Tarasch

by A. C. Ellas

  Above the tank, an indicator light changed from red to green. Cai was now in his Chamber, fully linking himself to the ship. It wasn’t long after that when Cai’s voice rang out ship-wide, “Ten minutes until FTL transit.”

  Nick sent his own message via the shipnet. “All hands, prepare for jump. Everyone must be in an acceleration couch in seven minutes from mark. Three, two, mark.” He brought up the jump protocols and checklist for the bridge on one side and Cai’s protocols on the other side of the screens. The tank continued to show the Laughing Owl’s position relative to all nearby objects. There weren’t many.

  The bridge crew was struggling with the checklist, unable to keep up with the smooth roll of numbers and information from the Astrogator. Nick made note of where they faltered, where they did well, where they could be improved with a little nudge and where they needed more in-depth instruction.

  “Five minutes until FTL transit,” Cai announced, and the screens showed the hard-point marker strobing up ahead.

  “All personnel must be in their assigned acceleration couches in two minutes,” said Cortez, relieving Steele of the need to do so himself. “Cai cannot change his subspace insertion vector without risking the entire ship, therefore, if you are not in your couch, you will die.” The crew should know that, of course, but it bore repeating. The gee forces of subspace entry, transit and exit would turn anyone unprotected into a thin, red jelly they’d have to scrub off the bulkheads.

  The number storm on Cai’s side of the room had reached a furious pace, equations and numbers flowing so swiftly, they were a blur. Nick understood this; Cai was slowing his subjective perception of time, stretching real seconds into perceived minutes to buy enough time to complete the jump calculations.

  Three minutes out and Cortez repeated the warning, “All personnel must be in their acceleration couches at this time.” No further warnings would be given—there was no point.

  Nick pulsed commands through the shipnet to change the view of the holotank to what Cai was observing. The equations stopped, a solution arrived at. Black became white, white became black and the world twisted inside out. The holotank no longer showed normal space but the strange realm of subspace, where Laughing Owl surfed down a long wave-front at exactly the correct attitude. They vaulted lightly from the wave to sail over a yawning abyss then climbed up a crumbly slope that seemed to disintegrate under them, trying to pull them back toward the abyss.

  Abruptly, they broke free and soared upward and then the world untwisted, righting itself and the screens all changed as Cai took sensor readings to determine his location. They had arrived in the Procyon system, comprised of a binary star with five planets and countless moons, two of which had colonies.

  While Cai established his course to the next hard point he’d need, Nick checked each section for damage or casualty reports. To his relief, there were none.

  Nick wrote an entry into the logbooks, took due note of when Cai left the Chamber but didn’t react immediately. He finished his log entry, stood, stretched and stated, “Lieutenant Rosario, you have the conn.” He waited for her acknowledgement then strode from the bridge.

  He stopped by his quarters to grab the stuff he’d prepared earlier that day and headed for the Astrogator’s chambers. The door wasn’t locked, so Nick went right in. He found Cai in the dining area, just like he’d thought.

  The Astrogator looked up as he entered, eyes narrowing. “Captain? What is the meaning of this?”

  Nick set the insulated bag down on the table. “I thought we’d share a meal in celebration of our first successful jump together. I made a lasagna. Please don’t make me eat this by myself.”

  “The captain notified us that he would be bringing a meal,” said On-em in the peculiarly flat voice all adjuncts seemed to have.

  “So that is why lunch was delayed?” Cai seemed more amused than upset, thankfully.

  “Yes,” replied the adjunct.

  Cai shook his head, but Nick could see the suppressed laughter in his features. “Very well, Captain. Let’s have lunch.”

  The adjuncts brought out plates and silverware as Nick brought out the lasagna, garlic bread and salad. He poured them both some wine then raised his glass, “To our first jump.”

  “Our first jump with a full crew,” Cai echoed, adding the addendum because, of course, he’d jumped the ship before. They clinked glasses and settled into the business of eating.

