Chapter Fourteen
Stevan
I touched my left ear, right ear, then my chin with my right forefinger in the traditional parting gesture of the Kullear. The Kullearian leader, Spath, lowered his head, giving his parting in our tradition.
“May your steps be swift and sure, your burden light,” I responded.
The Kullear were almost impossible to say goodbye to because they had so many steps in their farewell. On Firaspatciti you bowed your head in parting and left the room. Spath and I had been acknowledging my impending departure for fifteen minutes.
Spath smiled. “And to you, Stevan. You have indeed brought joyous news. I’m sure my people will want to take advantage of your generous offer.” He shook his head. “These Humans, they are strange people, are they not? Equating mating with a fruit native to Earth. Perhaps this fruit is why they breed like Gorts, eh?” He shook his head as he chuckled. “A dating agency? And you’re sure a date is the name of a fruit and mating?”
“She confirmed it.” My chuckle joined his. “They may be a strange people but this one, at least, also seemed to have an innate understanding of the Aquallia and the Firaspatciti. Perhaps that will extend to your people as well. We look forward to mingling with your people.”
He gripped me on the shoulder. He shouldn’t touch me unless I touch him first, but allowances have to be made for other cultures, and I gripped his shoulder in return. I found it so odd that I could easily adapt to another culture’s ways… except when it came to mating. But now, even that was changing. For the first time I’d noticed how lovely the Kullearian women were, with their skin as dark and beautiful as a Firaspatciti night.
“Perhaps the long darkness isn’t so near after all. We shall contact this Catherina Hume and ask for her assistance.”
I nodded and smiled as my escort opened a portal back to the palace receiving room on Firaspatciti, the only location in the palace a portal tunnel could be created from outside without causing an alarm. An advanced contingent went through to ensure the security of the location. I would follow in moments.
He released my shoulder. “Catherina is creating a plan to begin assisting any who ask for her help.” I chuckled again. “There is no official name yet, but she has begun calling it the ‘Dating Agency.’”
Spath chuckled again. “Perhaps we could solve our problems by simply consuming some of this fruit they seem so fond of. Then maybe we’d breed like Gorts too.”
I smiled. “Perhaps. If only their planet wasn’t forbidden.” I touched my ears and chin again, acknowledged his bow, then stepped through the portal.
“Welcome home, my Lord,” Kergah said. “How was your tour of the galaxy.”
I smiled as I took his shoulder. “Tiring. What’s the date and time?”
Kergah snickered. “Eighth-day, just before the evening meal.”
I nodded. “Good. I wanted to arrive before First-day.”
I was exhausted and my time sense was completely askew. A thousand planets in thirty day. I had been on a whirlwind tour of the Peoples, spreading the news of what Catherina had accomplished. Worlds were lining up to take advantage of what she could do. I was returning home for a few days rest and recovery, then I would leave again.
I’d just received word that one of the Aquallian women was already with child. I’d declared that First-day was a day of rest in celebration. Twelve of twenty women had rejected their initial selection after a few days. While many expressed shock and dismay, Catherina had expressed a calm confidence and simply allowed the women to choose again. Six of the twelve had chosen a third time, but all had been quiet the past ten days. In our nightly talks, she’d expressed confidence we would be hearing that another Water was with child soon.
I was anxious to see Catherina. I longed to return to her each night, but it would have been an insult to my hosts, implying that I didn’t wish to be there or was not satisfied with their hospitality. I’d asked her to accompany me on my travels, but she’d declined, stating this was a delicate time and she needed to remain on Firaspatciti in case of trouble. In hindsight, she was correct again. Thirty days was a long time to go without mating, but I hadn’t availed myself of any of my escorts as I normally would have. I wouldn’t dishonor myself or Catherina in that way.
I would see her tonight. All through my meeting with Spath I’d had to force myself to concentrate, for if I didn’t, I found my mind wandering to Catherina and the time we’d be spending together.
“I will take my meal in my quarters. Please ask Catherina to join me.”
Kergah smiled. “It is already arranged. Your meal will be ready in an hour.”
“Kergah, tell me something. Is everything satisfactory with Catherina? She has seemed distant these days I’ve been gone.”
“I’ve noticed it too, but she says all is well. Perhaps she misses her favorite pupil?”
I chuckled. “Perhaps that’s all it is. I’ve certainly been missing my instruction. She is talking of returning home again. I’d asked her to wait until my return so that we could discuss it in person.”
Kergah smiled. “To have her leave now would be… disappointing.”
I smiled. Kergah could say so much with only his tone. “That much is certain, my friend.”
-oOo-
“Enter!” I called.
Catherina entered, resplendent in her gown. Every time I saw her, she was more lovely than the time before. The only tarnish on her beauty was the slightly sad look on her face. Humans wore their emotion where call could see.
I took her into my arms before she could kneel. I wanted to ravish her, as I would a Firaspatciti woman, but I remembered my lessons and caressed her face softly before kissing her gently on the lips. She smiled back up at me, but there was a sadness there.
