Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (23 page)

Read Log 1 Matter | Antimatter Online

Authors: Selina Brown

Tags: #science fiction, #soft scifi, #soft science fiction, #fiction science fiction, #fiction science fiction military, #epic science fiction, #fiction science fiction books, #speculative science fiction

He was ready to come and suddenly unsure what
to do. They hadn’t talked about it, but they never did. “Ara … I’m
about to come.”

She mumbled something, her mouth full, and he
half laughed but soon forgot and came. He watched and then closed
his eyes for a moment. He could see she had been surprised at the
taste but she was smiling up at him. At least she hadn’t gagged as
he’d been told some do, but she hadn’t taken his whole length. He
watched as she lay back and he spread her legs. Running his tongue
over her, she arched up. She liked it a lot. He continued using
just his tongue, prodding and teasing, and exploring her, finding
out what she liked the most, thinking of the times he watched her
touch herself. He felt her body still, and then jerk up and down
clasping his head as he had done hers. She began to relax and he
lifted up, reaching into his bag for a cloth. He wiped his mouth
and finger. He had another erection but lifted up, kissed her, and
then lay on his back next to her. He laughed suddenly.

“What?”

“Um … I think that was the wrong step.”

“What do you mean?” She rolled to her side,
looking at him.

“There are two levels to the Fyr’Lahlia.
Touching and then mouths.”

“Oh … I didn’t give you much choice did I?”
She put her hands over her face, embarrassed. He laughed and rolled
her to her back.

“Well, I’m ready for another. We could do
hands and not tell anyone we messed up the sequence … or
timing.”

“We haven’t told anyone anyway.” She turned
her head to view his body and flushed at how ready he was.

“Yeah, but we might gain some good points if
we say we did it right.”

“True.” She smiled at him. “Our secret. You
haven’t done this before?”

“No, Baby.”

“Okay, let’s get back to you.”

“Actually, I’ve a fantasy.”

“Can we do that?” She was willing to do
anything at this point, and she wanted Caleb to fulfill his
fantasies with her, not with someone else.

“It fits the Fyr’blah.” He made her kneel,
and then he moved behind her. First, he slid his fingers down but
then, as she grew heated, pressing into his front and then fingers,
he gently pressed on her back, so she was on all fours. He ran a
hand along the side of her leg. “Spread out a little more … keep
kneeling … can you slide your arms down … Baby, that looks so
good.” He could barely contain himself, so when her hands were
finally over his erection, which was over her breast, it took
little time.

 

Saratoga City

 

Jamie followed the two princes, Caleb and
Terzon, for a little bit longer, satisfied they were on their way
home. He was completing a check because Ara was coming into town
soon. Most of the teams had left already, but he had spotted Caleb
and Terzon. With tricky and delicate extraction, he lifted Caleb’s
last visit with Ara. It was tricky because Caleb was a First-Gen
while Jamie was of the Eighth Race. And Terzon was turning
military, teaching Caleb a few tricks along the way. And while
Jamie was much older than them, with far more experience, he didn’t
like to underestimate either. His Lyon 3 Aggressor training came in
handy.

He returned to the restaurant and spotted Meg
leaving with the blond-haired male. For a moment Jamie thought Meg
was with Peter, his operative, but a closer look negated that
impression. He lifted a rod-like device, linked to his Ebrain in
his bag, and ran a quick scan. After it was complete, he sent it to
his team to analyze. It took several minutes for data to come
streaming in. The male was just a business type from Sparta Prime,
Leonardo Clayne. There were several Spartans currently in Saratoga
City, which might have been unusual except that Queen Silvia had
sent out an invitation to Queen Kellan whose region was Estancia.
The Spartan Empire was one of those interfering with the Earth
project and Silvia was considering applying to become the Estancia
Queen. It was a good move and supported by most of the Pure-Gens.
With the First Regional Queen Freda and First Province King Kane
behind her, Silvia should be successful. With Silvia in control,
she could mentor Ara to take her place as Queen of Estancia.

Jamie made sure he was on the path to bump
into Leonardo after the male had parted from Meg’s company.

“Sorry!”

Leonardo quickly steadied Jamie’s forward
movement with a firm hand. “Are you alright?” He must have been
just under six foot, but his body was strong.

