For those of you who have a worse memory than a short haired jukamut (a kind of dog), or maybe haven't visited SciFi-Babe in a while, Darvu Funn, the younger brother of Marku Funn - the man who'd caused genetic chaos on Toknar ( Click to read Alethea's report) - had just bought me at a slave auction on Casalmara for twenty-nine million Ortanotes - about two hundred and forty thousand dollars. Having released me from my cuffs and chains, he eased me into a hired skimmer and handed me a brand new pair of shoulder-length gloves, thigh-high boots - all in gorgeous soft, black, leather - and a custom 'Greer', lace and leather, corset. Well, that sort of mellowed me and I was in a totally receptive frame of mind when he told me about his sister being kidnapped by some very bad honchos from Cor-te-Eva. I really must have momentarily taken a trip out of my gourd, at that point, coz when he told me the 'Cor-te-Eva' wanted me, in exchange for his sister, coz they wanted me to write about what was happening on their world, I happily agreed to go there - right after he'd laced me into my nice new corset, of course. *grin* If you want to read that report first, in the interests of a linear timeline, just click to read about my trip to the markets of Saith and Dara, on Montanera.
Anyway, it was only after we'd been en route to Cor-te-Eva for two days, that the thought occured to me, ' These are seriously nasty people. What the heck could have them so scared that they need to pressurize a reporter into telling their story to the outside universe?'
Well, finding the 'Cor-te-Eva' is pretty easy. You just follow the smell. That's according to Alethea, of course; but then she has a real 'thing' about personal hygiene. Truth is, neither sex on Cor-te-Eva is too up on washing. Being a totally sociopathic, warrior nation, they think removing all that daily grim weakens them, or something. I should point out, I think, that the females are just as evil tempered as their males, probably have no sense of smell, whatsoever - or the species would have died out generations ago - and are usually to be found in the middle of a battle, swinging their razor sharp yataras (swords) from side to side and chopping peoples' heads off with total abandon.
I just know you people find all this stuff fascinating, but the fact is, getting to Cor-te-Eva is not at all easy. It's not on any cruise route, and very few trading vessels visit there, because the Cor-te-Eva have no money to spend on trifles. In fact, I'm not sure they have any money at all. They believe if you want something, you should simply take it. They make really great assassins, too, unless of course you want subtlety. Walking into a hotel lobby, swinging a five-foot long yatara around your head - like a demented Kurgan - is not going to pass unnoticed. But, heh, that's their style!
A few low-life drug and arms runners, who usually hang around in the strip bars and 'dance' clubs that line both sides of Toksa Street, City of Yak'am, on the nearby planet of Coochar, will take a person there. They mostly take in low-tech weapons, like knives and stuff, and some basic medical supplies, in exchange for snik-snik tusks (a little like ivory, and just as valuable). Occasionally they will act as intermediaries, soliciting one or more Cor-te-Eva for an off-world 'hit', or as mercenaries in some far-flung tribal dispute, where the total elimination of one side or other is the ultimate goal. I should point out, here, that the Cor-te-Eva had insisted I came alone to their world, but Darvu wanted to be close at hand for when his sister was released, and was going to wait for her on Coochar. You know, he and I had been in each other's company for almost a week now, and I still wasn't sure why his sister had been anyplace where she could have been kidnapped. On the two occasions I'd asked him, he'd said he didn't know. I suppose it's possible, but Coochar, let alone Cor-te-Eva, is the wrong side of anywhere. I decided I was going to make that my first question when I met Jarmia, his sister, right after, "Are you okay?"
After walking up and down Toksa Street for half an hour, I eventually settled on Tutu Varma's club, for no other reason than it's illuminated sign had all the words lit. I was sitting at a small table, with a less than clean cloth drapped over it, clutching a glass of juice for almost an hour before a small, bald, evil-looking man, in a threadbare yellow jumpsuit, entered. He walked past me, without even a glance, and eased himself into a booth at the rear, right next to the low stage. A bored looking, large-breasted, green-skinned, female humanoid, with a long flicking tail, was grinding out an uncoordinated dance routine to some sort of pipe music. The fact that the 'dancer' was moving in time to a rhythm that was completely out of sync with the rhythm of the music was obviously lost on the three guys who were busy working their way through every bottle and container on the top shelf behind the bar. Presumably, provided they were still conscious, and more importantly weren't totally broke, they fully intended to carry on to the next shelf. I had no doubt that Varma hoped they would. It didn't look like too prosperous a place, as bars go. I'm sure he'd tried everything he could to drum up business, but I imagine the competition was murder. I never had the time to count, but there had to be upwards of two hundred dance, sex clubs, and bars of all kinds in less than a mile.
The newcomer was obviously a regular, because Varma poured a tall, green colored drink and brought it over to him without the man saying a word. As he returned to the bar, Varma looked at me and nodded. I took a deep breath and walked over to the booth. "Hi," I said, smiling, "I'm Sashi."
"I'm busy," he replied between sips. He pulled a datafiler from his breast pocket and started tapping keys.
Well, it's really not that often that I get 'iced' by a guy, and it threw me for a second or so. Not one to quit, though, I stuck out my boobies, cleared my throat to get his attention, gave him another smile, and asked, "Can I sit?"
Without a word, he absentmindedly pointed to the seat opposite and returned to his datafiler. I sat and slid myself along until I was next to the wall. Over the next thirty minutes, he consumed three more green colored drinks, tapped his keys occasionally, I learned his name was Evo Pugme, and that he owned a near derelict ship, 'Guila', named after his second wife. I also learned that he had a fairly large cargo of medical supplies he was planning to deliver to Cor-te-Eva - consisting mostly of painkillers and anti-bacterial creams. Eventually, after feigning reluctance for a moment, presumably so he could jack up the price, he said he would be prepared to take me with him, entirely at my own risk, of course. I mentioned that he would be bringing Darvu's sister, Jarmia, back to Coochar with him, after dropping me off. He smiled, exposing me to a view of his teeth that I would have preferred to miss, and told me that, since he'd not planned to return to Coochar afterwards, it would cost me... a lot! Anyway, after another drink - juice for me, and another green one for him - we eventually settled on a price. I stood up, smiled, so he could see what really nice teeth look like, and said I'd meet him at the bar later that evening. 'And, yes,' I said, 'I would be sure to bring the money!'
I'd already said farewell to Darvu, earlier, so, after Pugme had checked the money, we made our way on foot the short distance to where his ship was parked on an abandoned industrial site. 'Coochar' has a pretty informal attitude to the kind of things most governments feel an irresistable urge to regulate, like: booze, food quality, drugs, arms sales, tax evasion and, of course, parking your spaceship as close to the bar as you can. After a short pre-flight check, consisting of kicking the odd panel, flicking the occasional switch, and thumping the navigation computer's display until it powered up, we strapped ourselves in and took off. In a surprisingly short time, we made orbit, took a navigational fix and headed for Cor-te-Eva and what was to be the most unusual experience of my entire life.
Pugme's ship might have been pretty old, but it turned out to be sturdy enough to make a safe planetfall after an hour being buffeted by a storm we just couldn't avoid high up in Cor-te-Eva's atmosphere. We touched down on an area of grassland, just to the south of a small forest. After all that noise and bouncing around, it was now quiet enough to hear the metal in the engine shrouds ticking as it cooled. 
