“I agree. I don’t know who or why, but I’m going to find out,” Aisling said.
“I have thought about it over the past few days, and it could be possible he took you with only the slightest bit of help,” I told her. “He did have some of his people on the ship, and I didn’t see any of them at either place I visited. Then again, my visits were short and very fun-filled. So I might have missed someone running away.”
“Benjamin, let’s hurt their feelings first before you hurt any of them.”
“Aisling, you just said you wanted to find out who and why, and I said I didn’t think there was a big conspiracy. But things may need to be done to get to the truth before it’s all over. Just make up your mind before we get there. I’m not staying around for months while you tickle them with a feather to get answers.”
“Maybe you should just stay out of it,” she said. “I’ll take Lorelei and a few of the others and get things straightened out.”
“Don’t be a pain in the ass,” I replied. “We will go with you and guard your back until you can establish who is loyal out of your senior officers and get a plan in place. Then we will be moving on. You’re not using my people or my ship without me there. Do we have an understanding?”
“Yes, but I would rather we didn’t. You’re too unpredictable and I don’t want anyone dead just because you thought it necessary.”
“Aisling, I promise not to touch anyone unless your life or the lives of my people are in danger. That’s fair, isn’t it? Besides, your people know me and know what happens when I question people. It may be a good idea to have me along and let the reputation do the work.”
“He has a point,” Lorelei added. “If I’m there, it will reinforce it, and there might just be confessions and pleas for mercy without us even touching anyone.”
“Benjamin!” Aisling said sternly.
“What!” I answered, irritated at the tone.
“You look like shit,” she told me. “Get some rest, you need to get your crew back together and settle some things around here.”
“You need to get back to your ship and boss someone around who will actually listen to you,” I answered.
“Safe travels to you all. See you soon.”
“Safe travels, Aisling,” I said. “Lorelei, think about what I said and talk to the others. They’re pretty smart. I’ll see you all very soon.”
The monitor went blank. Shawna and Genius looked at me but didn’t say anything. I sat down next to Taz. They had their chance, the smart asses.
“Can you scoot over a couple of seats?” I asked her. She scowled at me.
“You talk to your friends and now you don’t want me near you?”
“Damn, woman, I just wanted to lay my head in your lap. I’ll move somewhere else.”
“You will not. I will move down,” she said. I slowly leaned over, laid my head on her firm thigh and closed my eyes.
Chapter 38
The activity on the shuttle woke me up. No one was being loud, really, I just felt the change as people started moving around me. Taz noticed I was awake and leaned forward, trying to kiss me. I can’t say being smothered by her chest while she tried to kiss me was any kind of torture. She caught on after a moment that I was keeping my head just where it was on purpose and grabbed my ear lobe, pulling it.
“Ow, stop! I’ll move, stop!”
“He laid down a man and woke up a squealing little girl. I hope the regen tank you have can fix that, Taz,” Snake said.
“We will do our best, Snake, but we can’t work miracles,” Taz said.
“You two are funny,” I said. “When I am feeling better, you two are going to work out with me. Hopefully one of you will be able to help the other up off the floor.”
“What do you think, Snake? Shall we accept his challenge?”
“Me and you, Your Highness, we’ll kick his ass,” Snake replied.
“Ronnie, you remember all this just for the record,” I said. “I don’t want to hear anyone say there was a misunderstanding when it came to kicking my ass.”
“Snake, you’re so dead,” Genius called out from up front.
“We will be landing in five. Your ship is so huge, like a city sailing amongst the stars,” Shawna exclaimed in wonder, changing the subject.
I knew how big those ships were. I never got the awe factor, though; didn’t see it going in, and barely coming out. I heard Shawna and Genius exclaiming as we slowly entered and flew to our assigned berthing. Taz walked away from me and was waiting by the ramp for us to land. I became a little irritated all of a sudden.
“Hey Your Lowness, come here!” I growled. “Now!”
Taz’s eyebrows shot up and her mouth seemed disconnected from her brain; nothing came out. I wasn’t going to wait on her thoughts to form. I kept going. “You’ve been jealous and angry, slipping in and out of my bed, kissing and rubbing yourself against me for months, telling everyone I’m your man. Then we land on your ship and you think you’re going to walk off and leave me standing here. What happened, have you become ashamed of me all of a sudden? Am I the guy from the wrong side of the universe you can’t bring home to the family?”
“I don’t know what that means,” she said. “I was only going to give orders to get a carrier for Mira.”
“Get over here and stand next to me. Everyone will go before us and we will exit last.” She walked over to me, looking me up and down. I grabbed her by the waist and held her next to me. “This is how we will walk off this shuttle,” I said.
“As you wish,” Taz said. The irritation melted and grew into a warm smile.
“Damn straight, as I wish.”
Everyone was off the shuttle except for Harry, Mira and the two of us. He went first with Mira in his arms and we were right behind him. The captain looked relieved to finally see his queen walk off, although he looked irritated she walked off last attached to me. My arm around her waist, I leaned slightly into her for support, but no way would I show any weakness so I rubbed my hand up and down her back as a cover
Must be something with the species, I thought. The captain clearly had something to say, and it wasn’t sliding across his lips, so I showed him how it was done.
