by Guerin Zand
“Oh, I bet he was.”
And Milly kicked me again. The same spot on my chin so it was starting to really hurt.
We finished our meal and we took the twins up to my room. I gathered up my bag and straightened the place up a bit for them. Milly was just not enjoying this at all. My fawning over the twins seemed to make her more than a bit jealous. I was enjoying it and I made sure to they had whatever they wanted.
“I think they’ll be fine Guerin. Let’s go and let them get some rest.”
“If you need anything just call me and I’ll take care of it.” Milly offered.
“You can call me too if you want.” I added.
Milly just shook her head and we left. A few minutes later we arrived at her room.
“’You can call me too if you want.’ Really Guerin? Why not just get right to it and ask if they’d like your help in the shower?”
“That’s not a bad idea. Maybe I should call them and ask?”
Milly threw something at me and I ducked.
“On come on Milly. Why are you acting so jealous?”
“I’m not jealous!”
“You are too. I know jealous when I see it and throwing shit at me is jealous. You know I’m just having some fun. If I really wanted to bang the twins then I’d have just stayed with them instead of coming with you. I’m sure they would have been eager to thank me for my help today and it might actually be nice to be appreciated now that I think about it.”
Milly just pouted. Maybe I was pushing it a bit.
“Come on over her and let me turn that frown upside down.”
Milly came to me and I took her in my arms.
“Do you always have to be such an asshole Guerin?”
“It’s what I do baby. Would you still love me if I was boring?”
“No.”
“I was thinking. If you can’t find a good place for the twins they might like to come back to Earth with me. They’re used to primitive worlds so they might just fit right in. What do you think?”
Milly grabbed me down below and squeezed not so gently. I look of pain crossed my face and strangely this made Milly smile.
“It was just a thought.” I said in a unusually high tone.
“Stop thinking. It only gets you into trouble.”
Chapter 29
The Twin Dilemma
I woke up next to Milly. This was always a good way to start the day but as I had learned it really was no indication on how the day would end. Milly rolled over and put her arms around me.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning Milly.”
“What are you thinking Guerin?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“I was thinking about Prima and Seca.”
“Really?”
“Not like that Milly. What do I have to do for you to understand how much I care about you? Is it so hard to just trust me?”
“No. It’s just you seem to let every pretty face turn your head. You just can’t keep from flirting with every woman you meet. What am I supposed to think?”
“You should think I wouldn’t do something stupid and hurt you. As far as my head turning whenever a pretty woman walks into the room or my flirting, that’s like breathing. It’s totally an involuntary action.”
“Oh, that makes it ok then.”
“Can we be serious for a minute Milly? I really want to talk to you about this situation.”
“Ok. So, what is the problem?”
“I was thinking about this and I realized I just did the same thing I have been accusing you of. I abducted these girls from the only world they knew and brought them here. They’re probably as confused as I was and just like you I didn’t have a really good plan before I abducted them.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say Guerin.”
“I’m saying they’re my responsibility now and I better come up with a plan quick. This is my last day here. Tomorrow I head back to Earth and I can’t just dump them here not knowing what will happen to them. I can’t send them back where I found them and I don’t want you to do that either when I’m gone.”
“You’re serious. You really are worried about them, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well maybe we should go get the girls and take them to breakfast. That will give us a chance to see what they want to do and maybe we can work from there.”
So we agreed to try and come up with a plan over breakfast. We showered and dressed and then headed back to my room to get the girls.
We arrived at my room and Milly knocked at the door. Prima, or Seca, I’m not really sure, opened the door. In front of me was one very fine and naked space babe. I mean very fine! Ok I was staring and pretty much frozen until Milly’s elbow found my rib cage.
“You mind if we come in?” I asked. Whoever had answered the door motioned for us to enter and there was the other twin just as naked and just as fine. There was no telling them apart that I could see and I looked long and hard, trust me.
“We were going to breakfast and we thought you two might like to join us?”
“Whatever you wish Guerin.” One of them responded.
“Then you should probably get dressed and we can go. You can wear the clothes Sammy gave you and we’ll work on getting you more things to wear later.” I only said this because I wanted Milly to know I could still think straight. The two of them headed back to the bedroom and proceeded to get dressed. My eyes, of course, followed their sweet backsides the entire way.
“Whatever you wish Guerin.” Milly mocked. “You better not be enjoying this if you know what’s good for you.”
“I wouldn’t dream of enjoying this Milly.”
The twins came out in identical onesies and I still couldn’t tell them apart. Not wanting to act like a moron and ask I figured I would wait. I would find some way to tell them apart.
We headed down to the food court and I grabbed myself some spiced buns and coffee and Milly found something green to eat. The twins were just following me and didn’t get anything to eat.
“Aren’t you to hungry?”
“We’ll eat if you want us too.”
Oh, dear God. This was worse than I had thought.
