Chapter Six #2
“No. I went kicking and screaming, took out a few medics, still not a mark on me.”
“Hah. Well, you would have ended up in a skimpy outfit when the Zowoth arrived. Wait. They showed up three weeks after we last saw you.”
“Yeah. The guy who had me enhanced got irritated that I disappeared. He decided to have the Zowoth look in the last place he had seen me.”
“Shit.”
Margo looked around, and the men were looking at her wide-eyed. “What you are saying is freaking out the crew. Soven, why are you guys looking ill?”
“Because we are doubting that you will let us call Aken-Var to tell him about the lady who is on this ship.”
Geri laughed. “You have got to be kidding. I am not a lady. I am not really a spaceship or two, and I am definitely not just a body in a container. Oh, Margo, I am going to need some clothing in size titan.”
Margo paused. “Gotcha. I am looking forward to seeing you again, but I think I am going to end up with my face mid-cleavage.”
“Buy me a drink first. I am not into ladies, but I will get a free drink.”
Margo laughed. “I will go to the fabricator and see what I can find in a huge toga until you can get measured for something specific. I just have to ask, why did the big dude want you? There were other tall ladies in the rankings.”
Geri snorted, which was funny for a disembodied voice. “He said something about me being his Likuska. I can’t get a translation for it.”
Baket blinked.
“Oh, I think one of the orcs knows what that is. Baket?”
“Heart of my soul. Body outside of my own. Treasure of life. The explanations get more florid the more they drink.” Baket blushed. “I am half Mathor.”
“Wow. Since you are Zowoth, I am guessing your mom is tall.”
He nodded. “About my height. My father is always so proud when they are together. She is where I get my rank from. I look Zowoth, so I trained as one.”
“Aw. Now I won’t give you such a hard time about honorifics.”
He grinned. “So, it takes knowing that you got it from my mother to make it worthy?”
“Absolutely. So, based on the expression that made all of you look like you swallowed your own testicles, you know who is looking for Geri.”
The guys looked at her, and Baket said, “We know who he is. He goes to the arenas and challenges high-tier fighters. It’s a hobby of his. He hired the Zowoth to find his Likuska. We found you instead. Not a match for our target, but Aken-Var was fascinated.”
She looked at him. “But, despite my ranking, it wasn’t socially acceptable for me to be as I was, so he tucked me into a repair unit and had me restored to factory settings. That qualified me for the women’s quarters.”
They all winced.
That was answer enough.
“Right. I am going to get whatever passes for coffee on this thing. Arven, you have the com. Geri, you are actually driving.”
There was a chuckle. “Yes, pilot.”
Margo got up and left the room. She needed some not-coffee and maybe a pastry of some kind.
It was unsurprising to see the other Terrans in the food court. She waved. “Hey, room for one more?”
Isolde grinned. “Margo? You are really Geri’s friend?”
“I am. We knew each other at the arena.”
“Did you know the guy that she was modified for?”
“I didn’t meet him, but yes, I saw him. I couldn’t believe that he didn’t kill her in the fight.”
Cori frowned. “What?”
Margo stood by the food machine and ordered her drink and snack. “Narrow it down. What, what?”
“Why would he have killed her?”
“Because she was five eight and a human, and he was eight feet and not a human. The fight was ten minutes long, and in a few spots, she climbed him like a monkey. When he picked her up and slammed her to the ground, that was it. Fight over. She eventually got breathing again, and they hauled her off. That was the last time I saw her.”
Skylar blinked. “So, Isolde says that she’s seven feet tall now.”
Margo nodded. “Yeah, she told me about that. It was a side effect of the bet. If she had won, she would have gotten off-world, and if he won, there was one night in his bed at stake, but he didn’t want to kill her, so the arena used some sketchy machinery and reprogrammed her DNA, so now she’s tall.
” She smirked. “Apparently, they weren’t counting on her adapting fast, and she broke out of the arena and stole a ship that eventually picked you up, Isolde.
Once you were safe, she finished her transformation. ”
Isolde smiled. “This baby is going to have a lot of aunties.”
Margo smiled. “You are halfway through?”
Isolde frowned. “Seven months.”
“Hmrain baby, you are still in for another five months.”
Isolde touched her belly. “I knew that. I just haven’t heard it out loud before.”
“But you are going to need as much help as Chloe can manage. Hmrain babies normally have a link to the father and his nanites for energy and repair.”
Isolde frowned. “I haven’t met him.”
