Venice’s eyes got round.
Helena laughed. “It’s kind of a running joke in our family.”
Chapter 14
Penance
~ Haden ~
Music Mix
Haden’s new job was breaking large rocks into smaller rocks. This was his fifth day on the job and he already felt like he’d been doing it a hundred solars. His days of being a warrior were now over. This self-imposed penance was certainly preferable to flying missions back and forth from Earth, falling for queens he had no business to touch.
Levitating a huge stone down in front of him, he used a laser cutter to carefully cut away the sides, turning the boulder into one of the four cornerstones for the new building that would be used for healing. His mind wandered. The human females now populating their world called it a hospital. His multi-language bacteria drew up information and images to successfully communicate their desires. It was not far from what his people envisioned for such a space.
The stonecutter’s workspace was located off in a corner of the building site. Though he knew the location had been chosen to keep other drones safely out of the way of his laser cutters, he liked to think of the forced isolation as a form of incarceration. He was as flawed on the inside as he was on the outside and unfit to be around others. He’d proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Though the other drones looked upon him with pity, he knew they must also harbor some resentment towards him. Since he could not change the past, he forced himself to get up every day and dedicate himself to building a society his people could be proud of. He had been commanded to eat, live, and work. With no other alternative, he settled for mercilessly punishing his body with difficult, demanding manual labor every single day from sunup to sundown. If others would not punish him, then that task fell to him.
“Stand down, Haden. It’s time to eat.”
Without turning around, he turned off his laser cutter and walked to a stack of nearby stones.
His friend Raec approached, with a hovering transport drone flying over his shoulder. Haden glanced down and his jaw tightened. Part of his penance was to suffer the woman he’d tried to kill’s neurotic need to feed him each day.
Raec dropped down beside him with a tired sigh. Jerking off his heavy work gloves, he grabbed their food boxes as the drone swooped low and hovered between them. “Let’s see what my queen has prepared for us today.”
Haden responded gruffly as he jerked off his own gloves. “I do not care for the food Queen Helena makes.”
“The goddess hates liars, my friend. You love her cooking almost as much as I do.”
His longtime friend’s gentle chiding made Haden smile. “You are fortunate to have such an accommodating queen. How are your spawn mates?”
Handing Haden a box of food, Raec pulled the lid off his own box and inhaled deeply. The scent quickly reached Haden’s nose. His human queen used spices from Earth that made Haden’s mouth water.
Raec took a bite before answering him. “My brothers are well. Arac and Queen Tara are as strange as ever they were. She refuses to allow anyone to call her queen and their Golugua is a menace. My brother is happier than I’ve ever seen him.”
Tearing the lid off his own box, Haden allowed the aroma to wash over him. Taking a two pronged eating utensil from the side, he took a bite before speaking. “I am pleased by that news. Your father must be glad to have not only the two of you sorted with queens but also your brother Drale mated to the posh queen with dark hair.”
“We are well satisfied with our lot. Even Haroc has managed to find a mate. She has taken both Haroc and his battle buddy Valic to mate. They are calling their union a tri-bond.”
“I saw their queen. She has bright red hair. Their Golugua is annoying, but who am I to judge such things?”
“What of yourself, my friend? Surely you wish a female of your own.”
“I do not think any drone in his right mind would suggest that I am appropriate to be around a queen.”
“My mate thinks you need to join a clan. I know you have received invitations.”
Shoveling food into his mouth, Haden didn’t respond.
“I am told you took a queen to mate and then cast her aside.”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Look, Haden, I know you are still affected by your past experiences. However, my brother was abused for endless months at the hands of our former queen and swore off all contact with the humans. Yet, he worked through his pain and is now happily mated to his own strange human queen.”
“Arac is blameless in what happened to him. I am not.”
“Gods of chaos, you test the limits of my anger at times. Kabelda placed the transponder on you for a reason.”
“Because I am weak and she wished to make a killer of an honorable warrior. She got her wish.”
“She used the mind control device because she knew you would never turn on your own brethren or harm my queen of your own free will. How does that make you complicit in her evil?”
“I should have fought harder.”
“You are being stubborn and you know it.”
Growing tired of the rehashing their reoccurring argument, Haden growled, “Do not make me take my lunch elsewhere to eat.”
Tossing him a lopsided smile, Raec stated with a hint of humor, “I noticed you didn’t offer to give the food my queen made back.”
Stifling a laugh, Haden cradled his food box close. “I may be stubborn, but I’m no fool.”
“I am commanded by my queen to deliver this next bit of information. Please know that doing so gives me no pleasure.”
“What does General Helena wish of me now?”
“Nothing, other than for you to know that the storyteller you cast aside has spurned all suitors and refuses to mate.” Haden opened his mouth to speak, but Raec held up a hand. “My queen says that she even now speaks of you with great respect and admiration. It is clear she still has feelings for you, yet she has asked to be assigned to our military.”
