Chapter One

Having the pin booster fail during our descent into the atmosphere of the Planet of Origin, known to us as Alpha, caused the shuttle to tumble wildly. Once the emergency stabilization system regained control of the little vessel, I looked over to the captain’s chair, only to see him half hanging out of the cushioned pedestal, obviously broken in half, if not more. His restraints, for the most part, were hanging loosely about him. The human body cannot achieve the angles his limbs were attaining without being fractured and bent inordinately beyond survival.

It was then that I counted my stars of good fortune and contemplated my future. Having been the second of the team of three to make the journey back to the planet of our origin, thousands of years after our species had been rumored to be very possibly absconded with as slaves from this very place, was, to say the least, a horrid experience so far.

It wasn’t three weeks after our departure from Omega that our ship’s captain, the son of the sovereign leader of Omega One, raped and killed our third crew member. Her crime, you ask? She questioned his true qualifications, other than being nobility, to captain the crew of the messenger vehicle. She never liked the man. Venal was a beautiful woman. She was smart as a whip, quick with her wit, but she had one failing. She underestimated the vile capabilities of the spoiled, pretentious, entitled piece of excrement that was our commanding officer.

Upon her asking the question, he quite literally turned red with anger, reached out for her throat, and with one hand grasping her there, ripped her togs from her body, and raped her, leaning her backwards over the command console. She was dead before he reached his climax, withdrawing his erection and shooting his seed all over her midsection. If I had been awake during the incident, I would have killed him before he had a chance to finish, but with what the video showed, she was dying soon after he grabbed her neck, squeezing, crushing, and collapsing her larynx beyond repair.

It was an extremely tense three days before we entered the atmosphere of Alpha, me walking on eggshells to keep from angering him further, and him not again mentioning the incident or the reason for the absence of Venal from our daily lives. Upon me questioning him, he claimed she died in her sleep and the AI informed him that her body needed to be spaced, or ejected from our craft, lest the decomposition cause us to become ill. Total lies, of course, but there was no way I was going to confront him without a weapon and the element of surprise. Ronen was almost two meters tall, and extremely strong. I was fairly small, petite, even for our people, smaller by any measure even than Venal, and would never have been able to protect myself from his wrath.

It was all moot now, since he proved Venal’s entire point by being lazy and not properly restraining himself during entry into the atmosphere of Alpha. Too many things can go wrong, even if they rarely do, to take a chance like not using all restraints available. He merely buckled the lap portion of his harness, which ninety-nine-point nine percent of the time works quite well. One tenth of one percent, that ‘one chance in hell’ people refer to, quite literally broke him in half, just above his pelvis, dislocated both shoulders, and snapped his neck. It truly could not have happened to a more deserving fellow. Footage of the command console recordings will most certainly be shared with my superiors very soon.

So, anyway, here I was, Lieutenant Commander Chalen Vorn, Omega United Planetary Defense Command, alone on the spacecraft sent from Omega to deliver a message from our planet’s leaders. The message? Humanity had persevered and was alive and well on several worlds, Omega being one of those, and the most populated.

Gamma, Epsilon, and Theta also hosted humans, as well as other sentient species, but were only considered outposts and not the center of humanity as a species. Omicron and Omega were considered true bastions of humanity, with Omega being considered the current center of the universe as far as humans were concerned. Omicron was at one time, but a thousand years past, explorers found a much larger, more serene, place to call home. Many made the trek, emigrating to Omega and since then, for many reasons, it has become the paramount location in the eyes of all concerned.

Abundant natural resources, mild weather, and perfect atmosphere combined to give the human race a home with a more welcome environment than even Alpha, the place once called Earth in the Sol One system.

The Grand Federation of Governments, the GFG, asked the leadership of Omega One, the most advanced and capable of all human enclaves, as well as that of all other known species, to deliver the message. They paid us handsomely in resources, metals and crystals of all kinds, to attempt the mission.

The advent of drives capable of reaching faster than light acceleration for hours at a time made it possible to cover the vast amounts of space in hardly any time at all, in relation to past capabilities. The breakthrough was also dependent on protecting the craft and preventing the crew from dissolving into dust at the time of launch, so that should also be mentioned. The mere existence of the force field and subsequent shielding provided by that technology far surpassed any defensive capabilities known until then.

One shortcoming of the technology was the fact the pin booster propulsion system could not be fired through it, hence the tumbling and rough ride which occurred to us as we re-entered the Alpha atmosphere with said failed pin booster. It failed and became uncontrollable, making it impossible to steer the shuttle, shortly after activation.

Luckily, as I looked down on the Planet of Origin, I saw great expanses of land. Knowing I had to keep my craft intact for a return trip, I needed to find a long, hard, flat stretch of terrain on which to ease her down. The worst of it was doing so without the pin booster. It was not much different from landing an uncooperative atmospheric oriented aircraft without it.