“I know. They were trying to wake him with an heir, so you were one of many, but the only one to catch. It would have been highly illegal at home, but home has been blown to hell, so the world you were on accepts that dumping cum from one person in a coma to another is acceptable.” Margo sat down and sipped her coffee.
“Now, can you imagine the brave SOB who snuck up on a sleeping Hmrain to jerk him off?”
Isolde’s eyes went wide, and then she laughed. “That is an image. I don’t know anything about the father. I don’t even know if he’s still asleep.”
Margo ate her nearly-croissant. “Do you want us to find out? Hmrain are funny about this kind of thing. When the baby shows up, someone is going to find him. You might want to get ahead of it.”
Isolde sighed. “You don’t understand, I am going to protect this baby with everything in me.”
Margo nodded. “And when you can’t? What happens then?”
Margo saw how quiet Cori, Chloe, and Skylar were holding themselves.
“I will. My baby will always be safe with me.”
Margo looked at Isolde. “I really hope so, but one day, that child is going to be out of your hands, and since they will have wings, someone has to teach them to fly, to bank, to turn. The wings will have to be the same shape as your Hmrain’s to be able to teach properly.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about.” Isolde frowned.
Margo shrugged and kept eating. An arm came around her, and a head was on her shoulder. “This is my daughter, Delia. She died on the day after the asteroid strike.”
Delia sighed. “In a car. There were no lights, and I was t-boned. I died on impact. My mother was already on her way to my side, but she was states away, and I was dead. Having another parent might have helped, but my dad died when I was three. She was all I had in the world, and I was all she had.”
Isolde was covering her mouth. “Oh, I didn’t mean...”
“You did. It’s okay. Mothers are arrogant. At one point, we held our entire world inside of us. We deserve to be arrogant.” She sipped at her drink and held Delia’s hand. “So, you didn’t leave yet?”
Delia chuckled. “There is so much more to see. Not you and that orc. The thought of that boggles the mind.”
“Yeah, well, you read those books, you pervert. You left your collection behind, and I got bored.”
Delia laughed. “What I want to know is if flooding is a thing?”
Margo froze, and she looked at her. “Why do you want to know that?”
“I am dead, bored, and hanging around inside Skylar is great for socializing, but you have a body, and you have appetites, and you can get up to all kinds of things, and from what I heard last night and today, you have. So... how much is too much?”
“Fine. Skylar, should we take this outside?”
The rest of the ladies were watching with various snacks in hand, and their eyes were keen. Skylar said, “I am good, and I am curious. What can we ask you?”
“Anything you want. Just let me get more not-coffee.”
Cori chuckled, got a tablet, and started writing questions. The other ladies pitched in, and Delia asked a few things as well. Isolde looked over. “Delia, how are you here?”
Skylar explained what she was, Chloe explained what she was, and Cori explained how she had become purple-and-black striped with tremendous strength.
Geri said, “I would show myself off, but I still have a few hours to go. I am human, in my soul, but my body is something else, and I am blocking the guys from tattling on me.”
Margo asked, “Who are they trying to tell?”
“Aken-Var and someone named Meletios. I am thinking he is the Mathor that had me tweaked.”
Margo brought her supplies back and said, “You are linked to the computer. Look him up.”
Geri snorted. “Duh. I forgot I could... oooh. Yeah, that’s the guy. Wow. There’s a bounty on me. A big one. Wait. Oh. Wow. There is one on you, too, Margo. Both of us are to be delivered to our respective males without any damage to us.”
Margo blinked. “That’s weird. He already knows I am not coming back. I don’t want to slaughter the women’s quarters to a man...or woman. Plus, he isn’t available as much as I would need him, so it would just be frustrating for me.”
Geri paused. “The name isn’t Aken-Var. It is Voru-Mel.”
Margo paused. “What?”
“Voru-Mel. He has put a capture bounty on you.”
“That is problematic.” Margo explained, “He was a challenger in the arena. He wanted the use of my body, and I wanted clothing without holes. I am a simple soul. He lost. I got a new fight suit, and he swore to have me. I figured it was whatever because he left.”
Geri said, “He’s offering a few million, the price of a basic Hmrain companion.”
“Yikes. That is... unfortunate.” Margo said, “Now, how about that list?”
Chloe said, “Margo, how much danger are you in?”
“Fair to middling. I just have to check the arrivals of any station we head to, and if there are any of his people there, I stay onboard with a needle gun.”
Skylar paused. “What do you mean?”
“I am the pilot on record. I am trackable.”
“Oh. Got it.” Skylar frowned. “So, you will be okay?”