by Nolan Fury
“Yes! Yes!” she screamed. “Come in me! Come, baby, Come!”
She didn’t have to ask twice.
I exploded, sending pulse after pulse of honey into her sweet center.
She wrapped her legs around me and squeezed tight. I collapsed on top of her, drenched in sweat, as she continued to milk me.
She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me. We kissed each other for a few moments, then I rolled aside. She flung her arm across me and rested her head on my chest.
“Thank you,” she breathed. “I really enjoyed that.”
“I did to.”
I could tell she liked me. I could feel the vibes coming from her. She felt good in my arms. She had soft skin and lustrous hair and I felt like she had a good soul. Plus she was great in bed and had that sweet-dirty thing down. I felt like I had only seen the tip of the iceberg. She was the kind of girl that seemed inventive and creative and didn’t mind trying new things. Not someone you’d get bored with easily.
“I know this was probably just a onetime thing, and I’m totally okay with that… but if you find yourself back on Capricorn again, look me up,” she said.
“I will.”
“I mean it. You’re fun.”
“You are too,” I said sincerely.
“I’m sure you say that to all the girls.”
“Not as many as you may think.”
“But you already have a few.”
“Like I said, there’s always room for one more.”
She rolled her eyes, playfully.
We lay in a post-sex state of bliss. A warm, fuzzy, dreamy state that was almost like being high. Endorphins and dopamine swirled in my brain. Oxytocin and serotonin flooded my synapses. All the chemicals of attraction and attachment working their magic. I nodded off and woke up the next morning with the sun beaming in through the windows. I looked to my side and Quinn was gone.
24
I wouldn’t have thought I was going to feel like this. As I slid my hand across the sheets and felt the emptiness, my stomach twisted and the breath escaped my lungs. It felt like I had been abandoned.
I didn’t know if this was some kind of sense memory reaction that could be attributed to my feelings of abandonment after my divorce? Or my feelings of abandonment after Ruby was taken? Maybe I did have an abandonment issue that I hadn’t been acknowledging?
Was I starting to like this girl?
I didn’t want to think about it. It was silly. And a little too touchy-feely for me. It was just a brief sensation. Then the smell of breakfast hit my nostrils, and I realized Quinn hadn’t left after all.
Geez, did that body swap thing somehow make me more sensitive? I hope not.
I poked my head out of the bedroom and saw Quinn cooking in the kitchen.
“Morning, sleepyhead.”
“Good morning.”
“I hope you like pancakes.”
“Of course I like pancakes.”
Tyler hovered beside her, pouring the batter, while she flipped the pancakes.
“I’ve got coffee brewing too,” she said.
The sweet aroma filled the air. “I thought I smelled something familiar.”
“It’s a blended Sumatra all the way from Earth. They really do have the best coffee.”
“I’m going to hop into the shower.”
“This will be ready when you get out.”
I got cleaned up, dressed, and found my way to the breakfast table. A fat stack of blueberry pancakes with butter and maple syrup waited for me. At least I think they were blueberries. I’m not sure. They tasted like blueberries.
The pancakes were great. But I was filled with nervous anticipation. Once I finish the meal, it would be time to leave and embark on our next quest. I wanted to take Quinn with me. But I knew she wouldn’t just up and leave with a guy she just met. It seemed like she had a great life here. Why would she want to take off with me and go gallivanting across the galaxy, trying to save a woman she never met?
After breakfast I gathered my things, and we said our goodbyes in the doorway.
“Thank you, for everything. And I promise, I will pay you back.”
Quinn flung her arms around me and squeezed me tight. “I know this sounds crazy, but I am going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too.”
There was a long awkward silence. I think we were both feeling more than we were willing to verbalize.
“You could always come with me.”
She was silent a moment. “I can’t.”
“I understand. It would be a crazy thing to do. And it’s going to be dangerous.”
“You be careful out there. I know you’ll bring her back.” She kissed me, and her eyes brimmed. She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Ugh. I hate goodbyes. Go.” She forced a smile.
I kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be in touch.”
“No you won’t.”
“Ye of little faith.” I turned and walked out the door. Tyler followed. I couldn’t help but feel like I was walking away from someone special.
I pressed the call button at the elevator banks and waited for the lift. The bell dinged, and the door slid open. I stepped inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.
“She was cool,” Tyler said.
“Yeah, she was. You think Ruby would like her?”
“Indeed.” We plunged down so fast, my stomach was in my throat.
The bell rang, and the elevator door slid open. I marched through the lobby, pushed through the main doors and stood on the sidewalk and flagged down a cab. I held open the door for Tyler, and he zipped inside. Before I could climb in after him, a familiar voice massaged my ears.
“Hey, wait for me,” Quinn said. She huffed for breath, running after us.
“Change your mind?”
“You only live once.” She slipped into the cab and sat between me and Tyler.
“Central Spaceport,” I commanded.
The car pulled away from the curb and whisked us through the city. Quinn grabbed my hand, and I smiled. She leaned on my shoulder.
I watched as the buildings blurred by. We were lucky to avoid the heavy traffic.