“I’m so very glad to be able to hold you again,” I murmured as I took her lips again. Normally she responded to my kiss, but tonight she was withdrawn.
“My Lord,” she said softly, looking down, unable to meet my gaze.
I tipped her head up. “Catherina, what’s wrong? Have I displeased you in some way?”
“No, my Lord.”
“Then tell me what’s wrong. Why are you upset?”
“You said I could leave, that I could return to Earth at any time.”
I nodded. “As we agreed.”
“Yet you held me here while you were gone.”
I blinked. “I simply asked that you wait until I returned so that we may discuss your leaving in person.”
“Right!” she said, her voice becoming hard. “As you said to give it a week when I first arrived. As you distracted me the second time. Now this! I ask to leave and again you ask me to wait. I feel like a prisoner. I don’t think you’re ever going to let me leave!”
I took a step back, my anger rising within me. She was questioning my word? “You forget your place,” I said, my voice low and hard with warning.
“My place? My… place?” she cried, her voice becoming loud and harsh. “My place was on Earth, where you kidnapped me! That was my fucking place!”
Had she been anyone else, I would have pulled my blade and we would have dueled to the death for how she was addressing me. I reined in my anger. “Return to your room. We will speak again tomorrow.”
“No! I want to go home! Now! Tonight!”
I glared at her. “Very well. If that’s what you wish. Return to your room. I will send for you when I have your payment ready.”
She whirled on her toe and stomped out the room. I stood and watched, then grabbed the table and flipped it over, the food, plates and serving dishes flying about. I stood, breathing hard until I had my rage under control. I didn’t want her to leave. Not only would the galaxy be losing a valuable asset, but I had been looking forward to learning a great many more things from her.
Once my rage died, a creeping sadness began to settle into my heart. Catherina was like no woman that I’d mated with. She’d shown me so many things. She’d shown me how there can be strength and softness together, how you can open yourself to another without displaying weakness. And most importantly, she’d shown me how to appreciate our differences and how our combined strength was greater than the sum of our parts. She’d made me stronger by showing me how to be gentle.
I opened a portal. “Kergah!”
“Yes, my Lord?” Kergah’s voice returned.
“Prepare a cubit of the industrial grindstones and deliver them to the receiving room as soon as possible. Catherina is returning home.”
There was a short pause and I knew Kergah was considering asking questions. “Yes, my Lord,” he finally said.
-oOo-
Catherina’s cubit of stones was sitting on the floor when Sereni escorted her into the receiving room. It appeared Catherina had been crying and she was wearing a simple disposable garment, used by technicians working it dirty places, that would dissolve the moment she removed it.
“Your diamonds, as agreed,” I said as I held her gaze. I looked at the technician. “Open the portal. Find a place she can arrive unseen.” I motioned another technician forward to deactivate her nanites. None of our technology could be allowed to arrive at earth.
I stepped back, my face hard. The only person in the room that didn’t seem upset was Sereni, her face a blank. Catherina stepped forward and handed me the mating blade, then ducked her head in submission. She stepped back and the technician placed a deactivator against her neck. It took only a moment, then the technician stepped back and nodded.
It was the same device used to allow a person to die with grace an honor. The nanites would began to shut down, allowing her body to return to its natural state, remaining her brain until the very last. As the machines shutdown, they would be flushed from her system through her sweat and waste. Within a couple of days, they would all be out of her system. All the repairs they’d made to her body would remain, but she would begin to age normally again. I smiled. My final gift to her. She should live a long and healthy life.
Almost immediately she began to breath harder and beads of sweat began to appear on her skin. Without the nanites constantly helping her body adjust, she struggled to cope with the heat and atmosphere.
“Tunnel ready,” the portal control technician said. “She will arrive in one of the parks in the city where we found her. It is night, and raining, there. No one will see her arrive.”
I nodded. “You are free to leave.”
“You’d let me go?” she panted.
“I gave you my word,” I said, my voice firm.
She bent and picked up the box, grunting and staggering under the weight. My hands went out to steady her, but she recovered and took two steps toward the portal, stopping just at the opening.
“You won’t ask me to stay?”
“No. I would like it very much if you would remain here, but if you wish to leave, then you may. I won’t try to change your mind.”
Catherina looked past me to Sereni and I saw Sereni’s faint smile disappear the instant I looked at her. Something was wrong. The sense I’d learned to trust, the one that spoke of dangers unseen, tickled my mind. I felt my eyes narrow. Catherina was one step from disappearing, but something about this was not right.
“Catherina, wait! Clear the room!” I ordered. She made like she was going to step through. “Hold!” I roared as if giving battle orders. “Leave the portal open! Clear the room, now!”
Everyone scrambled to obey, and Sereni had a stricken look on her face as she followed everyone out.
“Catherina,” I said softly. “You have to only take one step and you will be back home. I cannot possibly reach you in time to stop you. But before you go, tell me why. Why are you leaving?”
She stared at me for a long moment. “I don’t want to be your prisoner.”