“Are you and me going to have any problems?” I asked him. “My head hurts and so does my body, but I bet I could kick your ass right here in front of your queen and crew. So you need to keep thinking and pick your next few words carefully.”
He looked from me to Taz, clearly hoping his monarch might intercede. Taz stood silently and I began to wonder if I had never noticed the lag time in getting an answer, or if I was just really impatient right now.
“Well, Captain? Are there going to be any problems?” Taz asked.
The captain looked confused and off his game, but he recovered quickly. “No, my queen, no problems,” he replied. “What status does this human have on your ship, my queen?”
“Captain, enter him as my number one,” Taz said. “He is not to be disobeyed, am I understood? His word is my word.”
I almost fell down and had the sudden need for a strong drink. My shock must have been written on my face, because she was smiling like a fox in the hen house, and even the captain was smiling now. Maybe it was her acknowledgement of me that had eased his mind.
“It will be done,” he said. “Is your number one accepting challenges at this time?”
“Let us give him a few days, Captain,” she said. “He’s going to visit the doctor and then rest for a day. Unless you or someone on this ship feels the need to challenge him right now. If that is the case, he will use a proxy, is the one standing there holding the young female.”
“No, my queen, I do not believe that I or anyone on your flagship would accept the honor at the moment of issuing a challenge.”
“Very wise,” she said. “We should have a staff meeting once we have had time to clean ourselves up. Where is the steward, and why are my friends still standing around? They have battled their enemies and have been
victorious. They need rest and food immediately.”
“The steward was waiting but saw your guests and fled to change the arrangements he made for your arrival,” he replied. “I believe he was impressed with your companions, my queen.”
“You will send someone now, and impress upon him that his queen stands impatiently, waiting for her guests to be attended to.”
“My queen, my queen! I am here!” A male Cjittan ran up to Taz and bowed low. He didn’t straighten up until Taz told him he could. It all sounded very proper and funny, at least to me.
“I hope you have a very good reason to keep us standing here?” Taz said. She sounded more amused than angry, but he hadn’t picked up on that and was practically quivering.
He started to answer, but I wasn’t waiting for it. “Hey buddy, don’t say a word — just take us where we need to go. You can kiss her ass later, I promise, now get moving!”
He looked at me and started to say something but looked at Taz first, then the captain, who nodded. He did an about-face and headed back the way he had come. We silently fell in behind him and were shown to our quarters. He stopped in front of a room and looked at me. “This will be your room during your stay on the Nas Et Nass.”
“It will not. Come, Benjamin,” Taz said, moving passed the flustered steward. I cut him some slack and didn’t laugh out loud, I didn’t think anyone had told him what he was in for. Harry would pose a problem even on Allond, but only slightly there. I had to remember she was royalty and it was their job to kiss her ass. Why couldn’t she have been a farmer’s daughter? I thought.
The steward held the door and we entered. There were three attendants waiting, who swarmed Taz like bees to a flower the moment she walked in. I stood watching as they removed her clothes and left her standing nude, her back to me. No matter how much I hurt, it was bound to have an effect on me, so I looked away, taking in the floor, ceiling and walls.
“Sir, may I help you with your clothes?” the steward asked.
“No, thank you. I can undress myself,” I replied, then asked, “What’s your name?”
“Eljonkizza,” he answered.
“Damn,” I said. “Okay, to me you’re Jon, got it? You might have a great name and all, but I’m not good with names.”
“It is not a great name,” he replied. “Those are reserved for the royals; it is a name widely used in the servant class.”
“Then Jon works for us both. You are unique now. I can safely say there is no one named Jon anywhere within a hundred billion miles. Now, where is the bath? I am dirty and need to clean up before I see the doctor.”
“The attendants will assist you,” he said. “Do you plan on giving them new names as well?”
“Maybe if it’s easy,” I said. “Or they might just be one, two, and three.”
“You have no regard for tradition or culture, do you?” he asked. “You would walk onto our ship and change all that you see around you.”
“You never know, Jon, but right now I want a bath and change of clothes. Let’s make that happen, and then we will see about changing life as you know it.”
“Benjamin, come with me. Jon, you may leave us,” Taz said, smiling at him.
“Told you it sounded better,” I said, walking away.
Taz wore a thin short robe that made her legs look like a long drive headed for the horizon — they kept going and going. Her three attendants followed along behind us. The sunken tub had steam rising off of it Taz stepped in and dropped her robe. I began to undress when six hands interceded and made short work of my clothes. They didn’t stop there; I had to smack a few hands that began to get interested in things that didn’t belong to them.
“Benjamin, they have never seen a human male, let alone a naked one. They are curious as am I about many things,” Taz said. “Now join me and we will wash away your pain.”
It was pretty close to the truth. I felt better and my headache had eased, and my hands were being scrubbed clean. I lay back against Taz. She had her arms and legs wrapped around me, holding me tight. My head lay back on her shoulder and she spoke softly to me, brushing her lips against my ear. At some point she began to sing softly and her three attendants joined her in the song.
