by J. Naomi Ay
“You're so full of bullshit,” I sighed.
“Ok, well, maybe the seas will not rise and fall but the rest is true.”
“You can humble yourself now.”
“Here.”
“Yeah that's a good place.”
The next day we went out to visit all those buildings in the sketches. It was about a half hour flight from Takira-hahr to Kalika-hahr and in that time I saw at least one domed city. Kalika-hahr was not domed and in fact looked like southern California probably looked before millions of people settled it. The entire area was green and fertile and had beautiful forests of Sequoia and Redwood type trees. The campus was in the midst of a cleared out section of the forest and adjacent to a clear blue lake. The three buildings still had areas of scaffolding around them but there were many speeders already in the parking lots and people were milling about. Each of the buildings had a huge sign across the top. SdK Corporation.
“What does SdK stand for?” I asked as we pulled in to the parking lot beneath the medical centre. We took the reserved parking space right next to the door.
“My initials?” He opened the door and helped me out of the car.
“Your initials?” I gasped.
“You do not think I have a name besides Senya?”
“Ron?” I offered. “Dr. de Kudisha?”
“My name is Sehron de Kudisha,” he told me and the way it rolled off his tongue struck me as the most beautiful name I had ever heard.
“Sehron de Kudisha? That's your real name? You own all this? This is your company?”
“Mhm.” He was checking his cell which had started buzzing.
“And they call you Ron here because it's short for Sehron,” I concluded stupidly while gazing awestruck at all these buildings that had his initials on them.
“Right, on Rozari, I am Ron.” He was busy typing something.
“And on Rehnor, are you called Senya?” I asked, taking his hand after he pocketed the cell.
“Sometimes,” he replied distractedly, obviously preoccupied by whatever message he had just received.
“What did they call you the other times?”
“Sir.”
“Sir?” I started to laugh.
“Among other things.”
“Among what other things?”
“Oh,” he turned back to me and smiled wickedly. “Sometimes I am called Your Royal Highness but you must be on your knees when you say that.”
“On my knees?” I rolled my eyes. “Geez Senya, you just don’t stop, do you?”
“I must be teasing,” he smirked, pulling me into the building. “I could not possibly be a real prince.”
“Not you,” I agreed heartily. “If there is anything that I know, Senya, it's that you are no prince.”
In the lobby of the medical centre, even though it was not yet officially open, there was a crowd of people.
“Wow,” I said, coming out of the lift. “Busy place.”
“Too busy,” Senya replied, furrowing his brow. “Ach, kari-fa!” He pulled me across the bank of lifts to another set. The doors opened immediately as we approached it and we quickly ducked inside but not before I heard people yelling.
“What was that all about?”
Senya entered a code and the lift raced off. When it stopped and the doors opened again, the floor was empty and quiet. We walked a short distance down the plush corridor to a private office where we were scanned in.
“Dr. Ron!” An older Human woman was sitting behind a desk. Another Human woman about my age was leaning against the table talking to her. “What are you doing here?” They both stared at me as if I were some sort of apparition.
“I wish to speak to Thad right now,” Senya said and walked past them into another office. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow so I stood for a moment and introduced myself.
“Katie Golden,” I said and held out my hand to the younger woman as the older one was on the vid with Thad.
“Janet Kersey,” she replied and looked at my hand as if it had something wrong with it.
“Commander Golden, I'm Shelly,” the older lady waved.
“You were the Spaceforce patient?” Janet narrowed her eyes accusingly.
“Yes, she was,” Shelly replied. “You feeling better, honey?”
“Yes, fine thank you.” I glanced at the closed office door. “Who were all the people in the lobby?”
“Protestors.” Shelly sighed, and rose to fetch me a soda and a chair. “They all seem to think that Ron is the Infidel returned.”
“Why?”
“Well,” Janet said smartly, her chin raised. “He's got creepy Infidel eyes and can do creepy Infidel magic and happens to have the same last name and be related to the last Infidel.”
“Was the Infidel one of those guys who happened to nuke the planet?” I turned back to Shelly.
She nodded. “He was the leader of the Karuptas who got their whole continent destroyed and had to leave.”
“Didn't that happen like a thousand years ago?” I asked.
“Yep,” Shelly nodded. “How would you like to be blamed for something your ancestors did a thousand years ago?”
Thad, or rather a man I assumed was Thad, burst through the door and into Senya’s office. We all watched him go.
“So what's going on with you two?” Janet edged closer and glared at me.
“Careful, Janet,” Shelly cautioned. “LCDR Golden is a second degree black belt. I read your Spaceforce file,” she winked. “Admiral Mattson is my husband.”
Janet was not deterred. “Well?” she demanded.
“What's it to you?” I drank my soda.
Janet smirked. “You know he got suspended from the hospital for screwing you in a hospital bed.”
“Oh!” I felt my face heat. “Oh…well…suspended?”
