“That was fun,” Lorca said.
“Was it?” I said, shortly.
“We weren't in any real danger, were we?”
I just looked at her. “Let’s go.”
No-one said anything on the way home. I think I was emitting ‘do not disturb’ vibes. Fiona and Lashak’ka went to make coffee. I pulled Triss into my arms and hugged her.
“You were superb.”
“It was hard but I’m learning.”
“You’re learning well. Not a mark on him. As for Lorca’s little intervention… we can always claim it was an accident.”
“Why are you so worried?” Jarmasin asked.
“I want you to think very carefully. What, exactly did that arsehole do?”
“He was rude. He laid hands on Lorca.”
“Uh, huh. Did he hit her? Did he hurt her? Did he steal anything?”
“No. He was inebriated and obnoxious.”
“Exactly. That’s not a crime. Hitting someone is. If Triss had hit him, she could have been arrested for assault.”
“What? That’s insane,” Jarmasin said with a shudder. “He wasn't going to take no for an answer and who knows what would have happened.”
“But that’s the law. The real fault lies with the bouncer. It’s his job to watch for things like that and prevent them getting to the stage they did. He failed, and it’s only thanks to Triss’s intervention that it didn’t escalate.”
Lorca was nodding. “The, er, bouncer could have used force?”
“A reasonable amount, yes.”
“Then I apologise. I shouldn’t have stepped on his foot.”
“I don’t understand,” Jarmasin said.
“I think I do,” Lashak’ka said.
She and Fiona had returned with the coffee.
“Go ahead, Lorca.”
“You have a set of rules that apply to everyone anywhere. They are general and cover things like violence and theft. But locally there are other sets of rules which…” she paused while she thought. “…can override the general ones in specific circumstances. Is that right?”
I nodded. “So what happened tonight?”
“There are rules governing behaviour in pubs. These beings broke the rules but the enforcer failed to do his duty so…” another pause, “…the rules became void and the general ones applied.”
“I’ve never thought of it quite like that before,” Fiona exclaimed.
“Neither have I, but it’s a pretty good summary,” I said. “Now think about Triss’s and Lorca’s actions.”
“They’re not authorised to enforce the rules,” Lashak’ka said suddenly. “So if they break them, they’re at fault, not the beings who started it… unless they’d broken the general rules too.”
Jarmasin was shaking her head. “That sounds awfully complicated. I don’t know how you can live like that; never knowing if what you’re doing might be breaking the law.”
I grinned mirthlessly. “Hermes says Earth politics give him a headache. I don’t think he’s met our legal system yet. As I said to you before, Earth’s a dangerous place if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Triss nodded. “And I’m beginning to see why you were so upset with me at the Charity Ball.”
“That’s in the past. I’m sorry your first outing had to end like that. I can assure you it doesn’t happen often.”
“Much,” Fiona snorted. “Things like that happen all the time in some places. And worse.”
“I was trying not to give our visitors a bad impression of our city,” I said.
“I think we’re big enough to make up our own minds,” Lorca said with a laugh.
“All you ever see on the TV news is murder and violence and it tends to skew your thinking. Most people go through their lives seeing nothing worse than the occasional punch-up. It’s quite safe provided you which areas to avoid.”
“Aren’t all cities the same?” Lashak’ka said.
I laughed. “Quite probably.”
Fiona started talking about sleeping arrangements. She had one room with a double bed and one with twin beds.
“Jarmasin and I’ll share the double,” Lorca said firmly. “Triss and Lashak’ka can have the twins.”
“I’ll take the couch,” I said helpfully.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Lorca said with a grin. “You’re with us.”
“Oh, my,” Fiona said and giggled. She was blushing. “Am I going to need earplugs?”
“Whyever would you need earplugs?” Lorca said, her face a picture of mock innocence.
Jarmasin was all over me as soon as the bedroom door shut. I realised I’d been neglecting her and felt guilty. Lorca was amused by Jarmasin’s show of passion and even more amused when the latter, blushingly and haltingly, confessed she was bonded with me and how it happened. She graciously allowed the smaller girl first dibs.
We snuggled into bed, Jarmasin and I facing each other with Lorca pressed behind me. We were trading gentle kisses when I caught a whiff of a familiar scent. Jarmasin caught it too. Her nostrils flared and her eyes widened. She gasped and shivered and pressed herself tightly against me. Her nipples swelled and hardened. Behind me Lorca began to grind her groin against my bottom. Her arms snaked around me as her hands sought Jarmasin’s breasts. I remembered both Jarmasin and Lorca had admitted to being bi-sexual and hoped Fiona had her earplugs handy, or a vibrator.
I had never shared a bed with two women before, let alone two who were openly bi-sexual and seemed as happy to make love to each other as they were to me. My sexual education improved by leaps and bounds that night. I managed to satisfy them both but was eventually reduced to role of interested spectator as they went at it hot and heavy. Finally, even they were sated. As Lorca rolled off to collapse on the bed, Jarmasin was hugging her and planting kisses all over her face.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried. “You don’t know how much it means to be able to do that openly.”
