Reaper Inc. (28 page)

Xamand said
when they arrived, "Harry, you are welcome at our table but I need a few
minutes to speak with Ben in private."

"Yes, your
highness." Harry looked at Ben and said, "Last time someone asked me
to speak to you in private you got slapped and kissed."

"Yeah well, not happening
this time, thank goodness."

Ben felt
someone shaking his foot. Then he felt an arm lying across his chest. Deal with
the foot shaker first, he thought. A Cjittan female officer was staring at him.
Ben didn’t realize he was buck naked laying on his back, uncovered. The officer
spoke softly. "The queen needs to wake and prepare for the morning
meeting." Ben wondered what that had to do with him. Then the arm moved
and the body followed laying half on him. Blond hair fell across his chest and
the body stopped moving. Her eyes were closed and she breathed softly.

The officer
waited patiently. The fog cleared slightly and he pushed the hair back off her
face. He rubbed her back with his free hand and she began to slowly wake up.

"Hey, one
of your people is here. You need to go get ready for the meeting."

She stretched
and rose up, then looked at her officer who was looking at Ben. She couldn’t
fault her for that. She looked around his apartment and saw multiple people
lying on the floor in pairs. Remembering some of the evening, she smiled to
herself. She slipped from his bed, stood and stretched, again smiling. "I
will see you in the great hall and bring some of that coffee drink you are so
in love with." She had been sleeping in one of the tight curve hugging
dresses he had bought her. Natalia had something to do with that. Maybe his
funds hadn’t taken as big a hit as it first seemed.

Ben looked
around his apartment in amazement. Harry was lying on the floor on his back.
Nedra, the palace steward, was buck naked lying on top of him. His two lower
arms were wrapped around her while his upper arms lay at his side. They were
both still asleep. Grubb and Kasmier were across the room lying on a thick rug
covered up with a blanket near the fireplace. He didn’t know for sure but the
governor did seem to be around Grubb's age. They must have been doing shots of
free love and chasing them with a mug of stay all night. He felt a little hung
over but nothing like yesterday.

Ben got up and
put one of the blankets off his bed over Nedra and Harry then went to clean up.
He stood under the warm water letting it wake him. He heard feet moving softly
across the floor then a body slid into the shower with him. Hands gently moved
him from his spot under the water. He opened his eyes to find Nedra, head back
water running through her hair down her back. She turned again and was facing
him. Ben handed her his soap. She smiled and washed her whole body with it. Rinsing
off, she stepped out of the shower to dry off.

"Nedra,
did Grubb give instructions for coffee for us in the mornings?"

"He did. I
will have them make you some when I get to my office."

"Can you make
enough to fill a container and bring it to the meeting for me? I am going to
need more than one cup and the queen told me she wanted some. Also on your way
out, make sure Kasmier is awake. She can use my shower, I'm done now."

Nedra said,
"I'll wake her and let her know." Ben towel dried, got dressed and
made some notes of personal things he needed to accomplish. First, get his
weapons back from Tazleaha that had not been returned to him since leaving the
ark. Second, call a truce with Emily; she had skills he lacked and she was good
with everyone but him. Third, Senator Sims; there had to be some clue, victim
or perpetrator, the search and investigation by the Allond was looking like a
dead end. He had a theory he was working on but still couldn’t guess the end
game.

Ben looked at
himself in the mirror. He looked more respectable today than yesterday. Long
sleeve shirt tucked in his black cargo pants, socks and shoes, hair combed and
teeth brushed. He headed out in search of Emily.

Natalia
answered the door when he knocked and gave him a big hug. "Is Emily awake
yet?"

"She is
getting cleaned up, pretty wild after-dinner party last night."

"I slept
so sound I don’t remember anything, but judging by the guests who slept over, I
already had the same thought."

Emily had a
towel wrapped around her. She stared at Ben for a few seconds. He waited. He
promised himself he would not start an argument and if she did, he would just
leave saying nothing.

Emily said,
"You were in rare form last night."

