WSIM24B Ch. 06

- "Let's make it really convincing for them." I whispered.

I reversed our positions, putting Nika with her back to the spray, while I sank to my knees. Even so, the disparity in our heights made it difficult to get a good angle of approach. Nika solved that by lifting one leg and resting it on my shoulder. Problem solved.

I began to re-acquaint myself with her rather large and protruding inner labia, and her extremely conspicuous clitoral hood. The very first time we had sex, Nika had been just a bit self-conscious about the appearance of her pussy. I had managed to reassure her that not only did I not find it unappealing, but that I was all the more eager to explore her with fingers, lips and tongue.

Pilgrim's Golden Rule: when someone does unto you particularly well, return the favour as well as you can. I had spent a lot of time at WAFOTA eating pussy for women who weren't going to reply in kind. This, though... this was a thrill.

- "Oh, fuuuck..." she groaned. "Don't - don't drop me."

I didn't drop her. I didn't disappoint her, either. I liked Nika. Of course I was attracted to her, but I also respected her skills and enjoyed her company. I wanted to do the very best for her that I could - and if that increased the chances that we would repeat the experience... well, isn't that the whole point?

She tried to hold on to my shoulders as she came, but with her leg in the way, she ended up grabbing one of my ears.

We exited the shower feeling very clean, if slightly light-headed.

There were two beds in our room. We agreed (without a word) that it would look odd if we didn't share one, especially after our shower workout. We lay down face to face, kissing occasionally, and exchanging whispered observations about Captain Teck and his team.

- "How was she?" asked Nika.

- "What?"

- "Anna. How was she?"

I didn't know why she was asking that. And why now? I chose to give her a serious answer.

- "I would choose you over her ten times out of ten." I said.

She looked me in the eye. "You're such an asshole." she said.

***

Captain Teck's promised 'orientation' consisted of assigning a schedule of sleepread sessions for us, first thing in the morning. It was a bizarre selection: spears and pikes, and fencing instruction, with long, heavy rapiers.

On the plus side, I had been taught fencing at AFOTA. But there we had used foils, epees and sabres. The swords in my sleepread training were definitely thrusting weapons, but still double-edged and strong enough for slashing attacks. You weren't likely to lop somebody's arm off with one of them, but you had a serious reach advantage - not to mention speed - over someone armed with a long sword or a broadsword.

On the negative side, it's one thing to read about sword fighting, and quite another to train your body. Knowing the convoluted rules of baseball doesn't qualify you to be a starting pitcher.

Over lunch, Nika and I weren't given any opportunity for quiet conversation. The other four sat nearby, but without saying a word to us. So we faked it, and simply compared notes on what we'd learned.

In the afternoon, we had a second sleepread session. I was subjected to an archaic language that sounded very much like Italian, and a tutorial on crossbows. Those were less intimidating; we'd done some crossbow training at ISEC, and they were relatively simple to use.

Captain Teck checked in with us after the afternoon session.

- "Get some rest." he said. "Tomorrow will be even more intense."

- "Sir?" asked Nika. "Any chance you could give us some idea of what we're headed for?"

Teck had mastered the disdainful stare-down.

- "You're on a need to know basis." he said. "When you need to know, I'll tell you." He glared at us for a few extra seconds, and then walked away.

Nika and I just looked at each other. We needed to talk - privately. But we also needed to tire ourselves out. Sleepreading is not the same as sleeping, but spending much of the day in a drowsy, mildly sedated state is not conducive to getting a good night's sleep.

We went down to the gym and worked out for about an hour. I could think of other things that we could have doing to burn off energy, while also providing an opportunity to exchange information. I gave Nika a few appreciative stares, hoping that she'd figure it out.

She did.

Back in our room, after a quick shower, she seemed as eager to get to bed as I was.

Honestly, I hadn't been lying when I said that I'd choose Nika over Anna (or Abby). I'd have instantly chosen Nika over Becca, or Destiny, Professor Cable, or Lori. I might have hesitated a bit between Nika and Jane. But I was seriously into Nika.

