by Tia LaBeau
She doesn’t pull her hand away, so I lick one finger and then I suck the another into my mouth. She moans. I reach out and pull her close to me. I tip her chin. “Have you ever been with a Havener before?” I ask.
She shakes her head no. I pull her closer to me so that she can feel my hardness. Her skin is so cool compared to mine. Poor thing, she is sweating.
“Have you ever been with a human woman before?” she asks me.
I shake my head no. It’s a lie, but I want her to feel special. I stroke her cheek. “Would you like to be with me?”
“I don’t know,” she says, pulling away. “Maybe if you’d consider making it cooler on the ship, I’d consider it. A little air conditioning never hurt anyone.”
I frown. “Sorry, but my ship does not have that capacity. It is only capable of extreme warmth. It is what we Haveners prefer.”
She steps even further away. She wipes her brow.
“Can you come back? Let me hold you in my arms for a while?”
She steps back towards me and leans her hips into me. “You’re so hot.”
“That is my temperature all the time.” I kiss her neck. Her skin is so soft. I just have to run my tongue along her. I move downward into her bosom. I draw in a breath. She smells so lovely.
I put my hand beneath her shirt and trace the pattern of her ribs, and then I tip toe my fingers up towards her breasts. She isn’t wearing the contraption over her breasts that I’ve seen human women wearing, so I caress her nipples, one hand on each. She gasps. She drops a little. I have to catch her by her backside to keep her from falling.
Jimbi Tind, another pirate on my crew, peeks his head through the doorway. “Sorry,” he says.
I grip Freda’s bottom tighter. “No worries.”
Freda pushes my hands off quickly, but by the time she does this, Jimbi is already gone.
“Oh my gosh, that was so embarrassing,” Freda says brushing the moist hair out of her eyes. She has a beautiful glow about her.
“No need to be embarrassed. We are two beings exploring each other.”
She raises an eyebrow. “You make it sound so clinical.”
I chuckle. “I’m not so good with words.”
“Me either. I mean I told your guys a joke a while ago, and they didn’t even laugh.”
I tilt my head back and turn. I’m suddenly hungry. I look through the food compartments. “What was the joke you told them?” I ask.
“No way, I’m not telling you,” she says.
I pull out a drink and rip the cap off. It turns out it’s nivuni juice. Nivuni juice is rare, from a fruit indigenous to the terraforming of Mars. I take a drink. I wince. Nivuni juice is not so tasty after all.
“Come on, tell me the joke,” I say.
She turns away from me, then spins back around. “Okay,” she says. “How do you organize a space party?”
I look at her. I can’t stop myself from frowning. “I don’t know. How?”
“You planet,” she says.
I laugh. I laugh so loud that I think I’m scaring her. “That’s a terrible joke. So terrible that it’s very funny.”
She smirks. “Thanks, I guess.” She yawns.
“Are you tired?” I ask.
“Yes, but I don’t think I can sleep.”
I grab her hand and snatch a bar from a basket on the counter. “Let’s go back to my lair.”
“Your lair, hmm?” she asks.
“Yes, sounds menacing, doesn’t it?”
“Very.”
8
Freda
I follow Bastian, the Pirate King, through the connector tube from the transport ship back to his ship or his “lair” as he calls it. He’s holding my hand. His skin is very warm. As if he is the sun himself.
“Where are we going?” I ask Bastian when we get back on the ship.
“You’ll see,” he says menacingly.
I’m still conflicted. I want him to help his people, but it’s jumbled. Are there really people who are not criminals being sent to the Havener prisons? Are they being held there to keep them from making the exodus? I shudder at the thought of innocent people being kept on that planet. And I can’t stop sweating on this ship.
I wish I could comm Cleo to discuss the issue of the Haveners and the exodus to Mars, but then I’d be giving it all away to her. I also know that she would insist that I come to her or return to Moon Company Moon.
