The Ultimatum

by Susan Kearney

  Even as Xander glared at her, even after he’d hurt her, she wanted him so badly she shook. Desperation and survival called for harsh measures. If he didn’t find her body attractive, perhaps she could bribe him. “On Endeki, I am not without assets. I could . . . pay you.”

  The muscles in his chest tightened. His lower jaw dropped. If his anger could have heated her, she’d have been on broil. He stiffened and widened his proud stance. “If I took credits in exchange for sex, that would make me no better than a rintha.”

  “What do you want?” she countered, so annoyed that he hadn’t touched her again she could spit. He should be untying her. Caressing her flesh. Releasing her so that he could plunge into her body and take what she offered so freely.

  Being webbed in was maddening. With every breath, the straps rubbed her flesh—just a little, never enough. Moisture trickled between her legs, but she couldn’t so much as squirm. The sensation of enforced stillness combined with his enticing presence had her almost ready to beg.

  He hadn’t had to do one thing except be male, and she was right on the edge of release. But release alone wouldn’t be enough to satisfy her. She’d gone beyond the yen for an orgasm. She now needed him pumping and thrusting inside her, mixing their essences, feeding her lusty cells.

  “If you want sex, then you’ll have to give me your full cooperation.” He spoke slowly, as if he feared her unable to comprehend his ultimatum, as if he didn’t know that she would have agreed to any demand—if only he would touch her again. “Join my crew. Place all your energy, passion, and intellect into helping us find the Perceptive Ones and pure DNA to save the Terrans.”

  Despite her pounding pulse, she kept herself from releasing a soft moan. “If I agree, then you’ll service me?”

  He nodded as if he couldn’t bear to let a word of accord pass across his lips.

  “Regularly?”

  He nodded again.

  As they reached a consensus, pure pleasure flooded through her. Her body looked forward to the news like a desert flower opening its petals to the morning dew. Her voice was hoarse, her words eager. “Then untie me. You can start now.”

  “Now is not convenient.”

  “But you said—”

  “I will not go back on my word. I do have responsibilities. My crew needs me on the bridge for the jump into hyperspace.” He eyed her with a mix of regret and concern. “Are you capable of covering yourself?”

  “You don’t understand.” She ground her teeth in frustration. “If you untie me, I’m going to tackle you.”

  He laughed, no doubt thinking that just because she was half his mass that she couldn’t budge him. But he’d never dealt with a woman in Boktai. He couldn’t comprehend that the same potent hormones that incited her tremendous need for sex also strengthened her muscles. She saw no reason to inform him of his ignorance. But then he choked off his laughter, his eyes narrowing. “Are you aware that hyperspace intensifies sensation?”

  “What?” She was already so on edge she was trying to break the webbing, but every twitch, every shimmy served only to increase the straps’ friction and torment her further. Now he was telling her she’d have to endure more sensations in hyperspace? “I cannot wait. Delay the hyperspace maneuver.”

  “My crew has already set navigation to time our jump with the gravitational waves being emitted from the Osarian black holes. We’re scheduled to dip into the deep gravity well and fling ourselves into hyperspace at incredible speeds. A delay right now will add additional weeks to our journey.”

  “So?”

  “The Terrans need—”

  “I need—”

  “Can you not wait one Federation hour?”

  An hour. Krek. She didn’t want to wait another moment. Every second seemed like minutes. Every minute an hour. An hour was . . . forever. “An hour can be a lifetime in Boktai.”

  “But you won’t die?”

  She wanted to lie. But honor would not allow it—at least not yet. If she slipped deeper into Boktai, she’d be capable of almost anything, but she wasn’t quite . . . there yet. So she shook her head.

  “Regulations require me to be on the bridge during a jump. If you cannot cover yourself, it would be best for you to stay here.”

  “Untie me.” Her voice came out a croak. She refused to think of her tone as begging.

  He shook his head, but his eyes looked thoughtful, if a bit amused. “Everyone webs in for the jump.”

