by C. F. Harris
“What do you want, Jake?” I asked.
I was surprised that I managed to sound so pleasant. Particularly after the unpleasant discovery I made a week ago.
“Where have you been?”
I wheeled my chair around and tried not to focus on how damn good he looked in his custom tailored suit. That thing looked good on him. I also tried not to concentrate on how much I wanted to punch that smile off of his face. Or how delicious kisses from that same smile had been back when we were still a going concern.
“It’s none of your damn business where I’ve been before work. Or after work. I’m just your employee, and nothing more,” I said.
A couple of people in the cubicles around us were turning to look, but they didn’t say anything. No, they would just enjoy the show and then gossip about it with each other later when they were safely away from the bossman and the crazy girl who was getting pissy with him. Not that I could blame them. I’d probably do the same if I was the one sitting back with the popcorn watching the disaster unfold.
“I don’t know if I appreciate your tone, Melissa,” Jake said.
“Yeah? Well I don’t know that I appreciate you taking me into your office and fucking me on company time when you knew full well that you were an engaged man,” I said.
I heard a couple of people around us laughing. I winced. Yeah, that one was going to get around the office pretty damn fast. I hadn’t intended for it to get out, but what can I say? I was pissed off and not in the mood to mince words. Especially with this asshole. Especially when he’d led me on for so long and made me think we had something real when the whole time he was engaged and using me for a convenient booty call.
The asshole deserved every rumor that went around about him. I’d just hoped those rumors would go around without mentioning me. Oops.
Jake’s face turned several shades of red and then finally settled on a deep purple. Oh yeah, he wasn’t happy about being called out on his bullshit. Not at all.
“I think you need to come talk to me in my office. Now,” he said.
“Whatever you say boss,” I said with a grin.
I didn’t want to let on just how terrified I was. Besides, anger and annoyance that he was even trying to pull this boss/employee flirtation after I’d obviously found out about his woman had me good and pissed off.
As I walked behind him I couldn’t help but stare at the way his ass moved in those tight pants that showed off almost everything. He always had his jackets cut so they showed that off. He was a man who knew he had good assets. It was unfair that a man who was as big a prick as he was could look that good.
It was unfair that he had me melting and going weak in the knees even knowing what I did about him and his character.
We stepped into his office and he took a seat looking very stern behind his desk.
“Could you please close the door? I think this is one we don’t want other people hearing,” he said.
I shut the door. It slammed shut with an ominous click and then it was just the two of us in his office. Alone. I took a deep breath and faced him down. I was already in it this far. No point in backing down now.
His face split into a grin. Wait, what? Talk about confusing.
“That was a masterful performance out there Melissa!” he said. “I think everyone out there bought it!”
I blinked. I couldn’t believe it. Was he serious? He couldn’t possibly be serious, and yet the grin plastered on his face said he was totally serious. What the hell was this guy’s problem?
“Um, well it was sort of a masterful performance because it wasn’t a performance at all. I really do think you’re the scum of the earth, a cheating piece of shit, and I can’t stand to be around you.”
That smarmy grin on his face faltered for a moment, but then it was back. Though it got less and less smarmy with every passing moment as I ripped into him. As I let out all the anger I’d felt towards him over the past couple of weeks for being such a monumental douchebag.
“I think I’d rather die than spend another night with you, and I’m pretty sure I made that absolutely clear the last time we were together. I’m sure you remember that, don’t you? It was the night your fiancee decided to drop in for a surprise visit because she didn’t realize you’d be entertaining another woman? Hell, it was the night I discovered I was nothing more than the other woman!”
Jake was smooth. I’ll give him that. He had a pretty damn unhappy look on his face for a moment, some of the anger he must be feeling was percolating to the top, but then he schooled his face to a smile. He stood and came around his desk. Stood right behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. Tried to start rubbing, but I reached up and stopped him.
Once more I reflected on how unfair it was. He knew this always worked on me. It was unfair that he could manipulate me like this. I wanted to scream and tell him to fuck off, but at the same time I knew I wasn’t going to do anything of the sort. His touch was hypnotic. It was too much for me.
“Come on Melissa. I know you didn’t mean any of those nasty things you said.”
He started massaging and this time I didn’t stop him. My mind was screaming that this was wrong. He was engaged. She seemed like a very nice girl even if she was a bit dim considering she was willing to stick with him even after discovering he’d been cheating on her.
Then again it’s not like I had much room to talk. Wasn’t I in his office where we’d had some of our best times letting him give me a shoulder rub?
Yeah, I didn’t have a pot to piss in when it came to judging girls for being stupid.
“I would hate for us to have our relationship ruined because of one silly little indiscretion,” he said.
That lit the fire in me again. “One silly indiscretion? You’re marrying another woman!”