Almost dropping his food box, Haden scrambled to keep his food from the dirt. “She wishes to become a warrior? That does not sound like my Venice.”
“So Venice is her name?”
Sighing, Haden hissed irritably, “I’m sure your queen told you that already.”
“Indeed she did. However, not many others are so privileged as you and I. Your queen does not wish to be a warrior. She seeks training as an engineer. She will help her Golugua install electrical components.”
“That is less dangerous than being a warrior, but I’m certain our good general would never approve such a request.”
“She did.”
“Raec, queens are to be cherished and protected, not worked like common drones.”
“Says the drone who threw his queen away.”
Sitting his food aside, Haden ran his hands over his head, grasping both antennas. How could Helena allow something like this to happen? Risking a beautiful, intelligent queen was absolute madness.
Raec’s voice pulled him from his worrying thoughts. “We still need warriors for this mission. Stonecutters, not so much.”
“What?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you are a warrior, are you not?”
“I have laid down my sword. I will pick it up again when danger looms and not before.”
“It’s just as well. I’m certain that preening Golugua will protect your sweet little storyteller, should something unexpected happen. It matters not that the beautiful storyteller still grieves for you.”
Feeing lightheaded, he stammered, “She would not dare attach herself to one such as me.”
“Haden, we must accept those things we cannot change. We need you, now more than ever.”
“I am well aware of the information our last voyage uncovered about the parasites infecting our queens.” The ominous tone of his voice caused Raec to jerk his head up to look at his expression
. As soon as their eyes met, his friend smoothed out his expression. “I meant to say that our world needs to be populated if we are to survive.”
“You had best look to your spawn mates, rather than me. The males of your line are prolific breeders, capable of out-spawning the rest of us by tenfold.”
“If you wish me to introduce her to my unmated brothers, so be it. Every drone must do his share to see that our people prosper. My queen has invited her to our home tonight for a feast. I will see that they each offer themselves to her.”
Cramming the top back on his half-eaten food box, Haden shoved it into the waiting drone’s specially designed holding cage.
“We all do the best that we can to contribute to our new home world. I come here every single day without fail and carve stone to make our buildings. I take pride in my work and ensure there are no flaws in the foundation stones I cut. The blocks I carve are capable of supporting vast structures that reach into the sky. This is my contribution to our world. Do not ask more of me than I give.”
Slowing putting his lid back onto his own box, Raec stood. “You are invited to our enclosure for the evening meal as well. I advise you to come and have one last look at what you are mindlessly throwing away. If you do this, I will leave you to your stone cutting and bother you no more about mating.”
Closing his eyes, Haden cursed softly under his breath.
“Shall I take that as a yes?”
“I do not think this is a good idea.”
Raec’s voice turned annoyed. “My queen commands it, Haden. She wishes for your happiness above all things. If you do not come and see the misery you have wrought upon this woman, my queen will be heartbroken.”
“I would not cause her further injury for all the world. Tell her I will be present as requested.”
Raec opened his mount and promptly shut it again, as if trying to find the right words. When he spoke again, his words made little sense to Haden at first. “This new opportunity to live free on a world ruled by a tiny but tenacious human queen, who thinks only of our needs, cost the lives of many of our brethren. Thanks to their sacrifice and our skill and cunning in battle, we now have sweet human queens to warm our bed and hearts. Do not waste the opportunity so many have sacrificed their lives to give us.”
“I will try. This is all I can promise, my friend.”
Perhaps he was fit to mate a queen. Even if he wasn’t, what harm could come from enjoying her love and companionship if she truly refused to share herself with anyone else? It would be a waste to refuse her, would it not?
Returning to an empty quarters in the single drone complex was always the low point of Haden’s day. He pulled off his clothing and stepped into the mister. Leaning against the wall, he remembered when he used to pleasure himself in the cleanser. It had been a very long time since he’d done anything like that. At first abstaining from the limited amount of pleasure allowed him as a single drone had been another way to punish himself. As time wore on, his interest waned to the point that abstaining was no longer a hardship.
Looking down, he saw his chest was crisscrossed with battle wounds. His face was scarred to the point that most of the human queens quickly looked away when he approached. Being an unattractive drone shouldn’t bother him as much as it did. To his twisted mind it just meant his outside was as scarred as his spirit. Yet his beautiful storyteller had accepted him.
Stepping out, he jerked on underbottoms. Making his way to his balcony Haden dropped into his lounger to enjoy the one pleasure he allowed himself. Relaxing his tired muscles, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the gentle breeze blowing over his scarred body. With his work finished for the day and the pale moonlight shining overhead, he emptied his mind of all the evil deeds he’d committed. The nothingness was a welcome reprieve from the endless recrimination he normally heaped upon himself.