She was bright, capable, and resourceful. She was cool under pressure, and didn't panic in a crisis (like when the instructor slashed my breathing tube while we were scuba diving). Nika was serious about the task at hand - maybe a bit too serious - but better that than not serious enough. She also had a great body. Yet it was her face that was more and more often attracting my attention, or intruding into my thoughts. Was her face so beautiful on its own? Or was it somehow the expression of the sum of all of her: brains, body, skills, and outlook?

Nika took the initiative again, stimulating me with her hands and her mouth until she could straddle my hips and ride me. But she leaned forward so that her breasts rested on my chest, and so that we could kiss - and whisper sweet nothings.

- "They're definitely on to us." she whispered.

- "Agreed. Not much we can do about it, though."

- "Stay alert. What did you get in sleepread?"

- "Pikes and swords, an old language, and crossbows."

- "Same. I won't be much use with swords. Never handled them before." she said.

I reminded her that we weren't actually going anywhere, if Captain Teck's pattern remained the same. A month and a half in space - why would we need anything like pikes and swords?

- "What if he's just feeding us drivel?"

It wasn't easy to concentrate on the whispered conversation, when my lower body was practically begging me to move, to thrust up into her, to hump and grind. By unspoken agreement, we suspended the discussion for a bit, and allowed our lower natures free rein.

I'm not sure if she came; I sure did. Nika lay forward, and rested her head on my chest. She wasn't too heavy; I was happy to have her there. Now that we were - temporarily - sated, we could continue our hushed conversation.

Nika had never handled a sword because she'd never been to WAFOTA, or had any kind of military training. She was a university student, headed for graduate studies, when ISEC came calling. They were impressed by her academic success as well as her track and field achievements. The fact that she'd dabbled in martial arts didn't hurt.

She had no idea that I'd been at AFOTA, where I'd trained with a variety of swords.

- "An officer? You?" she said, with a little smile. "No gentleman, though."

I didn't respond - not in words. But I think that she saw enough of my face.

"I'm sorry. That's not fair." she amended. "You were always very respectful of the boundaries I set up. It's just that... I could always tell that you were looking for a way to get around or over my barriers."

She kissed me, then, to take some of the sting out of her words. That led to some caresses, and some fondling... and then I positioned us with me seated on the edge of the bed, and her on my lap, with my cock embedded inside her. We were face to face, with limited opportunities for thrusting, but a myriad of possibilities for our hands and mouths - and we could whisper too, since the urgency down below wasn't quite so high.

Nika had little knowledge of languages, so she was surprised when I remarked on the archaic language we'd been taught, and its resemblance to Italian, or some other tongues that I was familiar with, like French or Spanish.

- "Multilingual sword fighter." she whispered, as she rocked her hips a little more. "When did you get so smart?"

- "You're smarter."

- "Agree to disagree."

Much as we enjoyed that low intensity position, I decided to finish with a flourish. I lifted her easily, and put her on her back, where I finished us both off with a passionate bout of missionary-style thrusting and pounding.

We slept.

In the morning, Teck put us straight back into sleepread. Horses. Care of horses. Horseback riding. Knives. Daggers. Dagger fighting. Archaic poetry. Ancient religious poetry, in free verse, from the sound of it. Oddly enough, the language bore some resemblance to Italian and Spanish.

- "Get some rest." said the Captain - exactly as he had said the night before. "Early start tomorrow."

Back in our room, I sat on the edge of the bed, and Nika sat on me, facing away. My hands were free, to reach around and take hold of her breasts, or to scratch her back. I could whisper in her ear, and she only had to lean back to do the same.

- "Care of horses?" she asked, softly.

I was perplexed by the same thing. Why feed us this useless crap, if we weren't going to be landing on a planet? And even if we did make landfall, what were the odds that there were actual horses - an animal that evolved on Old Earth, and nowhere else. There were other riding animals, of course, but these sleepread lessons were far too specific.

- "I've never even seen a live horse." I admitted. I wanted to add 'But I love the way you ride me' - except that I didn't think she'd appreciate it. Then she turned around, pushed me back on the bed, and did just that.

***

Captain Teck hadn't been kidding about an early start. We were roused at 0430, and told to meet in the rear lobby in 30 minutes. That was barely enough time to shower and throw our clothing and personal items back into our bags.

A shuttle was waiting. We were driven straight to the Halygon docks.

