by Chris Hechtl
He was pissed about being forced, about his right to choose his own destiny being taken away from him. She hunted him carefully, aware he was vulnerable now and that they had bonded again. He had opened up his shell a little to her, unintentionally perhaps but the opening was there. She took over when he finished the stitching, holding his arm as she bandaged it.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, checking it when she was finished. She shyly looked away.
“Don't you like me?” she asked softly. He looked away fumbling with the first aid kit as he put it away.
“Yes,” he ground out, putting the kit away. “You haven't made it easy. You've been an ice princess, a real B... um, but yeah, I like you. You've been a snooty pain in the ass, prickly, hard to like. You're beautiful; you know it and you use it for your own ends. I've admired your courage, your tenacity, and your spirit. You've got a set on you, I'll admit that. I don't think I could have done half the things you've done. Wicked wicked pride,” he said, her eyes gleamed. “You have a wicked right cross, you've got a sharp tongue and you can handle any weapon. You've got a temper I don't mind admiring from a distance but every once in a while I see the softer side, the side you used to nurture your sister.” He shook his head. “In other words I like and admire you for you. Deidra, fiery woman of grace and short temper. That still doesn't change anything. I'm not going to be forced.”
She smiled slightly in triumph as she sat on his lap. “I think it does,” she said softly. She finally got him to admit he had feelings for her she thought. She kissed him softly, cupping his cheeks with her fingertips with moth like gentleness. He was surprised by the tender kiss, surprised and off balance both mentally and physically. His arms instinctively wrapped around her as she pulled his head down for another more thorough and very passionate kiss.
“But...” he said, but she kissed him again, stroking him. “But...” he said softer but she kept kissing and holding him.
“Oh hell with it,” he finally said, giving in as he felt his body responding to her relentless attack. Things undressed from there as conscious thought devolved.
She was a little exasperated that he was so hesitant at first; she became the wanton demanding lover. She wasn't going to take no from him and he discovered how far she wanted to take this when she pushed him onto his back and took charge. It became an intoxicating experience for her, one that drove the memory of her rape out of her mind. She was pleased and awed by his stamina, and his inventiveness. His willingness to not only please and pleasure her over his own short pleasure drove any lingering doubts of his worthiness as a partner from the shadows of her mind. He was such a tender lover, conscientious of her needs, and ready to clean her up with a wash cloth when they were through. His tender caressing rekindled her lust and led to another passionate love making session that lasted until the dawn broke the horizon.
The next morning they cuddled in each other’s arms, spent but relaxed and talked quietly. She hadn't let him think about the seduction, changing the subject with a glance and a smile. She did admit to wanting comfort and solace in his arms. She nuzzled him, wrapping his arms around her naked body. “It's about time,” she murmured.
“Worth the wait?” he murmured in her ear. She smirked but didn't answer. She was curious if he'd try to top himself.
Softly she asked him if he'd stay. He froze. “I... Deidra come back with me. Come to my world and be a rich woman, see the world and know it.” She stared at him taken aback by that.
“I... I wouldn't be a princess anymore.”
“No, but you'd be my partner,” he said gently. “Deidra I told you I'm into you because of you, not for your titles or power. I don't care about them. I want Deidra the woman,” he said, eyes locking onto hers.
She saw the depths there, the inky depths she was ready to throw herself into. Finally though reality cut into her reverie. She bit her lip. I'd be a fish out of water,” she said regretfully. She realized suddenly he would be the same here. She instantly regretted the empathy. Regretted and resented it, resented it because she was fairly certain he'd led her down the path into this trap. “Besides, my people need me,” she said firmly. “Will you stay? Protect them as you have protected me?” she asked softly, almost pleading with him.
He sighed. He knew she'd do this, emotional blackmail. In a way he couldn't really blame her. He blamed himself for letting it get this far out of hand. She wriggled a little, expecting a response. He told her softly and honestly he was not sure. “I have things I still want to do on earth. Things I want so badly to do.”
“You can do those things here.” She said quietly not meeting his eyes. Now that she had a taste of him she wasn't ready to let him go. His hesitancy, his gently thorough lovemaking had been the tonic she'd needed to put some of her fiery demons to rest. She still had nightmares but she knew there was a new dawn coming, one filled with promise of a new day. His sweet kisses were what she needed to face each day. His arms were wrapped around her from behind. She nuzzled them, drinking in their strength and warmth.
He looked down at her, amused. “Change the world? It would take lifetimes to do it. Electronics, Medicine, Education, Mechanics, god where to start!” He laughed. “Besides I'm a techy at heart dear, I love fiddling with machines, making them myself. Politics aren't really my thing,” he said, trying to keep his tone light. “I'm not a people person,” he admitted.
“I think I've found that out already,” she murmured chuckling softly. His hands caressed her body, fingertips stroking here and there. “Behave,” she murmured, catching his fingers before they went wandering too far and then leaning and twisting back to exchange a kiss with him. Her laughing eyes haunted his as she smiled and then relaxed once more in his arms. Of course she didn't let his fingers go though.
“I'm not sure I can do it. Change this world,” he murmured.
