Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

Tatiana refused to confirm the well-known secret that some businesses had enquired to buy the planet Samothea from the settler company on behalf of both Danielle Goldrick and her brother, but Viktor had the story almost precisely correct.

The pair ended up as Russians so often do: drunk, telling outrageous lies, childish jokes and dirty stories. Hui-Yin and Jia-Li left them to it and went to bed.

Next day, after Tatiana left for Celetaris to catch up with Ezra, a special parcel arrived for Victor. A box like it arrived for him every month from Earth; and every month he heaved himself up from his two stools, packed up his booth in the Merchant Hall and waddled, wheezing and panting, down to the importation docks to collect it in person. The gross man brought the two-feet-long package back to his apartment, holding it protectively.

His petite Chinese partners were preparing the apartment for dinner. Pretty round-faced Jia-Li was cooking. Hui-Yin, with the elegant shoulders and delicate hands, was laying the table.

"I'm home, ladies," Viktor announced, holding his precious box.

"Not another one," Hui-Yin said. "Why do you bother with that thing?"

"It's traditional now."

"Well, not until after dinner. We're almost ready."

"As you wish."

He put the box on the bed and washed his hands ready for the meal.

For a grossly fat man, Viktor did not eat very much and the girls seemed only to taste their dishes.

After dinner, if there were no guests or they were not going visiting, they usually relaxed in deep armchairs and discussed the day's events. During this time, it was Viktor's job to listen to his partners. It was a job he enjoyed and was good at. But tonight Jia-Li said:

"I'm horny. Play with us?"

"But not in that thing," Hui-Yin said.

"All right, all right. You're enough to wear a man out. Help me out of it, then."

They went to the bathroom and the girls helped him strip off his clothes. There were rolls of fat around his neck, under his arms and across his chest. His belly was a mountain.

They threw his velvet suit and underwear in the wash.

Hui-Yin stood behind him, reached up to the back of his neck and pushed a delicate finger into the rolls of fat there. Then she pulled hard.

Viktor's back seemed to split away from him in two large slices, pink on the edges, rolling over his shoulders and down his arms, which he stretched out.

Jia-Li stood in front of him and put her hands up to the gap that opened at his neck. She pulled the fat-suit all the way down. An athletic man, naked and covered in sweat, stepped out of the suit, which wobbled and undulated on the bathroom floor. It was already beginning to coalesce, to solidify into a pink mass.

"Gross," Jia-Li said, as she always did when the suit came off.

The real Viktor Bogdanov, a hairy muscular man, peeled off his fat cheeks, fat nose and blubbery neck to reveal a long thin face, with sunken cheeks, a strong jaw and a month of beard-growth.

"Phew!" Viktor said. "It's always a relief when it comes off."

"We don't know why you wear it," Hui-Yin said. "It's no shame to admit you've had a rejuvenation treatment and that you use nanobots to keep yourself thin."

"It's expected of me now," Viktor said. "People think fat men are rich and successful."

"But you are rich and successful," Jia-Li protested. "We think you like hiding behind all that blubber."

"It also puts people off their guard," Viktor admitted. "It makes them think I'm soft and cuddly."

"You are soft and cuddly," Hui-Yin said. "Now go into the shower and wash off all that sweat, otherwise we won't let you touch us."

"And shave off that bristle," Jia-Li said.

As Viktor obeyed, the horny girls got into bed and began to make love. When Viktor was clean and shaved, he came naked back to the bedroom. He stopped in the doorway to watch the girls. They knew he was there and made love with giggles, showing him their bottoms, just to tease him.

It worked. He was firmly erect and ready when Hui-Yin had teased and fondled Jia-Li to a point where she was quietly moaning and ready to pop.

Hui-Yin made way for Viktor and pulled Jia-Li's legs apart. The girl had no resistance. Her sopping wet pussy flared invitingly. But she was to be denied for a minute. Hui-Yin lent over her and put her mouth around Viktor's cock. She swirled her tongue on its head until it was coated with saliva. She pulled back smiling, gave a wink to Viktor and sat on Jia-Li's face.

Viktor positioned himself and, with gasps from the girl, sank his cock into Jia-Li's tight slit and began to thrust, shaking her skinny body.

She neglected Hui-Yin's pussy and threw her head back to wallow in the vigorous fucking, moaning loudly and bucking as Viktor drove into her.

