Ofana

by Clay Moore

  “What a lovely sight.”

  “Who helped picked them out?”

  “Other women.” He left it like that.

  She stood up and turned. “Well?”

  “That is excellent. Shall I show you the bathroom?”

  She nodded.

  Brian walked to the double doors. He grabbed the knobs for each door. He threw the doors open onto an amusement park of a bathroom.

  They both stepped into the bathroom. The thing that took center stage in the circular restroom was a multi-head shower that could fit a small family, plus their dog. She looked into the shower stall. She never had shower sex, so there was something to explore with him. Then he pointed out the huge tub that had water jets. This one was capable of floating a submarine. There was a dedicated bidet and a toilet that did everything but go into hyper. April thought that Brian was the type of man who could make a hypering toilet.

  “Did you bring a grey suit with you?”

  “Yes, I want to go to the reading of the will with you, as well.”

  “How did you know that?”

  She reached into her bag showed him her badge.

  “Stupid question, I’m sorry. I did not know if I would have to provide so I went to the tailor and he had a suit for you, ready. I took that, and it is in here.”

  “He opened another set of double doors. As soon as the doors opened, lights came on in the cavernous closet. Her single suit looked forlorn hanging by itself.

  April went to her bag. She opened it and took out her suit, and April took it off her hangar. She put it on the hangar next to the new suit, and There was a chest of drawers inside. April opened the top drawer, and April saw a lacy black panty with a designer black bra. She recognized the designer as Karin Smith.

  “You thought of everything.”

  “Mementos of the evening tonight. I thank you for the compliments. I used my illicit spy, Julie. Tell her. A Gentleman always brings a present on the first Date.”

  The Apartment’s sound system started speaking with a feline voice. “I am Amarantha, Brian’s Shipboard AI.”

  “You were with him in the suit during the Black Knight ceremony,” April said.

  “I have the distinction of being qualified in Starships and Battlesuits.”

  “Stop showing off, Amarantha,” Brian said with a tone of rebuke

  “ Okay. I got some problems to solve for Intentions.”

  “She’s being used to do computer work?”

  “Yes, let’s keep business to a minimum for tonight.”

  “Yes, can we have that great smelling Dinner?”

  “Indeed.” Brian put his left hand on the small of her back.

  April approved of the contact. He was not pushing her. It was as if he was resting his hand there. In Private, it was an almost intimate touch. His hand could slide down to her derriere, or it could go to her waist in a closer embrace. She knew that it was going nowhere right now. He was too unsure of everything right now. Then she realized that he was courting her. She relaxed. She wanted him to pay court on her, and She liked him. She wanted him. Did she want to own him? She did not know. She was leaning toward taking possession of him.

  Brian sat her at the table, and He whipped the cover off of her meal. She looked at the plate. On her plate was a Ribeye steak from the Hornbeast, a Julienne of green beans with a glaze of marsala wine.

  “Would you like some naked salad? I have most of the current dressings here.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Brian picked up the salad tongs. “Say when it is enough.” He took two tongs of salad into a salad dish. She touched his hand to stop him adding more salad onto her plate. She realized that she liked to touch him. He obviously wanted to touch her because he did not move her hand while she felt him.

  The atmosphere around the meal was charged with sexual energy. This was beyond Brian’s comprehension. All the other women were merely desired. His was a desire to possess all of her, to wake up next to her the rest of this life. For her, it was wanting to ride him like a raging bull and have his children.

  Whenever she had these thoughts, she checked her ameurgen indicator on her left forearm. It showed red. She was protected from conception at least for tonight. There would be a time when she had to answer the demands of her body and psyche.

  Brian saw her checking her ameurgen indicator. He slid his sleeve up. He was relieved to see the red mark on his arm. Then he slid his cuff back down. He looked up to see her looking at him. A moment passed when they both realized what they had done. They laughed at it together.

  “I guess we are having sex tonight,” said April, as Brian returned to his chair. He lifted his cover.

  Brian did not realize how far from the woman he had on the other side of the table was from him. He moved his setting so that all that kept him from her was the corner of the table.

  They had a pleasant meal. Brian offered her a lipitrate, and She took it and popped it into her mouth. Brian took a lipitrate. Then he opened the bottle of sparkling wine. Brian served her a flute of wine, and Brian poured one for himself. He put the bottle back in the ice and water mixture. Their evening continued with enjoying the flavor of the sparkling wine. Then Brian asked if she wanted to dance.

  “Push your chair back, Brian. There is something that I want to do.”

  He did as she wanted. Then she stood up, kicked off her shoes. She hiked up her dress, revealing that she was not wearing any panties. Then she sat in his lap and rubbed against him. Brian kissed her.

