The Space Merchants of Arachne

by Wendie Nordgren

  “Why do you suspect you’re related to Kaoti, Cupcake?”

  “Well, he seems to have a lot in common with Eric and Simon.”

  Simon looked shocked. “Other than you what do the three of us have in common?”

  I thought about Eric saying he had gone out with both Tina and Patna at once. Simon and Kaoti had each gone upstairs with two of my Malta friends, too. How that was even possible, I didn’t understand. Yukihyo began laughing so hard that he had to take gulps of air. He wiped at his eyes.

  “I’ll tell you later,” he said.

  “Who? Me?” I asked.

  “No, I am not explaining that to you, lady wife.”

  Hiroshi chuckled. I took the lift up to our quarters with Thunderdrop and Cass, changed into a gown, and went to sleep. By the next day, the cargo hold was stocked with fuel, and we were on our way home. A new camaraderie had begun between Simon and Kaoti, but whatever they had managed at Ms. Laura’s remained a big secret. Yukihyo gained a new sparring partner. Kaoti and Yukihyo enjoyed punching and kicking each other as much as I enjoyed coffee and pancakes. Phillip hadn’t fussed at me once since our reunion on Amphictyon, and he warned me anytime he gave me vitamin shots.

  I cheered when we landed on Arachne. Simon seemed just as relieved. “You’ll love it here, Kaoti. It’s perfect.” When we drove under the awning at the Alaric estate, Ethan came out to greet us opening my door. He gave me a long fierce hug. At that moment all of the tension that I hadn’t realized I carried left me.

  “It is good to see you back at home again where you belong,” Ethan said.

  “It is very good to be home. However, it was very satisfying to spend time with Papa and Grandmother. They love me, Ethan.”

  “I love you, too,” Ethan said. I squeezed him back.

  “You know how I feel about you,” I smiled up at him. We went inside where all of the Alarics and Montgomeries waited. Sherman and Gina were thrilled to have Simon returned to them. I realized how frightened we had each been deep down that we might never be allowed to return.

  “Who is this young man?” Gram asked.

  “This is Kaoti…our new crew member. Kaoti, this is the Lady Alaric.” He bowed to her.

  “Oh, yes. I remember you now. Your new assignment seems to be agreeing with you. You do not appear as wary as you were at the peace talks,” Gram said. She gave Kaoti a sweet smile.

  The boys brought in the presents. We had brought things for Dr. Perry, Stewart, Jorge, and the other staff as well. ZeeZee had rushed to Thunderdrop and me. He touched his feelers to my stomach. I patted him. Thunderdrop and Cass chirped and clacked at him. Simon brought ZeeZee’s toy bag over to him. “I brought you a few new toys from Parvac, ZeeZee.” He blinked at me. Eliot took the bag and showed him his gifts. Then, our spiders left us to play. Gram discovered my bags and bags of baby clothes. She, Gina, and Sydney took them all upstairs. Auria took my hand, and we followed.

  “We have a surprise for you,” Auria said as she led me into the room next to mine.

  They had transformed the room into a nursery. With the exception of gleaming Arachnean wood and the stone walls, everything was in stunning white. “Oh, it’s perfect!” A large crib similar to the one in my quarters on Tora was against the back wall. Soft white rocking chairs and wooden tables were in the corners. A changing table was against the wall to the bathroom. The closet had tiny hangers that waited for all of the clothes we had bought. We put everything away. The men had all disappeared into the office, so we ladies spent the day together. I showed them all of our pictures from Parvac.

  “The sky is so beautiful. How is it pink?” Auria asked.

  “Papa said it is because of dust particles. Long ago their system had three moons, but something happened that destroyed one of them. I think he said that had something to do with it.”

  The rains had stopped while we were on Parvac, and Yukihyo agreed to take me camping. Kaoti insisted he would accompany us, but promised to be unobtrusive. Since no one would allow me on a roller, Simon helped Yukihyo set up our camp. Yukihyo drove me to our campsite in Simon’s two seater hover craft. We spent two glorious nights alone together with Thunderdrop in our forest. My spiders still played with their color shapes. Yukihyo and I had brought them several new balls with which to play. While the spiders adored Yukihyo, none of them attempted to bond with him.

  “Bonding with a full-blooded Laconian would be uncomfortable for the arachnid psyche. We can communicate and enjoy each other’s company, but to attempt more would be to turn a friend into a servant.”

