Offspring Ch. 035

Author's note

For those who have asked for nit, this chapter actually has some sex in it :-)

Have fun.

Talemaster

*

Earth was looming large on the screen. We had come out of hyperspace several hours ago and were on our final approach.

I am not given much to sentimentality, but seeing Earth so clearly before me always touches me deeply. I had not been home for some time and I was looking forward to spending a few days on the planet where I had grown up.

We would not be allowed into any regular spaceport on Earth. Being a scout ship returning from a virgin world we would be directed to a quarantine station in the middle of the Simpson desert on a continent that has been known as Australia for more than a millennium. There the ship would be carefully examined and decontaminated, if necessary, before being allowed to travel on. We had carefully purged all computer records on board of material we didn't want the Federation to see and had left the Oktonian library and the other stuff behind on Olympus where it would be safe from prying eyes. I had also made an edited version of our arrival and subsequent activity and loaded it on a memory stick. I was sure to be pulled in by Federation High Command who were dying to know what we had been up to, I guessed. I wasn't far off the mark.

The moment we were on the ground we were boarded by Federation officers in biological hazard suits. I think they were surprised to see all of us in our Olympus fatigues, but no one said anything about that. After determining who is who I was asked off the ship and escorted to a decontamination chamber. I had to take my clothes off and put the contents of my pockets into a tray before I was motioned into a shower. After I had washed myself down with that awful shit that comes out of the shower, under the watchful eye of a quarantine officer who made sure I didn't miss any bits, I was led into another shower where I could finally cleanse myself properly with soap and clean water. It's important to do that well since the decontaminant they use stings on the skin if left on too long. They gave me a hospital gown and led me into another room where a doctor did a thorough health check.

I must have passed because they gave me my clothes and other stuff back, which had also been treated. The moment I was dressed a Colonel and a Major of Federation security escorted me to a waiting shuttle. We were the only passengers in an aircraft designed to take about a dozen people.

The flight attendant was a sweetie. She served me with a meal and a few beers on the two hour long flight under the disapproving stares of my surly escorts. We transferred to a limousine while still on the tarmac. There was little I could see through the heavily tinted windows of the vehicle. I didn't know where we were and my escorts simply had not answered my question when I asked where we were going.

After passing through several checkpoints we eventually wound up in some underground complex in front of a lift guarded by a detachment of armed soldiers. My escort presented some documents to the officer in charge and we were cleared to proceed. Eventually we wound up in some office. There wasn't much to see. A desk, a computer terminal, the obligatory Federation flag in a corner, the Federation coat of arms prominently displayed an the wall behind the desk and a rather pleasant looking female Federation Major behind the desk.

My escorts presented their papers again, the Major signed the documents and dismissed the goons.

"Welcome to Federation headquarters," she said to me when we were alone. "I trust you had a pleasant journey."

"Wonderful," I said. "Those two gorillas were a bundle of laughs."

"Don't be too hard on them Major Walters, they were under orders not to engage in any conversation with you. We are trying to keep your visit here rather quiet."

She pointed to a door and said: "You may go in, General Taubner is expecting you."

General Taubner's office, though larger, was equally Spartan in decor. Evidently an office where he saw visitors. He would do his work somewhere else. The General was in uniform, seated behind his desk, the only items on the polished surface being a peak cap, a swagger stick and a dossier with my name on it. Military traditions die hard, I thought.

Seeing I was wearing my Olympus fatigues I gave the General a smart military salute.

"Sit down Mayor," he said. "I wanted to meet you before I have you tell the committee about your observations in the forbidden zone. You are the only Federation officer ever to have been there. Naturally we are all curious."

"With the General's permission. I have documented our journey to Olympus and our activities there. Perhaps it might be prudent to see what I have before deciding how much of it and to whom the material should be shown. It's all on here."

I handed the General the memory stick and gave him the encryption key from memory. The General typed the key into the computer after loading the module. He watched my presentation twice before commenting.

"I see what you mean. I think I will sit on this for a while before deciding what to do. This is dynamite."

