by Lindsay Peet
CHAPTER FOUR
Ahh, this I could get used to – the appetizers and drinks were wonderful, light and refreshing, and for the occasion the P.U. had supplied us with handsomer, newer outfits, silky and sleek. An-Tine was too eager to get to business, trying to corner me informally, and when W and I went to our places I saw An-Tine was seated next to me; I grew wary, dreading an evening with a persistent nagging bore. When idling could be so delightful, why rush into conspiracies and such work? Time for more information-gathering and deflection.
“Ambassador, we understand that the Planetary Union has united almost the entirety of Caliuga’s colonies, and this pleases us. But, excepting Caliuga itself, and Solip City, we know nothing of the other settlements. What can you tell us about them?” I drawled as the first course was brought to the table.
“Excellency, there are so many, and their stories so diverse, that I hesitate to begin what must be an incomplete and unsatisfactory account of my fellow citijects.” A servant entered and announced two guests; Wanliet, An-Tine and I exchanged looks. Nobody was expecting this, but not minding the distraction I asked that they be shown in. When they turned out to be Aspe Iapmo and Sirah, I was even gladder, but there was a shadow behind my sunshine. What had the two been up to?
At an unspoken command two more chairs and place settings were brought for the two new guests. Aspe pointedly picked up one chair and set it to my right for Sirah, and the other directly across from me, between An-Tine and Wanliet. The settings were re-arranged and my mind sorted through possibilities.
And what business was it of mine, whatever they’d been doing, just how close they’d become? Just how badly was my heart entangled with my loins and Sirah? Falling for Sirah was not what I needed just then. What I needed, I decided, was a distraction, like Aspe, so I put some of my focus on her. It was a delicate business, trying to subtly flirt with Aspe while not making Sirah jealous enough to shut me down and cross me, and at the same time trying to track An-Tine and take part in his conversation with Wanliet.
Sensing my predicament Wanliet chuckled, while Sirah sat beside me and Iapmo across, next to the Ambassador. They nodded, evidently old acquaintances, and the two women acknowledged Wanliet. I wasn’t sure of protocols here, but the women were acting very relaxed. “It’s all right, Ambassador, I don’t expect a full briefing, I just want to gain some insights into how things are here,” he smiled. “We’ve been here only a few days, and rather hectic ones at that, and of course the Empire had no information to prepare us at all. So, please ….” Wanliet gestured with open palm.
Sirah leaned over and delicately hissed “Surprised to see me?” sending a frisson through my ear to my medulla and then down to coil about my coccyx. “I think you know my friend,” she breathed, and I shivered slightly. Squeezing my thigh with her left hand, her right hand went to the wine bottle and topped off my glass. I looked down, and when my eyes met hers there was my glass between us, and she was raising it to my lips. Above the rim of the glass, and around the sides, I could see her blouse wasn’t buttoned all the way, and the glimpses I got of the breasts I’d savored already just sharpened my appetite more. I took the glass and drained it greedily.
Sirah’s right hand moved to her wineglass, but her left – her left settled there on my thigh, painted and tapered nails tracing lightly up and down on the silky fabric, higher, then lower, then higher, her upper arm betraying none of this delightful finger-skating. Lifting her own glass she looked sideways at me, and this glance, coupled with her hand, almost undid me.
Undoing me, in fact, seemed to be her point. Then I felt something on my other knee, but Sirah’s right hand was in sight, and I was tremblingly aware of where her left was. Aspe’s bared foot was now getting involved, her instep and toes doing a fair job of caressing as An-Tine began his presentation. “Well, of course, the Caliugans were here first. Although they hadn’t planned to land here, they had been planning to colonize, and so had a very well-equipped ship and skilled settlers. In fact, if not for them and their generosity, I doubt that any of the other groups would have survived, much less prospered as we have. Good fortune has smiled on Caliuga from the first, and we all owe a great deal to the original settlers.” I think he smiled then, but I wasn’t paying much mind.
Hand and foot were under my napkin now, kneading and stroking through the silky satiny fabric, thin yet evidently with incredible bursting strength. I spread my knees and shifted in my chair, obviously very interested in Caliugan history. When I looked at Aspe her eyes were unfocussed, her face flushed; I suspected Sirah looked much the same. I probably did too. “You may have heard, Excellency, that nobody planned to be here, yet here we are, all of us. Short of describing Caliuga as some sort of default destination for jumps-gone-wrong, we can’t explain it.” Wanliet knew, he knew what was going on, and was smirking.
“Well, this much we’d learned already, Mr. Daskal here could have told me that much, couldn’t you?” Wanliet asked as Sirah re-filled my glass – my appetites were whetted yet my mouth was awfully dry, how could I have drunk so much to be feeling like this?
