‘Uh-huh. Good point. But it does mean that they don’t know whether anything’s missing. There could have been something above what’s now visible. The holes in the floor could be where control equipment and thermal generators were bolted down. Those altars could, in fact, by console positions with cable holes leading into the core to monitor conditions in there.’
‘We have no evidence for any of that in the room.’
Shil smiled. ‘There’s no evidence that the veda, a species who ran their society using technology, had any interest in religion, but your archaeologists have assigned a religious significance to what you can see here. Mister Tovar’s idea makes as much sense. More, if you consider that stabilising Karvonay for terraforming would have needed a lot of energy. We’re sitting on an inactive volcano, aren’t we? Good place to set up a geothermal power source for, say, an atmosphere processor. Bleed off the massively active geological energy the planet would have had then and use it to generate an atmosphere. Two birds with one stone. Karvonay is far too geologically stable for a planet as young as it is.’
‘Well, that certainly is an interesting theory. Let’s proceed, shall we?’
‘Atmosphere processor?’ Araven asked quietly.
‘Why not?’ Shil replied. ‘Mount it over this building while it’s needed. Then they lift it off once it’s done its job and cap the cables, which would be too much trouble to recycle. I’d imagine there are several more sites like this one on the planet. One processor seems too little.’
‘There are,’ Araven replied. ‘One is submerged, but there are five more known on the land masses.’
‘And are they all down as religious sites?’
‘Yes, I think they are.’
Shil shook her head and started off after the group. ‘Venan would be rolling in his grave. If he had one.’
~~~
The restaurant was a little fuller tonight, and that was not the primary reason that Araven and Shil had decided to share a table. There were plenty of spare tables, but it was a good excuse.
They had parted after the trip to the ruins, but Araven had found Shil beside the pool as evening drew near, and he had suggested they ‘ate alone together.’ Shil had grinned and agreed. She had just the dress, and for once it was not red. It was black, short and graded from a more-or-less-opaque, flouncy skirt through a verging-on-transparent bodice and thin shoulder straps, via a deeply plunging neckline. She thought it gave the right impression, and it had the added benefit of being not-a-Sheila dress. Though she had wondered why she was thinking so much about not being Sheila over the last couple of days.
‘Okay,’ Shil said once they were sitting and each had a glass of wine, ‘so you’re in law enforcement.’
Araven raised an eyebrow. ‘As it happens, I am. How did you come to that conclusion?’
‘You’re either military or a cop. Your build. The way you move. But I decided on cop because you assess people the way I do. A soldier assesses threats. A police officer assesses threats to other people as well as to himself.’
‘Interesting. Yes, I work for StarCorps. You’re in the same line of work?’
‘Sort of. I get most of my income from StarCorps too, as it happens. I just do it freelance.’
‘Ah, bounties.’ There did not seem to be any particular emotional attachment to the statement. He was being neither judgemental nor disparaging. She was a bounty hunter. Okay, move on. ‘Someone has to bring in the ones we can’t. So, Shil, what’s your story? I have never heard of humans before, and I feel sure that a species with skin like yours would have been noticed by more people before now.’
Shil smiled. ‘My story? That’s kind of… Okay. The short version. Humans come from a planet we call Earth. It’s an R-class world, so StarCorps knows about it, but I doubt it’s exactly common knowledge. I was… kidnapped from there and declared an illegal immigrant on Dromeli. Spent ninety days in Veldro prison before someone got me out. I can’t really go back to Earth, so I hunt bounties.’
‘You spent time in Veldro’s alien wing?’
‘I did. Made friends with a lurian there, actually. Her and a grenimal kept me safe.’
‘A grenimal kept you safe?’
Laughing, Shil nodded. ‘It was a relatively amicable deal. I gave him what he wanted, and no one else would touch me. Mostly. Rayan was usually there if someone did and Narad wasn’t around.’
Araven frowned. ‘A lurian named Rayan? Rayan the Merciless?’
‘That’s her. She… died.’
‘She was a remarkable bounty hunter. A little before my time. I thought she died years ago.’
