Michaela

by Tracy St. John

  “Govi uses this too,” the Dramok told Michaela. “You are welcome to do so as well. This is a walker-runner exerciser—” he pointed to something that reminded Michaela of a treadmill “—here is a resistance machine that builds and tones muscle, and lying on this one lets you mimic water sports like swimming and body surfing.”

  “Because the ocean is so far away,” Michaela deadpanned.

  Korkla chuckled. “The winters here can be harsh, keeping us on dry land for months at a time. Plus spring riptides are nothing to mess with.”

  Govi added, “Your Dramok also competes in fitness trials, specifically swimming and running. The watersport exerciser keeps him in shape for that year round.”

  “Oh.” Michaela could see the sense of the machine now. “How many competitions have you won?”

  Korkla made a face, but his tone was still cheerful. “None.”

  “Yet,” Raxstad said in a diplomatic tone. “He’s come damned close several times though. I think this summer will be your season, my Dramok.”

  Korkla shrugged with a smile. “I do it because it’s fun. I consider myself my only competition. If I keep improving over my last performance, I’m happy.”

  “A healthy attitude,” Govi said.

  “What’s your sport?” Michaela asked the Imdiko.

  “Sex. I train as often as possible.”

  That set the rest of them off laughing. Raxstad made as if to toss Govi onto the nearby bench. “I’ll give you a workout, you gorgeous bastard.”

  Chuckling at his clanmates’ antics, Korkla motioned Michaela into the next room in his suite. “This is my sitting room, where I come when I want quiet,” he said.

  She followed him, finding herself in a room off the long balcony. The open archway brought in the tangy scent of seashore that Michaela was already learning to love. The sound of waves washing on the shore made the relaxed room even more so. Sunlight beamed in, showing the overstuffed Plasian-style lounger that faced the archway. Like the sea beyond the balcony, the lounger was emerald-hued. Its velvety texture looked incredibly cozy to Michaela, and she imagined lying there, listening to the surf ... or rain on a stormy day.

  A couple of chairs with matching upholstery made the sitting area a semi-circle. Artwork hung on the walls depicting seashores that looked real enough to walk into. A tapestry also hung on one wall, a huge piece that seemed to show many Kalquorians battling each other. Michaela knew little of sewing and art, but she could tell the tapestry was well made. Its striking hues were deep and the subject matter violent, an almost startling departure from the serenity of the rest of the room.

  “An ancestress of mine made that to commemorate the War of the Breeds,” Korkla said, noting Michaela’s interest. “She was a child when our one civil war occurred, and this is from a battle she saw happen.”

  “That’s a scary thing for a little girl to see,” Michaela said. She knew little about the war in which Nobeks had fought against Dramoks and Imdikos. Judging from the tapestry, it must have been horrific, she decided. There were as many dead soldiers as those fighting.

  She turned her attention to the rest of the room. Small shelves with other pieces of art dotted here and there. Korkla also had small cooling and cooking units. The room was a comfortable place to get away.

  He confirmed that by saying, “I love coming in here to read and listen to music. It’s perfect when I’ve had a hectic day and I require some alone time to recover.”

  Michaela could appreciate that. “It’s nice that you have all this room to pursue every interest and need you have.”

  “It is. When we first moved here to remain close to the Crown Prince Clan, I thought it was too much. I do appreciate having the extra space, however.”

  Michaela loved the idea of each person having a private apartment within the home, somewhere to have quiet and be alone with one’s thoughts. Plus it gave her a look into what was most important to each man.

  She said, “Seeing this is like having a window into your minds. So, Govi, what will I find out about you?”

  The Imdiko grinned. “Why don’t I show you?”

  Govi took Michaela’s hand and led her out onto the balcony, where they walked to the next open archway. Excited to discover more, Michaela stepped into Govi’s rooms.

  Chapter 10

  Like Korkla, the Imdiko had an immense office. File disks, tiny storage devices the size of Michaela’s little finger, littered the surface of a long table that Govi apparently used as a desk. Three handheld computer devices sat alongside the flat disk of his unpowered computer.