It took a couple of orbits, but I located an actual landing ribbon, almost seven kilometers long. It looked new, and manmade, and was outside of what appeared to be a small city. On the third orbit, I allowed the AI to assist with adjusting minimums and approached the ribbon for landing.

I didn’t think I was welcome, and as my heart climbed into my throat, I prepared to meet a fate similar to my commander, Ronen, and my friend, Venal. It didn’t look good for The PDCS Omega Messenger, nor for what little remained of her crew.

I was met by several land vehicles, all of which had red and blue lights flashing, and people near them. Yes! HUMANS! PEOPLE! YEAY!

With a vehicle stopping me from moving far from the big landing ribbon, I was able to at least pull off of and away from it, and park. I locked the front wheels, then shut down everything but the basic electrical system, making sure all recording devices were operating. Hopefully the AI could help me if I had problems communicating with the people here.

Once the craft was quietly idling, I opened the lower hatch and exited down the egress ladder. With my hands up, and being unarmed, I was hoping not to get killed just trying to make contact. I left the sidearm behind since I was outnumbered a hundred to one and had no chance in a firefight. It would almost always be worn off the ship but in this circumstance, it seemed senseless and even a bit self-defeating.

A tall man, almost half a meter taller than my diminutive frame, approached me. “How do you communicate?” he asked, holding his hands out and to the sides.

I saw the familiar rank insignia on his shoulders. “Excuse my insolence, and forward attitude, colonel, or captain, as you may be, but I speak like this whenever possible,” I told him, smiling as the possibility of a normal conversation came to mind. “I come in peace with a message from Omega and the Grand Federation of Governments.”

He laughed. “That should work. Are you armed?”

“No, sir. My sidearms and long guns are on board, but it didn’t look prudent to wear them down here. I think I’m outnumbered.”

“I think so, too. I am Colonel Collins. I will be the only person you are to communicate with until advised otherwise. Is that understood?” he asked.

I nodded. “My name is Chalen Vorn. I am a Lieutenant Commander, Omega One Planetary Defense Command.”

“It is good to meet you, I think. I’m going to have your craft towed. Do we need to do anything special, or can we just pull it over to those hangars?” Using his thumb, he gestured to an area behind him.

“I’ll need to release the apron brake on the front wheels.”

He nodded, then looked over to one of his men. “Sergeant Foster, following her directions, enter her craft and maintain control while she shows you what she needs to do, then performs the function of releasing the brake.”

“Yes, sir. Right this way, ma’am,” Foster said as he walked toward my ship.

I told him, “Climb the ladder, then step left then back a bit. I can precede you to the command console. The brake can be released from either side. It’s the small black lever under a red switch protector labeled ‘Brake’, naturally.”

Foster chuckled, saying, “Naturally,” as I climbed up under him, then stepped in front of him and toward the controls.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Almighty! What the hell happened to him?” Foster said as he saw the remains of Captain Ronen’s grossly twisted body hanging all akimbo from the captain’s command chair.

“I will explain that to your colonel, Sergeant, as he has advised me to only converse with him.”

“True. That is his desire. Good God, what a mess.”

“Yes, he was, Sergeant Foster. Yes, he was.” I reached over while he was watching, and pushed the switch protector down, disengaging the parking brake. We felt the ship lurch ever so slightly as the brake caliper’s pressure was released off the rotor attached to the front wheel assembly. “There we go. Messenger should roll fine now.”

“Messenger, huh?” he surmised. I nodded. “OK, then, let’s get back to the colonel, please,” Foster stated, gesturing for me to depart the craft. Once we were on the ground, he headed straight for the colonel. “Sir there is a guy in one of the seats up there that looks like a gorilla tore him up. He’s twisted in ways our bodies are not supposed to bend.”

“Commander? Care to explain? Before we move the evidence any farther?” Collins asked of me.

“Yes, certainly. I sure am glad you people speak Universal Standard. Is it still called that? History books refer to it as English. It’s what we learn as children.”

“Yes, it is still referred to as English, actually. It took many, many years for us to make it so, and a lot of work digging things up to restart, but yes. This is the old United States. Kansas, actually, and we speak English here. If you think you’re happy about it, I just had an alien land on my planet speaking the same language as me. I’m pretty happy about it, too.” He smiled. He had a genuine, handsome smile. “Now, what’s with the corpse upstairs?”

