Punishment

by Guerin Zand

  “My team was relieved when the situation on Earth was resolved with no more bloodshed. I wasn’t, and I told Roger why. This is just the first of many situations like this and they are going to get progressively worse. At the same dinner I just mentioned, I speculated that you wanted Earth to be a firewall against Trogan expansion, but that’s just another hurdle in our way. You want much more, and the time frame you’re looking at is unfathomable to us. I don’t think your little Trogan fuckup just cost you that one world. It created a void in leadership among the younger races. I think that’s why they’re so disorganized and everybody is looking out for themselves. No, your little screw up was a colossal screw-up, and you are looking to us to help you fix it.”

  The other Council members remained stone-faced. Julie was flustered but trying not to take my bait. It was Milly who spoke up.

  “What if everything you say is true, Guerin? Wouldn’t it make sense that we wouldn’t want to pass on too much information without knowing you better than we do now? Doesn’t it make sense we want to be more careful this time?”

  “Yes, but does it mean you’re right? Just because the last person you were involved with betrayed you, should you be so suspicious of the next that your suspicion drives them away?” Milly’s head dropped, and I regretted saying it. It’s not how I felt about her, and I guess I just was so mad I didn’t think before I stuck my foot in my mouth. I didn’t mean to hurt her.

  “What is it that you want, Guerin? Besides someone to take out your anger on.” Julie was mad at me for speaking to Milly the way I had. I could tell by her tone.

  “I want you to answer me when I ask you a direct question. I’m not asking for you to volunteer all your knowledge of the universe. Tell me why I can’t access a lot of the history of these other unaligned worlds and so little about the Trogans. Do you have something to hide that you fear would make me walk away?”

  “We’ll make those records available. Anything else?”

  “I know why you show me so little respect, Julie, but that’s no reason to disrespect the rest of my team.”

  “How have we disrespected your team?”

  “They should be here at this meeting, Julie, not just me. They’re the ones who did most of the work you’re congratulating me for. They should be standing here and you should be thanking them. You’re going to ask them to join up, aren’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You want them to agree to undergo the same modifications you made to me. As I said, things are only going to get a lot more complicated, and you know I can’t handle it all on my own. What happens when I melt down and need a break? Don’t tell me this isn’t what you have planned.”

  “We’re considering it.”

  “I think what you meant to say was yes, wasn’t it, Julie? Why do you have to be so elusive? It’s like I’ve been talking to myself here, which is a possibility from what I know about where I’m not. You or someone from the committee should have brought up this subject with them a long time ago. They need time to think about it. Don’t pull the same shit on them as you did on me. I warned them that it may come up. Of course, that was just another guess. I’m tired of guessing.”

  “Do you have any more demands of the Council?”

  “I haven’t made any demands, Julie. I’ve simply asked you for these things. But now that you brought it up. I want you, yes you, Julie, to take charge of my daughter’s development from here on, and I want you to keep her safe. I don’t know what you people did to me but my daughter isn’t a normal human child. Physically she’s stronger than probably any human man or woman. She was a champion swimmer who could have shattered the men’s world records. Instead, she had to keep track of her lap times in her head to make sure she stayed under the limits of what was possible for a human female. Growing up different like that isn’t easy for a little girl.”

  “Her first time through a portal she showed no signs of portal lag. Hell, it still freaks me out. She can use the technology on the shuttle and here without any modifications. I don’t know the full range of her enhancements, but I expect you to find out. If she’s not already got an equivalent lifespan to mine, I want you to make sure she does. She’s smarter than any human as well, and probably smarter than me. I can’t raise her to her full potential, but you can. She’s the human you’re going to need in the future, not me. I don’t know if that was something you planned, and I don’t care. I expect you to do this personally, Julie, not pass it on to some underlings.”

  “You want me to be responsible for your daughter’s future? I must say, Guerin, I’m not sure I believe you just asked me, of all people.”

  “What’s your answer?”

  “It would be my pleasure.”

  “I have your promise on that?”

  “Yes.”

  I started to laugh and I couldn’t stop. Since there was no time in the void meeting space I can’t say how long I laughed.

  Julie’s faced turned sour and she asked, “What is so funny?”

  “Julie, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. She’s my daughter you know? Imagine my attitude in the body of a teenage girl with enhanced and raging hormones. Yes, I could have asked someone else. This is my revenge on you, Julie. Good fucking luck!”

  Julie made a gesture as if to brush it off. She thought she could handle it. I just laughed harder and then Milly joined in. Milly did try to contain her laughter, but with little luck. Several of the other Council members fought to stifle their snickers.

  Julie waited for the laughter to die down a bit. “Is that it, Guerin?”

  “Meet with my team, the entire Council, and take the time to really talk to them. If we’re all done I would really…”

  And I was all alone again, never and nowhere. I was going to say don’t do this before they did it. The bastards. Always got to get the last dig in. Annoying no good ass…”

  I was sitting at the desk in the office of my suite in the main ship. Julie was sitting across from me. “Very funny, Julie.”

