Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 28

Here Wildchild languished, interspersing her sucks with passionate mouth-to-mouth kisses that made Hazel respond with a lustful tongue.

Her hand caressed Hazel's lithe body, through her hair, over her shoulders, down her ribs and across her stomach to her thigh. With kisses tracing the same line back down to Hazel's pussy, Wildchild attached her mouth again and this time did not stop to tease.

Licking a figure-of-eight on Hazel's clit, and dipping into her vulva on some strokes, Wildchild kept her girlfriend on the boil until her needy cries and arching back demanded a completion of some kind.

Wildchild pushed her middle finger into Hazel's soaking pussy and sucked on her clitoris. She fingered the girl to an overwhelming climax, lashing the clitoris with her tongue, making Hazel's pussy quiver and her legs shake. Hazel came again, her hands gripping Wildchild's shoulders, back arched so far that only the top of her head was on the bed.

She felt the hot, pumping, surging pleasure spread over her chest and thighs, in the small of her back and in her throat. Even her ears tingled.

Once more she stiffened and held her breath. The joy was so intense it was almost painful. She wanted it to stop and to last forever. When she breathed again, it was to cry out "I love you, Sam!" with a strong convulsion that made her sit up and collapse back again, arching in mixed ecstasy and torment.

Then she had no more to give. Hazel lay insensate, smothered in love. Wildchild held her tightly, caressing the tension away. The juices of Hazel's pleasure shone on her lips.

"I love you, Hazel." Wildchild said. "All the time we were dancing, chatting to our friends, enjoying the music, the candles, or the sight of the beautiful women in their gorgeous gowns, I thought only of you. I couldn't wait to get you back here alone. You fulfil me."

"You know, for an oddly proud and silent girl," Hazel said, "you do have a way with words."

"That's it?" Wildchild said, laughing. "I bare my soul to you, and you comment on my elocution?"

"Oh, I know your soul already. It's part of me, as my soul is part of you. I'll love you forever, Samothea Galateasdaughter, and I'll never change. Our love is stronger than granite, more certain than gravity."

"Now who's eloquent?"

Laughing the girls fell to kissing again and, after a time, Hazel lay on top of Wildchild and made her girlfriend as happy as she had ever been.

******

On the day they were scheduled to leave Argus, in the morning before meeting Viktor and his two consciences for a farewell breakfast, Tatiana and the girls had a scheduled videochat with Ezra on Celetaris.

The girls talked about the glittering ball and their gorgeous gowns; the fancy food they neglected because they were too excited to eat; the splendour of Viktor's tailcoat, top-hat, cape and dress cane; the handsome boys who asked them to dance, and how, with ladylike reserve, they politely let down those men who wanted to do more than dance.

Tatiana reported the fulfilment of the mission, with the success of a hold full of minerals to be brokered by Viktor, and the inconclusive result of the x-ray detectors.

When they had accepted Ezra's congratulations, he said:

"I've bad news about Lenta, and the worst thing is that I can't do anything about it."

He told them the story, including his hope for the medical pod and the x-ray protective laminate, with his fear that he will be too late in getting them to Samothea because all his spare funds, after paying his share of the Samothea Company, were tied up in investments waiting to pay off.

"Viktor will pay for it," Wildchild said with surety. "He can buy your laminate design and you can use the money to complete the production of the medical pod."

"Why would he buy the laminate design?"

"Because he's looking for technology that will work on Samothea or make use of its x-rays. We don't know why he bought a share in the Samothea Company, but now he wants to invest in something that will bring him a profit."

"Is swindle," said Tatiana, still riding the hobby horse from which she could see only dark motives for Viktor's actions. "He gets rivals to invest in Samothea Company to push up price, then takes profit before shares fall."

"Even if he's a swindler," Ezra said, "if Viktor buys the laminate technology for enough money so that I can send a medical pod to Samothea, then I'll be content. Doubtless he can get the sheets manufactured cheaply."

"It's definitely the kind of investment he's looking for," Wildchild insisted. "It will pay him dividends in the future because everyone who lives on Samothea, native or colonist, will need the laminate sheets."

"We'll persuade him over breakfast," Hazel said.