‘No, she just got tired of doing the job. She was in Veldro for murder. I never asked her to tell the story, and she never offered. She was my cellmate, and she was a good friend.’
‘She was something of a legend in StarCorps. I’m sorry for your loss.’
‘Oh, I feel like she’s still with me, and this is getting depressing. You didn’t get into StarCorps because there was nothing else you could do, I hope.’
‘Ha! No.’ Araven’s sensuous lips curled into a wry grin. ‘Though, it sometimes felt that way. I’m the fourth generation of my family to be in law enforcement. My father was a detective with the Belpathic Police Department. I was sort of expected to go down the same line, though there was no pressure. I decided to go one step further. I wanted to travel, and StarCorps seemed like a good move.’
‘They didn’t just keep you on Lurisar?’
He shook his head. ‘Straight to Nattonly. Aptitude tests and stuff. They said I was better suited to a “roaming remit.” I still haven’t figured out whether that was a subtle insult. I suspect they thought no one would be able to put up with me for any length of time.’
Shil laughed. ‘You don’t seem that irritating. Rather charming, actually.’ The answer had to wait as their waitress brought their food.
She was a rather harried-looking scothian. Scothians were one of the least-human intelligent species Shil knew of. They had yellow skin, tending toward a sickly brown in some, blonde hair – the waitress’s was quite long and pulled into a severe ponytail – and green or blue eyes, but none of that was what made them look odd. They had high, narrow skulls, and no visible outer ear, and their faces seemed to be more forward of their necks than was normal. The waitress was not unattractive – quite the opposite really – but she did look alien. More so than Araven’s green skin did to him anyway.
The reason for the waitress’s fluster was another scothian, as far as Shil could tell. The man was seated on his own a couple of tables away, and he was loud. His hair had a slight red tint, what there was of it anyway, and his waistline suggested that the large plate of food on his table was about normal for his meals. Though it could have been water retention: Scoth was a fairly dry planet and the scothians had evolved to need less water than was typical. So, feed them a plentiful supply of water and it went straight to their hips, and waist, and just about everywhere else. He also seemed to like alcohol, and scothians had lousy alcohol tolerance.
‘That is the scothian ambassador to StarCorps,’ Araven said when the waitress had retreated. ‘Yanoshki Dvoda. Not exactly the most pleasant guy to be around, but he did just broker a fairly major new trade deal for Scoth.’
‘Please tell me your aptitude tests didn’t put you on diplomatic protection detail,’ Shil replied.
‘Ha! No. I’m quite sure that if I was doing that, the diplomats would need protecting from me after about a day.’
‘You could put up with them for that long? I studied political science, and the one thing I learned from that was that I hate politicians. Politics is better than war, I guess, but not by much.’
‘You studied political science? I’d assumed history, or archaeology, or… But then, how would someone from an R-class planet have come by so much knowledge of the veda?’
‘Rayan taught me. Sort of.’
‘Sort of?’
‘Well, I could tell you, but then
I’d have to kill you. And, honestly, I have other things planned for later.’
‘Oh?’ He was smiling. He knew exactly what she meant.
‘Well, unless you’re not interested…’
‘Oh, Shil, I don’t think I’ve ever been more interested.’
~~~
‘You’re a fascinating woman, Shil,’ Araven said as they walked into her suite through the open window of the lounge.
The sun was down, but the night air was warm and heavy; closing the window seemed pointless. The heat made the scents stronger in Shil’s nose; she could smell the plants at the top of the beach, the ocean, her own arousal at what she thought was to come, and Araven’s. The fact that he was anticipating the same as she was was encouraging. ‘Am I?’ she asked in reply.
‘You are… enigmatic.’
‘No one in a dress like this can be enigmatic. This is not a dress that says “I have things to hide.”’
He laughed, a low rumble of a sound which seemed to vibrate in some very interesting places in Shil’s body. ‘Agreed. The dress is most appreciated, but it is not the obvious mystery of your appearance that intrigues.’