Pugme responded to my questioning look with the explanation that the Cor-te-Eva clan he was dealing with had built their village deep in that particular forest. Although what he said made sense, I had to wonder how I was going to locate the clan that had kidnapped Funn's sister. I needn't have worried. Pugme had that covered. Ever the efficient businessman, he'd already contacted the clan we were about to trade with and told them he was bringing me and why. That surprised me, coz I wasn't aware they, the 'Cor-te-Eva', had technology like 'T' or 'H' band radios. Pugme told me they'd been given them, so they could order what they needed and agree how many 'snik-snik' tusks they needed to gather to pay for it. When I pointed out that on Earth, a similar kind of trade had almost eradicated the African elephant, a mammal not too dissimilar to the 'snik-snik' in that it grew two long ivory tusks, he replied that the 'Cor-te-Eva' did not need to kill the animal, because fights between the males during the rutting season, once every two years, resulted in large numbers of tusks being broken off and left lying on the ground. Unlike their Earthly counterparts, the 'snik-snik' shed their old tusks after the rut and regrew them in time for the next mating season. So, all the Cor-te-Eva had to do was stroll about and collect them. "What's to stop outsiders simply coming down and taking the stuff?" I asked.
"Why should we?" he asked. "What we trade with them is worth less than three percent of the value of the product they pay for it with."
"So," I said, "your thinking is: why take the chance of being cut up and roasted for stealing it, when you can steal it from them without them knowing you're stealing it from them?"
"Exactly," he said. "Though, to be fair," he went on, "if they want newer technologies brought in, and in greater quantities, they'll have to start culling animals."
As we made our way through the cramped cargo bay, I noticed two drab green colored, plastic cases. They looked to be six feet long by two feet square. The hieroglyphs on the side were Jurean - though I was sure Pugme had no idea that I knew. After what others had told me about the 'Cor-te-Eva' only importing low-tech hardware, like knives and stuff, you can imagine I was really surprised to see a pair of forty-kilowatt pulse cannons among the pills and creams. I thought about asking Pugme about them, but decided he'd probably just lie. Far better to wait until I could see for myself, I decided. I had no doubt, you see, that this 'state of the art' firepower had something to do with Cor-te-Eva's problem, and was completely in character with they way they'd approach most problems.... Violently!.
Pugme popped the airlock and we strolled out to be greeted by bright sunlight, the sound of birdsong and the smell of grass. "We wait," he said, sitting down on the edge of the ramp.
I lay down and looked up at the sky. There was no sign of the storm that had given us such a bumpy ride - just pale indigo, with streaks of pinky-white cloud. It was warm, and I'd started to drift off to sleep, when Pugme got to his feet and whispered, "They're here."
I rolled over onto my belly and watched them approaching though the blades of grass in front of my face. There appeared to be two groups: one of about twenty, and the other less than ten. Every one of them, however, was enormous! Some of the females stood seven feet tall. All of them were over 'six-six', though the females seemed on average to be taller than the males. Both sexes had broad shoulders and powerful arms and legs, and were naked above the waist. They all wore calf length skirts, and I couldn't help but notice the females had smallish breasts that barely covered their broad pectorals. They were also all barefoot. Each of them carried a yatara, either slung at the hip, or across the back.
Very slowly, I got to my feet. Pugme walked towards them, hands outstretched - like he was showing them he wasn't carrying a weapon. Taking my cue from him, I did the same, at which point, one of the women in the smaller of the two groups started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I demanded.
"Put down your hands, little one," the woman said, with a smirk. "We know we have nothing to fear from you."
"You do?"
"Are you not the one called, Sashi?" she asked.
'Wow,' I'm thinking. 'I'm famous even this far out.' "Yes," I replied, "I'm Sashi."
"We were expecting you."
She turned and raised her hand. The group split into two halves, and I could see a small female figure standing alone. "We have what we want," the woman said to her. "You are free to go."
"Jarmia?" I called, holding out my arms to her. She ran towards me and threw her arms around my neck. I had to bend a little to accommodate her lesser height and squeezed her right back.
With the help of several male members of the larger group, Pugme got busy unloading his cargo and loading up a huge pile of tusks while Jarmia and I talked about this and that. The payment seemed totally dis-proportionate to the supplies Pugme had delivered. I wondered at that point if it might be a pre-payment for the next arms delivery. Arms supply is almost universally an 'up front' business. It would not be unreasonable for Pugme to ask for an advance.
Eventually, he was ready to leave, and called out to me. I walked over to the loading ramp with Jarmia and said goodbye. In less than a minute, the doors were all closed and locked and Pugme had the main engine fuel pumps running. I sensed I was not alone, and turned to find two of the Cor-te-Eva women standing right behind me. "Come," the one who had spoken previously said, "we have far to go."
"How far, exactly?" I asked, thinking about my poor feet teetering in five-inch heels.
"Too far for you, I think," she replied, looking at my feet with obvious disgust. "Lucky for you, we know how you are," she went on, summoning two men, who came towards me carrying what can only be described as a chair attached to two poles by four miles of hemp rope. I sat on the chair, the two men lifted me like I weighed nothing, and we started out on our long journey. Two women carried the pulse cannons, while others carried some of the medical supplies. I remember thinking as I bounced up and down in time with the mens' stride, that I never did ask Jarmia what she was doing this far out.
After two scorching hot days on the march, and two freezing nights huddled around a camp fire - during which time Rathvira, the woman who appeared to have been in charge of collecting me, made it pretty clear she liked me, and not because of how I was dressed - we arrived at our destination: a large hilltop settlement surrounded by a deep, water-filled moat. It was home to, maybe, a thousand people, of all ages, and several hundred animals, which were held in four large corrals at the far side of the compound. We entered by a narrow wooden bridge, that could be raised if danger threatened, and then through a heavily fortified gate, set in a twelve foot high wall built from tree trunks driven into the ground and bound together with miles of the same stuff that secured my chair to the poles. One thing struck me, as we made our way slowly to the large, dome-roofed, building in the center of the compound: there was no noise. No one spoke. The children were silent. Even the animals were strangely quiet. It was totally eerie!
The men lowered my chair in front of the large building and I stood up. Rathvira knelt and lowered her head. The rest of the group I had traveled with did the same. Then all of them started chanting. The rest of the people in the compound joined in. It was deafening! Suddenly, it stopped. The reed curtain moved aside and a woman emerged. She was quite old, very tall - perhaps, seven feet - had red hair that reached to her waist, and was positively dripping in bangles, rings and necklaces. She carried her yatara across her back, and wore a brightly colored skirt wrapped around her waist. Unlike the other females, she wore heavy eye makeup. I had the impression that maybe she was a priestess, or something. She came towards me and looked down. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes burned with the sort of fire you see in a maniac's. "You are the one called Sashi?" she demanded.
"Yes, ma'am," I replied, with my eyes downcast, having decided deference was probably my best course. 'Gosh,' I thought to myself, 'I'm really getting into being submissive! Maybe I should take it up permanently?'
"I am happy for you to be here," she monotoned.
Being nice to me was obviously giving her a bellyache. That worried me. Not for the first time I had to wonder what could possibly have driven these violent and self-reliant people into needing a reporter to help them out?
"Thank you for asking me," I replied, somewhat inanely. I tried a smile. "Why am I here, by the way?"