"I don’t
know, I don’t remember much. I slept good, was only slightly hung over and that
feeling is already gone. The reason I am here, I was wondering if you wanted to
attend this thing with me today. Yesterday I gave them ideas about growing
crops and livestock and having a universal management system in place."

"Ben, they
know how to farm and raise livestock."

"Sure they
do and knew long before we were a glimmer in the cosmic eye. Emily, there are
planets that they have destroyed the ecosystems for the most part and they just
let them come back at their own pace then go in and do it again. That is way to
slow a process so they search for new star systems. That is why we are here.
They told me on the Morningstar that our system is not too far for them to
travel to and would be a rich feeding ground for a long time."

"It would
take years to get in full motion but would be an amazing opportunity for
someone like yourself to travel to new worlds and be a liaison to hundreds of
small and large governments."

Emily said,
"They do seem to all want peace. No one is screaming for war."

"War is
easy. After the blood, bodies, planets destroyed, then they decide to talk.
They have warred before and have this uneasy and not overly aggressive pact in
place. The two most powerful individuals are on a first name basis. Maybe they
are all too proud and are looking for some third party to do just what we are
doing."

Emily said,
"The Cjittan will have to do something about their army. They are insects
and breed by the hundreds. There needs to be a reduction in the current number
and changes to their breeding program."

"Like I
said, I would like you to attend. I could use your help. I don’t want to be
tied to this thing forever. I would like Reaper Inc. to get some hauling
business, set up a warehouse and office in this system as well as Anubis. The
Claymore could do some exploration and trouble shooting."

Emily
questioned, "Trouble shooting?"

Ben smiled.
"You know, helping solve minor issues as they arise. Help our customers
with problems they are having with pirates, Allith, any form of rogue militants
that need exterminating."

"You mean
mercenaries."

"I prefer
trouble shooters. I'm going on ahead."

"Ok. I'll
be there shortly."

                                   
****

Ben sat in his
assigned seat across from Tazleaha. She looked him over with what he was hoping
was a look of approval, he did dress up today. He had survived the conversation
with Emily and with Alona's help, she would do just fine. This type of thing
was perfectly suited for her.

Tazleaha asked,
"Where is the coffee!" sounding irritated now.

"It should
be here anytime. They are making extra to leave with me. Don’t get too fond of
it. I only have so much on the ship and am not going to go without."
"So
much for approval" he thought.

"You would
deny me?"

"Yes,
pretty sure I would."

"I could
just take it."

"You
could, and you could spend your nights with your boyfriend watching the drool
run down his face because his mouth doesn’t close right, and tell him what a big
strong male Cjittan he is, able to attack young females who have had an
unfortunate life. You're just perfect for each other."

Xamand said,
"You two are supposed to be discussing peace between your peoples."

Ben answered,
"We are, just at more of a personal level."

"Yes, that
part I am fully aware of." Xamand looked back and forth between the two.

"Xamand,
Tazleaha, Emily is going to take over my position in these talks. She is much
more qualified in the political arena than I am. She will need just a little
time to catch up on yesterday's discussions and then you can count on her to
help bring this to a conclusion of mutual benefit."

Tazleaha said,
"I am not sure I approve of this change. It is you Benjamin that my people
relate to and trust."

"I will vouch
for Emily, and I will be back probably before you conclude."

"You are
leaving?"

"Only for
about four or five days. Harry's home planet is two days travel from here. I
give it a day to correct the situation and two days back." Emily arrived
in time to hear his travel arrangements. She stood behind Ben. He scooted his
chair back and stood then motioned for Emily to sit.

Xamand said,
"Tazleaha, I believe this is a wise decision and Benjamin is wise to
suggest it. Emily has a sharp mind and will move the process along. I am told
she is level headed and has excellent communication skills."

Ben thought,
"thank
goodness a little support."
Tazleaha gave it some thought and
concurred with Xamand to be cooperative. Now he had to ask for something from
her and hoped it wouldn’t turn into a negotiation. She must have sensed it, she
was staring at him.

