part0042

It didn’t seem possible for Jixes to become more annoying, but Ingarsse whined all the way through the Lepper, never stopping. “You really need to get the door to the other living quarters fixed.” She flopped into a seat on the bridge, sighing heavily.

The monotony of blue streaking past the windows gave Talos more pleasure than her company did. “Only a few more hours, love, ‘n we’ll eject from the Lepper.” Thank the universe and the two next door.

He swept his hand through his short hair and chanced a glimpse at Dialhi. She sat in the command chair he usually occupied, swapping out rags placed beneath her as they became sodden so her drips wouldn’t form puddles on the bridge. Her touch on the console made it extra shiny, producing mirror images of her delicate cheeks and flawless aqua skin. Talos became entranced by the droplets forming and dangling from her chin. So perfect. So pure.

“Exactly how much longer?” Ingarsse groaned, splaying out her legs to kick at everything within reach.

“Two hours ‘n fourteen minutes,” Dialhi read off the control panel. She swiped her chin with another absorbent cloth, never taking her eyes off the Sequi’s gages.

The glowing walls of the Lepper reflected the ship’s silhouette in a ghostly echo, a twilight blue clone which kept pace with them through the cosmic roadway. Just like the Sequi, the phantom resembled two huge, fat ricklits joined together back to back. Six squiggly arms stuck out in a ring from the center, but the shadow image didn’t cast any of the hull’s ghastly green color.

“I’m so bo-o-o-red,” the Jix leader moaned. “I hate space travel.” She propped a silver-booted foot up on Talos, jiggling him, demanding his attention.

Talos and Dialhi had taken the principal navigation spots at the arced console controlling the vessel. He sat in what had once been Lepsi’s place, leaving command of his ship with the Sprinkler. It suited their ruse best.

He grabbed Ingarsse’s foot to still it and glanced at her over his shoulder. “Try pinging your other ships. See what they is up to.” He especially wanted to hear about the one headed for Elstwhere.

Prezsha and Pauder were aboard it and should’ve arrived at the busy spaceport by now. Perhaps they’d already sent the first pleasure cruise to Pardeep. Talos wished he were on the dusty moon to see it. What a triumph for them all.

Ingarsse scrolled through her tab, grinding her heel into Talos’s thigh. “I can only get a hold of Gattar ‘n barely. I just told her to go check on Pardeep ‘n we’ll meet her there in two weeks. Our vacation plans have an expiration date, cocoa.”

Oh shit. Talos chewed on the inside of his cheek. His job was to keep the Jixes away from Pardeep. He wanted to pound his frustration into the console. Instead he had to act like it was no big deal. “Haven’t seen Gatt in awhile. I’m sure Craze ‘n everybody will be glad to see her.”

A dry chuckle proved Ingarsse wasn’t an idiot and knew none of the Backworlds enjoyed visits from Jixes. “No one is better at handling your degenerate planetmates than her.”

Talos could debate that for hours. He knew Craze would for weeks without pause, and sometime, very soon, the moody barkeep would grouse at Talos for this little blip in their plans. Gattar and Craze had a history going back before Pardeep. However, if things played out well, Gatt wouldn’t be on the dusty moon long. Talos defined ‘well’ as leaving the Jixes on Photwit and not getting trapped with them. Only one exploration ship had been known to escape the clutches of the Trauser Vines. He had to become the second.

Ingarsse wheedled her foot into Talos’s crotch. “The Lepper is blocking communications with my minions. I need something else to do. I’m thinking you. Come keep me occupied.” Her hand gripped on his shoulder, and she swung herself over onto his lap, undoing the buttons on his shirt.

He couldn’t stop the warmth creeping into his cheeks and tried to gently pry her off. It’d be a delicate dance to keep her happy and not completely embarrass himself in front of Dialhi. Silently he sighed and drew the Jix closer. “Let’s go down to our quarters, love.” He carried her toward the ladder.

“It’s your ship. We can do this wherever I want.” She kissed him as if they’d been apart for eons. It’d only been six hours since he last occupied her.

He tasted the purplish flesh on her throat and tugged open the zipper on her silver romper, setting her down on her feet. “My pilot has work to do. I don’t want to distract her. Ships is too valuable.” Not completely repulsing her would be good, too. He slid down to the living quarters. “You better hurry up.” Yeah, he wanted his time with her done.

Carefully, he picked his way through the common living space. Jixes littered the floor and chairs, watching his every twitch with their enormous eyes. Their hands rested on their blusters waiting for him to move wrong. He closed his fist around the Carry On pin in his pocket and met their gazes. This was his ship.