She climaxed hard, with a triumphant squeal as he came in her, grunting and panting.

When it was Hui-Yin's turn, she rode Viktor slowly, taking her time, while a reinvigorated Jia-Li lapped at her nipples and gently rubbed her clitoris. Hui-Yin also came with a triumphant squeal, her pussy pulsating on Viktor's cock. He had another satisfying finish and, afterward, relaxed on the bed, covered in as much sweat as when he was inside the fat-suit.

The girls lay either side of him and cuddled him. Jia-Li ran a hand through his chest hair, twiddling her own long black hair in an absent way. He could tell she had something on her mind.

"Do you have something to say, Jia-Li?" he asked.

"Are you happy, Viktor Petrovich?"

"Yes, my sweet, very happy, thanks to you girls."

"Then I have something to confess."

"What do you have to confess?"

"I've done something you'll hate me for."

"I forgive you."

"How can you forgive me before you know what I've done?"

"I'm a Russian. Holy Mother Church says I must forgive, so I forgive. ... But I also take revenge!" he said with a theatrical flourish of his hand.

"I don't want you to take revenge on me, Viktor."

"I was only joking, pretty Jia-Li. You really are forgiven. Tell me what you did wrong."

"I was clearing up your trunk and I saw your private papers. So I read them. I'm sorry."

"Jia-Li is like a cat," Hui-Yin said. "If there's something interesting, she has to look."

"It's my fault for not locking them up properly," Viktor said. "We'll forget it ever happened."

"There's something I can't forget," Jia-Li said. "You have letters from Alexander Marazon."

"We know who Alexander Marazon was," Hui-Yin said. "He was dictator of New Exeter."

"He was President of Marazonia," Viktor insisted.

"He was a tyrant."

"He was democratically elected but was forced by circumstances to assume emergency powers."

"He robbed the settler company of thousands and forced New Exeter into bankruptcy."

"He expropriated the robber barons of the settler company, who were exploiting the colony. It was the collapse of galactic trade that caused the bankruptcy."

"You believe in free markets, Viktor Petrovich. Your fortune has been made on the free market. You say that's why the Anglosphere is richer than the Sino-Russian Federation. You prefer to live on Argus rather than in Russia. But Alexander Marazon wanted the government to control the economy and he ruled people by force. Why are you defending him?"

Viktor paused and said quietly:

"He was my grandfather."

This was something that needed to be explained. The girls sat up to listen to Viktor's story.

"After my grandfather was exiled from Marazonia," Viktor said, "he took refuge in the Sino-Russian Federation, living in Vladivostok."

"We call it Haishenwai," Jia-Li said.

"I was born there. My grandfather never talked about his past, about the treachery of the people of Marazonia. This was at my father's request. My father wanted me to have a normal education and to go into business, not politics. But my grandfather wrote up his story in the letters he left me. Now I want revenge."

"You aren't your grandfather," Hui-Yin said.

"I know."

"Whom do you want revenge against?" Jia-Li asked.

"I'll show you."

Viktor called up the computer viewing screen and played a clip. It was from Roger Harcourt's videobook about the fate of the Outworld Colonies since independence. Viktor had the computer play the scene in which Roger interviewed Mayor Esther Grandley in her office in the capital city of New Exeter, skipping to the point where Mayor Grandley said:

"... the original reason to colonise New Exeter was to harvest the minerals from the asteroid belt. Business only slowed for the mines there and they've been at pre-slump levels ever since Marazon was exiled. In fact, he sold them off too cheaply to fund his welfare state and his vanity projects, such as this monstrous Town Hall and that vulgar statue."

"Vulgar statue!" Viktor scoffed. "I've seen the photographs. My grandfather's statue was a masterpiece."

His passion frightened Jia-Li, but Hui-Yin was not so easily intimidated.

"Why do you want revenge against Mayor Grandley? Was she responsible for your grandfather's exile?"

"No, but she's responsible for blackening his memory now."

"How are you going to take revenge?"

"I haven't decided."

"We won't let you ruin New Exeter."

"I won't ruin Marazonia."

"What about the girls from Samothea?" Jia-Li said. "They're sending us information about the Samothea Project, including New Exeter. Are they helping you in your revenge? You promised you wouldn't cheat them."

"I'm keeping my promise."

