by Cameron Hale
Darien beamed conspiratorially. “Suffice it to say I have my connections. The Lunata III series has just been certified for interplanetary distances. It’s an amazing breakthrough in technology. Opens up a whole new territory for private travel.”
Saranoud stared at Darien with heightened respect. Clearly, he was more than a handsome face. Though she knew of his well-pedigreed background, there were areas that clearly merited a deeper investigation through her private contact sources.
He motioned her toward the craft. “Please, make yourself comfortable. It’s equipped with every amenity.”
With a mounting sense of excitement, Saranoud slipped into a luxurious interior reeking of fine leather. Immediately, her feet sank into thick carpeting, the seat embracing her with gently massaging wings. She noted with interest the controls that allowed it to fully recline. Discreet music wafted from every angle, immersing her in a delightful sensory womb. The craft was at once intimate yet roomy, a contradiction considering its relatively compact size.
Beside her, Darien settled in and initiated a series of diagnostics.
“This is wonderful,” she said, watching his hands deftly fly across a dazzling array of illuminated panels. “All the luxuries of a cruiser without the crowds.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said, nodding toward an opening hatch. Vitriolade cocktails bubbled over the salted rim. Not even the slightest vibration disturbed the drinks as he powered the vessel, the liquor separating and commingling in colorful, effervescent stripes.
Enjoying the subtle purr of the engines, Saranoud helped herself to a goblet and sipped. “So what’s on the menu?”
Darien smiled enigmatically, his perfect white teeth gleaming in the dusk. “I thought I’d surprise you. You’ve always told me how much you like the unexpected. Well, we’ve been to Mare Ibrium for dinner and we’ve taken gondolas ride on the Martian canals. It’s time for something a bit out of the ordinary.”
Saranoud felt herself tingling as the potent cocktail settled into her bloodstream. Watching Darien’s animated expression, a familiar heat began to course through her. Her glance strayed to his crotch and the prominent bulge teasing her beneath the expensive fabric.
Following the direction of her gaze, he chuckled and leaned over to nuzzle her ear. “If you think earlier was good, wait until later.” He playfully evaded her questing hands and programmed a destination into the computer. “No distractions—yet. Let the anticipation work for us. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.”
Saranoud relented and settled into the luxurious embrace of the seat. She crossed her legs, the hem of her dress rising enough to give Darien a quick peek of her crotch. Watching him with glittering eyes, she trailed her tongue along the salty rim of the glass and gently lapped at it. “Preview of coming attractions,” she said.
Darien chuckled and forced himself to look away. “Let’s try not to get the seat wet just yet,” he said, firing the engines. “There’ll be plenty of time to test the upholstery later.”
A pleasant thrust vibrated through Saranoud’s crotch as the Lunata silently lifted off and banked sharply into the indigo dusk. Through the filtered skyshield, a swathe of stars glittered like jealous eyes, the waxing moon an opalescent wedge to the east. Air traffic filled the sky with colorful streamers of light, vying with the glow of the sprawling city. Increasing velocity, the craft ascended through the upper atmosphere until it burst into a dizzying vista of star-encrusted blackness. Momentarily disoriented, she gasped and reached to steady herself.
“It’s like falling into a void,” she said with genuine amazement. “I’ve been in space so many times before, but I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
Darien nodded, his gaze fixed to the stunning view. “I know what you mean. It’s like looking into the face of infinity. You just don’t get the same effect on a cruiser or larger vessel. You’re too insulated, too distanced. Out here you can almost feel the pulse of time itself.”
They stared at the hypnotic view until they had almost drained their drinks. Silently, Saranoud set her cocktail into the hatch and turned to Darien. Flushed, her eyes dilated, she peeled off her dress and tossed it to the carpet. Darien watched entranced, her exquisite body gleaming in the subdued light. She fondled her breasts, tweaking the nipples until they hardened. Lifting them to her mouth, she alternately sucked each. Lipstick smudged her aureoles, which she rubbed into the creamy flesh.