Ingarsse leapt down from the bridge onto his back. She wrapped her long legs around him, laughing, nipping at his ears. “Can’t wait to see your place on Pardeep. I’ll mark every inch of it.”

He didn’t bother to tell her the Sequi was his place always. On the moon it had a permanent berth, and Talos lived on the spacecraft, keeping a part of himself always connected with the stars.

Without her feet touching the floor, she climbed around to face him, hunger teeming in those saucer-sized eyes. Her mouth landed forceful and demanding on his, paying no heed to the mob of Jixes around them. Before another heartbeat passed, she had his shirt open and his pants sliding down. Then she paused, licking her pliant lips. “No need to rush this, darling. We’ve hours.”

He smiled and carried her into his quarters, sealing the hatch. Setting her down, he shrugged out of his coat and shirt and lounged on the bunk. “Dance for me.” Annoying as she was, she could dance like nothing he’d ever seen. He might as well get one more bit of delight from her before they parted ways. Well, he sure hoped they’d be parting ways.

Dropping her romper to the ground, she swayed in her silver boots, grinding her hips, gyrating her chest. Graceful and seductive, her every twitch mesmerized him. The natural flow of her movements suggested this was what a Jix was originally designed to do, to lure, and solicit, to offer pleasure and ecstasy.

With barely a foot of space around the bed and only a tiny three foot span between the bunk and door, she didn’t have much room to maneuver and didn’t draw out the foreplay. She backed against the wall, giggling. “Come ‘n get me.”

As in every tryst before, their union bordered on sordid and wrong, yet Talos obliged her and a deep need begging inside him. For a few minutes he forgot about everything but the feel of her skin in his hands, the rolling of her muscles rousing beneath his caresses. He relished her taste from lips to toes and the warmth of her body stretched against his, undulating to the same tempo as his, rising to climax and writhing in bliss. For a few minutes he didn’t feel lonely or lost, didn’t feel like less or empty. He held her tighter and closer, wanting the moment to last. Instead it hit a gravity well and sank. She pushed him off, flopping onto the bunk, drifting toward sleep.

Running his hand through his wispy hair, he stared at her, his heart emptier than ever. He lay down beside her, wrapping around her, trying to reclaim that last moment of transcendence. It eluded him, mocked him. He dressed and went out into the common room. It was unusually empty.

He hurriedly prepared a couple of meals, taking one and some uncooked rations to Kaesare. His stunner drawn, he shot it without hesitation into her quarters, using the lowest setting. Both Craze and Pauder had warned him of her dangers, but the way her living tresses softly grazed his hand and leg didn’t seem like much of a threat. Ration packs and dishes littered the room. Feeling a bit sorry for her, he patted her shoulder, offering comfort. “The Jixes will be gone soon, then I can take better care of you. Don’t worry,” he said. He rushed to pick up some of the mess, hoping his ship wouldn’t become vermin infested before he could hose the chamber out.

He scurried back into the common living area, dumping the dirty trays into the wash bin and took the other two hot meals up the ladder with him. He set one before Dialhi and stared out at the blue, trying not to blush. What she must think of him. “What happened to the Jixes?”

She smiled at the food and stirred the black sauce into the fermented grastein mush. “They came up here complaining about you ‘n Ingarsse, saying she squeals so loud, so I told them they could make use of my quarters.”

A laugh stuck in his chest. Talos couldn’t meet her gaze, concentrating on one of the lighter lines of blue inside the cosmicway. “Look… I… umm…”

She sat back in the command chair, rubbing wet smudges off the console. “We have a mission to do.”

Exactly. “I’m doing my part.” He sat down in the copilot’s seat, checking the gages. “We on course. Only thirty-nine minutes to the real work.”

She checked on the Sequi, too, scanning over the same data he had. “I’m glad none of them noticed we isn’t going to Elstwhere yet.”

“Me, too.” He took a deep breath. “I sure hope this goes smoothly.”

She glanced at him sideways, playing with her mush, tracing a long face with a long nose in it with her spoon. “Seems kind of sad to me.”

Mixing the sauce into his meal, he played dumb. “What does?” Spice wafted over his senses with the tendrils of steam, tempting. He didn’t eat, though, knowing the taste wouldn’t live up to the hype.

She shoveled a big mouthful onto her spoon. “That you have to leave your love behind.” She gulped it down like a shot of cheap booze, eyeing him with arched brows.

He frowned. “Things isn’t what they seem.” Taking a small bite, he tried not to grimace. “The Jixes isn’t friends to anybody.” He wanted to say more, but couldn’t chance Ingarsse or any of her entourage overhearing. “Did I cook your meal all right?”