"Da, da," Tatiana said. "We negotiate for you. Pretty girls trick trickster."

"He'll be buying a valuable product," Hazel insisted. "Besides, Jia-Li will help us. She always says Viktor has too much money."

"Send us your design specs, costs and test-results," Wildchild said.

"Sending them now," Ezra said. "You can see how much I think the laminates are worth and the minimum I'll take for them. I'll put it in the contract that Viktor is to sell me enough sheets at cost to roof Lenta's hut and the veranda."

6 Settlement

Roger jumped to New Exeter in the middle of the frozen planet's short summer.

The shuttlecraft's gentle glide down to the surface traversed a swathe of green about five-hundred miles wide, north and south of the equator, as if someone had painted a green stripe around a snowball.

Roger gazed out of the window, pleased to see the farms thriving and small seasonal rivers flowing into the deep cuts of the quarries that were originally intended to be lakes before the money to complete the terraforming ran out.

Up ahead was a giant square building, white with three large funnels rising 400 feet above the plain. There was a heat-haze over the building. Smoke billowed from the funnels, puffing white clouds into the clear blue sky.

"Hold onto your hats," the pilot said as he steered the shuttlecraft straight over the generator at 5,000 feet. The passengers felt the lift from the rising thermal column. It was a surge rather than a kick, but it was thrilling, bringing some laughter and cries of "Oooh!" Once over the bump, the smooth glide continued for the last few miles to the astroport and a soft touchdown.

Mayor Esther Grandley's assistant, Nigel, was waiting for Roger with a ground car to take him to the only city on the planet.

"I'm glad to see the generator working," Roger said as they zipped along the road between the farms. Fields flourished green in the warm sun. A strong breeze bowed the spiky heads of the wheat. Wild flowers exploited the brief summer to decorate the verges, inviting the keen employment of busy bees. "How long has it been on?"

"Three months," Nigel said, proudly.

"Did Esther finally persuade the appropriations committee?"

"No. She did better. But I won't spoil the story. She wants to tell you herself."

The ground car pulled up outside the town hall in the centre of New Exeter City, next to the torn-down statue of Alexander Marazon, which Roger ritually kicked to express his American contempt for tyranny.

Although New Exeter was the poorest member of the Outworld League, with the smallest population, it had the grandest civic building of them all: a ten-storey town hall made from marble and glass. It was a relic of a time when the planet was Marazonia and the tyrannical government spent the population's substance to advertise its own importance.

The ground-floor was now an indoor market and food court. The government occupied the first three floors. The higher levels were leased out to private businesses. Mayor Grandley's office was on the third floor, looking out over the central square. Roger stepped into her warm office and Esther pushed aside her paperwork.

"Roger, welcome! So good of you to come all this way."

"I'm glad to be here to share in your triumph."

"You mean the generator? I will indulge in a brief gloat."

Roger smiled and took out his communicator, setting it on record mode.

"You don't mind?" he asked.

"Go ahead."

Nigel sat quietly in the corner, ready to make notes.

"Madam Mayor," Roger began formally. "Please tell me how you managed to finance the generator without persuading the appropriations committee to release the funds."

"By voluntary donations from the citizenry. The people of New Exeter are now, thankfully, a suspicious and stubborn folk, which protects them from government overreach, but running the generator, to pump hot water to the city via the farms and industrial units along the coast road, providing cheap heating for homes, was always part of the settlement plan. Now we're fuelling the generator by public subscription.

"There are many benefits. The pipes run under the road to keep the surface frost-free even in the late spring and early autumn; and the carbon dioxide exhaust will slowly warm the atmosphere and green the planet."

"Very slowly," Roger said. "If you wanted the greenhouse effect, you'd be better to release the methane into the air unburned."

"True enough, but small steps are best for now. As you know, the original plan for settlement after terraforming was to build a generator for every city, but only one city was ever built. Due to economic problems, settlement was never as attractive as expected. Things are looking better now."

"Was it difficult to persuade the people to pay for the fuel?"

"No. The economy has been growing strongly and everyone's feeling rich, so we decided we wanted to be warm as well. The fur trapping and hunting tourist people were against it, but most of the small business consortium is in support. There's also outside sponsorship."