Darien’s exhaled sharply, but did nothing. Watching him obliquely, she reached for the seat control and lowered it, then lay back. Raising her thighs, she spread them and began to trail her fingers across her cunt. She played with the lips, teased them, parted them, until wetness beaded them and her clit swelled to a solid knot.
Her breath became raspy from arousal. With half-closed eyes, she inserted a finger into her cunt. “Eat me,” she whispered. “Then fuck me.”
Darien swallowed hard. Deftly, he stripped, his taut naked body already damp with sweat. His rigid cock bobbed like a club between his legs. Pausing to retrieve one of the cocktails, he carefully sprinkled a small amount of the liquid onto Saranoud’s gaping cunt. He filled his mouth with the remainder of the cocktail before clumsily tossing the glass into the hatch. Crawling toward her, he lowered his mouth over the lips and gently dribbled the liquid into her hole.
She gasped and raised her hips to his mouth. Slowly, he began to suck the cocktail, his probing tongue forging a trail that lead to the liquid pooled by her anus.
“Now,” she murmured, her hips grinding against his face. “I want it now.”
He rose and mounted her in a single motion. Clutching her ass, her impaled her and began thrusting. Saranoud threw her head back and cried out, her hands blindly flailing, her nails occasionally making contact with his arms and chest. Though he flinched as they raked him, he did not break his stride. Instead, he withdrew from her cunt, draped her legs over his shoulder and shoved his slick cock up her ass.
Saranoud screamed and bucked against him. Darien bent toward her, virtually doubling her up beneath him. He shoved as much of her left breast as he could into his mouth while he worked her cunt with a fisted hand. She writhed and whimpered as the width of it stretched.
Suddenly he jerked up and let out an agonized cry. He came violently, his ass pumping like a piston until he spent every drop of his come. Saranoud gaped at him with watering eyes, her sweat drenched body limp beneath him. Gingerly, she felt the faint teeth marks around her nipple, her holes still burning from his rough entry.
Darien panted for breath. “Ventilation,” he gasped, the command immediately ushering a welcome flow of fresh air. He collapsed into his seat, relishing the coolness that gradually dissipated the musky reek of perfume and sex.
“I think I need more than ventilation,” Saranoud said.
“I should have brought some toys,” he replied with a gleam in his eye. “They might have given us a necessary interval. There are some interesting new Euroscandia models out—expandable and self-propelled.”
Saranoud swiped at a strand of drooping hair. With a wicked smile, she reached for the drinks hatch and programmed a refill. “Another time. Right now the real thing is good enough for me.”
* * *
It was only when Saturn's gleaming rings filled the skyshield that the two awakened from their sex and alcohol induced slumber. Awestruck, Saranoud stared at the magnificent, angled bands engulfing the horizon, the refracted light from the distant sun creating a shimmering pearlescence. The Lunata gently banked to afford a more panoramic view of the gas giant.
“We really are going for a ride tonight,” she said, straightening her dress. “In outer and inner space!”
“I guess I can tell you now,” Darien said as he leisurely dressed. “Terraformers on the Nova Pluto project recently discovered the subterranean ruins of an ancient civilization. Scientists estimate that the find is approximately forty thousand years old. We'll be the first non-scientific observers al
lowed on site. My uncle happens to be one of the project coordinators and got us a special clearance. The publicity's going to be phenomenal!”
Saranoud's estimation of Darien jumped several more notches. Powerful family connections were always a desirable asset. “Will it be on Terravid?”
“Terravid, Lunavid, you name it! Every network down to the tinpots operating on the asteroid belt will be scrabbling for airtime. The discovery and the coverage will be an historical breakthrough.”
Saranoud took a moment to absorb his words. As the first civilian visitors to the Nova Pluto site, the potential for further publicity far surpassed any Earthly event. She made a mental note to plan an appropriate wardrobe with Lotus upon their return. In the meantime, Darien turned his attention to the computer.
“Now comes the exciting part,” he said, his profile overshadowed by Saturn’s vast globe. A series of moons hovered on the horizon, the gleaming latticework of the Hyperion observatory slowly rotating. “The Lunata series is the first to offer a temporal boost accelerator designed to cut travel duration up to seventy percent. That should get us to Pluto in only two hours.”
