by Eric Vall
“What’s that?” the king asked, and he wrung his small, gray hands together.
“The Elphad’s ritual is only postponed until tomorrow morning,” I reminded him. “I’m unsure that this is enough time for all of the citizens to drink the water and get the medicine.”
“And if the citizens are no better by the end of the day, then Shaso will try to kill that child again,” Neka yowled, and her slitted pupils dilated with fear.
“Exactly.” I frowned.
“I will speak to Shaso,” the king sighed. “How long do you require?”
I looked to Sef’sla and Akela for information, since they understood the medicine far better than I did.
“I believe three days would be sufficient,” Sef’sla hissed after a moment.
“Three days.” King Grenn nodded. “I will speak to Shaso and postpone the ritual by three days. He will not be happy, so this plan of yours … it had better work.”
“It will,” I assured the king, “but I think I may have a way to make Shaso more agreeable.”
“Oh?” he asked, and he leaned back with interest. “What might that be?”
“Once the city is healed,” I said, “Shaso and the Elphad can take the credit for it.”
“You would give up your glory to further the reputation of a fanatic?” the king asked, and his eyes narrowed on me.
“I would.” I nodded. “If it would bring peace among your people. Besides, Shaso is not your average fanatic.”
“What do you mean by that?” the king asked and leaned forward.
“I figured from the first time I met him that he was more interested in power than what the gods truly want,” I said as I arched an eyebrow.
The Elphad leader had spoken for the gods more than once, and from my experience, that was more often than not a sign of someone who wanted to control those around him through manipulation rather than someone who truly believed they spoke to the gods. Shaso thrived off the attention he got from the people, and how quickly they took his word for things. Hell, a whole city was about to let him sacrifice a child without a single protest, even from the mother.
If that wasn’t power, then I didn’t know what was.
“I see,” the king responded, and his gray face creased with a troubled expression. “I believe you may be right. And if we can convince Shaso to take credit, then that would appease him without undermining his authority.”
“Right,” I agreed. “However, there is a catch.”
“A catch?” the king repeated.
“Something Shaso will have to do for you in return,” I explained.
“And what would this catch be?” he asked.
“In return for taking the credit,” I said, “Shaso and the Elphad would have to support your decisions from here on out, whether they agree with them or not.”
King Grenn nodded and thought for a moment. He appeared to consider my offer carefully, and I knew he was calculating the odds that Shaso would agree to such a give of power.
“Alright,” the king said. “I will propose the offer to Shaso.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“And now,” he added with a small smile, “I will ask once more what you will require in return for your help. You appear to be a good male, CT, but I am no old fool. You say you only came here to gain some of our mior?”
I had no idea how old the king was, but he was sharp as a tack. Still, he seemed to trust me, and I trusted him. He was unlike any leader I’d met before, and I admired his thoughtfulness and caring for his people. He was willing to go without medicine in order to make sure the rest of his people got it, something that was unnecessary given the amount of doses we had, but still, the gesture was noble.
“You are a wise man,” I said with my best broker smile. “First, let me tell you what I offer you in return.”
“You offer more than the medicine you have created?” the king asked, and I could see he’d grown somewhat wary.
“I do,” I said. “Soon, many other travelers will come to your planet, and they will seek the mior you have. I just recently came from a planet that also had something valuable these travelers wanted, and they attempted to take it by force.”
“It’s true,” Sef’sla hissed. “The planet was my own, but CT was able to help my people to become the rulers of our own planet, and now we make a profit from the travelers who come through.”
“Go on,” the king said, and he leaned forward with interest.
“I want to do the same for your planet,” I explained. “I want your people to be the governing body of your planet, and I want to help you move forward technologically.”
“We are not advanced enough for you?” King Grenn asked, and a small teasing smile tugged at his lips.
“That’s not what I mean at all,” I chuckled, “but my team and I can help your people to have running water and roadways that are easier to travel. We can also help you build ports and establish trade with other travelers, and these travelers will pay you a hefty sum for your mior.”
“You wish to help my planet become profitable, too,” the king laughed. “All of this sounds wonderful, but you still have not gotten to your cut of this.”
I smiled at the old male, he was not one to let himself get distracted by shiny things, that was for sure.
“In return for these services, I really only ask for a small percentage of the mior we help you retrieve,” I replied.
“I see,” the king mused, and then he sighed. “The truth is, the other travelers wanted the mior as well, and after they left, we mined it. The Elphad now have it, and they horde it as a sacred jewel. I’m afraid all we have of it is what is in their treasury, and what the lords have on their fingers.”
I realized then the king didn’t even know what a mountain of riches he sat on. It was no surprise that when Terra Nebula visited before they probably underplayed the amount of mior the planet held, but I knew there were tonnes and tonnes of it just below the surface, waiting to be harvested.
“Your Majesty,” I said with a shake of my head, “you are mistaken. Your people did not mine all of the mior after the first travelers left. What you managed to mine was probably one millionth of the amount your planet holds.”
“I’m sorry?” the king said, and his eyes grew wide.