  “What.”

  “Would it be too much to ask that you give me a little warning before dragging my sad ass to the void meeting space? Then do you always have to make me stay there alone before and after the meetings? Why can’t I be that last in and first out?”

  “Are you afraid of the dark, Guerin?”

  “No, I just don’t like the feeling I get when I’m nowhere and never like that.”

  “I’ll consider your request.”

  “Yea, I’m sure you will,” I muttered.

  “We’re alone, Guerin. Perhaps now would be an appropriate time for you and me to have a private talk?”

  “Give me a break, Julie. I don’t think I can take one of your talks right now. I’m thinking about a drink and then a nap.”

  “I’ll let you rest up then. We’ll do breakfast soon though. We do need to talk.”

  “That’s fine.” I sighed as we both got up. No good ever comes from my talks with Julie. It wasn’t like the talks I had with Stella. I believe deep down Stella thought her talks helped, and maybe they did. Julie’s talks were more like a parent’s lecture to their wayward son.

  Julie left. I went to the bar and poured myself a large portion of Pappy’s. I returned to the office, drank my whiskey, and did a little shopping for clothes on the viewer. When I finished my drink, I went back to the bedroom and hopped on the bed.

  I needed rest. It had been years since I really slept. Even then, I only slept a few hours a night, thanks to Julie’s upgrades. I missed the long deep sleep I remembered. I know I didn’t need the sleep, but I was so tired, and that tired feeling seemed to grow worse day by day. The little sleep I got seemed to do nothing to alleviate that tired feeling. Thankfully, sleep came to me quickly that day.

  Chapter 26

  A Small Gathering of Friends

  I woke up just a few hours later. I went to the kitchen and conjured up a cup of coffee. What I really wanted was a drink, and to not stop d
rinking, but I had my daughter with me and I needed to talk to the team. I looked in Maria’s room and she was still out with the others. The clothes I ordered were in the foyer on a table, so I picked them up and walked back to the bedroom.

  I put most of the clothes away in the closet except for a clean set to change into. I undressed and entered the massive shower. There were no walls enclosing the shower, it was that large, and it had multiple shower heads aimed to surround your body with warm soothing water. I placed my hand on the control panel and the water came out already at the perfect temperature. The system new what temperature I liked from past showers, and the shower heads adjusted automatically for the size of the person. Sometimes the alien tech was pretty cool. I heard a noise in the room. I turned to see the twins.

  “There you are, Guerin,” Seca smiled, stating the obvious. Yes, there I was, pretty much all of me for them to see. I had fantasized about the twins many times but the reality is always different from our fantasies. I was embarrassed, and I tried to cover up.

  Seca continued to talk. “Maria said you’d probably be back here in the master suite. We showed her how to shop for clothes and I think she’s going to be busy for a while. We thought we’d come and visit with you. I hope you don’t mind?”

  “Um….” Ok, so I’m not the smooth-talking stud I may have led you readers to believe. I was having a tough time remembering how to talk at the moment.

  The twins started to get undressed and my mouth still wasn’t working. My lower jaw seemed to just be hanging there and I couldn’t move it. As the totally naked twins entered the shower, Seca said, “It looks like you could use some help?” Seca was definitely the talker, Prima just smiled. I looked down and, well, I think I know what Seca was referring to. I looked back up at both of them, still totally unable to speak.

  Seca grabbed an alien luffa, some soap, and then walked behind me. Prima remained up front and started to rub my chest with her hands. I was about to finish, if you know what I mean, in the next few seconds the way things were going. Seca began washing my back and I tried to talk. “I think we probably…”

  Prima put her index finger on my lips to stop me from talking. Seca put her lips to my right ear and whispered to me in the most seductive way. “Guerin, this is not the time to be thinking. Relax and enjoy yourself. We’ll handle everything.” Prima removed her finger from my lips and replaced it with her lips and the gentlest kiss. She pulled back from the kiss and the look in her eyes scared me. I was going to lose control any second if I hadn’t already.

  There’s probably a special place in hell waiting for me after that shower. I should have put a stop to it, right? I didn’t. It had been almost a year since I lost Anna and I hadn’t been with anyone since her. I felt terrible when I even thought about it, but in that shower, thoughts of Anna never crossed my mind. I thought Julie was supposed to deprogram these ladies and remove that slave girl programming. From what I could tell, that programming was still very active.

  When the shower was done they had me take a seat while they cut and styled my hair. Prima sat in front of me and for the first time in my life I received a manicure and pedicure. I never degraded a woman like that before and I felt bad, really. It was also the best I’d ever been treated. While Prima was busy, Seca had slipped out and brought me back a whiskey. Since Prima was busy with my hands, Seca would bring the glass to my lips for me. As I sat there being pampered I thought to myself what a fool I’d been. If I’d known what fun a pair of slave girls could be I would have never given them away.

  We finally made it back out to the living area and I headed to the bar. I offered the twins a drink. It was the least I could do for them. They chose some alien liquor and I poured them each a nice drink.