"You make it sound simple."

"The concept is simple. If you want something, you should pay for it."

"New Exeter's economy has been growing ever since you became mayor. What has changed to make people feel wealthier now?"

"Ah, that's a story in itself. Since your wife built the tethered hyperspace link from Celetaris to here, fuel costs have reduced."

"So it's cheaper to import hydrocarbons."

"Much more than that, Roger. Much more," Esther said, grinning. "The solar collectors that power the hyperspace beacon produce a surplus of energy, which is transferred to the engineering station, where the big freighters can refuel more cheaply. This reduces transportation costs, bringing cheaper finished goods and raw materials to New Exeter. It also makes our minerals, gems and fur exports cheaper, increasing our margins, so we can afford to import the methane. It's a virtuous cycle. I love how markets work."

Roger smiled at the Mayor's enthusiasm.

"And the outside sponsor?"

"A commodities broker and investor on Argus Space Station. He's taken an interest in our planet. He says he wants to invest in the asteroid mines and the hyperspace link, though I don't think he's made a move on them yet. But he made us a good will gift to help with the generator. In fact, it was his promise of a gift that started me off raising funds."

Roger paused in thought.

"Is this businessman Viktor Bogdanov?" he asked.

"Now, Roger, how in the galaxy could you have known that? Do you know him?"

"No, but two of the girls from Samothea work for him. In fact, they're on a prospecting mission for him right now with one of our friends."

"What work do they do for Mister Bogdanov?"

"They work as consultants, feeding him information about the Samothea Project."

"Danielle allows this?"

"She encourages them. He pays them some pocket money and they clear all the information they send to him with her first. He insists."

"Very peculiar. What's his purpose?"

"I can't say, but he's also a shareholder in the Samothea Company, so maybe he's protecting his investment. Do you know what Bogdanov's goal is in sponsoring your generator?"

"I've no idea. He knows there can be no political benefit. Even if I had the power to do commercial favours, everyone knows it's against my principles. I thought it was genuine good will without an ulterior motive."

Roger turned off his communicator and Nigel stopped scribbling notes but sat listening attentively.

"Let's assume that Viktor has a devious plan," Roger said. "What could it be? Could donating money to warm the planet help your political opponents?"

"I doubt it. It's more likely to help me with undecided voters. Warming the planet has large popular support.

"The fur trapping and hunting tourist businesses have always been against turning the generator on, and the opposition party usually sides with them, but the biggest businesses are the mining companies and they're more interested in the asteroid belt. They use the planet only for the gems dealers and the spot market for minerals."

"What will happen to the fur industry as the planet warms?"

"The bears, mink and other animals will retreat north or south. The hunting tourist businesses will just have to build new cabins. It's a cost and a nuisance for them."

"Should we hold off on the fur trapping proposition, ma'am?" Nigel asked.

"No, that also has popular support."

"What's the fur trapping proposition?" Roger asked.

"It's a new law prohibiting fur trapping on New Exeter," Esther explained. "As you know, I'm against animal cruelty. I can't stop the hunting, especially as many ordinary folk enjoy it, but I can stop the cruelty of trapping. I don't care if it hurts the fur pelt industry. They'll just have to farm the mink and foxes, not trap them."

There was silence for a minute while Nigel finished writing up his notes. He looked at the clock and with a nod from Esther went to make some tea.

"Now, Roger," Esther said, "you came to see me to discuss the idea of getting Samothea admitted to the Anglosphere as a member of the Outworld League. Has the Samothea Company made an official application to join the Anglosphere?"

"Not yet. Not much of anything has happened. We're waiting for Andrew Claydon, the new general manager of the company, to return from Earth. He's arranging the handover of ownership from Outworld Ventures to the Samothea Company, but there's tricky legal and political details. For the rest, we're just treading water."

Nigel was back now with the tea and his notepad.

"Very well," Esther said. "Tell me the details."

"The biggest problem, as always, is money," Roger said. "How can the Samothea Company remain solvent without selling settlement plots on the planet? But to make settlement possible, Samothea must become an industrial society. It will be industry at the level of the nineteenth century on Earth, which means pollution. There will also be an equal number of men to women, maybe a predominance of men to begin with."