- "Leave your bags on the shuttle." said Captain Teck. It was an unusual order, but we didn't have anything of real value.

I'd been on Halygons before. So had Nika. We both noticed that there were only two crew members, a pilot and a medtech. They were seriously understaffed. Maybe it was because of how short our journey would be - but we couldn't admit that we knew that.

I had a brief, but very profound sense of unease. We were stuck aboard a Halygon ship with the Captain and four dangerous people, with nowhere to go if the shit hit the fan. On top of that, they probably suspected us. We were going to have to get lucky to find out anything of value.

Captain Teck instructed everyone to get settled. There were eight cryogenic pods for the seven of us. I caught Nika's eye, but she didn't seem that concerned. What else could we do but go along?

I was sedated and asleep before the ship took off.

***

I was the last one to be awoken. I was still a little groggy, but I registered that the only the person in the pod room with me was the female medtech. I also felt a twinge behind my right shoulder.

She saw it. "Oh, that's just your implant." she said. "We hit a bit of scar tissue, but it should be fine in a day or two."

The scar I knew about - it was from an alley brawl at my senior school, long before AFOTA. But an implant? A new implant, in my back?

I kept my mouth shut, and put on the clothing that she had laid out for me.

Tights, for my legs. It was like wearing a body stocking. The top was a combination of shirt and skirt, which reached down to just above my knees. A leather belt, soft shoes, and a sort of beret completed the ensemble. I must have looked like a complete idiot.

I went forward, to discover that we all looked like idiots. The women were dressed much like the men.

Captain Teck handed me a frog. No, not the amphibian. A frog was a piece of leather, like a holster, that attached to my belt, and allowed me to slide a scabbarded sword through it. Then he handed me a rapier and a dagger.

I was too surprised to do anything except accept them. Were we going to a costume party?

- "We landed an hour ago." said Captain Teck.

Wait... what?

"Tasha and Anna performed a sweep. The area is secure." The Captain turned to Nika and me. "You've had the sleepread training, but it will take awhile to acclimate to the language. The inhabitants cannot know that we're off-worlders; it would compromise the mission. So don't say a word. If anyone speaks to you, direct them to me. You don't talk - period. Is that understood?"

- "Yes, Sir." we chorused.

What the actual fuck? This was not what I'd been expecting when I climbed out of the stasis pod. Teck had never landed before. How could there be an unknown planet only a few days' travel from Attica? Especially one that used an archaic language and dressed like refugees from a Shakespearean festival.

- "So just follow, and keep your mouths shut." said our beloved Captain.

- "Sir?" asked Nika. "What is the mission?"

- "You don't need to know." he snapped. "When you do, I'll tell you."

That was utter bullshit. If we got separated from the group, or if anything happened to the others, what were Nika and I supposed to do? Teck was being a complete dick. Now I understood better why there had been mutinies, like on the Bounty.

Nika and I were given packs to carry. Will and Faraz had packs, as well, but it was hard not to notice that Teck, Tasha and Anna carried nothing other than their own gear.

My first impression was of the heat. It had to be almost 30 degrees Celsius. The sun was bright. It appeared to be a single sun; I couldn't see any others. Why hadn't this been included in our sleepread material? Weather, flora and fauna... local customs. We knew very little, and Teck had added virtually nothing to our very thin fund of knowledge.

We followed a forest track, between stands of deciduous and coniferous trees. There was wildlife: I heard a woodpecker, and then saw one. We startled a partridge, which abruptly took wing and scared the living shit out of me. Anna laughed.

I saw sparrows, finches, tiny lizards and a fair number of frogs, and off in the distance, a pair of deer, standing still and watching us. Deer? Where were we? I couldn't think of a single civilized planet that still had deer.

I'm no great tracker. I was a city boy, more comfortable in urban environments - or in a fight. Orienteering was a subject I put up with, at AFOTA. But I was beginning to revise that attitude; I would have dearly loved to have some idea of where we were, or where we were going.

Off in the distance, I heard a ringing sound. Nika stopped to listen, too. The sounds (plural, now) seemed to come from places that were fairly distant from each other. They were several kilometres apart, at least.

- "They're just bells." said the Captain. "Keep moving."

- "Is it a warning?" she asked. "Do they know we're here?"

