by Kord Stone
She saw the confusion in his expression and explained. “That means time passed eight times slower for you than for me and you were nowhere near the phase of this ship. I have just rectified the communications issue, but what concerns me most is how and why you were at Sol. If it were not for the life monitor, I never would have been able to locate you in the brief amount of time you were back there. I immediately set course to locate you and we are twenty-four hours away from there now. It was odd though you were out of phase by a positive .5 time dilation and the life monitor recorded an injury. What happened?”
Jason took her into his arms and gave her a hug and a light kiss that turned to an attempt at passion but ended when she nipped his lower lip. “Okay, I’m sorry I caused you to worry. I’ll try to never do it again. What do you mean Sol?” he asked.
“Sol is the solar system Earth is in. You were not there long enough for me to pinpoint your exact location, but I know you were there. So?” she stated with agitation.
He explained to her about the master control room and what it did. Her temper rose when he explained about boarding the other ship and how he rushed to get back to the master control room.
She was rightly furious now and said, “You entered an unknown ship without scanning the environmental conditions or wearing protective gear? What would you have done if the ship had been depressurized? I will tell you. You would have died instantly! Let me see your hand!” She could hear his lungs were fine and examined his hand closely. “Did you use a medical unit to heal your wounds?”
Jason shook his head and explained what he had done to heal himself. She was still angry but said, “That is amazing. Andel said the Imortum he was trained by could do that also but in all the time I have been online I have never encountered it.”
She was still irritated and decided to poke at him a bit more. She released his hand and said with a huff, “It is a good thing you returned when you did. Another few hours and I would have had to get a new commander to bond with. I still do not know which of your brothers I would have chosen though.”
Jason was turning all sorts of colors when she chuckled. “I am just messing with you. I do not know why but the thought of bonding with another just feels wrong. I know I am on this ship with a purpose, but when I thought I lost you it felt as if a part of me just would not continue.”
Jason just held her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I am truly sorry, I—”
She looked up and silenced him with a kiss.
He took her hands in his. “Let’s go to the bedroom so I can make it up to you.”
“If we go to the bedroom, your family will see you and stop us. They have been continually watching the lift and want to know what is happening, and why you were missing for so long. So aside from feeding them I have been staying away.”
Jason just laughed and told her, “All you have to say is it is on a need-to-know basis, and they do not. Besides, I’ve learned a trick or two. Close your eyes.” She did and after a moment he said, “Okay, open them.”
She did and gasped in amazement. “How did you do that?” They were standing in the middle of the bedroom and he was wasting no time getting her undressed.
“Apparently this ship has a lot of secrets. I will have to tell you about some of them later. But for now I plan on making you forget I have brothers.”
Jason’s hands slid down the length of her body, slowly removing her clothing as they descended, and her body shivered in anticipation. He stood and looked down at her naked frame, then he knelt down and took a nipple into his mouth at the same time as he lifted her into his arms and took her to the bed.
Releasing her nipple with a pop, he settled her down. “I want you to lie right there. Do not move.” She was about to protest but he put a finger to her lips and whispered, “Not a word, this is all about you.”
Alise watched in wonder as Jason closed his eyes a second and when he reopened them the lights had dimmed and some music began playing in the background. It was an ancient Lantin tune with a nice rhythm and beat, and he began an erotic striptease for her, hips gyrating and thrusting with the beat of the music. His hands glided up and down the length of him as he got closer. She wanted to laugh, but thought it might be a mood killer, so she grinned up at him and enjoyed the performance he was putting on. Her ardor for him was increasing with his every seductive motion, and she was hoping he would hurry up.
He ran his right hand from his shoulder to his wrist and as he did the cloth of his sleeve just vanished. He did it once again with the other arm then seductively ran his hands down his chest and legs in a crisscross, removing strips of cloth from his body suit, and twirling them in the air he cast them in her direction.
By the end of his dance all he had on was a smile and a raging erection with her name on it. He made his way to the foot of the bed lifted one of her legs and lightly placed gentle kisses on her toes feet and ankles, then he worked his way slowly up her leg until he made it to the junction of her thighs. With a flick of his tongue she flinched as a tingling sensation surged from the area. He took the nub of sensitive flesh into his mouth, and the warmth along with the friction of his tongue made her body yearn for more.
Alise was in heaven if such a place existed. He licked sucked and caressed until she was aching with need. When he inserted a finger to stroke a very sensitive location she almost found her release on the spot. He licked and rubbed her until she was about to scream in sexual frustration.
He must have felt her frustration building because a moment later he began moving up her body, stopping only a moment to give her a slight nip and flick on her nipples, causing the heat and tingling to go deep into her. He worked his way up to her neck and he settled himself between her legs with his thick erection rubbing against her wetness.
He looked her in the eyes, told her he loved her and he kissed her fervently as she felt his warm erection surge ahead and fill her completely. With each additional thrust she felt the pleasure build. He deepened their kiss, her fervor increasing. Not to be outdone, she wrapped her legs around his hips and gyrated against him while running her hands up and down his back.