“Long story short, Colonel. I am, I was, second in command of the spacecraft Omega Messenger. The man upstairs, or corpse, as you called him, is the son of the Sovereign Leader of Omega One, of the Planet Omega. He was the captain of our vessel. He used only his lap belt during entry into your atmosphere. When the pin booster failed, we experienced a series of violent tumbles, then the recovery system kicked in, which is even more violent than an uncontrollable pin booster, and the turbulence broke him into pieces held together with the ugly bag that is his skin.”

Collins looked at me in question. “You sound like there was no love lost there, Commander.”

“Three days ago, Colonel, he raped, killed, and spaced our flight engineer, a lovely young lady named Venal. She was a friend, as well. I have the incident on video and will report that incident, as well as his wonderful and timely demise, to my superiors as soon as I am able.”

“Do you know of a motive for the act?” Collins asked.

“She questioned his ability, or more so his qualifications, to be the captain of a star bound vessel, other than being the Leader’s son. He didn’t take it well. Should she have done that? No, probably not, but she didn’t need to die, let alone be raped or spaced, over something non-judicial punishment or a letter of reprimand could have taken care of.”

“I see. I mean I understand. I don’t see how or why that would happen. Let’s get your buggy,” I must have involuntarily scowled at his comment. “Buggy is just a colloquialism for a vehicle. Used to be an ancient little thing pulled by horses before propulsion was invented. No disrespect toward you, nor your amazing vehicle, was intended.” I smiled at that explanation. “In any case, let’s get it towed to the hangar by the temporary parking apron and talk some more. I have a feeling there is a lot of information we need to cover. We can start with a meal for you and a copy of your ‘message’ (he air-quoted with his fingers) for my people. Follow me, please.”

He took me over to a ground vehicle on wheels. We hadn’t used wheeled vehicles for ages. Our air and spacecraft had them so they could be moved without the need for drives and reactors to be running, but to see these small passenger vehicles with black rubbery looking wheels was like stepping back into the museum of history in New Columbia, the capital of Omega One.

As he opened the door for me to get in, he motioned for me to sit, then closed the door and proceeded to the other side. We quietly followed my craft as it was towed to the hangar. He broke the silence with a question.

“Can I assume that some of humanity didn’t suffer from the near annihilation caused by the Scalar slavers?”

“Yes. The earliest of the space-borne explorers landed on Beta, Gamma, and Delta, and from what we learn, they, and the families of the Zeta and Theta exploration crews were the nexus of our salvation. That million or so people, with all the technology and wisdom of the day, saved humanity from extinction. So we were taught. May I ask how correct we are?”

“Pretty much spot on, but with a twist. The slavers from Scalar overestimated their own capabilities, so after they had us down to about a few hundred thousand people, all out here in the middle of nowhere, they ran out of fuel, food, and whatever else they needed to survive, so they left. We haven’t seen them since, but if they return, we’ll be ready for them. It seems no one got around to trying to fight them with vinegar. Just before they left, we killed several thousand of the damned things using balloons full of vinegar. That may have helped them decide to leave, too. We just don’t know. It took our ancestors a while to regroup from that mess. That was, from what we have recovered, about two thousand years ago. We are back, technologically, to where we were in the mid twenty-first century, and gaining ground pretty quickly. Much more quickly than it took to get there the first time.

“Our leadership figures we’ll be back in deep space in a hundred years or so and have faster than light travel back in another couple of hundred years after that. It just takes time to get the infrastructure built and recoup the brain trust. Enough about us. Let me get you fed, and we can get down to business. The message. What do you need from your ship to share what you brought?”

“Just my little computer and the courier satchel. I’d like to leave the auxiliary power unit running so that I can stay in touch with my AI, if that is satisfactory with you.”

He nodded but shifted his eyes a bit. “Commander, I realize there is only one of you, but some memories run pretty fresh. How do we know you can be trusted? You obviously have technology far beyond ours. Need we worry? Can I somehow get your word of honor that you have no nefarious intentions on our homeland?”

“Rest assured, Colonel, I have no ulterior motives. I have a message from your future, if you will. We didn’t really expect to find anything here when we came. Many rumors talk about the surface of the earth being scoured by the Scalar leaving nothing but water and rock.”

“They came very close, Commander. They came closer than we want to think about. There was nothing inhabitable, or recognizable, outside of a two-hundred-mile radius of us. They took out everything, bridges, buildings, roads, trees, everything, right down to bedrock and killed anything on or within yards of the surface even remotely to be considered living. What you see around you are the luckiest people in the world. Literally.”

“Ackkk. Colonel, could you call me Chalen? Commander seems so formal, and I don’t feel that pure formality is in either of our best interests.” I pronounced my first name for him, with the first letters being softly given, as in Shalen.

“I guess we could do that. You can call me Charlie. Just Charlie, for now.”

“Okay, Charlie. Why don’t you get your Sergeant Foster to recover my computer and the red satchel in the box between the command console seats and bring it to you.”