  Nick watched Cai somewhat covertly. He didn’t stare, but he also didn’t miss anything, like the way Cai’s limbs trembled. He hoped the food would help with that quickly enough, he knew how critical blood sugar levels were for Astrogators, how much of their body’s resources were used to make the FTL jump possible.

  They ate, they talked and Nick continued his close observation of Cai, waiting for the tremors to subside and resisting the urge to gather the man into his arms for a good cuddle. Cai’s condition did improve with time, Nick was pleased to see. By the time they were ready for dessert, Cai’s hands were steady, his eyes clear and sparkling. Nick brought out the tiramisu and Cai’s eyes widened in surprise.

  Impulsively, Nick forked some of the treat and brought the offering to Cai’s lips. Cai looked him in the eye as he lipped the forkful from the fork. He closed his eyes to better savor the flavor then said, “Delicious. Thank you, Nick.”

  “You’re welcome.” Nick was pleased and not just because Cai liked the dessert.

  Chapter Six: Tarasch System

  Tarasch is a mess, Nick decided after staring at the screens for a good ten minutes. Trinary stars, a blue-white supergiant and two companion white dwarfs orbited a central point in a complicated dance. Nick had to take Cai’s word for the fact that the supergiant was in motion, for it appeared to stand still compared to the two dwarfs whizzing around it, one in close like a planetary moon and one further out in an elliptical orbit.

  As if the stars weren’t enough, the system boasted eight gaseous planets and a record twelve asteroid belts. Not one of the planets had a normal orbit, they were all elliptical and all at an angle to the ecliptic plane. Not the same angle, mind, but different angles. The asteroid belts mostly stayed on the plane of the ecliptic in nearly circular orbits, and the gas giants just swung through them at whim, sending rocks careening across the system in seeming randomness.

  Somehow, they had to map this mess. Cai had made a good start on that the last time he was here, but now, they had to finish the job. This is going to take more than a day or two, Nick realized. They’d barely jumped into the system and that much was already obvious. He checked the shipnet and found that the science section was already sorting through the massive sets of readings Cai had taken last time and was in the process of taking anew. The more snapshots of the system they took, the more accurate their map would be.

  When Cai set his course, Nick checked it, normally a matter of routine, but this time, his balls tightened. The Astrogator was spiraling them inward toward the trinary suns, passing by every planet and asteroid belt in the process. Thus far, Cai had only programmed in the inward course. No outward course was even pending.

  Since Cai was Chambered, Nick pulsed him via the shipnet. “That’s a very bold course you’ve set.”

  “It’s the most comprehensive mapping plan I could devise,” Cai responded. “I’ll base my outward course on what we find while inbound.”

  “I thought that might be the case. May I come over when you leave the Chamber? I made dinner.”

  Cai’s happiness transmitted through the link along with the words, “Please do. I’m looking forward to it.”

  Immensely cheered and obscurely reassured, Nick closed the link and returned to checking on things. The shipnet was a tool he used to see, in real time, what every section of the ship was doing. He could monitor, assess and issue orders to deal with situations before they got out of hand. Most of that, he left in the capable hands of his XO. Cortez knew how to run a tight ship, and the two
men had quickly reached an understanding.

  As captain, his main focus was supposed to be on carrying out his mission. His secondary focus was to keep his Gator happy. And at the moment, everything was operating smoothly. Nick left the bridge before Cai left the Chamber. This time, he wanted to have everything ready when Cai emerged, so that the Gator wouldn’t have to wait before eating. He gathered everything up and took it to the Astrogator’s quarters.

  By the time Cai appeared in the dining area, Nick had already unpacked everything and put on the finishing touches.

  Cai’s nostrils flared as he inhaled the savory aromas. “Captain, I fear I am in danger of becoming spoiled by you. Your food is so good, I fear that, before long, I won’t be able to tolerate the standard shipboard fare.”

  “Astrogator, I promise you, so long as you will tolerate my company, I will see to it that you have the very best food that I can make or acquire.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” Cai warned, but it was a friendly warning accompanied by a warm smile.