The smile didn't work. She scowled right back at me. "You will take refreshment?"
I had no idea what their diet consisted of, apart from the strips of dried meat we'd consumed on the journey here. What if it was, like, 'abilani' (a sort of maize porridge), or 'rishabo' (a bit like chicken, but it lives underground) - both of which were the staple diet on ' Tekys', and tasted pretty yucky. She stood there, looking really irritated, so I just buckled, like a good little 'subbie', and said, "Oh, ma'am, I'd really love to."
Without a word, she turned and went inside the building. I followed. Inside, it was, like, totally amazing! There were several beautifully decorated rugs scattered over the dirt floor, lots of plump cushions with brightly colored covers, dozens of oil lamps hanging from the ceiling supports and the sweet, heady smell of incense. To one side, there was a small doorway, leading, probably, to her sleeping quarters - unless, of course, she slept right there on the floor. She beckoned me over to a low table, covered in rough, unglazed, clay bowls. In each one was a different kind of meat, or vegetable, or fruit. At first glance, their diet seemed fairly varied; and, I have to admit, pretty tasty, too. My hostess sat, cross-legged, and dug her fingers into the bowl closest to her, without even waiting for me to sit, let alone offering me anything. I watched in horrified fascination as she repeatedly shoveled handfuls of meat, or stringy leaf vegetables, into her mouth, and the juices ran down either side and onto her chin. "Come," she said, "eat your fill."
I reached out and picked up a piece of meat. It was pale, like chicken, and fairly dry, but it was well cooked and heavily spiced. I really liked it, and set about emptying the bowl to the obvious delight of my hostess. It really is true, you know, but everywhere I go, people always loosen up and smile at you when you look like you're enjoying eating their food. I suppose it's because a well prepared meal is indicative of success. When a stranger arrives in your midst, the first thing you want to do is impress them, even if it means the rest of the people go without a meal. If you succeed - or the visitor is smart enough to at least pretend you succeeded - you can't help but warm to them. And so it was with Valmarica, my hostess. Inside half an hour, each of us had drunk three cups of 'nuburto' - the local, alcoholic brew - and were laughing and singing and rolling around on the floor. My cup was small, compared to her big wooden mug, and I know how to pace myself, having attended lots of diplomatic functions - some of which lasted days - so I was much less affected than she was, but I was affected. It was seriously strong stuff! Anyway, we were total sisters by the time Rathvira entered, made a poor attempt at bowing and sat next to me. "You have told her, Kahri (that's leader, I think)?"
Valmarica looked at her with un-focused eyes, and slurred, "Told her?" She then hiccupped and giggled. She emptied her large wooden cup in one gulp, fell over backwards and started snoring loudly.
I giggled, too, and reached for the large bucket of 'nuburto'. "So, whaa's thish all about, Rath.... Raff..." I grinned. Deep breath. Another deep breath. "What's this all about..... Ravira?" I asked, eventually.
Rathvira looked really upset. Well, I suppose she had a right to be, what with her Kahri being totally blitzed in front of an outsider, me getting her name hopelessly wrong, and her now having to tell me what I was doing here, and all.
Rathvira made no effort to conceal the fact that she firmly believed that Valmarica was way past her best at being 'Kahri', and that she, Rathvira, would make a far better leader. The leadership of each Cor-te-Eva clan was claimed in single combat and retained the same way. Valmarica had to be nearly sixty years old and would likely have had to defend her position at least a dozen times or more since she first claimed the leadership. It was to Rathvira's credit that she didn't take advantage of Valmarica's unconscious state and simply slit her throat. Mind you, that would have made me a witness. It probably wouldn't have bothered Rathvira too much - getting rid of me, I mean - but, right now, I was important to them. Rathvira would just have to bide her time! She told me to prepare myself for another journey. This time, however, there would be no men accompanying us, so I would have to walk. Why were there no men? Easy. This was a raiding party!
We started out just as Cor-te-Eva's sun was rising over the western mountains. To the highly superstitious women traveling with me, this daily event was at the very core of their existence and belief system - a moment of divine rebirth. They started singing as we walked across the bridge and turned north, towards another mountain range, with high, snow covered passes and peaks up to thirty-eight thousand feet.
Rathvira had provided me with some stout walking shoes, which they all wore because of the rocky terrain we would have to traverse. Their naked torsos were now protected by heavy, quilted body warmers, deliberately designed to leave their arms free to swing those fearsome yataras. I decided to use a blanket to keep myself warm, and wrapped it around my head against the strong, cold, northerly wind. You could smell snow in the air. Winter was coming, fast.
The further north we traveled, over the next few days, the colder it got, until we were walking across grassland covered in a light dusting of snow. I asked Rathvira how much further we had to travel and when she expected us to get there. She answered me in her usual gruff way, "Soon."
We stopped walking around midday - like we had previously - and ate some of the dried strips of meat we'd brought with us. I'd been on hunts and treks with male only and mixed-sex groups, but I'd never been on an all female trek, before. There was none of the usual banter about the opposite sex - like you get with the men only groups - and there was none of the sexual interaction you get with mix-sexed groups. We simply sat and ate in silence. When the meal was over, Rathvira got to her feet, slung her yatara across her back and started out towards a narrow gap between two sheer cliffs. The rest of us just picked up our belongings, including the two drab green boxes, and trudged after her.
When it came, the blizzard hit hard! Even leaning at forty-five degrees exposed too much body surface to permit our leg muscles to overcome the brute force of the wind, which was now blowing almost horizontally. Rathvira pointed us towards a fissure in the cliff face that looked like it might lead into a cave. It didn't, but the fissure was deep enough for all of us to take shelter. She made sure her body was pressed hard against mine, of course, while we were jammed in there. I remember her hair, surprisingly, smelled like spring flowers. Unconsciously, she slipped an arm around me and squeezed. Truthfully, I felt kind of safe.
As fast as it struck, the blizzard stopped, and we returned to our original heading. We reached the narrow pass around nightfall and set up camp in the lee of a large, rocky promontory. One of the women, Hatisha, lit a fire, while the rest of us scavenged for wood. Rathvira was clearly upset by the delay the blizzard had caused us, but clearly we could never make it through the rock and boulder strewn pass at night. I tried to strike up a conversation with her, but she wasn't interested. My task, she said, started tomorrow. Until then, I was simply baggage and should keep my mouth shut.
Well... I suppose, if I'm honest, that I've been called a lot worse than 'baggage', but it was the way she said it that got to me. Like I was less than the dirt on the sole of her shoe. And after all that cuddling and everything. If I could have made it back to civilization without her and the rest of her muscle-bound amazons, I would have. Believe me. But I was stuck here, so I figured I had no option but do like she'd said.
Right on cue, the sun rose, but there was no strength to it. A faint, yellow ball, it illuminated the low clouds, making them glow, like a lighthouse reaching out through a thick sea 
mist. Rathvira was unusually slow to throw off her early morning ill-humor, and she even lashed out at one of the others, before we assembled ourselves into a loose line and followed our leader though the narrow gap.