She filled her mouth with another heap of food, emptying the tray, nodding. “Mmmhmm.” Dragging her utensil around the dregs, she licked it, then smiled. “I like the Sequi. She’s a responsive ship.”

He couldn’t tell whether she’d meant to insult him or not. Craze had said Dialhi flew onto Pardeep in an Olvis, leagues of classes above his boat.

Talos chuckled and shook his head. “She gets the job done.” Picking up her tray and his, he took them down to the living area to wash up. He leaned against the sink, staring, taking his time, enjoying the quiet. His life hadn’t been this still since he’d traveled to Jix with Gattar six months ago.

He fished in his pocket for his tab to ping the Verkinn bastard and kill some time. Only he couldn’t find it. He glanced at the sealed hatches to his quarters and Kaesare’s. As if fate determined it’d get him, Jixes burst out of Dialhi’s room, flooding the common living area.

Oh, please be in his bunk. He went to check. The bed barely fit, so there weren’t many places for his tab to hide if it had fallen out of his clothes. He crouched, studying the floor and its corners, then lightly ran a hand over the blankets trying not to disturb Ingarsse.

“What you doing?” she whined.

“Looking for my tab. Have you seen it?”

She shook her head and went back to sleep.

He rifled through the drawers embedded into the wall, but didn’t find the device there either. Out in the common area, the Jixes lounged over every spare centimeter and followed his every move. His stomach sank, and he glanced furtively at the sealed room, remembering Kaesare’s playful tresses. They no longer seemed so innocent. Shit. He’d have to wait for another clearing of Jixes to get it back. In the meantime he had to hope Ingarsse didn’t ask InfoCy for his location. There’d be no saving him from her suspicions if she found out his tab lay behind the supposedly busted door.

Before his worries could steep too deeply into his nerves, the Lepper alert sounded. From the bridge above it blared throughout the whole vessel, shaking lethargy from every corner.

Talos vaulted for the ladder. “Seems we arrived at Elstwhere,” he said to the Jixes as he clambered up, “if you want to wake Ingarsse ‘n tell her.” Once on the control deck, he took his place beside Dialhi. “You ready?”

She nodded, sailing them out of the blue into the black without the slightest shake. She really did know how to handle a spacecraft.

Instead of the yellow and green Elstwhere attended to by five habitable moons and four craggy rocks, a lush green planet pirouetted in front of the Sequi. It glowed in the vibrant hues of life on a scale Talos had never seen. The fact that Photwit had been hushed up so well amazed him all the more.

“What’s this place?” Ingarsse barked from behind him.

Talos jumped. He hadn’t heard her climb the ladder. He pretended to check on the Sequi’s console. “Funny coincidence. It’s Photwit. Remember I told you about it?”

She sneered, crossing her arms. “Coincidence is never funny.” In a motion as smooth as her dancing, she slid her bluster out of its holster and flicked it on. “What you trying to pull?”

His mouth suddenly as dry as Pardeep’s ash seas, his words sputtered, “N-nothing, love. Honest. I—”

“It’s my fault,” Dialhi said, her aqua fingers and blue hair trembling. “This coordinate should have been a twelve not a twenty-one. I screwed up.”

Ingarsse pressed her weapon to the Sprinkler’s head. “You sure did.”

No! Without a second thought, Talos batted the firearm out of the Jix’s hands, gripping onto her wrists. “You can’t shoot that in here. You’ll short circuit everything ‘n we’ll be stranded.”

She slapped him good and hard, then two more times for good measure. In the confined space, the cracks sounded like booms. “Never touch me so violently or tell me what to do.”

His head snapped back and colors sprang behind his eyes. With each blow they became more vivid. Yet, he managed to meet her glower with one of his own. “I rule this ship, not you.”

Her jaw jutted, then a grin slowly spread from cheek to cheek. “I really like your spunk.”

Down on Photwit he’d show her more. “It’ll only take a few minutes to recalculate ‘n get us back on track to Elstwhere. Then a mere eighteen hours in the Lepper. It wasn’t a big error.”

Ingarsse’s doe eyes blinked at the brilliant, tempting planet, and she cocked her head. “How had I not known about this system before?”

“The Authorities ordered it a secret,” Talos said. “A friend of mine told me about it, who had heard whispers about it on Wism.” He hoped she’d want to see it.

She holstered the bluster and leaned on the console, resting on her hands. “With bounty like that I can see why. All the Backworlds would be at war. Let’s go see what’s down there.”

Exactly what Talos wanted to hear, and he hoped the vines would take the Jixes and let him be. Otherwise, this would be his last landing.