  “STATUS?” XANDER strode onto the bridge, already missing Kirek. Kirek’s parents and his crew were now aware that he’d agreed to remain behind, but the bridge seemed emptier without him. While the lad hadn’t been an officer, he’d lent an air of home and normalcy to the starship.

  After Xander’s confrontation with Alara, he craved normalcy the way a fish craved water. He was going to have to have sex with an Endekian. Stars.

  “All scientists and crew are webbed in, Captain.” Vax, a Rystani warrior and second in command, stood at the con, but upon seeing the captain, he changed position to the forward viewscreen where two black holes dominated the starscape.

  Xander webbed himself in, thinking he’d been fortunate to inherit Zical’s crew. The starship’s previous captain was presently at home, ready to assist his wife Dora through the birth of their fourth child. Xander sometimes wondered if he’d ever be so fortunate as to love a woman enough to willingly give up a grand adventure like this one to stay at her side.

  As he thought of the female waiting for him in the shuttle, a jolt of sadness mixed with his exhilaration. He’d successfully accomplished the first part of his mission, but in the process, he’d put her life at risk. While Alara might be Endekian and the enemy, she hadn’t personally attacked Rystan. He didn’t hate all Endekians—just the ones who’d invaded his homeworld and who’d been responsible for his mother’s death.

  Under normal circumstances, he would never have forced her to come with them, so, as much as he looked forward to piloting the Verazen into the unknown, he had enough of a conscience to squirm over the position he’d placed her in. She was beautiful, intelligent, and clever, but only under these circumstances would he consider mating with her. Not because of her race, but because on Rystan, mating with a woman was an act of love, of intimacy.

  Clearly, the Endeki had other ideas.

  At times like this, he had to love his work. During the past years since he’d left Rystan and made Mystique his home, he’d transported people and cargo from one planet to another, then served in Mystique’s new starfleet, ready to defend his new home. But he’d been eager to explore more of the galaxy as well as to help Earth. He relished new challenges. Several years ago Xander had had an interesting relationship with Scartar’s ambassador to Mystique, but she’d since returned to her world. He’d also experienced a Terran fling with an anthropologist during a vacation on Mars. But never in his most vivid imagination would he have thought that he’d be required to have sexual intercourse with an Endekian in order to keep her alive.

  Stars zinging by on the viewscreen brought him back to his duties. “Engineering, report?”

  “We’re good to jump.” Cyn, an exotic green-skinned woman from the matriarchal planet of Scartar, served as the Verazen’s chief engineer. Rumor had it that she crooned to her engines, coaxing extra speed out of the drives with the purity of her voice. Xander didn’t care how she accomplished her job, as long as his engines remained in top working order.

  “Navigation?”

  Shannon Walker, a Terran grandmother who’d taken to space at the ripe old age of eighty, surveyed her vidscreen. “We’re in the groove.”

  Thanks to the Perceptive Ones’ suits, the Terran lifespan had increased tenfold, and Shannon, who had been away from Earth long enough to be clear of the disease that ravaged her people, could expect to live for several more centur
ies. Almost two decades ago, Earth had sent Tessa Camen to take the Challenge, and she’d passed the Perceptive Ones’ test, proving Terrans were fit to join the Federation. Since then, they’d colonized dozens of worlds, including Mystique where Terrans, Rystani, and even Osarians lived together in peace.

  Shannon was typical of the Terrans Xander had met. Adaptable, brave, and inquisitive, she often mothered those under her command. Like his officers, Xander could count on her in a crunch.

  Despite the intricacy of the hyperjump maneuver, with Ranth monitoring all systems their flight appeared to be going smoothly. Under Zical’s command, this crew and Kirek had taken a similar route fourteen years earlier, but this time, hopefully, no strange race like the Kwadii would stop the ship in hyperspace and interfere with the mission.

  “Call coming through on the hyperlink,” Shannon announced.

