Earth Song: Etude to War Read online

  “Talked, yeah,” he admitted.

  She stopped just centimeters from him, her erect nipples nearly brushing the front of his suit. Aaron shivered as if an electric shock had run between them. He’d never seen his wife like this. He couldn’t believe that after all this time, she still had this effect on him.

  “You aren't doing this because of that stupid test, are you?” He croaked from his suddenly dry throat.

  “I'm doing it in spite of it,” she laughed brightly. “Ariana is pregnant again.”

  “And you've been inspired?”

  “You could say that.” She surely and deftly began undressing him. “I'm not going to be my father. These special genes of mine need to be passed on.”

  “They are, in Lilith.”

  “I want to hold a baby,” she said, her voice husky as she leaned forward slightly to undo his belt. He looked shocked by the way she had to pull on his pants slightly to get them down over the hardness there that spoke of his true desire. “I want you to put that baby inside me, feel it grow—”

  “Scream in pain as it's born?”

  “Life is pain,” she reminded him, pulling his shirt off over his head. He held his arms up, cooperating. “I've experienced my share of pain,” she reminded him, bending to finish pulling his underwear off.

  His erection caught in the waistband as she slid them down, then broke free, slapping his belly. She gently touched the nearly healed skin where his prosthetic legs joined his natural flesh. “

  As have you. That pain had a reason, so will birthing.” She remained on her knees and looked up at what she faced. “In this though, we will start with pleasure.” Carefully, she took him into her mouth.

  Aaron gasped and arced his back, unconsciously thrusting in and out of her mouth. “Oh, Minu,” he moaned.

  After a few long minutes she stopped, standing and wiping her mouth on a forearm. He struggled to slow his breathing, and Minu grinned crookedly as she saw his legs shaking.

  “Don't want that to go to waste,” she smiled as she stepped closer to him, pressing her breasts against his nearly hairless chest. “I deactivated the birth control implant six hours ago,” she told him, curving her body against his. The hardness of his shiny wet erection pressed into her stomach, making her groan with desire. “The computer told me I'll be ovulating in another hour.”

  “Impressive technology,” he said, taking a deep breath, running his hands down her back, and cupping her bottom. The hard nipples on her breasts rubbed against his chest causing dizzying sensations of pleasure to race downward.

  “I'm not the only one to make this decision though,” she told him, looking into his dark eyes. “The baby needs a father who wants it as much as it will need a mother.”

  “I've been waiting for years for you to make up your mind,” he told her and nibbled her ear. Her moans sounded almost desperate. He reached down and lifted her like she weighed nothing. Minu spread her legs and he slid her down onto him with slow, deliberate pleasure.

  “Oh, Aaron,” she cried out and ground against him. He backed her against the wall, which was thankfully only a step away. They hit with enough force to rattle a nearby picture as he began thrusting with wild abandon. He built a steady rhythm and began to buck like a wild horse. “Aaron, oh Aaron, it's incredible. So good! I'm coming!”

  “Me too,” he cried helplessly.

  “Give it to me, I want it inside me!” They cried out together as they spent themselves with more passion than they'd felt in years.

  “Oh, oh, that was… awesome,” she gasped as he continued to hold her there against the wall, gasping for breath and kissing her over and over. Still inside her, he gently continued to move. Neither wanting the moment to end.

  “I guess it’s done then,” he said finally.

  “Like a lot of things,” she reminded him as she moved against him, “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

  “That's sound planning,” he agreed and carried her into the bedroom. He grinned as he felt himself rising again. “If you’re going to do a job that will take hours, it’s best to be comfortable.”

  Chapter 12

  March 5th, 534 AE

  Gymnasium, Chosen Compound, Tranquility, Plateau Tribe, Bellatrix

  Minu decided to forgo any additional technological interference in her attempt to conceive. Once the implant had done its job to reverse the effects of the carefully tailored hormones that kept her from getting pregnant for so many years, and pushed her to ovulate that night, she stopped there. The implant was capable of helping her to continue to ovulate nightly for a week at a time. The devices created a fertility rate well into the fiftieth percentile among those who used it.

