Zai and Tim Pt. 01

I get up and leave my room. He isn't on the bridge; I can see that from here. I try the conference room. I find him frantically going through logbooks.

In a diminutive voice, "Hi Tim."

He stops, then stares at me. He checks out my nearly perfect body that I am so proud of. He frowns, then goes back to work.

I ask, "Can I help you? There are a lot of books here."

Tim is snarky, "As I already told you. I don't know what I'm looking for until I find it."

I put my hand on his book, so he is forced to look at me.

I use a soft voice, "I may not be gifted with intelligence, but I can tell when people lie. You know exactly what you're looking for. It seems to me that two people can search for it faster than one. I have free time, and I would rather spend it doing something that may save my life. Now please explain to me what I can do to help you?"

He looks at me for a moment before saying, "There are five huge shipping companies. They often travel in a convoy. Tell Zai the company, date, time, location, speed, and direction. The EWS (Early Warning System) detects possible intersections and diverts ships. That gets recorded in the logs. I hope it will tell us if we can join a convoy to our destination. Big companies run the same routes for centuries."

I set my book down and stare at Tim. He gets uncomfortable, looks up at me, and stares at me.

Tim asks, "What?"

I ask him point-blank, "Why is the council doing this to us? We have been close friends since I was born. I can't believe they would do this to us."

He almost kills me with his words, "They're not behind this directly."

I stop breathing for a few seconds while that seeps in.

I ask more as a question, "So that means they're being ... pressured? No! Blackmailed!"

Condescendingly, Tim says, "So, you can think on your own. I don't think your mom has figured that out yet?"

I inquire, "I take it Zai is hacking our systems to find out who is pressuring them?"

Tim laughs hard at me before saying, "How little you understand of the real world. AI don't understand lies, backstabs, sleight-of-hand, or cheating; they see the world too literally. I have a bunch of friends doing this discretely for me. I also have a group of assassins on the way to solve that issue."

Tim laughs, "I am using your mother's money. They blindly accepted that I was with your palace staff. I am a man; we aren't smart enough to lie. They know how low men are regarded on your planet. They will follow my orders, and they will be there with plenty of time to do my bidding."

I correct him, "Our bidding."

He asks, "You want to be responsible for killing a possible friend?"

I say, "Your bidding," and smile at him.

I quickly follow up, "Why are you doing this?"

Tim says with sad eyes and the beginning of a tear, "My mother might be a heartless bitch, I'm not. I don't want to be responsible for billions of deaths. I am thinking far ahead, and too many situations end in a very destructive war where only a few producers of war implements prosper."

I try to ask, "Are you saying ...."

Tim halts me, "No. I'm not saying anything yet. I still must prove my suspicions. I am also checking out a dozen other possibilities."

I feel so small, "Mom made it easy on us. We each concentrate on one thing. I see you have hundreds rolling around in your mind. We are on different levels. Mom has done us no favors by coddling us."

Tim smiles at me, "You came in here looking to help, and you will leave knowing how to be a better person. People don't get that opportunity very often."

I have butterflies in my stomach from the complement. I notice that I feel drawn to him; my panties are wet, that's most unexpected. I get back to the logbooks. An hour later, Tammi and Tamara are also helping us out. I fill them in on what I learned and what Tim is doing. They don't say a word.

I am positive they are as impressed as I am at Tim's ability to handle so much at the same time, and think of everything that might happen. Not only that, but he's also far ahead of us and has people in motion already.

Mom is in the doorway, listening to us call out data.

Mom interrupts us, "Tim, can you discreetly find out why the council is acting like they are?"

I almost laugh when Tamara says, "They are being blackmailed."

Tammi says, "They will be in the news soon for the blackmailed offense, effectively neutralizing the blackmail."

I add, "Assassins are headed to our planet to ... dispose of the garbage."

Tamara finishes for us, "Odds are betting on the war material vendors. The health care sector is a distant second."

Mom isn't happy, "I see Tim has been talking."

I am starting to dislike her attitude, "All we had to do was ask nicely. Why are you here?"

Mom is bored, "I came looking for each of you. Zai took the doors away; it was easy to figure out where to look. Why are you here?"

