by Foxx Ballard
“Where are we heading, Captain?” Jack called out as the ship rose smoothly into the air, sliding along with the breeze. Synth-E-Uh hadn’t started the propeller yet.
“He’s talking to you,” Lais said next to him.
“Your friends taken west?” Rusty asked.
Lais nodded.
“West, Mister Jack,” Rusty called out.
“West! Helmsman,” Jack called out to Synth-E-Uh.
“I can hear him, Jack,” Synth-E-Uh replied as the propeller spun up with a steady thwup thwup thwup until it had reached a speed that made it into a steady, loud humming noise. She turned the ship into the direction they were trying to head and had to angle south-west to push against the breeze that was currently trying to blow the whole ship north, but as they rose higher and the ground was becoming so far away that it was losing its detail, the wind almost disappeared and they could head west without hindrance.
It was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time, being this high up on a ship they had just built, timbers creaking, the disembodied floating feeling.
Rusty opted to go below to his bed and have a nap. Maybe it would help him get used to this.
“Captain leaving the bridge!” Jack yelled.
Rusty wasn’t even off the ladder that led into the hold. He popped his head up. “Jack, don’t…”
“Captain on the bridge!”
Rusty sighed and went down the ladder.
“Captain leaving the bridge!”
Maybe this wasn’t going to be as much fun as he first envisioned.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lais: The Maiden, above the western sea
Lais stood at the bow of the ship and closed her eyes, feeling the breeze blowing around her. The air was clean and brisk and yet she could still feel the solar warmth on her skin from the sun. When she opened her eyes again and looked up, the underside of the balloon filled her vision. Leaning down over the railing, she could see the ground and the sea far below. To be experiencing it herself and not viewing it on a screen or as someone else’s film was exciting. Even powerful. And strangely fulfilling.
They were heading out over the ocean, and soon the ground was just a strip along the horizon. All below was a dark blue, the water reflecting the sky in every direction. The clouds were still above them, just closer than they used to be, so close, if you stood on the balloon, you could reach up and touch them. Synth-E-Uh was quiet at the back of the ship and appeared to have a compass since she adjusted the direction of the ship regularly. Jack was pulling the flap strings occasionally to keep the ship level, especially when Mogul would wander from one end of the ship to the other. The giant said little, but seemed awed by the experience, like the rest of them.
Lais thought about how close she had come to losing her life. If Rusty hadn’t been close by… It hadn’t really occurred to her that she could die, at least since she awoke in this body, it felt nearly invincible. Having her head hacked off was sobering. She would have to be more careful.
The sun was just starting to sink below the western sea ahead of them and the sky was dimming behind when Angel motioned her with one finger and a sly smile to come down to the hold. The robots never tired and would keep them on course, she was sure, so she allowed herself to be excited. Finally, the prospect of being intimate with Angel had arisen.
She slid down the ladder, gripping it to slow her descent. The closer she got to their bedroom, the more anxious she got. Excitement and fear intermingled. What if she did something wrong? Or did something that Angel didn’t like? She was new to this, and didn’t want to mess it up. Most of her knowledge was on how to please Connor and that was all done with imagery, but with him gone…
She pushed aside the silk curtain enough to slip into the room on her knees, little more than just a silk-covered mattress with walls. The dim fission flashlight in the wall holder had been set on low and provided just enough light to see by. The silk was slippery, and the mattress was soft. Angel was on the opposite end of the mattress, wearing her silk wrap-around top and skirt. She knelt, with her hands casually on her knees, her wings slightly spread and pulsing gently with her heartbeat, which seemed to be getting faster as Lais approached. Lais slid her knees forward until she was directly in front of the Valkyrie. Angel wasn’t smiling, until she noticed Lais looking in her eyes, and then the curve of one side of her mouth slid up into a grin.
Lais could feel urgings in her mind, and the natural responses of her body, and she allowed them to happen, but changed them slightly. She’d been saving an internal stash of cinnamon and sugar. It was her favorite memory of their first kiss, and she let it fill her every pore. Angel immediately cocked up one eyebrow.
