A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance

by T. J. Brandow

  “Yeah, I could,” she agreed. She went back over to the couch and laid down, and soon Maggie was out like a light.

  THIRTEEN

  Fort Lauderdale was looming when Linnid shook Maggie’s arm. She opened her eyes and smiled. “Sorry, I must have really been out.”

  “It’s understandable,” she replied. “I’m about to land, though. I thought you might like to know. And I’m going to need you to go out with me, to help track these four women down.”

  “Well, sure, I can do that,” said Maggie.

  Linnid brought the ship down out in a grassy field. They walked down the gangplank, and then she engaged a cloaking field. The whole ship went invisible, just like the tent had done before, and she pressed another button on a keyring to close the door.

  “With the cloak in place, it is completely unlikely that anyone could spot Lobo’s ship here,” she explained. “Even we won’t be able to find it again without this thing. Now, let’s hope the ladies have decided to return to the hotel, since its early evening. Maybe all we’ll have to do is collect them.”

  “So, are we walking in?” asked Maggie.

  “No way,” Linnid scoffed. “I’ve got a car parked nearby.”

  Linnid led the way to a little convertible and the two of them hopped in. “Good thing it was a bit warm in California, too. At least you’re dressed for the part.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Maggie agreed. “Wow, though, Lobo told me that being apart from him would be uncomfortable, but this? This is crazy. I feel like screaming all the way back to the ship again.”

  “It takes some getting used to,” Linnid said. “But if you’ve got it that bad, the attraction between you two must really be something else.”

  “You could say so,” Maggie agreed. “Hurry up and go, will you? The sooner we’ve got these girls, the sooner we can return. Remember, if they sent soldiers our way, the government could easily figure out our location here, too.”

  *****

  Linnid and Maggie arrived at the Four Flowers Motel about twenty minutes later. They found three of the four women all sitting together in one room, with the fourth woman due to return with more alcohol soon.

  “So, who’s your friend, Linnid?” one woman teased. “I didn’t know you were into humans.”

  “Don’t be silly, Miara Dree, you know I’d never cheat on my husband,” Linnid scoffed.

  “What a kerin doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she snickered drunkenly.

  “Well, if she’s not for you, then who is she?” another woman asked curiously.

  “She’s just bonded with my brother.”

  “Lobo bonded with a human?” scoffed Miara, covering her face with her hands. “That’s unbelievable.”

  “Why should you care anyway?”

  “Dammit, if it was a mate the man was out looking for he could easily have taken me,” she said with a sigh. “I’d have been willing.”

  “What, and be forced to listen to your obnoxious laughing forever?” Linnid scoffed. “I don’t think so.”

  “I wish Reba would get back with the tequila already,” Miara complained. “I could really use another drink.”

  The door rattled, and the fourth woman returned. She glanced at Maggie drunkenly, and grinned. “Oh hey, a human. That’s refreshing.”

  “Come on, ladies, we’re a bit pressed for time,” Linnid said. “We need to get back to the ship and off this planet. The natives are restless, it seems.”

  “But why?” Miara complained. “We paid good money to fly out here, and now you just want us to leave?”

  “Considering the fact that you’ll be captured if we don’t, I’m pretty sure leaving will be a good thing,” said Maggie.

  The women grumbled all the way, but at least they didn’t resist as Linnid guided them back out to the vehicle. With six people in the car, the trip back was a bit crowded, but at least they were all present and accounted for.

  Linnid pressed the button on her keyring and Maggie heard a beeping sound, and then she could see the gangplank and the interior of the ship again. Everyone got inside, and Linnid headed for the control panel while the others headed for the acceleration couches.

  “Dammit, Maggie, what did you and Lobo do?” Linnid complained. “We’ve got multiple bogeys up in the air. Any attempt at a take-off right now, and I’ll be cracking some skulls.”

  “Are we trapped?” asked Maggie with a worried frown.

  “Not just yet, we’re not,” she said. “I don’t think they’ve made our exact position. But damn, I sure could use some help from Lobo.”

  The passengers, who seemed completely oblivious to the tension that Maggie and Linnid shared, were laughing loudly together. Maggie covered her ears.

  “So, Earthling, we snagged a bottle or two of tequila and a bag of limes,” said the woman called Reba, waving around the brown bag she had yet to open. “Don’t make this trip even more of a drag than it’s already been, okay? We came to party with humans, so how about a drink?”

  “Well, I—I don’t know if I’m up for that right now,” Maggie told her, trying to be polite. “I mean, I’m on my very first trip into space ever, and I’m leaving my entire life behind too. I don’t think I’m really in a partying sort of mood.”

  “Oh, come on,” Miara scoffed disdainfully. “You’re embarking on a romantic adventure with a really hot guy who will be showing you the galaxies in his fancy starship free of charge. If anybody around here should be bummed out it’s me.”

  “What, did you like him or something?”

  “Not especially,” she shrugged. “I just like the idea of him. I’d probably go with whichever captain I could sink my claws into, to tell the truth. By the way, did you know that you are positively glowing? What did that Karrianan do to you, hmm?”