"Which the women of Samothea don't want?"

"Some want male settlers. Others don't. None, so far as I know, wants parity between men and women. What they all want is to be able to choose who settles on their planet."

"Which is why you've come to see me, for an update on New Exeter's arrangements with the Outworld League and whether similar arrangements might be appropriate for Samothea?"

"Yes, ma'am, as a sort of a backdoor into the Anglosphere."

"Except you won't call it that, will you?"

"No, ma'am."

"Because that's what I was accused of making: a backdoor into the Outworld League for immigrants from Earth."

"How is your policy of common vetting standards for settlers and free movement of labour within the Outworld League working out?"

"It's going well. Our population is increasing, for now."

"Is there onward movement to the more hospitable planets?"

"That was what some other members of the league feared, but such movement seems to be minimal. We don't keep track of citizens but some of the more prosperous planets in the league can afford to run surveys. They would report if Earthside immigrants were using us to get to the richer planets.

"The best news is the kind of people coming here. They're pioneers. They're opening farms, small businesses and workshops. Or they're engineers, mechanics, teachers and nurses. There are no slackers or skivers because we have no welfare state to attract them. Besides, our people won't put up with spongers anymore."

"And you were gloating about the generator!"

"I know. There's lots for me to gloat about. Doubtless something will go awfully wrong soon to balance it out, but let's not worry about that now. Let's talk about Samothea."

"Yes, ma'am. Do you think you can persuade the other planets to accept Samothea into the Outworld League?"

"You know the sticking-points?"

"Yes, polygamy and settlers. Samothea cannot join the Anglosphere, even as a member of the Outworld League, if there's polygamy. We're due for a meeting with the company lawyer soon. He's looking into the law for us, to say whether Ezra's harem counts as polygamy in regard to Anglosphere common law, but all Ezra's bedmates that I know of want to remain his bedmates.

"As for settlers," Roger continued. "It's the same story. The Samothea Company wants to control the number and type of settlers for the sake of the women of Samothea, but Earth wants the maximum of immigrants regardless of their quality or even criminal records. If Samothea wants to be inside the Anglosphere and can't find a way to pay for the goods and technology it needs, then it may have to sell plots to anyone who wants them."

"I know how Earthside politicians operate," Esther said. "Earth will use its power to refuse Samothea membership of the Anglosphere as a bargaining chip to get the wanton immigration it wants. So we need some product unique to Samothea to bring in a big income, to outweigh the cost of being outside the Anglosphere. Any ideas?"

"None at all. Of course, if Samothea has nothing to trade, then there is no benefit to joining the Anglosphere, though its fees cover the costs of mutual defence, judiciary, border controls and government administration."

"There are costs, though smaller, for membership of the Outworld League. Even so, if we can solve the polygamy problem, I think our chances of getting Samothea admitted to the Outworld League are pretty high. We're a touchy and independent bunch here and we like thumbing our noses at the big bully, Earth. We would enjoy admitting Samothea, just to spite Earth and the Homeworld planets."

******

Danielle Goldrick was in her warm brightly-lit office on a cold foggy day. She was supposed to be preparing for the spring term, when a small intake of new students from planets with different seasons from the galactic standard would arrive, but actually she was playing with her upgraded computer, seeing what its new thinking units and governing program could do.

A comms signal announced itself. Danielle glanced over and read its sender tag.

"Mister Bogdanov?" she said. "I'm Danielle Goldrick."

"Doctor Goldrick, It's an honour to talk to you. I'm a great admirer of your work. I'm especially grateful for the direct hyperspace link to Argus Space Station from Earth that your technology made possible."

"You're welcome, Mister Bogdanov."

"Please call me Viktor. Your work for the planet Samothea is also commendable, but I think your greatest achievement will be your students, my young friends, Hazel Violetsdaughter and Samothea Galateasdaughter."

"They're impressive girls, aren't they? Though I'm not responsible for their brains and spirits."

"No, indeed. They propel themselves; but your good hand clearly shows in their education."

"While we're speaking, Viktor, I'd like to thank you for supporting the Samothea Company."

"I'm an entrepreneur. It's an investment. I will make it pay off for me."

"I hope so. How can I help you?"