“You smell like cinnamon. You can do that?”
Lais nodded.
“I can’t read your mind. How far did you want to go?” Angel asked as she leaned close to kiss her.
“All the way…” Lais whispered and their lips touched. All Lais could taste was cinnamon and sugar, and it so reminded her of their first kiss she almost melted.
Angel pulled her face in firmly with both hands, kissing her deeply and then let her hands slide down to Lais’s shoulders to unclasp her silk cape. Lais’s temperature started to rise. Though she had no heart, no blood, her body emulated most of the human responses. She giggled when Angel tried to shove her back and fell herself instead.
“I forgot you were so heavy,” Angel laughed, picking herself up. “And we tied you into those clothes like they were never going to come off, my mistake.”
Lais sat back and untied the top of her thigh-high boots and, with Angel’s help, managed to wriggle them back and forth until they slid off. At least she wasn’t sweating. She couldn’t imagine how difficult they would have been to pull off if she had decided to sweat.
Undressing took some time, but it was intimate and fun. Now feeling the arousal, Lais wanted more, but her only experience was what clips of sex she had seen on the Earthnet, but didn’t know which ones to copy.
“Don’t think about it, feel it,” Angel whispered. “You haven’t experienced anything yet. Just let yourself receive pleasure. It will teach you what you like, what to do to others.”
Angel shoved Lais back, harder this time, so she fell back on the mattress, and then kissed her way down Lais’s body. Lais stopped thinking and allowed herself to feel. She had never known real pleasure. Simulated it for others, but there had been no nerves, no electricity.
And then suddenly, thanks to Angel, she knew what pleasure was. Several times over the next couple of hours, in fact. They changed roles after Lais became more sure of herself so she could practice on Angel the things that had been done to her.
Finally, Angel stopped her and moved until they were side by side. Angel crossed one knee over Lais’s legs and rested her head on her hand with a smile, but Lais noticed that the smile wasn’t echoed in Angel’s eyes.
“What?” Lais asked, suddenly concerned. “Did I do something wrong?”
Angel smiled. “No, you did nothing wrong, beautiful… you did everything right…” Angel paused, looking upward, like she was trying to think of the right words. “I never knew how much pleasure I derived from the other person’s mind. I mean, the physical feels good, and I like giving you pleasure…”
“But…” Lais filled in for her.
“But,” Angel sighed. “Most of my pleasure comes from the pleasure my partner is feeling.”
“And you can’t feel mine because my mind isn’t compatible with yours.”
“Right.”
“I could please you again…” Lais said, sitting up and sliding her hand down Angel’s thigh.
“It’s not the same,” Angel replied softly, looking apologetic. “I’ve been spoiled by the intensity I can induce in another’s mind. It goes far beyond physical pleasure. It hadn’t occurred to me because I’ve never had a partner I couldn’t connect with. I thought the surprise of not knowing what someone would do would make up for it.”
“Well…” Lais was at a loss for words and tears started to form in her eyes. She had just felt more pleasure than she thought possible, and now Angel was telling her it wasn’t enough. Every memory path she could follow didn’t find a solution. Which meant there likely wasn’t one.
“Now I’ve gone and made you cry…” Tears were forming in Angel’s eyes, too. “I’m sorry.” She reached to pull Lais in for a hug. Lais resisted for a moment, not knowing what she was supposed to feel, and then finally succumbed, just feeling loss, but still loving Angel. At least she would always have this one night to remember.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Rusty: The Maiden, above the western sea
When Rusty woke, all he could smell was cinnamon. It seemed to permeate the whole crew quarters, but he had slept so well it didn’t matter. He felt like a new man. He stretched and then grabbed Buck and threw the weapon’s strap over his shoulder.