I returned her stare, not understanding. “You were never my prisoner.”
“Why didn’t you let me leave when you first brought me here? You manipulated me into staying.”
She was sweating profusely now and her breath was coming in ragged gasps. The average temperature on Firaspatciti was approximately that of her planet’s hottest deserts, and she wasn’t well adapted to our atmosphere.
“I only asked that you stay.”
“You sent Quathaul to convince me to stay.”
“No. I sent you a companion so that you could explore our worlds and meet our people. There was no hidden agenda. Had you decided to leave after the week, I would have sent you home as we agreed.”
“When I wanted to leave the second time, you seduced me so that I would stay.”
That was a harder thing to deny. “Yes,” I finally replied, my voice soft. “I wanted you to stay. You had shown me so much… I wanted to learn much more.” Her back was beginning to bow under the weight of her stones. I drew myself up and spoke with authority. I wouldn’t deny my desire for her any longer. “Yes. I wanted you to stay. You are a great benefit to the galaxy… and I wanted you in my bed.”
“And while you were gone… I asked to… leave. You said… I had to… wait… until you returned,” she said, gasping for breath between her words.
“I didn’t realize you thought you were being held against your will. I wanted a chance to talk to you, to change your mind. I… don’t want you leave, Catherina.”
“Sereni said… you couldn’t… allow me to… leave. That I… was too… important. That’s why… you wouldn’t… allow me… to… use a portal… myself. So I… couldn’t escape.”
“Sereni…” I snarled. “When did she tell you this?”
“The day… you gave me… the… mating blade.”
I stared at her as my rage grew to a towering height. “Catherina, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I have mated with Sereni. She wanted to bond with me, but I refused. I asked her to purchase the mating blade on my behalf because I knew she would choose something simple and elegant, something I thought you would like, and it wouldn’t be publicly known that I was making the purchase. She didn’t know why I wanted it, or who I was giving it to.” I paused to let her work out the rest for herself.
She stared at me then staggered again before steadying. “You’re saying… she said… those things… so I would… leave?” She stared at me a moment longer. “Because she… was jealous… of me?” She paused again. “That… fucking bitch!”
I moved to the control panel and slapped the control, closing the portal. “Lockdown!” I snarled and the blue warning light began to flash. “Injury in the receiving room!”
I hurried to Catherina’s side as she wavered, took her cubit of stones, and placed it aside. Relived of its weight, she steadied, but she was still gasping and sweat was pouring off her in rivulets. She was in no immediate danger of dying, but she had to be terribly uncomfortable, and I eased her down to sit on the floor.
“Nanites,” I ordered and stepped aside so the technician could inject the machines. The newly injected nanites would take over the regulation of her body and purge it of those deactivating. It would take several minutes for the nanites to stabilize Catherina’s blood gasses and adjust her body to the higher temperatures. As she recovered, I had other business to attend to.
“Where’s Sereni?” I demanded.
The technicians looked at each other in confusion. “She left for her station when the lockdown was announced.”
I gave a firm nod and opened a portal directly to the palace garrison commander. “Commander Garth!”
“My Lord! The lockdown order has been given! We are moving to situation blue! I repeat, situation blue! My troops are—”
“Stand down, Commander, there is no attack. I ordered the lockdown. Find Sereni Vaguthuarrithary and detain her immediately!”
“Yes, my Lord!”
I turned my attention back to Catherina. She was still sitting on the floor, her face was damp and pale, but she was no longer gasping for breath. She would recover much faster this time as the nanites didn’t have as much damage to repair as when she first arrived. She smiled up at me.
“I’m sorry I doubted you.”
I smiled. “You need to rest while the nanites finish their work.”
She nodded. “I’m feeling much better already. I didn’t think Firaspatciti could lie.”
I snorted. “Of course we can lie. How could we possible win a war if we always told our enemy the truth about what we were going to do? It’s considered dishonorable to lie for personal gain or to avoid the consequences of your actions.”
She nodded, then reached up. I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Her color was returning and she was breathing easy again. She toed the cubit of diamonds.
“I don’t guess I’ll need those… just yet.”
I smiled. “Take them to your room. Keep them for when you’re ready to return to Earth. Tomorrow, Tarth will show you how to open a personal portal. When you’ve mastered that, he will instruct you on the use of this large portal, so you may return to Earth any time you wish.”
She smiled. “I can’t get there using a personal portal?”
I gave my head a small shake. “To dangerous. Do you remember when you first came here, how the portal opened, then closed again?”
She nodded.
“Earth is at the very end of the range of the personal portals. I thought I was going to be trapped there. If you decide to leave, use this fixed portal. Its range is much, much, farther.”
She smiled and looked down, her face twisting in sadness, but with a slight smile underneath. “Stevan… may I have my mating blade back? Please?”
I handed her the blade and then gazed into her eyes a moment before I pulled her into my arms and kissed her as I knew she liked. It was highly inappropriate for the Firaspatciti Lord to show such affection in public, but, as Catherina said, ‘fuck it.’ Who was going to reprimand me?