She shook her head and turned in his arms to look up at him. “Didn't you already?” she asked, eyes twinkling.
“Touché',” he answered. He couldn't help smiling though. She smiled again. She pulled him down for a thorough kiss. She knew now Wanda had been right, there were other ways to get what she wanted from him. Ways that were far more enjoyable for both of them.
Chapter 17
Ticundus grinned as the last Duluthian body was placed in the mass grave. His men had done excellently, killing the latest night attack without any losses. They were tired but ecstatic; the gaijin weapons had so far allowed them to fight with minimum losses. In fact since they'd hunkered down in the ruined wall they had no losses to speak of!
It was unheard of to have such a ruinous exchange in their favor. Both wings of the Duluth attack had been repulsed, a few of the injured had been captured and the survivors had fled into the night. Had he more men he would have given chase!
He thought about that rash act and then frowned. No, on second thought he wouldn't have. Lieutenant Galloway had been correct, here in a defensive position he and his men were leveraging their resources to their maximum. Out in the open, undefended by walls with the enemy able to charge and run them down it might have been different. He turned to the others.
They had three hundred soldiers now, three cohorts of Silent Knights. They also had a dozen recruits from the refugees who were willing to take up arms. The others formed an auxiliary, helping their three medics and taking over the day to day running of the fort's cleaning and cooking chores to allow the soldiers to do their jobs.
The gaijin Lewis was due to resupply them today, he hoped she had more ammunition. The grenades were nice but of limited utility he had discovered. They did a great job of breaking up knots and forcing the enemy to back off but their limited range was a serious problem. It would be nice if they could get the mortar which Gunny Paris had promised was in the works.
“Post battle chores,” he said turning to Jensig. Jensig nodded, making a note on a piece of slate. “Stand down a third of the force after a half hour and shit, shower, and shave. If we don't see any more acti
vity then stand down another third in two hours and tell them to bed down for six hours.”
“Normal routine at lunch?” Jensig asked. Ticundus nodded. “Lewis will hopefully be here by then. All hands on deck to cover her when she lands. We'll unload, get her back in the air and then sort things out from there,” he said.
“Yes sir,” Jensig said. He saluted and took off at a trot.
<==={}------------>
Ryans dodged a squirt of water as he came into the chemistry room after a late breakfast. He had a lot to do today and not a whole lot of time to do it... his thoughts chopped off abruptly when he dodged. “HEY!” he complained in surprise. He frowned as Wanda giggled. She pointed the streaming bottle towards a bucket. He'd had a hell of a time extracting himself from Deidra. She was wrapping him around her little finger and only the royal Chamberlain's request for her company had let him escape. Well, technically she'd left with a pouting moue and several frisky kisses but at least he'd managed to be free for a time.
Only a time though, he realized, his freedom now was sharply limited. He felt a lingering resentment over it, the emotional blackmail bothered him but he realized it was something he... hell the two of them were going to have to work out over time. Going home wasn't necessarily possible after all, but it was a goal he firmly intended to keep, at least for now. Besides, he wasn't sure he really wanted to escape her grasp any longer.
It wasn't fair really. In a perfect world she'd want him for him, not because she needed him. He'd wanted her for her, not because of her rank or titles. In fact to him they were a hindrance and a burden, now more than ever. He sighed mentally. But they didn't live in a perfect world, far from it. They had to make do with what they had and try to make the best of it.
“What's that dare I ask? Super soaker?” he said shaking his head. His hand accidentally touched a wet spot on the door jam. He looked down and then raised it to his nose and sniffed the foam. “Smells like vinegar,” he observed.
“That's because it is dummy,” Wanda said smiling. “Vinegar water, and sodium bicarbonate,” she explained, hefting the device.
“Baking soda?” Ryans asked shaking his head.
“Yup. Raided a bakery for this,” she said holding up the improvised device. “They've been stocking up, hoarding the stuff. Caused a shortage in town. We're stuck using them for a lot of baking goods now.”
Ryans chuckled. “Capitalism. You've gotta love it.”
“Yeah well, whatever,” she griped. She shrugged that off.
“So what's that for? Other than getting me wet?” he asked.
“I missed remember?” she asked turning and putting the jar down. He opened his mouth to retort but she kept talking. “To answer your question it's a prototype fire extinguisher.”
“Oh,” he said thoughtfully. He paused and looked at the jar. “Kinda small you know.”
“Smart ass,” she mock growled. She shook her head. “Proof of concept.” She took the tree gum stopper out and removed the soaked tissue paper ball attacked to the pipe stem.
“Something they teach you in chemistry class?” he asked, leaning against a counter.
“Hardly. Get your hands away from that,” she said not looking up. He carefully moved away from the counter. “Its' sensitive,” she said in way of explanation. Gently he moved to the center of the room and put his hands in his pockets. He didn't want anything blowing up, splashing him, or whatever.
“Better,” she smiled, darting a glance at him over her shoulder. She turned after a moment and held up the pieces. “It's a simple thing, Jar, rubber stopper, tissue paper, and a pipe stem with the tip shaped into a nozzle. I actually got the idea from a very old chemistry book my dad had when he was a kid. He passed it on to me. It's the reason I got into chemistry actually.”