  She just decided that the extra step wasn't called for. She'd gotten pregnant with Lilith without any outside help. If it was meant to happen, it would happen. Gregg's wife, Faye, was hugely pregnant. Her growing belly inspired Minu and made her nervous at the same time. Would Aaron still want her when she was huge with child?

  She decided it was time to get back on the training horse. It just so happened that this morning was her long standing (though often missed) once-a-month workout session with her old friend Cherise. As the sun came through the window of their little apartment Minu was instantly up and into the shower. They'd stayed up late, making love several more times before finally giving in to fatigue. She took advantage of her biology and leaped at the day. Aaron, mired in his own biological weakness, never even stirred from his death-like slumber. Like an ancient cavewoman, she made good her escape.

  She whistled a nameless tune as she showered and quickly dressed in a light jumpsuit. Grabbing her workout bag from the bedroom closet, she leaned over Aaron and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Sweet dreams, my sexy lover.”

  He didn't wake but he did smile a little and mumble something. With a smile of her own, Minu caught the lift to the roof top aerocar lot.

  As Minu entered the gymnasium of the old Chosen compound in Tranquility, Cherise was already there. She was on the floor, her long, lithe legs spread as she bent and stretched between one and then the other.

  Where Minu was thin with small breasts and almost no hips, Cherise was every man's definition of sexy. Her curves started high and went all the way down. She looked up and smiled, perfect white teeth flashing an appealing contrast with her ebony skin.

  Minu tossed her floppy hat and light jacket aside, adding the duffel bag. “Let’s get it on, girl,” she laughed and rushed her friend.

  Cherise was only caught off guard for a second before tucking her legs and rolling backward. With a shove of her well-muscled arms, she flipped onto her feet and met Minu's reverse punch at her head with a deftly executed lower arm check and followed it up with her own jab at Minu's stomach. Minu turned slightly, letting the punch just graze her stomach and shot an elbow at Cherise' neck. And that's how it went for almost ten minutes straight.

  “Not bad for an old fat chick,” Cherise puffed as she went over to get a towel. Minu was sweating and gasping quite a bit more than her friend.

  “Gave you as good as I got.”

  Cherise shrugged.

  “And I'm not fat,” Minu complained, looking down at her stomach. “At least not yet.”

  Cherise picked up the towel and wiped her forehead, then turned quickly to look back, her jaw hanging down slightly. “Are you… really?”

  “We don't know yet,” Minu admitted. “I turned it off last night and we screwed like kloth all night.”

  “Oh Minu!” Cherise cried and ran over to hug her friend. Minu hissed slightly as she returned the hug. At least one blow to her ribs would be bruising. “A baby, really?”

  “My eggs aren't getting any newer.”

  Cherise looked at her, tears sparking in her dark eyes. Minu knew her friend loved her as much more than just a friend. Well, maybe in a different world. “So if you did it last night, why don't you know yet? Just ask the computer implant.”

  “Didn't want
to know yet. Besides, maybe we can screw like crazy again, just to be sure?”

  Cherise laughed and took a playful swipe at Minu's head, which she easily dodged. “That man would have sex with you as the world ended, given half the chance.”

  “I hear sometimes men get weird when their women get pregnant.”

  Cherise nodded and returned the towel to its rack. It was late enough that a pair of other Chosen had arrived to use the facility. Only a few dozen were ever stationed at the old compound, so it would not likely get crowded in the building once meant to hold hundreds.

  The newcomers nodded in acknowledgment of their fellow Chosen before beginning their own workouts. They might not know who Cherise was, but there wasn't a Chosen who didn't know the red haired two star firestorm working out with her. “When will you know?”

  “Tonight, after Aaron gets back from work, I'll interface with the implant and know the answer.”

  “First Gregg and Faye now you,” Cherise said and shrugged, “maybe I should find some healthy tadpoles and make one too.”

  “You'd make an awesome mom.”

  Cherise smiled. “What if you don't get pregnant? Going to push it with that little robot inside you?”

