by Viola Grace
She smiled. “Same specs?”
“Of course. Is there anything that needs correcting?”
“Of course not, but you might need to ask the actual guardian directly. You can contact them now.”
Morker frowned and went to his com. “Requesting patch through to Command Control.”
Maya heard the request in her head and responded through the speaker.
“This is Command Control; please designate the nature of your contact.”
“Uh, this is Morker from research and development. I was just wondering if you need adjustments to your suit.”
“Additional obfuscation so that my location is less visible to scanners. The suit has an EM hum that is hard to disguise. Is that all?”
“Uh, yes. Thank you, Command Control.”
“Have a nice evening, Morker.”
The call cut off, and he turned to her. He looked at her and said, “That isn’t your voice.”
“No. It isn’t.”
“But, you have the suit.”
“Yes. I do.”
He frowned. “So, I hauled you in here...”
“Because you recognized your workmanship. You can just say that the project has reused the design.”
He blinked, conflicted. “I should be getting paid for the reuse then.”
She nodded. “File the request for it. I am sure it was just an oversight.”
A knock on the door broke their conversation. A local of Relita stuck his head in. His gold skin with black hairline markings reminded her of the narrow marks on a bee.
“Ah, Ytal, this is our new coms specialist, Maya. She has the right body for a few female guardian suits and weapons, but she needs some acrobatic training. Can you help?”
Ytal smiled slowly. “My pleasure. How flexible are you?”
There was something predatory going on in his expression. Maya answered, “Not very.”
“We can work on that.” Ytal grinned. “You are here for the armour fitting?”
“I am.”
“Pity. I would love to see you in less.”
Wow. That was direct. “Nice to meet you, too.”
He chuckled, and they left Morker’s office while they grabbed dozens of different bits of armour and began the process of having her put it on and do summersaults in it. The team had her identify every pinch, twinge, or squeeze in the armour, and when that was done, the weapons team asked her to try a few things.
By the time she was standing there with her hands and feet burning from all the stepping and attacking she had done with compressed weapons, she needed a break.
The team was excited. She was exactly the body type of two new guardians, and they were both psychics, so physical weaponry was a welcome addition to their suits.
“The boots suck. They look nice but have no arch support or cushioning. If you are going to be in them for any amount of time, they suck.”
She sat on the mat and massaged her feet. She had declined Ytal’s offer. He had been far too enthusiastic.
Juran nodded and made notes on the footwear with the batons in the calf of the boots.
Maya groaned and put the low work boots that she wore around the office on. Ytal helped her up, and she noticed that his hands were very polite. He didn’t stray when he worked on her but rather was sure that she was pristine when they headed to the dining hall for a late dinner.
She was conversing about previous jobs while keeping everything vague. When asked what her species was, she answered honestly. “Altered Terran.”
Salya handed her one of the eggroll-type things. “Altered?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t quite good enough, so they spliced in something else to increase my damage capabilities.”
Ytal snickered.
Morker asked, “You know what the mix is?”
“Of course. She was mixed with a Relita queen.”
Maya had been drinking, and she spluttered out her cold tea. Damn, she missed coffee. “A what?”
“You have the scent of a Relita queen. One of my people.”
Maya stared at him. “You are kidding.”
“I am not. Do not worry; mating with you is above my station. I can and will be your trainer, though.”
She wrinkled her nose, and the other crew were offering to check for her stinger.
Ytal frowned. “Relita queens no longer have stingers. They don’t need them. They are never alone.”
Maya smiled and finished her dinner. “I am going to call it a night.”
Salya grabbed her arm. “When do you have a day off?”
“A... what?”
“You should have a scheduled day or week off every few weeks. Didn’t they tell you?”
“No. I wasn’t given much of a briefing.”
“I will check on your file tomorrow.”
Morker snorted. “Salya, they told you to stop doing that.”
“Then, they should increase their security. If I can get in, then someone creepy can get in.”
Maya nodded and said, “See you tomorrow.”
Ytal looked like he wanted to escort her to her room, but she shook her head slightly. He relaxed, and she left the room, heading to her quarters while she looked up Relita queens.
Aw. Fuck.
Maya worked on the backbend again. Two weeks after Ytal had taken over her training, she had a body that hummed with pain no matter what she was doing. Restful sleep had been fired out the window, but at least she had three days away from the base coming up.
He said, “Now kick up and over. You can do it.”
She kicked, her legs went airborne and untethered, and then, she managed to land her feet and stand upright. She grinned. “I did it!”
She hugged Ytal, and he hugged her back, inhaling deeply against her neck. He also didn’t let her go when she relaxed her arms.
“Ytal. We have talked about this.”
He groaned and stood up. “Sorry. You just smell so good, and when you work out, your pheromones are intoxicating.”
“Uh-huh. If you don’t want to have sex with me, why do you keep so close to me?”