An-Tine was looking at Sirah and me with a strange clinical intensity. Like writhing worms his red lips moved on their own, “One of the more interesting landings was a troupe of actors a couple decades ago. Sadly, at that time we had little use for such cultural luxuries, and they had few skills beyond waiting tables and tending bar, so they had to be dispersed throughout the colonies, and taught real trades.” Everything was slipping into the surreal, Sirah had opened my fly and I was amazed that my side of the table wasn’t levitating like at some sideshow seance. What amazing toes you have, Aspe! Are there exercises you do, or -- Sirah that just isn’t fair! “Also there was a group headed for the gambling and pleasure palaces of Gelvassa. A diverse group, with really only one thing in common, a love of games of chance, they set out to create their own Gelvassa here on Caliuga. Their problem was that there’s little of a transportation network here yet, so they ended up here, in Solip City, the developing transportation hub of Caliuga, where the people can come to them for excitement.” A gambling mecca in the same place as government? It had a kind of logic to it. Governing can be so boring, we all need some excitement now and then, right? I was certainly finding excitement, and raising my own pleasure tent under the napkin.
Wanliet spoke up. “We’d heard rumors of smugglers that had ended up here, fleeing from the Emperor’s justice. Would you know of any such, Ambassador?” Wanliet knew the answer to that, now he was tweaking both me and An-Tine, and while I understood what he said, I really didn’t much care anymore. An-Tine was flustered, but compared to me, being manipulated and pedipulated at an important dinner, what did he know of being flustered, eh? This could not go on, I had the not entirely unpleasant feeling that I was losing the power of speech, and would soon be making only animal noises, so I surrendered to it and mumbled “Excuse me, Ambassador, your Excellency, but something seems to have unsettled me, and I must excuse myself.”
“Us too” the ladies said, and without further apology or subtlety we all headed off to my room, my napkin hanging from my lap. As our clothes were being shed in the hallway I thought, “It’s good to be the IG’s factototum,” and giggled to myself, dimly conscious it would be the last higher-order thought I’d have for some time.
I know you’d like some sort of chronicle of what happened in there that night, but I can offer only impressions – hungry lips and tongues and closed eyes below me, above me; moans, mews, whimpers and wet sounds, slurping, sucking, squelshing, burbling; musky, salty, tangy perfumes; an odd perception of being outside myself, as I realized my entire body was a sexual organ,as were Aspe’s and Sirah’s, and smooth thighs and fingers and feet and quims and breasts and buttocks filled my world, my hands, my mouth, my mind, my universe. I believe that Aspe Sirah and I merged in some soul-sharing way, almost a religious sense, during which I slipped in and out of consciousness or awareness, as my body throbbed on. Finally I awakened by
myself, the room a reeking mess, my heart lighter and body heavier than I’d ever dreamed they could be.
I’d awakened with a strange clarity too, my body without stress, almost liquid, and my spirit focused only on what a gorgeous day it was to be alive. Naked I staggered out on my part of the balcony and gazed down on the busy people below, and smiled. I stretched my arms wide to embrace the people, Caliuga, and the cosmos. This must be what the yogis and saints feel, I nodded to myself. Maybe I’d found my new religion, or it had found me.
Slowly I realized a few things. I’d pulled all-nighters before, but they were never quite like last night – I mean, I usually remembered more, and I’d always been very much in my body before. In fact, with all the bodies I’d been in, I’d always been in my body.
Sirah must have put something in my wine! But what? What could they have gotten here, on Caliuga? I didn’t recognize the effects, but I sure appreciated them. This must be what An-Tine really wanted to export! And I didn’t doubt he’d find a market! I also didn’t doubt that the Ambassador would be quite open to cutting the Inspector General and his aide in on the profits!
But there was more – earlier I’d been thinking about starting a religion as a fallback, if the IG stuff began to fall apart. Here we had sexual mystic experiences, in a pill, or vial, or however Sirah had done it. Not just spiritual mystic experiences, but mystic experiences with sex! This pretty much encompassed everything humanity wanted – union, maybe with God, definitely with your neighbor! Clearly I had to talk to Wanliet and An-Tine again, and soon!
Except that, while An-Tine was willing to work with us, we couldn’t deliver anything to him. Damn! Opportunity knocks, and here I’d have to say “Just a minute – I’m not ready yet.” Being on Caliuga wasn’t so bad, it was nice in fact, but being stuck here made it a prison to me, thwarting all my grand plans and ambitions. Suddenly frustrated, I went back inside, saw the clock, and cursed. I’d lost most of the day, and now we had a big official banquet tonight. One where I’d have to be very careful of Sirah and Aspe, because I could hardly duplicate last night’s performance, least of all in public. Neither my reputation nor my body could stand it.