“Where are we off to?” Quinn asked.
“3 Orion Cephei. Ever been?”
“Ew. You’re not serious, are you?”
“That bad, huh?”
25
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” the spaceport bot said as he greeted us on the tarmac.
I cringed. I didn’t need anymore bad news. “What is it?”
“Our maintenance techs were unable to repair your quantum oscillator. We didn’t have a spare part, and despite an exhaustive search on my part contacting other supply houses, there doesn’t seem to be one available in the city. I can have one shipped here. But it will take two weeks since it’s coming from Epsilon Minor 2.”
“I guess we’ll just have to hope this one holds out,” I said.
“I would advise against it,” the bot said. “According to the senior tech, the current configuration is unsafe and could result in a catastrophic failure.”
I turned to Quinn. “Are you sure you still want to come? It’s not too late to back out.”
“I made my decision. I’m going to stick with it.”
“Tyler, pay the man, and let’s get this show rolling.”
Tyler wirelessly paid the rental fee with the last of Ruby’s funds and we climbed aboard the Warbird. I gave Quinn a brief tour, then slid into the pilot seat and powered up the craft. I went through the standard preflight checks, and the system diagnostic returned a warning about the quantum oscillator. I ran the diagnostic again, and all systems came back green.
I engaged the vertical thrusters and lifted from the tarmac. I pulled on the control column, throttled the main thrusters, and rocketed toward space. Once we had left the planet and reached a safe distance, Tyler programmed in jump coordinates for 3 Orion Cephei. It was never a good idea to make a quantum jump too close to a h
eavy mass object. Too many things could go wrong.
I had a few hours to kill before we reached the planet, and I couldn’t think of a reason not to indulge myself in Quinn’s sweet delights. I pinned her against the bulkhead and hammered her senseless. Her screams of pleasure filled the corridors. The vibration of the engines added an extra special twist to things.
We slipped back into the cockpit and tried to act like nothing happened, but Quinn’s tousled hair gave us away. That, and the satiated grins on our faces.
Tyler gave me a knowing glance. I’m sure he heard us.
We reached 3 Orion Cephei, and I navigated the craft south of the equator. Tyler said the tomb was located near the city of Trabuul, but he didn’t know exactly where. We were going to have to find a guide to show us the way.
Trabuul was more of a mining outpost than a city. There was an ongoing conflict between the tribal people and the mega-corporation that was trying to expand their operation into sacred tribal land.
The outpost was a hodgepodge of prefabricated colony structures. The modular components could be stacked and connected in a variety of ways making simple dwellings or complex office environments. A central power generator wirelessly supplied electricity to the colony. Temporary roads had been placed throughout the main section of the colony structures, but at the edge of the outpost, streets turned to muddy paths that could stop even the most robust truck in its tracks during monsoon season.
The spaceport was an open field that had been sectioned off. Air traffic control consisted of one guy who was there part time.
Dense jungle covered this area of the planet. There was a stark contrast where the verdant jungle ended and the land had been clear-cut, leaving nothing but reddish brown dirt. Towering mining bots carved the soil, scouring the land for valuable trivantium ore.
We touched down, and the landing gear sunk into the soft ground. I powered down the ship and moved to the hatch. I pressed a button on the bulkhead and the ramp lowered. Hot humid air smacked me in the face like a wet rag. The thick air felt like walking through soup. The blazing sun towered high in the sky, beating down on the back of my neck as we made the short walk into town. It didn’t take long for a thin film of sweat to cover my body. A few large mining trucks rolled through the city. Pedestrians strolled here and there. A drunk stumbled out of the bar and listed down the sidewalk like a sailboat tacking against the wind. I figured that was as good a place as any to get some information about the area and perhaps find a guide to the tomb.
A neon sign flashed above the entrance: Gold Diggers.
For the middle of the day, the bar was packed. A smoky haze filled the air. It was brimming with grungy mine workers and pleasure bots.
I leaned against the bar and waved, trying to get the bartender’s attention. After a few moments he strolled over to me. “What will it be?”
He was a big burly guy with a beard. Tattoos sleeved his arms.
“I’m looking for a guide to take us to the Tomb of Netrak.”
He sneered at me and leaned in. “There’s a tour company two blocks over. They’ll take you around the mine, show you some tribal artifacts, and you can get your picture taken in front of a statue. Then you can go back to wherever you came from and tell all your friends that you visited the Tomb of Netrak.” He walked off.
“I’m not a tourist.” I shouted after him.
The man next to me leaned over. “Trust me. You don’t want to go to the tomb. It’s cursed.”
“I’m not superstitious.”
“You should be.” His eyes drooped and his face was flush from the liquor. He’d been sitting at the bar all morning. He had curly reddish-brown hair and a bushy beard, and his face and clothes were covered in grease and grime.
“Do you know where I can find a guide?” I asked.
“There are a lot of people that say they know where the tomb is, but they’ll just end up leading you around in circles. You might see some tribal statues if you’re lucky.”
I frowned.
“But I know a guy who’s the real deal. I can take you to him.”
I couldn’t tell if this guy was full of shit or not, but I didn’t have much else to go on. “Where is this guy?