I reply, "We're checking logbooks for EWS sightings of the top shipping companies. We want to join a convoy. We call out all info to Zai, and she's mapping a picture for us."

Mom sits down and assists with the project.

It's well past dinner time when a food platter is created for each of us. We all eat as we continue our research.

Around midnight, mom and my sisters head off to bed.

About twenty minutes later, Tim rubs his eyes, sits back in his chair, takes a deep breath, and then lets it out slowly.

Tim asks Zai, "Do you see any trends yet? Are we making any headway?"

Zai replies, "I can make vague guesses. I need more points of data to verify things. I think we can concentrate on Thompson, Sunbeam, and Weiss Brothers. Nothing else is even remotely close to enough. They might be perfect, but we don't have enough data to confirm that. Only Thompson Industries might be scheduled ahead of our schedule of the three. The other two look to be a week behind.

"Without more data, I don't know if we are in front or behind. I increased our speed; we can always slow down later if needed. Time for you to get some sleep. You look like hell boss."

Tim looks at me, "You're done as well, Trudy. You need your sleep too. Tomorrow will go faster with pinpointing the data."

We both stand up and leave the room. Tim walks past my room without looking back. He could care less about me. I continue walking past my door as Tim did. He opens his door, and as he turns into his room, he is startled by me following him.

Tim informs me, "This is my room. Yours is two rooms down."

I say sweetly, "I know."

He looks at me suspiciously. He slowly opens his door and walks into his room. He has a lush, thick shag carpet in his room. He immediately takes off his shoes and socks, feeling the soft, padded carpet under his toes. I do the same. Wow, he has special padding; this feels awesome. I have industrial tile in my room. He takes off his shirt, and I see welts on his back. My eyes water. Someone whipped him with a belt!

He doesn't even look at me when he shudders and says, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

I smile at him, "I am doing research. I've heard that men and women are different. Especially when we sleep together."

Tim chuckles, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

I take off my overalls, leaving me in my bra and panties.

I continue smiling and trying to look sexy, "Well, I did say I was here for research, right?"

Tim looks at me with contempt, "Get in bed. Under the sheet. Do you need to use the washroom first?"

I do need to pee, so I run to the washroom. After I dry off, I walk with a light step to the bed. I get under the sheets. I fold the sheet and the blanket over me, so Tim can get in bed.

Tim is standing at the end of the bed, "Does it matter if I recommend against this?"

I command him, "Get in bed."

Tim pulls down the sheet as he says, "You aren't ready for that yet." He pulls up behind me and wraps an arm around me.

I have slept with many women in my young adult life. This is far different than anything I have experienced before. He's warmer, more solid, and I feel protected. Many women are frail or flimsy. Not this man; he's solid. I feel ... safe; nobody is getting to me with him in the way. I fall asleep like this.

++++++

Tim's point of view:

I wake up in the morning to being hit in the face and my mother screaming at me for assaulting her daughter. She wants to kill me. Zai immediately came to my defense and had mom plastered to the ceiling, no longer a danger to me.

I make light of the situation, "I guess someone got up on the wrong side of the nebula."

The fight has left mom; her arms are hanging down. She has shut up.

I say with a clear and calm tone, "She came to see me. I advised against it. She wanted to sleep with me."

Mom is full of fire and brimstone again, "You filthy maggot, that is your sister. I can't believe how sick and demented you are. You make my decision look better and better every day."

Trudy laughs at her mother, "No, mom, you're actually proving his point. Like he said, I came to him. I wanted to know what was different between sleeping with a man or a women."

Her mother scolds her, "ARGGGGG! I can't believe my own flesh and blood, a princess, stooped so low as to sleep with a man. We are ruined!"

Trudy laughs at her mother, "Relax, mom. I was ready for more than sleeping, but TIM wasn't. He forced me to slow down and make sure I knew what I was doing. If women pay to be pleased, either they're hideous, or there is something to this sex with men thing. All I know is that having a man sleep with his arms around me was pretty damn awesome."

Tammi and Tamara are in the doorway.

Tammi asks, "Oh? What's it like? What's different?"

The wall to mom's room is gone in a flash. Mom is moved to her room, although still near the ceiling. Once over her bed, she is lowered and then dropped. The wall goes back up.