“Well sure I’m engaged to be married,” he said, never missing a beat as he changed lanes. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still be together, does it? It just means that we’ll have to be more careful about us time in the future, right?”
“Like hell it will,” I muttered.
I was in a weird place where I was mad as hell, but at the same time his hands felt so good. I found myself wondering if it would really be such a big deal if I had just one more fling with him in the office. Once more for old times’ sake.
“What I have with my fiancee is nice, but it doesn’t come close to the passion I have with you, Mel,” he said. “Why don’t you join me for dinner tonight and we can talk over our future? How it can fit in with my future with the future misses?”
And the spell was broken again. He was so close, but he had to push too far. He flew too close to the sun, and now he was going to get burned. Besides, I had plans with the girls tonight. There wasn’t a chance I was going out with this asshole when I had my friends to consider.
I put my hands up on his hands. Forcefully removed them from my shoulders. Stood and turned to look at him with fire and fury burning in my gaze.
“Not a chance, buddy. The last thing I want to do tonight, or any other night, is hang out with a cheating asshole like you. I just feel sorry for that poor girl you convinced to marry you.”
The smiles disappeared. Jake looked at me with all the anger and fury I knew had to be lurking behind that fake look. Oh yeah. He wasn’t used to not getting what he wanted, and it looked like he was about to let me know. Like I gave a damn.
“I want you to know that you’re making a decision here that could affect your career and your love life,” he said.
I paused for a moment to think about that. Sure he was my boss. Sure he was the alpha type who was in control, definitely the sort of guy who really got the old engine cranked if you know what I mean, but what had been hot at the outset was just annoying now. He didn’t seem like an alpha type so much as just an asshole who enjoyed jerking people around.
“Yeah, go fuck yourself. And if you decide to make a big deal out of this I’ll see how HR feels about you violating the rules a
bout fraternizing with your direct reports,” I said.
Jake stared at me and his mouth moved, but no sounds came out. He knew I had him there. Technically those same rules would get me in trouble, but I was just working an entry level job after college and he was in management. I’d just move on to another job. He stood to lose a hell of a lot more. I wondered if that pretty little heiress he was marrying would be as interested in him when he wasn’t on the fast track in corporate America.
“Nothing else to say Jake? Right. Guess we’re done with this meeting then,” I said, patting him on the cheek on my way out.
I sighed as I collapsed back on my chair. Damn. Another one down, and this one had been so promising! It seemed like I’d had nothing but a string of broken hearts since I came to the city and got to work. Every guy had turned out to be a self-absorbed asshole in one way or another, more interested in the one night stand then they were in anything real or long term. It was nothing like back home where everyone settled down as early as possible because they were afraid God would strike them down for wanting to fuck before they had a wedding ring on their finger.
I was starting to think there wasn’t a single guy on this whole damn planet who was worth my time.
3
Flin
“This sure beats traipsing through the jungle, eh captain?”
I turned and grinned at Lieutenant Keva. She looked absolutely stunning even wearing the ridiculous clothes of this planet. A blue outfit the locals called a “halter top” along with a pair of pants that had so little material they barely deserved the name.
That outfit was positively distracting in all the right ways. It almost made me want to take the good lieutenant off to some secluded corner of this concrete world and do a little work on building inter-crew relations, if you catch my drift.
“I don’t know. I almost prefer the worlds where the locals don’t have sufficiently advanced technology. Less danger to us when the weapons start flying if the weapons aren’t that impressive,” the security officer said.
I frowned. And there we had the reason why there wasn’t a chance I was going to enjoy inter-crew relations with Lieutenant Keva. We had this wet blanket in a red T-shirt and something the locals called “blue jeans” to put a damper on the whole party. Then again he was security, so I suppose he was only doing his job. I’d been unable to convince my first officer to let me go down to this planet on my own.
And probably with good reason. I looked around at the concrete canyon we found ourselves in. Bright lights and strange noises hit us from every angle. It looked like something straight out of ancient early modern history on our own world, and being here surrounded by all of this was exhilarating.
It was also the most advanced splinter of ancient human civilization we’d found out here in the uncharted territories. Plenty of evidence of spaceflight that we’d had to avoid smacking into when we moved into orbit. Primitive burnt hydrocarbons. Evidence of nuclear technology in the atmosphere.
Yeah, it was almost like home. Way back in the bad old days before fusion allowed us to break free of some of our more environmentally damaging tech habits.
“This place is really advanced compared to all the other worlds we’ve come across in the uncharted regions,” Keva said.
I turned and looked at her, and then over to the security guy. Both of them had a look I’d come to recognize all too well on our trips out here in uncharted space.
“I know what you’re thinking, and this probably isn’t the Origin,” I said. “I know the Admiralty has us out here chasing after fairy tales, but just because someone with a little bit of gold on their shoulders thinks something is true doesn’t make it true. Trust me on that one.”
It was a lesson I’d learned through hard experience on more than one occasion.