“You know he's slept with practically every girl at the Institute. None of them in the hospital beds though. Guess he saved that distinction for you. Spacegirls are such sluts, aren't they, Shelly?”
My heart literally stopped beating. For a moment I wasn't sure I could breath.
“Janet!” Shelly snapped. “Don't listen to her, Commander.”
“He screws you once, and then he tosses you,” Janet spat. “That's the way he works. He's so pretty he can get away with it.”
“That's just a rumor,” Shelly stated and glared at Janet though it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Is that what happened to you?” I asked Janet, when I found my voice again.
“No,” she snapped and turned away.
I took the opportunity to get up and head toward the inner office.
“Well it didn't happen to me either,” I called over my shoulder.
“I'm not sure it's safe to go in there now,” Shelly warned.
“Safe for who?” I growled. “He had better watch out for me.”
Thad was on a cell yelling at someone about having everyone arrested. Senya was leaning back in a big chair and smoking a cigarette. His ugly bare feet were up on the desk. I sat on the sofa and gazed at the view of the redwood forest while Thad finished his call.
“They're all gone,” he said. “It won't happen again. I'm really sorry about this, Ron.”
“Thanks Thad,” Senya replied
“Hey Commander Golden.” Thad held out his hand to me. “I'm Thad. I guess you're the reason Ron hasn't answered his cell for the last couple days.”
“Maybe so.” I smiled politely and shook his hand even though I was feeling murderous.
“Hey, well, have a good time.” He winked. “I probably don't need to tell you that. Just watch your back while you're here. The nurses around here.” He shook his head and blew out a breath. “Dangerous.”
“Thank you, Thad,” Senya interrupted. “You may go now.”
“Oops, over staying my welcome.” Thad laughed and then after saluting me, he left.
“Don't pay any attention to Janet,” Senya said, once the door had shut behi
nd Thad.
“Is it true?”
Senya frowned and gazed at the ceiling.
“Seriously?”
“I will not lie to you, Katie.” He wisely stayed behind his desk.
“So you've…like…been with a million different women?” I started to feel nauseous.
“Not a million.”
“Ok,” I stood up. “So it was fun. I'll see you around.”
“You are not one of those women,” he said sternly. “Sit down.”
“Right.” I nodded, heading toward the door. “I got screwed more than once. Bye.”
“Katie,” he said imperiously and the door lock clicked before I could even touch it. “Listen to me. What I did with other women is not what I did with you.”
“Oh gosh,” I cried, turning around to face him. “I guess I'm too innocent to know the difference. After all, I was a twenty-seven year old virgin until a couple days ago.”
“I told you. I love you.”
“And do you know what I just figured out? I was a virgin all this time because you came when I was thirteen and we…and I…I couldn't…after that. That's why you came then, wasn't it?”
He shrugged. “You belong to me and I will not share.”
“I belong to you? What like a slave or something? Women are chattel where you come from? Is that how it works back on Rehnor?” I spat.
“For me, yes.”
“I'm not your chattel!” I practically screamed and felt like breaking something. His face would have been a good option.
“You are Milaka MaKani. You are my wife.”
“I am? Gosh, I don't remember getting married. For your information, I don't want to get married to you or to anybody!”
“Yes, you do.” He sighed and removed his feet from the desk, leaning his elbows on it instead. “And you will be as soon as I can arrange it.”
“You don't know what I want,” I retorted. “You don't know anything about me. I'm not nine years old anymore!”
“I know you’re not a child anymore.” Rising to his feet, he started to walk towards me. I promptly backed away. “I know everything about you. I know your whole life.”
“Don't touch me,” I growled.
“Ok.” He showed me his hands and leaned against his desk, turning his face to the window.
I turned my back to him. I was so confused. I wanted to leave but I didn’t. I was jealous, insanely jealous of all these women who had ever been touched by him. It was so stupid. I had never really even met him before three days ago. I didn’t want to care but I did. He was mine. He was my figment of my imagination!
“Katie,” he sighed, speaking to the window. “Where I am from, fucking is just sport. What I did with other women was meaningless.”
“Meaningless? Maybe not to them!"
“I don’t care about them.” He came up behind me. “I love you. I love only you with all my heart.”
“But…did you do with them…”
“What?” He put his hands on my shoulders.
“You know.”
“I know what?”
“Don't act so innocent,” I shouted and pulled away from him. “You're the one who can read minds. You know damn well what I'm thinking.”
He laughed.
“Damn you! Why couldn't you play basketball instead?”
“Basketball?” He thought this was terribly funny.
“Forget it. I'm not going to marry you. You're an arrogant bastard and you always were.”
“You are going to marry me. Come now, you have been planning this since you were nine years old. You've been debating whether to call yourself Katie de Kudisha or to continue using Golden ever since I told you my name."
“Stop reading my mind!”
“Did you not just tell me to read your mind?”
“Senya!” I cried with exasperation.
"Golden is a nice name and suits you well but de Kudisha is the name of kings for more than a millennium and you will choose that."
