the platform.
"What was that? Are you feeling lightheaded?"
"No. I just got up a little too fast. I'll be okay."
Derek came closer and accidentally brushed the wound on her leg through its dressing. She winced and moved away.
"Tiana, I barely touched you. You haven't let me look at your wound since you regained consciousness after the crash. Please let me see it."
"There's no need. It's fine," she replied trying to desperately hold on to her independence.
"Tiana, if you don't show it to me right now I'll just wait until you're sleeping, and then I'll look my fill. And not just at the wound, either. Let's please do this the easy way. We have to work together to survive."
She knew there was no way to get him off the subject now. She slowly hiked up what had served as her wedding dress and removed the bandage, exposing the angry red wound. Derek touched it. It was hot.
"It's infected. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know," she lied.
"Yes, you did, the pain told you so."
Wanting to maintain control, Tiana replied, "Don't get pushy on me. It's not like we have a real marriage!"
She regretted the words the minute they came out, but she couldn't take them back now.
Derek maintained his composure. What did that mean? Was he in agreement?
"Tiana, I am very grateful for your sacrifice on my behalf and you'll have your freedom soon enough. We're on Arcadia 10 and the Alliance has no extradition treaty with the planet. As long as I remain here there is no need to serve out the two-year requirement. As soon as we are rescued and taken to a more civilized part of the planet we'll divorce and go our separate ways."
"Suits me just fine," she prevaricated, her pride stinging at his use of the word 'serve' as if marriage to her was a jail sentence.
Okay, that's two bold-faced lies in the span of two minutes. Way to go, Tiana. Why can't I control my stupid tongue?
Using his clever rigging system, Derek descended the giant tree and was gone for the remainder of the day. Tiana didn't know whether he was upset at her or whether he'd been killed in the forest. Why did she have to be so stubborn and arrogant? Why couldn't she have apologized when she had the chance?
By the time Derek returned, the sun was already setting. He came back loaded down with a not insignificant number of fruits and plants that took him several trips up the tree to deliver. Derek couldn't tell if she had even noticed. She was hot to the touch and appeared to be too weak to sit up.
"Tiana, you're burning up with fever. Here, drink some water."
Derek sat next to her and held her up with one arm, supporting her back with his thigh, and placed a cup of water next to her lips. He allowed her to sip at her own pace. She had probably been too weak to drink on her own for most of the day. He cursed himself for having left her, but he knew that if he had stayed, he would probably be cursing himself now for not having gone looking for what he'd brought back.
After she drank her fill, Derek gently set her back down and stroked her face in despair. Tiana felt Derek hiking her skirt up, allowing it to bunch around her waist.
"Derek, I'm not in the mood," she groaned.
"Neither am I, sweetheart, neither am I," he whispered softly.
He pulled back the bandage exposing the angry looking wound, and pulled out some prickly stalks from the pile of plant life he had brought back with him. He broke off bits and pieces of the stalk, milking it for the liquid inside, and applied it first to his fingers and then, generously, to her wound.
Flinching, she whined, "Ouch. What are you doing to me?"
"I'm applying some medicine to your badly infected wound." He smiled.
"What medicine? Where did you get that? That's not Galactic Alliance regulation medical salve!"
"Well, I'm not totally sure what it's called, since we are on a planet whose vegetation I'm not familiar with, but it is a succulent, and I think it is close enough to the aloe family to do the trick."
After the pain from his initial touch wore off, she felt a slight soothing sensation. Whatever he'd put there was doing its job. She heard him scraping something and then watched as he dropped some blue-green powder over the wound. The powder stuck to the sticky plant juice.
"Now what are you doing?"
"More medicine."
"Think you can be more specific?"
"Mold. It's nature's own antibiotic."
"Sorry I asked," she groaned. "Derek, I'm cold. May I put my skirt back down?"
"Sure, let me finish wrapping this up."
After returning her skirt to its rightful place, Derek took off his shirt and wrapped it around her. He then draped himself over the upper part of her body, making sure not to put too much weight on her, to keep her warm.
Tiana felt his strong muscles encircling her. She felt his warm breath sweep across her face. How she'd missed him today. Little by little the shakes she suffered from being so cold dissipated and, feeling totally secure, protected and cared for, she fell asleep.
The sound of birds chirping woke Tiana up. It was morning. She'd slept through the night. Derek was now next to her, but still trying to keep her warm. She wasn't feeling that much better, but she wasn't dead yet. The proverbial glass of water was half full.
"Would you like some breakfast?" she heard him ask.
"You can slice it, dice it, smash it or fix it up any way you want, but if I have to have breakfast at the Banana-rama Café this morning I'll puke."
"I found some nuts and some roots you can eat," he said, handing her part of the treasure he had brought back with him the day before.
"Well, the nuts aren't bad," she admitted after tasting them. "They could use a little more flavor, but it's better than having another banana. Derek, you're my new best friend."
"I have another treat for you. You'll like these roots. They taste a little like a potato."
She seemed to be getting stronger as she ate. "My hero!" she murmured. "Derek, where did you learn so much about edible and medicinal plants?"
"Don't forget, I was a Galactic Scout. My dad was the troop leader and made sure we learned all about first aid and survival tactics. He was so proud of us. Twenty-two out of twenty-five of us kids made it all the way through to Interstellar Scout. I must admit, I never thought I would ever put any of it to use until now. Let me show you something else."
Derek picked up a long stick that blended perfectly with all the others on the platform except for a piece of rock at the end.
"This is my new pride and joy."
He had taken a relatively straight stick and with his knife had whittled away all the bumps and knots so that it was relatively smooth to the touch. On one end he had split the stick in half and stuck a sharp rock in the middle. String made from vines wrapped around both the stick and rock, holding the two together.
"What is it?" she asked, wondering what he was up to.
"It's another of the things I learned to make when I was a scout. It's a spear for hunting. You need to eat some protein if you're going to get better."
"Okay, my little cave man. I suppose if you kill a reasonably clean animal, the least I can do is eat it. Just don't complain if I retch."
He smiled. "It's a deal! Will you be okay if I leave you for a little while? Animals aren't exactly going to jump up here and impale themselves on my spear, you know."
"Sure. I'll be fine."
"Remember to drink this water at intervals and feed yourself," he said stroking her cheek, and looking at her beautiful, pain-filled eyes. "Your body, incredible as it is," he teased, "needs sustenance to heal."
Derek started climbing down as she, in a voice loud enough to mean it but tentative enough to not guarantee being heard, said, "I'll miss you."
If he wasn't motivated to hunt before, he was now. Tiana needed something decent to eat or her body would not be able to repair itself.
Remembering his last attempt at hunting, Derek decided to stalk his prey from the branches of a nice safe tree and hurl his spear from there. He had to succeed. Tiana's life depended on it.
His heart felt like it had a huge hole in it. His hopes of wooing Tiana had been dashed by the stark reality that she didn't consider their marriage a real one and clearly didn't want more than they had agreed to. She obviously wasn't romantically attracted to him and didn't see any possibilities along those lines. Carnal lust was one thing, committed love another. Her statement had been very clear. He replayed it in his head.
It's not like we have a real marriage!
In her defense, what had he expected? She had been kinder than he had a right to expect. She had done him a favor, one that he was starting to feel guilty for. He needed to be an adult about this and stop making her rejection such a big deal. But how could he not? Every breath he took was for Tiana. Every thought he had seemed to revolve around his new bride. He needed to let go of her but he didn't know how. Obsessions were not healthy! In the meantime he would do his duty and protect and care for her. He owed her that much.
Well, at least he would repay her kindness by making sure she lived through this ordeal.
While Derek stalked his prey, Tiana sat up on their platform, wishing she could have gone with him.
Oh, Lord, please don't let anything happen to him. Please keep him safe.
While she regretted the words she had leveled at Derek less than a day ago, they had drawn out his true feelings.
"I am very grateful for your sacrifice on my behalf," she mimicked the logical, proud expression with which he had delivered his response to her and simultaneously mocked it with the back and forth shuffling of her shoulders and head. "There is no longer any need for us to remain married. As soon as we are rescued and taken to a more civilized part of the planet we'll divorce and go our separate ways. Blah blah blah. Let me go swinging through the trees naked, find an animal and see if it can scare me and chase me all the way to my little treehouse before I pee in my pants. Oops, I forgot, I'm jungle boy, I don't wear pants."
As much as she tried to poke fun at Derek, the part about there no longer being a need for them to remain married really hurt. She had given herself to him. Did he think she gave herself to just anybody? The fact that he was her husband and she was his wife was an integral part of why she had shared her body with him; that and wanting him more than any man she had ever known. Part of Tiana hoped they would never be rescued. The other part wished the infection would just go ahead and put an end to the pain in her heart. Of course, the possibility remained that both her wishes would come true.
The morning was gone and half the afternoon with it, and he still didn't have anything to take back for Tiana to eat. He was, however, getting quite an education on the wildlife indigenous to Arcadia 10. For the most part, the animals he had thus far seen resembled those found on Earth in some way, but there were always some differences.
A six-legged wild boar had gone past his perch early that morning. Derek had carefully aimed his spear, heaved it and ... missed. Shortly after that, a family of the species of giant deer he had first tried to hunt had walked by. Figuring that if he killed either the female or one of the offspring the buck wouldn't rest until he had his revenge, Derek decided to aim for the big buck. He had carefully taken his aim, and heaved the spear with enough force to drive it deep into the big buck and ... missed. The animals didn't even notice Derek or his spear. This time it had taken him a while to find his spear in the undergrowth, but find it he did, and resumed his post.
The third animal to come by was a ... who knows what it was. It had six legs, a row of shell-like scales down the middle of its back, thorns along both sides and a head the shape of a half-circle with eyes on the two far sides of the arc. Derek decided to let the creature walk by undisturbed. He knew Tiana's limits, and there was no way she would have eaten that thing.
Last, a cute, cuddly rabbity-looking brown animal with spots as big as an Earth dog came by. Putting the animal's sweet looks aside, Derek once more aimed and heaved his spear, only to have the creature hear him and jump away before the spear hit. Once the cute cuddly bunny realized it was being hunted, it turned on Derek, baring sharp teeth with long fangs. Flying into a rage, it repeatedly smashed its head into the tree Derek was hiding in, in an effort to dislodge him from it.
Looking closely at its fur, Derek determined that the rabbit had to be a closet redhead.
Once the rabbit had given up its quest for vengeance and moved on down the trail, Derek, as he was now quite adept at doing, retrieved his spear and resumed his vigilance.
He didn't have to wait long. Soon, another doe came by. Derek slowly stood up on his branch and went to grab the spear, which he had placed between two branches and ... watched it as it dropped to the ground right near the doe. She looked up at Derek and, not sensing any danger from the stupid man-thing, bent down to sniff the spear and check it out.