  The spiders left me cocooned rats. I thanked them each time and made a show of storing them in a crate. Yukihyo and I waded in the stream and watched the deer. Then, once I grew tired of the mattress and began to miss my bathtub, we returned to the estate. The best thing about being home was that Ethan, Eliot, Sherman, and Simon eagerly assisted Hiroshi with business, and Yukihyo spent all of his time with me. Yukihyo had become much more receptive to my thoughts, needs, and desires since his reunion with his mother and sisters. After a particularly uncomfortable night spent with a backache and leg cramps that he rubbed away, he offered to take Auria and me shopping. Eliot was busy buying silk from the Glaucias for us to sell on Parvac.

  Yukihyo took us to the indoor, three floor market. Auria bought her mother a few things while Yukihyo bought me all of the stuffed olives and honeyed chicken that I could eat. Yukihyo chuckled. “What?” I asked as I fed Thunderdrop bites of chicken.

  “Our new friend is getting some attention.” I looked toward Kaoti. A shopkeeper who sold baking dishes lazed her eyes up and down Kaoti.

  “Husband, it would be nice to have new bowls and cake pans on Tora. Will you help me pick out some things?” Yukihyo kissed my nose. I found a pretty set of white bowls with a pattern of blue and green flowers decorating their rims. While examining them, I said, “Kaoti, will you please ask the shopkeeper how much these cost?” Kaoti bowed to me and approached her. I snickered. “I’ve done what I can. It’s up to her now.” I found green and blue striped cookie sheets, matching platters, and napkins.

  Kaoti returned and spoke quietly to Yukihyo, who replied in an equally quiet manner. Yukihyo paid for my selections, and we went to the second floor. I bought two new swim dresses. I convinced Kaoti to buy swim shorts. Yukihyo got him to buy a suit and some other Arachnean fashions. On the third floor, I bought more picture frames. I went to Dade’s store. He gazed into my eyes, bowed over my hand, and placed a reverent kiss upon my knuckles.

  “My lady, your eyes shine like the stars. Too long has it been since I have beheld you.”

  “Mr. Sonners, you say the sweetest things. How have you been?”

  “I have been suffering from a broken heart, but seeing you has mended it.”

  I laughed. “That must be because there is so much more of me to see.”

  “You have only grown more lovely.” Dade caught sight of Yukihyo behind me. Gently, he released my hand and stood. “How may I be of service, my lady?”

  “Give me your arm and show me bedding sets. I want to purchase seven of them as gifts.” Dade looked as though I had made him the happiest man on the planet when I held onto his arm. I stumbled twice forcing him to support me. “I’m sorry. I’ve been feeling clumsy lately.” He gave me a rapturous smile in return. I picked out the sets I thought were prettiest. “Yukihyo, what sizes should I get these in for my friends on Malta?” Yukihyo paled, and Kaoti supplied Dade with the answer. Auria had caught up with us and exchanged quizzical glances with me. I shrugged, unsure of Yukihyo’s reaction. My husband paid, and the three men carried all of my purchases outside to the transport.

  After helping me into my seat, Yukihyo rushed to say, “Lady wife, I assure you that I have paid no visits of an intimate nature to any woman since the moment I met you.”

  “I know. I just wanted to buy the right sizes. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Relieved, he said, “Kaoti requires my assistance. Would you
ladies and Thunderdrop be alright in the bakery for a short time?”

  “Oh, yes!” Auria and I said together. Kaoti carried the items inside that Auria had purchased for her mother. Yukihyo brought us inside and helped me sit at a table. Mrs. Jones and Auria brought me coffee and treats. Contentedly, I munched away. The foods I had eaten all day had left my hunger and cravings completely satisfied. Yukihyo and Kaoti returned an hour later. Yukihyo bent down on one knee in front of me and held out a box with a peach colored ribbon to me. I smiled, kissed him, and opened it. Inside was a charm bracelet. One of the charms was a tiny picture frame containing a holo-engraving of our most recent view of our baby. Another charm featured a peach diamond as a baby rattle. A third charm was a tiny baby carriage filled with a blanket made of tiny blue diamonds. “Yukihyo, I love it. You are so sweet and thoughtful. Let me guess. You are teaching Kaoti how to make a woman swoon and melt her heart?”

