by Maksim Malik
“Perhaps we use that for bargaining if needed,” Dr. Tysgan said.
“If we’re stuck with them, then maybe—” Adan began but stopped.
There’s another message; this time it’s from the Admiral himself, Adan said to Nadani. He requests our presence again at our earliest convenience, which I assume means now. The two men are outside the ship waiting to escort us once more.
“The Admiral wants to see us again,” Nadani said for Dr. Tysgan’s benefit.
“Again?” Dr. Tysgan asked. “We will get answers from him then.”
“At our earliest convenience,” Nadani added. “And much as I’d rather let our bodyguards stew for a little while, I’d rather get this over with.”
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Tysgan said, standing from the couch.
He needs to tell us something, Nadani said, upset about the entire situation. The JUS can’t kidnap citizens like this. It’s against the law!
It is unclear whether it is against the law during wartime or heavy conflict, Adan said. And with the Squitoes attacking stations it could be argued it is wartime or heavy conflict.
“There’s always a loophole,” Nadani said aloud, frowning. “JUS can probably kidnap citizens whenever they want,” Nadani added for Dr. Tysgan’s sake.
“Yes, certain they can,” Dr. Tysgan said. “It is more than frustrating. They have been treating us like normal citizens aboard military vessel though. Not prisoner or other.”
Normal citizen—I guess we aren’t normal anymore though, Nadani thought about merging with Adan.
No, some would say you have transcended—bypassed evolution even, Adan said. There are those, like CAAI, who believe to do so is the worst of sins, for ignoring the natural path is blasphemy of the highest order. I believe most of them do not understand, while you are transhuman, natural evolution does not go away. It still exists, and who knows what effect transcending evolution will have on the natural order.
So I’m not human? Nadani asked, confused.
No, you are. You are just the next step in evolution: the step where human and machine merge, Adan said. I could go on, but we have more pressing matters to attend to. Later we can discuss this.
Yeah, like what in the stars is going on? Nadani thought.
Dr. Tysgan and Nadani exited the ship and found the same two men awaiting them as last time. Neither of the men said anything as the shorter one took the lead, and the taller one followed behind—no doubt to make certain neither of them strayed.
We’re going a different route this time, Adan said. But it does connect to the same office, so I surmise we are going to the same place last sol.
The lift they used was in a different location this time, but it went up to the same level as the last. It wasn’t long before they were led to the Admiral’s office and ushered inside. Admiral Bryer stood next to his desk with a smile affixed to his visage.
“Do have a seat,” Bryer said, and motioned to the chairs in front of the desk. “I’m certain you both have some questions.”
“You could say that,” Nadani said with a little more force than she intended as she sat down.
Dr. Tysgan said nothing as he sat in the other chair.
“First let me explain what is going on, and then afterward if you still have questions, feel free to ask them,” the Admiral said, sitting down.
“Agreeable,” Dr. Tysgan said.
“Yeah,” Nadani said as he turned to her to wait her response.
“I received orders not long ago. We’re going straight to the JUS Council to personally talk to them, and I need you two there as the ones who acquired the data to answer their questions. Not many on the ship know it, but we are headed straight for the planet Verga in the core worlds sector. I would appreciate if you didn’t spread it around yet,” Admiral Bryer said.
“Hmm, yes,” Dr. Tysgan said.
Nadani stayed silent.
“I have also received an anonymous message from what I assume must be one of my crew,” the Admiral said. “It reads, ‘the girl has disrupted evolution, merged with AI, and must be purged.’”
Nadani felt the color drain from her face. She spared a quick glance to Dr. Tysgan and found he somehow kept his cool.
“There will be no purging under my command. I imagine this AI is at least part of the reason why this data was acquired as well as deciphered,” Admiral Bryer said. “None of this goes beyond my door—I assure you.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Nadani said, feeling a shiver go down her back as she admitted to having an AI out loud.
“There is no intention of purging you or your AI,” the Admiral said, his words came out fast. “So this is how you deciphered the data.”
“Yes, it is, with Dr. Tysgan’s help—otherwise we would be nowhere. We might have died in the fight with the Squito ship,” Nadani said bluntly.