Even Saranoud was impressed, the lengthy journeys to the outer planets normally the realm of long-range luxury cruisers and transport ships. “That’s remarkable! But is it safe considering the Lunatas are still prototpyes?”
Darien laughed. “Relax. The Lunatas have surpassed safety standards that don’t even exist for current vessels, commercial or private. Boost accelerators could radically change travel and deep space exploration as we know it. The Lunata Conglomerate isn’t about to risk such a potential goldmine to inconclusive testing.” He made an elaborate bow. “The guest of honor does nothing but sit back and enjoy the view.” His fingers brushed a series of encrypted commands on the console. “Hold on. I'm activating the accelerator—now.”
“It doesn't look any different,” Saranoud said, staring at the planet consuming the horizon. “What’s supposed to…”
The stars momentarily expanded and contracted, the occurrence so brief that both thought they had only imagined the transition. Suddenly, the Lunata plunged into a violent spiral, the powerful G-force plastering them to their seats. Saranoud blanched in terror, her heart hammering painfully in her chest. She gripped the armrests and barely managed to swallow the gorge rising in her throat. Stars flashed from the periphery of her blurred vision in a stroboscopic frenzy.
Beside her, Darien stared fixedly at the horizon, the stars a milky, elongated blur. His expression reflected a mix of fear and astonishment as the Lunata began to noisily vibrate.
His hand crept toward the instruments. “Jesus,” he murmured. “What the hell was all that about?”
The spinout abruptly halted, violently jarring them against their seats. Once more, the Lunata cruised placidly. Saranoud released a long, shuddering breath. Indentations from her fingernails marked the seat’s armrests.
“What—what’s wrong?” she asked, unable to disguise the quaver in her voice. “I thought I was going to be sick.”
Darien took a deep breath, his fingers a blur as he ran a diagnostic. Saranoud had never seen him so tense. Clenching his jaw tightly, he scanned the readings scrolling down the computer screen. Perspiration gleamed from his forehead and trickled down his temples.
“Something went wrong with the accelerator,” he said flatly. “It felt like an uncontrolled power surge, but I’m not sure. I'm running a full series of diagnostics. So far, the computer can't seem to isolate the fault.” His eyes darted furtively toward the horizon. “This shouldn't have happened. The manufacturers assured me every system had completely checked out. If I’d had any doubts at all about our safety…”
Saranoud followed his uneasy glance, acutely aware that neither Saturn, Pluto, nor anything else recognizable stretched before them. Dense star clusters gleamed among chaotic ribbons of gold, blue and violet nebulae that seemed to billow in an astral wind. The shimmering tail of a distant comet streaked the blackness like a chalk mark on a blackboard. Beneath them loomed an enormous planet swathed in a mantle of the deepest jade. A trio of equally green moons orbited in attendance.
“Oh, my God,” she cried. “Oh, my God! What is this? Where are we? God, Darien, what have you done?”
“I haven’t done anything. Will you shut up and let me think!”
She recoiled, his unaccustomed sharpness stunning her into silence. His jaw twitched as he stared at the planet, his strained face devoid of the playful joviality she had assumed was the sum of his personality. The tightlipped man transmitting distress calls on all frequencies was a total stranger, one no longer under her control. She retrieved a silk tissue from her bag and nervously blotted the damp sheen from her face. Her head ached unpleasantly, the last traces of the vitriolade high long evaporated.
“Are we lost, Darien?”
He sagged, a pulse beating prominently on his temple. “We're somewhere off the charts. The navigator has no data at all on this sector.”
“How far off course do you think we are?”
“It’s hard to say. A few lights years, maybe. I’ve never seen these nebulae before. Considering that the deep space scopes regularly update navigational data, the fact that this area is still uncharted means that we could be quite a distance from our solar system.”
A tendril f panic writhed in her gut. “A few light years—in the Lunata? The accelerator can breech this kind of distance?”
“It shouldn’t under normal circumstances. I simply have no data on what malfunctioned. Christ, we were supposed to be cruising over ancient ruins by now!”