“But it fits the profile, sir,” the security guy said.
“We’ve found lots of worlds that fit the profile. I guarantee when we get some of the women from this world out of their atmosphere for more than a few days they’ll be just as barren as any of ours,” I said.
Keva looked down for a moment and I frowned. Most women in the Fleet had long since made peace with the fact that their career well and truly meant they were giving up any chance at ever having children thanks to the Flaw. I wondered if she was one of those who’d made that peace, though.
“We’ll need to be on guard,” I said, figuring a change of subject and some good old fashioned work was in order. “Remember that the weapons they have here will be able to kill you just as easily as a disintegrator, or a spear for that matter.”
I thought back to the guard on the last planet. Though I didn’t think on it for long. That naturally led to thoughts of the merry chase we’d led through space on the way to this system. Rethvar managed to get the drop on me somehow, and the ship was off hiding in another part of this star system making repairs.
We were all on our own for the moment, though I could call the ship for assistance at a moment’s notice. The only problem was Rethvar’s ship was lurking out there somewhere as well, and we didn’t know how damaged it was. I’d given as good as I got in that exchange, but I also didn’t want to risk bringing my ship into a fight without knowing more about my enemy’s disposition.
It had been a couple of days since we broke off contact, after all. The only hint that they were here was that this was the only inhabited world in this system and a scan of the surface showed the power signature of Imperium tech being used somewhere in this area.
“You’ll also want to keep a lookout for anyone who seems like they don’t belong here,” I said. “Any one of them could be an Imperium agent.”
“Got it, sir,” Lieutenant Keva said. She looked at me with a “come hither” stare that made me really wish we didn’t have this security guy along with us. I turned to him.
“Your name was Jorel, right?”
“Aye sir,” he said.
“Well try to look more natural. You’re standing around like a security guy. That’ll give us away faster than anything.”
Jorel loosened slightly, but not by much. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I was going to have a word with Trower about the security people he sent down on missions that were supposed to be incognito. After we found Rethvar and figured out what he was doing on this planet.
Though I had a pretty good idea. This world was teeming with humanity. Plenty of women for him to choose from on this world. And I had a feeling he was pulling the same gambit here that he had on the previous world. So we stopped in front of an impressive stone structure with a spire reaching for the stars that looked very out of place amongst all the other newer looking structures around it.
“What is this place?” Jorel asked.
“A place of worship,” Keva said. “The locals who ascribe to the largest branch of the monotheistic messianic death cult that dominates this part of the world worship their three gods here.”
“Right,” I said. “And I have a pretty good feeling that Rethvar an his Imperium stooges are going to pull the same trick on this world that they did on the previous one. That means we need to get in there and do a rescue.”
I took a deep breath and walked up the steps to the local place of worship. Glass windows with light streaming out of them depicted scenes from the local mythology. Looked like a lot of painful stuff happening to some poor bearded son-of-a-bitch. It was one of the stranger manifestations of religion I’d seen on a human world since I started traveling the stars, but not the strangest by far.
We stepped into a massive room with rows of seats and an impressively ornate setup near the front of the room. A wooden structure with one long vertical board and a shorter horizontal board near the top of the first one hung. Oh, and there was also a statue of that same bearded man hanging from the boards.
Okay then. Move this one up a little higher on the weird list. Still not at the top, though.
A man stepped out of a room off to one side of the ornate area. He was dressed
almost entirely in black, save for a spot of white at his neck. Black must be a signifier of death on this world. It could go either way between black and white, but if this was the uniform of a man who I presumed was a religious leader in a global death cult then it was a safe bet that black was a symbol of that death. At least locally.
“Can I help you?” he asked, looking each of us over in turn but not revealing any of his thoughts.
This guy seemed like one cool customer. I’d found that religious leaders usually were. There was nothing like being confident about what happened after you died to make you less wary of that death on this side.
Except for Cyvarthis IV where they believed that upon death they were sent to a realm of fire and torture for ten thousand years to prove their faithfulness in the afterlife. They tended to shy away from death on that world. That one was near the top of my local religion weird-o-meter.
“Good evening your eminence,” I said with a flourish and a bow. I’d discovered that I couldn’t go wrong layering on the bowing and scraping and flowery language no matter what world I was on. It was the one constant in the galaxy when it came to leadership types.
Only when I came up from the bow this one looked more perplexed than anything. He looked between the three of us and raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Right. Can I help you?” he asked.
This one was a cool customer, all right. Wasn’t going to give the information outright. Okay then, maybe it was time to go with the more direct approach.
“Listen, your worship, we know what you’re doing here,” I said.
The man smiled, chuckled, and held his hands out wide. “Of course! We do the Lord’s work here. Do you need me to take your confession? Is there something troubling you?”
“You could say there’s something troubling me. Where are you hiding the women?”