  “Take me into your bed Brian. Make me sing.” Passion filled her mind.

  He stood up with her encircling her legs around him. He practically ran into his bedroom. Thirty minutes later, a very loud feminine moan could be heard by all of his neighbors.

  For the first time in being a Special Agent, Brian woke to an alarm. He got up from the bed. Brian looked on the other side at the naked form of April Weiner, also a Special Agent. He slapped her butt playfully.

  She woke up and looked at him. A smile filled her face. “Not how I was expecting to be awakened by you.”

  “No time for the other way.”

  April looked at the time display. “We still got two hours.”

  “I got to take a shower and do the other stuff. I don’t like to feel rushed.”

  “We can take a shower together. That would save time.”

  “No, it wouldn’t. We would just get involved in each other. I promise you. We are both going to get a solid week off before you, and I get our missions. We’ll exhaust the Kama Sutra if that is what you want.”

  “I’ll take you up on that promise.”

  Brian nodded and stepped into the shower. It set the temperature of the water to his preference. Then he heard a second set of steps come into the shower.

  Their Shower escapade nearly made him late. Both of them wore their gray suit with dark glasses. They made a splash as they walked into the conference room. Amelia’s lawyer was seated at a table with her Slate before her. They walked down the seats and found the places reserved for them.

  Across from him sat the Emir and Emiress. They waved at him and April. They waved back. Then the lawyer stood up.

  “I’m glad you are all here to listen to her will. Instead of reading the will, I will let her tell you what she wishes in her own Voice. Our firm turned her words into the required legal form. The recording will not play back unless you respond to her questions. She starts off with the man she fell in love with.”

  She sat back down. Amelia’s Voice came over the speakers.

  “Are you there, Brian, my knight?”

  “Yes, I am here.” April handed him a tissue. She put her arm around him.

  “You probably have April there with you?”

  “Yes,” said Brian puzzled.

  “Good. My plan worked. You see Brian, Eridani has deeper ties to Stella than you think. I had presentiments that I would die on Giesling or en route to home. Were we Victorious, my Knight?”


  “Yes, Ofana.”

  “Thank you for helping me with that. You know my wealth, My Knight. If I gave it all to you as I wanted at first, You would almost have to retire from the Eridani Secret Service. I know that will kill you as surely as a dart. So I leave you the sum of three hundred million crowns With the requirement that you will not benefit from it until you retire from active service as a Special Agent. Are you there, Father?

  “Yes, qalb saghir.”

  “To you, I leave the remains of my estate. All I ask is that you use it to help as many people of the 29 worlds as possible.”

  “That is it. I will see you all in paradise.”

  Brian signed a statement stating that he was not retiring. Then he left the conference room. When they were out of the conference room, April stopped Brian.

  “What do you think,” she asked?

  “About that crack about her plan? I don’t know, but we are going to the queen spider’s lair now.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Finding Love at the Debriefing

  Brian and April entered Carla Sylvester's office with a chip on their shoulders, and Sitting at the receptionist desk was a Stella agent named Mia. She saw them and stood up.

  "This way, please." They followed the Stella agent into the inner sanctum of Carla Sylvester.

  Carla sat in her customary chair, working on a Slate, and Without missing a beat, she pointed to the two chairs. Brian and April took a seat, Brian sat in the right chair. Carla ordered her bodyguards out of the room. Scott came by and laid a hand on Brian's shoulder in sympathy. Mia remained in the office with them.

  "Before you start leveling accusations at me I need to debrief the pair of you, first. April, would you care to go first. His is likely to be longer. Eight days in the field will give one a lot of experiences to relate.

  "April, you were asked to look into the Hypercom request."

  "Yes, Ma'am. My first inclination was to go to the scene of the crime, but I wanted to talk with the heads of the Company before. I also wanted to snoop on them. I assumed that was one of the unspoken mission points."

  "Excellent, you've been reading Brian's after mission reports. What did you discover?"

  "I found out that these attacks on their Satellites have been ongoing for three years. They will not let us see the autopsy report, and I did not want to risk a datasleaze. I proceeded to the scene of the crime."

  "That was correct. The Primary mission was looking into the murder on the Hypercom Relay Satellite. What did you find?"

  "The Satellite Commander suffered from prolonged isolation from family and friends. I determined it was his superior who wanted him to commit suicide. The Command broke in the other way. He stalked people on the Satellite. This was the first killing in a likely string had we not intervened."

  "The Hypercom agrees with that assessment. They wanted to know why you killed Director Hopkins."

  "We were operating on our rules for Hypercom. Execution for Attempted murder of the Satellite's Commander."