  “I catch up on my research at home,” he told Michaela. “There’s no time to keep up at work. I’m too busy dealing with my staff and patients. Those three handhelds contain nothing but books and studies.”

  “How do you do all that and spend time with your clan?” Michaela asked. The amount of work Govi did worried her.

  He chuckled. “I don’t, not really. I’m always behind where I want to be when it comes to my work.”

  Raxstad gave Govi a mock-glare. “Sometimes he lets his job interfere with his clan.”

  Korkla’s look was no less severe. “When Govi reaches the point where I feel I have to make an appointment just to see my own Imdiko, I force him to slow down.”

  Govi’s smile was shamefaced. “I’m a little on the obsessive-compulsive side when it comes to my patients. I get so wrapped up in trying to help them that I forget I have a life outside the ward.”

  Raxstad grinned and fingered the strap he wore around his waist. “Don’t worry; I’m always ready to remind you.”

  Govi pulled a face. “Yes, I know.”

  Michaela giggled. “How did you manage to tear yourself away all those weeks to go to Plasius?”

  Govi’s pout grew darker as Korkla and Raxstad’s smiles grew bigger. “I wasn’t given a choice in the matter.”

  “Keep pushing yourself so hard and you’ll end up with a room on your own ward,” Korkla told him. He shook his head at his clanmate. “Your dedication is to be lauded, my Imdiko, but even you have to admit you take it too far. I do not want to see you take it to that extreme again.”

  “How bad did you get?” Michaela asked.

  “Govi didn’t come home for two nights in a row,” Raxstad answered when the Imdiko kept silent. “He had an Earther Matara who was determined to kill herself. And when I say determined, I mean she would not stop trying to take her own life. Even when Govi put her in conscious stasis, she tried to swallow her own tongue.”

  “She wanted nothing but death,” Govi said, his gaze going distant and sad.

  “What happened? Did she succeed?” Michaela was aghast to hear the story. What had to happen to make someone that insistent that they would not continue their life?

  “I finally had to give in to my second’s insistence that we perform a therapeutic mind cleansing,” Govi said. He spat the words out, as if they tasted repugnant.

  “A mindwipe,” Korkla said when Michaela shook her head in confusion. “The Matara’s memories of her entire life were erased.”

  “The second one I’ve allowed,” Govi said, still looking horrified. “If I thought there was any chance of salvaging that poor woman’s sanity – but after all she’d been through – what else was there?”

  Raxstad’s rough face wasn’t made to exude sympathy, but he managed the feat anyway. “You know you did all you could. Starting over saved her life.”

  Korkla put his arm around Govi, who now looked thoroughly miserable. His words were aimed at Michaela, however.

  “Govi’s patient had been repeatedly raped as a child. Due to Earth’s laws, when what had happened was discovered, she was put in prison.”

  “Because the victim is every bit as guilty as the rapist, according to the Church.” Michaela’s gorge rose. “She should have been executed for the crime of inciting lewd behavior.”

  “Her age kept that from happening. Instead, she was given a life sentence on a penal colony
on a space station in the far reaches of Earth’s solar system.”

  “Where she was raped daily by her guards,” Raxstad said. His voice was little more than a growl.

  “No wonder she wanted to die,” Michaela said. Tears prickled her eyes. It was a horror she couldn’t imagine anyone going through. “How did she end up on Kalquor?”

  “One of our spyship crews infiltrated the prison. They were only supposed to gather intelligence, not rescue anyone. When they discovered Govi’s patient and another woman who suffered from a nearly identical situation, they couldn’t bear to leave them there.”

  “The other woman was the first one I let Kivokan mindwipe. She was his patient, after all,” Govi said. “She alternated between catatonia and violent suicide attempts and we finally agreed with him that we had no other option.” He swallowed hard.

  “How are they now?” Michaela asked.

  Govi managed a weak smile. “Like children. They didn’t lose their basic abilities to function. They walk and talk and feed themselves ... that sort of thing. But without memories, they’re discovering life as if for the first time. They smile, laugh, and play games now. The tutors we’ve brought in say they may function as full adults again within a few years, though we believe they’ll lag behind in maturity for longer.”