Tiana was aching, her skin hurt, her tongue felt swollen. She felt chills and knew that her fever was getting worse. Her wounded leg felt like somebody was sticking a knife into it. Where was Derek? What was taking him so long? The sun was starting to set and if he didn't make it back before darkness, he probably would not make it back at all. Best-case scenario, he wouldn't be able to see in the pitch darkness of Arcadia 10's night and would have to wait until morning before attempting to find his way back. Worst-case, he could be ... she didn't even want to think about it. Regardless, the way she was feeling she wasn't sure she would survive the night.
At first, she thought she heard the padded paws of some animal walking by, but then realized that it sounded more like a man's stride. Derek! He was back! Thank God! Looking over the side of the platform, the platform she hadn't left in days now, she saw that it was just a deer.
"Tiana, are you up there?"
Why is that deer talking to me? How does it know my name? Maybe I am already dead.
She took another look and saw that it was, in fact, Derek, with the carcass of the local species of deer across his rugged shoulders. He was a sight for sore eyes. Naked from the waist up, the muscle-bound alpha-male hunter, with his prize across his shoulders, was returning to his lair where his mate eagerly awaited him. She could think of a better prize for him than some stupid deer!
"Hi. Looks like your hunting trip was successful," she croaked, forcing herself to try and sound positive and healthy.
"Yes, it was. How are you feeling?"
"I've felt better. I think the fever is coming back."
"Try to get some rest while I cook us dinner."
Cook ... He was going to burn the meat so that it looked and tasted like it had been made through the normal process of regenerating matter in a synthesizer. What a man!
Still looking over the side of their platform, Tiana watched as Derek bent a small tree branch into a bow, tying the ends to each other with a vine stripped of its leaves. He then twisted another, straighter stick into the bow's vine and then, using other pieces of wood ... What is he doing? Somehow he was making the straighter stick spin back and forth. He had some sort of dried grass around the end of the stick. Why does he keep spinning the stupid stick? I thought he was going to cook that animal?
He kept this up for a while and, much to her surprise, she saw a small flame ignite. Derek blew on the flame.
Looks like his 'toy' has caught on fire and now he's trying to blow it out.
The flame grew steadily as he blew on it. She watched, fascinated, as he kept adding bigger and bigger sticks to the flame.
He wasn't trying to put out a fire, he was trying to start one. How clever!
Soon enough, Derek had a roaring fire going and, skewered on a couple of sticks, he held slices of the deer over the fire. He was cooking.
Tiana struggled hard to stay awake, but the fever fought harder, and won.
"Tiana, wake up darling. We need to get some food into you."
Derek touched his hand to her forehead. She was burning up. He lifted her back off the platform, propped her up between his legs and gave her water to drink. She probably had become dehydrated while he was gone. Her eyes opened, but they had an ominous-looking glaze over them. She was getting worse.
"Let's get some water into you and see if we can get you better."
Moistening her lips with a damp cloth he was finally able to get her to swallow water. Vigilantly caring for her, he finally coaxed her to swallow small bits of meat and watched her chew to make sure she didn't accidentally choke. As he watched her, he stroked her beautiful yet pale face, and ran his fingers softly over each and every one of the cute little freckles on her nose and forehead. Derek was totally captivated by his wife's smallest details. As he fed her, he allowed himself the indulgence of touching and caressing her soft cheeks with his index finger. Finding some strength she gently kissed his finger in return. She was too weak to speak, but that single act of tenderness spoke volumes to Derek.
Lord, I know she's not mine to keep, but please don't take her.
She wasn't that hungry and didn't eat much. Derek checked her leg. The infection was getting worse. It was redder and puffier than it had been before. That explained the fever. He shimmied down the rope and sterilized his knife in what was left of the fire. He knew what he had to do. After climbing back and returning to her side he saw that the fever had claimed her and she had lost consciousness. He was glad for this mercy. Without wasting any time, Derek cut the stitches away from the wound, reopened it and proceeded to drain it. He then gently applied more aloe juice and more mold directly into it. Tearing his shirt into strips he used these to rebandage the angry-looking wound without stitching it back. This process would need to be repeated later.
After a few hours had passed, Derek repeated the healing ritual to make sure the wound absorbed as much of the primitive medicine he had concocted as possible. Though what he was doing made sense, he wasn't really sure it would work or make any kind of a difference, but he had to try.
Tiana continued to sleep under Derek's loving and watchful eye.
A fever-induced nightmare enveloped Tiana. She was on her back on a large round bed in the center of a large, dimly lit room. The bed was spinning. She was holding onto a baby, her baby, with one hand and holding Derek with the other. Tom was there too. He was the one who was spinning the bed. He kept spinning it faster and faster. She couldn't hold on to them. The spinning motion was ripping them away from her grasp. Tom, laughing, kept spinning them faster and faster. She was losing her grip on her baby. She was also losing her grip on Derek. She was spinning faster ... and faster ... and faster ... and faster. Tom kept laughing and grabbing for the baby. She wouldn't give it to him. At the same time a tall, young-looking brunette entered the room and began grabbing for Derek each time he spun by. It was Chrissie, her former maid. She couldn't lose Derek to Chrissie the way she had stolen Tom from her. Panic and anxiety engulfed her. The harder she held Derek and her baby, the more her arms tired and the more they seemed to slip away from her. Turning her attention to Derek for a split second, she felt her baby flying out of her hands. Tom caught the baby and ran out of the room. He'd stolen her baby. Derek was still there, but she was losing her grip on him too. Chrissie laughed at her futile efforts to hold onto her husband. Please stop the spinning. She couldn't move her free arm over to grip Derek any tighter. Her arm just would not move. She clutched at him. Chrissie kept grabbing at him with each spin. He was slipping ... slipping ... slipping ...
"NO! Derek, no!" she screamed out in her tormented state.
"It's okay, darlin', I'm here," Derek said, trying to calm her.
"Where am I? Why can't I see anything? Where's Tom? Am I blind?" she questioned restlessly in the fever-induced delerium, scrambling around to try and make contact with a human.
Derek took her hand.
"It's me, Derek, and you're not blind, sweetie. It's just nighttime. I'm right here with you. You had a nightmare."
"He took my baby," she sobbed. "Melinda took you."
"Shhh." He smoothed her damp hair back from her face. "I'm right here with you and you're safe. Nobody's taken me. We're both safe."
Derek gently held her as she shook. At intervals she could hear the terrifying roars and noises of the creatures of the forest as they either hunted or became the hunted. Derek's touch, however, won out and she calmed down as the last vestiges of her nightmare receded.
"Would you like some water?" he asked in a low, soothing whisper.
"Please," she whispered back.
Tiana felt the coolness of the water soothe the dryness of her parched throat. The most soothing thing, though, wasn't the water. It was his words, it was his touch, and it was his tender care as he sought to allow her to bring herself out of the fear instead of telling, yanking or forcing her out of it.
Derek is here, she thought. He's taking care of me.
She felt comforted. She was safe.
Throughout the night Derek stayed up and watched her, as best as he could watch anything in a pitch-black environment. At intervals he re-applied the aloe and mold to the wound. He also did his best to get her to drink as much water as she could each time she woke up, and managed to get additional bites of meat into her weakened body. Several times she was overcome with chills from the fever. He did the only thing he could. He covered her body with his and tried to keep her warm.
When the sun came up the following morning, Tiana woke to find herself drenched in sweat and very weak. It had been a rough and torturous night. She was in Derek's arms. She remembered him being awake and with her throughout the night. That had been her only comfort. Apparently he had finally succumbed to his weariness and fallen asleep. She felt him stir and finally heard his voice.
"Good morning. How are you?"
"I'm not sure. I don't feel cold any more. I feel hot."
"That's a good sign. Your fever may have broken. Are you hungry?"
"No, but I have a feeling you're going to make me eat whether I'm hungry or not."
"Well, just as long as we understand each other," he said, flashing his signature grin and melting her heart in the process.
Goodness gracious. That smile ought to be illegal.
"Ah, madame, I give you ze best table in ze café," Derek announced in his best imitation French accent. "From here ze view is le magnifique! Down by ze lake you will noteese le wart cochon pooping, oui? And ze cervide feeding on delicious appetizing leaves just down the trail. Incidentally, we're about to eat his ex-girlfriend, oui? Here, have some," he finished, pointing to a pile of thinly sliced venison.
Laughing at his performance, she tried to sit up, but failed miserably.
Yup, I still feel like crap. I hate feeling helpless, Control, control, control.
Derek handed her a small bite knowing she had to feel a part of her own care.
"Mon garcon," she gave a slight smile, "this is tres bien. It might actually be better than regular synthesized food."
The concession was a big step for the city girl who, just as soon as she finished her meal, fell deeply into a peaceful slumber.
Laundry Time
Tiana awoke as she watched Derek, who no longer had a shirt to wear, take his pants, underwear, shoes and socks off and stand stark naked before her. The pants, underwear and socks he tossed over the side of the platform and watched as they landed at the foot of the tree that had become their starter home.
"Okay, I'm going to help you get your clothes off. It's laundry time," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh, is this a new game?" she asked with an impish grin, even though she realized full well that the only games she was probably fit to play at this time were ones that involved sleeping. Correction, sleeping a lot.
"Nope. No game. Now let me strip you, woman!" he ordered with a laugh.
Derek slid her skirt off, followed by her panties, and tossed them over the side. As he slid them off and her most private of areas came into view, a small gasp escaped his throat. He finds me sexy. Even in my current disheveled state, he still desires me.
Taking note of Derek's forming erection, Tiana couldn't help herself. She stretched one leg flat on the platform and stretched the other one straight up and bent at the knee, forming a perfect L with her shapely legs, leaving herself totally spread for his enjoyment. Tiana watched as his cock sprang to immediate attention. She reveled in the power she held over him.
"You are such a bad girl," he said, apparently doing his best to keep his voice from cracking.
"Yes, I know. It's one of my many character flaws," she stated in that sultry, smoky tone only he seemed to elicit.
"Mrs. Hart, even though I would give my right arm to make mad, passionate love with you right now, you need to rest. I'm simply going to remove your blouse without sampling the goodies to be found underneath, got it?"
Hmm, I like the sound of my married name.
Curling her lower lip, she shot the most pitiful pout she could muster up at him and, enjoying his casual teasing, helped him remove the blouse as best as she could.
"So, are you planning on keeping me stark naked from now on?"
"It's got potential. It would definitely save time," he growled in a guttural, primitive-man tone.
Giving her a playful kiss, Derek climbed down, gathered the clothes and headed for the lake.