"You have
some things that belong to me. I need them back. If you would tell me where
they are, I'll get them myself."

"Come with
me, I will get them for you. I need to give you something."

"Wonderful,
thank you. Just another example of peaceful cooperation between our
races!"

"Cooperation
would be even better had you remained awake longer than ten heartbeats after I
lay down with you last night."

"I
wouldn’t count on it. Too much alcohol has some negative sexual performance
side effects."

"It did
not seem to affect your friends but I am partially to blame for their actions.
I am able to secrete a strong pheromone. Usually males and females alike have a
hard time resisting; your friends reacted as they should. You seem to be an
exception."

"I don’t
remember inviting you to my room or my bed for that matter. We had been
flirting, dancing around the fire, you are aggressive and I like that, I also
need to take it slow. I have never been one to drink and pass out and I need to
stop. I need this trip to get away from here to continue to heal, mind and
body. I have lost a love and a friend who I also love, she just left without
saying goodbye. This job keeps costing me more and more. I was only supposed to
transport the diplomats here then bring them home."

"But you
have new friends and are closer now to some of the others you brought with you
than you were. Grubb is never far away from you. Now you are going to help the
Laulaumunda you call Harry who was an enemy just seven days ago. The others do
not question you, they trust your judgment that helping Harry is the right
thing to do."

"Life and
death struggles sometimes bring about lifelong friendships. Nothing like
someone saving your ass to help you appreciate them, no matter what they look
like."

"I want
you to take Imelda with you. She needs to feed and would enjoy a hunt. She is
not happy being locked on the ship for so long."

"What is
an Imelda?"

"She is
what you call a spider, Imelda is her name."

"She never
told me her name. I wasn’t sure any of your insects had names."

"You never
asked them, did you?"

"I'm sure
I didn’t. Your officers, your own people, have numbers on your ships but your
insect warriors have names. That seems odd to me, not saying it’s wrong, just
odd."

"Not all
have names. Imelda is very old and was a favorite of my mother. My people all
are named but only those of royal blood are addressed using their name. A
millennia ago it must of seemed a grand idea. I find it confusing at times but
do not interact enough with the crew or lower caste to warrant changing
tradition."

They arrived at
her room. It was almost as large as his. Her servants were busy trying to clean
something that was already spotless. She led him to her bedroom and shut the
door. Ben thought
"She just doesn’t give up."
He guessed
wrong. Servants gossip, she explained and didn’t want anything they said
overheard. She opened a large chest on the floor and took out his Katana,
battle axe and belt with both his knives and pistol. There was that warm and
fuzzy feeling he gets when he feels like he is prepared.

His hand was a
little sore but he found he could grip his weapons without much discomfort.
"How long will the nanites you gave me to aid my healing last? My hand
feels good today just a little sore."

"We can
talk about that when you return. They will last at least that long."
Tazleaha knew she would have to tell him she had her doctor give him the
nanites that are exclusive to the royal family. The doctor could not touch a
vial upon pain of death without the queen's authorization. They could heal
terrible damage to his body but more than that, they gave him longevity. He
would live hundreds and hundreds of years. She didn’t need to tell him right
away, she thought. It would take five years before his friends started to
notice he wasn’t aging at the same rate as everyone else.

"When was
the last time Imelda fed?"

"Gormazan
had a number of guards and crewmembers that were sentenced to death after some
investigation and a trial."

"Ah, death
by Imelda. If they were anything like their master, then that was too good for
them."

"I am
reminded of the damage you caused to my ship when you took out your righteous
anger on the clones."

"Send me
the bill, sweetheart."

"I have
sent you the bill, sweetheart. The repairs of the tanks, the cost of two
clones, the cleanup of the lab, food and lodging for Imelda."

"I'm not
paying for all of that. You've lost your mind if you think I'm paying for any
of that now that I think about it." Ben was getting angry. He couldn’t
believe what he was hearing. He was held prisoner and almost killed on that
ship. He would be damned if he paid for anything to do with that ship.