It was hard going, skirting around sandstone boulders the size of Pugme's vessel, and all the time stepping over broken shards the size of my fist. By midday, my thighs were aching really badly, what with constantly raising my knees high to clear an obstruction. I could almost have kissed Rathvira when she raised her right hand, indicating we should stop walking. I sat on a small boulder and yanked open my backpack to get at my water bottle. As I took a deep gulp, Rathvira started climbing a low cliff to the right. I rolled my eyes upwards and dragged myself to my feet. Fortunately, we only had to climb a hundred feet or so when Rathvira signaled us to stop. She crawled on her belly over the rough surface until her head was close to the edge of another sheer cliff. Using a tall, heavily eroded column of rock as cover, she located what she was looking for and summoned me with a wave of her arm. She pointed to a clearing a fair distance from the bottom of the cliff, two hundred feet below our vantage point.
"That's a pretty good place to build," I said, looking at an enclosure with six guard towers and, maybe, a twenty-foot high wall. Inside, I could see several low blockhouses and two cylindrical storage tanks. Gas tanks, probably, to heat the buildings. There was a large satellite disk, 'H' channel, most likely, I thought, pointed skywards and three small vehicles. Secure, out of the way. It must have cost a fortune to bring all this in. I twisted to look at her and asked, "What is this?"
"The end of that which is good," she replied, her eyes flashing with anger, "and the coming of confusion."
"Can you make that a little clearer?"
"They seek to overthrow us."
"Who do?"
"Enough," she said, getting to her feet. "We go now." She extended a hand and hauled me to my feet. "You will see, soon," she said, striding back to join the others.
By late afternoon, we had reached the bottom of the cliff. I rummaged in my bag for my 'ocular'. For those who don't know, an 'ocular' is like a pair of binoculars, but cut in half, with digital optics rather than glass lenses. It provides 'ranging' and geographical orientation information overlaid on the image. I raised the ocular to my right eye and let it auto-focus on the wall in front of me, which turned out to be two hundred and forty-seven feet away. I lowered the ocular and said to her, "The wall's twenty-two and a half feet high, with an eighty degree backward slope. Looks like it might be constructed from armorplaz, so it'll be way too slippery to climb... Unless you have ropes and a grapnel in that bag of yours."
"We will wait," Rathvira announced. "They will leave the compound soon."
"How do you know that?"
"They have a place for outsiders to come."
'Well,' I thought, 'they'd obviously need to have a makeshift spaceport, nearby. How else could they have transported all of this equipment and materiel to such a remote location. And what in heck were they up to out 
here?'
I took another look and could see a late model twenty caliber pulse cannon in each of the three towers that were visible from our position. I had to assume they had them in the others, too. Each cannon had at least twice the power of the 'twelve's' we'd carried with us from the settlement. Two large gates faced us, with a dusty track skirting around the enclosure to the left (the north) and on, presumably, to the landing site.
As we watched, there was movement in one of the towers. Two men appeared, protected against the elements by blue, quilted jackets with hoods, and started to scan the ground between their wall and the distant cliff. Both wore dark glasses. I raised the 'ocular' and manually focused it on the face of one of the men. From the design, it was obvious they weren't wearing sun glasses. Each lens was a 'thin planar ocular', which significantly increased the visual definition of the wearer, to such an extent that an object the size of a pebble would be clearly visible at more than two hundred feet. They worked by registering the position of the iris in each eye, and then boosting the image in that direction. Like the pulse cannons, this was cutting-edge technology and very, very, expensive. Whoever was behind this installation was obviously wealthy. What wasn't clear, though, was what this individual or organization stood to gain from being here. Minerals? Precious metals? A toxic garbage dump? The list was endless, but none of them matched Rathvira's words: The end of that which is good, and the coming of confusion.
"Nobody move a muscle," I whispered to Rathvira. "They can see a drop of sweat on your brow at this range."
"Only the fearful sweat," she hissed. But she did tell the others to stay still.
Having satisfied themselves that all was well, the two men started to check out the 'twenty'. They twisted it this way and that on its mount, then capped off a couple of rounds at the cliff directly above our heads. A few large shards of rock were blown off the rock face and fell just a few feet from us. Moments later, having covered the cannon to protect it against the weather, they disappeared from view - presumably back to the warmth of their barracks. There was no such comfort for us. The ground on which we lay was cold and hard. I decided to take a chance and stand up.
Suddenly, the air above the cliff started to vibrate. "Incoming," I shouted, dropping to the ground as a small ship passed over our heads and dropped to the landing site on the far side of the compound and, from the amount of the noise it's landing thrusters were making, not that far away. "We should move back," I told Rathvira. "They'll be coming around the north corner pretty soon."
Rathvira quickly got her little band on their feet and we moved as fast as we dare to a stand of trees, a hundred feet away, which would give us enough cover to avoid being seen.
A heavy rumble announced the arrival of a tracked ground vehicle moving slowly. I turned the moment I reached cover and saw the vehicle stop in front of the gates, which were in the process of opening. I reached for my ocular and began a slow pan. As I passed the vehicle's cabin, I caught sight of a woman's face. I watched a tall man stride out from between the gates and open the door for her. His face was concealed by the hood and collar of his quilted jacket, which was the same shade of blue as the others. The woman got out. They embraced briefly, then walked inside, arm in arm. The vehicle rumbled inside and the gates closed behind it.
I sat down heavily, my mind in turmoil. I kept seeing that face, over and over. 'What the heck was Jarmia doing in that vehicle? And, more importantly, who was the man she was obviously coming back to?
Rathvira led us into a deep fissure, which opened up into a narrow cave with a high, pointed, roof. Someone struck a flint with her yatara and we had fire. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that at least we'd be sheltered for the night, but I was pretty miffed about being taken for a ride. "I don't even know what I'm doing here?" I mumbled.
"You have come to help us," Rathvira said, not realizing my question was rhetorical.
"By doing what, exactly?" I asked. You know, it was the weirdest thing, but at that moment Rathvira looked completely helpless. Her species boasted what were probably the most powerful females anywhere. Standing seven feet tall, weighing in at around one hundred and ninety pounds, they could heft a 'twelve' with one hand, and carry it with an eighty pound backpack for days, on virtually no food and limited supplies of water. And yet, what was happening outside, behind those polished, black, armored plastic walls was so far beyond her understanding that the people there might easily be gods in her eyes. I'd seen it before. Primitive peoples, no matter how resourceful and fearless they might be, had real problems dealing with advanced technology. It was nothing short of magic to them. Only I understood the technology they were using, and wouldn't be phased by it. I suddenly felt very alone! I knew I was the only one I could rely on, at least until I could demonstrate that these strangers were simply humanoids, just like Rathvira and her clan, only with bigger and better toys. That left me in a bit of a psycholical quandry, really. I mean, Rathvira had stirred something inside me when she'd slipped that strong arm of hers around my waist. Now, suddenly, I was the one they'd be looking to for answers - and, frankly, dominance is something I know absolutely nothing about!
As if sensing my thoughts, Rathvira got to her feet and approached me. She was carrying her sleeping blanket and her backpack. She signed I should come with her, further into the cave, so I did. I couldn't help noticing two of the others exchanged a knowing look.
It was freezing and damp! I started shivering.
Rathvira spread out the blanket and knelt on it. I heard her rummaging in her backback, though for what I had no idea! She signed to me to lay down.
I could see nothing but the shadowy form of her body. Suddenly, I felt something being drawn through my pussy lips. It was long, and felt like a... Well, that got my juices flowing! A few seconds later, I knew exactly what it was as her weight bore down on me. She pushed the object remorsely inside me and started pumping.