Looking over the side of the platform, Tiana could see Derek washing the clothes by the lake. She figured water would probably play some role in the cleaning process, since obviously a sonic washer was not available here in the middle of, well, nowhere. She saw him rubbing sand into the clothes and scrubbing them on a rock. Would what he was doing get their clothes clean? Based on Derek's track record with this living in the wilderness thing, she wasn't about to think otherwise. Obediently sipping some water and eating some nuts, she lay on her back. The hot sun gently caressed her naked flesh, and slowly lulled her into yet another nap.
Hearing a noise, she opened her eyes.
"Hi," she heard him say. "The clothes should be dry in a few hours."
Seeing her blouse and dress drying on a bush down below attracted her attention. Her white outfit was now a beautiful and delicate shade of pink.
"Derek, my clothes ... I'm confused."
"Oh, that. I hope you're not disappointed. I couldn't get all the stains off the white cloth, so I dyed your outfit pink using some berries. I couldn't have my bride wearing dirty looking clothes during our honeymoon, and all the stores were closed, so I couldn't get you a new outfit."
"Derek, it looks brand new, so feminine and so beautiful. Thank you," she said as tears welled up in her eyes. What's with all this crying crap! she admonished herself. "You would have made a great twenty-second century house-husband," she continued trying to lighten the mood.
"How'd you get that up here?" she asked, noticing for the first time what used to be the case to the medical kit that he apparently had turned into a water container.
"Slowly, very slowly. It is now your official wash basin. Since you are not well enough to go to the water yet, I have brought water to you. Now, let me move you so that your head is over the wash basin, my lady, and let's allow water to flow through your beautiful hair."
She did as Derek asked, glad for the chance to be able to wash her hair for the first time in a week. She reached her arm up to work through the knots in her hair.
"Put that beautiful, scrumptious and kissable hand down, my lady. I, Derek Erecticus, will do that for you."
She laughed. "Okay, just don't call me Mrs. Erecticus!"
The combination of his hands and the water was heavenly. She couldn't remember the last time someone and not a machine had washed her hair. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the relaxing feeling.
Once he finished, Derek sat her up. She felt him combing her hair.
"Hey, where'd you get the comb?"
"I made it for you," he responded shyly, handing it to her.
The comb was made of some kind of plastic-like substance, except it was polished and had a shiny, lustrous quality. Even the teeth were perfectly spaced as if it had been synthesized, except she had never seen a comb as beautiful as this one.
"Derek, it's beautiful. What is it made of?"
"Bone. There was a time back on Earth when all combs were made of bone."
"How can that be? It doesn't look like any bone I've ever seen."
"It took a little patience and work," he said, grinning at her as he continued to run the comb through her red locks, "but I figured that if we had a comb I could do your hair for you."
"How can a girl say no to that kind of logic?"
"She can't," he stated with confident arrogance.
Tiana's body trembled as she felt his fingers and the comb make their way through her hair, establishing a pattern like the flow of waves in the ocean, that, of course, reminded her of ...
"Okay, all done. Now let's move on to the rest of your body."
"You're going to give me a sponge bath?!" She jumped up, regretting it instantly as she felt her head spin.
"Whoa there. Lay down on your back and relax."
"Oh, you mean keep doing what I've been doing since we got here?" she responded pertly.
"Exactly. You're quite good at it, and you look great doing it, particularly naked," he added with a smile and a wink. "Besides, it's technically not a sponge bath unless I use a sponge and we don't have one."
Taking what was left of his shirt, Derek folded it up and dipped it into the new wash basin allowing it to absorb as much water as the thin material possibly could. He then pulled it out, and began washing her.
Tiana felt the coolness of the water as it hit her skin. The slow circling motions and the patience he took in the process felt divine on her ignored for way too long skin. The man had an incredible way with his hands.
"You know," she said in a hoarse whisper as she stretched out her quaking body, "I'm not sure I can handle you doing that to me."
"What am I doing to you? I'm just washing you."
"No, that's not what you're doing. What you're really doing is rubbing cool, refreshing water with those expert hands all over my hot, naked flesh. There's a huge difference between that and just washing me."
"My mother always told me to enjoy my work."
"You enjoying your work is not the problem. The problem is that I'm enjoying your work even more than you are. Perhaps instead of cleaning me you ought to dirty me up some more first."
Derek sobered. "Tiana, as I said before, there are few things I'd rather do than to make love with you right now. You are as naked as the day you were born and I am washing every part of your incredible sexy body. Rest assured that right now, this very second, I want you madly and passionately. For now, however, our carnal desires for each other need to be set aside and we need to give your beautiful body time to heal."
"You really think my body is beautiful?" she asked, glancing at the faded stretch marks on her stomach and the slight sag in her breasts, not understanding how he could possibly think so.
"My sweetest, your soul and your body both are so beautiful that it pains me deeply to hear you doubt the fact," he said, not seeming to understand how she could possibly not know so. "See how my hands fit perfectly over your breasts? Have you noticed how your tummy and hips perfectly accommodate my hips? While I've seen you weep for what has been lost, your indomitable courage since we crash-landed has been nothing short of inspiring. Your compassion and trust put me to shame. Tiana, you are truly exquisite."
Closing her eyes, Tiana said nothing more, allowing Derek to wash her. He continued to deny himself, even though she was begging him not to, for her health, for her. That's character, she thought. He might not love her, but he would do whatever it took to protect her and take care of her.
The Wolf
A few days later, Derek saw the old fiery Tiana return with a vengeance.
"Damn it, Derek! Get me down from here! The infection has cleared up, the wound has closed, I'm feeling fine and I stink. I want to go to the lake and get cleaned up."
"Tiana, please give yourself another day."
"That's what you said yesterday. Look, I've been good and I've humored you for the past few days, not that I know how many of them have come and gone, and I'm going stir crazy on this stupid platform. While I appreciate everything you've done for me, I am getting down and I'm getting down right now. You can either lower me down with the rope or I'll climb down on my own."
Tiana stood with her hands on her hips, fire lighting her emerald eyes and sparks seeming to shoot from her wavy red hair.
"Tiana, please be careful."
"Quit telling me what to do!" she responded, her temper ratcheting up another notch. "I'm not promising you a thing! I am getting down. You keep letting this me strong husband protector, you weak wife need my help crap get to your head. Look, I married you as a favor ..."
Nooooo. I've done it again. Why did her mouth always have to get ahead of her brain? She knew she should apologize, but she was too angry and proud to.
"All right, you win. I'll lower you."
To her surprise, Derek did not get angry. He didn't even look upset.
This could be worse than if he had gotten mad at her. The lack of emotion proved that he really didn't love her.
"You know the drill. Slip the harness around you and I'll lower you," he said without a hint of emotion one way or the other.
Tiana got into the rope's noose and Derek, muscles bulging, slowly lowered her to the ground, then quickly joined her.
"I have a surprise for you. Please come with me," he requested coolly.
"Can I get cleaned up at the lake first?" she asked. She really did feel sticky and uncomfortable.
"Please trust me. You'll regret it later if you go to the lake first," he said with a smile, stretching his hand out for hers.
After having just run her mouth at him, Tiana decided to humor him. Placing her hand in his, she allowed him to lead her.
They walked maybe a half mile before she heard the sound of falling water. As they cleared a large boulder of granite, they came upon a scene similar to the holographic representations she had seen before of what parts of Earth had once looked like. A mountain of rock stretched out of the ground with trees growing up one of its sides and all around the top. The leaves ran the whole spectrum from shades of green to brown, orange, yellow and red. Directly in front of the rock wall was a pool of crystal-clear spring water fed by a small cascade that made its way down from the tall mountain of rock through a winding channel of smooth rock it had carved and polished through the years.
"Derek, it's beautiful. The water is so clear!"
"Now, aren't you glad you didn't go to that dirty old lake?"
Shamed by her earlier outburst, Tiana felt humbled by his graciousness.
"Yes, I suppose I am, but not half as glad as you're going to be," she replied, with a mischievous grin and a wicked sparkle reaching her emerald eyes.
Derek watched as his sexy wife, her curvaceous bottom swaying, strode towards the waterfall.
"Do not come in the water," she told him.
"Why not?"
"You've been ordering me around for days. Now it's my turn. Do not follow me into the water," she stated firmly in a no-nonsense tone.
As she walked away from him, Derek watched her pale-pink blouse come off and be tossed aside. She only stopped moving long enough to kick off her sandals. Her skirt and panties came down next in one fell swoop, leaving her as naked as the day she came into the world.
Stepping into the water she murmured, "It's nice and cool. Very refreshing. Too bad you're in time out."
She continued through the refreshingly cool water until she found herself underneath the waterfall, knee deep in the water. Derek couldn't take his eyes off her. Tiana had a natural way of moving, an unawareness of her beauty that drove him to the edge of insanity. He wasn't prepared for what she did next. With clear intent, she leaned back on the smooth rocks and let the water splash down on her. Rubbing her body with a soft soap-like rock Derek had found for her, she washed herself casually, keeping her eyes trained on him, as if she were measuring his reaction to her every move and every touch. He did not disappoint her. He stood less than twenty feet away, watching her.
Holding her rock-soap with one hand, she allowed the water to rinse her, as she rubbed the soap off her heated skin with the other. While he may not want to stay married she knew she had a deep sexual connection to him giving her back some power and control.
Time to step up the action for you, my sweet thing.
As she rinsed, Tiana allowed her hands to gently glide along the curves of her body, helping the water do its job. She saw the lust in his eyes as her slender fingers slowed and touched the tips of her swollen breasts. She was doing this for his benefit, she tried to convince herself, but when she flicked her erect nipples she gasped at her own touch. She'd never done this before. Not for Tom, not even for herself, yet somehow it felt right to be doing this for a man who made her feel so desired. He was her husband, it was okay. If she had to use sex to make him think long and hard about what he would be missing if he left her, so be it.
Derek had removed his clothes as he watched Tiana's performance. The hardness between his legs was clear evidence that he was wondrously bewitched. She knew that she had caused that desire and that it was just for her!
Tiana allowed her hand to leave her aching breasts, move across her belly and down to the juncture between her legs. As her fingers caressed her swollen and sensitive nubbin, she felt desire shoot up her body, forcing a moan from within her.
With her eyes Tiana told Derek it was time. Receiving her silent command, he waded into the water straight for her, never breaking the connection of her gaze. Not a word was uttered by either one of them. Tiana experienced a variety of thrills stemming from her actions. The physical aspect was thrilling, the power exhilarating, the danger enticing and the safety freeing. She enjoyed the influence she had over this man. She was in control. He had walked over because she had wanted him to. He was utterly unable to deny her anything.
Reaching the waterfall, Derek gazed deeply into her green eyes. Never breaking eye contact, she arched her back and moved one leg off to the side, sending him another direct but silent order, one he was only too happy to obey.