  Yukihyo smiled mischievously. A boy entered the bakery carrying a large bouquet of peach and blue flowers. I laughed and accepted it. Thunderdrop sniffed the flowers. Mrs. Jones insisted on feeding Yukihyo and Kaoti. Kaoti whispered a question to Yukihyo, who thought and then nodded. Kaoti went to the counter and placed an order with Auria’s brother. He filled a box and tied it with a bow. Kaoti took it from him.

  “Does Kaoti have a date?”

  Yukihyo grinned and said, “Is it okay if he borrows your transport tonight?”

  “Sure.” I shrugged.

  The next morning Yukihyo and I joined Gram, Sydney, and Auria for breakfast in the sunroom. Kaoti stood at attention near the door. “Dear, must he always be so rigid?” Gram asked. Yukihyo and I snickered.

  “Kaoti, please join us,” Sydney asked.

  He bowed. “Lady Alaric, I am honored by your invitation. However, I am charged with Princess Teagan’s safety.”

  “Kaoti, when Yukihyo is with me, I am as safe as I can be. How about you relax a little when my husband is with me. You can worry about me whenever he is away.”

  “Should you require me, I will be in the room next door, Princess.” He left.

  “Where is he going?” Auria asked.

  In his deep monotone, Yukihyo answered, “He will run a few miles on the treadmill.”

  “That’s his idea of relaxing?” Gram asked.

  Ethan joined us. As he sat down, he said, “Teagan, I wish to warn you. Phillip spent yesterday learning about blood sugar levels during pregnancy and plans to evaluate you today through a series of tests.”

  “But we spent an hour with Auria’s mom yesterday.” Ethan smiled at me over his coffee cup. “Quick, Auria. Where can we disappear to today?”

  “Too late, Cupcake.”

  I groaned. “Phillip, you’re not being fair. I hadn’t seen Mrs. Jones in weeks and the pastries are so good.”

  “Look here, Cupcake. I haven’t admonished you once since Amphictyon. I got an earful from your grandmother and Yukihyo’s mother. Then, Yukihyo alluded to placing my scanner someplace anatomically uncomfortable if I interfered with any of your cravings, but I’ve had enough. You’ve got four months to go, and no one is going to use guilt or threats of bodily harm to prevent me from helping you make better choices. I have blaster sedatives prepared for anyone who tries to stop me.”

  I smirked at him. “You can’t tell me what to do. I’m a princess. I’ll get Kaoti to block you while I eat what I want.”

  Phillip bent down to my eye level and gave me his snide superior look. “Actually, Cupcake, I had a little talk with your Papa, and he wants what’s best for his daughter and his grandchild. He fell in love with his grandchild during the scan he saw on Parvac. I have his complete support. He told me to tell you that if I give him a good report of your behavior upon our return, he will give you your very own pleasure barge for the lake.”

  I pouted. “I don’t even know what that is.” Phillip showed me pictures of what appeared to be floating sitting rooms. “That looks nice,” I said. “Phillip, when I was in Union Port City, deciding what I wanted to eat was the only real freedom I had. You want me to give that up.”

  Phillip lifted my chin up and forced me to look into his blue eyes. “And now you have several grown men to boss around, you can wear whatever you want, drive wherever you want to go, buy anything you want, and travel anywhere in the galaxies. How about one coffee and cappuccino a day, and I promise not to gripe about them?”

  “I guess we could try.” He gave me one of the smiles he used on Felicia.

  “Great! Let’s go to the living room and check your blood sugar levels.”

  “You sound like it’s supposed to be fun,” I said as I reluctantly allowed him to drag me along behind him.

  Phillip was practically livid at the results. I’d never seen him angry. He informed the entire family and staff of my new diet and forbade me having any treats. Yukihyo, Eliot, and Hiroshi admitted to me that Phillip had threatened them with weeks of impotency to ensure their non-interference in regard to my care. Phillip had me outsmarted and outgunned. I surrendered.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tora’s cargo hold was filled with bolts of silk and several silk dresses created from modified patterns of the Parvac dresses I had given Simon’s designers. We left home on a course for Malta. Simon came with us to help Hiroshi, and I suspected to keep an eye on me. Phillip’s dietary tyranny began to fray my nerves. I called Grandmother to vent my frustrations. She gave me some new recipes to try. I used my new bowls and tried a cookie recipe. Before we had left, Phillip had brought the butlers on board to assist him in eradicating anything in the kitchen that he deemed unhealthy. No one had tried to stop him. Grandmother had taken that into consideration with the recipes she shared with me. I placed the cookies on my new platter. I set the table with my new matching plates and napkins. When I got the boys into the kitchen, Phillip scowled and asked where I had “hidden the sugar.”

