The Lost Aria (Earth Song Book 3) Read online

  She dried her hair as she walked onto the porch and through the door. The cabin interior was familiar as the back of her hand. The first thing she noticed was the pan on the stove, then a chair in the kitchen had been moved, then the smell of cooking mutton. She froze and fixed in her mind how far to the bedroom, and what was hidden there under her bed. She could see legs in one of living room chairs and her fear turned to hope. Father? She wondered silently. But still, the bedroom...

  "Is that my friend I hear?" the visitor said. Cherise stood and turned around, slight surprise crossing her face to see Minu standing in the doorway naked except for a towel in her hair. "Do you always run around here naked?"

  "Don't you know how to knock?" Minu countered, her voice coarser than she would have intended to her best girlfriend. It was a mingle of disappointment and surprise at having her hidden sanctuary penetrated that caused the response.

  "Hard to knock when no one was home." The taller black girl came closer and observed the look on Minu's face. Uncertainty crossed her own. "I'm sorry, was this a mistake?"

  "No, it's okay," Minu relented. "You’re just the first person to come here since my father died." She looked down at her naked body and giggled a little. "I guess I've become a closet nudist." She gestured to take in the solitude of the cabin and island. "The nearest neighbor is a hundred kilometers away. And it's hot in here during the summer."

  "You don't have to tell me," Cherise said and smiled, relieved that she hadn't hurt her friend, "I grew up in the desert, remember? Besides, we have a tradition to always follow a house master’s customs." Before Minu realized it the other girl had stripped. She bundled bra and panties inside her Chosen jumpsuit and looked around for a place to put them. Minu took the bundle and placed them in the closet. "That's more like it," Cherise said and embraced her. The feeling of hugging the naked girl was shocking and more than a little pleasurable. Minu blushed and broke the embrace a little quicker than she normally would have.

  Cherise was about a year older than Minu, but now that they were both grown women that made little difference. Aside from the closeness of age, there wasn’t much else the two shared. Where Minu was short with flame red hair, narrow hips, and small breasts, Cherise was tall with long legs, nicely curved hips and larger breasts that swayed as she walked and drew many a man's attention. Of course Minu's red hair carried to elsewhere on her body just as Cherise' own jet black hair. "Mind if I get a swim myself?" the other woman asked.

  Minu had no objection and said she'd finish getting dinner ready. She sent her friend off with a warning of the post-swim ritual and assurances to her worried look that the leaches were not aggressive. Then she showered quickly and attended to the stove just in time to save the mutton from burning. Because she'd had the same thing for lunch, she retrieved some chicken from the freezer and started it cooking for her own dinner.

  The food was good and the company even better. Minu found having her friend in the secluded spot more fun than she expected. They ate and talked then played some card games with a five hundred year old deck she'd found in a desk. Then Cherise went out to her aerocar (she'd broke down and bought her own a year ago) and returned with several bottles of Lizardville Wine, the first vintage. "You feeling brave?" she asked.

  "Rasa wine?" Minu laughed. The damned lizards would take over the planetary economy if allowed to.

  "Sure, why not?"

  It turned out just as good as any other endeavor the lizards undertook. A very sweet wine, not surprising considering their natural predilections, it didn't have as high an alcohol content as some local brews. By the time the sun was down the two women were making up their own rules for card games and giggling like school girls.

  Minu dropped the nearly empty bottle and went after it at the same time as Cherise, the two ending up face to face under the table. Like a flash, Cherise pressed her lips against hers, mouth opening slightly and tongue darting out. Minu smashed her head against the bottom of the table in shock.

  "Damn, I'm sorry," Cherise said as Minu staggered around the room seeing stars.

  "What the hell was that about?" Minu asked, rubbing the growing knot on the back of head.

  "I have to admit something to you," Cherise said, crossing her arms under her breasts. It was a natural motion for any woman but the fact that she was naked made it almost comical. "I came out here to seduce you."

  "Seduce me? Cherise, are you a lesbian?"

  "What? Don't be silly. I just don't have any set preference."

  "It's still illegal!"

  "Now you're just being crazy, Minu, it's the sixth century for crying out loud! The Concordia came back over a hundred years ago, and you're worried about laws made in the dark times hundreds of years ago!?"

  "The law says two of the same sex cannot have-"

  "Not where I come from,” Cherise cut her off. “Minu, sex is a much more open thing in the desert tribe. You and I talked about this years ago. Our children play at sex from an early age. Most of us have our first experience with the same sex, especially the boys who are much more...energetic about it, early on. I've only had three male lovers, but I don't know how many girls." All the while she was walking closer with Minu giving ground just as quickly.

  "It, it's just wrong."

  "Why, because hundreds of years ago there were more men than women? Because then small pox was set loose by the damn Rusk and still more men survived than women? Not anymore! There are more women than men now, and have been for centuries! Don't you find me sexy?"

  "You have a great body, much better than mine."