“There will be a few sols to wait before the Council will see us when we arrive,” Admiral Bryer said. “Do you mind showing our lab techs how you managed so they can work with the data? It would also require showing our limited AI what to do.”
“We can, yes,” Dr. Tysgan said. Nadani pursed her lips together at being volunteered, but decided cooperating was the best option.
“We’ll move your ship to a starport dock as soon as we arrive,” Admiral Bryer said. “And after you meet with the Council, should you need transport on a long-range ship we can arrange that as well.”
“That would be most appreciated,” Nadani said.
“Yes, yes, quite,” Dr. Tysgan said.
“We’ll arrive in the morning,” the Admiral said. “Any questions?” he asked and looked between the two of them.
Nadani shook her head.
“None from me,” Dr. Tysgan said.
“There is one more thing,” the Admiral said. “Send her in,” he said, talking down to his desk.
Nadani heard the door open behind her, turned her head to see who arrived, and almost fainted from joy. Her heart leapt to her throat, eyes watered, and she nearly fell as she stood up from the chair. She ran to the person and wrapped her arms around her. Trisha! It was Trisha!
Trisha squeezed her close as well. Nadani noticed Trisha’s body was a bit thinner; she hadn’t been eating well. She buried her face next to Trisha’s neck, not caring the Admiral watched.
“Trisha!” Dr. Tysgan excitedly said. “Very happy now I am to see. How did you find her? And the other captives?” Dr. Tysgan asked.
“The other captives are still with the Squitoes,” Admiral Bryer said. “We scooped up what we thought was a dead ship—to send to the labs for study—and upon inspection instead of finding a Squito inside, we found her. She spent a little time in med bay and decontamination, but reports say she’ll be just fine.”
Nadani pulled away from Trisha, regretting the action, but knowing she couldn’t stand all sol embracing Trisha in the Admiral’s office. She held Trisha’s hand as she stood beside her, unable to keep a smile off her face as she tried and failed to say anything.
“They said I need to eat a little less than usual—at least for a few sols,” Trisha said. “They cleaned my clothes too.”
“I hate to break up the happy reunion,” Admiral Bryer said. “I just needed to verify she did indeed know you like she said. I do have a great deal to do on our way to Verga. Do take care of her, Commander.” With that said, he focused on the readouts and holodisplays on his desk.
I guess we leave? Nadani wondered. And take care of her, indeed. Trisha doesn’t need taking care of, she’s quite capable of taking care of herself. Not that I won’t pamper her a little.
“So glad to see you,” Dr. Tysgan said as they left the Admiral’s office. The same men were there to escort them back to the ship.
“You’ll have to tell us how you managed to get into one of their ships,” Nadani said.
“Don’t mess with an engineer,” Trisha said and chuckled. Nadani noticed a slight edge to the laugh.
“Did JUS feed you?” Nadan
i said, concerned about Trisha’s weight loss.
“Yeah, they did,” Trisha said. “I’d been surviving on the alien’s water which was sweetened with something. I must have gotten some nutrition from that at least.”
Nadani noticed the odd weapon dangling from Trisha’s hip. It looked like one of the Squito designs, but—different.
It is surprising the JUS let her have a weapon aboard the ship, Adan said.
I’ll ask her about it on the ship, Nadani said. It might make our escorts nervous if they didn’t notice it.
“Curious, this water,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Would like to examine sample.”
“Sorry, didn’t bring any,” Trisha said. “I am looking forward to going home now that I’m finally out though.”
Another thing we need to talk to her about on the ship, Nadani said. Sulai is gone—her apartment doesn’t exist anymore.
“Well, we are stuck aboard Koyanagi for a while since it’s in foldspace,” Nadani said. “And we’re headed to one of the core planets—Verga.”
“I’ve never been to the core planets,” Trisha said.
“Spectacular planets,” Dr. Tysgan said. They stood on the lift traveling down to the docking levels. “Ithaca is underdeveloped when compared.”
Nadani watched vids of core planets before, and they were so advanced it was difficult to imagine visiting one. It would be an interesting experience to go, to be sure.