“Just too busy thinking of lunch.” Jamie’s
flush was not feigned.

“Me too.” The Spartan’s blue eyes were saying
something else though.

Jamie wondered if his direct approach had
backfired. Thinking of him as “the Spartan” helped a little. He
knew the Spartan had just eaten with Meg but smiled. “May I offer
lunch as an apology?”

The handsome, sandy-haired male nodded, his
eyes warm with feeling. “Never mind about the apology.” He lifted
his hand. “My name is Leo.”

Jamie took it and they both felt the electric
attraction. “Jamie.”

“Well, Jamie. I’m a visitor on Saratoga,
although a new acquaintance of mine informed me that her farm has
the best strawberries on the planet.”

Jamie laughed. “That would be Pen then, from
the Degala’s Farm?”

They released hands as Leo nodded. “I don’t
know Pen, but her daughter, Meg?”

Jamie nodded now and glanced at the café. Leo
followed him in. They sat at a table but Jamie’s appetite had fled.
Leo seemed to be similarly afflicted so they picked at a plate of
chips and talked. Not only had Leo been vetted, and there was
physical attraction, Jamie liked the Spartan, a lot. After lunch,
they walked along the beach esplanade and then parted ways. But
before they parted Leo asked him out on a date and Jamie accepted.
He had a few free days coming and he agreed to show Leo around
Saratoga.

Trying to clear his head as he walked away,
Jamie had one concern at the moment. He noted that Ara was still
fluctuating in age and behavior. After Marc reported on Ara’s dazed
look years ago when Maya connected to her, they started doing
physical scans. They had a way of scanning the age of Aryans. Ara’s
kept changing but was not so noticeable when she was a baby,
toddler, and child. Simon suggested they scan those around her and,
sure enough, Caleb, Jesran, Tekko and others were affected. Those
with less contact weren’t affected as much. Jamie contacted
Trickster who took over a year to reply.

The male called him on his Voice while he was
coming out of the shower and launched into the explanation as if
Jamie had only just contacted him. He took a moment to recall his
question.

“It is Chaos, Jamie. Chaos affects her
biosuit and the bodies of those around her.”

Jamie used the towel to dry his short hair
and grabbed his EBrain from his office and accessed his Trickster
notes. Ah, that’s right. He left the office and tossed the EBrain
onto his bed. He walked to his bedroom window and stared out to the
forest. “Can’t we shield her somehow?”

“Many thousands of years have been spent
trying to work out a way for Chaos and Vitalii to exist. To date,
there is no way for this to occur. The amount of Chaos used for
creation is very tiny, smaller than an atom. It is placed in each
living thing but many things cause it to degrade.”

Jamie rubbed his chin. “So, that’s why Chaos
and Monad’s people can’t live together?”

“It is more complicated than that but only
one form may live at one time. Imagine fish trying to live on land
or people living in the water.”

“But they do live at the same time. Now.”

There was silence. “The Four Chaos Beings
have restrictions that allow them to function in Vitalii. The Chaos
Brethren can only live in direct contact with Chaos.”

Jamie was beginning to see a problem. “If you
want people to believe your story, you need to work on the
details.”

“The Chaos Brethren refused to stay in Chaos
and refused the restrictions. They don’t die but they do corrupt
and are corrupting fast in my time but slow in yours.”

Ah. A fish took a while—depending on one’s
perspective—to die out of water. And damn. Ara was currently
“younger”, and apparently it was affecting Jesran and Caleb the
most, and then Bel, and Terzon. He had no data on Tekko. Her other
friends were also fluctuating. Jamie sighed realizing Trickster had
ended the call.

“Goodbye to you too.” He tossed the Voice
onto his neatly made bed and laughed.

 

Sub-Log XVII

 

Saratoga City

 

Over the years, Ara and Caleb continued their
friendship. They were sitting drinking in a local café in the
city’s main courtyard with Bel. Saratoga no longer allowed
unlicensed vehicles into the city, like most Aryan cities it was
quiet with efficient public transport running drop offs and
pick-ups at four locations.

“Did you hear about Earth?” Caleb’s eyes met
Ara’s.

She shook her head and Caleb touched a strand
of her hair, golden in the burst of sunlight. They had found a
shared interest in that planet.