He swapped his loincloth for another and left it in the bathroom in a pile of clothing that seemed to be forming for washing later. They probably all had enough changes of clothes for a month before they had to wash any. When he was done in the bathroom, he walked out of the narrow hallway to the ladder leading out of the hold, in which the enormous Mogul was curled up in a ball and snoring, his limbs giving the occasional twitch like he was dreaming of something. Rusty smiled and climbed the ladder to the main deck.
“Captain on deck!” Jack called out. His smiling emoji had a pirate’s cap with a small skull and crossbones on it, and an eye-patch.
“Shhh, people sleep,” Rusty reminded the robot, giving him a military salute that he’d seen the humans use.
“Nothing to report, Cap’tun,” Jack replied in a forced whisper, saluting back. Jack was just being Jack.
He shook his head and took in a breath of the air blowing by them. A sweet oil smell came from the propeller, very faint because it was blowing out the back. The slightest oxidation of rust, probably from the remaining stack of iron ingots. Still that cinnamon smell coming from Lais, though the scent lingered on Angel as well. There was a bit of mold from the cargo area, but the air was fairly dry there and flowed freely, so was unlikely to become much worse. Mogul’s rock dust. The dried meats… those were enticing, so he slipped back down into the hold and grabbed a few strips of dried and salted lizard from a sack and chewed on them while he climbed back up the ladder. The breeze was warm and comfortable. Jack this time didn’t acknowledge his coming and going from the hold verbally, instead saluting each time Rusty looked at him.
Angel was at the rear of the ship, flapping her wings like she was testing them, but not risking putting her full weight on them yet. Probably needed strengthening. They hadn’t been in use for a while. She turned and smiled, nodding yes to his thought. Despite her smile, there was a sadness in her eyes today. She looked away when he thought this, so he didn’t press it with her.
He walked past Jack, who occasionally pulled on one of the silk strings, opening one of many flaps that kept the ship level. The heater was sending waves of heat upwards into the balloon, so they must have reached an altitude plateau in the sky that setting would allow for. It looked like they were a thousand paces in the air. Maybe more.
“Good job, First Mate Jack,” Rusty decided to say, giving the robot what he wanted; some attention.
Jack’s emoji became wide-eyed and had sparkles around it with a big smile. “Aye aye, Captain Rusty.”
Lais was leaning over the bow, looking at the ocean far below. Rusty stepped up beside her and she turned her head briefly, giving him a small grin before turning back.
“I envy you, you know,” she said quietly. When he turned to look up at her, she continued. “Your connection with Angel. The way you can share thoughts. And I nearly died recently. I hadn’t even thought about that being a possibility. It’s all making me feel very alone. I realize it’s not logical…” Lais turned around and leaned her back and elbows against the rail, her smooth black cloak flowing around her. “Damn brain. It’s like having a bunch of people in your head that all think what they want is the most important thing and then you’re supposed to decide what really is. And they’re competing instead of cooperating except for the one arbitrator. You. All that input, and yet you still feel alone.”
Rusty smiled. “This way? We all feel. Even Angel, though her race aware and support each other.” He reached up and took her hand, squeezing it and patting it with his other. “You not alone.”
“Aww!” She leaned down and gave him a hug, a hug he hadn’t realized he wanted until he got it. There was something about the reassurance of it that he had been missing since the sudden loss of Zondra. He hugged her back. She seemed so—not like a machine.
“Thanks, Rusty. That was all I needed.” She let out a very human sigh. “We should decide what we’re going to do when we run across the floating worm ships. Let’s go talk with the others.”
Lais left to walk toward the back of the ship, so Rusty followed. She was right. They hadn’t gone over any plans because they’d been so busy building the ship itself.
When they were midway between Jack and Synth-E-Uh, which was standing around the open hatch to the cargo area, Angel joined them and gave a tentative smile to Lais, who returned it easily, and both looked more reassured than they had when Rusty had first seen them.
Mogul. Someone had to wake the giant. Rusty slipped down the ladder and put his hand on Mogul’s shoulder to gently shake the rock-ogre awake. Rusty couldn’t even budge the brute’s arm. He tried with two hands, and when the giant snored beside him again, not even noticing that Rusty was there, he finally had to call out. “Mogul!”