  “Probably not. The idea of cranking out eggs like a chicken is a bit disturbing.”

  “So you're just going to leave it up to chance? Really?”

  Minu zipped open her duffel bag and rummaged inside, thinking for a second. Immediately she remembered the words of her assistant, Ariana. “Yeah. I guess I'm putting it in the hands of a higher power.”

  Cherise gave her a knowing look and a tiny nod.

  Later as Minu and Cherise ate a lunch of gyros from a wheeled vendor outside the old Chosen complex, Cherise was still going on about Minu being pregnant

  Minu needed to change the subject, so she mentioned how hard it was to get specialists into the Rangers from the Chosen branches. “I am so sick to death of the politics of the Chosen.”

  Cherise took a bite of lamb filled bread and shrugged. “It's the way of things,” she mumbled around the food.

  “Maybe not forever,” Minu said and looked across the way. She could just see the spire of the Founders Memorial, and next to it the Portal building. Mindy Harper had stood on this ground five centuries ago.

  Minu knew she was related to her; at least that had been confirmed. Mindy had changed the world by her decisions and by refusing to give up. She owed her ancestor that much. Now listen to me?

  Still, she thought about a meeting she would have to arrange as she took a bite of her lunch.

  * * *

  Minu stopped at her office just long enough to have Ariana arrange an appointment with Dram, check for any urgent paperwork, then head home. She didn't say anything to her assistant about the possibility of being pregnant. She hadn't intended to tell Cherise until it happened. Minu wanted to keep it quiet for a while, at least until she'd come to grips with it herself. Even though she kept quiet, Ariana knew something was up.

  “You look awfully… happy, today!”

  “I guess I am,” Minu admitted, then retreated for the parking lot before she let the howler out of the bag for the second time that day. A few minutes later she was back in her apartment and with nothing more to do. By dodging out of work early she'd inadvertently landed at home with nothing to do but stew in her own juices for almost three hours before her husband would get home.

  Twice during trips into the bathroom she'd stared at the little dedicated computer tablet linked to her reproductive implant. A couple keystrokes was all it would take and she'd know the answer. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror she put a hand on her stomach. Sure felt like there were butterflies in there, at the very least.

  Walking out of the bathroom she silently wished Aaron would walk through the door early. “I should know better,” she grumbled alone in the apartment. Aaron had always had the ability to focus like a laser on whatever he was doing, regardless of the distractions. She'd wondered if he could do Sudoku during a firefight.

  Then the door opened and he was standing there, looking as surprised as his wife. “I couldn't concentrate,” he laughed. “My assistant insisted I go home. I think half the R&D department is freaking out.”

  “I’ll bet.” She shook out of her surprise and looked at him. They were both practically vibrating with excitement. “What do we do?”

  “Get the damn computer!” he blurted and made a dash for the bathroom.

  Minu squealed and raced to cut him off. There was a delightful wrestling match over who would be first through the door which Minu won by judicious application of sharp elbows. “Cheater,” he laughed and massaged his ribs.

  Minu brought the computer out and keyed it to life. Aaron came up behind her, putting his arms around her and watching over her shoulder as she requested “reproductive status”. The screen flashed and it displayed “scanning”. She knew that inside her body a high-tech little machine was tasting the chemistry in her blood and looking for microscopic amounts of a certain hormone. It must have been woman's intuition, but Minu knew the results before it displayed.

  “Oh my,” they both said as one.

  Chapter 13

  March 6th, 534 AE

  Rasa Phoenix Shuttle, Bellatrix Orbit, Bellatrix Star System

  Pip wasn't a natural explorer, even though he did enjoy an occasional trip into the rough. Especially if it wasn't a dangerous trip. For him it wasn't the true exploration of the unknown that Chosen scouts lived for. Too many chances to become a statistic. He enjoyed exploring to get at new technological goodies. So when Var'at's brother, Kal'at, pitched a little trip he was all in.