“Not far. It’s going to cost you. You’ll have to negotiate the fee with him. And, I’ll need a little something for the effort, of course.”
“Of course.”
He gulped his drink down, then looked at me and jiggled his glass. “One for the road?”
I flagged down the bartender and got the man another round. Tyler transferred funds.
The man slugged the drink down, then let out a refreshed gasp. He grinned and shook my hand. “The name’s Clint McGraw.”
I introduced myself, Quinn, and Tyler.
Clint led us around the corner to a warehouse where a crowd had gathered, watching two men fight. The cavernous space was filled with hoots and hollers. Men waived paper money in their hands, gambling on the outcome.
Clint pointed to the small guy in the ring. He fought a big orange alien twice his size. The ogre’s wrecking ball fist careened through the air and smashed into the man’s face. His jaw twisted sideways as the blow launched him into the air. He crashed to the ground and blood dripped from his lips. “That’s the guy you want to talk to. Goes by the name Brody.”
I grew concerned Brody wasn’t going to survive the fight.
26
It was like a gruesome accident on the highway. Painful to watch, but you couldn’t look away. The big orange alien had Brody in a chokehold. His eyes bulged and his face reddened. He clawed at the creature’s arms. His feet dangled off the ground.
I was convinced we would need to look for another guide.
I knew better than to judge a fighter by their size. The small scrappy guys often had more heart and determination. But I couldn’t see how this was going to end other than badly for Brody. He looked like he was about to pass out.
He had curly dark hair, tanned skin that looked closer to leather, and dark eyes. His shirtless chest was well defined, though he wasn’t overly muscular. He wore long pants and his bare feet were stained black from the dirty floor.
This was a bare-knuckled brawl.
Just when the curtain was going down on Brody, he hammered a foot into the alien’s groin. The beast groaned and doubled over. Brody slithered free of his grasp and launched an uppercut to the ogre’s jaw. His big orange head snapped back. Brody planted another swift kick into the alien’s gonads.
The beast yelped.
Brody jumped into the air and round-housed the alien. Green blood spewed as the alien’s jaw twisted to the side. The hulking behemoth crashed to the ground with a thud. Out cold.
There were screams of joy and moans of defeat.
A sly grin curled on Brody’s lips. He strolled to collect his winnings with a confident swagger. He took the cash from a man at ringside, counted it, then stuffed the currency into his pocket. He grabbed his shirt that was resting atop a container and slipped on his shoes.
He received pats on the back and handshakes from adoring fans, and dirty scowls from those who had lost money.
I waited for the hubbub to die down, then approached him. “That was pretty impressive work.”
“Thank you. I get lucky now and then.”
Something told me that it was a little more than luck. I pulled up his stat screen, but it didn’t reveal any superpowers. Either he didn’t have any, or he could conceal them. I suspected the latter. “I hear you might be able to guide us to the Tomb of Netrak.”
His curious gaze surveyed me. “I don’t take tourists to the tomb.”
“Do I look like a tourist?”
He glanced to my companions. “Sort of.”
“I guess I’ll just take my money elsewhere.” I turned to my companions. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“That won’t be necessary. Far be it from me to refuse money from a dead man.”
“You can cut the scare tact
ics.”
“I’m just saying… I’ve taken a few people up there, and none of them have ever exited the tomb. Make of it what you will.”
“When can you take us?”
“It’s a two-day hike into the mountains. We're going to need food, camping gear, plenty of water, and a couple tribal sherpas to carry it all.”
“Can’t we take an aerial vehicle up there?”
Brody chuckled. “No. Not unless you want to draw the wrath of the Zokathu natives. The forest is sacred, there is a strict no-fly zone. We are taking our chances going in there on foot.” Brody motioned to a nearby alien who joined us. “This is Eratu. He is an excellent mountaineer. He knows this jungle like the back of his hand.”
We shook hands.
Eratu was a green spotted alien, with three prongs at the top of his head that folded over like a joker’s cap. He had long slender fingers and toned, sinewy muscles. He had a thin, narrow face. He had yellow eyes and vertical pupils like a viper.
“Eratu is a tribal native, and he will serve as a translator should we encounter any Zokathu warriors.”
I cringed. Warriors? Curses? Rugged terrain? This was going to be more challenging than I had anticipated.
“Now let’s talk about price,” Brody said. “50,000 credits.”
My eyes bulged. Tyler and I exchanged a disappointed glance.
“25,000 now, and 25,000 when we return to the outpost,” Quinn said.
Brody pondered this for a moment. “Fair enough. We’ll leave in the morning. Meet me at the corner of Main and 29th at the edge of town. 6am.”
We shook hands, and Brody left with Eratu.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said to Quinn.
She smiled. “Yes I did. You wouldn’t have a guide otherwise.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Just don’t forget that.” She winked.
We bunked in the Warbird for the night, then met Brody and Eratu in the morning. Two other sherpas joined us carrying packs of gear and supplies. We followed Brody as he hacked and slashed his way through the dense jungle with a plasma machete. It sliced through the thick foliage with ease.