Derek cupped his strong hands around her bottom and lifted her off the ground. In one swift move he impaled her on his aching manhood. She was wet for him and not because of the waterfall either. Tiana felt him fill her as she wrapped her legs around his back and her arms around his neck. This was the very definition of two becoming one.
As he thrust into her, Tiana looked down and watched Derek's mouth latch onto one of her succulent nipples. When he gently bit it, she rewarded him with a little scream that begged for mercy, the mercy to do keep nipping at it.
"Oh, my. Derek! You take me to paradise."
Tiana was surrounded by his essence. The intensity she was feeling at this moment was breathtaking, time was suspended, her nerves inflamed, her desire feverish.
"Harder," she heard herself say. Had she really said that? "Show me, show me how much you want me."
Saying nothing, Derek continued to let his actions speak for him. Slowly pulling out just enough to make her want him more, he then forcefully thrust himself back in, winding her up tighter ... and tighter ... and tighter each time.
She couldn't take it anymore. She needed release. With unparalleled desperation she felt herself crossing the point of no return.
"Ohhh fuck!" she screamed as she felt an orgasm ravage and rage through her body, providing the release she craved. Wave after wave overcame her as Derek followed, filling her with his seed as he too was lifted up and carried into oblivion.
As Derek's knees gave out, they both slipped into the water, clasping each other tightly, overcome by the passion they had just shared. It was all they could do to reach the side of the pool, where they lay on their backs enveloped in the powerful and magical afterglow of their lovemaking, allowing the hot sun to wash over their naked and sated bodies.
At first Tiana thought she was dreaming. She could hear a deep growling sound mixed with whimpers, like those of a hurt child, coming from the woods on the other side of the pool. Lifting up into a sitting position she listened carefully. Derek, sensing her distraction, sat up as well.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I don't know. Sometimes it sounds like an animal and sometimes it sounds like a child crying."
Without thinking about it, her protective instincts driving her, Tiana got up, and without bothering to dress and Derek following closely behind her, made for the other side of the pool.
Could it be a child in trouble? Her motherly instincts surged within her at the very thought.
After progressing through thick foliage for what felt like it might have been a hundred yards or more, the couple came upon a small clearing where they saw something struggling to get out from under a downed tree.
Cautiously they approached and walked around the tree. Its foliage made it hard to see what was struggling for survival underneath. Whatever it was, it stopped moving, aware of their presence. Silence fell upon the clearing as Tiana and Derek cautiously and quietly tried to get a look at the trapped creature.
"Derek," Tiana whispered. "There it is. It's not a person, it's an animal of some kind."
Picking up a large stick for protection, Derek approached the gray creature. About the size and looks of a large Earth dog, it quietly whimpered as it watched the man come closer.
"It looks a lot like what they used to call a grey wolf back on Earth, except grey wolves didn't have fangs and teeth that big, or outside their mouths, for that matter."
"A grey what? How do you know so much about extinct Earth animals?"
"Tiana, you really should have paid more attention in paleontology class in high school."
"Derek, I'm an engineer. If it wasn't math-related I tried to avoid it in high school. By the same token, now that we know it's an animal and not a person, why are we still walking to it?"
"It needs help. The tree obviously fell on it, trapping it. There's no telling how long it's been there. It will die if we don't do something."
"Are you out of your mind? If you set it free it will turn on you."
"Tiana, I'm not just going to stand by while this trapped and possibly injured animal starves to death. I have an idea. Let's get dressed and go back to our camp."
Half an hour later saw Derek and a still-not-convinced Tiana back at the clearing with some leftover meat from breakfast and water from the nearby pool.
"Derek, if you set that, that wolf, as you call it, free and it decides to make a meal out of us, so help me I will personally tear you limb from limb."
Derek chuckled. "Tiana, sweetie, have you ever considered taking a class in anger management?"
"Just once. I was kicked out for hitting the instructor," Tiana responded with a straight face.
Nawww; she's just kidding. Isn't she? She wouldn't have ... ? Would she ...?
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to give the meat and water to the wolf while it's pinned by the tree and can't get to me, so that it can eat and drink before I set it free." Pointing to a tree at the edge of the clearing he continued, "I'd like you to climb up on that tree and wait there until it's gone."
"Derek, if we're doing this, we're doing it together."
With that, Tiana grabbed the water and slowly approached the trapped animal, which surprisingly, didn't growl or even move as she came closer. Following her lead and cursing under his breath, Derek did the same with the raw meat they had brought.
"Tiana, don't get too close. Just put the water down and push it to the wolf with a stick. You don't want to get within biting distance."
Derek gave a sigh of relief as he watched her heed his advice. In no time, the wolf had gone through the food and water.
"Tiana, it's time to lift the tree. I don't suppose you are going to be willing to climb up the tree to safety?"
"Nope," she replied, unwilling to be told what to do.
"I didn't think so."
Carefully, using a fallen tree branch as a lever, they were able to lift the heavy trunk off the trapped animal. Much to their surprise, as they watched the wolf crawl out from under the fallen tree trunk, they realized they had underestimated the animal's size. It was a good ten feet in length and about the height of a very tall man.
"Derek, I don't think what we fed it was enough to fill even a small corner of the stomach on something that big. Doesn't this stupid planet have any small, well, anythings?"
"He's a predatory male, so whatever you do, do not show fear or look him in the eye. Just back up slowly and try to climb a tree as soon as you can."
"We are about to get eaten and you're checking out his balls? Derek, if we live through this, I swear, I will spend the rest of my days making sure that your life is an absolute living hell! Even then, I will not be fully paid up for this experience."
"He's turning toward us. Please try to relax and keep your cool."
"I'm about to pee in my pants, don't you go telling me to relax!"
"Tiana, listen very carefully. If you don't relax, he will attack."
"Great advice, Dumbo. That's right up there with my Medical-Bot telling me to reduce the amount of stress in my life."
As they stepped away from the huge animal, they realized they had backed into a rock wall that shot straight up past the treetops. Their escape had been essentially cut off. There was nowhere to hide. They watched helplessly as the animal, silently walking on huge padded paws with razor-sharp claws, came closer, eyeing its prey. As it approached them, Tiana understood Derek's earlier comment about the animal's teeth. Though the animal's head was proportionately sized to the huge body, its teeth seemed to be disproportionately big for it. To add to the fierce look, the upper canines, like the saber tooth tiger they had encountered earlier, were a good length longer than the rest of its teeth and stretched out of its wicked-looking mouth.
Growling and baring its sharp teeth and hideous fangs, the animal approached Tiana. It was so close she could feel the animal's warm breath on her petrified face.
"Tiana, do not make any sudden moves," Derek whispered.
Yeah, right, like I could move at all.
This was it, the end of the road. Closing her eyes, Tiana prepared for her certain fate and prayed that death would take her swiftly and mercifully.
She felt the creature's first wave of attack. A paw slammed into the left side of her body and across her left cheek as if in slow motion. The attack had been so brutal and quick that the razor-sharp claws must have sliced through her soft flesh and nerve endings mercifully leaving her with no pain after removing the left part of her face. She could, however, feel a warm wetness flowing down from where her face used to be. Obviously blood, she thought. My face has just been ripped to shreds!
Before she could think, she felt a second vicious attack, this time on the other side of her face, but much stronger.
He's torn the other side of my face. I'm covered in blood. Mercifully I am still feeling no pain.
Slowly she opened her eyes, surprised to find that they were still there and still worked. The sight that greeted her was one that she would never have guessed at in a lifetime.
"Yuk! The damn thing is licking me with the biggest, wettest, slimiest and most disgusting tongue I've ever seen. Derek, this is really gross."
"I think he likes you. He's thanking you for saving his life."
"It was your bright idea. Why can't he thank you instead, you dope? Aren't dogs supposed to be man's best friend?"
"I guess I'm not as cute and likable as you. I'm afraid I have to agree with him."
Slowly Tiana reached out and ran her hand along the side of the big brute's head and scratched under his ears. The wolf froze as he enjoyed the attention.
"Derek, this is amazing. He's no different than a regular dog. What should we call him?"
"Tiana, don't get too comfortable with your new friend. He is still a wild animal, is three times the size of the largest Earth dog and would just as soon eat you as lick you."
"I think I'll call him Bob. What do you think?"
"Tiana! You are not listening to me!"
"Derek, don't be such a big wuss," she scolded as the animal rolled over onto its back to allow Tiana to scratch its belly. "I've always wanted a dog, but my father was allergic to dogs and never let me have one. Then, when I married Tom, he never let me have one either. I'm keeping him!"
"Are you sure he's not keeping you?"
Tiana gasped, her hand going involuntarily to her ear. "Derek! You're not going to believe this. My phone, it's cycling on! Bob must have unwittingly activated it when he whacked me with that foot-long tongue of his!"
"Do you have a signal?"
"No. I fear you were right. I don't think there are any Alliance satellites within range up there. At least not right now. If there are any in orbit, maybe one will come into range later."
"Yeah, maybe later."
The Attack
"Colonel Reginald, you are not going to believe this, but I have picked up the beacon's signal. It's transmitting location coordinates," reported the Captain of the Terrilian warship Cerberus to his superior inside the ship's dimly lit bridge.
"Where is it coming from?" she asked, quickly coming up behind him and looking over his shoulder at the faint signal on the monitoring screen.
"It's coming from the Daxian continent, directly on the other side of the planet from us."
"I'll be damned. It is the signal from her tracking device," said Colonel Katia Reginald of the Terrilian Armada, not even trying to hide her surprise.
"Colonel, it has not transmitted a signal in weeks. What could have reactivated it?" inquired the puzzled warship Captain.
"I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. It's transmitting now and that's all that matters."
"She's trying to call out with it. I'm blocking the signal now."
"Good job, Captain. Finding that bitch and her boy toy should not be that hard now that we at least know in what part of the haystack to look for the proverbial needle. Once we're in range we can simply scan the area for human DNA."
"Katia, what's going on?" she heard a voice ask as the door to the bridge slid open, allowing Tom Houser, ex-husband to Tiana Weiss and traitor to his race, to step inside.
Colonel Reginald's face took on an exasperated, annoyed look as she responded to the human scum she had been sleeping with for the glory of her people.
"Tom, I was just going to send for you. It seems we have located your ex-wife's---"
"Wife's," he interrupted.
"Your wife's signal," she finished. "Her escape pod must have crashed in the middle of the Daxian jungle. It is unpopulated, so there will be no need for discretion. Take a shuttle down to her coordinates and make sure she and that pain in the ass programmer don't live to see another day."
"With pleasure," he responded, turning about and heading out the way he came in.
"Colonel, why did he correct you when you referred to Tiana Weiss as his ex-wife?"