Chapter 15
Party
~ Venice ~
Music Mix
Haden was nothing short of shocked at the number of people wandering around outside of Raec’s family homestead. The large crowd made it easy for him to melt to the back after first sitting his gift on the drink table. Raec’s family was much too large to fit indoors but the sheer number of queens, children and Golugua seemed to Haden like a disorganized battalion. He even spied the young innocent Maruvian queen sitting in the treetops with a human male. The male seemed familiar. Then Haden realized it was only because he’d taken the warrior’s serum and bulked up like a Maruvian warrior. He even had wings. Haden had gone back and forth in his mind about wings and dicks, deciding each time he valued his dick over having wings. The thought popped into his head that if the healers could fit a human with wings, perhaps he could have both.
Raec and his brothers passed around plates of food and everyone settled around the fire. Raec’s brother had upwards of fifty children at this point. Naturally, they flew around begging food from everyone’s plate, the way young were wont to do. Haden fed them bits of chelva, though he knew their parents would not approve. Ah, to be young again. They were adorable enough to make him long for young of his own.
His attention was drawn to the lovely storyteller as the evening wore on. Weaving around the throng of people, Haden moved closer to the front to get a better look at her hooded face.
Her delicate features were illuminated by the crackling bonfire and looked especially sweet. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. Her delicate face and pale blue eyes were truly stunning. Her hood slipped back once to reveal the short hair that he loved to run his fingers through. To his eyes it was cute, even though it was chronically a mess. He listened intently as she cleared her throat and began speaking.
“I spent the entire afternoon trying to decide on a story to tell tonight.”
Raec’s father replied diplomatically. “You are not obligated to tell a story to get fed around here, young queen. We are well satisfied with just your good company.”
Raec mock shouted, “Speak for yourself, my sire. I wish to hear the story our storyteller has selected for us.”
Donella teased him. “Are you certain, you wish to hear it? She may have selected one about a foolish drone who insists upon speaking out against his sire’s words?”
Everyone laughed and even Haden found himself smiling at her gentle jibe. A huge scarred male Golugua wrapped his arms around the female roared his laughter as well.
“I will take my chances if it’s all the same to you, Donella.”
“Suit yourself, drone.”
The storyteller spoke in a calming voice. “The story I chose has nothing to do with sires or their errant sons. This one is about a little human girl who got bored one day. She sat in a flower bed playing with her kitten when a white rabbit hopped by…”
Haden listened as she described how the youngling followed the rabbit down a deep dark hole and ended up in an enchanted place where nothing was as it should be. There were magic potions, cats that gave confusing advice before disappearing into a cloud of smoke and an evil queen intent on removing everyone’s heads. The strange story went on for almost an hour before the little girl awoke to find herself laying near a real rabbit burrow. Yet she was somehow mysteriously covered in jam from a tea party.
Clearly the ending was meant to leave the listener guessing about whether the story was a dream or some kind of real life adventure into a parallel dimension. Since drones actually arrived in this sector of space through an interdimensional rift, most tend to think the tunnel was the human version of rift. Haden had to admit to felling torn about this particular story.
Everyone immediately began asking questions about what different aspects of the story meant. He noticed that whenever the storyteller was asked a question, she tended to answer it with another question, creating a widening array of possible scenarios with ever more complex possibilities. His queen was smart in that way, and an extremely proficient storyteller.
Someone elbowed him in the rib
s and Haden looked up to find everyone looking at him. How did that happen? The drone beside him whispered helpfully, “The storyteller asked your opinion of the flowers that talk.”
Snapping to attention, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I don’t think the flowers were speaking words. I believe the young queen was frightened by being in a strange place and the flowers represented the many conflicting thoughts running through her head.”
“Wow, you’re a deep thinker.”
“Am I?”
Nodding at him admirably, she stated, “I’ve told you that before.”
Donella shouted from across the lawn. “He also has a strategically placed battle scar or two. Do for forget what you said about that.”
Being reminded of his scarring in such a public way was humiliating. However, watching the storyteller blush from her neck all the way up to her hairline was far more fascinating than obsessing about what others thought of his battle scars. His embarrassed queen looked away and began speaking to another drone.
Searching the crowd, he caught Raec’s eye. His fiend inconspicuously made the hand gesture warriors used in battle for pursue the target. Sighing, Haden was virtually certain the queen he thought of as his own was probably pretty tired of dealing with him. Besides, every available drone was looking to capture her attention tonight, even the queen makers.
Slipping silently away, he returned to his position in the back of the swarm of people, grabbing some chelva the food tables on this way past. He’d be content tonight looking after a few of the little ones. For no reason he could possibly discern, they seemed drawn to him. At first he’d assumed it was the chelva, but after they’d munched it all away, they crawled all over him playfully nipping at him and marveling over the fact that he had no wings. They crawled up his stomach peering around his ribs, trying to figure out where he was hiding them.
He had to smile at the fact that because they were offspring of drones with wings, they had probably seen very few without flying gear in their young lives. At least he could still prove to be an interesting diversion for the little ones, as they were for him. He’d been so intent on playing with them that he lost track of the pretty storyteller.
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