  The Rasa were using one of the two new Phoenix shuttles they'd purchased from Groves Industries with a fair amount of the funds they generated from their food production factories on Remus. The galaxy was a hungry place, and the algae harvested from Remus' green seas were rich protein sources. Even the disgusting invertebrate squidge had their customers out among the starving masses.

  “Minu's husband is a fine engineer,” Kal'at commented from the seat beside Pip. Compared to the Chosen's Lancer fighter/transports, the Phoenix were as large and roomy as a dirigible. At least ten times the size in raw displacement, it was more than that in interior volume.

  Unlike the Lancer, the Phoenix didn't use as much interior space for structural support and equipment. The Phoenix wasn't a shape changer like the Lancer. Of course, it would also never fit through a Portal either. The fuselage alone was several times too big, and the variable swing-forward swept delta wings didn't help.

  “He had help,” Pip pointed out. Kal'at shrugged a surprisingly human gesture. But the reptile was right. Compared to the Lancer, the Phoenix was the lap of luxury. Damn thing even had cup holders in the armrest. “How much did these set you back?”

  “A few months revenue from the squidge harvesting operation.” Pip whistled but Kal'at shrugged again. He might not have had a full grasp on how to use the gesture, Pip thought. “But now we don't have to move around Remus with the swamp boats as much. More efficient. And delivery of finished shipments to the Portals on Bellatrix are many times more efficient.”

  “Sound economic sense,” Pip agreed.

  “Yes, and now we get to go exploring on our own!”

  The shuttle carried five that day. In addition to Pip and Kal'at, there was a Rasa pilot and two of Var'at's soldiers, just in case. The shuttle was just maneuvering, and outside through the thick moliplas windscreen was their first view of their destination: a massive block of glassy obsidian seven thousand kilometers in diameter.

  “On approach to Romulus low orbit,” the pilot told them.

  “It is amazing you have lived on this world for five centuries and not really explored either moon.”

  It was Pip's turn to shrug. “We ended up reverting to a Bronze Age society for a century or so before the Tog came back and helped lift us up by our bootstraps. After that, we had better things to do with the few
orbital craft we could borrow. Even though, I found references to three expeditions here in the last century.”

  “Plant the flag and walk around,” Kal'at summed it up accurately.

  Pip nodded.

  “A shame you did not have better technology.”

  “We still don't know if there is anything there worthwhile.”

  “Your Lilith on the Kaatan seems sure.”

  A month ago Lilith had come back from one of her deep space sojourns. Something she apparently did when she was bored. As she approached Bellatrix, Romulus had temporarily eclipsed the big life bearing planet. And in that moment her sensors picked up a power signature from that moon. She’d analyzed it from orbit for days before passing on the news to Minu, who’d decided it was the perfect sort of thing for the Rasa to undertake. Since Kal'at and Pip worked together on numerous projects, they tapped him to help.

  “She's been wrong before,” he cautioned. As they entered orbit Pip removed his personal tablet, one of the sleek crystalline models made by the Kaatan. He much preferred their superior computer power and memory storage.

  He accessed the files Lilith had made for their mission. A trio of energy signatures on the surface of Romulus. They surrounded a six thousand meter mountain at equidistant points of a triangle. With the computer's assistance, she guessed the energy was likely surplus heat from a buried energy source. It was tantalizing to imagine what might require an energy source like that.

  The majority of Concordian energy-consuming systems used rechargeable electro-plasma capacitors, or EPC. They used advanced superconducting capacitors to hold plasma state power almost indefinitely. But whatever was hidden under the basalt of Romulus had a self-producing power generator. Bellatrix hadn't been inhabited for hundreds of thousands of years, and for good reason. The sun was old and entering the later stage of its life.

  Even though human scientists on Earth believed it was young because it was a blue-white star of spectral class B2 III, it turned out the star was an overachiever, burning through its fuel too quickly. Its destiny was to flare, burning out all the inner planets and baking their home to a cinder. Not a good candidate for a colony. Ted and Bjorn were both certain the Lost had moved their world out farther into the lifebelt several times in the distant past. There was some archaeological evidence to support the theory. But how do you move an entire world?