"Because, like all humans, he is inferior, greedy and shortsighted. On top of the healthy fee we are paying him, he still wants to make sure he can get his hands on his wife's estate, and as such, though he filed for divorce as we instructed, he has avoided finalizing the divorce on his end. Something to do with the new intergalactic law Earth has adopted."
"I take it you have not made him aware that after our plan unfolds there will be no Earth left, much less interests in any estate?" inquired the Captain with a sense of amusement.
"No, I have not. I only give such information out on a need to know basis, and well, I just don't think he needs to know, do you?"
"No ma'am!" They both chuckled over how easy it had been to manipulate the events they had thus far set into motion.
An hour later, the shuttle bearing Tom and three Terrilian soldiers cruised through the planet's atmosphere as it concentrated its scanners on the thick forest adjacent to a large lake.
"Mr. Houser, we have spotted two humans, one male and one female," called out the flight engineer. "It appears they are being stalked or attacked by some kind of animal, though."
Tom pressed closer to the screen as he watched the two blips identified as possessing human DNA moving in the direction of a large lake.
"Notice this third life form behind the humans" continued the flight engineer. "DNA readings indicate it is a large carnivore. It appears to attack them, they then fight it off and it runs away, only to return moments later and repeat the process. Perhaps the animal will do the job for us."
"I do not want the animal killing them. That bitch wife of mine spent our entire married life rubbing my nose in the fact that her career was more successful than mine. I want to watch her as she dies knowing that I'm the one killing her."
"Mr. Houser, our mission is to eliminate the targets, not personal pleasure."
"Let me remind you that your mission is to provide me with logistical support to eliminate the targets. This is my mission and you will do as I say!"
"Yes, sir," responded the flight engineer sarcastically as the pilot and the gunner watched the interchange with disdain for the human whose orders they were required to follow.
"Shoot the animal and then land at the edge of the woods."
The three Terrilian soldiers would follow Tom's orders, though in their minds, the carnivore had more of a right to live than this human, who on top of being an arrogant lower life form was a traitor to his own people.
"See, Derek, he's just a big puppy." Tiana grinned as Derek heaved the stick down the trail and they both watched Bob chase after it. Seconds later he was back with the stick in his mouth.
"Tiana, a little help here, please," Derek laughed as he tried to wrestle the stick out of the large animal's jaws. "He only lets go of the stick when you are tugging at it. I think he has a crush on you."
"Oh, it's probably just 'puppy love'," she joked.
Sure enough, as soon as Tiana came over and pulled on the stick, Bob let her have it.
"I'll throw it this time," she said, taking the stick and heaving it over some rocks.
Immediately Bob took off after it.
As the animal jumped over the rocks to retrieve the stick, a disruptor blast came down from the sky, blowing the rocks to smithereens.
"Bob!" Tiana yelled as she and Derek ran in the direction they had last seen the animal.
As they got to the rocks, they looked down into the crater that had been created by the blast. At the bottom of the crater they could see Bob's large body sprawled out, not showing the slightest hint of life.
"What was that?" she asked as she turned to Derek.
"I don't know. Obviously, there's a ship up there, possibly hunters. Maybe it's a rescue ship that misinterpreted Bob's actions and thought he was attacking us. Whoever it is clearly wanted to kill Bob, not us. If they had wanted to kill us it would be us down there instead of him."
A shadow passed directly over their heads and headed in the direction of the lake.
"It's the ship. Tiana, this may be our only chance to get back to civilization. Let's hurry after it."
"What about Bob?" Tiana asked, gazing down at the still body of her pet.
"Sweetheart, there's nothing we can do for him now. I know you'd like to bury him or something, but we have to connect with that ship."
Together, but with heavy hearts, they ran down the path leading to the lake and to what they hoped would be their ticket back to civilization. Hearing the sounds of the waterfall, the noise of which was muted by the magnificent flora of the jungle, Tiana wondered if civilization would have the same dampening effect on the fragile intimacy she and Derek shared.
As they approached the edge of the forest they watched a craft with strange markings land on the beach in front of the lake. Disquiet slowed their steps as apprehension flooded them.
"Tiana, I've never seen markings like that on a rescue ship. I don't think it's a Galactic Alliance vessel."
"Maybe it's an Arcadian rescue ship. This planet is not part of the Alliance."
"Tiana, stay here and I'll go investigate."
"I'm coming with you."
"It's too dangerous. Please let me keep you safe. We don't know who they are or what they want."
"That's precisely why you need me to be by your side. You're not the only one with a genius IQ. Two people can defend themselves better than one."
Derek's long-tamped-down anger erupted as he faced her.
"Just once! Just once, can you please just do as I say, stay within the safety of the trees, and let me go find out whether or not those in the ship are friends or foes? Why must you always have the last word? Why must you always make the final decision on anything that we do? Just this once, can you stay put and let me take care of the situation?"
"I am so sick and tired of you telling me to relax. Have you any idea in the time that I've known you how many times you've told me to relax? Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, I don't want to be told what to do by you or any other man? Is the male ego so fragile that it simply can't handle not being in charge? I can take perfectly good care of myself, thank you very much. Every time I have yielded myself and relied on a man he's let me down. Have you any idea what betrayal feels like?"
"You can look me in the eye and ask me that? We barely escaped from Melinda with our lives, so yes, as a matter of fact I do know what betrayal feels like! But I'm not going to give up on and judge all of humanity by the actions of a few people who were out to use me or who may not have appreciated all that I had to offer them!"
Tiana and Derek, out of steam from yelling at each other, stared at one another trying to figure out where this left them.
"You two sure are loud," they heard a voice say from behind them.
Tiana stood unmoving, shocked as she recognized her ex-husband's voice, and then his form, as he stood between them and the strange craft, pointing a disruptor at them.
"Well, darling? Don't look so surprised to see your husband. Have you missed me? Come give me a kiss," he sneered.
"Tom, as a matter of fact, no, I haven't missed you. And with regards to you being my husband, guess what, you're not. And, oh, by the way, meet my new husband, Derek, who is twice, if not three times, the man you could ever dream of being, and I mean that in all aspects of being a man."
Tom gave up a loud laugh. "This does complicate things a little, you claiming to be married. However, it does explain why the two of you were so busy fighting that you didn't hear me sneak up on you. You never could hold your own in a logical argument. Your tempestuous tongue was always running amok."
"What do you mean this complicates things?" Tiana asked trying to change the subject away from their loud fighting.
"Well, Miss 'I think I know it all,' you don't! You are blissfully ignorant of what's been happening right in front of you. Oh, this is sweet."
"Tell you what, Tom, since you are the man with all the answers, why don't you enlighten my new husband and me?" she asked, putting her arms around Derek.
Raising his disruptor and aiming it at Derek's chest, Tom ordered, "Let's keep those hands where I can see them, shall we?"
Tiana took her hands off Derek and brought them back down to her knees.
"The Terrilian super race is planning another ethnic cleansing of all inferior beings on their world and this time they are taking steps to insure success. They know it and Galactic Alliance Intelligence knows it. That's why the Alliance has been building up its military presence in the Omicron quadrant. What the Alliance doesn't realize is that the nanobots used in building the stations in this quadrant had their programming slightly modified by yours truly."
Tom paused and took an arrogant bow showing the pride he took in his traitorous work.
"Besides carrying out their normal construction functions, these nanos were programmed to create thousands of small unnoticeable pockets within the interior walls of the stations. These pockets house trillions of dormant anti-matter seeking nanobots, the product of my ingenuity. These nanos can be activated remotely, and once activated, will seek and make their way to the anti-matter reactors powering up each station. The nanos are, of course, made of matter. You can guess what will happen when the two meet."
Tiana shook her head at his egotistical blithering. "And I, along with the only other truly qualified people, had to be eliminated to clear the way for you to become the project manager for the new station project so that you could sabotage it in the same way you did all the others. What I don't understand is where Derek's Portable People project comes in?"
"It's actually quite simple. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out yourselves. The portable holographic people Derek was going to design weren't meant to be maids, nannies or butlers as the request for proposal had suggested. The Galactic Alliance wanted holographic soldiers. Think of it, an army of holograms that you can mass produce and send out to battle without worry or concern that they could be killed. Every mission could be a suicide mission without losing a single human life. The Terrilians didn't like that idea at all."
"It would explain the odd design of my space station," Tiana admitted. "Plenty of storage for the small holographic devices, plenty of combat training space, but very few facilities for real people, since it would take very few real people to run the computers that would control this army of soldiers who never have to eat, drink, sleep or use the toilet."
"Very good," Tom sarcastically complemented her. "You're not as stupid as you look."
"Tom, I am appalled! What possessed you to betray your own people and become part of this plot?"
"As far as betrayal, I didn't betray anybody. What the Terrilians do on their planet is their business and Earth should stay out of it. As for my motivation, it was wealth!"
"That's it? Money? No cause or passion? Just money?"
"I'm afraid not. Just the money I'm being paid and, well," he smiled at Tiana, "your money. I shouldn't have too hard of a time convincing the courts that I'm your closest relative with regards to your estate. That's why I went off planet during our court date."
"My money? My estate? I am comfortable, but I am not rich. In case you haven't noticed, I still have to work for a living."
"True, but you are about to inherit a small fortune."
"My father wasn't wealthy either."
"On the contrary, yes, he was, he just never told you. I intercepted and edited the communication from his Legal-Bot to you regarding the terms of his will. You thought he had left you a pittance. In reality, he left you a fortune."
"That's impossible. He was a university professor, a researcher. He didn't have that much money."
"You don't know much about your father's research do you? Oops, I forgot, that information is classified. Your father was the Alliance's top weapons expert. That's why the Terrilians needed him dead. Through you I found out his private yacht's itinerary and flight plan and frankly, made quite a hefty sum from selling the information to the Terrilians."
Tiana felt a wave of nausea overcome her.
"My father died because I leaked his itinerary to you and you sold it," she said, looking horrified. "You son of a bitch!" She started for him in full fury.
Derek grabbed her shoulder and stopped her attack before it happened. "Tiana, darlin', it wasn't your fault," Derek stated adamantly. "You had no idea this slime was selling your father and our planet out to the enemy. It is reasonable for you to have trusted your husband. Let's just quiet down and sort this out." Derek stroked her back, effectively communicating to her to reserve an offensive attack for the right moment. Patience and cunning was the key to getting out of this scrape and outwitting the self-absorbed buffoon she was once married to.
"Just because something is reasonable does not mean it is also smart," Tom gloated. "Now, after you and hubby here are dead, I will be your sole heir by virtue of the fact that even though you are no longer my wife, intergalactic law says that I am still your husband since I never divorced you. Don't you just love legal technicalities?"
"Mr. Houser," they heard an annoyed, uniformed soldier yell from the shuttle, "please complete your mission and let's get a move on."