  “And some day, I hope you’ll let me feed you,” Nick added, pushing the boundary just a little.

  “Feed me?” Cai’s eyebrow arched. “Are you not already feeding me?”

  “Not the way I’d like to feed you. This is just sharing a meal. I want to cuddle naked with you and hand feed you every delectable bite.”

  Cai’s eyes widened, then he smiled. “I think that would lead to something that we both know can’t happen.”

  “Oh, Cai,” moaned Nick, “you are so worth the risk. Can’t you see that I’m willing to chance it? What do I have to do, put it in writing?”

  “Nick...” Cai trailed off then reached over and picked up Nick’s right hand with his left one. He turned it palm up then pressed his right hand down into it.

  The crystal in Cai’s palm felt cool and tingly against Nick’s skin, and he smiled into Cai’s blue, blue eyes. “You see?” Nick asked huskily. He knew exactly what Cai had done. That crystal was linked to Cai’s neurologics and, as a result, bypassed his shields. Cai couldn’t help but read the thoughts of anything pressed to that crystal. Nick welcomed the contact. He wanted Cai to know what he thought of him, how he felt, how he yearned for him.

  * * * *

  Cai swallowed, licked his lips and pulled his right hand away. His left hand continued to hold Nick’s. The captain’s thoughts had been very explicit, his emotions almost primal. Cai stroked Nick’s hand with his thumb and tried to control his urge to throw this man down across the table and take him. Or better, to beg Nick to do that to him.

  “We can’t,” he stated. He clung to that even though it was starting to sound like an excuse even to himself. What was really the issue? Nick was gorgeous, kind and wanted him. What sort of fool would throw that away? But the mental image of Nick a mindless husk of a man stopped him.

  “Why not? You said I’ve natural shields.” Nick sighed and shook his head. “We’re arguing over the same territory time and time again, and I don’t want to argue, I just want to be with you. Here, let’s eat.” Nick deftly served the meal, a spicy green chili and chicken casserole with Spanish rice and refried beans on the side.

  Cai felt Nick’s pain almost like it was his own. “I’m sorry,” he offered. “I really do enjoy spending time with you.”

  Nick smiled wryly. “Quite the pair, aren’t we? So, Cai, since we can’t get to know each other biblically, let’s try it verbally. What’s your favorite color?”

  It was silly enough that Cai laughed, but he answered, “I like blue. What about you?” He took a bite of the casserole, enjoying the subtle flavors of the chicken, tortilla and cheese in contrast to the heat of the chili.

  “Hmm. I like earth tones—browns and greens.” Nick poured them both some Synded beer. “Alcohol helps wash down the oils that makes the peppers hot.”

  Cai sipped the beer and took another bite. “How’d you learn to cook like this?”

  “At first, I learned to cook because I had to. My mom died when I was young and my dad wasn’t interested in cooking, just eating. Then, I took cooking classes in school for fun as a break. It’s not something I’ve ever had cause to regret learning.”

  “I don’t remember my parents,” Cai mused aloud. “I know I must have some, but I don’t remember anything at all from before the Guild Hall.”

  “That seems unfair,” Nick said quietly, reaching out to take his left hand. “It’s bad enough that you’ll never be allowed off your ship, but to rob you of even your memories of family?” He shook his head and sighed.

  Cai was actually comforted to know that Nick agreed with him and felt sympathy for his predicament. He told Nick a bit about his earliest memories, waking up in a stone room with Ortat thundering in his head.

  In return, Nick told him about his adoptive mom and his sister, Evie. Cai noticed he made no mention of his father or the circumstances surrounding his adoption by Karen Gillespie. Although he wondered, he didn’t press. He somehow knew that he’d have years to learn every detail of Nick’s life and discovered that he was looking forward to the exploration.

  Their conversation drifted from talking about their childhoods to their mission in due course. “When we’re done mapping Tarasch, do you think we’ll be able to routinely use it as a transfer point?”