“You don’t need me to tell you when to eat or what to eat ladies. If you’re hungry then get yourselves whatever you’d like. Milly can help you if you’re not familiar with the food here.”
They didn’t ask Milly for help. They just got the same thing I did and followed us to a table.
“So how long have you girls been slaves.” Milly asked, as if this was just normal polite table conversation. I gave her a surprised look but she just motioned for me to stay quiet.
“We were sold when we were just 5 cycles and were sent to the training centers. At 15 cycles, we were sold to the Emperor’s house.”
“So, you two have never known anything else?”
“No. We are slaves. That is what we were trained to be.”
“So now what will you do?”
“We will serve Guerin of course. We are his now.”
“Wait a minute. I don’t want slaves, I mean, I can’t have slaves. I didn’t bring you here for that.”
“We’ll do as you wish Guerin but we’d prefer you not send us back.”
“First are you Prima or Seca? It is almost impossible to tell the difference.”
“I’m Seca.”
Ok, Seca was sitting next to me on my left and next to her was Prima. Know I at least knew who I was talking to. Seca was the more talkative one, I thought.
“Listen, both of you. I don’t want slaves and it’s just not right. You’re free now. You don’t have to be anyone’s slave here.”
“If we do not serve then we have no purpose. Those without purpose are recycled. We don’t want to be recycled.”
“Recycled? Are you serious? Milly, can you help me out here please?”
“Good morning Guerin, Milly. I see you’ve
brought your new friends to breakfast.”
“Good morning Stella, Sly.”
Out of the crowd came the two cadets running and screaming. “Guerin!”
“Hey Sparky.”
“Hi Nancy.”
“Don’t I get a nickname too Guerin?”
“Of course you do. Let’s see if Sid is Sparky then your nickname will be Sparkles. That’s a good one for a young girl and it goes well with your brother’s nickname. What do you think Sparkles?”
“I like it.”
“Are these your new slave girls?” Sid asked.
“Yes, I mean no. They’re not my slaves. They’re just new friends.”
“Prima and Seca these are Stella, Sly, Nancy and Sid.”
The introductions went well I thought. The family took seats at the table and joined us for breakfast. Sid, of course, started to ask the twins for details of the great space battle where I won the slave girls and trounced the Trogan emperor. He thought that must have been cool to see.
“Sparky, it wasn’t a battle or anything big. Don’t bother the girls with that. We’re trying to figure out what we should do about this.”
“Oh. And how is that going Guerin?” Stella asked as she and her family started in on their breakfast.
“Not well thank you. I know this is all you’re doing Stella so don’t act all innocent.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
“You want me to answer that?”
“Whatever. I know you set up this whole confrontation.”
“The committee and the Bree Council arranged that meeting, not me Guerin.”
“Let’s not lie to each other Stella. Sure, they set up the meeting, but tell me how the Trogans knew I was here?”
“I have no idea.”
“Don’t give me that. Milly tried to act dumb too and I am not buying it. You were the one that let it out I was here knowing very well what would happen. You’re revenge for the other night? I’ll give you the credit. I guess we’re all tied up now. Not very original though.”
Stella just gave me a smartass grin. She knew I figured it out and wasn’t going to try and lie about it.
“Stella, I was just talking to the twins here so Guerin would realize that they don’t know any other life then living as slaves. He admitted he screwed up and should have had a plan. So now we’re trying to figure out what we should do with the twins.”
“The great Guerin Zand admitted he was wrong?”
“No, I didn’t Stella. What I did was right. I got them away from that troll scumbag. It just seems that, like you folks, I didn’t have a good plan for what to do after that.”
Then Julie arrived. No manners of course. She just grabbed a seat at our table without asking if she could. I would have, of course, told her to get lost if she had asked.
“Good morning Julie.” I muttered.
“So, you seem to have a little problem, do you Guerin?”
“I have lots of problems Julie, and most of them are sitting at this table.”
“You know your newly acquired slaves don’t know how to live on their own, don’t you? They rely on others to provide for them. Are you prepared to provide for them?”
“If I have to Julie, but I’m sure there’s another answer.”
“Look at it this way. Say these twins were two little girls on Earth that you just rescued from an abusive home. Now you’re just going to say good luck and leave them on their own?”
“Ok Julie, I see your point but what am I supposed to do? Since your so much smarter than me I guess you have a plan?”
“They need an owner Guerin. At least for a while. You have no idea how ingrained there so-called training is. They have to be, deprogrammed, I think you would call it. That will take time and you’re not capable of doing this. You should give them to me and I can see to it.”
“I wouldn’t give you the time of day Julie, I sure as hell won’t give them to you. I’m trying to do something good here.”
“Oh, dear lord. He’s serious isn’t he. Chivalry isn’t dead after all. Everybody! Sir Galahad has arrived. We’re all saved. Hooray!” Julie said sarcastically while throwing her arms up and waving them about frantically to draw the attention of a small crowd.