CAAI has a larger presence there, Adan said. We will need to be extra careful should we do any wandering by ourselves.
Good point, Nadani said. Maybe we shouldn’t go sightseeing.
The lift reached the floor they needed, and they all stepped out. Trisha’s hand grasped Nadani’s and Nadani smiled, feeling a thrill throughout her body. When they reached Astromancer, Nadani let Trisha enter through the airlock first. She heard Trisha take a deep, shaky breath when she stepped into the corridor of the ship.
“Come, let’s sit in the lounge,” Nadani said, putting a hand on Trisha’s waist. All three of them sat down on the couch, Trisha sat huddled next to Nadani as if she couldn’t bear to be away from her. Nadani wrapped an arm around Trisha and held her close.
Are you going to tell Trisha about Sulai? Adan asked.
Yes, I thought it would be better to do it now rather than later, Nadani said.
“Trisha,” Nadani started and took a deep breath. Trisha locked eyes with her, and Nadani could tell Trisha awaited bad news. “The aliens—the Squitoes—destroyed Sulai. Completely.” Nadani couldn’t help but blurt it out. She knew her skills at giving bad news severely lacked any amount of tact. Maybe she should have asked Dr. Tysgan to give the news.
Trisha didn’t even gasp. She broke eye contact and stared at her lap. Nadani put her arm around Trisha’s shoulders.
“I wondered if they did,” she said softly. “I saw them destroy—I don’t even know what the station’s name was, or where we were.”
“Zarzycki station,” Nadani said. “We evacuated the station beforehand though.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Trisha said, looking up again. There were tears sparkling in her eyes, yet they had not fallen.
“Park and Adan are working on deciphering data we recovered from an encounter we had with one of their ships,” Nadani said. “That’s how we found out where they would attack this time. The JUS wants us to help their lab with the transfer of data, teach their AI, and that sort of stuff. Plus we have to see the Council since we acquired and deciphered the data. It’ll be a few sols before we can go on our own. Admiral Bryer knows about Adan too.”
“You saved me,” Trisha said. “If you hadn’t found out about this attack I would be floating in space in the ship, all alone, until someone came to either recover the ship or destroy it for being an alien vessel.”
“I tried to do more,” Nadani grumbled. “I tried so hard, but it was so difficult to know where the armada was.”
“It is true,” Dr. Tysgan said. “Very difficult.”
“So what’s with the weird blaster?” Nadani asked, changing the topic.
“It is a curious device, yes,” Dr. Tysgan said.
“I modified a couple of their stun blasters into a more powerful weapon,” Trisha said. “It worked really well,” she said the last bit coldly.
Nadani wanted to ask more but knew asking about it now when the experience was fresh in Trisha’s memory might hurt her more than it would to ask later.
Do not wait too long, Adan warned. That might be as bad or worse.
I won’t, Nadani said. This was something she wouldn’t forget.
Moments passed in silence.
“I need to get out of this outfit,” Trisha said. “It’s clean now, but I need something more comfortable.”
“I’ll swap out of my plugsuit then,” Nadani said. “We aren’t going anywhere this sol, so there’s no use in keeping it on.”
“Yeah,” Trisha said as she stood.
They both left the lounge and headed to the bedroom. Nadani changed out of her plugsuit to a long t-shirt which went down to the middle of her thighs. She finished and turned to find Trisha watching her. Trisha wore a tank top and short, pink shorts.
“Don’t you think you ought to wear some pants?” Trisha asked. “Dr. Tysgan might get an eyeful.”
“He won’t, besides—”
Her words were cut off as Trisha walked closer and placed her lips over Nadani’s mouth, catching her in a kiss. Nadani expected a short kiss, but Trisha’s tongue soon slipped into her mouth, and her arm over and around Nadani. Nadani let Trisha’s playful tongue quest for hers while a flush warmed her entire body.
After a moment Nadani never wanted to end, Trisha withdrew, but still had her arm around Nadani, pulling them tightly together. Trisha maneuvered Nadani to the bed and none-too-gently pushed her onto it, crawling next to Nadani afterward.