Tom recognized him as the flight engineer who had questioned his authority earlier.
"Damn Terrilians are always in such a hurry," Tom stated quietly to Tiana and Derek, making sure he was not overheard by the soldier. "They never take the time to enjoy their work. With them, it's always about efficiency.
"I'm not ready to go yet," he yelled back to the soldier.
"The Cerberus has requested our immediate return. Finish them off or we will and you will be left behind!"
Anger surging through his body, Tom took his eyes off Derek and Tiana and looked over his shoulder toward the impatient soldier.
"Who the hell do you think --- " was as far as his demand got.
Knowing this was the one second he needed, Derek took advantage of the momentary distraction and jumped forward, knocking Tom on his back. Grabbing the disruptor with Tom's hand still on it, he aimed it at the soldier standing at the shuttle's door and fired, cleanly piercing the Terrilian's genetically superior heart. He then twisted the disruptor out of Tom's hand and brought it down hard upon the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.
As he and Tiana ran back into the forest, disruptor fire from the shuttle exploded around them. Turning around as he ran, just long enough to aim and fire, Derek squeezed the trigger and watched as absolutely nothing happened. As he had feared, the disruptor was keyed to its owner's DNA. It would not work for anyone else. Tossing the weapon aside, Derek and Tiana vanished into the woods with the remaining two Terrilians on their trail.
The Fight for Survival
The two soldiers came to a fork on the game trail.
"You take the left branch and I'll take the right," the pilot ordered as they split up.
Shortly after splitting up from the gunner, the pilot stopped to see if he could see footprints or some sign of which way Derek and Tiana had gone. He found and followed some relatively new prints that led down the trail ---until they abruptly disappeared.
Confused, the Terrilian looked around and searched the area, but to no avail.
People don't just disappear into thin air, he thought. They have to be here somewhere, unless, they backtracked over their own tracks.
Coming to this realization, he started following the footprints back. Unbeknownst to him, predatory eyes were stalking him. Eyes that were taking in his every move, waiting for the perfect time to pounce on its prey.
Derek had hunted and survived out here for weeks. He was not going to let the most careless prey in the universe, a humanoid, get the best of him. He waited patiently until the unsuspecting Terrilian was directly under the branch he and Tiana were comfortably perched on. Allowing himself to simply drop down onto his prey, knife in hand, Derek wrapped his left arm around the man's neck while he casually, as he had done many times before to much more keen, rapid and strong prey, plunged his knife into the man's heart, killing him before he had a chance to hit the ground.
"Freeze!" He heard the other Terrilian soldier yell as he stood up and off the pilot's corpse.
"Where's your girlfriend?" he demanded of Derek as he slowly approached him.
Taking a few steps back, Derek responded, "She's my wife not my girlfriend."
"I don't care if she's your great-grandmother. Where the hell is she? You and I both know that I am going to kill you. If you tell me where she is I'll kill you both quickly. If you don't, I'll kill the two of you by frying individual body parts with my disruptor until you die. I don't have much time, so be smart and make it easy on yourself. Where is she?"
Derek backed up a little more. He was trapped in the middle of the game trail with foliage too thick to escape into on both sides. He didn't mind facing death, but what would become of Tiana? He couldn't leave her at the mercy of this mutant fanatic.
"We split up, I took this side of the fork and she took the other one."
He watched the Terrilian make an adjustment to the disruptor and fire it. He felt the flesh on his upper left arm sear as if it had been set on fire.
The Terrilian took a few more steps forward and Derek took a few more steps back. Tree branches hung relatively low over the trail. If I can just position this guy where Tiana can distract him long enough ...
"Where is she?"
"We split up. I don't know where she is."
Once more the disruptor hummed, this time searing a patch of flesh on his upper thigh. Derek was in sheer agony as he dropped to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Where is she?" he repeated the question, this time pointing the disruptor at Derek's groin.
Derek was quickly trying to craft a believable lie that might save his favorite organ, when Tiana, as silent as the angel of death, dropped down on the unsuspecting gunner's back and, wrapping both arms around his neck and head, broke the man's neck with one swift twist. As the genetically superior soldier dropped to the ground at her feet, Derek looked at her with pride and reverence.
"Where did you learn that move?"
"Never mind that, Derek, are you okay? I just married you, I wasn't about to let him burn off the family jewels."
"My arm and leg hurt like there's no tomorrow, but I'm okay and still alive, thanks to you. What do you say we commandeer the shuttle and go have dinner somewhere civilized?"
Tiana's personal Eden was slipping away. She felt tightness in her chest and a longing to return to the tree house, but Derek was hurt and Tom was out there somewhere. They needed to get to the shuttle before Tom did and get Derek's wounds treated.
Taking the well-worn path, Tiana helped a limping and bleeding Derek along. As they stepped around a bend on the forest floor, an unfamiliar noise in the brush startled the lovers.
"Well, if it isn't the happy couple that just won't die," Tom calmly stated, slithering out from the cover of the jungle like a serpent in Tiana's and Derek's private Eden.
Turning around, they saw him, bloody from the wound Derek had inflicted, aiming his weapon directly at them. The anger and hatred in his eyes glowed like the very fires of hell.
Seething at the humiliation and pain he had experienced, Tom ordered, "Tiana, come here."
"Tiana, stop. He's insane." Derek placed himself in front of her.
Tom's response was a single shot that blew off a piece of Derek's already burnt and aching upper thigh. The leg, no longer able to support his weight, collapsed, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Tiana, darling," Tom, in an eerily caressing voice, directed his attention at her. "Please come here or I may feel compelled to put another hole into him."
Hesitating to put herself anywhere in close proximity to the foul, manipulative bastard, Tiana searched for an escape.
Tom roared, "Come here, you bitch," as he aimed his disruptor and shook it at Derek.
Seeing no other choice, Tiana complied. Grabbing her by the hair, Tom pulled her closer to him, sticking the barrel of his disruptor underneath her chin and holding her head back.
"Derek, I'm going to give you the privilege of dying second. I want you to savor my destruction of your beloved, inch by bloody inch."
Derek struggled to stand up and come to Tiana's aid, but all he got for his efforts was another carefully placed shot just a little under where the first one had gone, burning off another patch of flesh. The agonizing pain sent him back down to the ground.
"Stay down and watch!" Tom yelled at Derek. Still dragging Tiana by the hair, he viciously kicked the fallen man in the ribs. The feral look in Tom's eyes was now one of insanity mixed with hatred, as he turned it on Tiana.
"You bitch! You gloated over your career and rubbed it in my face for our entire marriage. I could have done all that you did and better. They just wouldn't give me a chance! Why you and why not me? Huh? Can you answer that one question? Daddy's little girl, favored from birth. Did you spread your legs to open up doors, huh? I even got you pregnant to give you the baby you always whined about, hoping you would stay home like a good little mother, but you couldn't even do that right, and what happened? You got a bloody promotion."
"Tom." Trying to calm him down, Tiana slipped her elbow through his open arms. "Let's be objective about this. Perhaps we can help each other. Derek and I don't love each other. Our marriage is a business transaction, nothing more. He needed to marry me in order to stay out of prison. It's got to do with some silly frontier planet law. Being the insipid female sucker that you know I am, I agreed to help him."
"I'll make you a deal. How about I have the marriage to Derek annulled when we return to civilization, you and I remarry, and we collect my father's inheritance. If you'll agree to get me pregnant, giving me the baby that I long for, you can keep all of the inheritance. I don't need any of it anyway. Derek will go to prison as he was meant to all along, getting him out of the way, you wouldn't have to wait on the courts to probate my father's will before you get your money and I'll finally get the child I want. Besides, I'd rather you be the father of my child than Derek. You seem to have a little more common sense than Derek does. Knowing when to throw your lot in with the Terrilians was pure genius. It's a win-win all the way around. Except for Derek of course."
"I must admit, your proposal intrigues me. We could kill Derek and do the same thing. Why does he have to live?"
"Think about it. If you kill him and we deliver the body to the authorities, the laser burns would be a clear indication of foul play and you and I would be the primary suspects. If we don't deliver the body to the authorities, then you and I would have to wait to remarry until he is officially declared dead. That could take longer than probate court."
"Shut up, you stupid slut. What kind of an idiot do you take me for?" Tom screamed.
Gee, are there different kinds to pick from?
"I'll take my chances and wait," he continued. "I want you dead, your poor excuse for a husband eliminated, my money and Katia in my bed."
Finally calming, Tom laughed sarcastically. "Once you've had a Terrilian woman I'm afraid there is just no going back."
Tiana looked at Derek. Her eyes were burning with anger and jealousy. Was that true? Were Terrilian women better in bed than Earth women? She saw his look change from one of despair to calm resignation.
Why was he so calm? Did he know something she didn't? Wasn't he going to contradict Tom's statement and defend her abilities in the bedroom?
What did it matter? She knew her life was about to end. Her only comfort was that she wouldn't have to see Derek die.
But why did he look so damn calm? Obviously the thought of watching her die wasn't as disturbing to him as the reverse was to her.
Her question was quickly answered by a sharp crunching sound directly behind her followed by a guttural growl. She felt her ex-husband's arms relax around her as the disruptor dropped to the ground, followed by Tom himself. As she turned around and looked, the horror of what had taken place in just a fraction of a second sank in. Most of Tom's head was gone. Bitten off. Severed. As her gaze wandered back up she saw the fiercest and deadliest face she had ever seen in her life with blood, Tom's blood, dripping from its mouth. The animal stepped up to her as she prepared to be mutilated in the same way, and gently licked her.
"Bob! You're not dead!" she exclaimed as she hugged the giant animal's neck and scratched him lovingly behind the ears as tears flowed down her cheeks. "I am so glad you're okay."
"At the risk of making this all about me," Derek said, "I have been shot four times, have had two chunks of flesh blasted off, probably have a couple of broken ribs and I'm bleeding to death. Could I have a little help here? A little skin regeneration would probably be a good idea right about now."
"Derek, I am so sorry! I was just so happy to see Bob. He must have been knocked out when the disruptor blast hit the rocks. Here, let me help you up."
Helping him to his feet, Tiana placed one arm around Derek's waist and draped one of his arms over her shoulders for support. Together, with Bob following, they made it to the shuttle. As they stepped inside, Tiana turned to look at Bob. For a short few seconds their eyes locked. During these few precious moments, the gap between human and beast was closed. There was a wealth of understanding and feelings shared between the two of them. It was time to part, but it was okay. They understood one another. As if saying goodbye, Bob howled once at her, turned around and headed back into the woods, his debt to Derek and Tiana paid in full.
"Derek, can you fly this thing?"
"I think so. Unless it has some kind of DNA recognition security device attached like Tom's disruptor."
Tiana settled Derek into the pilot's seat and buckled him in.