The rest of the Gelm at his table leaned forward at that as well. Up until then, they had been quiet and intent on listening, but now they showed obvious interest.
“Yes,” I laughed. “Our scans show your planet is packed with mior, just waiting to be harvested. I’m sure the travelers who came here first didn’t tell you just how much your planet had.”
“No,” Grenn said with a frown, “they didn’t.”
“Because they wanted to rip you off,” Akela muttered.
“My companion is crass,” I chuckled, “but she’s also correct.”
“So, we have more mior below the surface?” the king asked, and he turned to his advisors as they all shared a look of awe.
“That’s right,” I said, “and we want your planet to become highly profitable from it. We will help set up the mines, ports for travelers who want to buy the mior, and, of course, we will help to heal your ill citizens. The only thing we ask for in return is a small amount of the mior for ourselves to fund our future excursions.”
“I believe this is more than reasonable,” the king said with a wide grin. “You have a deal, CT.”
“Great,” I said, and I held my hand out to the king.
He looked at it oddly for a moment, then held his own gray hand out and smiled when I shook it.
“We will need to return to the ship,” Sef’sla informed me.
“Yeah,” Akela agreed with a nod. “We need to manufacture enough of the medicine to dose the whole city.”
“Would this be agreeable?” I asked the king.
“Of course,” he replied. “I will hold off Shaso as long as I can. You said three days, correct?”
“Yes,” I said. “W
e need three days to get everything ready and to dose the water.”
“Three days, then,” King Grenn said. “Wait until night and then sneak back to your ship. I will tell Shaso and the Elphad you escaped, then once the city is healed, we will give Shaso the option to take the credit.”
“Are you sure you want to wait that long to speak with him?” I asked and furrowed my brows. “What about the ritual?”
“I will hold him off,” the king assured me. “Leave Shaso to me. I have dealt with him for many years, I will be able to keep him calm enough until you return.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“No,” he replied with a smile. “Thank you, CT. Thank all of you.”
Neka purred at the king’s graces, and Sef’sla bowed sweetly, while Akela gave a simple nod, though I saw the corners of her lips tug up into a smile.
The king’s praise was nice and all, but I knew we were up against a ticking clock now.
We only had three days to pull this off, so we had better work fast.
Chapter 10
Once night time hit, the king retrieved us from his table where he’d left us earlier, and then he walked us down a flight of hidden stairs out to the back of the castle where the woods were. The dual suns were so bright during the day on Zalia that it seemed to make the darkness much murkier, and as we stepped out of the stone castle onto the ground below, I had to blink to adjust my eyes.
“I have taken you this far,” the king said. “I’m afraid I cannot take you any farther. Will you be able to find your way from here?”
“We can find our ship,” I assured him. “And we will be back in three days.”
“Alright,” King Grenn replied, and from the dim light behind him, I could see his mouth turn into a frown. “You will come back, won’t you?”
I regarded the king with a soft smile. He had put so much faith in me and my team, and I knew he now counted on us to do what was right by his people.
“We will not let you down,” I promised with a bow, and I pulled the small communication screen from my pocket. “Please, take this. We can communicate with you on it, so keep it somewhere safe and private. We will only call you after it is dark, so leave it by your bed during the night.
“Go, CT,” Grenn said, and he gave me a small smile as he took the device. “I will look forward to your return.”
With that, the king shut the hidden door, and we were left in the dark.
“I bet you’re loving this darkness right now, aren’t you?” Akela laughed as she gave Sef’sla a small push.
“It is nice to be able to take off my sunglasses,” the Almort princess chuckled.
“I always forget humans can’t see as well in the dark,” Neka giggled with a flick of her tail.
“We are not quite as fancy as you or Sef’sla,” I teased.
“Are you sure we can find our way?” the princess asked. “I am not sure which direction our ship is, we have traveled to so many places recently.”
“O,” I said into my earpiece.
“I’m on it, Colby,” the AI responded. “If you turn right and head east for three point seven kilometers, then you will reach the ship.”
“Thanks, O,” I said with a smile.
“My pleasure,” the AI replied.
Omni had sent the ATVs to retrieve us, so we hopped on them once more, but this time, I let Neka and Sef’sla drive. Not only did they have better night vision than Akela and me, but it left me open to having my weapon more available in case we needed it. I’d been on enough planets to know that nighttime was dangerous anywhere you went.
As we travelled, I realized just how mirthful the planet smelled. It was like dirt and grass and dew all mixed together, and the more I breathed it in, the calmer I became. I’d worried we would encounter some strange alien creature like we had so many times before on other planets, but it seemed that if there was anything hiding out in the woods, it wasn’t interested in us.
Once we were back on the ship, Omni greeted us and had some of his drones bring us some food and water. It was a welcome gesture from the AI, and I was very grateful to have him aboard.
After we ate, Sef’sla and Akela headed to the lab, but Neka had already curled up in her co-pilot chair and was fast asleep, so I decided to stay in my captain’s chair and do some research.
