“Which brings me to the subject of our visit with you today, Arac.”
“I’m not breeding for you or anyone else.” The bluntness of his words, seemed shockingly out of tune compared to the genteel banter that had gone before.
“I do not wish you for a breeder.”
“Am I to understand that you are contented with the few young your low status drone provides and that you are little bothered by the fact that he will only ever spawn males for you?”
The entire room went quiet, but Arac didn’t care. He was tired of hiding out and living in fear of capturing her interest. The anxiety of being forced to breed was slowly eating him alive. Getting to the truth of the queen’s interest in him overrode every other consideration at the moment.
Standing, she put both hands on the table as she stared at him. “How dare you speak about your king in such an insulting manner? There is nothing common about my Igor. He led the battle against the Sylon vessel that secured my agreement to be your queen. We lost many drones in that battle. Igor is the only reason we have a home world and are thus able to sit at this table and discuss our good fortune. If you wish to remain on this world, you will treat him with respect. Am I making myself clear?”
Stroking his child’s head, Arac responded. “Do you know the difference between queen makers and drones? We alone absorb the eggs of our queens, creating truly unique young. Also, there is the issue of daughters. We alone create females. You are satisfied with your drone now, but as the years roll by will you seek to supplant him for another?”
Staring him, her expression seemed perplexed. She was clearly trying to figure out where he was going with that line of reasoning. “I care not about such things. Igor is my soulmate. Without him, I am alone in a world of drones bent on doing my bidding. It would make for a lonely life.”
“So human queens do love?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“He is but testing you, my queen. Listen with ears that hear his worries and not with ears that are distracted by your own emotions.”
Understanding slid onto her face. She sat back down and her hand instinctively moved to clasp that of her mate. He was sitting close enough to slip his wing protectively around her back. Taking a deep breath, she spoke. “I honestly have no interest in you for spawning, now or ever. My thought was that you have young, as do Igor and I. Whether you like it or not, our houses must align themselves with one another, Arac.”
“I don’t understand.”
Vraden quickly clarified. “My line is the only one in this dimension that is filled with potential queen makers. Think about it, my son. If the queen and king can make only sons and our house is the only one making females, then we will need to form an alliance to see a true Maruvian queen on the throne of our new Maruvian home world.”
Arac choked out a laugh. “This is truly your only interest in me?”
Queen Carolyn sighed. “You say that so lightly. I have one real skill in the entire ‘verse, Arac. I’m good at divining the future. Not because I’m gifted in any way, but because I know people and how they react emotionally. You will one day realize that human women are nothing like your former queen. When that day passes, you will then begin thinking of them as potential mates. I believe you will eventually spawn female children.”
“I will not.”
Holding up a hand, she explained. “It matters not to me one way or the other. Your actions in the great battle against Kabelda earned you the admiration of our people. You are respected as a hero and potential role model for our young. I will not allow you to lock yourself away like a hermit.”
“I was not trying to be heroic. I wished only to preserve my young and free myself from being under Kabelda’s claw.”
“If not for yourself, think of your young. You and your sons are a still part of our soon to be joined families. If you do not produce daughters, then your brothers surely will. However, your sons are age mates to our own. We wish them to mingle, growing into strong intelligent adults together, for they will be the future rulers of our world. That cannot happen if you keep them secluded from society. Do you not wish them to take their rightful places among the ruling class of this world?”
“I agree with your wisdom on that issue, my queen.”
“You may think our world has little need of you, but that is not the case. It will take all of us working together to build the kind of stable world we wish for our young. I call upon you to step up and shoulder your share of the responsibility for making our new home world a success.”
Arac looked down at the hatchling staring up at him. His tiny antennas were twitching, evidence that his little one was cold. Wrapping the child in his arms, Arac slid him into the front of his uniform.
“I have no wish to embarrass myself or my family by shirking my responsibilities. What is it you wish of me?”
“I am told that prior to your selection as Kabelda’s mate, you had experience designing planetary defenses.”
“Yes. Unfortunately that skill was of little value on a battle cruiser.”
His father interjected. “This is not true. You improved and maintained our ship’s defensive shields for many years.”
“Any first year warrior with a good eye towards detail and rudimentary knowledge of defensive shielding could have done the same.”
Helena quipped, “Is that your fancy pants way of saying the job was beneath you.”
Sighing, Arac corrected himself. “I did not mean to be prideful. Planetary defense is complex, interesting, and challenging to me. By comparison, a ship’s system is simple. That is all I meant to communicate.”
“You are an intelligent drone. I have every confidence you will enjoy developing planetary defenses for our new home world, Arac. I have confidence in your ability to see this done.”
Feeling something loosen in his chest, Arac responded, “It will be as you wish, my queen. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in defending our home world.”
Deep down inside, Arac was more than pleased to be contributing again. Every drone wanted to be seen as adding value to the swarm. He could hardly blame his glorious queen for taking the time to draw him from his shell. To his mind, her wisdom was beyond anyone’s ability to question.