"I'll start the engines and try to figure out where we are, so that we can then, hopefully, figure out where we want to go."
Tiana looked down at Derek's leg. It looked bad. The charred skin was still oozing blood.
"Derek, you get things figured out while I go find a medical kit."
Derek grimaced in pain as he familiarized himself with the controls.
Tiana quickly found the kit. Taking it up front and opening it, much to her relief, she found a skin regenerator inside. She had not been looking forward to sewing scout stitches.
Taking out some scissors, she finished removing what remained of the left leg of his pants, and proceeded to treat his wounds.
"Okay ... that really, really, hurts," Derek complained as Tiana poured disinfectant into both of his leg wounds.
"Not as much as it's going to hurt in a minute. I've got to cut off the charred edges of skin before I can start regenerating healthy skin over the wound." Realizing that appealing to Derek's protective nature was key to keeping his mind otherwise occupied, she said, "Derek, why don't you reconfigure the ship's transponder so Katia can't locate us? I fear that once the engines are powered up she'll know it and will be looking for the shuttle. If she hails us we won't be able to fake our way out of it."
Setting to her task, Tiana prayed that she could patch Derek up without fainting.
After the dead skin had been removed, she cycled the skin regenerator on and began the process of stimulating the skin around the edges of the wounds to a high rate of cellular reproduction. Within minutes, new healthy skin had formed over the wounds, making the leg whole. He'd be a little sore for a while, but he would at least have full mobility.
Derek focused his amazing abilities on the Terrilian craft and had the engines powering up in no time.
Turning her attention to the two burns he had suffered earlier, Tiana had Derek as good as new before the shuttle's liftoff.
"Make sure you are securely strapped in," Derek warned.
"Well, yes, of course, that's standard operating procedure when flying one of these little crafts." Tiana stared at Derek, wondering why he even mentioned it.
"Good. I'm setting into motion a plan that will fool Katia into believing that the shuttle and its occupants have been destroyed."
"Derek? What are you going to do?"
"You'll see," he said as the shuttle's engines propelled it off the ground. "It'll be fun!"
Within seconds, and before Tiana could question Derek about his plan, the shuttle had quickly risen to an altitude of a thousand feet and he shut off the engines.
"Derek, what are you doing?" There was a distinct note of panic in her voice as their upward momentum slowed
"Relax, it'll be fun."
"Don't tell me to relax, you overgrown, cerebrally challenged mongrel! Start the damn engines, or so help me I will rip out your nuts, cut them up into chum and feed them to the fish in the lake before we hit the ground."
Derek just smiled. Why did this man have to be so darn infuriating?
As expected, the shuttle started dropping to the ground and gaining speed. Tiana's stomach felt like it had made its way up her esophagus and was intimately getting to know her tonsils. She watched the altimeter quickly starting to run out of numbers. As it signaled an altitude of just thirty feet off the ground, the engines roared to life, shooting the craft straight forward and across the lake. Behind them she heard a loud explosion rock the ground. Derek continued flying the shuttle at about thirty feet off the ground, maneuvering around patches of forest, trying to blend into the terrain as much as possible.
"Derek?""Yes."
"What just happened?"
"I just faked our deaths. We took off transmitting the shuttle's normal identification signature. After we reached an altitude of a thousand feet, I pretended like we lost power and crashed to the ground. To make the accident more believable, I jettisoned the ship's transponder and blew it up with a plasma blast and simultaneously flew away from the area at a low altitude to avoid detection. To a ship in orbit it will look exactly like we lost power and crashed. When they scan for survivors they'll find the four corpses we left behind scattered around as if they had ejected and died anyway. Katia will assume that we blew up with the ship."
"Derek?""Yes."
"Did you consider, even for the tiniest fraction of a second, that it might have been a good idea to let me know the plan before you executed it?"
"Where's the thrill in that?"
Tiana stopped for a moment to analyze Derek's question. Something was totally out of place, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She had never been a thrill seeker. She had always been a city girl completely spoiled by the modern conveniences to be found there. She had always enjoyed the quiet routines she had created for herself. Knowing her temperament, she ought to be fuming mad at Derek for scaring her the way he had. She should be working on severing his testicles as she had so eloquently promised. Yet she wasn't feeling or doing any of that. Derek was right. It had been fun. It had been thrilling to drop straight down 970 feet, and cheat death at the last minute. The big oaf was right. She had actually let go for the first time in her life and enjoyed herself.
Tiana watched Derek as he set a course for the spaceport on Arivet, switched on the autopilot and leaned back in his chair. They were on their way back to civilization, yet her heart felt heavy and sad. What would the future bring for her and Derek's relationship as their need for one another all but disappeared after he was exonerated?
At Arivet
"Arivet Space Control, this is shuttle Hotiana requesting clearance for landing," Derek announced over the comm system.
Shuttle Hotiana? Hot Tiana?
Tiana caught the smug look on her husband's face. She raised a haughty eyebrow in an expression of irritated amusement.
"Well, we have to call ourselves something," Derek responded to her unspoken question as he continued working away on the craft's main computer console. Whatever it was he was doing, he had been at it for the better part of an hour.
"Hotiana shuttle, you are cleared to land on docking pad 83-C."
"Acknowledged Space Control," Derek responded.
"Derek, how is it that they're letting us land with no questions asked? We have no flight plan filed and we're not even transmitting an identification signal."
Derek just smiled at his wife knowing he had just updated Arivet's central computer system. Not only did they now have a flight plan on record, but, their arrival had been pre-registered and they had already been cleared through customs, avoiding the lengthy disembarking procedure they would have otherwise faced.
"Nevermind, I don't want to know." Now she knew what he had been occupied doing for the last sixty minutes.
The throbbing of his various wounds caused Derek to think back to the time he had tended Tiana's leg wound without the benefit of a skin regenerator. Derek was sure that any pain he now felt paled in comparison to what she must have endured during those trying days in their treehouse.
Carefully avoiding any sudden or extreme movements that would aggravate the pain, Derek expertly set the shuttle down on the landing pad.
"Well gorgeous," he said turning his full attention to her, "welcome back to civilization. Tonight you get to sleep in a real bed. No more outdoorsy roughing it for you."
The corner of Tiana's lip lifted in a slight smile. Hmm, where's the hoorah. She didn't seem as happy as he had figured she would be.
"Derek I have a gift for you," Tiana said handing him a data-chip, "while you were busy hacking into Arivet's Space Control's computer I downloaded a recording from my phone. I caught Tom's braggadocious ranting confession with my implanted phone. It should serve as irrefutable proof that you are innocent of all the crimes of which you were convicted."
Cradling the chip that would restore his world, Derek responded. "Tiana, I don't know what to say. Thank you doesn't seem to suffice. You totally rock, you know that?"
"Yes I do, don't I? You're welcome, although any logical person would have done the same. You saved my life at least four times that I can remember, it's the least I could do. Speaking of life saving, let's get you to a medical unit and have you checked out. Operating a skin regenerator is not my specialty." She acknowledged with a surprising lack of emotion.
"Yes, m'am," Derek responded as he slid the outside hatch door open and, escorting Tiana, stepped out of the shuttle. The fumes from the many ships coming and going permeated the area, causing him to wonder, if we are so civilized and rank so much higher than animals, why is it they breath cleaner air than we do?
"I don't understand why Nurse Plastic Jugs had you remove all your clothes." Tiana huffed referring to the well endowed assistant who had processed Derek into the medical unit.
Tiana surveyed the covering Derek had been asked to change into. "That gown would barely fit a child, much less someone your size."
"Tiana, she gave me what she had on hand. I'm not worried about it. I just want to get medically cleared and be on our way."
"Yeah, well, I know something else she'd like to have 'on hand'."
Derek grinned at his wife giving her a knowing smile.
"You're jealous. I like it."
"I am not jealous, you oaf. I'm just watching out for your dignity. You should be thanking me," snarled Tiana.
"How's my little wounded hero?" the nurse inquired as she returned to the room, stepping between Tiana and Derek, facing her patient.
Behind the nurse's back Derek saw Tiana place her hands on her hips, thrust out her chest and mouth the nurse's words while wiggling her breasts at him. As she did so, one of the fasteners on her heavily worn blouse broke off exposing the sides of her breasts. Derek was sure that the nurse was saying something as she examined him, but all he could do was stare at the milky white flesh that defined Tiana's delectable breasts. With any luck, maybe she would expose more of herself before she realized what had happened.
The result was inevitable. Within seconds a raging erection popped out from underneath the industrial sized paper towel the nurse had referred to as a gown.
"Derek," Tiana, clearly annoyed, snapped him out of his sexual trance, "I am going to run off, get cleaned up and buy some new clothes. Let's meet back at the shuttle in a couple of hours."
"Uhm, okay, I'll see you then," he agreed, still reeling from the private little show Tiana had unwittingly put on for him. Obviously she had realized her blouse had broken and had decided she best get it replaced. That was okay. Tonight as soon as he found them a hotel room, they would make love on a real bed, unencumbered by gravity.
Tiana didn't know whether to curse or cry. Derek had become hard for the nurse. Was he really this easily aroused by a set of boobs with legs? She had needed to get out of there, and fast. Watching the nurse rub her hands over Derek, scrutinizing his newly formed skin while shoving her genetically enhanced tits at him was bad enough, but his getting a ten gallon hard-on for the bimbo was more than she could handle. She loved him, and yes, damn it, she was jealous.
Not knowing how to handle the situation, Tiana stormed out of the medical unit. Noticing a full service spa a few doors down she stepped inside. The familiar pungency of nail polish and other beauty products welcomed her. She needed some serious pampering, and was going to treat herself.
"How may I help you today?" Tiana was greeted by the monotone voice of a Beauty-Bot.
"Scrub me, buff me, polish me up. I've been away from civilization too damn long."
"Madam, you have come to the right place. I am a Maggie-17 Beauty-Bot. In all of Arivet you will not find another Bot more knowledgeable of our trade. Please allow me to show you to my station."
Tiana pondered the probabilities that the neural chips for this Beauty-Bot and Darius-20 might have come from the same batch. Never mind. She would wind up giving herself a headache.
Tiana entered Maggie-17's station, set her options, undressed and laid down on the bathing stand. She felt the warmth of the cleansing sonic waves caressing her body. At the same time, a team of NanoBots went to work applying her signature red nail polish on her finger and toe nails. It wasn't long before she succumbed to sleep.
Tiana had been right about Nurse Plastic Juggs. Even after Derek had explained to her that he was a happily married man it had taken no little effort on his part to get away from the medical unit without first receiving the more personal 'hands on' care she offered.
Armed with the data chip from Tiana, Derek, after having waited for an eternity to hear his case number called, now stood before a Legal-Bot ready to clear his name.