“I love you,” Nadani said near breathlessly. Adan itself paid close attention to Nadani’s body now—she could tell—but it didn’t interfere or interrupt.
Instead of replying Trisha kissed her deeply again, her arm over Nadani, holding them tightly together. This time Nadani gently sucked on Trisha’s tongue as it plunged into her mouth. She felt taken aback when Trisha’s arm left her body but gave a muffled groan a bare second later. Trisha’s fingertips played with Nadani’s folds between her legs—something Nadani didn’t expect after the close encounter with the aliens, and Trisha’s escape from them. Nadani’s breath came rapidly and she felt a hyper-awareness particularly of certain areas of her body.
Nadani broke the kiss off unintentionally with a gasp as Trisha teased over her clit. Trisha’s mouth wandered from Nadani’s cheek to her neck, thrilling Nadani intensely.
“I forgot how fun it was with you,” Trisha said at a near whisper. “It’s so easy to tease you,” she added.
Nadani bit her lip, smiled, and let out a big breath. She reached for the hem of Trisha’s tank top, found it, and slipped her hand beneath it. She smoothed her hand flat over Trisha’s stomach straight up to one of her breasts, cupping it gently before giving the soft flesh a squeeze.
Trisha gasped loudly and giggled. She withdrew her hand, sat upright, tossing the blanket away from them, and straddled Nadani. Nadani’s long t-shirt was pushed upward, exposing her entire body. Trisha leaned in immediately to suckle Nadani’s left breast, sending tingles through Nadani which echoed through other erogenous zones, especially her other breast and in between her legs, like small jolts of electricity sending small pleasure waves throughout her.
Nadani stroked Trisha’s head as she alternated between breasts and closed her eyes, focusing more on the thrills Trisha gave her. Soon, however, Trisha’s mouth wandered below her breasts and over her stomach, leaving small kisses in its wake. Nadani spread her legs in anticipation. The first kiss came next to her clit gently, teasing but building up excitement. The second landed on the left of it.
Trisha left kisses up and down each side of Nadani’s folds a
nd caused Nadani to squirm with delight and an aching need. Trisha’s lips opened and included her tongue gently sliding over the area. Nadani let out a begging mewl—Trisha knew well what she did.
Finally, when Nadani thought she would burst from desire, Trisha placed her mouth directly over Nadani’s clit and teased it with her tongue. First soft and slow, but she gained speed and enveloped it with her entire mouth to suckle on it on occasion. Nadani’s hips instinctively pushed upward toward Trisha. Ecstasy built slowly at first but grew faster and faster; it did not take long before she exploded with it. Her entire body shuddered with delight as she squeaked out a sequence of moans. While she rocked there Trisha threw herself on top of her and planted kisses all over her cheek and mouth.
Trisha appeared content to lie there after Nadani finished, but Nadani had other plans in mind. She rolled and pinned Trisha beneath her. Then Nadani turned so she straddled Trisha with her back facing to her.
“What are you doing?” Trisha giggled as Nadani whisked away her shorts. “Dani!” Trisha kicked her legs, but Nadani stayed where she was.
When Nadani leaned down and put her mouth around Trisha’s clit—not teasing at all—the legs stopped kicking.
“Ooh, Dani,” Trisha said, half-moaning.
Nadani teased Trisha’s opening with her fingertip and, upon finding it to be wet, slid a finger inside. She reveled in the feel of Trisha’s tunnel gripping around her finger. Crooking her finger into the shape of a hook she moved it back and forth slowly. Then she focused on rubbing it while she continued to pleasure Trisha with her mouth.
Trisha came hard. Her entire body undulated beneath Nadani which made Nadani pull back and out of her for fear of causing harm. The resulting moans were quite loud, and Nadani wondered if they could be heard outside of the bedroom, which she had been meaning to soundproof.
When Trisha finished, Nadani retrieved the blanket and covered them. She snuggled closed to Trisha, who laid there out of breath, panting.
“I love you,” Nadani said once more and lifted herself enough to give Trisha a quick, deep kiss.
“Love you too, Dani,” Trisha replied, turning on her side to face Nadani.