  “Uh, yeah, I do glow, so I’m told,” Maggie chuckled. “I guess I’ve really got Lobo in my blood.”

  “He’s in more than just your blood, Earther,” snickered Reba. “If you consummated that blood-bond with him, he is probably in your womb as well.”

  “Oh no, I don’t think so. The doctors have told me that I can’t get pregnant,” Maggie said. “They said there’s something wrong with my ovaries.”

  “Earth doctors don’t know much of anything,” scoffed a third of the four women. “The blood-bond changes everything at a genetic level, so even if Lobo hasn’t impregnated you already, the process won’t take long to prepare your body for his seed. By the passing of one of your Earth years, you will be having Lobo’s child. It’s inevitable.”

  “You know what? I think Lobo and I really need to start communicating,” Maggie grumbled. “I can see how it might be nice to fly around the galaxy and make love among the stars and all that, but how do people live and work in space along with a baby?”

  “Honey, I wouldn’t worry about that, the Karrianas have been doing that for centuries,” Miara pointed out. “It’s not uncommon for some members our people to have no designated home world at all.”

  “What? But then you don’t all come from the same one?”

  “No, there are actually seven,” she supplied. “Some of them formed naturally, but two of them were terraformed so long ago that you would never believe what they’d looked like beforehand. But Lobo and Linnid come from the mother world, Karriana. When you’re not out flying around with your man, I’m sure you’ll be making your home there.”

  “All right, ladies, it looks like they’ve cleared the runway at last,” Linnid said urgently. “Strap in and hold tight. I’m taking this thing up pretty fast. It’ll probably make things interesting.”

  If Maggie had thought Linnid’s take-off from the desert had been abrupt, obviously she didn’t know what she was talking about. This time, all it took was a blink, and the ship was above her world.

  “That was too fast to be exciting,” she complained.

  At about the same time as she said this, something solid impacted with the hull.

  “Whoa!” Linnid ga
sped, wincing. She adjusted a few gadgets and increased her speed even more, quickly escaping Earth’s gravity and heading off toward the stars.

  “What did you run into?” asked Maggie.

  “I think that might have been some sort of military ordinance. They must have waited for me to fly up so they could fire a bomb, only this ship is immune to them,” she said. “Don’t tell Lobo.”

  “I won’t,” Maggie agreed. “And these four are too drunk to remember anything.”

  “Well, here’s your last chance, Earthling,” Miara smirked. “If you don’t jump out of the ship right now, you’re never going to see your planet again.”

  The other three tittered, and they started passing around the tequila again, each of them drinking it straight from the bottle and then sucking on part of a lime.

  “I think I’ll pass,” Maggie replied.

  “Oh, don’t listen to them,” said Linnid, coming over to drop a hand on one of Maggie’s shoulders as she sat up more fully. “Come on over and sit with me, and I’ll explain everything.”

  “Can I really have a baby now?” Maggie asked hopefully as she followed her back to the controls and sat down. “No way, that’s got to be the liquor talking.”

  “Anything could happen now,” Linnid said, smiling. “You’ve just opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.”

  “It’s just so hard to believe.”

  Another spate of loud, obnoxious laughter resonated through the area.

  “Ladies, if you’re going to get drunk, please return to your quarters to do so. Maggie and I don’t want to deal with your behavior anymore.”

  Miffed, the four passengers got up and stalked away, soon disappearing from view.

  FOURTEEN

  Lobo’s first look at the films of his lower leg had explained a whole lot. The break had gone clean through, and the shattered ends were not properly placed, just as he had suspected. The med-bot made quick work of knocking him out, for which he was grateful since he knew the mechanoid would have to break the bone a second time to reset it. By the time he came to, his leg bone was properly fused together and there was no trace of the injury anymore, which he knew for a fact must have taken several hours.

  “So, I can use the limb normally now?” he asked hopefully.

  “Gently, for a day or two, sir, but yes,” the med-bot replied. “A preliminary scan of the rest of your body reports all systems and functions are normal except for your circulatory system, which indicates the presence of a foreign substance.”

  “No, that’s not a foreign substance,” he replied. “Please update the records to indicate the presence of a blood-bond. My bond-mate is in close proximity, so there should be no issues of withdrawal.”

  “Noted,” said the machine. “Sir? After an accident like the one you described, you are lucky to be alive. Perhaps a general review of standard safety protocols would be advised?”

  “Not at this time, med-bot,” Lobo replied. “I believe I have other duties to perform. If there’s nothing else, I would like to get back to the bridge.”

  “There are no recommendations which would preclude that action, sir.”

  “Thanks, med-bot,” he said, patting it on one of its service arms. Then he was quick to get out of there before it changed its positron.

  When Lobo entered the bridge area, both Linnid and Maggie were sitting over by the controls, obviously having an intense conversation. They both looked up at him in the accusatory manner of females who had it in for him. Grimacing, he asked, “What did I do this time?”

  “Although the human doctors told Maggie she cannot bear children, don’t you think you should have told her about the blood-bonding transformation she’s been undergoing the last few days?” Linnid scolded. “Do you have any idea how weird that would have been if the poor woman had not decided to leave her home, and then turned up pregnant somehow?”