I knew they were strong, but I had no idea they had such stamina. I must have come a dozen times before she pulled the thing out of me. I recall wondering how many tusks had gone for paying for it. I also wondered how she knew what to ask Pugme for in the first place.
She lay down on the blanket, spread her legs, and pulled my head towards her own pussy. I knelt and did as I was bid.
When she came, it literally poured out of her - gallons of it, tasting like virgin olive oil.
I spent an eternity licking her clean, while the wind whistling through the cave played tunes with my labia.
Then, without a word, she got up, gathered her things, and lead me back inside the cave. A moment later, I was asleep in her arms.
Apart from me, they all slept spasmodically that night. The floor of the cave was hard and cold, and water, draining from the sandstone rock above, ran down the walls in rivulets, making the air damp and chill. The fire gutted during the early hours of the morning as the supply of dry wood ran out. We sat and huddled in abject misery until the sun rose a few hours later. I went outside with Saratisha, Hatisha's younger sister, to gather wood and fill our water bottles from a small stream that ran across the cave entrance. As we were heading back inside, I heard a noise coming from the compound. I told Saratisha she should take the wood inside, while I would go and see what was happening. Cautiously, I peered through the trees. Both gates were wide open, and several figures were unloading two of the ground vehicles. Another transport had obviously landed late last night, and they had waited until daylight to unload it.
As I watched, one of the vehicles started up and left the compound, presumably heading back to the transport for more cargo. I was about to turn back to the cave, when I saw Jarmia strolling across the compound with, I assumed, the same tall man who had met her at the gate, yesterday. I started to reach for my ocular, so I could check him over, then remembered I'd left it with my backpack. I made my way back to collect it and returned after drinking some water. I crouched down and raised the ocular to my eyes, pointing it at the tracked vehicle and letting it auto-focus. Slowly, I panned left to right, pausing occasionally to note the details of the more significant objects - like the two, large, storage tanks and the tall blockhouse on the left, which had no windows. I then took in the small blockhouse to the right, that had the satellite dish on its roof - which appeared to have moved through about ninety degrees towards the north since yesterday - and the third ground vehicle, which hadn't moved the whole time we'd been there. I was just about to start back to the cave, again, when I sensed Rathvira moving to kneel next to me. I looked at her and nodded. She responded with a nervous smile. "We'll be fine," I said, reaching out to take her hand. She grasped mine right back and gave me another nervous smile.
"What are you frightened of, Rathvira?" I asked. "They're just like you and me.
She was about to answer, when there was a commotion from the north (left) side of the compound. Quickly, I raised the ocular and saw the most incredible sight. It was a ... Actually, I had no idea what it was, other than the fact that it was TOTALLY HUGE, had orange and gray skin, four legs, and was walking slowly backwards out of the blockhouse, with about ten people hanging onto ropes around its head. All around the creature's massive feet was the shredded remains of the wall it had demolished in its bid for freedom.
"Snik-snik," Rathvira said, with obvious pride.
I understood where she was coming from: the snik-snik was 'Cor-te-Eva', and it was kicking the outsiders' asses. "That's big," I suggested.
"Too big," she suggested.
"Sorry?"
"Snik-snik is not so big, normally."
Just then, the creature swung around, dragging the four people hanging on to its right side with it, and coming close to trampling those on its left underfoot. As its head finally came into view, I could see a pair of tusks that at around seven or eight feet, were almost half as long as the creature itself. It was clear the animals powerful neck muscles were having trouble holding its head up against the weight of the ivory.
"How big...." I asked, ".... normally?"
"The tallest woman, plus a head."
That made it just about eight feet, normally. Well this creature was a lot bigger than that. I reckoned it must be nearer ten, or eleven. 'Perhaps it was an anomaly,' I thought. It must happen occasionally. I asked Rathvira. She said she seen one or two, but never with such long tusks. I have to admit it was the tusks that struck me as completely wrong. They were way too big to be anything but a freak. As if to reinforce that impression, the creature swung its head violently to the left, as if to shake itself free of those hanging onto its neck, then swung its head to the right. Suddenly, its knees buckled and it collapsed on the ground, apparently stone dead. Obviously, its neck had broken under the stress of moving all that ivory around.
"Is this what you brought me here to see?" I asked.
"There is more, inside."
I nodded and asked her, "How do we get in?"
"They will come out."
"When?"
"They will come. We wait."
"You're the boss," I told her.
During the next hour or so, as we lay there watching, the 'snik-snik' carcass was stripped of its precious ivory by one man and a power saw. It took four men - two to each one - to carry the tusks to one of the ground vehicles. The rear legs were then chained to the tow hitch on one of the others and dragged clear of the compound, to be left to rot. It was a callous act, and one that triggered a memory of a similar occurrence on another world. Only humanoids could slaughter such magnificent creatures for money, leaving their stinking carcasses rotting to the accompaniment of thousands of flies, buzzing in the searing midday sun, devoid of their priceless embellishments. My eyes welled up and I suddenly felt ashamed to be human. But only for a moment. Being human means you mess up... A lot! It also means you have the smarts to know what's right. I had no idea what was going on here, yet, but I did know we were going to stop it. Somehow! "We need backup," I told Rathvira. I half suspected I'd have to explain 'backup' to her when I said it. I was right. So I did. She turned and gave a low whistle. Hatisha's head appeared at the fissure entrance. Rathvira pointed to her mouth, then her ear, and then the sky. Hatisha nodded and went back inside, emerging a few seconds later with a backpack, which she brought to us. Rathvira opened the backpack and pulled out an earpiece. I looked inside and smiled. It was an 'F' channel transmitter. The dish was a foldaway unit and easily erected. You used the transmitter itself to 'gun-sight' the dish onto one of the six communications relays the traders on Coochar had thoughtfully placed in geosynch' orbit. Great! We had comms'. Now we needed the full story. I settled down to wait, like Rathvira had said we should.
It was getting cold, now, as evening drew closer. I was ready to crawl back to the cave, when Rathvira nudged me and pointed. I followed her finger. Through the still open gates, I could see a tall man. No, check that! A VERY TALL man was moving, painfully slowly, across the compound from the northern blockhouse - which the 'snik-snik' had trashed - to the southern one. He looked like he had severe arthritis, and appeared to have difficulty bending deep enough to enter. "You have seen all there is," Rathvira said. "We should go, now."
"What did I just see, Rathvira?" I asked. "Apart from a dead, oversized, 'snik-snik' and a very tall, old man?"
"The end of that which is good," she replied, sadly, "and the coming of confusion."
That phrase again! Why oh why must people talk in riddles all the time? In desperation, I scanned the compound one last time with my ocular, in the vain hope that I would see something that would give me some clue as to what exactly was going on here. Rathvira seemed to know, but didn't have the vocabulary. It wasn't her fault. We were at different points on the socio-tech' curve, was all.
