Return to Earth: Mike Stedman: Book 3

by D. R. Rosier

  He asked, “What was the offer, if I’m allowed to know.”

  She replied with amusement, “Mostly what we talked about and what you suggested, however I also can’t just give it away. What I suggested was that whoever won the race, would patent it and then all the countries that signed could pay a licensing fee to gain manufacturing ability and access to the process, as well as a small royalty for each piece made.”

  He grunted, “That makes sense, you should be able to profit and recoup your losses for all the research and money spent on development.”

  Celia giggled, “Yes, but that’s only one part of it. I also added that in case it isn’t us that wins the race. The country that wins will be more willing to share the technology, because if they don’t and you’re forced to share it, they’d lose out on a bunch of moneys. It will also take some of the sting out of that threat and make it easier for them to swallow.”

  He sighed, he really wasn’t all that great at politics, he hadn’t even considered it from that angle.

  “Thank you Prime Minister, we’ll be there.”

  Celia replied, “Take care, I still have a lot to do.”

  The call disconnected, and he wondered if there was anything he had to do. He decided there really wasn’t, but he did give rather specific orders to Chrystal since they’d be out of range of the ship, when the time came they’d just hop in a shuttle and take it over there. He went over what he’d just learned with all the ladies, as they ate their lunch…

  He felt a little nervous after dinner despite knowing Dahlia already wanted him. Still, he didn’t show it on his face as Alyndra, Chrystal, and Nadia left the dinner table later that evening and headed into the master bedroom of the suite, leaving him and Dahlia alone. He’d even known it was coming, his ladies had passed it onto him through Chrystal that they’d give him some time later that evening.

  “Dahlia, would you like to join me on a date tomorrow night, after the first day of the summit. Online I mean.”

  Dahlia smiled and tilted her head, “Online?”

  He nodded, “It would solve a few problems, I’m not sure that I want to split up our group at all in Switzerland, we may or may not be surrounded by enemies there. Plus, this way we could enjoy the night together without gawkers. None of the A.I.s will bother us. There’s also a few places we could visit which we can’t out here in the real world, because of the laws.”

  She smiled, “A date?”

  He nodded, “I care about you a great deal, and I want to do this right.”

  Translation, he didn’t want to just grab her and take her in her room tonight, he wanted their first night together to be special. He wanted her to know just how much she meant to him, how much effort she was worth, and wanted to take his time and savor every moment before he took her to bed for the first time and claimed her as his.

  He’d have done the same for Alyndra if they hadn’t been in the middle of a war at the time, and she couldn’t do the online thing, but even for her they’d had the arboretum to share.

  She asked, “Do it right?”

  He tilted his head and took a step closer to her, just barely invading her personal space.

  “In my culture, it’s the man’s responsibility to woo a woman, and show her just how much she’s treasured when their relationship crosses into the intimate. Plus, it’s a way to spend time just one on one with each other, rather than as a group. How is it done in your culture?”

  He’d tried to find that information, but it wasn’t in their cultural database. All it said was they went from warriors that threw orgies, to citizens that found a single partner at around four hundred. It didn’t really go over the social aspects or mechanics. The Xaran database was very good, but there were a lot of gaps in there. Maybe they didn’t think those types of things were important?

  She took his hand and led him over to the couch, and they sat together very closely, their legs, thighs, and shoulders brushed lightly. Her scent and closeness was a little distracting, but he focused on her blue eyes, and her beautiful hair and refused to look down. He also tried to look confident, even as he wondered if he was worthy of all of his mates.

  He was also very much aware that her warm hand still held his. Considering they hardly ever touched it felt incredibly intimate.

  Was he really worthy of four beautiful, intelligent, and amazingly accomplished and confident women? He wasn’t sure if he was worthy of even one of them, but he strived to be, and they all had a piece of his heart. Even Dahlia already had her share, though he didn’t love her yet he cared about her greatly, and treasured her presence in his life. Not to even mention the physical attraction. They hadn’t even kissed yet.

  He wasn’t exactly down on himself, but he was more than aware that his greatest efforts and strides had been in the scientific arena. He managed to do a lot of the things which impressed his mates simply because of his inventions and advancements. With those two things, power source and triple shielding configuration, the rest of it had mostly fallen into his lap. Yes, there was a lot of effort and planning involved in a lot of it, but in the end, it had been his tech that carried the day and alleviated his mistakes due to inexperience.

  He shrugged it off as Dahlia opened her mouth to answer his question, he’d have to take it on faith that the women that loved him knew what they were doing. He was certainly wrapped around all of their little fingers. Deserving or not, he wouldn’t give them up, and would cherish all of them.

  Dahlia said, “On my world the woman is chased by the man, so that much is the same. It’s a little more straightforward though. First, common ranks between the two and prowess of battle are taken into consideration, and after that chemistry is a big part of it. I understand your world has hang ups about that second part, but while lust and attraction isn’t even close to all that is needed to have a successful partnership, it is an essential part of it.”