  “They don’t have sugar in them. They are pumpkin nut cookies. Scan them if you want. I didn’t break any of your horrible rules.” He actually scanned them. I put six of them on my plate.

  “Well, what do you know? They’re vegetable cookies,” he said. I ate one.

  “Did you hear that? Uncle Phillip fussed at your mommy for no reason. What? No, baby. I’m sorry. He won’t let you have any eggrolls.” Phillip gave me a glass of milk.

  The trip was calm and relaxing. I reveled in each predictable day.

  When Hiroshi landed Tora on Malta, the men loaded gifts into the back of Phillip’s transport, and we went to Ms. Laura’s. “It’s so good to see you. I hope you will join me for tea.”

  I looked at Phillip. Silvie had her arms wrapped around him with her head full of black curls resting on his shoulder. “Am I allowed little sandwiches and cakes, Phillip?”

  Silvie nibbled at his neck. “Ms. Laura, she can have tea and sandwiches, but no cakes.”

  “Oh, Phillip. That is harsh. That would be like letting you look but not touch,” Silvie admonished.

  “Ms. Laura, she can have two cakes,” he said. Silvie purred at him and let him follow her upstairs. Yukihyo remained, but the rest of the crew had disappeared. We had tea. Ms. Laura’s cup clinked against her saucer.

  “There haven’t been any incursions into our space or news of trouble since the signing of the peace treaty.”

  “Our cousin tells us all is quiet. Also, foreign embassies are being planned for each colonized planet,” Yukihyo said.

  “After the embassies are established, maybe tourism will be permitted,” she said.

  “I’m sure it will be encouraged,” I said. We talked about Parvac’s sky, mountains, and lakes. Then, the crew began returning to the room. “Remember, we got the ladies gifts from home.”

  “You brought us more presents?” Annette asked.

  “Yes, I’ve missed you, and I’m happy to get to see you again.” Kaoti and Hiroshi made a couple of trips out to the transport for my gifts of Arachnean Silk bedding. The ladies were very pleased.
I remembered my first night on Tora and how glorious I had found the bedding to be. Next, we dropped by to say hello to Dr. Anders and then the Gregories. Eventually, we returned to our starship, dinner, movie, and sleep.

  When I woke up, I saw stars above me and knew we had begun the return trip to Parvac. My bladder forced me from my bed.

  In the kitchen, Phillip watched my every bite. “Look. You seem to have a problem with everything, so I won’t even bother opening the cold storage unit. I’ll just sit and pretend you’re my butler,” I said with my arms crossed over my stomach.

  “I’m not being that controlling.” Kaoti cleared his throat.

  “Dr. Svenson, you had all food items which did not meet your restrictions removed. However, now you find fault with the combinations the Princess selects.”

  “I just think she needs a balanced diet. She can’t eat all protein or all carbohydrates at meal times.”

  Kaoti made me a cup of tea. I told him how much I appreciated his support. Phillip frowned, but lightened up on me a little.

  Kaoti kept me company while I completed all of my fighter ship simulation hours. The program allowed me to continue flying the fighter ship for fun with the flight controls which kept me occupied in front of my large vid-screen. It seemed a date on Arachne and two trips to a brothel had humanized Kaoti. During the trip, he, Yukihyo, and Hiroshi enjoyed sparring once a day. Thunderdrop, Cass, and I spent that time playing with transports on the floor of the entertainment room. Each time we did so, Simon checked on us often and helped me stand which seemed to put a smile on his face. Simon tried to keep me occupied with games on the vid-screen.

  I was alone in my quarters packing a few things when the light flashed above my door. It was Phillip. I had started to cringe involuntarily every time I saw him. He held up his hands. “I come in peace. Can we talk?”

  “Whatever.” I had a crate of framed pictures ready and continued to pack a swim dress and some gowns. Phillip took my hands and gently shook them until I dropped the gown I held. Phillip’s hands were warm, and his long fingers encompassed my hands. I stared at a few of the blonde hairs growing out of his fingers. I prepared myself for whatever he would be griping at me for this time. He closed the drawer between us and moved his hands up my arms to my back. He stepped closer and held me. Phillip smelled like the shampoo I had bought on Arachne. I could feel his heartbeat against my cheek. I lifted my arms and hugged him back. Phillip spoke and I could feel his lips move with his words against the top of my head.