by Rob Buckman
“So, us are taking it won’t affect you then.”
“No, take it in good health. You are going to need it to get off this ball of mud.” In a way, Mike hated to leave him like that. “You think you can get out of that cord?”
“This,” he said, moving his hands around to the side, “yeah, think so, might take me, oh, about two, three hours.”
“Alright then.” Mike was betting half that time.
“Tell you what, did you find a hip flask on him?” He nodded towards his late partner.
“Yes, I did.”
“You want to leave that with me, for medicinal purposes?” Mike had to smile at the man’s audacity. Taking the flask out of the bag he liberated from the dead man, he unscrewed the top.
“Here to you, sir, and that you get back home in one piece.” He toasted the man and took a swig. Hot, burning liqueur slid down his throat and he gasped.
“Wow! That is some powerful stuff!” The man chuckled.
“Local brew. Known to grow hair on a billiard ball. I’ll return the toast a little later when I’m more able.” Screwing the top back on Mike put it beside the man, and leaving him one power lamp he grabbed Ann’s hand and took off downhill. During the exchange, she said nothing, just stood, and listened, until they reached the bottom.
“Do you think he was telling the truth?”
“Maybe. He didn’t have much to gain by lying.”
“Umm.” Her bushy eyebrows pulled down into a tight frown. That was the extent of her comment, and somewhat a little unusual for her, and other than giving the man a dark look as she passed, that was all she said.
Mike didn’t take any chances, however, and carefully survey the terrain as much as he could before stepping out from under the overhang. The skimmer was parked near the river on a flat spot right where the man said it would be, and it looked as if the man was telling the truth about them being the only ones around here. The skimmer turned out to be a gold mine, with extra food, supplies, bedding and extra clothes. Just in case they got close to any of the searchers, Mike handed her some of the clothing and told her to dress, and he did the same. Soon, they looked like any one of the locals in rough, outdoor clothing and bush hats. Getting in, Mike found the controls much the same as the one he flew at home, and he soon had the unit in the air and flying up the river. He skimmed the fast flowing river mostly, staying low and slow, the headlights cutting a tunnel in the predawn darkness. At the moment, the river was in full flood from the storm, and would take some time to sink to its normal level.
“Shouldn’t we go as fast as we can, Mike?” She asked, hunkering down beside him out of the cold wind. He found he liked hearing her say his name, and smiled slightly in the darkness.
“No, low and slow is better, that way we look like one of the search party. If we go high and fast, we are sure to be spotted on radar.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that, you’re right.” The Lady Ann chided herself for being stupid. It wasn’t like her to overlook a simple fact like that.
This damn colonial brought out the worst in her for some reason. He looked at her and smiled. For a moment, she returned it, then tossed her hair over her shoulder and put on a serious face. To Mike, it looked like she was about to revert back to her old self again, and he was at a loss to know why.
“What did I say?” He asked, shooting her a quick look.
“Oh, I just remembered. I’m still mad at you.” She grumbled.
“Mad at me, why for heaven's sake?”
“For the spanking. My bottom still hurts.” She winced slightly as she ducked under a low branch.
“That will teach you not to be such a smart mouth brat!” He answered, smiling as he said it.
“I’m not a brat!” Ann pouted, a slight smile playing around her lips.
“Yes, you are, for the past three days you have made my life miserable for no reason.”
“Well, you did come on all macho and ‘I’m in charge' and I hate that.”
“Well Milady, I am in charge, and it's my duty to get you out of here in one piece.”
“I know,” she sighed, “but did you have to be so bossy?”
“Yes, I didn’t have a choice. Your safely was my primary concern, and you seem to deliberately go out of your way to make my life difficult and jeopardize that.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t really mean to. It's just, well, I’m sort of use to getting my own way, and I’m not use to all this running around.”
“I can tell.” He chuckled as he dodged around a small, tree covered island, skimming the water to get under the low hanging branches. “No offense, but from what I’ve seen, many you upper crust nobility have the same attitude.”
“Oh! I hadn’t noticed.” She bit her lower lip.
“Especially with someone from off world.”
“I take it you weren’t exactly welcomed at the academy with open arms.”
“You’ve got that right, even now, as an Ensign my fellow officers barely tolerate me.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize it was that bad.” And she hadn’t. It was something of a shock to realize people from off world were treated so differently.
“Worse, if it wasn’t for the war state, I wouldn’t even be here.”
“Oh.” Her voice sounded small.
“Due to the shortage of officer candidate, some friends of my Grandfather managed to get me into the academy.”
“Your Grandfather.”
“Yes, Admiral Tregallion, but you probably wouldn’t know the name. He was in the service a long time ago, before you were born.” Mike didn’t see it, but a peculiar expression came over Ann’s face, then it was gone and she laughed. He chided himself for saying anything about his Grandfather, as it gave away too much information about himself and where he was from. As the Lady Ann hadn’t reacted to the name she hopefully wouldn’t put two and two together.