My first sweep showed me nothing new. The compound was empty. The shattered material in the blockhouse wall wrecked by the 'snik-snik' flapped in the now strengthening north-easterly wind. I shivered and pulled my blanket over my head. I decided I'd make one more sweep, this time from right to left, and then head for the shelter of the cave. I was almost half way across the compound, and leaving the small blockhouse behind, when something caught my attention. The door opened and a man strode out. There was something familiar about the way he moved. I sensed it might be the man who met Jarmia when she arrived, and who had escorted her on her stroll this morning. He was wearing the blue, quilted jacket everyone seemed to wear, but this time his face wasn't hidden behind his collar. I steadied my shivering arm and re-focussed. His face slowly sharpened into pinpoint clarity. I almost dropped the ocular in my surprise. Marku Funn! Darvu's bad boy brother, alive and well and clearly back in the genetic engineering business on Cor-te-Eva. How did I leap to that conclusion? Are you kidding? The oversized 'snik-snik', with its huge, overweight tusks? Got it? No? Okay, then. 'Ivory equals Money. Bigger tusks equal lots more ivory equals even more money? Got it now?
There was one small problem here, though: Jarmia. If she was Darvu Funn's sister, she was also Marku Funn's sister, and they had not acted like brother and sister when she arrived back at the compound after pretending to go with Pugme. Jeez! Pugme was in on it, too. Well, of course he had to be, didn't he? He was a trader and he'd almost certainly be handling the distribution of this new, improved, product in the local systems, which he would obviously know much better than Funn. And Jarmia? Well, she had to be Darvu's sister-in-law, didn't she. But why go to such lengths to bring someone - me - here, to see all this, knowing I'd do my best to tell the universe about it? It made no sense. Still, I made a mental note to punch Jarmia in the mouth, right after I'd punched Darvu and Marku out. Not very submissive, I hear you saying. Well, dammit, even a 'subbie' can blow her cork sometimes, can't she? If that's alright with you, of course. *giggle*
I took one more look at Marku Funn, and saw him turn around and look towards the door he'd just exited. It was the tall, arthriticky, man, walking painfully slowly towards him. I hadn't really looked at him too closely before, being pre-occupied, if I'm honest, with just looking around. Now, I could see he was obviously 'Cor-te-Eva', but way taller and more muscular than a normal male. He stood a full head taller than Rathvira. I wondered what might be wrong with him. Perhaps he'd grown too tall too fast? Outgrown his strength, so to say. The short hairs on the back of my neck were itching. Funn's sticky hands were all over this. But why? Why genetically enhance a Cor-te-Eva male.
Well, my brain was close to seizing up, what with the freezing cold, but eventually a snippet of conversation, between Rathvira and me, came out of the mist and answered all my questions in one go. Remember?
"What is all this, by the way?" I had asked her, as we lay studying the compound.
"The end of that which is good," she had replied, "and the coming of confusion."
Cor-te-Eva is an evolutionary matriachy. Males are smaller, weaker and expendable. That's why they alone are 'exported' as assasins or mercenaries. What probably happened was one of them encountered Funn, or someone who knew him, and Funn agreed to reverse millennia of evolutionary development by genetically enhancing 'Cor-te-Eva' males so they could overthrow the matriarchs. In exchange for this 'public spirited service', Funn was to receive a significant quantity of ivory, which Pugme and/or other traders on Coochar would dispose of. However, Funn, being greedy beyond the imagination of most 'normal' people, figured that if his engineers messed with 'snik-snik' DNA, too, they could significantly increase their haul, long before (a) they were found out, (b) it dawned on the males that what they were after was a day-dream and wouldn't ever happen, or (c) the 'Cor-te-Eva' matriarchs discovered the plot, found Funn, and slit his scrawny throat. Now all we had to do was figure out how we were going to stop this attrocity. Then I remembered the two pulse cannons.
Rathvira and I crawled back to the cave with the intention of unpacking the pulse cannons. Of course, we hadn't quite worked out yet what we were going do with them, but I wanted to check them over first. Somehow, it slipped our minds as our hands touched. I'll never forget the look on her face. Cor-te-eva women are not noted for their good looks. But, right then, she was beautiful!
We both sighed and made our way to the pulse cannons. It took about a minute to open the first drab green box, and about a split second to figure out the pulse cannon it contained was never going to work. Not being technically literate, the 'Cor-te-Eva' would never have realized it, a fact that Pugme would have undoubtedly been counting on, of course, but the accelerator coil was missing and the charge magazines didn't fit the slot. It was sixty pounds of exotic scrap! It didn't take an astrophysicist to work out what the other box contained, but we checked it anyway. For no other reason than I was cold, tired, hungry and suffering acute thigh boot withdrawal syndrome, I burst out laughing. Rathvira, on the other hand, looked uncharacteristically defeated, and I decided at that point that she probably wasn't real leader material. Not that I was either, but when push came to shove, she just couldn't cut it. Gosh, how I wished at that moment that a strong and self-assured 'Master' would materialize out of nowhere and take charge of things. "Rathvira," I said, "the weapons are useless. We need to get more of your warriors here if we're to stop this." She looked blankly at me. "How long will it take to get them here, do you think?" She didn't answer. "Dammit, Rathvira!" I screamed. "Will you snap out of it and deal with this?"
"At least ten days," she replied, at length.
"Too long," I said. "The food'll run out long before then, and I haven't seen anything here that we could catch and eat."
"We could eat the 'snik-snik'," Saratisha suggested, returning with the others, a broad grin on her face. "It would last us all winter."
"Good idea," Hatisha enthused.
"How do we get to it without being seen?" Rathvira asked.
"Excellent point," I said.
"We are warriors," Saratisha cried. "We will kill them all."
"Not going to happen," I said. "Just one 'twenty' would reduce all of us to our constituent parts, long before we covered the short distance to the gates; and they have three, pointing this way."
Rathvira slumped. Saratisha sharpened the edge of her yatara with an oilstone, and Hatisha fed wood to the fire. The four others, Arlissa, Candasira, Yamara and Noma busied themselves with collecting more wood, replenishing the water bottles and tending to their own yataras. All this domesticity made me feel claustrophobic. "Give me your body warmer," I said to Rathvira. She looked at me blankly, again. "I need to go outside," I explained. She passed it to me and I put it on, followed by my blanket.
The wind was blowing hard across the entrance and howling through the narrow gap between the cliff and the trees. As I peered out, I could feel snowflakes brushing my cheeks. Some attached themselves to my eyelashes. I stuck out my tongue to catch a few. They tasted of nothing. It was so cold that my eyes hurt. My chin and nose were numb. I was going nowhere tonight, I decided. I turned go back inside and saw Saratisha. I smiled. She smiled back, and said, "We have a plan to enter the compound."
"You do?" I asked. "How?"
"It would be better if Candasira told you," she said.
"Don't you mean, Rathvira?" I asked, slightly confused.
Saratisha shifted uneasily and took a while to answer. She was trying to be diplomatic, I guess. Maybe she thought Rathvira and I were friends, or something? What am I saying? We were a lot more than friends by now! Either way, her answers to my questions shocked me with their insightfulness. "Rathvira cannot lead us," she said.
"Why not?" I asked.
"She is too rebellious."
"She thinks she would make a better leader than Valmarica," I said. "She thinks she is too old."
"She tests the strength of Valmarica. She is like a child testing its mother's will."
"She is no child."
"Candasira leads us," she insisted. She tugged at my sleeve. "Come, she would tell you herself."
A few minutes later, we all sat in a circle, eating the last of our supply of dried meat, while Candasira outlined her plan. I have to admit, though I'm far from being an expert, that it sounded a pretty good one.