‘Please don’t tell me you’re just interested in my mind, because I am not ready for the friend zone right now.’
He gave a quizzical little frown. ‘I’m not familiar with the term.’
‘Gadek Taved sucks at communicating some things.’ She switched languages without a thought. ‘You speak Luris, I assume? You grew up on Lurisar.’
One of his eyebrows rose. ‘An expert in vedan culture and multilingual. This is what I’m talking about. You are a contradiction. Something to drink?’
‘Sure, you know where they keep them.’
‘I can guess. I have one of the off-beach suites, but the layout is relatively similar.’
‘Huh. I got a big pay-out recently, so I thought I’d splash out. Just surprise me. I haven’t got used to the alcoholic beverages around here yet.’
He went straight to the drinks cabinet, opening it up and examining the contents. ‘I think we have a few things here you might enjoy. I’m quite sure there are only so many ways to manufacture alcohol.’
‘There are,’ Shil replied, settling onto a sofa with one leg tucked under herself, ‘but there are many more ways to make an alcoholic drink. What you call wine isn’t what I would call wine. On Earth, wine is primarily made from a fruit called a grape, but not always from grapes. We have drinks brewed from grain and root vegetables. Even then, there are variations caused by the addition of other materials. There must be hundreds or thousands of different kinds of alcohol on one planet, so just imagine how many different ones you can have in the galaxy.’
He flashed her a grin and took out a bottle and two glasses. ‘See? Fascinating. You simply don’t look old enough to have all this knowledge in your head.’
‘Prison can be very educational. Seriously, I learned a lot there.’
Araven carried the drinks over, handed one to Shil, and then took a seat across from her. He smiled, and she knew that he wanted more. There was really only so much she could tell him, but she sipped her drink and considered. Whatever the stuff was he had poured, it tasted strongly of fruit, berries, and it burned as it went down her throat like a good whiskey.
‘I was born in a seaside town called Brighton. Not a big place. Very popular with tourists, though its high point was really about a century ago. That’s a century by Earth’s calendar, obviously. A fairly traditional family. Father, mother, younger brother who made my life a misery from the day he was born. Uh, not really. Peter’s a nice guy, mostly. Still, I decided I needed my freedom, so I went to… Uh, there’s no word for it. We call it a university. It’s a place to go to continue your education once you’ve done the basics.’
Araven shrugged. ‘We just… continue.’
‘I know. I left home and moved to the capital city of my country to study political science. I told you that already. While I was doing that, I met a man named Brian, an economics student, and we fell in love and got married. Fast forward a few years and Brian’s plans to become an economics advisor to the leaders of my country had faded. He had become an accountant.’ Araven gave a little wince and Shil grinned. ‘Yeah. Worse, our marriage had got stale. It took him about eight years to cheat on me, and I knew but I ignored it. I ignored all the infidelities because I was scared. I thought I could win him back, so I learned exotic dancing, and I agreed to doing a few things in the bedroom that I probably shouldn’t have. Nothing changed.’
Shil sipped her drink, let it burn down her throat again, and continued. She was a little surprised at how little this was hurting. ‘One day, Brian said he’d been invited to a party. Both of us had been invited. He suggested I buy a new dress. Something sexy. He said there would be, well, sex at the party. I wasn’t exactly pleased, but I went along, and I met a man who took me home with him and we had sex into the early hours of the morning. Know what my husband said when I told him about it?’
‘I’m actually a little afraid to ask.’
‘He said it was good, because the man I’d slept with was a big client and keeping him happy would be good for my husband’s reputation.’
‘Ah.’
‘Yeah. Anyway, I thought that was that, but the man called again and asked me out. On the third date, some alarm went off when we were just about to get down to the sex, and the next thing I knew I was in space. He told me StarCorps had found him and would have killed us both. Me to keep his presence secret.’
‘We don’t do that.’