The Ramogran jerked unexpectedly, knocking Rusty back with his enormous hand, but Rusty was light and wiry. And fast. He twisted and caught the ladder, preventing a collision with the wall.
Mogul jerked upright and blinked several times. “Me sorry! Little man okay?”
“Fine.” Rusty tried to give what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Next time, he wouldn’t stand so close. “We talk on main deck.” He pointed up through the large hatch, and then, not waiting any longer, climbed up to join the rest.
When Mogul stood, his head and shoulders were out of the hatch already, so he just placed his arms on the deck and pulled himself up, sitting with his legs dangling in the hole. Rusty didn’t think the ladder would hold the massive humanoid, anyway.
Lais was the first one to speak and her voice carried over the wind, loud enough for them all to hear, including the two droids. “So, I think we need to talk about what we are going to do when we encounter the worm ships. We don’t know how many there are, we know there are at least a couple. And we can’t just shoot them down because we don’t know if our friends are on them or not. From what I viewed of them when we were attacked in Cassiden, our skyship can fly faster than they can, so if we need to escape, we can just outrun them.”
Angel brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I can notice thoughts at a hundred paces or so, though it’s far more faint at that distance. Maybe a bit more. The Chakran minds are too foreign for me to detect.” She gave an apologetic look to Lais. “Though if we get near a worm, I should be able to tell whether or not our friends are on board.”
“Okay, so that’s a start. We need to get close and see if they are still alive.” Lais looked at each of them to see if anyone had anything to add.
Mogul interjected. “Chak-ran? Worm ships?”
“Oh, right, sorry Mogul. A lot has happened since you left. The short of it is, after we left you, I got a body, and my twin Chais got a body, though it’s more—robotic—than mine. We were attacked by ant-men, the Chakran, in great flying worm-ships. Chais, Keena—a young woman we rescued from slavers—and Drak, who you already know, may still be on one of these ships. And Hirk, a Galantar… big bony guy? Wings?” Rusty could see she was losing Mogul.
“Me help,” was all the giant said. Apparently, he didn’t need to understand. He was just a decent guy. Rusty was s
tarting to like him.
Lais continued on speaking to all of them. “So, what’s the next step? Let’s say they are on board a worm-ship still… What’s our plan of attack? Any ideas? The ship I saw had fifty or more Chakran and close to twenty rock spiders. I can deal with a few, but I can’t handle them all.”
“You think if we run up the white flag, Mistress Lais,” suggested Jack. “That they might accept we’re on a trade mission?… er… well yes! We could trade to get our friends back!” Jack had his smiley face on again, obviously happy with his own suggestion. He turned and wheeled away a few feet, heading in the direction of the cargo hold, and then thought better of it, turning back and pulling on a flap string, remembering his duties. There must have been such a thing as a sheepish emoji, because that was the one he now had on his faceplate.
Everyone was thoughtful for a moment, and then Lais spoke up. “You know, I think he might be right. Maybe we should be approaching this as a diplomatic mission, rather than a military one. We are far outnumbered. If they didn’t have the rock-spiders, I’d say it wouldn’t be that tough, but one wrapped up Mogul like he was a snack to be saved for later.”
“No remind me,” Mogul replied, but with what could have been a smile. It was hard to make out the expressions on his face since it was mostly rock-like scales.
Angel crossed her arms. “Do you think they will negotiate? You seemed to get along with Dacnil originally, but it could have been a ruse on their part to keep us complacent. I can’t read Chakran minds, so I couldn’t determine their intentions.”
“They no talk to us,” added Rusty. “They just attack.”
“Well…” Angel was nodding as if she was agreeing with the current suggestion. “How about we run up the white flag and if they negotiate, then great, and if they don’t we can always run if it looks bad?”
“That’s probably what we’ll have to do,” responded Lais. “I don’t have to sleep, so I’ll keep a watch out for anything and will give a shout when I see something.”