  He admitted to himself that he preened a bit inside at that. Dahlia felt lust and attraction for him, she must have if she’d already made a decision, and put herself in position for him to do the hunting so to speak. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t mutual, he’d felt attracted to her from the first time he’d seen her walk onto his bridge without a helmet on, and that had been before he saw her gorgeous body.

  Dahlia’s body could only be described as perfectly average. Neither athletic, nor voluptuous, just right down the middle between those two. She had supple and soft porcelain skin over a perfectly toned musculature that didn’t show unless she exerted herself. Average, but perfectly so with full rounded C cups, a tight curvy waist, flared out hips, and a mouthwateringly succulent ass.

  He nodded, “So then what happens normally?”

  She replied, “If the initial attraction and power balance is even, then the man will simply proposition the woman. If she agrees, he takes her home. After a few days, if they decide they’re incompatible on a personal level they’ll go their separate ways and try again. Typically, on our world it takes between one to five trials. To be fair, by this point in our lives we usually have a good idea who would and wouldn’t be compatible already. After all, everyone in our age group will have been fighting together for four hundred years, spending almost every moment as a unit. The only real question is if their personalities will mesh together in the more intimate one on one circumstances.”

  He took a moment to try and decide if he should just ask to join her in her room tonight, and the idea was tempting. There might not have been much sexual tension earlier, but right now he already had half a chubby, just from holding her hand and sitting so close to her. But before he could decide she squeezed his hand and went on.

  “I would love to go on a date with you Mike, online tomorrow night.”

  She looked unsure for a moment, which was a very rare expression on his golden-haired warrior’s face.

  Then she said, “I’ve already broken tradition, and I think I’d like to try out the way your culture does it, not to mention two
of your other three mates have the same culture. It will help me understand you better I think, and if it is going to work between us, we will both need to be flexible.”

  She smiled a little wickedly, “Plus, I think I’m very much looking forward to being wooed by you.”

  He laughed, “No pressure.”

  She laughed with him, and squeezed his hand once more and let go of it, “Don’t worry Mike, to tell the truth, I already feel it.”

  She winked and left him speechless on the couch as she got up and then gracefully and erotically, swayed her sexy ass over and into her room. He only looked away as she shut the door.

  There was one thing he had no doubts about at all, his mates would keep him on his toes, and keep things very interesting. It was worth it though, and more than just the amazing almost non-stop mind blowing sex with four women to take care of. Soon to be four that is.

  At least he wouldn’t be frustrated tonight, he got up and joined his ladies in their room, all of whom wanted him tonight. He smiled, and knew it would be extra special tonight, with the shared emotions…

  Chapter Twenty

  The shuttle ride was a bit tense after leaving Australian airspace, but as far as he and Chrystal could tell there were no military assets in the air at all. They were all short on sleep, even after going to bed directly after dinner they’d had to get up at midnight, and get on the shuttle a little after half past twelve with the eight-hour time zone difference.

  He and Chrystal weren’t really affected that much, they’d gotten their normal two hours of downtime. Nadia looked sleepy. Alyndra looked the same as always, but felt sleepy. Dahlia on the other hand looked frosty, like she was going to battle in enemy territory. She couldn’t interfere in internal politics, but he had no doubt she would respond to a threat to anyone in their family, and so would he and Nadia, no matter how sleepy she looked.

  They landed just fifteen minutes later, and walked to the summit building, which was a large horseshoe shaped auditorium. The seats were a pleasant light blue, and cushioned. Security wasn’t a problem as they checked in, which wasn’t that big of a surprise. Everything happened rather quickly to get to this point, so if there was going to be trouble it would be tonight when they left, at the hotel, or possibly sometime tomorrow or the next day.

  That didn’t stop him from being vigilant and keeping his eyes open however, even after they’d taken their seats. They were seated on the left side of the stage, the only group to the right of them was Japan, and on their left, was Australia and Celia’s group of people.

  An older man he didn’t recognize walked up to the podium and cleared his throat, and then waited for the room the quiet down. Which took a surprisingly long time to him, for a group of world leaders.

  The man said, “Welcome to the summit which has been called by the Australian Prime Minister. The subjects to be discussed are the FTL technology, specifically how the new technology will be handled and disseminated when the inevitable breakthrough is made, and possibly more importantly, how we will comport and represent our planet to the interstellar community. Specifically, will we agree to abide by Xaran interstellar law in all our dealings. I am Julian Ankney and will direct and time our discussions, if necessary.

  “First, I think it would be a good idea to share what you and your countries all want to take away from this, and what’s important to you to accomplish here. That will give us an idea on how far we have to go to reach consensus. Tomorrow, a representative of Mars will be giving us their own point of view on this matter, and will be available to answer questions regarding our neighbors and what’s actually going on out there. The ultimate goal in this conference, is to reduce tensions between our countries who anticipate a possible imbalance of power.”