Ryans nodded. “Okay, I thought you were working on gunpowder?”
She frowned. “Well, if we're going to start fires I better have a way to safely put them out right?” she asked despairingly.
He sighed and reluctantly nodded, hands up in surrender. “Right. Point. Gotcha.”
“Besides, Max wants them too. We can't get to the extras in the cache for now, so I rigged this.” She held up the jar then tapped her foot on a metal cylinder on the floor. “Freakin' thing's heavy, but it works.”
He looked it over and went to pick it up. “No don't tip it dummy, that's how you activate it.” He froze and put the bottle down carefully. She pointed.
“See it's got this here piece of hose I snagged from max connected to this fitting. You tip the thing over and the bicarbonate and vinegar mix and instant pressure.”
“Ah.”
“And I've got a couple done. I'm going to turn it over to some industrial guy Max met who will probably make and sell the things and be a quad zillionaire,” she said in disgust. She shook her head.
“Well not...”
“You know what I mean,” she said, testy. He chuckled.
“Right. So that's a problem?” he asked.
“Well, I want a royalty or something. It's not exactly rocket science but damn it, it's my thing,” she growled. “I'm the one who put the thought into it. It's not fair that he is going to reap the reward for my efforts for the rest of his life while I don't.”
He blinked and then nodded. “Right. Okay. You want a piece of the pie. Suddenly capitalism got back into the conversation again,” he replied wryly.
She snorted and poked him. “Look who's calling the kettle black moneybags.”
“That's Mr... “ She gave him a quelling look. “Never mind,” he murmured. He shook his head. “We'll work it out. But honestly, I'd rather see these things out and about in quantity than someone charging a fortune for them.”
“Ah. True,” she nodded.
“Max wants them for the industrial sector?” he asked.
Wanda nodded. “And the hay lofts and stables. One dropped match or knocked over lantern and its whoosh!” She threw her hands up. “Great Chicago fire all over again.”
He winced. That was a very real concern of his and just about everyone these days. The approaching summer heat had dried everything out. “Yeah. And without a cow to blame it on. Or at least a Terran one,” he snorted. “Right. Smart. And one near the kitchen. And in the center of long halls or near fire prone areas.”
“Why do you think I've got one?” she asked, pointing to the one near her door. He looked then shook his head.
“And if there's a fire and you’re not here when it starts and can't get to that?” he demanded. She blinked at him. “Or that runs out?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Um. Okay. One in the hall,” she said. Her shoulders slumped. He smiled and patted one shoulder. “That's my girl. Now. About some of your other projects I was wondering if you could do something like say some plastic for the 3d printers, and some better shampoo, something with anti-dandruff and anti-lice maybe...”
<==={}------------>
Max smiled as he hefted the piece of wood and turned it over and over. The piece was really a form of plywood, made up of various plant materials all bonded together and shaped into a rectangle. Impressive for a medieval society, even more so now that he knew that eighty percent of their wood supply came from this. Ironwood and traditional wood was incredibly hard to harvest.
“It's a....”
Plywood. We call it oriental strand board actually,” Max replied, nodding to the carpenter. Oriental strand board was a mix of wood chip layers in various directions. Each layer was in a different direction to give the material strength. The interesting thing was that this was made out of essentially recycled material, or at least half of it was. The other half was made out of some native cellulose material. “I take it this is your answer to the lack of wood?” Max grimaced. “Can't say I blame yah, I for one wouldn't want to tangle with another basilisk. Let alone any other predators hiding in the bush,” he said and nodded.
“Why yes. Ah...” The older man bobbed his head then cleared his throat.
“We use different plants and glue to make it. We also glue the short bush tree trunks together as well. We alternate direction to give it strength.”
“Cool. Laminar beam,” Max replied and nodded before he handed the piece back. “Plywood and laminar beams here. Go figure. Good.” He nodded. “It'll work.”
The carpenter looked relieved.
“But we'll need a hell of a lot more. And we'll probably need to work on the glue formula. Tweak it so it can handle more stress and water.”
“This is ah... traditional... but...”
“But it can change with time. No time like the present.” Max smiled. “As it happens Charlie gave me a couple of formulas we can try. They are yours to use and improve if we use them.” The carpenter blinked at him. He smiled. “Think of it this way, we need this done now, as quickly as possible. We've been muddling by with traditional methods but now it's time to improve things. Let's get to work.”
<==={}------------>
Wanda shook her head wryly, watching him eat. They were in the main hall, but it was mostly deserted. He smiled. Sometimes it was nice being important. You got to jump to the head of the line when it came time to eat. And you could get dinner reservations and the help would keep the interruptions to a minimum.
“What?” he asked slightly amused. He turned to her, then to Deidra. “Do I have something stuck in my teeth?” he asked, using his tongue to probe his teeth.
“No, just wondering what other mischief you’re going to get into this week.”
He shrugged. “It's a guy thing,” he said turning to Deidra. She smiled.