"None of this makes sense, Viktor Petrovich," Hui-Yin objected. "You're fabulously rich. Why bother with revenge when you could live on Earth and buy a palace in Rublyovka? You could have gold taps and gold handrails, with servants to polish them all day long. You could have a dozen tall blonde Russian women to love you."

"I don't want any tall blonde Russian women when I have two beautiful Chinese women."

"You won't have us if you waste our money seeking revenge. Some of your wealth is ours, remember."

"I promise. Your money will be well invested. ... I think I may buy us a planet."

******

Elspeth Bereded's official letter to the Samothea Project offered the support of the Women's Business Initiative in three ways.

Firstly, members of the Initiative would pay for some medical treatments for the women of Samothea, such as fertility treatments. This was women helping women: a major aim of the Initiative. It was an unconditional gift and immediately available.

Secondly, the Initiative would guarantee loans for the Project up to a million Galactic Pounds.

Thirdly, the Initiative would make the approach to Outworld Ventures on behalf of the Samothea Project, with the hope that their influence might get a better price out of the settler company.

Loan guarantees and representation to the settler company were on condition that the Initiative could propose directly to the women of Samothea that their planet became a women-only colony.

Elspeth promised that her own company would join a consortium to buy the planet Samothea and that she would encourage other members to join, but it would be in a private capacity, not as a collective endeavour of the Initiative, which was not fully behind giving money to the Samothea Project.

Although Eva had the support of the Initiative, with no pledges of money to pay her part of the cost of the planet, she had no real influence. She would make the Initiative's case to the women of Samothea as fervently as she could but, from her position, she could not demand a woman-only planet.

This left Danielle and Ezra to argue about how much each should pay into the Project. Eva waited patiently for them to agree to a compromise in which Danielle got her way and Ezra did as he was told.

Danielle insisted she would try to buy the planet outright, so Ezra could keep his money for his bedmates and children. Ezra wanted to pay his half, even if it cost him everything he had; even if he had to take on debts for the rest of his life.

They argued as a loving brother and sister, without the personal bickering of siblings who know exactly how to tweak each other's most sensitive spots; but it was not an argument they could resolve until they approached Outworld Ventures and got an official price for Samothea.

"There's another thing," Danielle said. "I've changed my mind about supporting Eva's idea of a woman-only planet, now that she can't contribute any money to the project. And before you protest again, Ezra, you should know that Roger agrees with me."

"Roger's kind enough to indulge you, Sis," Ezra said, "but what if Outworld Ventures asks you for ten million Galactic Pounds, as they did before?"

This started them off on their argument again. As neither would give way, and she had to get away to a meeting, Eva interrupted to bring the quarrel to an end.

"What Ezra is saying, Danielle, is that you may be the family genius but you're still only a woman."

Danielle laughed.

"Ooh! Eva Welwyn, radical feminist, has finally got her tease on. You go, girl! ... And as for you, big brother: just think yourself lucky that Hazel persuaded me to spare your life two months ago."

"I give up," Ezra said.

"I'm taking Eva to her first girly lunch with Joan, Cassie and Rosa this afternoon. I'll ask their advice about your role in the Samothea Project."

"Can we talk about the Samothea Project at girly lunch?" Eva asked. "Is it a suitable topic?"

"Why would it be unsuitable? What do you think we talk about at girly lunch?" Danielle asked.

"I don't know: men; shopping; your periods?"

Danielle laughed again. It was exactly her style of teasing with an outrageous stereotype that contained a grain of truth. It was something Eva had started to do only after Danielle forced her to laugh at her own feminist nonsense.

"I've created a monster," she said.

******

Eva had a meeting that morning with Professor Jakovs. Danielle went to fetch her from his office on the way to girly lunch. She knocked and waited outside, not wanting to intrude on the conference.

"Come in," said Hendrik.

"Hello, Hendrik," Danielle said. "I'm just collecting Eva for lunch."

"Where's your lunch?"

"Oceano in the precinct."

"That's where I'm meeting Professor Martlebury. I'll come with you."

Hendrik accompanied Eva and Danielle to the hovertrain terminus outside The Vortex, the twisting science faculty tower at the western end of the Science Park. They shared a cigar-shaped twelve-seater capsule with a few students and another staff member.

From the platform, the hovertrain zipped away across the Science Park on a rail fifteen feet in the air, riding a magnetic levitation beam eastward to Arts City. There were three more stops in the science park: for The Needle (the university administration tower by the campus quadrant), the large white dome of the conference centre and the medical centre, a featureless white box on the eastern edge of the campus.