“We’d better look for a place to hide until tonight, it’ll be light soon.”
“Yes, you’re right. We should find a safe place to hide.” She giggled, then for some reason and shifted around in her seat.
A short time later, Mike saw a small stream branching off the one he was flying over, and cutting back on the power, steered the craft in. He kept very low due to the overhanging brush, not wanting to leave a trail behind for some curious person to follow. The stream meandered its way through the underbrush getting narrower the further in he flew, until it became impossible to negotiate. In the end, Mike set the skimmer down on a clear spot under a tree and killed the power. There were no caves around, but he did find a hiding place quite by accident. What looked like a tall Christmas tree shaped bush turned out to be an illusion. Tripping over a hidden root, he landed sprawling and slid into the bush. Wiping the mud and leaves off his face, he looked around in surprise. Before him, the slim trunk rose about ten feet, bare of any branches. They all grew from the top and over the years become so heavy with broad overlapping leaves that they arched over to the ground. This left an open, tent like space underneath, and other than some debris, it was clear and perfectly dry. It didn’t take long for Mike to unload the skimmer and pull the Ann carefully under the edge.
“Wow, this is great.” She sat up and looked around.
“Even if it rains, we should stay dry.”
“That’s what I thought, feel the ground.” She did, grabbing a handful of the dry powdery soil.
“We’ll stay here and go onto the LZ tomorrow and see if the shuttle is there.”
“If it's not?
”
“We wait. They know we’re coming, so it’s just a matter of time.”
“Thank goodness for that. Oh, what I’d give for a hot bath and some clean clothes.”
“Well, we aren’t out of the woods yet.”
“Oh, how come?”
“I still have to figure out a way to get us off planet and out of this system. All without getting us killed in the process.”
“Oh, I see. Yes, that
might pose a small problem.”
Mike stuck his power lamp in the ground and switched it on low to give them light, then went out to check. The only light he could see was at the base between the small gap between the broad leaves and the ground. He sealed this with debris until no light showed. Taking the two sleeping bags out of the skimmer he passed them underneath to Ann, along with some food and water. He laid branches and brush over the skimmer to hide it and careful not to leave a trail made his way back to their hiding place. While they talked, both made up a bed, finding ample space to make one on each side of the slim tree trunk. He didn’t dare light a fire as that might give their position away, so they had to settle for emergency ration again, even thought there were cans of food available. The ration bars weren’t bad, a sort of cross between a candy bar and corn flakes, all rolled together with a little honey. According to the label, each contained the total MDR, minimum daily requirement of nutrition, minerals, vitamins, fats, amino acids and a bunch of other things that Mike had never heard of. After three days of eating the things, he longed for a thick steak and some real vegetables. Instead of water, Mike washed it down with a swig from the bottle he’d found in the skimmer. It was the same as the drink in the hip flask he left the man, and the fiery liquid burned a path all the way down. It took a second to regain his breath. The second shot wasn’t so bad as by that time all the nerve ending in his throat were dead.
“Can I have some?” The Lady Ann asked and without thinking Mike passed it over. She took a drink and almost choked, and began coughing.
“Oh god. You might have told me.” She spluttered. “It's like trying to drink a porcupine.”
“You should have asked.” He chuckled. “That will teach you.” He laughed, seeing her eye watering. Even so, she lifted her chin and took another swallow, more carefully this time.
“Wow! That is some potent stuff.”
“You can say that again.” Taking another swig, he lay back on the sleeping bag with a sigh, feeling unreasonably contented.
Soon he’d be back on the shuttle and they could get out of here. How he was going to get them home safe was another matter. He idly though of different possibilities, until he saw her stand on her knees and begin undressing. To his surprise, she didn’t stop once she got down to her jump suit, simply peeled that off as well. Mike swallowed hard as he saw her body, feeling his excitement rising. Then she turned her back to him and peeled down the back of her panties, looking down at him.
“See what you did, my bottom’s still sore.” She murmured, looking downward at the injured part. In the dim twilight, it was difficult to see anything in detail, and Mike lifted his head for a better look.
“Um, I can’t see much, but maybe you should put some cream on it.” He stammered.
“Oh, you can’t see the marks?”
Letting go of the waist band, she knee walked over close to him, then turned and pulled the back of her panties down. Now her bottom was no more than three inches from his face and all he could see was a slight redness. He looked up to find her looking down at him.
“Maybe I should kiss it better.” He gulped, feeling hot.
“Yes, you should, you’re a brute.” She whispered.
Leaning forward, he did, placing a soft kiss, first on one cheek, then pulled the other side of her panties down, place a kiss on the other. She sighed softly.