  There were a few mutters in the room about the representative of Mars comment, but he ignored it. It wasn’t too bad though, they had to comport themselves as world leaders and in control of themselves. If any really objected to his presence, he’d know when they were attacked by a black ops group of some kind, not from anything said or done in this chamber.

  Julian said, “If there are no questions, we will hear from Prime Minister Celia Williams first, as she called the summit.”

  There were no objections, so he called up Celia, and while she gave her speech, the content of which was no surprise since they’d developed the goals together, he paid strict attention to the audience. He wasn’t really surprised by the responses, neither in a good nor bad way. Over half of the people looked receptive, even excited by the idea of a peaceful resolution to the balance of power. The other forty or so percent looked closed off.

  Nadia sent, “Alyndra says that the closed off ones are just greedy. They want the imbalance of power, and they want it in their favor. She thinks about half of those will bow under the pressure of the sixty percent who want to share for the sake of balance of power, and to maintain peace.”

  He nodded subtly, and his mind wandered after Celia stepped down. The day was indeterminably long and boring, despite the gravity and historical significance. There were no major surprises, all of them stated they didn’t want an imbalance of power, and another country having such a powerful advantage wouldn’t be tolerated. Even the ones that were greedy said the same thing, though in their case they were lying when it came to their own country having that power. Nadia kept him informed with shameless amusement, as Alyndra read their minds and emotions, and then gave succinct and sometimes hilariously insulting reports on what was going on.

  His attention was split on those reports, and keeping his own watch on the audience, but the two were hardly taxing, and he felt his mind wandering a bit before the lunch break. That’s when the truth hit him right between the eyes on the technology he was working on yesterday.

  Vathiecium was necessary in the energy to matter device for matter stability. Which meant it might be possible to adapt the technology to work without it when relating to strictly energy fields. There was no matter to stabilize in an energy field, and stability was maintained by the constant application of the field through emitters. It should be possible to do the same without the Vathiecium if he could modify the energy to matter device into an energy to energy device. Perhaps he should call it an energy manipulator.

  The energy to matter device worked below the quantum level, and were far more sophisticated than the simple emitters they used. They were also far more robust as far as power went, it took a lot of power to create even something simple.

  If he didn’t need Vathiecium for that, then it wasn’t something he had to strictly control, although he would still put in many safeguards to prevent piracy or theft of the technology.

  He estimated he could remove every single emitter and drive in the ship, and replace it with just seven of those devices, if he could get it to work that is. Three energy devices, for three levels of subspace shields for stability which should have level three subspace capability. Another three would be for artificial gravity, gravity drive, and gravity shielding and offense. The last one to replace the hundreds of multi-array turrets. Just one of the devices could make all the necessary fields to do that.

  If he could get it to work that is. His idea was sound, but he’d have to modify it to make it an energy manipulator that could do the job. He dedicated a small amount of his focus to start on it while he paid attention to all the speakers that never seemed to end, and Nadia’s constant commentary of Alyndra’s mind reading helped to make it bearable.

  They broke for two hours, and after lunch the rest of the speakers spoke about what they expected out in space, and they all had different ideas most of which were within the limits of Xaran interstellar law. He came to the conclusion rather quickly that the subspace technology would be the easiest thing to get into the treaty. Even those that didn’t want it would be forced into it, or risk losing out. The morning speeches made that clear.

  However, the united front out among the aliens would take a lot of work. Some wanted to move slowl
y and not risk problems with the empire, some were greedy and wanted to start trade almost immediately, and wanted to demand that Earth’s patents be respected. Others wanted to focus more on expansion and building colonies, some of those wanted a colony just for their country, locking all others out so they wouldn’t have the same problems they had here on Earth.

  Of course, not all of that was said out loud, but read from their minds by Alyndra.

  At the end of the day, they ate dinner and went back to their hotel. They discussed their thoughts, which mostly aligned with his own speculation. The second part of things, working well within the empire as a united people, would be far more complicated, than simply coming to an accord over the technology.

  He was a little unsure about his and Dahlia’s date, should he go into her room before they went online? He decided not, and led her over to the couch and sat next to her to log in. The rest of his mates were ready to pass out, but Dahlia seemed wide awake, and if he was reading her right, very excited and curious about what he had planned.

  No time like the present…

  Chapter Twenty-One

  He hadn’t been sure about what to do on the date. He’d worried a normal human date would be too tame, and had considered extreme sports, or something along those lines. Then he had realized doing something like that would be tame compared to the four hundred years of training and fighting she’d been doing, and had finally decided to go in the completely opposite direction, and go for a romantic evening. In the end, that’s what it was about right?

  Dahlia gasped and looked down at herself as he drank her in. She was in tight body hugging dark blue dress, which while conservative for club wear was still quite risqué. She was also wearing diamond and sapphire earrings and necklace, and three inch black high heels.