Cleo wouldn’t want me getting involved with a pirate, let alone his crusade, but being here under these dire circumstances made me realize something. I’ve been through a lot, and I can handle myself. I ran to Moon Company Moon to hide, not to prosper.
This is an opportunity for me to thrust myself into action. It’s an opportunity for me to become my own woman. I’ve always wanted to go to Protos too. This is a once and a lifetime opportunity that I will never get again. The one I’m supposed to marry is just going to have to wait.
Each planet or moon in Teros has been assigned as a refuge for a specific world in Protos. The only conditions of permanent citizenship on any one world in Teros are employment and obeying the law. Some are saying that since there are a lot of Havener pirates that employment is a hard pitch to make to the Haveners. I’m not so sure that’s true.
We end up in front of Bastian’s chamber door. “There’s a lot of gold in that chamber,” I say. “Did you steal all of it?” I ask.
“Look around you. There is gold everywhere. Even in my crew’s mouths. Gold was once the pride of Havenu until it was all mined out. Then piracy became the means for procurement of treasures.”
“Got any gold chains in there? Rings?”
Bastian tilts his mouth over the sensor, and the door opens. We both step inside. He closes the door behind him. He goes over to a bureau which is pushed up against the wall. It appears to be made from the intertwining of some very dark, almost black vine. I wonder if it was handmade on Havenu.
He pulls a drawer out and rummages around in it. Next thing I know, he pulls out a gold ring. Then he pulls out a red ribbon. He loops the gold ring onto the ribbon. Then he carries the makeshift necklace over to me.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I made you something,” he says. “You asked for a gold chain. I do not have a gold chain small enough to fit around your neck, and I do not have a gold ring small enough to fit around your finger, so I’ve had to improvise.”
Bastian ties the makeshift necklace around my neck. The gold is cold to the touch on me, but Bastian’s hands are warm, almost hot as they caress my clavicle.
Bastian looks into my eyes. His hazel eyes are startling in their color, almost like their glowing with a fire within.
I haven’t been around many Haveners before. I’ve seen one or two on occasion passing through the bar I used to work at on Mars, and then I’ve seen some a few Haveners around Rim Rock.
As a matter of fact, when I come to think of it, I would suppose that the making of room for Haveners in Rim Rock and Mars as a whole hasn’t been as robust as I’ve seen it done in the news feeds on other worlds, and it seems strange.
“Where are you?” he asks me.
“Sorry,” I say. I pat the necklace again. “This is very nice. Super sweet.”
“I don’t know how to be sweet,” he says.
I touch his hot cheek. “I think you do,” I say.
For some reason, the picture of the Havener woman pops into my mind. I wonder if I should ask him about it. He walks me backward, towards the bed, before I get the chance to ask him. “It’s funny that you sleep standing,” I say.
“Why is that funny?” he asks. The expression on his face is very serious, very full of lust.
“I mean because you could sleep in a chair, on the floor, or in a bed.”
“We Haveners don’t have the same rest requirements as humans,” he says with a grin. “Although, unlike Sewvians, we do need rest, lest we overheat.”
“How else might you overheat?” I ask.
>
He licks his plump lips. He’s got me up against the bed now. He pulls me up so that I’m sitting on top of the bed and I can wrap my legs around him. I don’t squeeze him with my legs as much as I’d like to. Maybe when we get to know each other better, if that ever happens.
He leans in and kisses me with warm lips. I can’t help but moan. I feel his hardness on my stomach. Judging by the feeling, I can tell that he’s large in the crotch, and I know his dick must be as warm as the rest of him.
He’s pressed against me, and I can feel myself heating up in an almost pleasurable way. It’s like I’m basking, lying on a beach somewhere with the warm air kissing my body and the sun warming my face.
Bastian kisses my cheeks. Then he moves over to my ears and begins to nibble. I stroke his back with my hands. He reaches down and lifts up my shirt. He pulls my shirt up over my head.