"But, Mr. Hart, I can not take your evidence nor can I file your petition." The Legal-Bot said after Derek had finished explaining what it was that he needed done.
"Why not? You are a Legal-Bot are you not?"
"Yes, sir, but¾"
"And this is a court of law, is it not?"
"Yes, sir, but¾"
"I've just spent over a good portion of my day waiting for my turn to speak with you. Why the heck is it that you can not help me with my case?"
"I mean no disrespect, sir," the Legal-Bot politely explained, "but you are in the wrong department. Criminal cases, local as well as Gallactic Alliance are handled next door."
"So what department am I in?"
"This is Relational Disassociations. Unless you are looking to file for divorce from one or more of your spouses, you are in the wrong dep¾"
Derek and the Legal-Bot's conversation was cut short by a flying glass object that smashed against the wall missing Derek's head by mere inches, sending glass shards flying all around him and the Legal-Bot.
"You know, for a computer geek genius, you're pretty fucking stupid!" Derek heard a familiar voice shriek.
Tiana wasn't sure how long she dozed for but she felt clean, refreshed, revitalized and, damn it, beautiful. Looking into a mirror she admired the job the Beauty-Bot had done on her face and body. At the urging of a friend, she had once tried applying makeup manually and the experiment had proven a failure.
Ahh, the beauty of technology.
Looking over at a table in the corner of the room, Tiana spied the outfit she had selected. It would of course, fit perfectly as it had been made to her specific measurements while the nanos had worked their magic.
After slipping into a pearl-white lace bra with matching thong panties, Tiana put on an emerald green thigh length dress that had been matched to the exact shade of her green eyes. Coordinating stiletto heel sandals completed the outfit.
Through the beauty of inter-gallactic banking, providing Maggie-17 with a scan of her retina, Tiana paid for her purchases and headed back to the space port. She was looking forward to seeing Derek. She knew she looked hot and she could make him forget Nurse Plastic Juggs. That assumed, of course, that he had a brain left after she got done with him.
On a whim, Tiana decided to check and see if Derek was already back at the shuttle. She hoped the medical unit had released him. She might not be an expert with a skin regenerator, but they weren't that hard to operate. Approaching a computer access point she issued a command.
"Computer, locate Derek Hart."
"Derek Hart is at the Lucius Sanford Memorial Courthouse."
"Computer, locate the Lucius Sanford Memorial Courthouse relative to my present location."
A three-dimensional holographic map of the vicinity materialized indicating both the location of the computer access point she was using and the that of the Courthouse. It was just across the street and two blocks down. Maybe she'd surprise him. For some reason the idea of making love with Derek in a public place with the risk of being discovered made her blood hot, her passion rising. Maybe in one of the elevators. Goodness, what had happened to her conservative little self?
"Computer, where in the Courthouse is Derek Hart?"
"Derek Hart is on the twelfth level, East wing, in the Relational Disassociations department."
Another map materialized showing where the Relational Disassociations department was in relation to the front door of the building.
Tiana's gut wrenched. Derek was filing for a disassociation? Why else would he be there? It all made sense. Earlier she had given him all the proof he needed to clear his name. He no longer needed to be married to her. Tom had made a fool of her, she thought trying to swallow the lump in her throat, but Derek was different, he had to be.
Tiana hurried across the street and quickly covered the two blocks to the Courthouse. Once inside, finding Derek was easy. He was talking to a Legal-Bot.
Great, an ass-hole and an AI, what a combo.
Straightening her spine, physically and emotionally, Tiana determined she would not be cast aside. She loved Derek and knew in her heart that he loved her. They would work things out even if she had to beat his shit-for-brains in to get him to see how much he loved her.
Derek and the Legal-Bot appeared to be concluding their conversation.
Was it too late? Had he already filed?
Losing her temper, Tiana picked up the first thing she saw, a small vase with some beautifully edged characters all around its middle. Next thing she knew, she had hurled it at Derek. Just then Tiana realized that the if the vase hit its mark, Derek could be seriously injured and panic gripped her.
With relief, she watched as the vase smashed against the wall, raining shards of glass on Derek and the Legal-Bot.
"You know, for a computer geek genius, you're pretty fucking stupid!" She yelled at Derek.
"Tiana, what are you doing?"
"I'm keeping you from ruining your life, you idiot." She said as she stood in front of him, breasts heaving, hands on her hips, head cocked to one side and stared him down.
"Oh crap. What now Ms. Control Freak? Exactly how am I ruining my life?" He yelled back at her tossing his hands up in the air in what appeared to be an outward appearance of disbelief.
What's his problem? He ought to be grateful that I'm here to straighten him out. Doesn't he realize that he's wrong and I'm right?
Without so much as a word, Tiana grabbed Derek by the lapels, yanked him down to where they were both at the same eye level and planted a fervent, passionate kiss on him.
Tiana's mouth pressed hard on Derek's as her tongue searched him out. She felt him responding to her, tentatively at first, but then turning on her with an amount of desperation equal to her own. The kiss lasted for just a few seconds but it left her knees weak and her womanhood wet and wanting.
"You love me, Derek Hart. I am the best thing that's ever happened to you and I will not stand by and watch you throw our marriage and your life away. The passion that we share is unique, deep, amazing, totally hot and I will not let you screw it up."
Derek looked down at her with fire in his eyes. The type of fire, that she couldn't say.
"What the royal hell are you thinking?" he blurted loudly, moving his hands to his forehead and jerking them down in what appeared to be frustration. "Did one of the cogs in your wee little bitty nano-engineering brain jump its track? Who do you think you are? Do you think you have a galactic monopoly on love?"
Derek placed his hands around the back and sides of Tiana's head and brought his lips down on hers with a passion and a desperation that easily matched her own. Their tongues dueled each other for supremacy.
"I'm well aware that I love you Tiana Hart." Pulling away Derek continued his tirade. "I love you with every breath that I take. Without you, my life would be meaningless. You are the one thing in this world that I could never do without. Opening my eyes when I awake in the morning and seeing the sun shining bright through my window and feeling its warmth would be as a cold, dreary, lifeless day without you by my side. My heart beats only so that my body may live for you. Gazing into your beautiful eyes is all the joy I need. The only music that moves me is that of your soft, sexy voice whispering my name. Without you I am nothing but a lifeless body, an empty shell."
"Damn right you are." She screamed at Derek smashing her little fist against his chest with all her strength, yet barely managing to wrinkle his shirt. "And what's more, I love you Derek hart. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my entire life. I love you with all my heart and soul and I would travel down to the very pits of hell if I had to, to keep you from doing something as stupid as filing for divorce. Planets may shift from their orbits and stars may go supernova, you big oaf, but I will never, ever, stop loving you, so get the hell used to it."
"Me get used to it?" He retorted with every bit as much passion, emotion and loudness, pointing his index finger at her just inches from her face. "You're the one that better get used to my love for you. I would rather cut off my hands than do anything that would sever our marriage. You are stuck with me for better or for worse till death to us apart, you got that?"
Tiana's only response was to reach out and gently but firmly bite his way too close to her face index finger.
"You bit me." Derek protested, now a little calmer.
"You're not filing for divorce?"
"Hell no. I was trying to file the evidence on the data chip you gave me to begin the process of clearing my name, but the tin can here," he said gesturing at the Legal-Bot, "tells me I'm in the wrong department. Apparently this is Relational Dissasociations. I need to go next door."
"Oh. That's a relief." Tiana, a blush tinging her cheeks, took a deep, steadying, breath.
Looking up at Derek all anger was gone from his eyes. The only fire that remained there was that of love and lust. Without as much as a second thought, Tiana grabbed on to Derek's shoulders and jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and planted another planet-shattering kiss on him.
The kiss went from fast, furious and passionate to soft, gentle and cherishing. Slowly Tiana began hearing a faraway sound that got closer and closer as her fear and anger dissolved in the sea of Derek's love. Breaking the kiss she realized that they had drawn a crowd that was now on their feet applauding them.
The Legal-Bot appeared to be beside itself not knowing what to do.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hart, you simply may not have conjugal relations in a government building hallway. There is a hotel across the street. May I recommend you go get a room?"
"Is kissing inside government buildings against the law?" Derek asked, trying not to laugh.
The Legal-Bot became real quiet. It was probably searching every legal database across the galaxy for a law or legal precedent on kissing inside government buildings.
Hmm. Kissing. Government buildings. A thought she'd had earlier returned to her.
"Derek," Tiana whispered, nipping at his earlobe. "What do you think about elevator sex?"
THE END
WWW.NIKKISINCLAIRE.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi! I am Nikki Sinclaire, an avid romance reader and author of Science Fiction Romance Novels. To me, there is something so powerful about captivating the mind, engaging the emotions and stimulating the imagination, all through the written word. My goal is to create worlds and characters, through my writing, so absorbing, that they will entrance the mind's eye and enchant the reader's heart. This is my passion; this is what I strive to share with all my readers.
My works contain, first and foremost, ROMANCE! The love and passion of my main characters is wrapped in action, conspiracy and intrigue, all flavored with a healthy dose of humor, and ... oh yeah ... did I mention steamy, fantasy-fulfilling, supernova generating sex?
Just a year ago I was leading a quiet existence, minding my own business, when these characters started escaping out of my brain demanding that I write their stories. I tried to explain to them that I am an Information Technology professional and that math, not language arts ruled my life, but they would not listen, stubborn little suckers that they were! My heroes and heroines (featured in my five novel "Virtual" series) were very persuasive and with my family's encouragement, I began writing their stories. I was flabbergasted! Facing danger and destruction while navigating the rough waters of relationships my characters exist with a zeal and passion for living which sparked a renewed enthusiasm and ardor in my own life!
My heroes and heroines are all sassy, have attitudes, and are temperamental, flawed, or wounded. Each has a distinct personality, often highlighted by humor in the most "way out there" kinds of ways. Let's face it; they are outright ornery and eccentric, in other words, REAL PEOPLE!
Statistically most readers of romance novels are women. While I don't expect this fact to change overnight, I write my books not only to appeal to the traditional female reader, but with the added goal that the "male of the species" will be as equally captivated by genuine delight in the Romance genre. Share a copy with your own significant other, they may surprise you.
On the personal side, I have been married for 23 years to my best friend in the whole wide world. We consider our life our very own "romance novel" and the inspiration for everything I write. We are the proud parents of two lean, mean, sex-life-obliteration machines ... err ... I mean ... two wonderful boys ages 19 and 11. Yes, testosterone does overflow in our household! We make our home in "the good state of Georgia", where I am privileged to work as Research Faculty at a major university where I actually get paid to play with a wide variety of high tech toys. It's almost as much fun as writing. Almost...
Enjoy! I do love to hear from my readers, so please contact me at:
nikki@nikkisinclaire.com
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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