by Greg Curtis
“Do you have some quarters here?” He whispered it in her ear. It was an urgent request, because they needed to be alone, soon.
“Just my family’s home, but that’s -”
“Then let that be my present to you two and your daughter. From my people to you. For we are very grateful that Daryl did reach us. We always wanted to help, but as he has figured out, we had to be asked.”
“Daughter?” For the first time Daryl had something on his mind other then sex. “We’re going to have a girl?” He couldn’t stop smiling.
“In about three or so months. And she’s healthy too.” The smile that graced her face would have raised the dead with its beauty.
It was then that Daryl saw the bed. It had a lovely deep thick mattress covered with some sort of colourful quilt and he knew they were no longer at the spaceport. He looked around briefly surprised, finding that they were in a bedroom somewhere. One he’d never seen before, and how they’d gotten there he didn’t know either. But it didn’t matter. They had a bed.
Quickly he picked her up, carried her to it and laid her down as they both wanted. It took seconds to undress as more clothes were ripped off in their haste, and then they joined as they hadn’t in five unimaginably long months.
Afterwards, in the brief calm that always followed their loving, he had time to hold her, and kiss her and her gently bulging stomach, and tell them that he loved them and that he was never leaving again. He even briefly had time to wonder how they could be in her bedroom in her family home on Unity.
But not for long.
Chapter Twenty One.
“Of course we -”
“No, I’m sorry but Karen and I won’t be able to attend the ceremony.” The ambassadors looked somewhat taken aback as he interrupted Karen. The Community’s only Earthman wouldn’t be attending his own people’s admittance to the Community? It was something they’d not expected. Especially as he was the one who’d been instrumental in bringing it about. But they didn’t look nearly as surprised as Karen, who was staring at him with her jaw hanging.
“Close your mouth love, it’s considered rude.” She did as he said, trying not to get angry as she realised he was only giving her the same advice she had once given him.
“But surely there’s nothing more important that you need to do instead.” And the ambassadors knew that there wasn’t. They’d carefully rescheduled everything else so that he and Karen would be free for that week. In fact they’d arranged his entire life for the next six months as a series of functions and gatherings that he wouldn’t be allowed out of. Something Daryl was almost getting used to the idea of. It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but at least he wasn’t in danger of getting killed, which was a major advantage, and he could come home every day to his family.
“There most definitely is. Karen and I are getting married and going on our honeymoon. That’s going to take the next three weeks.” But it wasn’t just the pleasure of getting married that motivated him if he was truly honest. There was also the embarrassment he suffered every time he was forced to attend another function. Not just the inevitable blunders as he found himself with no idea of what to say or do, but the sheer hero worship - if that was the right description - that seemed to follow him around. In the month since the arrival of the Calderonians and their establishment of an embassy on Unity, he’d shaken so many hands and other appendages, stamped so many autograph prints, and greeted so many people that he had almost forgotten what it was like to be a humble researcher.
“What -?” Which was as far as he was going to let her get.
“It’s all arranged. I put in a leave application for you last week, your bags are packed and our carriage awaits with its flight plan laid in.”
“But -”
He tried not to laugh, even as he kissed her.
“Well come now love. You know you want our daughter to be born into a proper marriage. And really, it wouldn’t be good to wait too much longer, or you’d never be able to enjoy the honeymoon. This way we get it all. A proper wedding, an enjoyable honeymoon, and then some time to prepare for the baby.” It all sounded so reasonable - to him, anyway. But Karen was still looking a little difficult.
“I think I’ll be the judge of that. I’ll get married when and where I want.” Yet she looked almost pleased under her indignant outrage, no matter how she tried to hide it. She’d wanted at least to be asked, even though she kept changing the subject every time he raised it, but being ordered while not ideal was perhaps an acceptable substitute. He hoped.
“Which you will want in about a week’s time on Cygni Three.”
“What!”
“Come now love, you’re not going to upset your parents are you? Or mine.” And he knew she wouldn’t, though she had no idea what he was talking about. Yet. She was beginning to guess though. She looked at him almost like an investigator, and Daryl guessed he might be in for some fire when she found out. But then he’d expected that.
“Well they, and the rest of your family, and mine are all getting ready to travel to Cygni Three for the wedding. In fact they may well have already boarded their flights. By the way they all send you their love.”
“And when did they do that exactly?” Ohh yes, there was definite fire in her eyes as she realised she was being shanghaied. He was likely to get burned. But it was worth it.
“A couple of days ago when I called them, and then arranged for our honeymoon. They seemed remarkably pleased too by the way. Your mum said to say she loves you and she’s really happy for you. She was worried you were never going to get married and might end up raising our daughter alone. As if! Your father says hello dingle – what’s a dingle by the way? Ohh, and your pastor’s coming too. He said he’d enjoy a cruise and was really looking forward to your next confession – what exactly have you been telling him?”
