“Is that usual?”
“Ah, no. Hardly any hu…earth people live to ninety. And then usually not too well.”
“The Peeds have long lives. My father was near three hundred years though I believe he had been in the pod for many of them.”
“Wow. I wonder how they do it.”
“I know they have a drink. I helped to grow the plants. But I do not know what kind it is. I do not know how they make it into a liquid.”
“Huh. Well if it comes my way.”
“When are you going up there?”
“Soon. I’d like to get a few things prepared. Now that we have a pretty good idea of how these ships are laid out, and I haven’t thanked you yet for your help, so thank you, I think we can...” Jonathan looked around though they were alone in the room, “I think we can actually take over the ship and fly it down here.”
“Take it over? What does that mean?”
“It means we neutralize the slavers and take control of the ship. We call it a mother ship.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Well, I need to work out some of the details. I know where many of the ray guns are kept. Seems the slavers don’t like to do their own killing but won’t allow the slaves complete access. This will make it easier to keep the slavers from using the slaves to kill us. I think I can find a way to block access to the com room, communications room and eventually disconnect all the slaves.”
“Jonathan what does a woman do when her man is going off to fight?”
“Hmm, a hug and kiss is customary.”
“Come closer Jonathan.”
Jonathan thought maybe it was difficult to talk for any length of time and wanted to whisper. He moved closer as she lay in the semi-fetal position.
She crooked her finger at him. He understood it meant he was to get closer and brought his head down. He thought she wanted to tell him something private and placed his face so his ear would be nearer to her mouth. She reached up and placed her hand on his neck. Her hand felt good. It had a nice ‘feel’ as he felt her palm and fingers on his skin.
She pulled him closer and brought his cheek back in line with her mouth. She opened her lips and continued to bring him to her. She closed her eyes as their lips met. He was a bit confused and hadn’t expected this but her lips against his felt…well, soft was what the romance writers liked to write but soft didn’t really convey the texture. Her lips felt just right. Not too mushy and not too firm. Just right. After a moments hesitation he kissed her back.
It was a light kiss though her tongue touched his lips as they pulled back a little. He smiled. She read his mind. “It was my first kiss. Was it a good kiss?”
He nodded as he continued to smile. “We call the use of the tongue a French kiss. And it was a very sweet kiss.”
“Can we…?”
They kissed again. It was a deeper and more passionate kiss. Especially for her. “Was that better?”
He was grinning, “Yes. And as with anything you get better the more you practice.”
“Let us then practice.”
And they practiced. Kissing was something which Jonathan liked to do. He enjoyed kissing with all his girlfriends except one. She had a difficult time with TMJ and could not open her mouth as wide as passion demanded.
But kissing was such an individual thing. No two women kissed the same though many had a natural way of making the connection exciting and sexually compelling or arousing. Jonathan could tell Kookli was a natural.
“Did your parents kiss Kookli? I wouldn’t think that’s something the slavers have a predilection for.”
“My mother taught me aspects of sex. Breeders are supposed to know certain things. But I watched programs on the screens from your world. I saw a lot of what you call French kissing. Umm. I like it. Can we practice some more?”
Jonathan glanced down to his semi erection. It was noticeable and he was a little embarrassed should Kookli see it. Before he could form an answer she reached out and grasped his semi-hard dick. He was a little startled though he had to admit he liked it as well. He didn’t know exactly what to say.
“Kissing can make me…ahm, get excited.”
“I am glad. I am excited as well.”
“But Kookli you are in no condition to do anything about it.
She looked up at him as she started to stroke him. “It’s getting harder. And bigger.”
“That’s what happens when a guy gets excited.” He liked the way she stroked his phallus but was a little uncomfortable with what he should do about it.
“Can I see it?”
“Kookli! We can’t do anything here. Now.”
She looked up at him with confusion on her face. “Why not?”
“Well for one you just had surgery.”
“And for two?”
“I guess there’s no number two. But number one should suffice.” She continued to stroke him.
“But why can I not see your penis?”
“Well, it’s not something that we do or show when we are around other people.”
“There is no one in the room with us.”
“No, but they’re out in the corridor and all.” She continued to stroke him. She looked at her handiwork.
“I like doing this. I want to get you hard. I want to please you. I want to get you hard for me. You would please me too?”
“I would please you yes. But we really can’t do anything…”
“Please Jonathan. Can I see it?” He was fully erect now and the pants he had on was making it uncomfortable.
“What do you call a hard penis?”
“Several things, many things”
“Cock? Is that a word for a hard penis?”
“That’s one.”
“I want to see your cock. Help me take your pants off.” She started to fumble with his belt. She wasn’t too good at it.
He understood she was from a different culture her customs of sexual behavior were going to be necessarily different. Very different. He unbuckled his belt. She pulled off her pajama top as Jonathan watched her. He unzipped his pants.
Jonathan liked her breasts. A small handful but wonderfully real with pink nipples which were already hard. “My breasts aren’t too small for you?”
He shook his head. “No. They’re beautiful.”
She caressed them as he finished taking off his pants. She looked at his erection the whole time.