  Xander checked his chronometer. The conversation would have to be a quick one. Once they jumped into hyperspace, communication with Mystique would be impossible until they returned to normal space—but by then the distances would be so vast that conversation would be onerous since messages each way could take years.

  “Open a channel.”

  No sooner had the words left his lips, than Kahn’s image filled the vidscreen, his expression bleak. Clearly aware the Verazen was about to jump into hyperspace, Kahn made his point quickly. “We’ve confirmed that the breakdown of DNA is caused by a virus—not pollution. It’s spreading to other worlds.”

  “Only Terran worlds or other humanoids, too?” Xander asked, realizing his mission had just become more critical.

  “Terran, humanoid, and other species—even the Osarians, the Zenonites, and the Jam are infected.”

  All life in the Federation was now at risk.

  Millions of worlds.

  Billions of beings.

  All about to die.

  Xander was glad he was webbed in so that he couldn’t stagger under the weight of the critical news. The Jam lived underwater. The Zenonites were mostly huge, disembodied brains. The Osarians were telepathic beings with eight tentacles. No plague in the history of the Federation had ever been so widespread and infected so many worlds.

  “Where did the virus come from?” Xander asked, ignoring the shocked faces of his chief officers.

  Cyn’s deep green skin had paled to a sickly hue. Shannon’s wizened wrinkles seemed to deepen. Vax went rigid. All had friends and loved ones back home. All three likely had one nagging question on their minds—if they jumped into hyperspace on a journey across the galaxy, would anyone be left to return to?

  “The cause of the plague is not known, but we can discount pollution, as we first thought. The virus breaks down DNA at the molecular level. The science is unlike anything we have seen before. The virus attacks animal and plant life of every species and is spreading fast. So far, it’s one hundred percent fatal. Due to the contagious nature of the virus, the council has forbidden time travel. Many Federation worlds have imposed blockades to protect themselves, but these measures only seem to slow the sickness, not stop it.”

  Xander rubbed his brow, his head pounding at the enormity of the problem, the billions of lives at stake. “Why aren’t our suits protecting us?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “How is the virus spreading through the fabric of space?”

  “We don’t know that either.”

  The implications were staggering. From the first, the Federation’s top scientists and physicians had assumed the disintegration of Terran DNA had been caused by exposure to the pollution on one planet. To learn the epidemic had not started that way and could be spread to other beings, even nonsentient life-forms, boggled the mind.

  Xander had only seconds until the jump into hyperspace. “Should we abort?” Members of his crew could already be infected. They could be spreading disease to worlds on the rim. “Should we return home?”

  “Reaching your objective is more critical now than ever before. Complete your mission.”

  “Understood.”

  “Twenty seconds to hyperspace.” Ranth began the countdown.

  Purple lights flashed on the bridge as the starship approached critical speeds. The antigravity shields hummed at full strength.

  “Ten seconds.”

  The Verazen’s engines hummed. The vibrations of the deck below Xander’s feet remained steady under the incredible forces, as did his crew, who had heard the terrible news yet remained steadfast. No one had asked to go home, and his heart swelled with pride at their courage.

  “Five seconds.”

  If one engine so much as hiccupped, the hull would collapse and disintegrate into dust fragments so tiny, it would be as if they’d never existed. Xander kept his finger on the abort button, just in case of a last-minute difficulty. But Cyn’s engines remained smooth, the ship, as Shannon said, in the groove.

  “On my order.” Xander’s voice was calm, his rush of excitement at venturing into the unknown dampened by the enormity of his task. “Now.”

  Real space disappeared. Hyperspace engulfed them.

  Their mission had begun.

  AND YOU SAID potential is not quantifiable. Look at them now.

  You sound like the proud papa of this unruly brood. I am more impartial and see no progress, nothing except desperation, fear, and panic.

  Not all are giving up and retreating. Some have the courage to seek out a solution. They are determined, these leaders.