  “Well, I sort of did try to bring up the mutative properties of the exchange, but I didn’t think it would make much difference in the middle of the mayhem while we were trying to escape,” Lobo grumbled. “I wanted to be sure we were safe before I added even more stress to the situation.”

  “See, I told you,” Maggie said defensively. “And it’s not the same thing as lying. You weren’t there, Linnid, so you don’t know. All we were trying to do was get out of harm’s way. I’m sure he intended to tell me soon.”

  “You’re not having any pregnancy symptoms are you, Mags?” Lobo asked.

  “No, I feel fine.”

  “Then how did this even become a topic of discussion right now? I would have liked a chance to rest up and settle in before we addressed it.”

  “Well don’t look at me,” Linnid defended herself. “That honor goes to Miara Dree and her cronies. While you were busy with that med-bot, we went over to Florida and picked up the four ladies. I think she may have been jealous, actually.”

  Lobo rolled his eyes. “Sorry, Mags. Nobody should ever leave you alone with those women. Especially not Miara. She’s a complete mental case, and I can’t wait to put her back where she belongs.”

  “Where did you get her from, anyway?” asked Maggie curiously. “She doesn’t look like the same race as the two of you.”

  “Oh, no, she is from Arbidol, a different planet within the same sector as Karriana, where we come from,” Lobo explained. “Theirs is a somewhat wealthy world, and its people are quite shallow. That’s why she was even on this trip to begin with—she’s been watching too much vid, and she found out that Earth has a ritual called Spring Break which is supposed to be some really big party. So she told her daddy she wanted to expand her horizons by visiting other worlds, and of course the gullible old geezer paid her way. He even agreed to have their whole family put into cryonics for a year so she wouldn’t miss anything.”

  “But all she wanted to do in reality was get drunk,” added Linnid with a disgusted frown. “That’s hardly a good reason for ten people to make such a noble sacrifice.”

  “Yeah, and she even tried to convince me to get drunk with her,” Maggie added. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t come along on this ride just to party. I am here to be at Lobo’s side as we start a new life together. And if that also involves having a child, I’m sure not going to complain. I always wanted to be a mother, but that hope was stolen from me at an early age.”

  “Earth doctors don’t always have all the answers, Mags,” Lobo told her. “For all you know, you weren’t nearly as bad off as they thought. But if you’re really worried about all that, we could always take you to the medical bay for a full examination.”

  “That’s a good idea, but maybe not today,” said Maggie. “I’d much rather put my photo albums and the keepsake box away.”

  “Is that your less than subtle way of saying you’d like to go to our quarters now?” Lobo chuckled.

  “Yes, it is,” she grumbled. “Please lead the way.”

  “See you later, Linnid,” Lobo grinned, then gave her a wink. “Don’t wait up.”

  “Lobo!” Maggie gasped, slapping his backside as her face went bright red. She shook her head as they headed for the corridor, and the sound of Linnid’s laughter followed them all the way.

  *****

  Maggie wasn’t sure how many hours the two of them spent together in their quarters before they finally decided they ought to venture out again. Lobo had decided that with all the sex they were having, it might be a good idea to find out if they were just practicing, or if they were actually about to produce offspring.

  “Now remember, Mags, the med-bot is nothing like your doctors back on Earth. For one thing, the machine has x-ray and sonogram capabilities built right in, so if it wants to get a scan of something, you don’t have to wait. In other words, if we ask it to tell us if you are pregnant, it can scan your uterus and spot an embryo within less than an hour of its conception. And, if you ask it to determine why your ovaries don’t work, it can not only determine the cause, but nine times out of ten it can cure th
e problem right that moment as well.”

  “That’s one nifty gadget,” Maggie said, even though the thought of instant results and cures sounded somewhat daunting to her. That thing was likely to do a once-over on her and find enough work to keep it busy for a month for all she knew.

  “You sound nervous,” said Lobo, making her blush. The man knew her way too well.

  “Maybe a little,” she admitted ruefully. “I mean, look what narbloo did to the freak show.”

  “The med-bot has full knowledge of human physiology, as well as knowledge of the changes caused by our blood-bond,” Lobo reassured her. “And should you have a child, he’ll know just what to do with a hybrid of our two species as well. Actually, other than the color of our blood and a few minor anatomical variations, we’re not all that different. Which is quite amazing, when you think about it.”

  “It’s a popular belief on Earth that many planets were seeded with the same alien DNA, and the descended children would be able to procreate,” Maggie commented dryly. “Of course, they all think it’s just science fiction. But who knows, maybe it could be legit.”

  “That theory is held by the Karrianas as well,” he told her. “In fact, our scientists have verified a similarity between over fifty kerinoid species in the last decade alone. It’s a fair bet that even if the genetic material was not planted on purpose, that it definitely spread into the entire region somehow. It’s a well-known fact that bacteria and other forms of microscopic material can survive in the vacuum of space over extended periods of time.”

  “That’s fascinating, Lobo, but I have to tell you, I only got a C in biology, and I didn’t even try to take chemistry. I’d love to say I understood how all that worked, but I’d be lying. And especially between us, I would rather tell the truth.”