  “Thanks, Guerin.”

  “Prima, you do talk?”

  “Of course I talk, silly. Just not as much as my sister.” We all smiled.

  “I was thinking of having a small dinner here for some friends tonight. Julie said I could get staff to help but I’m not sure what I need to do. Would you two mind helping me out?”

  “Sure, Guerin. We can take care of that for you. One of our restaurants can provide the catering and staff.”

  “One of your restaurants?”

  “Yes. We run a few restaurants and that bar you liked so much on the night side. We can provide a bartender as well. Do you know what time you want to do this?” Seca didn’t hesitate to volunteer.

  “Drinks at 7 and dinner at 8? It’s kind of short notice so I don’t know if people will be available. Maybe we’ll have to schedule it for another day?”

  “I’m sure they’ll make themselves available when they hear Guerin Zand is throwing a dinner.”

  “Were you being sarcastic, Prima?”

  “Never,” Prima said as she smiled a wicked smile. She went to her bag and pulled out one of the small personal viewers. I’d seen these before and I wouldn’t mind having one for my go bag.

  “How come I don’t have one of those?” I asked.

  “Did you ask anybody for one?”

  “No, I mean, I don’t know what it’s called so how could I ask for one, Prima?”

  “I’ll have one sent to your residence. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  “No.” That wasn’t actually what I was thinking but I was trying to behave. “Thanks anyways. You two really have done enough already. I feel kind of bad taking advantage of you this way.”

  Seca shook her head. “You’re not taking advantage of us, Guerin. We enjoy doing things for you. We never got to show you how grateful we were for you rescuing us.”

  “I didn’t rescue you. You were a gift, remember? I told you before, you don’t owe me anything.”

  Prima was engrossed in the dinner arrangements. Seca poured me another drink. “Is that why you think we joined you in the shower, because we felt we owed you?”

  “Well, yea. You didn’t have to do that. I shouldn’t have let that happen.”

  Prima looked up from the viewer. She gave me this disgusted look and finally spoke up. “Seriously, Guerin, your daughter is right. You’ve become a bit of a prude since you’ve been away. Did it ever occur to you that we might have wanted to be with you?”

  “Only in my fantasies.”

  They both started laughing at me. Maria walked into the room. “What’s so funny?”

  “Your father.” Prima shutdown her viewer and took a sip of her drink. “It’s all taken care of.”

  “What’s Prima talking about?”

  “They helped me set up a small dinner for tonight. Would you mind gathering up the team and bringing them up here, Maria?”

  “I don’t know how to drive one of those pads, Dad.”

  “It’s not hard. Put your hand on the control pad and just think where you want to go. You can’t wreck them, I’ve tried. At worse, you’ll get a little lost before you figure it out. Drinks at 7 and dinner at 8.”

  “Who cut your hair, Dad?”

  “The twins.”

  “Is that all they did?”

  “Yes. Quit being so nosey.” The twins snickered and I gave them a dirty look.

  “Whatever, Dad. Does the team already know about the dinner?”

  Seca nodded to Maria. “They responded to the invitation. You just need to let them know when you’re going to pick them up.”

  “I was going to go hang out with Katie and Diane for a while. I wanted to see how they were doing with their shopping. I guess I’ll see if I can figure out how to drive and go hang for a bit. That should give you three a little time alone. Maybe they can do your nails or something.” The sarcasm in Maria’s voice was obvious.

  “We already did that,” Seca responded.

  “Really?” Maria gave me one of her looks and then turned and started to walk away. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” And she headed for her room.

  “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” I said in a smartass tone.

  “I was talk
ing to the twins, Dad!”

  “That’s even worse, I think?” Being her father, I was pretty sure my little angel had no idea what these two ladies would or wouldn’t do. Hell, neither did I.

  Soon after Maria left, I heard noises from the kitchen and I went to see what was up. The catering staff was in the dining area off the kitchen. They were setting up the main dining table. It wasn’t as large a dining table as at the Cyletherean compound, or Julie’s residence, but it could seat about 25 people. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but there was a service elevator in the kitchen. It was hidden, or camouflaged, to make it look like part of the wall when the door was closed. I wondered how the staff had gotten in. I went back out to the living area to find one of the staff doing an inventory of the bar. I had only been there a few hours, so I didn’t see why they’d think the bar was running low.

  Seca was going over the seating chart for the table with me. “Seca, you did include Prima and yourself on the guest list, didn’t you?”

  “No. We were going to help the staff with dinner.”

  “No, I want you two to be my guests as well. Don’t you think I consider you my friends?”

  “Sorry.” Prima had a sad look. It was for effect obviously since it was having an effect.

  “Well, get more staff if you need it and stop doing any more work. Let someone else take care of the dinner. I want you to have fun. Let’s take our drinks over to the couch and have a seat. You can catch me up on everything I’ve missed.”

  So we just relaxed on the couch while the caterers continued to prepare everything. The kitchen was busy with dozens of staff starting to prepare the food. You could hear the clatter of dishes and glasses as everything was being attended to.