  "They agree with you and thank you. Be sure to deposit your report on Hypercom with records on your way out. Now Brian, you just about had a conniption fit when you heard the assignment."

  Mia tried to stifle a laugh. All that came out was a laugh. Brian looked back at her with a scowl on his face. She subsided with a sheepish look.

  "I'm sorry Ma'am, but I felt like I was being used as a babysitter."

  "You threatened to resign. Why?"

  "I was being railroaded to a mission I couldn't care less about."

  "What changed your mind?"

  "I went into Intentions. Planetary Interests was interested in Giesling. I know this because of some mentions of Andrea Martin and Anton Hecton in the intentions document."

  "You and Dan get credit for first use. So you went off knowing that there was a chance that Planetary Interests wanted to interfere in the Election. You arrived and heard that Ofana was being besieged by some ruffians. You came and calmly killed the besiegers. You found her. Why did you not drive her back to your ship and fly back here? That would have meant mission win."

  "Have you tried to carry a kicking and screaming woman into a ship. I would have had to sedate her for the whole trip."

  "According to the Emir that sounds about right."

  "She had matured a lot on this eight days."

  "So the trek around the South road which led back into Giesling City was so that she could make speeches and talk with Party leaders to cement relations. Her plan?"

  "Yes, it surprised me. I forgot that some if not most of Ofana's education would come from tutors. These Tutors were approved by the University of Eridani. Completion of their courses counted. She got her Bachelors degree in international relations. I saw only the superficial."

  "What changed your opinion?"

  "When I saw her with the poor, especially poor children. I ran up quite an amount of cash charges on my account card. !0 scrips here, 20 scrips there. Enough to keep them alive for another few days."

  "So you blazed on. What warned you about the Thermonuclear device being fired in the desert?"

  "The Sultan just mentioned the Nomadic tribes and how he did not get any contact with them, recently. There were some rumors about the sun to the North where it should not be. We ran into a Nomadic family group, and The leader's primary wife was dying. I retrieved my Medkit and used the Body monitor. I was able to flush her system with the first aid kit and repair her body. The warrior was so grateful that he gave me Jasmine as payment. He left, I freed her, and our team came back to five members."

  "The trip continues, and you got our subscribers alert about two devices. You found one, and you found the other. What made you think the device would be there."

  "It was the published plans of the Stadium. The Festival Surface had the most catwalks underneath."

  "Of course you were right. All you had was the pgun. By the way, Quartermaster has confirmed your supposition. They also said that he had too much Radamite in the Rounds. He sounds as if in awe of the Colonel. Expect to be called in to qualify the new weapons as they generally become available, both of you.

  "You shot Jasmine with the plasma, and she fried literally. You dickered around until you entered the code to shut it down. You brought that back to your ship, which Quartermaster now has for analysis.

  "There were the victory speeches and the mess after that. You and the autodoc did your best. Your autodoc is being removed and sent back to Lovat by request of Autodoc. You are getting the 9500 to replace it.

  "That is the end of this mission. It is a win for you. Now I want to talk to you both. Put your pistols on my desk, please."

  Brian, puzzled by request put his pistol on Carla's desk.

  "Thank you. Here is the last recording Ofana sent me."

  "Brian, are you there." The trid was activated. Amelia stood before him in the last dress she wore.

  "Yes, I am."

  "Good, and are you there, April?"

  April was even more surprised. "Yes, Amelia."

  "When I had my presentiment about my end. I wanted Brian to find someone he could settle down with. I managed to get Carla's consent and help. Over the last few weeks, Brian, you have had the most number of women flung at you. April was the last one.

  "The woman you know as Julie knows you, unlike myself or April. She observed you and the women around you because she felt that a compatible woman would be among those that work with you, or are working on the same job."

  "The matchmaker figured a plan. And got you together. You had quite the night last night. Carla has an idea, I think you might want to hear."

  "Single agents work well, but I think for the larger or more involved missions Two agent teams would be the norm. Having two heterosexual Males in the same ship would cause problems. Two heterosexual females would not have any problems. The perfect pair for terms of cover and intangibles is a Male and Female. The conservative religions seem to have problems with unmarried couples l
iving together. I would like to send you out together, but if it got out that you were out together well—"

  "We get the picture," said Brian.

  "I agree," said April, "but I would like some more time for romance, before getting married."

  "Hold on, April I not talking about getting married unless you want. I want you two affianced. Since you both have a week of leave left from your missions, I am sending you to Votan Island. It'll be just you a lot of sunshine. You can go with a change of clothing, and go naked the rest of the time."

  Carla paused as she saw meaningful glances being cast between the two. Brian nodded at April, who nodded back at him.

  "We'll take it," they said in unison.

  Brian Butler and April Weiner will return in DREAMLAND