Now I can feel his hotness all over my stomach and my breasts. I attack him now. I shove my tongue into his warm mouth and work it wildly. He grabs my hair and pulls my head back and licks my neck in an almost vicious way. I love it. I grab him and whisper. “Get up on the bed with me.”
“I told you, we Haveners like to stand up,” he says. He pulls away from me and stands there staring at me admirably. He’s hard for me. I can see it sticking out in his pants. I motion for him to come back to me, to at least get close, but he turns and leaves the room instead.
Here I am, standing here, looking like a sweaty idiot. I pace the floor. I can’t believe he left me like this. Now I get what guys are talking about when they mention the blue balls. My scattered brain wonders what Sewvian males call it since their balls are already blue. Get ahold of yourself, Freda.
Maybe it’s for the best. I have no business shacking up with the Pirate King anyway. I’m promised to another already. Besides, for all I know, a security firm or two or more will show up and blast this ship out of the sky. I hope they at least look for me first. They’d kill Bastian and the rest of his crew mates. I don’t want anything to happen to Bastian. The thought scares the shit out of me.
Suddenly I’m afraid of the prospect of Bastian dying. I try to switch gears in my thinking. There is nothing really stopping me from having a fling with Bastian, but what would it mean if I were to simply sleep with him, and go back to Moon Company Moon and marry the Edener?
Would it mean that we feel nothing for each other and that we’re just having fun? I don’t think that would be right. Would it? Is that even possible? I guess if one is really desperate for sex or just likes the sex but not the commitment, then that sort of thing works.
Maybe that’s how it would be for him. What if I fall for him and get my heart broken? I can either steel myself against the feelings part and have some fun or stay away from his wang. Heck, I could ask to go back home.
I only have this moment in time, right? The future is not promised. I ball up my fists, pace some more, drink some water, and then I sit down.
I won’t make a decision now, not a definitive one. I’ll just play it by ear. Besides, Bastian may not even want me again. Maybe I did something to scare him away or turn him off.
He is a breath of fresh air, though. There’s something gentle about him. He’s miles away from most of the guys I’ve dated before.
I crawl back into the bed and decide to rest. I have a feeling it’s safe enough for me to do that. Not long after I’m awakened by a shaking. When I open my eyes, I realize that it is the ship. I jump out of bed, pull on my pants and run out to the deck. I wonder if it’s a security firm come to take Bastian out. I find it nearly impossible to keep my balance.
9
Freda
When I get to the deck, I find Bastian hovering over his control center. It’s obvious that the ship is in some kind of trouble. Bingo sits at Bastian’s feet.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“We’re being attacked,” Bingo says
“By who?”
“It takes one pirate to know another. It’s Luce Gira, the former Pirate King of Havenu,” Bastian says.
I roll my eyes. “Great. And he wants what? To kill you?”
“Likely to take what I have. He knows that we’re leading the other ship. He likely wants to take both this ship and the commercial ship in order to reassert his dominance.”
“What does it matter? You’re in Teros now. In Teros, you both must follow the law.”
Bastian furrows his brow. “Follow the law? Now, why would I do that? I have absolutely no intention of ever following Teron law, except when it suits me of course.” He looks away. He hunches his shoulders. “Go back to my chambers. You’ll be safe there for now.”
“For now?”
“If Luce gets ahold of this ship, there’s no doubt that he’ll kill my crew and me. Now you, I’m not sure what he’ll do with you. He will have no qualms with either killing you or selling you on the undermarket sex slave trade.”
My stomach drops. I feel light headed. Just when I thought I was out of the woods, here I am getting myself in trouble again. Well, technically, it wasn’t my fault. It’s just that I decided to stay aboard this ship.
I was hiding behind Moon Company Moon, that’s for sure. But I’m having a hard time trusting myself to make my own decisions now. Something in my gut is pulling me to stay here with Bastian when I could have just gone.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll be staying here on this deck with you,” I say. I’m not going to cower in some corner, waiting for some tyrant dude to come storming in. I’ve been thrown over the shoulder once already.”