He pushed a button on his computer and instructed his orderly to cancel the committee meeting and to tell them something urgent had come up he had to attend to.

He turned to me.

"This is excellent work, You are supplying us with tangible information about this sector no one has been able to gather so far. Our first glimpse of an Oktonian male, better knowledge about their fleet, the list goes on. We owe you much. In recognition of your work I'm promoting you Colonel."

"I am flattered, General, but you mustn't do that. In fact I would like you to stop all payments to me as of now as a matter of urgency."

"You surprise me Major, I thought you would be pleased."

"I am, Sir. However, there are compelling reasons why we mustn't go down this road."

"Alright, tell me."

"The situation has changed. I seriously doubt the Chang Corporation is contemplating replacing me. I have proved the viability of producing Pumpernickel on Olympus, something the Oktonian government is incredibly keen on. I will be put in charge of the colonisation of an entire planet, I expect, with immense discretionary powers. As such I will become a key figure for the Chang Corporation and the Oktonian government.

"The moment this becomes common knowledge, as it will, my doings and my past will come under intense scrutiny. If it ever got out that I am still receiving pay from the Federation my credibility would be shot and my position wwould become untenable. They'd have to get someone else. Believe me, it will get out if you continue to pay me. Someone will talk. I don't need the money, as you know. Why then run a risk that can get everything undone when it's not necessary.

"I will continue to liaise with the Federation, this is proper and expected. My excellent personal relationship with General Nakov and his exec is very much viewed as being in my favour. The Oktonians and the Chang Corporation are interested in good relations with the Federation. Let's not jeopardise what we have here for the sake of a few credits and a rank."

"You make a persuasive case, Major. What do you want us to do, if anything?"

"I want the Federation to send me a letter apologising for some administrative error that caused my salary to be continued after I had in fact resigned. I will take the letter to my bank, ask them to identify the overpaid amounts and reimburse the Federation. That covers everybody. Errors occur and it is up to the people involved to correct them when the facts become known. No one can find fault with that."

"This is a good plan, let's do it. Anything else?"

"Yes, my visit here today. Quite a few people have seen me. With my Olympus fatigues I stick out like the proverbial canine testicles. At the moment it won't mean much, but when pictures of me appear in newspapers, as they will once the Olympus project becomes known, people will remember and wonder what I was doing here. Some will talk. We need to offer an explanation for my visit. We should make it official."

"What do you have in mind? Something devious, no doubt."

"I take it Lata is buried here somewhere close by?"

"Yes, in a cemetery about five miles from here. How does Lata get into this?"

"It's one hell of an imposition, but it's the best I can come up with."

"Let's hear it then."

"When we are done here I leave through the front door. I don't know my way around and I would appreciate if you could arrange transport and a room in one of the better hotels close by. I'll pay my own bills, of course. I'll arrange for a suitable wreath through the hotel. Sometime tomorrow you and I and perhaps Bernice, Lata's old assistant, go to the cemetery and lay the wreath on Lata's grave. Perhaps your PR department can arrange a photo and a short article and launch it in one of the gossip papers. It won't be to the detriment of either of us for people to know that a man has come all the way from Okton4 and together with a five star general laid a wreath on the grave of a mutual friend. People will love it. Afterwards we drop Bernice off and have a couple of drinks in my hotel, somewhere where we can be seen and not overheard. I am sure by tomorrow you will have a lot of questions. After that we'll have all bases covered. As I said, it's a hell of an imposition."

"Very neat. I like that idea."

He turned to his computer, pushed a button and asked his orderly to come in.

"Major Dennings," he said, "order some transport, book a room in the Galaxy hotel for Colonel Walters of Olympus Colonisation Command and arrange for one of our VIP bags. Before you do that however, bring us a drink. Ask Colonel Walters what he wants."

I settled for a beer, so did the general.

We had just finished our beer when the Major returned and told us everything was ready. The General ordered her to take care of me and to get me settled in at the hotel.

"Start the rumour mill going at the hotel," he instructed her. "Tell them Colonel Walters is in charge of the colonisation of a planet in the forbidden zone in a joint venture with the Oktonian government and that he is here in a private capacity to pay his last respects to a personal friend and Federation officer who died on duty."