“Not just Earth but the entire Estancia
Station.” Bel mused, his brown eyes blinking in the light that
broke through the cloud. He shielded his eyes. “And there’s been a
request to relocate the Regional Queen, Kellen, and Province Kings
including Ross and he’s the Second Province King. The Aryan Central
Authority feels that Queen Kellen and King Ross have had control
over there long enough.” He lowered his voice. “Apparently, a
number of worlds are being corrupted somehow and the Kings are
restricting newscasters.”

“The Avatara—”

“Those idiots!” Ara burst out in annoyance
but then remembered Jesran was one. She also noted Caleb’s
grin.

“Ara, shhhhh.” Bel slushed her and ran his
hand through his now short, blond hair. They had gone with him to
the barber.

They glanced around making sure no one heard
them.

“They are trying new forms of government on
Earth.”

“Again! There should be laws against that
type of manipulation,” she said angrily.

“There are, but the Koen put up a good case
over the Right to Rule.”

“Why? Aren’t they happy bossing each other
around?”

Ike still irked her. Caleb rubbed her back,
soothing her. She had other encounters with the Avatara too. For
some reason they were meeting a lot on Saratoga and she had heard
Mum and Dad arguing about them.

“Never mind,” she hissed. “They are ruining
the planet and destroying the humans!”

“Join the League for Humans then, Ara, if you
feel that strongly,” Bel suggested, drawing her and Caleb further
away.

She muttered. “I did. They just talk a lot. I
have approached the Aryan Central Authority though, they said they
are doing all they can do at the moment but, since the mind energy
soul returns to their respective sources, technically humans aren’t
being wasted.”

Bel shook his head in disgust. “That’s how
they got their special license, the ACA approved it all.”

“I’m not even sure what that means.”

“What?” Bel asked.

“Well, where does the soul or the mind or the
energy go?” Ara thought about that female of Dusty’s in the station
who had died. She had been so … empty. Just a husk.

“The Superlunary, the—”

“I know that, Monkey. I mean where are they,
where is the central location? Is the energy floating around
someone in space or a dimension or place?”

Caleb rubbed his ear. “Inside the Cardinal
Unit where all the fabrication and reconstruction stuff is kept?
You know, I’ve never really given it much thought. There’s not a
lot of information about the Artifacts.”

Bel said softly, “I don’t think we’re
supposed to think too much about it. But the Artifacts for the
Superlunary, Nexus, and Sawol are locked up tight on the Planet of
Law.”

Ara wondered if she should ask Korbet again,
telling him she was intrigued by the cultural nuances the Artifacts
engendered. She sniggered over her pretentiousness. She said, “It’s
disgusting that humans don’t even know that there are entire
civilizations outside their region of space.”

A waiter walked by glancing across at their
table. They huddled down pretending to study some maps for their
next climbing and hunting trip. A combined group exercise.

“The Right to Rule is becoming a real issue,”
Caleb whispered. “The Avatara feel there needs to be a level
between the Inferors and the rules of the kings and queens. There
is evidence that suggests that the royals’ control over the
security of space and planet is too vague and more needs to be done
at planet level. The royals don’t bother laying laws for individual
‘race’ or ‘species’ populations.”

“Don’t they?”

Caleb shook his head. “You really don’t like
politics or history do you?”

“I failed politics.” She tried to sound
miserable over that but they weren’t fooled.

Bel laughed at her. “Anyway, so they’ve
decided they should have their own system of rule and they want to
become the Fifth Gen—”

“What!” Caleb almost shouted, turning
red.

Bel cringed. “The Avatara want to become
Fifth-Gens, and removed from their Eighth Race status.”

“Can they do that?”

Now Caleb and Bel rolled their eyes at
Ara.

“That’s what they are trialing on Earth.” Bel
finished his drink.

“Aren’t Aryans changing the name to
‘Mega-Race’ and ‘Sub-Race’?” Ara mused.

Bel and Caleb shrugged.

She continued. “The Avatara don’t care about
laws, they just want to rule over the Eighth Race, their own kind.
What’s to stop every race then deciding to have their own systems
of ruler-ship? And how messy would that get?”

Bel looked at her oddly. “You grasped that
quick enough. It’s a murky area but because they are the Superors
of the Inferors there is precedence.”

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