“Jonathan, let me stroke your cock again. Come closer.”
She reached and caught hold of him as he sat near her. She stroked it and her eyes were focused on it. “It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
“I want to put your cock in my mouth.” She looked up. “Lovers do that?”
He had to nod in the affirmative. “You’ve never done that?”
She shook her head. “No, but I want to. What do you call it? Sucking a cock?”
“That’s one of several things to call it.”
“I want to suck your cock.”
“I might, ah, have an orgasm.”
“I want you to have an orgasm. In my mouth.” And she looked up at him still stroking his cock. “Lovers do that too?”
“Yeees…”
“Jonathan I want us to be lovers. I want to be good lover for you.”
“Just lovers?”
“No Jonathan. I want you to be my man. I want to be your woman. Is that wrong of me?”
“No.”
“Then please let me suck your cock.” And he let her.
CHAPTER THREE
As Jonathon walked down the corridor to find Dr. Bond he now thought he really had something to live for. Though he had no trouble living for the sake of being alive. He liked being alive. Especially now he had a girlfriend. He liked many things about Kookli. One was her sense of naturalness. She was not encumbered by cultural taboos that many in his culture had.
He came to what had to be considered a nurses station though it was on the make-shift side.
“
Do you know where Dr. Bond is?” Jonathan asked the young woman at the desk who had no uniform but he assumed she was probably a nurse.
“Yes. Are you Dr. Prezlee?” She smiled when she said his name.
“Yes. Call…”
“He’s in that room over there. The second door to you left.”
He thanked her and went into a small lounge. Dr. Bond was in there conferring with two others. He stopped chatting when Jonathan entered and Dr. Bond waved him over.
“Jonathan I’d like you to meet Dr. Jock MacGregor, he’s radiology. This is Dr. Jean-Paul Fimat, he’s our computer expert. Jonathan shook their hands.
“Wonderful,” Jonathan said. “I need to talk to all three of you. Jean-Paul would it be possible to use an implant to listen to what the slavers were saying?”
Dr. Fimat nodded, “yes. I think so. We had several discussions about that but the problem is we haven’t any intact implants unattached from the people here.”
“Your friend Turk,” Dr. Bond mentioned, “had taken the two out rather, shall we say, crudely?”
“I know where there are two dead slaves which have not been disturbed.” He thought out loud, “maybe some wild animals. It would be worth the risk and I think the risk would be low.”
“What risk are you talking about?”
“The slavers who first landed in the northern part of the island are still in space. We have no idea what they may have done when the colony they started in the cove did not stay in communication. They may have tried a second landing.”
“I see,” said one though all three nodded in contemplation.
“I can send,” Jonathan said, “a team (‘again with the leadership crap!’) with you. I feel we should send a team to check out the cove. We’re going back up to the other mother ship so information may be vital.”
Again all three nodded.
“However, I think it’s pretty important and I can send a team to accompany you.”
Again all three nodded.
“It’s a good idea,” said Dr. Bond. “We’ll meet you at the park.”
>
Jonathan walked up to the puddle jumpers. He had briefly wondered where to house the, or should it be, his men. He quickly saw that would not pose a problem. All three teams had arranged three of the puddle jumpers in a semi circle and were lounging around. They had made it their camp. Jonathan was reminded of one of his favorite movies, ‘Kelly’s Heroes.’
Keoni, Hawk and Sasha waved Jonathan over. They stood at a tent of sorts, more like a large awning. Lanni and her two children and Beth with her baby were underneath it. As Jonathan walked over Big John, Tim and Sam of the C team came over.
“Got some news and things to do. We should get (and Jonathan refused to say assemble) all the teams.” Tim went to get the rest of the Earthland Security Force. Jonathan was told that Tony, Bob and Terry were training the police pilots in the new police puddle jumpers which was off to the side of the clearing from the others.
As the three teams assembled in front of the tent Tony, Bob and Terry with the two pilots and two copilots in tow also wandered over.
“Where’s Turk?” asked Jonathan. He felt terrible the moment the question was out of his mouth. He could guess.
“He, ah, went back to his camp,” Hawk said. That was what Jonathan had guessed.
“Okay. We need to do a few things before we go back up and try to infiltrate the other mother ship. First, I will only accept volun…”
All hands were raised before Jonathan could finish.
Jonathan was choked up a little. “Swell,” he coughed out.
“We need a team to go to Turk’s camp and…extract the two dead slaves. Terry do you think you could find it again?”
Terry nodded.
“I thought maybe C team should go as it hasn’t had the flight time as the rest of us. How’s that sound?” All heads of the C team nodded and a few voiced differing forms of agreement.
“Bob, I think we need to check out the cove. To see if any activity has resumed there. Is there a way to detect the implants from the puddle jumper?”
“We’ve been discussing that. We think one of the screens does exactly that. But we can’t think of how to test it,” Bob said. “All those with implants here are quarantined with the static playing.”
“I think we can test it on the two dead slaves at Turk’s camp. One of the properties of the implants was a locator signal. You think that would be a valid test?”