Bastian looks unconvinced. “Are you sure you want to do that? Luce likes to pry his victims apart piece by piece. I’m talking plucking each of your fingers off with a cutter, one by one, slowly, then going to work on your limbs.”
I swallow hard. My head is spinning. I feel dizzy. “So!”
Bastian blows out a loud breath. “You are impossible. You make no sense. Does logic even enter your mind?”
I cross my arms. “Of course not,” I say. “Who has time for logic?”
“I can order you elsewhere.”
“I double toucan dare you,” I say.
Bastian gets up out of his seat and goes over to a scope and tilts it. He puts his eye to it. “That is Luce. I am sure of it. He seems to be biding his time. I think he will wait until we get through the gate to try to attack us.”
“Would that be smart? We have friends on the other side,” one of the other pirates says. I don’t know the pirate’s name. All I know is that he’s red, and he has long black hair with gold speckles in it. He’s one of the smaller crew members I’ve seen, but he looks as gruff as one of the larger ones.
“He has friends on the other side too, Bellum,” Bastian says.
So now I know that this one’s name is Bellum. I give him the once over. If I have to, I think I can take him down.
“You cannot allow him to capture Freda Chou. Then we will have more problems on our hands, and no doubt our plans will be ruined,” Bellum says.
Bastian hangs his head. “I know, I know, Bellum.”
They talk about me as if I’m not even here. I huff. “You guys are pigs.”
“What do you mean we’re pigs?” Bastian asks. “No, no, don’t tell me. I don’t have time to entertain such things. Let’s get the armor back on and see if we’re prepared for the fight.”
“What about me?” I ask. “Don’t I get some armor?”
“Sure,” Bastian says. “You need armor to remain just where you are.”
“And what if I refuse to stay put?”
“Then you’ll probably die.”
My mouth hangs open. That’s a harsh punishment for not staying put. “Can’t I, like, just get some armor. You know, as a symbolic gesture?”
“Bellum, please get her some armor,” Bastian says.
“Did I do something wrong?” I ask. I gesticulate. “We, you know, just had a moment.”
Bastian rushes over to me. He gets down on his
knees and looks up into my face. “In case we don’t make it,” he says. He leans upward and kisses me.
The heat coming off of his mouth is almost too much to bear. I run my hands up and down his strong hot arms. The buckles on his jacket don’t do much to conceal his muscles or his body heat.
“They’re trying to pry the hatch open,” one of the other pirates says.
Bastian rubs my chin. It’s brief, but I still feel his touch even after he has left. Bellum storms towards me and tosses me a jacket covered with chains and buckles, along with a helmet that has horns, and, “Here,” he says. “You know how to shoot?” He hands me a gun.
I look at the gun. Cleo took me shooting once. We were supposed to go shooting again, but we never got the chance.
I turn the gun around in my hands. “It shoots bullets?” I ask.
“Bastian likes them retro. They go kill, and that’s what matters,” Bellum says.
I flip the gun over and examine it. The trigger is tap smart which means that it’s not so retro that you have to press a lever back. Instead, it responds to about a 3-second press.
Cleo showed me one of these at the shooting range, even showed me how to shoot one along with some other guns. If I try to recall them all, my mind will scramble. I don’t have the best memory, but luckily for me, this time I do remember the gun I’m holding.
“Hide over there,” Bellum says. “I’d hate for something to happen to you. Might start a war. Bingo stays with her.”
Before I can ask why something happening to me might start a war, Bellum runs off. I hear gunfire. I try to find some place to hide. I think about Bastian and the other pirates. The thought that I would cower here in a corner while they fight for our lives seems wrong to me.
I stand up from where I’m crouching. I spot a nook and cranny for me to hide in, in between two steel beams on the floor. The ship rocks again. This time harder than before. I wonder what parts of the ship are being hit.
I have no idea what I’m doing, but I make my way towards the action.
“Where are you going?” Bingo asks.