  “It sounds like you did the right thing for them,” Michaela said.

  “I suppose. It’s difficult immediately after the mindwipes, though. They just lie there, like dolls. Empty, soulless dolls.” Govi swallowed again. “I suppose I went a little mad after my patient’s procedure. I stayed by her side, trying to ignite some spark of real consciousness. I was desperate to know I hadn’t taken away her last hope of life. Of all the people I’ve ever known, she deserved a chance to live.”

  He wiped at his cheeks. Korkla hugged him close and kissed Govi’s forehead. “She’s got that chance now, my Imdiko. You gave it to her.” The Dramok smiled at Michaela. “And here is your reward ... a beautiful Matara of your own to love and care for.”

  It moved Michaela to tears when Govi looked at her with naked adoration. “A reward I will cherish for the rest of my life,” he said.

  With the passing of the Imdiko’s emotional storm, they continued the tour of his rooms. His meditation space was much like Raxstad’s: small and functional.

  The next room, outfitted much like a parlor, was far more interesting. It possessed a scattering of comfortable furniture and a small entertainment vid system. However, it was the walls full of vid stills that overwhelmed Michaela’s gaze. Everywhere she looked, pictures of smiling Kalquorians, beautiful landscapes, and interesting items greeted her eyes.

  She knew that each unit could hold as many as a thousand still pictures and hours of video. Michaela laughed out loud to see what had to be an enormous collection. Govi’s still-recording hobby was worse than she’d thought.

  “Do you commemorate everything you’ve ever seen and everywhere you’ve gone?” she asked. “I knew you took lots of pictures, but this is crazy!”

  Govi ducked his head and chuckled along with the rest of them. “I know, I know. I go completely overboard.”

  “That’s one word for it,” Raxstad teased. “I’m sure he’s got pictures of every meal he’s ever eaten.”

  “Come on, it’s not that bad.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Michaela had to come to Govi’s defense. “I think it’s sweet that you want to preserve so many memories.” She noticed one picture of the clan and her mouth dropped open. “Damn, look how young you three were! You’re like babies here!”

  She stared at a still of the trio horsing around on the beach. Raxstad lay on his stomach in the sand, propping his chin in one palm. Govi and Korkla sat on his broad back. The trio was laughing uproariously, mouths stretched wide. Michaela had not thought of them as being all that old, but she saw far fewer lines on their faces in the picture. There was also more innocence in their eyes that experience had stolen. They appeared just as happy as she was used to, but they were no doubt more naive at the time the shot had been taken.

  Govi gave her a playful nudge. “We were older than you when this picture was taken.”

  Raxstad snickered. “Korkla wasn’t, not by much anyway.”

  “I keep forgetting you could be my grandpas. What a bunch of geezers.” Michaela stuck her tongue out at the men. The effect was ruined by her giggles.

  Raxstad grabbed her and tossed her in the air to make her scream. He caught her with no effort and sat her on his hip. “That’s right, youngling. So don’t forget I can put you over my knee at any time and spank that pretty ass for your sassiness.”

  “Yeah, like I’m going to forget that. My pretty ass is still sore from last night. Sometimes I think you punish me because you like it.”

  He crooked a brow, giving her a knowing leer. “Sometimes I think you misbehave because you like being punished.”

  Michaela blew a raspberry at him, but didn’t challenge his observation. The thought of being spanked again aroused her even though her rear did still ache from the night before.

  She wanted to see the rest of the home before she started fucking in it, so she sought distraction. “Show me more pictures of you three before you got so old and cranky.”

  Govi tapped the frame of the beach vid. “Play all files.”

  The still faded into another of the trio cavorting on the beach. Every few seconds the display changed, a slide show of passing months, and then years. Most were of Korkla and Raxstad, since Govi had apparently been wielding his handheld’s camera. Many made the Dramok and Nobek turn red with embarrassment.

  After one of Korkla sleeping in the whirlpool with drool escaping the corner of his mouth, the clan leader burst out, “Damn it, I’m going to erase half of these. Why are you saving such embarrassing pictures?”