Zai says to us, "When you finish talking, I will restore her door."

Trudy has a wild look in her eyes, "It's marvelous. He's obviously bigger and can hurt me. Yet, I never felt so safe. He's warm and sturdy. You know what it's like to sleep with a woman; you can push them out of bed. Not so with a man; he didn't budge an inch. I woke up with him rubbing my breasts."

I'm defensive, "Hey! I was ..."

Trudy cuts me off, "Asleep. I know. It was instincts; your hands know how to handle a breast and arouse me. It was amazing. Only when mom came in and screamed did you stop. I would have allowed that for hours. Women do the same thing, and each woman is different. He is something else. He has much more muscle than we do. I think that's the difference.

"We have robots and machines that build and lift everything. The heaviest thing I lift is my dinner tray. He has had to do far more work than we do; his arms, abs, and legs are sturdy and powerful. I think I can see what these women are feeling. I can't imagine having him stick that in me, but I'm getting more and more interested in giving it a try."

Tammi and Tamara both give an "Oh!" of surprise.

Tamara seems dubious, "Yeah, right. That's gross. No way you could stand to have his slime swishing in your female temple. Think of the pain. Mom told us it's like being stabbed with a knife."

I laugh about as hard as I ever have.

When I stop, I spit out, "Your mom obviously has never been with a man. You know your history. Because of shifts in the world's ecology, fewer men were born over several generations. Women outnumbered men and slowly took over the world by voting women into office and then changing the laws, so our rights as men were slowly taken away. Even back then, men were highly sought after for the pleasure they can bring to women.

"As our numbers continued to decline, the rich told the poor that men hurt women, and sex was unnecessary because of medical procedures. Over the years, they believed it. Men take time to get good at sex, thus the various levels of men. I am already a Level Five because my family taught me before being killed. I can assure you; sex is fun for both parties. It's the most fun you will ever have in your life. Why do you think only wealthy women can afford it? They want it that way, so they get it more often."

Tamara smiles, "OK, mister sex master, why are you running a freighter? If sex was so good, wouldn't you rather do that? I find your whole story a farce. Mom was right."

A sizeable puffy chair shows up; I sit in the chair, lean back, and use my hands to cover my eyes so they can't see me cry.

I tell my story, "My first mother was a stripper and whore for rich women. A woman gave her a tip of a child. She cashed it in and got stuck with me. For my eighteenth birthday, I was rented out to a women's party. They did all kinds of horrible things to me. I was in the hospital for a month. When I got back, women wanted me. It was bad. I got beat up. My mom and two other performers had sex with me at night and taught me to be awesome for them."

"Management caught on; because I progressed too fast. They came to our house and killed mom. I did not respond well and hit the two ladies." All three sisters jerk from shock. "Yeah, I know, the death penalty for striking a woman. The house security system reported my crime to the local authorities. I took off, hoping to somehow get off the planet. I figure fifteen minutes, and I will be picked up because they are tracking me.

"Hackers saw the messages to the Police and caused a surveillance outage. Mom #2, Mary Cross, grabs me and makes me her slave. I work for her for several years before using my first mother's money to buy a crappy freighter. Mary was a good customer of mom, so I spent a lot of time working for Mary. She's the one that bought me for the party."

I get up, open the door and walk to the bridge. My door is immediately removed while mom's wall is rolled up simultaneously.

Chapter 7 - YES

Tammi's point of view:

Tammi says, "I want to fuck him now."

I forgot mom's wall is gone.

Mom is in a rage; she wisely doesn't touch me; she has learned her lesson.

Mom seethes at me, "NO, YOU WON'T! I will not lose my daughter to that man's hands. He'll KILL you!"

Trudy saves me the effort, "Oh please, mom. Could he have killed us already? I think so. Why wait until now to kill us? No, this is about you. You're afraid that he might be as good as we believe him to be, and we start to like him more than you."

Tamara adds, "On this trip and so far in the negotiations, he has been far more useful than you have been. We would be dead if we relied on you. Cut the crap. We all want to try him out. You have been in your room a lot and have missed a lot. He has been around us, helped our mission, and is at least three steps in front of you."