“Just the truth you asteroidal ass. You’ve thought of everything haven’t you? Except the fact that I might not want to get married.” Which was a lie. She was just miffed at being given no opportunity to have her say, and underneath it all frightened that he might still leave her. In her mind it was better to have no husband than one who might vanish in the future.
“No. I thought of that too.” He waved and perfectly on cue the reprogrammed warder robot floated up behind her and grabbed her wrists, while he nodded and smiled broadly at her.
She spun as best she could to face her captor. “What the hell! Let me go you metal plated junk heap!”
“Prisoner Volk, you are hereby placed under arrest for the crime of resisting marriage. You will be taken from this place to the nearest holding facility aboard the Force vessel Sparrow, where you will be transported to the world of Cygni Three, where the sentence of marriage will be carried out.”
“What! How dare you you tin pot toaster! I am Major Volk within the Force Security Arm and I order you to let me go.” But she was laughing even as she struggled to get the words out, and she should have known better.
“You are my prisoner Major Volk.”
“I wouldn’t try resisting arrest, love.” He shook his head slightly, trying to look serious, or at least not to laugh too loudly. “Those cuffs are toughened alloy, and they chaff. I speak from experience. Besides, quite frankly he has no flexibility in his programming. After all, I programmed him.” He neatly sidestepped the kick she directed at his kneecaps. He’d expected it, and no doubt deserved it too.
“You bastard!” But she couldn’t stop laughing. He turned back to the ambassadors who’d stood there quietly though out, no doubt wondering about human mating rituals and whether this might be some sort of crime they needed to report.
“We’ll be gone for about three weeks. You can check with the authorities on Cygni Three for more information. I’ve left you some pre-recorded messages of thanks and congratulations you can use for the various ceremonies, and as it’s a huge thing for my people as well as the Community I’ll do a hook up through the Force’s transmitter on the Targ for Earth’s
admission. Ambassador Thyri has graciously agreed to stand in for us in the interim. After that we will be at your complete disposal for a couple of months, until our baby’s due to be born. In the meantime the universe is safe, no one’s trying to kill us, and I think you can get by without us for a few weeks.”
“You are indeed correct, Scientist Daryl. We hope.” They might have been caught off guard but they realised there was little they could do about it. Besides, if they got him to at least be present on remote for the Earth’s initiation, they were getting nearly everything they wanted anyway.
“We will do our best to get by without you for a while.” They nodded their farewells trying to look dignified in their defeat as he thanked them for their understanding.
“Come along then love. It’s well past time we started on our honeymoon.”
He started walking back to the Sparrow only a few hundred metres away, and Karen, escorted by the robot, followed dutifully, calling him every dirty name she knew, and then some more. She knew better than to resist the mechanical man though, and he was careful to stay out of range of her feet. Besides, she was still smiling secretly even as she cursed him. All the way until they reached the Sparrow.
“You do know I’m going to have to hurt you for this. Very badly.” But she was already walking up the short gangplank, and despite her words, didn’t seem to be resisting the robot too strongly. Besides, he knew she was trying hard not to laugh. He didn’t feel too threatened.
“If you must love. But I might point out that it’s a five day trip there even for the Sparrow, and its got very small quarters now. Actually it’s barely big enough for the cats, both of whom are debugged and eagerly waiting to see you in the bedroom. A truce might be more in order for a while. Besides, there’s much more pleasant things I’d hoped we could be doing on the way.” He stepped up to her, and held her tight around her waist while the robot loosed her hands. As he’d expected she tried to struggle then, to get free, but not that hard. He held her close for the critical seconds as the robot left and the hatch closed behind her with a slight thump, and then it was too late.
Artificial gravity took over, as the ship began its pre-flight checks. Everything from that point on was completely automated. He kissed her, hard, and she quickly returned his passion even as she tried vaguely to break free. It wasn’t really a choice for her either. In time she found enough air to breathe again.
“You might at least have asked.”
“You might have said no.”
“I still might. After all you are a flight risk.”
“I’ll take that chance. Besides, would I be doing all this if I was truly a flight risk? I love you by the way. And I’m never going to leave you again. I promise you.” It must have been enough as her hands, which had still been trying to loosen his, suddenly gave up and looped around his neck instead, holding him to her.
“I’m going to hold you to that.” For the first time in weeks she suddenly relaxed completely in his arms and he knew that Karen was finally starting to believe him. That he wasn’t going to vanish on some other wild expedition and leave her behind. It had only taken a month of constant apologising and then a little kidnapping.
“I’d like that.”
“So this is the Sparrow.” She stopped kissing him long enough to look around at the tiny hallway they’d arrived in. And no doubt she wasn’t impressed. The ceiling was only just higher than their heads, the walls were bare metal, and overhead bare cables and wires could be seen hanging above the ceiling grills.