“I think I do, dear,” Lorca murmured, hugging the smaller woman tightly and stroking her hair.
I suppose I should have been jealous that my women were more interested in each other than in me, but, instead, I felt a strange sense of pride as if, somehow, I had been responsible for bringing them together. I snuggled up behind Lorca, pulled the covers over us and fell asleep with my groin pressed to her magnificent bottom, a hand cupping a wonderful breast.
Chapter 26
We woke late the next morning. By the sounds of it we were the last up. We went down together and made our entrance. Triss’s expression was a mixture of envy and disapproval, Lashak’ka just looked envious, Fiona blushed furiously.
“It’s just as well that bed’s against an outside wall,” she mumped.
Jarmasin held up the bundle of bedding we’d stripped from the bed. “These could do with a wash,” she said innocently.
Fiona turned even redder, but showed her how the washing machine worked.
After breakfast I went for a turn in the back garden. Typically, after the nice day yesterday, the morning was overcast and cool. Rain threatened. Lorca followed me.
“Can I speak to you?” Lorca said.
“Of course.” I was surprised. Lorca didn’t normally ask permission.
“What is it that’s really bothering you about last night?” she said without preamble.
“We’ve been through that. It could have got out of hand and the police could have become involved.”
She shook her head. “I understand that. I want to know why you, personally, were so upset about it?”
“I wasn’t…” I began.
“Crawford, don’t lie to yourself. You were shaking like a leaf when we left the pub.”
“I don’t like violent confrontations.”
“It wasn't violent.”
“It would have been if it hadn’t been for Triss.”
“You knew you had Triss to protect us, so why were you so upset?”
“I…” started to blust
er then sagged.
“It’s because you feel you should have been able to handle it without her help.” Her tone was oddly gentle.
I sighed. She had seen right through me. “Yes.”
“Why do you feel like that?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do.” I shook my head. “Be honest.”
“It’s just the way I am.”
“It’s because it’s unmanly for a girl to be better at fighting than a man, isn’t it?”
“Ouch. That’s harsh. And untrue.”
“Then what is the truth.”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t start that again. Come on, Crawford, this is important.”
I glanced her. Her eyes were obsidian. She wasn't going to quit until I’m confessed.
“I’ve no problem with Triss being better at fighting than me. She’s spent years studying her equivalent of martial arts. It’s just that… it shouldn’t have got that far. I should have been able to stop it at source, so to speak.”
She nodded. “I’ll agree with that. So why didn’t you?”
“What are you, a psycho-analyst or something?” I tried to keep my tone light.
“That’s exactly what I am this morning. Now answer the question.”
“Because I’m not good at physical confrontations.” I sighed. “Look, most physical confrontations come to nothing. Two guys do a bit of macho posturing and one backs down. I’ve never been good at macho posturing.”
“Why is that, do you think?”
“Because,” I said slowly, “sometimes posturing isn’t enough and you have to put your money where your mouth is. And I’m broke.”
“If it came to a real fight, you know you’d lose?”
“I’m not a physically aggressive person. I was brought up to believe violence was inherently wrong.”
“You don’t have to be violent or physically aggressive, you just have to persuade the other guy you are. It’s a game of bluff.”
“You can’t bluff when your highest card’s a seven.”
She arched her eyebrows quizzically, “Can’t you?”
“Well, I can’t.”
“Crawford, you’ve faced down the Chairman of the Lottery Commission, you’ve bandied words with the galaxy’s media. Don’t tell me you haven’t the balls to face a couple of drunken yobs?”
“Sounds silly when you put it like that, but it’s different somehow.”
“You don’t need to, you know.”
The abrupt change of topic took me by surprise. “Don’t need to what?”
“Be able to do it yourself. The crime boss doesn’t go to and actually shoot people. The company chairman doesn’t actually go out and sell his products. They hire people to do that for them.”
“I don’t see the relevance.”
She gave me one of those withering looks only a woman can give a man. “Crawford, you’re the leader. It’s your spaceship, your money. We’re your women. Nobody’s expecting you to do everything, to know everything. You get people to do things for you.” She paused. “Look, you won a spaceship. It was bare. What did you do?”
“I had to design the interior.”
She shook her head. “No. No. No. No. No. You didn’t have to design it.”
“You’ve lost me. Who else was there?”
“What you should have done is looked casually round and said, ‘it’s very nice but not a lot of use as it stands. I assume you’ve somebody competent to do something about it?’ and, when they produce this being, you say to him or her, ‘I want wood here, green there, lights here, a bust of the President there.’”
“Yes, but what if I don’t like what they’ve done?”
“Then you say, ‘I like that, that, that and that. I don’t like this, this and this. Try again.’”
“That doesn’t seem right, somehow.”
She grinned. “I was exaggerating a little. But think about how you handled the Commission. Didn’t you do just that?”
I wondered, briefly, how she knew so much about me. I thought about what she was saying. She was right. That’s what I had done.