They were rolling around on the bed and she managed to get him to his back, and she sat atop him, slowly rotating her hips in circular motions, then forward and backwards. She felt the heady pleasure building when Jason rolled her onto her back once again. Her pleasure reached the breaking point as he repeatedly thrust and ground his pelvis into hers and she began grazing his back with her nails.
He repeatedly plowed into her and a moment later she arched her back and cried out as she felt his heated essence fill her. She collapsed back on the bed, quivering and rejoicing in the pleasure she felt at his touch. At that moment, she found it difficult to remember why she had been angry, and when Jason rolled to his side to face her, she snuggled tight against his chest.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Alise smiled wrapped in Jason’s arms. She lay there taking in the sight of him. When she thought she had lost him, a true panic had set in. She had never experienced anything like it before. She was an AI, and until now had never felt the kind of connection to a host that she did to Jason. Something had changed from the time when they were first bonded, however. She had been able to sift through his thoughts and memories at will in the beginning. She had thought the increasing difficulty was due to the jolts of energy he had absorbed during the attacks on their ship, and she figured the added energy was affecting the bonding process. After the last attacks, and Jason being unable to explain his actions, she had performed several other diagnostics on the ship and the binding disk, but every one of them came back working perfectly.
Then she took a different approach and performed a scan on Jason and compared it to the first scan she performed right after he applied the binding disk, and she was astonished by the changes she found. The first scan showed a ten percent neural activity and the scan she just completed showed a fifteen percent increase of synaptic activity fr
om the original scan. So now she realized her inability to sift through his mind must have been a natural block imposed by his brain as a protective measure, and it must have been that which allowed him to control the ship almost instinctively. For some reason this made her even more attracted to him.
Jason stirred and slowly opened his eyes. “Good morning,” he said. ”How are you doing this fine day…night…whatever time it is?”
She chuckled. “A bit tired after that workout yesterday, last night and early this morning, but do you hear me complaining?”
Jason just laughed.
They lay there a while and she was caressing his back when her fingers came across one of several thick scars on it. “Did I hurt you when I scratched you?” she asked.
“No you didn’t hurt me. It actually felt nice.”
“This is odd. The bonding usually heals scars like these. I wonder why it did not in your case.”
Jason closed his eyes a moment, then opening them he said. “It’s probably because I don’t want them gone. If I were vain or felt uncomfortable with them the bonding would have removed them. I think it did heal a few of them though. I used to have constant pain in the ones on my lower back and in my neck but I don’t feel them anymore. For the most part I’m comfortable with them. They remind me to always be conscious of who I trust.”
She knew a little of what had been done to him, but now that she could not see his memories, she found she wanted to know more, and asked him, “What do you mean by that?”
He seemed to appraise her a moment, then he said, “When my brothers and I turned eighteen years old, we joined the military on the six-year buddy plan. Our recruiter painted such a wonderful picture. He promised us we would all be stationed at the same base and would be able to see each other as much as we wanted.” Jason snorted, and then continued. “Recruiters can be such liars. We were at the same base but only for our first two months of basic training. After that I was separated from Justin and Jerren, who at least stayed at the same base for a few more weeks of tech school. Justin was really good at languages. We all were really, but he had more patience dealing with people and he ended up as a general’s attaché at the Pentagon.
“Jerren was always a bit of a daredevil and really good at self-defense. Originally he was training to be in the military police. That plan only lasted a few weeks until he saw the recruitment flyer for Special Operations. He took the test and was accepted into the pararescue training program.
“I went the S.E.R.E. route to become a Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape instructor. In the third class I taught, I had Jerren as a student and it was the hardest class I ever taught. I wanted to help him but I knew if I went too easy on him, it just might get him killed in the field. So instead of helping him, I rode him harder than any of the other students. It did not go unnoticed by the brass upstairs either. I got someone’s attention, and within a month I was transferred out.
“Not too many people know it but within the Air Force there’s an elite counterterrorism and investigation unit called Office of Special Investigation or OSI. I was transferred into that unit.
“OSI has strict recruitment guidelines and I knew I didn’t meet them. When I asked why I was allowed in the OSI when I didn’t meet the minimum enlistment grade, I was only told special arrangements had been made and not to question the orders. It was the official military answer I told you about: It was need-to-know and I didn’t need to know.”
She nodded in understanding and he continued.
“So there I was with no idea why, but I was in the OSI, and by the end of the year I was dealing with some of the vilest people on Earth. Everything went okay until my last assignment. A terrorist group was rumored to have acquired an old Soviet SS-25 nuclear warhead and Washington needed to verify the intel.
“My unit went to great lengths to set up a believable background. The CIA put me in contact with one of their informants, and my unit staged it so a few members of the terrorist cell would see me execute three U.S. military officers in the streets of Bagdad.