  “It’s hard to say, Nick. The system’s unstable enough that it might only be usable some of the time. I wouldn’t want to be here during a nova, for example.”

  Nick winced, unsurprisingly. Cai was talking about an energy release more than adequate to destroy their ship. “With two white dwarfs in the system, novae must be fairly frequent.”

  “My early calculations show that they occur every few years,” Cai replied. “By the time we’re done mapping, I hope to find enough underlying regularity to predict a schedule for them.”

  “That would be an incredible discovery,” Nick said.

  Cai nodded agreement. Novae were both predictable and unpredictable. Scientists knew that binary star systems, where one of the stars was a white dwarf, could produce novae when the dwarf siphoned enough material off its companion to reach critical mass, so in that sense, they were very predictable. But nobody had ever managed to say that there’d be a nova on a given date, which made them rather unpredictable as far as Astrogators were concerned. As a result, Astrogators kept a close eye on all systems that had more than one star when one of the stars was a dwarf, trying to predict when the dwarf would flare.

  All that remained of their meal were crumbs by the time Nick departed. Cai found he didn’t really want Nick to go, but he could hardly keep the captain a prisoner in his chambers like he was a sex slave or something. That idea caused his lips to curve into a smile. He laid down in bed, allowed one of his six to attach the cylinder to his belly and let his mind wander on its flight of fancy.

  He dreamed that Nick was a slave, his slave, purchased from the slave markets of Sparta, the fourth planet in the Merope system. He very much enjoyed putting Nick through his paces, first orally then anally. Nick was beautiful, lusty and so very submissive. Cai enjoyed it so much that he left Nick filled to the brim with his spunk, dripping from the corners of his mouth and out of his delectable rear. But what really tickled his fancy was the mental image of Nick, naked but for his collar, chained hand and foot to his bed, completely at his mercy and begging for more.

  Cai sat up in bed, sweaty and shaky. The dream had been all too real and all too enjoyable. With a grimace, he slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom. He needed a cold shower. And clean sheets.

  Chapter Seven: Mapping Dreams

  Laughing Owl’s course required Cai to Chamber at least twice per day. Nick carefully aligned his schedule to the Astrogator’s to ensure that he was on the bridge and available any time Cai was in the Astrogation Chamber. Since this wasn’t unusual for a captain, it was unremarked upon. He varied his exit strategy, sometimes leaving the bridge when Cai began his own exit procedures
, sometimes not until after Cai had actually exited the Chamber. As much as Nick wanted to be with Cai, he understood that both admiralty and the Guild would take a dim view of his attraction.

  He made sure that all the sections involved in the mapping stayed on track and had what they needed. He left it to Cortez to run the shipboard drills. The XO had a talent for it, and so long as Nick was aware of what was going on, he let Cortez manage the crew as he saw fit. The crew was already showing improvements in response times as they learned to work together.

  Nick mapped out the most efficient route from his quarters to Cai’s that also left him mostly unobserved. He worried that his four-times-a-day transits between the two sets of rooms would soon be the talk of the ship. Gossip is proof of faster-than-light travel, he reminded himself at least once a day. But he didn’t want Cai to suffer through the standard ship’s fare when he could make better, even though his supply of fresh ingredients had run out. He was a talented-enough cook to make something edible from the ship’s stores and hydroponics.

  Upon discovering that Cai’s chambers boasted a far better kitchen than his own, he started doing all his cooking there. It was as much for Cai’s convenience as for the improved facility—if he was delayed leaving the bridge, Cai didn’t have to wait for him in order to eat. But after only a few days, he noticed that Cai waited for him, delayed or not.

  Cai was ever more relaxed around him, though he offered no encouragement on the sexual front. To Nick’s surprise, even without intimacy, they were growing close. It took him a while to figure it out, because it was something he’d never really experienced before. He had a friend. A real friend. He appreciated Cai for himself, for his wit and conversation and not just for his body. Cai appeared to feel likewise, for he was always happy to see Nick.