Bob and Terry looked at each other then nodded.
“We need to wait for some of the medical staff. They’ll take care of the bodies.” Jonathan called over to the police pilots, “you guys want to go up with us?” They nodded enthusiastically.
“What about me?” Tony asked.
“Tony, do you feel up to flying?”
Tony said he did.
“Okay. Terry takes the C team, the medical team and the police pilots. Bob take the A team and Tony take the B team and give us back up. If there aren’t any slavers at the cove we can land and take the supplies meant for them. If the slavers have returned we’ll meet at Busland and make other plans. Once the C team has completed its mission why don’t you meet us at Busland first? If we’re not there then head to the cove.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Sam,” Jonathan yelled. “Can Terry get a fix on those implants?”
It took a few minutes while Sam looked over his shoulder. He was standing in the open hatch of puddle jumper 2. Jonathan saw Sam raise his head then face him across the few yards separating puddle jumper 1 from 2.
“Yeah, Terry’s got the implants fixed on the screen,” Sam yelled back. “It works,” He had to raise his voice because they were seventy five feet in the air and the breeze was strong.
“We’ll see you guys later. We’re off to the cove.”
Sam nodded and waved then closed the hatch on puddle jumper 2. The alien transport ships had only one hatch and was on the same, the right, side. Therefore, the number 1 had to be backwards to number 2 for the hatches to align. However, the maneuver worked reasonably well. They could communicate in altitude this way again if need arose.
Puddle jumper 2 drifted down to land and pick up the two dead slaves from Turk’s camp while puddle jumper 1 readied to head toward the cove. Puddle jumper 3 had remained high in the sky and would keep number 1 in sight.
The plan was to fly high above the cove and hopefully out of sight. It was early morning of the next day and it was bright. The vog and the ashes had continued to lessen noticeably these last few months and each day brought clearer skies. Overall visibility was improving. They were able to see more stars at night as well.
Jonathan closed the hatch and returned to the cockpit. Bob was looking at the screen as the puddle jumper ascended.
“It’s really amazing how well this crate handles. It moves so effortlessly. We just rose straight up one thousand meters and it felt like a hundred.” He shook his head in admiration for the technology he was experiencing. He turned to Jonathan, “you think it’s electro-magnetism?”
Hawk stuck his head in, “don’t get him started on that.”
Even Jonathan smiled. He didn’t discount Newtonian cosmology. He just didn’t think it explained enough of the phenomena. He really couldn’t understand why someone dead for several hundred years would be acknowledged infallible in understanding reality.
Why would anyone dead or alive be considered to have all the answers to the universe. He often used the depth of regolith on the moon to poke fun at the Newtonians though in a sense it was more a question of gradualism. Though the cosmologists didn’t seem to recognize that.
Two questions always stumped them: ‘why did all the scientists believe there would be eight feet of regolith on the moon? And why did they only find one eighth to one quarter of an inch of the lunar dust?’ He would then segue into how this incorrect speculation could prove the lunar landing had indeed occurred.
‘Because,’ he would begin, ‘the
NASA scientists speculated after confirming Isaac Asimov’s calculations that the regolith would be eight feet thick. Remember the lunar landing module with those long slender legs? Remember the astronaut walking down the ladder to the lunar surface? The legs were long and skinny so they could penetrate eight feet of regolith and descend easily to the surface. If the lunar landing had been staged on the back lot then there would have been eight feet of lunar dust shown as they had expected to find.’
This was always a tension deflator to some extent. These Newtonians were worse than the gradualists in equating dissent as the vilest heresy and Jonathan had tired of their vitriol. But of course the questions still remained; why had the scientists in the late sixties been so incorrect with their ironclad speculation when their mathematical calculations had been so correct.
The answer, of course, was extremely obvious. Since it was not the answer they wanted to hear so they didn’t hear it. The answer of course was since the mathematics was 100% correct then the problem with less than a half inch of regolith had to be in the foundation the mathematics had relied upon.
Certainly, this was not the answer of why there was “negligible” lunar dust but it was a starting point for people with integrity and those who accepted scientific ethics.
Why were the scientists of today still unable to explain the phenomena of the “negligible” amount of regolith first discovered in 1969?
However, Jonathan knew this wasn’t a time to bring it up for discussion.
It took them only minutes to arrive above the cove. They had all four seats in the cockpit filled so more eyes with the exception of Bob’s could be on the lookout for the enemy. They all thought of the Peeds as the enemy.
Three sets of eyes might not miss an enemy puddle jumper arriving or taking off. Bob looked at the screens on the instrument panel in front of him.
“No locator flashes. I don’t think there’s anyone home.” Bob looked at Jonathan.
“Give puddle jumper 3 the signal we’re going in.” The signal was rotating three times as they hovered. They descended to the cove clearing.
Upon landing the side hatch was thrown open and the A team covered the ground, the tent and barracks in front of them with their ray guns. After a few minutes when nothing happened they rushed to the barracks in a semi-military manner. They all had watched TV shows about war, combat and SWAT teams.