Now the capsule was full. It set off for the suburbs of Arts City, cutting off an edge of Fanshaw Park. It stopped among the avenues, parks and comfortable family homes of the in the western suburbs, where Joan Mayfield lived, Kelly went to high school and Freya went to infant school.

At the central business district, they changed track southward toward the harbour and the central ocean. After ten minutes in all, they alighted at a large square with fountains, empty flower baskets and small ornamental trees in terracotta planters. The shops had multicoloured awnings so that pedestrians could walk from the station through the shops and offices to the harbour without getting rained on.

Half the shops in the precinct were cafes or restaurants. The others were posh boutiques for clothes, jewellery, beauty parlours and hairdressers. One was a fishing tackle shop: a masculine preserve out of place away from the waterfront.

Oceana was Danielle's favourite Portuguese fish and pasta restaurant. It had bay windows under a blue and white awning. Inside were rustic wooden tables, comfortable wicker chairs, crisp white tablecloths, quick and helpful waitresses and excellent food. This was where the Project team had entertained Mayor Esther Grandley. It was a preferred destination for the girly lunch if the friends had an extra half-hour to spare.

Eva and Danielle joined Rosa, Joan and Cassie at a table in the window. Hendrik nodded to the ladies and found himself a table for two at the back of the restaurant. He took out his computer tab to project a page of equations onto the tablecloth and was instantly lost in a science problem, unconcerned that Max Martlebury had not turned up yet. Meanwhile, the women at their girly lunch ordered wine and hors d'oeuvres and tried to keep Danielle under control.

Later, when Danielle and Rosa (lusty women with good appetites) were tucking into their main courses, while Joan, Eva and Cassie picked carefully at their salads, Professor Max Martlebury stood by the fountain in the square outside the hovertrain station and called his wife on his communicator.

"Dot, I'm at the precinct. Why am I here?"

"You're there for lunch with Hendrik," Professor Dorothy Martlebury, the galaxy's foremost expert on programmable mathematics, said to her absent-minded husband. "You were to meet him at Oceana at twelve."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. Thank you, Dear."

He went into the restaurant and found Hendrik.

"Hello, old man," Max said. "Sorry I'm late. What are you working on?"

"Oh, hello, Max. Are you late? I hadn't noticed. It's the usual problem: the unification of hyperspace and quantum gravitation."

Some people live in an ethereal realm where the mathematically possible is as familiar and immediate as the physically real. Max Martlebury and Hendrik Jakovs were two of them. So was Danielle, when she went into her trances. Otherwise, like Dorothy Martlebury and Rosa, Danielle kept a good grip on practical reality.

A few minutes later, Eva saw Danielle looking at the two men, silently pondering.

"What are you thinking about?" Eva asked.

"I was wondering why the truly great physicists are all men."

"Oh, come on, Danielle!" Eva exclaimed. "What about you and Rosa?"

"We're good, I agree, especially Rosa. And I have high hopes for Samothea and Yael; but Hendrik lives in a world of exotic matter, multidimensional forces and parallel universes which I visit only for a time; but he comes back to our tiny sliver of reality only when he feels like it."

"Is that his gift: the power of abstraction?" Joan asked.

"I think so. Remember what Esther Grandley said at the dinner we had here in the spring, that women are generally too practical to undertake the kinds of single-minded tasks that men specialise in, those requiring days of concentration? Maybe that's why the great artists, musicians and scientists are all men. Even the best chefs are men."

"No, no, no, no, no!" Eva objected. "I'm damned if I'm going to let you say that Max Martlebury is a greater mathematician than Dot Martlebury just because he's a man."

"Isn't Dot recognised galaxy-wide as a leading mathematician?" Cassie asked.

"She is," Danielle said, "but she studies a practical subject, programmable maths, not the pure number theory that Max is an expert in."

"What Esther said about women being practical, she meant it as a positive thing," Eva said. "But you've turned it into something negative."

"I agree with Eva," Joan said to Eva's astonishment. "I don't think being absent-minded is a virtue. I wouldn't like to be able to concentrate on a single problem for days at a time and forget the real world around me. It would drive me nuts."

"However," Joan added, either because she believed it or just to tease Eva, "I agree with Danielle that most of the great artists, scientists, composers, architects and chefs are men ..."