In the morning, we were relieved to find the weather had taken a turn for the better. It was still very cold, but the wind had dropped and the snow, at least for a while, had stopped falling. Candasira led our little group out of the cave. Rathvira looked sullen, and had said nothing to anyone for hours. It was hardly surprising, of course, but it wasn't likely to help if one of us might not pull her weight when the crunch came. I tried to calculate how successful Candasira's plan might prove to be, and started to think about the people we were going up against. Funn had a reputation for being a womanizer - though he might have settled down, now, with Jarmia. He was also known as someone who ruthlessly took advantage of an opportunity, regardless of its impact on anyone else, but that he would walk away as soon as things started to become difficult. However, he might not regard our small, lightly armed, group as sufficient reason to walk away from a project that had obviously cost him a humongous amount of money, and could not have begun to deliver the profits he was expecting, yet. And why would he need to back down, anyway? I mean, he had those twenty caliber cannons, and at least twenty men with him. And with the ground vehicles and transport, he also had a quick way out, which is more than we did. On top of that, Candasira's plan only took us forward into battle. It wasn't designed to cope if we suffered a total rout; nor could it have been expected to - the Cor-te-Eva never retreated. Me, on the other hand....
One at a time, on Candasira's signal, given when she was sure there was no one around to accidentally see us from the compound wall, we made our way down to the track that ran around the northern end of the compound. Running alongside the track, on both sides, was a low mound of earth which had been pushed aside as the originally uneven ground was graded. We used this as cover, so we would not be visible from the track. Our reason for chosing the north wall, of course, was that we'd be out of view of anyone looking out through the open gates, which were in the west wall. Anyone looking down from the top of the north wall could probably see us, but let's face it, who was likely to be out here in the middle of winter. Leastwise, I hoped that's what they'd be thinking.
Candasira's plan took a definite turn for the better, when the unmistakable scrunching sound of caterpillar tracks on frozen earth announced the arrival of one of the ground vehicles. I watched for my signal, then ran quickly to the center of the track and lay down on my side, doing my best to look like I'd been hit by a truck. The ground was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING! As I lay there shivering, all I could do was hope the driver of the vehicle would see me in time and stop before I became a grease spot.
The vehicle's left-hand track was almost touching me when it finally stopped moving, as if the driver was looking forward to a hot drink, and really resented anything that might keep him from it. My back was towards the vehicle, so I saw nothing until the man crouched down to examine me. As he lifted my head clear of the ground, I smiled broadly, and Rathvira hit him, killing him outright. I imagine all of her pent up emotion and anger was expended in that single punch to the base of his skull. We exchanged looks as I got to my feet. She smiled and put her arm around my waist as we started towards the back of the vehicle to take our seats. It was at that point that Candasira's plan took a definite turn to the south. None of the 'Cor-te-Eva' could drive. Having originally clambered into the driver's seat, Candasira now turned around and looked hopefully at me. "I'll try," I told her, as we swapped seats and I immediately stalled the engine, which had still been running up to that point. To those of you who think that 'transportation' on other worlds is always environmentally friendly and based on nuclear, fusion, solar, wind, water, geothermic, or even brain power, I have just one thing to say, 'Yeah, right'. When I finally figured out how to start the motor, the most enormous, choking, black cloud of smoke came out from somewhere underneath us. I fiddled with this lever and that, until the vehicle swung violently to the left, then right, then backwards. Eventually, I pushed two levers forward together and we began to lumber along in the right direction. Candasira nudged me and grinned. I could only spare the briefest of looks at her as it was taking all of my time to steer. "Let's hope the gates are open when we get there," I said.
"If they are not," Candasira replied, "we will crash through them."
I had a sudden vision of us, sitting there, surrounded by a pile of broken metal, with the merest whiff of smoke rising gently from what remained of the engine, when the gates shrugged off our assault like a 'snik-snik' brushing away a fly with its tail; but I couldn't tell her that, so I just nodded and gritted my teeth.
The gates were almost in sight, now. Candasira told the rest of the group it was time to try and look like they were our prisoners. Luckily for me, I wasn't able to look at them, else I might have crashed us laughing.
The gates were soon alongside us, and fortunately open, so I heaved back on the left-hand lever, while pushing forward with the right. The vehicle quite literally spun on its axis, throwing Rathvira out and onto the right-side caterpillar track. She was carried forward on it for a few feet, before she had the presence of mind to roll off. She leapt to her feet and clambered back on board, luckily without anyone inside the compound seeing. I pushed the left-hand lever forward, while pulling back on the right one, to straighten us up. I know you won't believe this, but it just snapped off in my hand. Whatever I did now, we were permanently going to be turning left and fiddling with the right side lever would simply vary the amount of 'left turn' we would get. "Well," I said to Candasira with a broad grin, "at least we didn't have to break in." I didn't notice, of course, that, at that precise moment, the left-hand caterpillar track clipped one of the support legs of the observation tower on the left side of the entrance. There was a very brief interruption to our forward motion, followed by this really awful sound of tortured metal, followed by a loud crack, followed by an even louder creaking noise, followed by an expletive uttered by one of the guards as he saw his perspective on the world was shifting dramatically towards the ground behind us. I don't know what happened next exactly, but the pulse cannon in the falling tower must have fired, causing one of the two gas tanks to erupt in a massive, and very pretty, red and orange fireball, with just the tiniest hint of mauve. Some of the red hot metal shards spriraled away from the explosion, setting fire to the large blockhouse on the left and one of the two remaining vehicles, inside which were explosives - anti-personnel mines, most likely - which Funn had obviously intended to set in place around the perimeter. These ignited, totally trashing the vehicle and setting fire to the right hand blockhouse. In a few seconds, it was totally ablaze, the roof caved in and the satellite dish fell to the ground with a loud thump, shorting out the electrical cable that ran to a powerhouse built directly beneath the observation tower on the right side of the gates. A heavy charge ran through it like a nervous twitch, and the two guards inside were propelled out through the window and onto crates, stored beneath a large tarpaulin.
During all this time, of course, we'd been steadily rolling forward, on a slight curve to the left, and reached the large blockhouse just as it collapsed to the ground. We rolled across the roof, surrounded by flames, a bemused expression on all of our faces. A few feet later, we hit the inside of the wall and the motor stalled. We all climbed off and just stood there, looking at this scene of unintentional devastation. "Well," I said, brightly, "at least we didn't wreck the other truck too bad, so we'll have a ride home." Right then, the tower above the powerhouse developed a noticeable lean. We all held our breath as it was leaning directly over the one remaining vehicle. I had this urge to run to it and try to save it, but fortunately fear got the better of me, and a few seconds later it collapsed. It was about that time that we became aware of the fact that we were surrounded by about a dozen men, all armed to the teeth, all looking distinctly upset and, because they'd left the blockhouses in such a hurry that they didn't have time to fully dress, shivering with the intense cold. Among them, I was sad to notice, stood Marku Funn. Jarmia was standing alongside her husband, looking kind of guilty. I grinned as broadly as I could, and said, "Hi, I'm Sashi. Nice place you had here."
I've never seen steam coming out of someone's ears, but I honestly believe Funn was as close as a person can get, without actually doing it.
One of his men moved closer to me, raised his weapon and pointed it at my head. Funn pushed his arm aside and said, "No, I have another fate for her in mind." He looked at the others and added, "These too."
"I could kill for a drink," Rathvira said, twisting and turning her arms behind her back, testing the strength of the binding.