He glanced at his father, and the man’s smug expression made him wonder if he hadn’t had a hand in the whole thing.
Chapter 4
~ Tara ~
Music Mix
Tugging at her clothing, Tara realized it was not going to fit. It felt like trying to stuff a marshmallow into pasta shell. It just was not going to fit. Sighing, she called out for assistance. “Vraden, can you please come back? I need to talk to you.”
Stepping back into the room, the man’s eyes got big. “Apologies, Queen Tara. Your new clothing was damaged in the battle. I forgot that you grew during your time in medical.”
“Yeah, about that. God knows, I don’t want to seem like I’m complaining, but I feel like I’ve gained a good thirty or forty pounds since I came aboard the Maruvian vessel.”
“My apologies again, little queen. We received unusual readings from the nutritional units designed to keep you hydrated and nourished. You were in a coma for several weeks. As Maruvians do not lactate, we feed our young a synthetic liquid nutritional supplement until their teeth are fully formed. We modified the formula to keep you alive during the weeks you could not eat. Though we modified the mixture several times in an attempt to keep your levels balanced, I’m afraid we erred on the side of ensuring you had enough nutrients to aid in your recovery and an unforeseen side effect was you now have a superfluous layer of adipose tissue that should dissipate with time.”
Sighing, she smiled at the older drone’s serious tone. “I’m a plump little flesh ball. It feels really strange. No one on earth is this size anymore. Since food is scarce, processing plants restrict calories to only what is necessary.”
“Have no fear, the residual adipose tissue is not eno
ugh to be considered a health threat.”
Assuming that residual adipose tissue was Maruvian for fat, she replied, “It’s fine. My real problem is that I seem to be spilling out of my clothing.”
Holding out his hand, he spoke with fatherly deference. “Come, we will make you more clothing.”
Taking her hand, the older man led her to a platform in an alcove across the room. After some jostling around, she stood with her hands out from her sides and the machine scanned her new jumbo body size. Looking down the front of her body, Tara noticed that her normally ample bosom was now porn star sized. She stifled a giggle. Since getting abducted, her life had become more outlandish by the moment. This was just the last in a long line of odd occurrences.
A growly voice sounded off. “You may not scan my queen without my permission.”
Glancing at Jax, she cautioned, “Ease up off the nice healer, Jax. I can’t go running around with my boobs hanging out. Please let the man make me some new clothing.”
“Very well, but I am watching to make sure the machine does not harm you.”
Rolling her eyes, she replied blandly. “You do that, little guy.”
“I take my job as your protector very seriously. I will not allow some mechanical device to enslave you. Not on my watch.”
“What? Wait, is this dangerous?”
“You are perfectly safe.”
“Then why is he saying that?” Jax may be naive and overly protective but he wasn’t actually crazy.
“Your golugua is suspicious of machinery because our former queen used a neural device to control his species. Thank goodness little Penny figured it out, or they might still be housed in cages.”
“So you’re sure the scanner is safe?”
The older man seemed pensive. “Let me think for a moment. When was the last time a queen was enslaved by a medical scanner? I think it was never.”
Tara noticed that the older man leaned forward slightly and waited with anticipation for her response. It was kind of bizarre. Then it hit her; this was his rudimentary attempt at Earth humor. Nodding her head, she acknowledged his token attempt. “Yes, that was amusing.”
The man looked disappointed. “You did not laugh.”
Jax interrupted, using his usual defiant tone. “You should work on your jokes. Make them funnier if you wish the queens to laugh. Queen Penny says humans like jokes that start with knocking. Here, let me demonstrate.”
Glancing over at her sentinel, Tara asked sweetly, “Jax, is there any chance I can get a new kind of fruit? It’s called a banana and I’m sure some human has programed it into the food resequencer.”
As soon as he scampered out the door, she turned her attention back to the older man. “Not all women laugh easily. I’m more pragmatic and rarely laugh out loud.”
The older man sighed. “If human queens could be accused of having a flaw, it would be that they are all very different. It makes understanding you very difficult.”
“I’ll bet drones are very different as well. You’ve just become accustomed to the differences. After being around us for a while, you’ll come to value our differences.”
“I suppose you are correct, Queen Tara. The scanner has captured your new dimensions. What kind of gown would you like?”
“No gown. I need a uniform like the drones wear. Something dark that hides dirt well and gives me freedom of movement.” Since the older man was literally gaping at her, she clarified. “I need something that is suitable for both work and leisure and durable enough to suffice until I can earn enough money to purchase more clothing.”
“Queens do not work on our world.”
“Then how to do they survive? My jiggly new body is going to need food. In order to purchase food and shelter, I need to earn a living. I’m not particular about what I do. I’ll take just about any assignment…”
“You do not understand. There is housing near the palace provided for queens to rest and relax as they peruse the lists of available drones and family units.”
“I prefer to work and earn my own way.”
“There is a pool,” he supplied helpfully.