“You deserved it.” He whispered hoarsely.
“Yes, I know, but did you have to spank me so hard?” She whispered as he kissed her again.
“You were a disobedient little brat, and that’s that happen to them.”
“But spanking my bare bottom. That was so humiliating.” Reaching out with shaky finger, he pulled her panties all the way down, continuing to kiss her bottom as he did.
“That’s the way brats should be spanked, over the knee, bare bottom.” His voice sounded husky and alien. Slowly she turned, and as she did, he continued kissing her thighs and tummy, then up her body. She moaned softly and gripped him by the hair.
“You are such a brute. I think you enjoyed spanking my behind, didn’t you?” She whispered as he reached her breasts.
“Yes.” He murmured, kissing her right nipple. The moment he did, she crushed his face against her and sighed.
“Oh yes!” She breathed, holding him tight against her body. Mike opened his mouth and sucked the hard nipple inside, his senses spinning.
He ran his tongue around the hard bud, feeling it harden even more. She was everything he thought she be, passionate, loving and wild. His hand glided over her firm body, caressing each curve and rise as his lips and tongue caressed her nipples. Her body was open to him, no matter where his hand traveled eliciting soft moans and sighs. After that, things got a little blurry, as somewhere along the line, his clothes seemed to vanish. As did her panties and they ended up tangled in each other's arms. From that moment on, they couldn’t get enough of each other, where one would hesitate to do something; the other plunged in with encouragement. A lady she may be, but right then she was a wild thing, wanting and giving everything she could without reservation. Their mutual exploration couldn’t go on forever without consummation, and even here she outdid his wildest dreams. She pushed him down onto the bedroll and straddled his hips, her hand gripping his manhood as she directed it to her center. She groaned loudly, as with a quick downward thrust of her hips she joined them together. Mike felt himself enter her, gasping for breath as she held him tight, hips gyrating wildly as she drove herself down. Time stood still then, his universe contracting to this one point in space and time as she gave herself completely to him, crying with pain and pleasure for virginity lost and love found. By the time they stopped and came up for air it was almost midday, yet it only seemed like minutes before that first kiss. Mike lay back with Ann on his chest and sighed.
“Happy?” She whispered.
“Oh god yes!”
“Good, so am I, deliriously.”
“What on earth am I going to do with you?” He asked jokingly, looking into her face. It puzzled him for a moment, the teeth and eyebrows didn’t seem to go with the rest of her face for some reason.
“Love me as much and when you can.”
“You mean that?” He looked down at her over his nose and chin, seeing her smiling.
“Yes, with all my heart.”
“Oh god!” The thought of having her all to himself was intoxicating and he wraps his arms around her protectively.
“I know you are a naval officer, and that your duties will carry to distant parts of the universe, but when you come back, I’ll be waiting.”
“That might be a long wait.” He murmured. “You are a King’s messenger, and could be off somewhere when I get back.”
“I don’t care, no matter how long it is, I’ll be waiting." Mike sighed. It was a nice dream, but the reality was that he might be away for years on a duty assignment. Time and distance would take its toll. He kissed her lovingly.
“Will you spank me again if I’m bad?” She looked up at him, her head on his chest.
“Yes, if you deserve it.”
“Oh, I probably will.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, often, I suspect.”
“Oh my!” He muttered.
“Will you put me over your knee and spank me on my bare bottom?” She softly kissed his chest.
“Yes, definitely.”
“Good, that’s what I probably need to make me behave more like a lady, or so my father says, and not so much like a brat.”
“You are a lady, Milady, but I like the brat part of you as well.” He chuckled. She grinned back at him, but gave him an odd look.
He closed his eyes with a sigh and all too soon fell fast asleep with her in his arms. The Lady Ann sighed contentedly and snuggled closer to him and slept. She’d found the man she wanted, a strong one that wouldn’t hesitate to discipline her if she needed it, and she would, she'd make sure of that. She fell asleep with a smile on her face, dr
eaming of the possibilities.
Night found them cruising slowly up the river in the early evening mist, using it to cover as much ground as possible before it lifted. Mike was awake before dusk; gently rousing her with a kiss on her neck, seeing a mouse of displeasure crossed her face at being woken up. A quick swat on her bottom brought her awake fast. After that, it still took a while for them to get dressed, as each found a place to kiss or touch. In the end, Mike had to exert his authority and call a halt to the proceeding otherwise they wouldn’t get out of there before daybreak. Not that the Lady Ann minded. She poked her tongue out at him, as in defense, he retreated with his clothes and dressed by the skimmer. Munching on a ration bar, she sat as close to him, wanting to feel him touching her, knowing moment they reached the ship she would have to keep her distance. As Captain, he couldn’t afford the distraction.