Shil shrugged. ‘He’s a navidad. He’s in the maximum-security wing of Veldro. He was caught while trying to sell me to a slaver. I think I’ve worked out that he’s a lying scumbag. Anyway, the dromelans locked me up as an illegal immigrant and StarCorps were taking their own sweet time about responding to the situation. I was told StarCorps could take me home, but… Well, after a while I just didn’t want to go home. I got housed with Rayan, and Narad took me as a favourite. I guess I was whoring myself out for safety, but… To be honest, I was better off with Narad than I was with Brian. Then Rayan died and she… She gave me a gift. I can’t explain it, but she’d been carrying it for a long time, and now it’s mine. Part of it is knowing a lot.’ She drained her glass and looked across at him to see whether that was enough.
‘Still mysterious,’ Araven said, ‘but there’s a lurian saying that all women are allowed their mysteries.’ He drained his own glass and set it aside. ‘And I don’t think I can keep my hands off you any longer.’
Shil laid her own glass aside and grinned. ‘About time.’
~~~
Looking down, Shil could see Araven’s long, green shaft sliding into her. She was sitting on the edge of the sofa with her arms around her thighs, pulling her legs up to her shoulders, and the position was perfect. He was big, thick as well as long, bigger than T’ney, but not even close to Narad, and Shil had got used to handling Narad. This was just…
Her head rolled back on her neck and her muscles tightened around him. She was seconds away from her… fourth orgasm? Fifth? Who cared? They hadn’t made it to the bedroom yet and the night was young. She felt the deep ridge on the underside of his cock swelling and knew that he would be coming with her this time. He pulled out again, one last time, and drove in hard. Shil let out a shriek of pleasure and felt him empty himself into her just before the wash of climax took her mind away.
‘I swear,’ she said, her breathing still unsteady, ‘the human males have the smallest cocks in the galaxy.’ He was still inside her. She could feel him throbbing there, and each pulse threatened to push her over into another little climax. ‘Every other species I’ve screwed has been bigger.’
He shook his head, his hair swinging. ‘That honour goes to the mozinar. I’m reliably informed that it’s like having a thumb pushed into you, but they aren’t exactly a tall race.’
‘Maybe it was just my husband. Or I’ve got really lucky about the men I’v
e been with since Earth.’
‘You were the… consort of a grenimal. I’m a little surprised you could take him. You feel enjoyably tight to me.’
Shil tried for a sort of timid smile, but she was not sure she pulled it off. Frankly, she was too pleased with her current position to be timid. ‘I’m glad you’re enjoying me.’
Araven laughed. Shil shuddered as his now semi-hard shaft moved within her. Her muscles tightened and the laugh turned into a moan. Was he getting hard again? She lowered her legs, wrapped them around his hips, and pulled him in. To her surprise, and delight, he cupped her behind in his hands and lifted, getting to his feet and then turning for the bedroom. ‘I think you might kill me before the night is done,’ he said as he walked, ‘and yet, somehow I don’t care.’
‘No dying on me. I’ve got several days left of my holiday, and I don’t want to have to find someone else who can do this to me.’
‘Days? You are trying to kill me.’ He sighed. ‘Still, if I have to go, I can’t think of a better way.’
18.3.632.
The scothian ambassador was even louder than he had been the night before, and his waitress looked more harried. That made sense. Thankfully, Shil and Araven were seated at a table away from the disgruntled scothians, so that was not going to spoil the day.
Shil had kept Araven going for as long as she could the night before, but she had finally let him sleep about nine hours before dawn, which gave him plenty of time to recover. She had needed rest too, and she had shut her metabolism down for a few hours. Still, she had been awake long before he was, and he had been surprised to discover her drinking coffee in the lounge when he got up. Claiming that he needed fresh clothes, he had gone off to his own suite then, but he had returned to find her at the pool, and they had taken breakfast together, gravitating to a cycle of lying outside her suite in the sun and returning to the bedroom. Shil considered herself a satisfied woman. Not satisfied enough to forgo more of the same tonight but satisfied.
‘You look,’ Araven said, ‘like a silka which has been given a particularly choice fish.’
The Eyes of the Huntress (Shil the Huntress Book 1) Page 13