"Me, too," Saratisha said. She was busy working at her bonds, too, while I was just sitting there enjoying it. There's something kind of comforting about not being able to move, being in someone else's control. I can't explain it... Anyway, Arlissa, Candasira, Yamara and Noma were also trying to loosen the plastic bindings. They seemed able to block out the pain, as the constant twisting against the hard plastic eventually chewed up the skin on their wrists and they began bleeding.
Suddenly, Rathvira's blood soaked hands appeared in front of her. She levered herself to her feet and hopped across the room, to where the weapons had been stacked. In an instant, she'd sliced through the binding around her ankles, taken a quick drink from one of the water bottles, and was busy releasing the rest of us. "Where are we?" she asked, as she released me.
"Somewhere above the planet's surface, I guess," I replied, taking the bottle from her.
"You mean we are in the sky?" Candasira asked, her eyes full of terror as I handed her the bottle.
"Oh, we're way above that," I said, not thinking I might be making matters worse.
Candasira took a sip and slumped back against the wall, while I got to my feet and walked across to the table where our belongings were. I was looking for one bag, and I found it only after opening most of them. Smiling, I returned to Candasira and knelt down. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Calling a friend," I replied, opening the small satellite dish and holding it aloft, so it was lined up with a port hole.
"I'll get that," Noma said, taking it from me.
"Hold it still," I said, tuning the transmitter. "A little to the right. Up. Left. Whoa, that's it!" I spoke quickly, gave an approximate location, and signed off in less than half a minute. "They might have overheard," I said. "Let's pack it away."
The door opened and two men entered carrying a large tray each, containing two large flasks of water and packets of dried 'C' rations. We'd all agreed not to try anything yet, so we sat, arms behind our backs, feet together, and hoped they wouldn't notice.
"How are we supposed to eat it all tied up like this?" Noma asked.
I'd forgotten about that, but then, in fairness, we hadn't expected to be fed. Had we?
"We'll release one of you. She can feed the rest while we watch," one of them replied. That was it, the game was up! I thought about trying something, but the second man was way too ready for trouble; and the weapon he was packing would have blown me clean through the hull. The first man walked over to Noma and bent to release her. "Jeez," he cried, falling over backwards in his attempt to get away, "she's already loose."
The second man pointed his weapon at her and said, "Try something, bitch! Please!"
Noma remained sitting, after checking first with Candasira.
Both men backed out of the room. Presumably, they would now be busy telling Funn we were free of our bonds. That wouldn't bother him too much, most likely. The only way out of that room was through a substantial looking pressure door: designed to seal off this section in the event of a hull breach. Even though they couldn't see what we were up to, except through the small view plate in the center of the door, they could easily starve us out if they had a mind to. One thing was certain, there wouldn't be any more food or water. What we had would have to last. Candasira said she'd organize the distribution, while I got back to transmitting my message again. This time, I received confirmation that it had been received and I folded the small dish with a smile on my face. Poor Marku Funn was about to meet his equal, in terms of duplicity and guile.
It was almost two days before we reached the location of the demise Funn had planned for us. Though he must have been looking forward to it - if only for revenge's sake - he did not deign to join us until well after the ship had landed. The door opened and he strode into the room, flanked by two columns of armed men, and Jarmia in tow. We all stood and waited while the men fanned out, so there was one to each of us and a couple more for safety.
"Welcome to Montanera," he said, beaming. "You will be gratified to hear that you are going to repay me for all the trouble you've caused by spending the rest of your short lives as sex slaves to some of the most perverted and twisted individuals in the explored universe. Each of them, you should know, is a close and personal friend of mine."
Rathvira launched herself at him, only to be brought down by six, simultaneous hits from energy weapons set on 'maximum'. There isn't a whole lot left of a body after that - even one that's seven feet tall and weighs one-ninety-five - so the rest of the 'Cor-te-Eva' backed off and listened while Funn described in detail how they would be taught to obey their new owners and eventually learn, painfully, most likely, how to love their new role in life. I heard nothing! My eyes were glued to the spot where Rathvira had died. It wasn't a brave attempt to save us that had prompted her to throw away her life. It was just who she was: a crazy, psychopathic, totally wonderful warrior-woman, who knew how to show a girl a good time. I knew I would miss her.
I turned and looked Funn right in the eye. "You didn't have to do that," I growled.
Funn made a throw away gesture and ordered us shepherded to the cargo hold, where we would be chained together before being marched down the loading ramp into obscurity. When each of us had hand and ankle cuffs, with short, strong chains connecting them, and strong steel collars around our neck, a long chain was run through each of the rings in the collars and we were pronounced 'ready for shipment'.
"Before we go," I said, "will you answer me one question?"
Funn nodded.
"Why bring me here? I mean, you have to know I'll blab."
Funn deferred to Jarmia, who smiled broadly. "You and that bitch, Alethea, ruined us with your lies."
The penny dropped! "You mean that little story she wrote about Tok-Nar?"
"They asked for it," Funn said. "We didn't twist a single flipper to get them to agree."
"But, you knew what you were doing was wrong," I snapped. "You didn't give a damn, did you? Just snatched the booty and high-tailed it out of there."
Funn's face turned to stone.
"And, besides," I went on, "I didn't write that story, Alethea did." Jeez, what price loyalty, you ask?
"We'll get to her in time," Jarmia hissed.
Funn was actually whistling to himself as he ordered the cargo bay door opened.
"Marku Funn, you are hereby arrested for attempting to avoid payment of all levies and duties claimed by the Principality of Saith, Montanera."
As well as I could, I clenched my fist and hissed, "Yes!"
"Who in hell are you?" Funn demanded.
"Officer, Diadori Panagamaga," the voice replied. "You have falsified your import documentation by claiming you are entering Montanera jurisdiction with a cargo of animal hides for sale, and have submitted a customs payment of four point six percent of the stated value, based on that description. Clearly, these..." He paused, taking in the size of my companions. "Clearly, these women are, in fact, 'livestock', and as such carry an eighteen and one third percent duty. That, Mr. Funn, is fraud, and will not be tolerated."
Twenty officers of the Montanera Customs Service entered the cargo hold and disarmed Funn's men. They were all led away, presumably for a VERY long time. I and all the others hobbled our way down the ramp and out into the daylight, where we were released from our chains. "Officer Panagamaga, good to meet you," I cried out. "Or should I maybe call you, Master Phoenix?"
He smiled. "I see you managed to escape."
"Funn's brother purchased me." I went on to tell him about the scam to abduct me.
"I'll put out an all ports warrant on him."
"Don't worry. He's totally broke." I grinned. "The poor dear spent every bean he had on me."
Panagamaga held out his hand. "No hard feelings?"
"You owe me. You'll likely get a promotion for this."
"Okay, I owe you," he said. "What will you take."
I thought for maybe a second or so. "Obviously, I'll be needing some more boots, gloves and a couple of Greer original corsets, to replace these." I painstakingly showed him every scuff mark on my boots, gloves and corset. "So, what about thirty minutes alone in Greer's shop?"
Panagamaga thought for a while, then said, "We arrested him a week ago, you know?"
"So his shop's closed?"
"Locked up tight. No one could get into it without an official escort."
"Pity."
"Twenty minutes. Not a minute longer."
"Twenty-five," I said, grinning. "Deal?"
He laughed. He really did have wonderful teeth. "It's a deal, little one."