I think back on our time together in bed, "I find him refreshingly different. He is kind and funny while not giving a damn that we are princesses. You provoked him, and he put you in "time out." Would you have been as forgiving with him? No way and you know it. If you didn't toss him out the door, you would have run him through the garbage disposal."

Zai adds, "Tim values life more. It's what makes him different. Mary and your mom would have thought nothing of snuffing his life out; he is just a man, after all. Not worth paying attention to. Not worth saving. Not worth talking to? Would you see him in a different light if he had not saved your life? He is the same man; you have gone from uncaring to relying on him. I find it interesting."

I defend us, "It's actions or inactions that define people. I would like to believe that Tim on his own, has shown us he is something special."

Zia counters, "Why is he still running a cargo ship?"

Trudy looks sad, saying, "Because, in space, he doesn't have women constantly demeaning him. He would rather be left alone."

Mom shocks me by saying, "That's a sad life."

I know she will hate me, but I say it anyway, "That's that life you gave him. You couldn't be bothered to even be a mother. Why would anyone else treat him any better?"

I am saved by a loud "Whaaaaap! Waaaaap!" alarm. The door no longer exists, making it easy for all of us to run out of our rooms, up the metal stairs, and walk onto the bridge.

Tim is in his chair; his feet are up on the console. He isn't concerned at all.

Tim asks Zai, "Zoom in, please. I want to verify these are pirates and not the Federated Protection Force (FPF). It's bad form to kill the people that are paid to protect us."

I shout out, "Where are your joysticks, so you can defend us?"

He ignores me. I am borderline hysterical; I don't want to die. No, they won't kill us; they will take us hostage. We don't have time for this.

Zai says before I can verify, "Sixteen pirates, Tim!"

Tim remains calm, "Play it defensive. Use your mirrors defensively to slow them down."

Zai exclaims, "I can't stop multiple shots from that many."

Tim is still calm, "I want them to hit us. A few will test your defenses. They will all pause when you use their own lasers to kill them from the reflection. The downside is they will start using other weapons. Every minute, use a single laser to take one of them out. Their computers will assume that's our maximum, coordinate an attack on us, and by then, you will have killed enough that we will be fine."

Needless to say, the fight went exactly as Tim predicted, and we won. The pirates held back, testing his ship. By taking damage, they assumed he was far weaker than he was. By limiting his offense, it sucked them in. It was a short fight after that.

I ask, "So, what do you do next time? They had to send out messages about this fight as it started going badly."

Tim grins, "As soon as we see them, the first rule of engagement is to jam their long-range communications. I need them using local coms, but you're right, I don't want them learning about us. We're a bigger ship. They're going to be naturally cautious. By slowly killing them, they rushed us, thinking they could overwhelm us. They failed."

Tim yells out, "Zai, we need another course correction. They will assume we continued along this course."

Tim now gives us orders. A man orders the Queen of the galaxy and her three princesses. And we're going to probably follow them. Can you believe this?

Tim smiles as he hands out our orders, "I want you four to write up an agreement that gives you everything you want. I want a second agreement where they get everything they want. Then I want a third agreement where both sides could live with it. Be fair about it. That won't be your initial starting point, but it will help you see their side of things to develop a fair agreement.

"Fair agreements tend to last longer because both parties come out happy. You both want this to last long term, the whole galaxy does. There is a famous line about negotiating, 'It is more than you want to pay and less than I want to accept. We both win when each is only slightly unhappy.' The conference room is yours, and you may ask Zai for help. Oh, you have two and a half days left."

We have already started a draft but Tim asking us to slant it to both extremes, forces us to look at the details differently. We must weigh the values that each side wants, and some exciting things come to light. Because both sides value things differently, we have many win-win situations that will help us negotiate.

+++++

It's well past dinner, and we're all tired. We go back to our rooms. I'm not quite ready for bed. I put on my slippers to go with my robe. I go out to check up on Tim. Sitting in his chair on the bridge is a pair of pants and a shirt. The items have been stitched together and filled with either crumpled-up paper or foam. It's flexible enough the torso is upright, but the legs are on the console.

The head is a piece of foam with a magic-marker face drawn on it. Most of that is covered by a hat.