“The effects we used were definitely believable, and for the briefest moments I actually believed I killed them. At that point my contact was supposed to introduce me to a member of the terrorist cell. My contact turned out to be a member of the terrorist group I was trying to infiltrate. They took me prisoner. The CIA really screwed me with the intel on that one. The scars are a result of that captivity, and that’s what I meant by being conscious of who I trust.”
Alise could feel the moisture welling in her eyes and said, “You will never have to worry about that with me.”
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “I know. I feel that in the very core of my being.” Then he placed another kiss on her head and hugged her tightly.
She had been intently watching him while he explained what he meant, and figured this might be the best time to broach his nightmares. “How are you feeling now?”
Jason peered down at her, then sighing he said, “I still find it difficult to be in large groups. I use to be a very outgoing person, but since my captivity, I pretty much kept to myself, some would say almost reclusive. I find my thoughts racing at times, and constantly looking over my shoulders to make sure I was not being followed.”
Alise nodded and asked, “And the nightmares?”
He looked at her oddly then seemed to think about it before saying, “I have had them from the time I was captured. They occur almost every night, they usually accompany the pains in my back and neck. You know, I don’t think I have had one since the day I came on this ship though. At least I cannot recall any. Why do you ask?”
“You had one the other day. It was pretty bad, and I had to shake and yell at you to wake up, you did and after shouting ‘Bias’ you promptly went back to sleep. I wondered what that was about and if there was anything I could do to help you.”
Jason seemed to get an angry glint at hearing the name, but nodded. “I don’t remember that nightmare, but I have had mornings where I woke up from night sweats, with holes punched through my bedroom walls. I figured I had nightmares, but I couldn’t remember them. As for Bias…he was the person responsible for the later torture I endured. If you’re around when the nightmares happen again, try not to get too close to me. I don’t want to harm you.” Jason ran his hand along her face.
Alise could tell it was still difficult for him to discuss what happened to him, so she decided to change the topic. She asked, “Okay now it is time for me to ask you about something else that has been eating at me.”
“What would that be?”
“That language you and your brothers speak. Where exactly did you learn it?”
This topic seemed to lighten his mood a little, he appeared to ponder the question a moment then said, “I don’t really recall. We’ve just always spoken it as far back as I can remember. Why is it so interesting?”
“That language you three speak is ancient Imortum. It has not been spoken aloud in almost four hundred thousand years.” She paused a second and saw the doubt in Jason’s eyes, then continued. “The only reason I know it is that my first host Andel knew how to speak the language.”
“Are you sure?”
“See for yourself. You should have access to his memories by now.”
* * * * *
Jason closed his eyes and focused. He found the location with Andel’s memories and sifted deeper and deeper, but the further he got the more he realized he was getting nowhere fast. Andel had been alive a very long time, so Jason decided to take a different approach and located the beginning of the entries and started there.
Jason finally located the memories where Andel was speaking the language. It was definitely the language he and his brothers spoke, although Andel’s version was a bit rough. Jason was listening more than observing at that point and was about to end the search when he looked at the person speaking. The lady speaking to Andel looked familiar, as if Jason should know her from somewhere but he couldn’t quite plac
e where. He thought it must just be a resemblance to someone he had once known, but it nagged at him that he couldn’t quite place where he had seen her.
He decided to sift a little more and went further forward until he came to another point where they were speaking the language again, and he focused on that point. The woman said to Andel, “Your training is complete and your ship will be here in a few days. I know the commanders are all eager to pass on the reins. They have been in those ships a very long time and are looking forward to their transformation and moving on to be with the rest of our people. It is time for me to leave as well.” She closed her eyes, extended her arms out from her sides, and with a brilliant flash, she transformed in front of him.
Her body radiated with energy. She retained the shape of a person, but her features were blurred in what looked like a combination of shimmering gold and energy flowing and crackling throughout her being. Her eyes took on the appearance of miniature stars glowing from their sockets so brightly they were almost painful to look at. In a different voice she said, “You will do well in your new position, I have seen what you will accomplish and I am proud to hand this duty over to you.”
With a gasp of shock and awe Jason pulled out of the memory.
He bolted upright to a sitting position in bed beside Alise while he tried to gather his thoughts and lower his heartrate. His hands were trembling and his heart was racing. He took in some deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.
“Are you all right?” Alise asked.
“You were right,” he told Alise. “It is the same language.”
“And?” Alise prodded.
“And the Ancient Imortum who was speaking to Andel is the same being my brothers and I knew as our imaginary friend Inola. To top it off, her voice is the one that helped me through my captivity and torture.” Another memory flashed. “Now that I think of it I’ve heard that voice more recently.”
“When?”
Jason tried to gather his thoughts, “It was during the first attack on our ship by the Toralins. The memory is just now coming back to me. I was trying to move and I couldn’t muster the strength when I heard her say, ‘Get up. This is your awakening.’ I remember thinking I didn’t know what the hell that meant. Then I heard a loud ‘GET UP! YOU ARE ALL IN DANGER!’ It sounds strange but I know it was her voice.”