"Kings and Infidels?" I challenged, thinking myself ever so clever.
"Who is to say who is or is not an infidel?"
"You are such a smart ass," I spat, having no other intelligent retort.
“Marry me, Kate.” He reached for my arms and pulled me to him.
"Are you asking or telling me?"
"Which ever you prefer."
“If you are going to propose, then get down on your knees,” I ordered.
“Sorry,” he said, removing his hands. I backed away again. “I only kneel before God and kings.”
“Huh?”
He laughed. “I will interpret that to mean yes.” He leaned back against his desk and lit a cigarette. I watched the cloud of grey smoke drift upward toward the ceiling vent.
"That was a huh not a yes. I’m not agreeing to anything."
"It was close enough," he replied and took another long drag.
Maybe where he was from getting married was like going out for coffee or something. Maybe he collected wives. Maybe he popped into a lot of girls’ bedrooms when he was twelve. Maybe I would be just another addition to his harem. “Exactly how many wives do you have?” I demanded, crossing my arms in front of my chest and tapping my toe.
He gazed thoughtfully out the window while obviously enjoying either his cigarette or my discomfort.
“You need to think about this?” I gasped. “I'm so out of here!”
“Wait. I am just reviewing time.” He furrowed his brow. “I only see one little Human. Any more than that and you most certainly would kill me.”
“You've never been married before?” I narrowed my own eyes and glared at him.
“Not that I am aware.”
“Just so we're clear,” I said and began to pace the room. “If I am going to marry you, there will be no other wives, no concubines, no mistresses, no girlfriends, no boyfriends, no one night stands…”
“I understand,” he interrupted.
“You want me, you get only me. That's how we do it where I am from. If you don't, you'll end up with a nasty and expensive thing called a divorce. That's where we go before a judge and I tell him what a dickhead you turned out to be and take half your money. See, I don't like to share either.”
“I will not be a dickhead,” he said seriously with a frown, before taking a long drag on his cig.
“How do I know? You are already a dickhead.”
I think if he could roll his silver eyes he would have.
“Ay yah, Katie Golden. You are making me question my wisdom.”
I stopped my pacing and stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” Smiling, he tossed his cig into the air where it disappeared. “Come here. I want you now.”
“Now?”
“Ay yah, now. You are very entertaining and I want you.”
“Here?”
He shrugged. “You are already arguing? Have you a headache too? You insist that I have only you, yet you will refuse to satisfy me?”
“You are being a total dickhead,” I retorted. “You want to…right here in your office…now?”
“Ay yah,” he nodded.
We stared each other down, well as much as anyone can stare when they are blind and wearing dark sunglasses.
“You can't wait until we get back to your flat?”
“No,” he shook his head. “Why should I?”
“You are impossible, Senya,” I said, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Ay yah,” he replied. “This I know.”
Chapter 3
Shelly
Janet was staring at the locked office door, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
“Getting steamy in there,” Thad said, waving his hand like a fan. “That's the first girl he's stayed with longer than it took to…oops.” He smiled at me.
“Thad!” I snapped.
“What does he see in her?” Janet spat.
“He's obviously smitten with
her,” I said. “Get over it.”
“It's not fair,” Janet mumbled. “She's…she's nothing.”
“She's cute,” Thad said. “She's got a nice, tight…brain. Hey, she's also a Lt Commander. Bet, she orders him around. He'd probably go for that dominatrix kind of thing.”
“Thad will you get out of here!” I cried.
“Overstaying my welcome yet again.” He laughed and headed out into the hall.
“Listen Janet,” I said, gently. “There's a lot about him you don't know. Nobody is going to have an easy time with him. She has no idea what she's in for. You should quit being jealous and wish her luck.”
“Right,” Janet smirked. “It’ll probably take him about five minutes to start cheating on her, if she's lucky.”
“Maybe not. But she's in for a tough ride in any case. You should cut her some slack.”
Janet glared at me and then walked off in a huff.
Over the next week or so, we continued moving our office into the new space in the SdK Medical Centre. Ron actually had two offices, one here and another in the Engineering Centre. A gal named Susie began as his admin over there and she and I would chat often to coordinate schedules. The Medical Centre began to fill up with staff. Rozarians, other than Kenak and Donak, shunned Ron and so many of our doctors and nurses ended up coming from Earth, Mars, Altarius, Talas and variety of Allied planets. Overnight, our facility became galaxy class. The parking lots were full and the building was teeming with people coming and going. Ron worked incessantly either here or the other building but still managed to see a dozen or so patients a week with surgeries on Wednesdays.
I think LCDR Golden took him shopping before she departed as immediately after that, Dr. Ron started showing up in gorgeous and expensive Hugo Boss and Armani suits instead of his usual jeans and t-shirts.
“Nice tie,” I commented on one of the few occasions where he wasn’t swamped with other people trying to talk to him.
“Is it?”
“Did you pick it out yourself?”
He laughed. “I haven't a clue what it looks like.”
Chapter 4