I had Omni pull up the reports that showed the amount of mior under the crust of the planet and the average price it went for on the intergalactic market. I figured the king might be interested to see just how much profit he could truly make for his people. I also had O find the best parcel of land where we could put a port city of sorts, one that was reserved for interstellar travelers so they wouldn’t interfere with the daily lives of the Gelm. I would rely on O and Akela to do most of the planning for the city itself, but first we needed to focus on getting the Gelm the medicine they desperately needed. Everything else would come afterwards.
After I’d finished my research, I stretched out in my chair and looked over to where Neka purred soundly. Then I quietly lifted the cat-girl into my arms and took her to my chambers. I knew she was exhausted, and there wasn’t much we could do in the way of formulating the medicine, so she may as well get some sleep. She was absolutely adorable in my arms as I walked her to the bed. Her bright orange ears twitched as she dreamt, and she let out little mews and purrs, so I couldn’t help but kiss her on the forehead as I set her down.
“Mmm, CT,” she groaned, and she blinked her eyes slightly open.
“Go back to sleep,” I whispered. “I’ll come to bed in a little while.”
“Okay,” she said with a yawn, and she rolled over and wrapped her tail around herself.
I headed to the lab next expecting to find Akela and Sef’sla, but only the Almort princess stood in the bright white room.
“Hey,” I said as I came in.
“Hello,” Sef’sla hissed, and she flashed me an opalescent smile.
The Almort female stood over the plants she’d modified and adjusted the light above them, and I could practically see the seedlings begin to grow as the light turned from a yellowish to a bright white.
“Where’s Akela?” I asked as I looked around.
“She went to bed,” Sef’sla informed me.
“Bed?” I asked, and my jaw hung open slightly. “Akela Loric went to bed? When there was work to be done?”
“There was no work to be done,” Sef’sla protested. “She already figured out the apparatus to dispense the medicine.”
“And she made it as well?” I asked with a raised brow.
In all the time I’d known the mechanic, I’d never once seen her go to bed during the middle of a project without some serious coaxing. Even when she was half dead on her feet, with huge purple bags under her eyes, she still refused to take a break. Hell, she wouldn’t even eat unless you reminded her to.
Something about this seemed fishy.
“She said she would work on it in the morning,” Sef’sla said with a shrug.
“Okay, now I know you’re lying,” I laughed. “Where is she?”
“She really is in bed,” Sef’sla hissed, but then she bit her lip and averted her gaze.
“You didn’t!” I gasped, but it quickly turned into a roaring laugh.
“She was driving me crazy!” the princess chuckled in a series of clicks. “She needed sleep, it was the only way.”
“So, you used your sleep toxin on her?” I asked, and I stifled another laugh.
“I’m not proud of my actions,” Sef’sla muttered and looked down.
“Hey,” I laughed as I went up and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s okay. You’re right. She needed sleep, and she never would have gone willingly. So, thank you.”
“I only wanted to help,” Sef’sla said, and she looked up at me with large, deep blue eyes.
“And you did,” I told her as I pushed one of her locks of hair over her ear.
Since I stood so close to the princess, I could smell and taste
the scent of her. Even so far away from her homeland, she smelled exactly like the sea. She was salty and sweet like the waves that crashed gently against the shore.
I ran my fingers down her sides, and my hands landed on her hips. Then I pulled her close to me as I captured her mouth with my own.
The fins on the side of her neck flashed a brilliant bright blue, and her deep green skin flushed as I pulled back and looked at her large, navy eyes.
“You are so beautiful,” I murmured.
“You are beautiful as well,” the princess said, and I chuckled and kissed her once more.
Her sweet lips parted under mine, and I felt her tongue lift up to toy with my own.
I pulled her hips closer to mine as I kissed her even deeper. My erection had begun to stir in my pants, and I wanted her badly. So, I slowly unzipped her flight suit, and I felt her moan into my mouth in response.
I pulled away, pushed the suit off her shoulders, and exposed her naked breasts. Her dark blue nipples were already hard, but I reached out to caress them with my fingers, and she arched her back and pushed them further into my hands.
Sef’sla’s skin was cool and soft, but her nipples were hard and velvety as I pinched them between my thumbs and forefingers.
I bent forward then to kiss down her neck, and she moaned and leaned back further against the lab workstation.
“Oh, CT,” she hissed, and my name in her mouth caused my member to twitch delightfully.
I kissed my way down her stomach until I reached the bottom of her flight suit, then I slowly pulled that down to her ankles and had her step out of the garment. She wore no panties, and her smooth, deep green skin was laid out in front of me.
I licked and kissed up her thigh, and I felt her legs tremble as she wove her six fingered hands through my hair. Finally, I reached her slit, and as I let out a hot breath against it, the princess jolted at my teasing and arched back even further.
“Oh, please, CT,” she begged. “I want you so bad. Do not tease me so.”
I chuckled against her, and she jumped once more at the feel of my breath before I grabbed her by the hips and pushed my mouth against her. She tasted salty and tangy, and I heard her moan loudly as my tongue parted her folds and slid inside of her.