He chuckled. “Oh, I want to, but my family would literally kill me if I took a virgin queen to my bed.”
“I am not a virgin.”
He laughed. “Your scent will change once you have a lover who is Relita high caste.”
“But... I can bang as many other aliens as I like, right?” She grinned.
“That is true, but they might not do it for you. Relita queens are notoriously hard to please.” He grinned. “Once you have had one or two high caste Relita males, I will be free to make my move.”
Maya snorted. “I am mostly Terran. I look like a Terran anyway.” She wrinkled her nose. She was coming to feel far more flexible even if her body was in near-constant pain.
She sighed and stretched, arching her back with her hands way up. A chirp on her chronometer made her snap back. “Dang. Today is physical day.”
“What?”
“Ah. I have to head to the medical office to get a scan. They are curious as to my progress.” She groaned.
“Are you sore? I can massage you.”
“Charming, but I don’t have time.” She bowed and headed off to her appointment.
The med office was empty, so she took a quick solar shower to clean the obvious parts of her.
She left the shower and sat with her mind in two battles on two worlds. When the doctor came in, she smiled and then blinked. He was Relita, but she could now see the difference in castes just by looking. His black markings were thick and protruded onto his cheeks and down his forehead.
He looked at her and smiled. “Ah, so they did mix Relita in after all. No markings though and a weak scent.”
She nodded. “Yes, I am guessing you are the doctor? It is difficult to tell beneath the contempt.”
He blinked, and his dark gold skin flushed. “I am Dr. Lylwin, and I am here to c
heck on your physical progress.”
Maya nodded. “Great. Where do you need me?”
He looked to the table. “Open your suit, and have a seat.”
She climbed up onto the table and opened the closure of her suit, wishing that Minerva had sent underwear along for the dozenth time.
The doctor paused when she opened her suit, and he ran a hand unit a few inches above her skin. “I retract my comment about your scent.”
“Geez, I wish you guys would stop commenting about it. On my world, saying that a lady smells is going to get you slapped.”
He smiled. “Here, the strength of a female’s scent denotes health, fertility, and strong genetics. You seem to possess all three.” He frowned. “But you do have a lot of muscular inflammation. You need a rubdown.”
She blinked. “That is what my trainer keeps saying, but he will use any excuse to touch me. Great trainer, though.”
The doctor did an exam of her joints after getting her to peel out of her suit from the waist up. “You definitely need a full massage. When is your next day off?”
“Um, tomorrow. I am getting a few days in a row.”
“I will send you my number. If you are near the capitol... contact me.”
Maya looked at him warily. “Why?”
“I can help you feel better.” He smiled.
She widened her eyes and started calling the base, asking if there were any Relita physiology-familiar physicians who weren’t Relita.
He chuckled. “You will be approached frequently by males. You are expected to only agree to those that you find agreeable. As a Relita male, it is my job to be... agreeable.”
“Yeah. I get that. At this point, Ytal has a better chance of touching me. At least he isn’t a stranger.”
“If you take him as a lover, his family will kill him. They have to.”
“I know. I know. I will have to make do with other aliens.”
He snorted. “They are missing the chemical composition that will let you orgasm.”
Horror filled her. “You are kidding.”
“No. There are artificial compositions that will help you masturbate, but they will cause your companion to wilt if you use it with them. If you want a physical lover, it will have to be one of the Relita, and your first will have to be as high caste as you can manage.”
“Okay, so why the high caste?”
“So that any offspring you later bear will have the best genetics available. We are always trying to drive the intelligence and attractiveness of our species forward. The Nyal nearly exterminated us, so now that we are creeping from the edge of survival, we want to give our descendants the best chance at thriving. They need to be strong and clever with good leadership.”
“So, the high caste males?”
“No. The queens.” While he went over every inch of her exposed skin with a detailed scanner, she was listening raptly. “Many females are born, and they can have low caste children, but a queen is one in a thousand and draws protection to her.”
“Ah. Well, I am glad I am underground where I am, not causing a fuss then.”
He was breathing deeply and trying not to be obvious about it.
“You aren’t even scanning anymore, are you?”
He smiled slightly. “The bed has built-in scanners. Your stats were recorded as soon as you hopped onto the table.”
She grimaced and pulled her suit up, closing it. “Perv.”
“Opportunist.” He smiled. “Your implant has completely absorbed into your brain, and there are now no mechanical components. Your talent has learned what it needed to, and now, you are an open broadcaster and receiver.”
She blinked as he swung from flirting to work. “Okay. So, I need a massage and some time off.”
“And a high caste lover.”
“Will it make strange men stop propositioning me?”
He grinned. “It will increase it, but then, you will be able to choose your lovers from any level of society. When you shop, you will have men to carry your purchases.”
His attempts to encourage her into this vein of thinking were amusing.
“Wouldn’t it damage a high caste male to be in the company of an altered Terran?”