  "I wouldn't say that," she said and smiled as her eyes ran over Minu's curves. Minu felt a thrill at the look of naked lust in her friend’s eyes, something she'd never felt directed at her by a woman. Minu's back came up against the wall and Cherise moved to within a few centimeters, her large breasts just below Minu's chin. She slowly looked up into those hazel eyes. Cherise reached out and cupped one of Minu's tiny breasts, gently squeezing the nipple. Before Minu could say anything more their mouths were once again together.

  Minu gently disengaged and pushed her back a little, fear making her stronger but still in careful control of her right arm. "I'm scared," she said, her hands going around Cherise' waist. The other woman’s hips were full but she could feel the muscles in her bottom. Cherise put her arms around Minu and drew her closer. She felt the other girl’s pubic hair rub against her belly and the sensation sent goose-bumps climbing her back. "I've never done something like this before."

  "Sure you have," Cherise assured her and they kissed. "Don't be scared," Cherise said, her hands going down and gently seeking, "You've just never done it with a girl."

  "W-what do I do?" Minu asked, the quiver in her voice giving away her fear and excitement.

  "I'll show you." Cherise' fingers found what she was looking for and Minu gasped at the ease of it. As the night went on, Cherise showed her just how much she knew as they cried out in passion. The howlers in the woods barked their reply to the strange sounds.

  Chapter 4

  May 26th, 521 AE

  Sanctuary Island, Plateau Tribe Territory

  Minu woke and knew she was in the comfy old bed of her cabin, and that she wasn't alone. It was hardly the first time she woke up naked next to another person; it was however the first time she woke to find her hand resting on a supple breast other than her own. She pulled away gently and got up, her head throbbing. "Oh boy," she said and padded to the bathroom, nearly tripping over one of several empty wine bottle. The hot water cleaned her body of the sweat and passion of the night and got her mind going, but it didn't help her decide why she'd let things get out of hand like that. When she came out a short time later Cherise was cooking eggs and bacon in the kitchen.

  Minu walked over to see if the other girl had found everything she needed and nodded at the progress. "Sleep well?" Cherise asked.

  "Hangover," Minu admitted. Cherise handed her some pain killers that she took gratefully. "Loo
k, about last night..."

  "It was what it was," Cherise said nonchalantly.

  "I just wanted to; well...I don't know what I want to say."

  Cherise put the skillet aside from the heating element and turned to face her. Even fresh from bed Minu still found the girl exotic and exciting. She gave Minu a questioning look. "Did you have fun?"

  "Yes," was the nearly whispered reply.

  "Did I make you do anything you didn't want to do?"

  "No, of course not. I could have said no at any time."

  "Okay. Well, I had a good time too, and that is that."

  "I don't know if I ever..."

  "I didn't come looking for a girlfriend," Cherise said and touched Minu's cheek. Something in her friend’s voice made Minu wonder at the truth of that, but she still moved against the touch, a tear rolling down onto the other girl’s hand, "I came to be with my friend. I thought you needed to feel the love of another human being, even if it was not a man’s. I know your heart wasn't in it, but it was nice anyway."

  "I was there the whole time," Minu said and touched Cherise' face in turn, "and I have no regrets. I'm just not sure if it is something right for me."

  "Enough said," Cherise said and went back to making breakfast, “don’t want to spoil this awesome bacon!”

  Cherise' aerocar lifted off the landing pad a few hours later. Minu cleaned up after breakfast and tried to clear her mind. She didn't know what to think of the night before. The medicine had done its job and the headache was gone, leaving her clear minded and even more confused with the memory of the night before. It was hard to compare Cherise and Christian. How do you compare two things so different, and yet so alike? It was like hours of foreplay, followed by orgasm after orgasm. It was the most intense sexual experience of her short life, and yet it somehow still seemed to be missing something she couldn't put a finger on. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to avoid thinking about that night of hot, sweet, sex all during the day ahead of her. It turned out she was going to get some help doing that.

  Minu flew back to Fort Jovich a short time later. The two hour flight put her in the garage just in time for her morning staff meeting. As she entered the conference room, the department heads all gave her a strange look. "What's wrong?" she asked no one in particular.

  "Nothing," Aaron said, "you just look more relaxed than we've seen you in a while." Minu felt her cheeks getting hot and cleared her throat. Aaron's eyes narrowed at her blush, not liking what it could mean. He forced himself to look down at his tablet, muscles working his jaw. Minu cleared her throat and began the meeting.

  The first issue was the biggest. Last night, a large group of the newly graduated soldiers had been celebrating in Dodge City when they came into contact with a group of drunken scouts. Much bragging and muscle flexing ensued, lubricated with still more alcohol. Minu pulled bios on the names beginning to appear across her screen. All male on both sides, of course. After the manliness competition wasn't enough, it degraded into a general free-for-all. Scouts versus soldiers, Chosen versus almost Chosen. Forty two soldiers, eleven scouts. The Soldiers possessed general toughness and specialized combat training, the scouts experience and what her dad would have called pure tenacity. At the top of the list of scouts was the ranking member present during the 'altercation', Christian Forsythe.