“Well, we’re not, are we,” she said, feeling an urgent and unwelcome pressure on her bladder. She rose awkwardly from her seat and hunkered toward the tiny rear compartment.
“Don't be long. Our only chance is to land this thing.”
She froze. “What the hell are you talking about? The accelerator got us here. Why can’t it get us back?”
Darien stared grimly at the instruments. “Nobody’s going to hear our distress call. The transmitter is down.”
A bitter taste of fear constricted Saranoud’s throat. “I didn’t ask you about the transmitter.”
He cast her a hard look, his eyes glinting like flint chips. “The time for games is over, Saranoud. We're in serious trouble. Whatever caused that severe power surge seems to have permanently damaged the accelerator. Not only that, but the Lunata's systems are failing, including life support. If we don't land soon, we'll plunge into the atmosphere like a rock.”
The floor lurched from beneath her feet. She gripped the back of the chair to steady herself against a jarring wave of nausea. The hoarse voice that emerged from her throat was as unfamiliar as the alien world below. “Have you—have you scanned the planet? Anything could be down there. It could be toxic for all you know.”
“I managed to get a few readings before the scanners failed. The atmosphere appears to be breathable. Beyond that, I simply don’t know. We just strap in and take our chances. Unless you have any suggestions?”
At that moment she wanted nothing more than to strike him, to vent her rage at the horrendous circumstances that had cast them like dice in some diabolical game. Unaccustomed to stress in any capacity, she found no strength to summon, only numb resignation as she settled into her chair.
* * *
Despite Darien's piloting prowess, the descent was turbulent and harrowing. The Lunata's systems continued to fail until only nominal navigation and life support remained. Saranoud bit her lip. Tasting the coppery tang of blood, it was all she could do to keep from screaming. Her body strained in the seat harness with every gut-wrenching twist and dive. A wave of green rushed toward them as the Lunata bucked through the upper stratosphere. Terror had never been a word in her vocabulary, had never crossed the threshold of her life. Now it shook her in its jaws and threatened to consume her whole.
“Darien, aren’t we going too fast? We’ll burn up!”
“Th
e Marzelen shielding will protect us,” he said, his fingers clenched as he tried to manually navigate the unresponsive vehicle. “Technology’s only been around for twenty years.”
She shot him a venomous look. “Excuse me if I don’t spend my days wired to the net like the average tekjock.”
He glared at her condescendingly. “Why don’t you concentrate on some wardrobe ideas? That should be enough to take your mind off things.”
Anger flared through her, but only briefly. In fact, wardrobe planning with Lotus was infinitely preferable than plummeting to some godforsaken planet elsewhere in the galaxy. She feebly swiped at her wilting quiff. Her throat felt tight and parched, the pungent odor of fear mingling with the stale air. She started to speak but changed her mind. Instead she closed her eyes, imagining velvety Martian roses undulating in the living room fountain.
“Saranoud!” Darien cried. “Watch carefully and tell me what you see.”
She snapped to attention, her eyes drawn by an unbroken smudge of vast emerald forests. No oceans relieved the endless cloak of land—no other terrain marred the girdle of lushness basking in a diamond clear sky. As the Lunata descended to the lower atmosphere, she realized that nothing but an immense conifer forest spanned the planet surface. The mighty trees soared hundreds of feet, vast spiny branches interlinked, massive trunks scarcely visible.
Overwhelmed by the majesty of the endless forest, she pressed her face to the car's skyshield. Something sparkling in the distance caught her attention. As the car continued its convulsive descent, she noticed a shimmering, translucent veil draping the treetops. In some areas it was the faintest of gossamer threads, in others, a dense, snowy mantilla.
Her bowels contracted once she realized why the sight looked familiar. The spun sugar treetops reminded her of the cobweb-draped shrubbery in her garden during the sultry summer months. Hordes of bright yellow female spiders laid their egg sacs, jealously guarding them from predators until the young emerged and subsequently cannibalized the mothers.
But that was in harmless miniature, she thought. She uselessly tried to glimpse through the dense canopy of trees. What lurked below remained the jealously guarded secret of the forest. She shuddered.