General Taubner got up and offered me his hand. We shook hands and he told me he would pick me up at the hotel at eleven in the morning.

***

Major Dennings booked me in at the hotel, all I had to do was to sign the register and hand over my credit card to be swiped. I had the impression the receptionist was not very impressed with my fatigues. Her attitude changed though when she saw my unlimited Chang Corporation credit card. She was all smiles after that. She would also be wet between the legs. Some women get more turned on by the smell of money than by the smell of sex. She was one of them. Her pussy would be mine if I cared to ask. I wasn't interested. I would rather fuck a whore. At least whores are honest about what they do.

I was ready for a drink and said so.

"Get me an orange juice please. I mustn't be seen drinking while on duty. However, if you were the sneaky kind and added some Gin to my drink, what is a girl to do? You go ahead, I need to get them to take your bag to your room."

I laughed, sat down in the lobby and ordered the drinks. Beer for me, double Gin and Orange for the lady.

When she joined me she lifted her glass and said before she even tasted it: "Here's to being sneaky. You can call me Marissa, if you like."

"Only if you call me Frank."

"Good," she said and handed me a piece of paper and a pen. "Could you please write down for me what you want to say on the wreath."

I wrote 'From two old friends who remember you with love and respect. Rest in peace, Lata.' I handed her the paper and asked: "What happens now, Marissa?"

"The wreath will be waiting on a stand next to the grave site. It's established procedure, Frank. We do that quite often. Let me go and get that going, I won't be long."

"The general will love what you wrote, he was very fond of Lata."

"I know, he told me in a letter when he informed me of Lata's death."

"I need to get back to the office," she said after she had finished her drink. She gave me my room key before continuing. "Your bag is in your room. It contains a change of clothes and underwear as well as some other necessities. Put your fatigues and your underwear into a laundry bag and arrange for room service to get it cleaned for the wreath laying tomorrow. I picked out a nice casual suit, some shirts and some underwear for you. The clothes will fit, we have your measurements on file. I hope you'll like it."

"That is very nice of you."

"Actually it's also established procedure. We often get people who come in without luggage to report and are forced for some reason to stay a day or two. We cater for such eventualities. Incidentally, the bag and its contents are yours to keep, compliments of the Federation. But now I must really depart. Thanks for the drink."

We shook hands and I was on my own.

***

After I had a few drinks at the bar I went to my room. It was still a bit early for the whores to be out, otherwise I might have grabbed one. I was more than ready for it.

The room was as expected decorated in contemporary bland, the same expensive, but unimaginative, impersonal style you find all over the universe now. Still, it was roomy, light and comfortable. I was surprised at the quality of the stuff in my bag. Marissa had chosen an elegantly styled casual suit in light grey with matching shirts and accessories. I hung up my clothes and put the rest of the gear in the wardrobe and the bathroom. I had a shower and a shave and put a little body cologne on since I was thinking of going tomcatting later. Normally I don't bother with stuff like this. The things we do for pussy.

I wrapped a towel around my midriff, put my fatigues and underwear into a bag and called room service. They came up promptly and collected my laundry and shoes for cleaning.

I was just about to get another beer when there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was room service who had come back for some reason I asked them to enter. It wasn't room service, it was Bernice, dressed to kill.

She came up to me, hugged me, kissed my cheek and then put her head on my shoulder sobbing quietly while still holding on to me. Her closeness and odour affected me. My dick was behaving like an unruly horse under my towel.

It had to happen. The towel became undone and dropped to the floor, my prick as stiff as a soldier on parade. Bernice looked down, grabbed my dick and said: "Is this for me?" She was no longer sobbing. Grinning broadly, her face still wet with tears she started to rub me slowly and sensuously.

"If you keep this up you'll have to send your dress to the cleaners," I said. "I haven't had sex in a while and that thing is about to explode."

"Can't let that happen," she replied, dropped to her knees and had my dick in her mouth in an instant. She was a good cocksucker. In no time at all I was pumping what felt like gallons of come down her throat. She didn't spill a drop.