  "So what's the final damage?" she asked Ariana. Ariana Beck was, in many things, Minu's right hand. A cute civilian girl in her twenties, she carried an extra twenty pounds with that special dignity that only the Asian descendants of the Peninsula tribe could manage. A few centimeters taller than Minu, her sharp eyes never missed a detail. She was reading from a tablet with one hand while toying with her waist length pony tail with the other. Minu never let her hair get past shoulder length and often wondered how much work that kind of hair required.

  "About like a night at the mines after payday," she said. Minu had hired her away from a boring job working for a zinc mining company where her skills were being wasted. One of her most amazing talents was fixing problems before Minu knew they ever existed. Most who worked in the fort knew that Ariana's word carried the same weight as Minu's. The girl had yet to let her boss down. "We have six scouts in the infirmary, and twenty soldiers. A few broken bones, couple hundred scrapes and bruises."

  "No one dead, that's a start. Collateral damage?"

  "The bar was the Hungry Howler."

  "Yeah, been there," Minu said as heads around the room nodded their familiarity as well. It was well known as a very Chosen friendly establishment in a region of Bellatrix that barely tolerated them. In fact many of the places in Dodge City were anything but happy with the Chosen, despite owing their living to the fort and its occupants. They preferred civilians to the hard charging Chosen soldiers or steely eyed scouts.

  "Damage comes to three hundred, ninety-five credits."

  "They burn the damn place down?" Minu exclaimed.

  "Costs are high in Dodge City."

  "They're taking advantage of us," Minu grumbled.

  "Well, add another two hundred credits in medical bills for the five constables they put in the hospital."

  "Crap, you didn't mention that part."

  "I was saving the best for last."

  "Right. So how many of them in jail?"

  "None. They were all released to the duty officer in charge." Ariana consulted her tablet for the responsible party. "It was Var'at."

  "I bet that was an interesting scene."

  "Says here he brought an entire squad of his soldiers along to muscle our men home. The soldiers and scouts all looked pretty cowed when I saw them this morning."

  "So why wasn't I called last night?" Minu asked, looking specifically at Aaron. Though only four star, he was a ranking Chosen in the scout company below Christian. She dearly wanted to know whose side he came down on in this little fracas.

  "We handled it, or rather Var'at did," Aaron explained, shrugging his powerful shoulders. "I knew you were due back this morning..."

  "Okay, I can live with that. So, meeting adjourned for a couple hours while I go skin some boys."

  "But ma'am," Ariana complained.

  "Put a lid on it, this is something I can't let stew. Only a few dozen were involved, but there are a couple thousand soldiers in this facility and by now they are getting ten different accounts of what happened last night. We've known the sentiments between the scouts and the soldiers were not on a good level for a while, but I didn't think it would be coming to blows before I could make some adjustments."

  Minu headed for the door before Ariana could stop her. She crooked a finger in Aaron's direction indicating she wanted him to come along, and headed for the detention center. The section was included at the last moment almost as an afterthought, meant to hold possible prisoners of war during a vendetta. She’d never expected to have to lock up her own soldiers, or especially the much more experienced scouts.

  She reached the detention level and knew right away it was the right place. The yells and curses being hurled across the hallway was fairly definitive proof. "What the fuck is going on here?" she bellowed as soon as she was close enough to not be mistaken for a fellow combatant. “I said what the fuck is going on here?” Only a meter and a half tall she already wielded the command voice of an old Earth Marine drill instructor. The effect was almost instantaneous as the yelling quickly stopped.

  "I asked a question, damn you all!" She marched down the hall between the line of cells. Aaron was the one who placed the scouts on one side and the soldiers on the other. At the time it was the logical thing to do. The cells were simple affairs, only three meters wide, five deep, and arranged along both sides of the hall. The side facing the hallway was made of clear moliplas so the jailers could observe their charges; it was also perforated with holes to allow communication, or shouting and insults in this case. Should the need arise, shields and fields could be added if the occupants were more rowdy than mere drunken humans. The scouts and soldiers w
ent from glaring at each other to looking at her. A few hung their heads or refused to meet her gaze, others returned her glare evenly, especially the scouts that were almost all older than her.

  "Just a disagreement," she heard someone say. She instantly recognized the voice as Christian.

  Minu turned and looked for him, picking his tall frame out of the crowd of torn and bruised scouts. "And here he is, highest ranking Chosen scout assigned to Fort Jovich, and what a shining example of Chosen prowess he is."

  "Very funny," he grumbled.

  "What, isn't that what you were doing, showing the soldiers how superior the full Chosen are to them? I have a simpler solution. Let’s just put you all in one big room, pass out Shock Rifles and knives, and let you boys tear the shit out of each other like a bunch of wildcats. Put it on pay-per-view, maybe we can recoup the costs of the damage you assholes did to the Hungry Howler!"

  "Minu," Aaron said from behind her. She put a hand behind her to quiet him.