She sang a ballad of two lovers who were separated by an untold distance and their journey to find each other again. They found each other, and in the end they held each other tight as their ship was drawn into a black hole. It was said they perished, but then again, nobody knew for certain. Some hoped they lived on in a new universe on the other side. I felt her teeth on my ear lobe and smiled as I woke. I had fallen asleep to the sad but beautiful song.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. “It was beautiful and soothing and I was so relaxed.”
“It is what I wanted, there is no need to apologize,” she said, “but I didn’t want you to sleep too deep yet. You will be able to shortly after we are done with the doctor. We should go now, and then we will return and rest.”
It was a short walk to the ship’s medical facility where I would get scanned and then spend a short time in the tank. I had been doing that a lot lately. I wasn’t very enthused when the doctor looked so excited to see me. It was weird, in that mad scientist, happy to see you back on my table kind of way. It went along about how I expected. I showered to get the mad scientist viscous green goo material off and out of me.
“Are you hungry? They should have food prepared for us,” Taz said.
“Yeah, I could eat something. Has the crew been fed?”
“Yes, Benjamin, I would be a very poor host if I did not feed our friends.”
There was enough food in our room for ten people. Taz’s girls were bringing small sampler plates to us. One of the girls had decided it was her job to feed me. It was interesting at first, as she tried to keep putting food into my mouth before I was done chewing. We worked out a system that involved me looking over what she held and opening my mouth to accept it. It wasn’t long before I was full.
“May I be excused?” I asked. “I’m stuffed, I feel sleepy and want to go lie down.”
“Yes, go ahead,” she said. “I will be along shortly. I have some messages to answer.”
“Any from the Claymore?”
“Yes, there are. I will let you know if it’s anything important.”
Wandering into her sleeping quarters, I collapsed on the oversized, over-stuffed bed. I needed to remember to ask about Mira. It was the last thing I remembered until Taz woke me coming to bed.
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked.
“A couple of your hours,” she answered.
“What about the Claymore? Are they okay?”
“Yes, I authorized payment and they obtained fuel and some supplies. They are on their way; they have just the Trillond to out maneuver and should reach Allond space in less than a week. I advised them not to engage the Trillond or stop until they reach safety. Nedra contacted Captain Dakkon, and he will have two ships in the area when they arrive.”
“Anything else to report?”
“The usual. Political unrest out on the rim, governors complaining, suitors requesting an audience and an opportunity to bed me,” she said with a chuckle.
“I guess you can handle all of that without my help. I need to get Aisling to the Warhammer, and then I want to go exploring, and I don’t care where,” I said.
“Yes, you should get her re-established as captain,” she said. “And you should also leave any of the females who would like to stay with your kind on her vessel.”
“I’ll ask, but if any of them wants to stay aboard the Claymore, they can. I’m sure a few of them would like to bed me,” I said."
“Are you through messing with me, at least for tonight? I am going to get some sleep while you make plans to see all your boyfriends,” I said.
Another body slid into bed next to me, then another at my feet. Taz lay stroking my chest with her fingertips.
“Our mistress has no others, though many try and fail,”
a husky voice whispered in my ear. Strong hands massaged my feet. I kept my eyes closed tight, not wanting three or four naked alien girls swimming around in my head. Well, I did, but just not now. Taz was playing dirty and really giving me the treatment by having them in our bed. She had never mentioned her bevy of beauties before. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
She was quiet, mostly touching and using her mojo on me, and in my usual fashion, I was falling asleep. I was wondering now if less was more when it came to her pheromone on me. Perhaps she hadn’t realized that yet, or maybe she couldn’t control it in that manner.
I remember her lips working on my neck, and then I was out. I woke unable to move. The bed situation reminded me of a litter of kittens sleeping, haphazardly laying all over each other. I did my best to untangle myself without waking them, only to find the one at my feet wide awake and staring at me.
I was in a sitting position now and trying to decide who to climb over. She motioned for me to come her way as she stood up. I scooted away from the others and found her hands, stretched out to help me stand. Looking around to get oriented, I remembered enough to know where the bath was, and from there I found the toilet.
Having a beautiful, totally naked alien follow me to the toilet was something that didn’t happen often. She wrapping her arms around me from behind in the middle of going — I wasn’t sure, but didn’t think it had ever happened either.
“Benjamin, I want to thank you for what you have done,” she said.
Thanking me for an unknown reason while I was in the bathroom taking a leak? This had never happened, even in a dream. “Can I ask what you’re thanking me for? I said. “And if you squeeze any harder, I’m going to end up mopping the floor.”
“For returning our queen to us, safe and unharmed. What she did has caused quite a stir, traveling without escort or advisors.”
“Don’t thank me. I should thank you, she saved my bacon a couple of times and her insight has been very helpful,” I told her.
“I will share your thanks with my sisters, they will be happy to know these things. We were pledged to our queen even before she was born,” she said. “It is a great honor amongst the royal families to have their sons or daughters picked to be the lifelong servants of the Queen.”
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: No More Lies (Book 3) Page 31