  Are you implying that their determination is what makes them meritorious of life? Because if so, that can only be part of the final equation.

  I’m predicting innovative thinking, a coming together, an awakening, a growth. But can you not see the proper configurations forming?

  I see chaos.

  Out of chaos will come order. Out of the order will come a solution.

  Perhaps out of chaos comes more chaos.

  Give them time and they will convince you. Are you satisfied with the parameters I’ve set?

  Not yet. I will not be persuaded until I’ve fully assessed the demarcations and maximum absolutes of your foolish theory.

  The baseline’s in place. However I’m still tweaking. With a mental snap, a star system disappeared and another replaced it.

  Ah, I’ve always liked creating. Do you prefer the ocean as celadon blue or aquamarine?

  Details don’t concern me.

  But they should. Considering the details may mean the difference between admirable success or abject failure.

  My friend, you are taking the demonstration process too seriously. No doubt they will falter again, and you will remain in a funk for eons. This time, I will not coddle you. If they fail—

  They won’t.

  But if they do, you’ll agree to let them all expire?

  I suppose.

  And you won’t complain?

  Of course I’ll complain. I don’t like to fail.

  Then you should stop putting your radical ideas on the line.

  Never. They will succeed.

  KIREK OPENED HIS eyes and smiled as he stretched. Despite his intellect, his parents, Miri and Etru, had done their best to keep him sheltered within a loving family unit. He’d been brought up in their home with Rystani morals. However, he also had an honorary Aunt Dora, who’d once been a sentient computer and who spoke quite freely about sex. But even Dora might have been shocked by the Endekian women with whom he’d spent the last hours. These women offered their bodies freely during Boktai and didn’t ask for or expect any emotional ties or commitment. Kirek didn’t understand them, and though he’d always expected to one day form a stable and loving union like the one his parents enjoyed, he could accept that different peoples had different customs. While he was having a good time exploring his sexuality, he’d been ta
ught that mating would be so much better with loving feelings to go with the pleasure.

  Careful not to disturb any of the women who dozed in the sleeping chamber, Kirek padded to the food materializer and used his psi to order jicken and karirice. Hungry after his pleasant exertions, he ate, chewing slowly. The food wasn’t home cooked or as tasty as Miri’s, but as his gaze skimmed over the nude, entwined bodies in his chamber, he realized there were other delightful aspects to his predicament.

  He would have been content to do no more than enjoy his stay on Endeki, but his powerful curiosity refused to allow him to lapse into a haze of pleasurable activity. He had the perfect cover. As a hostage, he had access to the entire residence. In fact he wasn’t allowed to leave the building, but the computerized bracelet on his wrist that was supposed to monitor his location only showed up on the computer logs when he wanted it to. Since few guards were allowed inside the residence, Kirek could explore and perhaps satisfy his itching curiosity.

  He’d never understood why the Endekians had invaded his parents’ homeworld of Rystan. While over twenty-five thousand years ago the planet might have been a pleasant place to live, his ancestors had turned the world into a giant ice ball after setting off atomic weapons. Only the poles remained habitable—and survival there had been hard in the extreme cold weather. So the question burned in his mind—why had Endekians invaded Rystan?

  His parents believed Tessa of Earth had formed a business with the Osarians that had altered the balance of trade in the Federation, hurting Endeki business. When Tessa had first settled on Rystan with her husband, most people believed the Endekians had attacked with the aim of killing Tessa.

  However, Kirek had learned that the Endekians had coveted Rystan long before Tessa’s arrival. After his people had departed for Mystique, the Endekians had spent considerable credits to hold what most Federation people considered a barren world. Kirek wanted to solve the mystery.

  So after he finished his meal, he awoke Lataka with a soft kiss. She stirred, opened her eyes, and reached for him, but after getting to know her so well over the last few hours, he read her mood as “cuddle me” rather than “ravish me.” He would be happy to please her once again after she fulfilled her promise to show him around the residence.