My dick was still hard when she stood up.

"I think you are ready to fuck me now," she said and started undoing her dress.

I didn't think her remark needed a reply and instead helped her to get her gear off. Half a minute later I was up her without foreplay or anything. She didn't need it. Her pussy was dripping with excitement. She fucked with the same wild abandon as Mara. I made the best of it.

In what seemed like two hours later we were exhausted.

"I think we both needed that," she said. "Lata would be proud of us."

"What makes you say that?"

"When we were on Okton4 you and Lata came out of her cabin, both looking a bit worse for wear. You absolutely reeked of her cunt, a smell I was intimately familiar with.

"Like me, Lata liked men and like me she didn't mind a bit of slit when it was going. Especially on those long field trips it was really the only way. We could hardly fuck the crew. So we helped each other out. It was a good relationship. We had a lot of fun together. Be that as it may, I'm starving. Sex makes me always hungry."

"Well, how about we have a shower and go to the restaurant for a meal and a few drinks. Afterwards, if you feel like it, we come back here and fuck some more."

Bernice sang:

"Fuck some more, fuck some more,

Oh, I like the sound of that,

Fuck some more, fuck some more,

With a donger long and fat!"

"You should be a songwriter."

"I have many talents."

"Yes," I said, looking at my thoroughly deflated dick. "Yes, I know."

***

The wreath laying went as expected. General Taubner had arranged an honour guard as well as people who photographed and filmed the event. Some joker had colonel insignia in bright yellow embroidered on my fatigues. Not the same insignia the Federation uses, but something similar. At any rate it was clear to any observer what they meant. It had to de done on the general's orders. Why he felt that was necessary I didn't know. I didn't ask. We had a meal and a few drinks after the event at my hotel. As expected General Taubner had a lot of questions. I told him a number of things, some real, others total bullshit. Nothing of much importance.

Then he came to the thing that was really bugging him.

"Where do you think the Oktonians get their human negotiators from? Any ideas?" he asked.

Sooner or later that would get out anyway so I answered truthfully.

"I believe there is a human colony on Okton4, Sir."

"How can there be? There are no human women on the planet."

"That's what they say. But, is it true? I think not."

"You must have your reasons. Care to tell me what they are?"

"When I went to Federation Security to query the credentials of the negotiator assigned to my project I was told what the Federation knew of him and his colleagues and shown proof. When asked why I had been suspicious I told them I didn't think the Oktonians would hand over their entire foreign trade to a bunch of spacers who had deserted their ships because of alien pussy.

"It wasn't until later, when I thought some more about it, that I realised the same would be true for a bunch of humans recruited clandestinely elsewhere. They could never trust them enough. Which leaves as the only other possible source a human colony on Okton4, possibly established long before the Oktonians approached the Federation. That, and only that, explains the facts as we know them, in my view."

"Thank you, Colonel Walters. Duty calls. I must get back to my office. You may approach me directly at any time, bypassing the chain of command, should you judge it to be necessary. Good luck with your project."

We shook hands and that was it. I was on my own again. I got in touch with Pedro. The Pygmalion had been cleared by quarantine and was now some eight hundred miles east of here on his property. He told me he would send a small plane to pick me up and could I be at the airport at midday tomorrow. I said that would be alright.

An hour later Bernice arrived. We spent the rest of the day and the night together. It was nice. In the morning I was full of energy and rearing to go. It is amazing what a few good fucks do to the morale of a man. I settled my hotel bill and after breakfast Bernice drove me to the airport. I gave Bernice my hypercom address and told her to stay in touch. She left without looking back.

I went to the bar and waited for my transport. The flight to Juan and Pedro's spread was uneventful. We were on the tarmac at around two o'clock.

The Rodriguez property had been in the hands of the family for over two hundred years. Originally a cattle property and much larger, today there are some five square miles left, which had been turned into a private spaceport over time. The Federation does not like facilities like this in private hands and had been pressuring the brothers for a number of years to sell out to them. Pedro and Juan did not think they could hold out much longer, hence their interest in moving their operation to Olympus.