“Okay. I’ll grant you that one.”
“So, if you can do it with the Commission, why couldn’t you have done it with the spaceship design… or anything else, come to that?”
“Other things aren’t a matter of life or death.”
“We weren't… your breeding partners, I mean. Yet you stood up for us.”
“I didn’t like Madam Bossiness-Personified.”
She shook her head. “We’re getting side-tracked. The point I’m trying to make is that you told the Commission what you wanted and didn’t take no for an answer. You didn’t do anything. You got them to do it.”
I was beginning to understand what she was driving at. I suddenly thought of my team at work. That’s how I’d treated them. I explained what I wanted done, then let them get on and do it. My job was to make sure they kept to the vision and didn’t go off half cock.
She noticed my smile. “Hah. The penny’s beginning to drop. One more example. Last night. Why do you think I ignored that yob?”
That startled me. I hadn’t thought about her behaviour. “I don’t know.”
She seemed to straighten and stiffen. Her face became a cold mask, her eyes black shards of flint. She looked like one of Stanton’s women.
“Do you think I can be intimidating?” Her voice came straight from the Artic.
“Hell, yes.”
She relaxed and grinned. “What d’you think the yob’s reaction would’ve been if I’d done that.”
I returned her grin. “I dunno. Perhaps he’d’ve knelt and kissed your feet. Perhaps he really needs a strong woman to dominate him.”
She collapsed in laughter. “You devil. I just had this vision of him bent over with me applying a riding crop to his hairy arse.”
“Not a pretty sight. Anyway, you were making a point.”
“I was. I didn’t do anything because I didn’t need to. I saw you had seen the potential problem and I saw you set Triss up. You had everything under control. It was really smoothly done. I don’t think any of the others noticed.”
“Thank you, I think.”
“Now I’ve given you two examples of where you behaved like a leader and one where you didn’t. Have I made my point?”
I nodded. “I think so. I’m going to have to think on it a bit.”
“Do that. Most importantly, have I eased your mind about being unnecessarily macho?”
I sighed. “To some extent. I’d still like to know I could defend myself, though.”
“Why don’t you ask Triss to teach you?”
I stared at her open mouthed. It was such a simple solution I felt like a fool not to have thought about it. I hugged her.
“Every Lottery Winner should have a Lorca Lhewlyn Dibhach to keep them straight.”
She pulled my head down and gave me a quick kiss.
“You’re more than welcome. Now, the second thing I wanted to talk to you about…”
“You mean there’s more?” I groaned theatrically.
“Of course there’s more. There’s always more. Can I contact Hermes?”
“Of course. Why, if I may ask?”
“I want him to come and collect some stuff.”
“Oh? What sort of stuff?”
“I’m going into business.” She leered. “I’m going to take the fashion world by storm.”
“I don’t think I dare ask.”
“Good. And we’ll need your van.”
“It’s not a van, it’s a people carrier.”
“Fiona says it’s a van with seats.”
“If you need a van, I’ll hire one.”
“You can do that?”
“Of course.”
“Right, the third thing is; what are your intentions?”
I couldn’t help it. I grabbed one pneumatic buttock and squeezed.
“Evil,” I leered.
&
nbsp; “I know that. I meant more generally. When this is over, what will you do? Will you come back to Earth to live?”
“Ye Gods, I hadn’t thought about it. Hmm. I suppose not. At least not immediately, and not here.”
“Well then, what are you going to do about your house? I don’t know anything. It was Fiona who mentioned it.”
“I’ll have to sell it, I suppose.”
“As we’re already here, why don’t you do that now? We wouldn’t mind staying a day or two more.”
“But it can take weeks or even months to sell a house.”
“Crawford.” Her eyes glittered dangerously.
“Oh, right. I don’t have to do it myself. Just tell someone what I want done. Right?”
“Right.”
“Well, I could hire a solicitor. Wait a moment. I wonder if Fiona would help. Even better, I could give her power of attorney. Then I wouldn’t need to be involved at all.”
“Perfect. I knew you could do it.”
“It’ll still take a bit of organising, though.”
She glanced away almost shyly. “I don’t mind. This is almost like a holiday to me. And Fiona’s wonderful.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying your visit, but we can’t stay too long. A couple of days, maybe. No more.”
“That would be enough.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’ve just been conned?”
She simply grinned.
Fiona wasn't unwilling in principle, but protested that she didn’t know the first thing about my affairs and what would happen if she made a poor decision. I persuaded her it didn’t matter. She phoned her solicitor, who agreed to meet us later. Lorca grabbed her and the pair huddled over Fiona’s computer, talking in low but animated voices. I announced I was going to hire a van and buy some toys. Triss volunteered to accompany me but Lashak’ka and Jarmasin said they were going for a walk. We took a cab. I could sense something was bothering her but didn’t want the cabbie earwigging on our conversation so remained silent. Once we’d collected the van, though, I thought it time to have it out with her, so I pulled into a supermarket car park.
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