“Very funny. I am trying to be serious you know.”
“Well that’s a first. Maybe if you had been serious this would never have happened.”
“So Julie, I should have just left them with that asshole. I mean who gives a shit about them, right? I don’t understand how you people can just turn a blind eye to this sort of shit. Don’t you feel anything for others? Maybe I was right. You’re no better than that troll Heesa.”
“Guerin, nobody said we don’t care about them. We just can’t force our beliefs on other societies. If we did we wouldn’t be any better than them. That’s the difference between us.”
“I understand that Milly, but it still doesn’t make it right.”
“Regardless Guerin, you need to give the twins to someone here so we can retrain them and help them live their lives on their own.”
“Well maybe you’re right Julie. Perhaps? I know. Maybe I should give them to Sparky.”
“Guerin Zand don’t you dare.”
“Why not Stella? When I was his age I would have loved a couple of slave girls and I trust Sid.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not trying to be funny Stella. I think I can kill two birds with one stone here. After all this is your fault and I think by giving them to Sid that would make the score 2 – 1, advantage monkey. Unless, of course, you’d like to concede and admit defeat. In that case, I would agree not to give the twins to Sid.”
“Admit defeat? To you?”
“It doesn’t matter to me Stella. I kind of enjoy our little games. What do you say? Does Sid get some new playmates?”
Sid was nodding up and down wildly. He was obviously hoping his mother would agree with my suggestion.
“I concede.” Stella said softly.
“Could you say that a bit louder Stella? I don’t think your husband heard that.”
“I CONCEDE! You win. There are you happy?”
“No hard feelings?”
“No hard feelings Guerin, but you have to stop too.”
“Agreed.” I offered Stella my hand and Stella and I shook on it.
“Have we done something wrong Guerin? We’re sorry if we did.”
“No Prima you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Then why do you want to give us away? We want to serve you. We’ll make you very happy.”
Ok I was starting to rethink this whole thing. The way Prima said they would make me very happy left no doubt in my mind that I could only imagine being that happy. Maybe I could handle this on my own? Julie of course had to ruin the mood.
“Am I the only one about to be sick?” Julie asked.
I simply ignored her.
“I have to return to Earth and I can’t take you with me. I need to find someone here I can trust to take care of you. I promise whoever I choose will be good to you. Please trust me.”
“If that is your wish.”
Julie inserted some gagging noises at this point. Strangely, that also suggested something that would make me very happy as well.
“Well let’s see. I guess Sly is out, right Stella?”
“That’s right.”
“So that just leaves Milly. What do you say?”
“Why me?”
“Because, I know I can trust you. You might actually learn something as well. You could share fashion tips. Maybe they could even open a little boutique or a school on manners. God knows you people could use some help there.”
“But I’m going to Earth with you.”
“Only for a few days. Julie can watch them while you’re gone. But if you don’t want to do this for me I guess I could just take them with me, and do my best to retrain them on
my own.”
“So, if I don’t take them you’ll take them with you to Earth?”
“I don’t see a better choice. I sure as hell am not giving them to Julie. You can let Julie help, but you have to promise that you won’t just give them away to Julie or anyone else. I agreed to this whole emissary crap because you wanted me too. Can’t you do this for me?”
“So, you’re still going to accept the emissary position, even after yesterday?”
“Of course. I promised you Milly. Did you think I would break my promise?”
“I wasn’t sure. I thought you were mad about the little Trogan incident and maybe you didn’t trust me anymore.”
“‘The Little Trogan incident’? Is that what we’re calling it now?”
The whole table nodded yes, except the twins. There probably was a news channel out there I hadn’t found yet with the morning news running on their news ticker, “GUERIN ZAND DECLARES WAR BETWEEN EARTH AND TROGAN EMPIRE ……” In a few thousand years or so I can imagine the story in the history books about “The Little Trogan Incident”. Guerin Zand’s attack on the emperor was the spark of the universal war responsible for the fall of the civilized universe. You know whatever went wrong in the universe from this point on was going to be my fault.
“I didn’t like being setup like that but I guess Stella owed me one so I’m over it. Plus, it was sort of fun kicking some Trogan ass. I had a lot of pent up frustration from some of my dealings with certain people” I looked directly at Julie, “and I needed the release. Besides it will be a good for book sales.”
I had her. I figured this would be a good thing for me. Hopefully the twins would share more than just fashion tips with her, if you know what I mean.
“Ok, I’ll do it for you. We still need to get them a more permanent residence here and there’s a lot to do. You said I could have Julie help, right?”
“Yes, Julie can help you all you want but your responsible for them. If Julie pulls any of her shit it’s you I’ll be mad at, understand?”
“Understood.”
“Prima and Seca, I’m giving you to Milly. She’ll take good care of you. I promise.”
“We shall serve Milly.”
“Don’t worry Milly. I won’t get jealous if you might want to experiment while I’m gone. I trust you.”