“I can provide a genetic workup that indicates that you are a true Relita queen, sans markings.” He grinned. “That is why I am here today. I am completing your registry.”
“I thought you were trying to flirt with me.”
He gave her a smouldering look. “I am high caste. I can do both.”
She waited until he finished her exam and his report had been filed, and then, she got away from him. All three of her teams were active right now, and she was having to find pathways and locate security outposts.
She watched Thud from the Relita team, and he punched his way through a wall to create emergency drainage for a collapsed dam. The water was directed back to the natural flood zone and away from the small town.
The team reassembled, and Thud, Wave, and Shock headed back to the base. She smiled and warmed up a meal for them in the automated system.
“Command Control, registering the completion of the mission. Well done, gentlemen.”
Thud chuckled. “Thank you for the clear directions, Command Control.”
Wave agreed. “You are excellent at not overtaxing us.”
Shock muttered, “You never let me have any fun, Mom.”
She chuckled. “And how quickly they forget that I let you scorch holes in the robbers at the mineral exchange.”
Shock laughed.
“You boys, have a good night. Your dinner is warming and should be ready when you get there. Command Control out.”
The guys continued to chatter, but they no longer counted on her input.
They didn’t actually need her, so she had no idea why she was on Relita.
Chapter Five
When Salya took a day off, she went all out. Maya was lying next to her at the beach frequented by Imperium aliens, and they were enjoying their day off.
She shifted slightly and shifted her legs as she got sweaty under the light of multiple suns that marched hand in hand across the sky.
Salya looked over at her and blinked. “Maya, did you know that you have Relita markings when you are in sunlight?”
“You are kidding.”
“No. I am not. Well, it explains why Ytal nearly burst into tears when he couldn’t get today off.”
Maya looked down at her body in her minimal swimwear, and the markings glowed in a silvery gold on her skin. She had stripes that wrapped around each side and had slight jagged twists and turns. She shrugged and lay back.
In a strange singsong, Salya said, “I am not the only one noticing.”
Maya sighed. “Is it time for lunch yet?”
Salya chuckled. “You can go in. I am happy to be here.”
Maya slipped on her coverup and took her huge hat, and headed into the hotel.
She ordered some fruit juice, and the bartender got her the mocktail in seconds. She was embarrassed and apologized with a look to the lady who had been waiting for her drink with her cleavage on display.
She was sipping at her drink and looking at the water when she heard a voice wailing. It was a child’s voice. She looked around and found the child. A little boy was standing in a throng of people and making a lot of noise.
Maya got to her feet and left her table, walking around to the child and crouching next to him. “Hey, little guy. What’s wrong?”
The child looked at her and wrapped his arms around her neck. “I lost my dad.”
“Okay. Did you want to look for him?”
“He always says that if I get lost that I am supposed to stay put.”
“That is impressive wisdom. What is your dad’s name?”
“Huron Vek.”
She paused and smiled. “You don’t say.”
“Yup. I am Heron.”
He was stil
l clinging to her, and she stood, looking around for Thud. There was no sign of him, and he was easy to spot. She took a chance. “Command Control requesting the attention of Thud.”
“Not now, Command Control.”
“Saluda Hotel. He’s holding onto an alien with black and purple hair. Command Control out.”
There was a pause, and soon, she could see the man approaching, nearly a head taller than the crowd.
Seeing him coming toward her made her want to dodge back into the shade of the hotel, but she had to play the clueless tourist.
She turned Heron so that he could see his daddy coming, and he got excited and squirmed to be let down. If he was a human, Heron would be six. Huron was forty. Aw, he was a single dad.
Huron came up to them, and Heron lunged for his leg. “Dad!”
Huron picked up his son and perched him on the crook of his arm. “Where did you go?”
“I followed a nice smell, and then, I got here, and it disappeared.”
Huron looked at her and inclined his head. “Thank you for keeping him where I could find him.”
“No problem. Have a nice rest of the day.” She smiled. “Nice meeting you, Heron. Have a good day and stay close to your dad.”
She walked away and headed back into the hotel. She got another fruit juice and resumed her people watching.
She ordered lunch, and while she was waiting, she saw the little high cast Relita sprinting past. He saw her and ran toward her on the covered deck. “Lady. Lady. Dad asked me if we got your name, and I said I didn’t, so we came back.”
She set her juice down and caught him in her arms, pulling him onto her lap. “My name is Maya.”
Huron walked toward her, and he crouched next to Maya and his son. “Heron wanted to offer to take you to lunch.”
“I have already ordered lunch, but you two are welcome to join me. They have a nice variety of foods here.”
Heron scowled. “I wanted to share misky cakes.”
She grinned. “I did not order dessert yet.”
Huron smiled. “That is very generous of you. Are you on vacation?”
“No. I just have a few days off before I get back to work.”
Heron’s eyes went wide. “My dad has time off, too! We can go to the fair up the coast and the park.”