  Govi gave him a surprised look. “Because they’re shots of you two.”

  That set off a round of teasing from Korkla and Raxstad about the Imdiko’s sentimentality.

  “Ooh Korkla, you’re so sweet when you’re passed out drunk in the whirlpool,” Raxstad cried in a falsetto.

  “It doesn’t compare to how adorable you were tripping and busting your ass at Bevau’s clanning ceremony.” Korkla batted his eyelashes, a sappy look on his face.

  “My Dramok!”

  “My Nobek!”

  They fell against each other, cooing in saccharine voices like a couple of lovesick teenagers. Michaela bent double laughing at the pair. Scowling, Govi shoved them both.

  Raxstad made kissy faces at the Imdiko. “What a sweetheart. Why don’t you take a picture of me shitting too? You can call it ‘Cherished Moment’.”

  “Or ‘Cherished Movement’,” Korkla suggested.

  Govi waited for them all to stop roaring with laughter. Once he could be heard again, he asked, “Who says I don’t already have that shot?”

  Raxstad’s grin froze on his face. “You don’t.”

  Govi gave the Nobek an entirely too-satisfied smile. “Five years ago. Beach party. The ronka marinated in wedi sauce didn’t agree with you, so you ducked behind a dune. You were grunting so loud you didn’t hear me sneak over. That look of grim concentration on your face, squatting bare-assed—”

  Korkla erupted into fresh gales of laughter as Raxstad roared and reached for Govi. The Nobek grabbed his smug clanmate by the shoulders and shook him. “Where is that picture?”

  “I’m not telling. All I’ll say is it’s in one of these vids hanging on the walls. Good luck finding it.”

  As Raxstad issued threats and begged Korkla to let him beat the picture’s location out of Govi, Michaela raised streaming eyes to the vid still going through endless pictures. She stopped laughing.

  It showed a shot of the three men, along with another Kalquorian. A woman.

  An absolutely gorgeous woman.

  Blinking the tears of hilarity out of her eyes, Michaela drew close to the vid. Her clan surrounded the gorgeous creature, ever
y one of them touching her. Korkla stood behind her, his arm wrapped around her trim waist. Govi leaned close, his chin resting on her shoulder. Raxstad curled his hand possessively around her elbow. The woman looked at Michaela, a haughty smile on her stunning face. The men looked at the woman, their expressions those of men completely besotted. It was a moment of intimacy.

  A lump formed in Michaela’s throat. In a thick voice, she asked, “Who is that?”

  The men behind her left off their silliness to draw close for a look. Michaela studied their faces as they viewed the still.

  Korkla blinked as recognition flooded his face. “Oh. That’s Feyom.”

  A smile ghosted Raxstad’s lips. “By the ancestors. Look at the uniform I’m wearing. I think that’s my first one with Global Security.”

  “That’s an old, old picture.”

  “I’ll say. Feyom hasn’t changed much since then, has she?”

  Govi shrugged, but he gazed at the picture with fondness. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t think I’ve seen her in a couple of years.”

  “She’s lovely,” Michaela said.

  She still felt like she was choking. Feyom was much more than lovely. She was drop dead gorgeous. Despite the natural muscularity that was bequeathed every Kalquorian, Feyom was extraordinarily feminine. Her breasts were full and high, her waist tapered, with rounded hips flaring wide. Despite the superior expression on her face, her face couldn’t have been more exquisite. Perfectly arched brows framed large, dewy eyes. Her nose was straight and delicately pointed. Her lips pouted slightly, full and sensuous.

  Michaela thought she’d never seen a more stunning woman. The old sense of being inadequate fell upon her with its full, damning weight.

  Raxstad snorted dismissively as the picture changed to one of Korkla sitting astride a large six-legged creature that slightly resembled a horse. “She’s nice enough to look at. But you Earthers have that saying, don’t you? Pretty is as pretty does? Something like that?”

  Govi made a face. “She’s a manipulative one. Narcissistic and self-obsessed.”

  “Not trustworthy at all,” Korkla agreed.