She blinked at him, wondering what he didn’t understand about the concept of working. “I would like to speak to whoever is in charge of human women on this planet.”
“That would be Queen Carolyn.”
“Can you put me in touch with whoever keeps her schedule?”
“That would be her actionator, Talon. I will raise him on the com once you are properly gowned.”
“Make me a black uniform, or so help me, I’ll scream the walls down.”
Vraden immediately turned and his fingers flew over the control panel. Robotic arms came out and began removing her clothing. When she was stark naked and beginning to regret the whole request for new clothing, the arms began shooting out threads. Not daring to look down for fear of getting a face full of it, she stood perfectly still.
The arms retreated and began sucking some black liquid substance from the wall. Quickly daring a look, she found that she had been fitted with what appeared to be a one-piece white undergarment, much like an old earth swimsuit. Suddenly, the arms zoomed back over and went to work again. Several minutes later a burst of heated air surrounded her for a brief moment then everything stopped moving.
Barely sparing her a glance, Vraden spoke. “You may step down now, Queen Tara. I modified the typical drone form suit to fit your feminine form. It has magnetic seams down the front and on the boots.”
Tugging gently at the collar, she found it was some type of state-of-the-art synthetic fabric with a little stretchiness to it. It gave when she moved and felt like she was wearing nothing at all. “This is really wonderful, Vraden. In fact, it’s just what I had in mind. You did a really wonderful job!”
Glancing up at her, the man smiled. “The fabric displays all your new curves. The drones will not know what to do with you.”
Thinking he was making a snide comment about her chubby body, she ignored the jibe. “I’m in no shape to be trying to find a mate. I need to get a job, sort out some housing and then maybe look around for a drone.”
“You have strange priorities, little queen. Would you like to speak to the queen’s actionator now?”
“Yes please, and thank you for saving my life. Words alone hardly seem adequate for someone who gave the gift of life.”
“Seeing you walk out of here whole and strong is the only thanks I need.” His fingers danced over the panel again and a drone’s annoyed face shimmered into view.
“Greetings, Healer Vraden. What can I do for you today?”
“Queen Tara wishes to speak with you.” Motioning her over, she stepped in front of the viewer.
“Gods of Chaos, Vraden, why didn’t you ensure she was suitably dressed?”
Holding up a hand to draw the younger drone’s attention, she interrupted. “Do not ask anyone else questions about me but me.”
“I beg your pardon, Queen Tara?”
“I’m the local resident expert on me. If you want to know why I’m wearing a uniform then ask me, not him. I chose my own clothing and wanted to wear this.”
Understanding slipped onto his face. “You wish to display your generous curves. It is a bold move, sure to draw all the most prestigious drones to your side.”
Closing her eyes for a brief moment to keep her temper in check, she stated, “I wish to speak with Queen Carolyn as soon as possible. When can you fit me into her schedule?”
“Come right away if you like. The needs of our queens are given priority over every other consideration.”
“Does she have a time today when she is not scheduled to see others?”
“She has a five microns just before the midday feeding. Shall I write your name in for that time period?”
“Yes, please. I’ll be prompt and make it quick.”
“There is no need to rush. I would plan to dine with us, as I’m certain our beauteous queen will insist upon you joining her for the
midday meal.”
“Thank you, Talon.”
“It has been my pleasure to serve.”
Once the screen went blank, Tara sighed. Being called a queen and catered to was one of those things that human women always dreamed about. It was real cool until it actually happened. After about five minutes she discovered it was really quite annoying.
Glancing up at Vraden, she asked respectfully, “Am I allowed to go now?”
“You are a queen. Therefore, you are allowed anything you like on our world.”
“That’s not as big a selling point as one might imagine for your world.”
“It has always been the way with our kind.”
“Where you came from, I’m sure that made sense.”
“It is the natural order of things. Queens command and drones obey.”
“Don’t start that crap with me again, Vraden. God knows I love you to pieces, but I will scream the walls down.”
Smiling indulgently at her, he stated softly, “You always say that, but you never do.”
Shrugging, she admitted self-consciously, “It’s more of a saying than a real action plan.”
“I will remember that.” Pulling a small box out of a drawer, he opened it and showed her a small oval glass stone. Tara recognized it immediately as a pleasure stone. Glancing up at him, she knew her confusion must have been clearly stamped onto her face because he immediately offered an answer for her unasked question. “There is a strong possibility that you may suffer from headaches because of your injury. They might be particularly painful over the next few weeks. Pleasure stones are valued because they have medicinal uses in addition to providing sexual pleasure. We keep a ready stock of medium sized stones to ease the pain caused by certain ailments, as it is safer than the pharmaceutical interventions used by your people. You can use a stone as much as you like without fear of becoming addicted or of overdosing on its effects.”
“I could never afford such a thing.”
“There is no mechanism in place to purchase healing on our world, little queen. Take your stone and keep it close. The pain may come swift and severe or not at all. Better to be prepared than to suffer the pain of lacking one when you have need.”
Hero's Bride Page 3