“Shit, that’s right. You’ve never been on the ship before.” Actually that was something he’d not even thought about. His modest ship. He’d wanted to show her it a dozen times, if only to prove he hadn’t been living high off the hog for five long months as she kept accusing him, but she had steadfastly refused to see it. To her the Sparrow was his personal toy that he could use to leave her behind any time he wanted and as such she wanted no part of it. And he had to admit that there was an element of truth in that. It was his toy. But he had no intention of ever leaving her behind again.
“I’m sorry love, but I forgot about that. I know she must seem incredibly primitive to you, even more so than she was originally, but she is reliable. The Force engineers have checked her over thoroughly, I promise you that. And they programmed the flight details too, after replacing all the flight computers. They know I’m not much of a pilot. I wouldn’t have ever considered taking you and the baby on board if there was any risk at all.”
“I’ll also have to ask you to forgive the lack of luxuries on the Sparrow. She’s a very humble vessel, and these days the living quarters are even more modest than they were originally. We’ve only got a single decent cabin left though it is a reasonable size, an office, and a galley which is tiny and still crammed with computers and lab hardware. The walls are covered with the random scrawls of a madman. But there is a two station computer lab, which can double as an entertainment facility. I have no idea at all what the Force is going to make of her. Scrap metal probably.” He sighed, because while it might be all the Sparrow was really suited for any longer, she was still in some way, ‘his’ ship.
“Never! She’s a very proud vessel, a hero in fact, and I’m sure they’ll put her to good use. Maybe a diplomatic ship, or at the very least a museum piece. – Wait a moment, that robot said it already was a Force vessel.” And he had no doubt that she’d finally noticed the gold certificates on the wall behind them from the way her eyes were suddenly staring directly past him.
“That’s right. In a week or so Earth finally joins the Community and Earth Fleet officially becomes part of the Force. The Sparrow was originally an Earth Fleet vessel. But one that now has extensive Force technology throughout. She’s far too advanced for Earth Fleet to get her back, or even for most of the rest of the Community, and technically they could have asked for her return at any time. I am after all, an Earth Fleet operative. So it seemed like a good idea to transfer her ownership across weeks ago and avoid the problems not to mention the rush.
“You mean you’ve abducted me in a Force vessel!” Which from her perspective was scandalous, but amusing, though she’d never admit it.
“Of course not! How can you say that love? I would never kidnap you. I’m shocked that you could even think such a thing! Or even imagine that the Force in any way would ever support such an illegal action, least of all against one of its own!” It was hard to keep a straight face as he said it and he knew he was laying it on too thickly but he couldn’t help himself.
“Ouch!” He deserved the sudden swat she gave the back of his head. It was one of her favourite habits.
“I’m sorry love. I merely asked the Force for permission to take the Sparrow out on one last trip, our honeymoon flight, and they most graciously agreed. In fact some of the Force’s most senior officers are on the guest list for our wedding. A lot of them I suspect are doing research as we speak, trying to work out what a wedding is, and what they’re supposed to do at one.” They were also quite likely thinking about gifts, and he was secretly looking forward to finding out what dozens if not hundreds of different alien species thought would make a good wedding gift.
“But to operate a Force vessel, you’d have to be a member of the Force.” He saw her eyes widen as she started reading the fine print on the certificates. In particular the one that identified him as the temporary commanding officer of the Sparrow, and a junior lieutenant engineer and science officer.
“That’s right. Signed up a week ago love. I’m on shore leave.”
“Wait a minute, that’s Major love to you Lieutenant!” And he could see the smile starting in her eyes and overpowering her face, as she started thinking about the implications. The ones she’d carefully discussed with him repeatedly over the previous month. Karen had wanted him to join up, partly so he could serve with her, and partly because she knew it would be the best thing for him as well. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t take pleasure in torturing him
about how she would run his life from the millisecond after he joined. The wheels were turning. He might be in for some rough times ahead.
“Absolutely Major love. I’d salute, but I’ve got my hands full.”
“And you’re going to keep them full too! Which means I’m officially in charge of this vessel, and your commanding officer.”
“Yes Major love. Or rather you will be, once your sentence is carried out! Until then you’re still my prisoner. Besides, we’re both on leave.”
“Damn!”
“Blessings.” She laughed, and because it had been a long time since he’d heard such an easy laugh from her his heart soared.
“But once I say ‘I do’ I’m in charge?” It wasn’t an idle question.
“Always.” He nodded, starting to feel a little nervous. She had good reason to keep him under her thumb for a while, and he suspected there would be some payback for this little stunt. Not to mention his daredevil flight to the Calderonian home world. But then he’d expected it from the outset. And he trusted her.