- "No." he said. "It's... probably just a local celebration. Or an announcement of some kind."

Nika frowned. She didn't like not knowing what was going on. It took me a few minutes to put two and two together from our sleepread sessions: the archaic language, and the religious poetry in free verse. This planet still had religion, and the ringing came from their equivalent of church bells.

Teck had given it away. He had hesitated, as if he was going to lie, but then went ahead and told just enough of the truth that I was able to figure it out. In ancient human times, church bells had been rung to warn of danger - like an invasion - or to a celebrate a birth, or a wedding. But a birth or a wedding was unlikely, if the bells were ringing in two places at once - unless it was to announce the birth of a very important person. An heir to the Kingdom, perhaps?

But why hadn't Teck just told us the truth? Would it have been so hard to explain?

Captain Teck led us to a small house above a wooded slope. It was made of irregular stones, with smaller rocks fitted into the gaps. The roof was thatched. I'd read of such things, but never actually seen any. The inside of the house was almost empty. There was a fireplace, and a stack of wood, but no furniture of any kind.

My pack contained foodstuffs. Nika had carried everybody's bedrolls. We didn't get to see what Will and Faraz had in their packs.

We ate. It grew dark. I sharpened my dagger on the stones.

- "Sleep." said Teck.

I spread my blanket next to Nika's. She turned to face me, and put a finger to her lips. I understood, and agreed: we couldn't afford to whisper - not with all of them in the same room.

***

The next morning, Captain Teck and his two women - Tasha and Anna - went out to do a short recon.

- "Stay here." he told us.

After an hour inside the house, with Will and Faraz, I was contemplating murder. Plus I needed to talk to Nika. I gave her a quick look, and flashed a battle cant signal. Then I headed for the door.

- "Where're you going?" snarled Will.

- "You want me to shit inside the house?" I replied.

I waited just outside the entrance, until I heard Nika coming to join me.

- "Where're you going?" said Will.

- "Outside. You don't expect us to fuck right in front of you, do you?"

She was brilliant. We would have to move far away to not be heard, and just out of sight. And yes, I did hope that she was serious about the fucking. I was horny - no surprise - but I was also quite aware of how much I wanted Nika.

Okay, most of that was purely sexual. She was a very attractive woman. But I had come to trust her, and to rely on her. That has to be part of a serious relationship, doesn't it?

We quickly moved into the trees, and then went a little further. Nika was surprised when I immediately doffed my shirt. I handed her my dagger, turned my back to her, and knelt down.

- "Behind my right shoulder. See the scar? They put an implant in there, before we got off the Halygon. The medtech admitted it to me."

- "What is it?"

- "I don't know. A tracker? Whatever it is, I want it out."

Nika shook her head. "Pilgrim... I don't want to hurt you."

- "You have to. Please, Nika."

She was no shrinking violet - another thing I liked about her. She took my dagger, and stuck it into the back of my shoulder. She opened a good size slice into my flesh, and then stuck a finger into it. There was no smooth way to do it; she felt around until she located something that didn't belong. The hardest part, for me, was when Nika stuck another finger into the wound, and took hold of the implant so that she could tug it out.

Neither of us recognized the odd little device of silicon and metal, with bits of my flesh and blood still stuck to it.

- "Tracker?" she guessed.

- "Maybe." I said. "Probably." I took the thing, and tucked it into the pocket of my shirt/skirt. Then I looked at my partner. "What about yours?"

She grit her teeth. "Alright."

I didn't want to have to try twice, so I sliced a little deep on my first attempt. Nika didn't make a sound. I used one finger and the edge of the dagger to lever out the little device from the back of her shoulder.

"Is it awful that I want to kill them all?" she asked.

- "No."

- "You were going to tell me about the bells."

- "Right."

We held on to each other, and put pressure on the wounds we had just inflicted on each other, to make sure that the bleeding stopped.

It was Nika's idea to make love - sorry, to fuck - so that they wouldn't get too suspicious if they had followed us. She wanted me to explain the bell ringing while we did it.

Some women of my acquaintance looked great completely naked; most looked even better with just a wisp of clothing, or some deliberately revealing garments. Some looked best from behind, while a few were amazing lying on their backs. Nika looked fantastic any position, from any angle.