Charlie summoned Foster over the radio and had him meet us in front of the main mess hall on the base. He explained what we needed.

“Commander, what do I need to do to enter the craft. I noticed there weren’t any latches or anything. Once you got off and told the hatch to close, the ship just did so,” Foster asked.

“Just say, ‘Messenger, open main hatch for personnel entry, please.’ The hatch will lower, and the ladder will extend.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, Sergeant Foster. If you don’t say ‘please’, it won’t open. I guarantee.” I smiled at him and watched as he smirked, and Charlie chuckled. “I need the red bag for your commander, here, and the little glass plate on my console in front of my seat. It is a computer I can use to communicate with my ship.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Foster saluted, Charlie returned it, and the good sergeant, shaking his head, did an about face and walked away.

Chapter Two

Charlie walked me into the chow hall, through the line, paid for our lunch, and showed me to seats around a table in the corner of the hall, designated as ‘Reserved’.

The more I found out about these people that were recovering from catastrophe, the more I realized that not much had changed after thousands of years of space exploration and colonization. Baked chicken and broccoli with butter were still favorites of mine when not eating space rations.

“Chalen, when you get your computer, can I see some of the evidence you have?”

“Yes, Charlie. The AI has it stored and ready to view. There are some pretty graphic details of the murder, and I have yet to see how Ronen’s body got twisted, since I was busy coming out of reentry, but it will be there.”

“Where were you when the incident occurred, if you don’t mind me prying,” he asked, hesitantly. I could tell he was trying not to offend me with the question.

“Asleep in my berth, as the AI’s shift logs will indicate. We don’t film our bunks, but the AI keeps track of where our bodies are at any point in time. I’ll show you how to confirm that. I have nothing to hide, and everything to gain by being open and honest with you, Colonel. Do not hesitate to ask me anything you wish.”

“I agree with that assessment. As soon as I see the video you have offered, the subject will be dropped. Your captain has been removed from your vessel and is presently in the morgue. His body will be analyzed as much as possible, his condition documented, then with your approval, he will be cremated and placed in a container for your return trip. Is cremation an acceptable end for your people, Chalen?” he asked, sincerely.

“Yes, for most, since you probably don’t have large rodents around to feed him to.” I tried to smile when he did, but I was serious whereas he thought I was joking. “I’m sorry, Charlie, but the man was a scumbag long before he ruined and killed Venal. Some people are just evil. His father, supposedly, isn’t that bad. I’ve heard that he, Ronen, takes, or should I say ‘took’, after his mother, the Queen. She is said to be a hateful, spiteful woman who gets along with no one, to include her husband. They live apart and are seen together for appearance’s sake alone. So, the stories go. I have no reason to doubt them after being shiplocked with her son for almost a month.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Especially losing your friend, Venal. I truly am sorry.” He seemed genuinely sincere. He seemed like a genuine man. I was starting to think of him as a nice guy. He seemed like he might be one. Not common above the grade of major, let me tell you. I know from experience. Not to mention he was listening. He remembered her name. He remembered Venal’s name from my explanation. Interesting.

Sergeant Foster chose then to arrive with the satchel and my computing device. I thanked him, then started to bring up the videos of Ronen attacking Venal. Thankfully, it also showed the conversation before the attack as that explained the outlandishness of the attack itself. Charlie was stricken with anger when he saw the violence on the screen.

He handed the screen back to me, then simply said, “That’ll be about enough of the talk about the murder. It happened in space, on your ship, and as far as I’m concerned, you are the captain now, and were the captain before he finished committing the crime. Truly an offense that would have to lead to his being stripped of rank, position, and duties, if not executed as well. It’s your jurisdiction. How do you report that to your people, Chalen?”

“I don’t until I’m space-borne and can send a dispatch torpedo back home. Not a problem. The accused is not going anywhere and the chances of finding the victim are between nil and none. We were moving when he threw Venal’s precious body overboard, so she’s still moving up there somewhere.” A tear came to my eye. Charlie, unintentionally, more likely instinctually, took his napkin and wiped my cheek. Wow. That was unexpected. “Thank you, Charlie.” I took my own napkin, wiped my eyes, and told him, “I’m fine. Thanks.”

I removed the documents from the official courier bag I was supposed to deliver and showed them to him. He spent several minutes reading through them, nodding and indicating interest.

“Wow, Chalen. A few thousand years of history in six pages. Quite an accomplishment. Oh, and here on the last page is an offer to join the Federation. I’ll get all this information to my brother and let him handle it from here.”

“Your brother?” I asked. I was astonished. Were they going to cover this up and make it look like it never happened? What the hell?

“Yes. My brother is the governor of what is left of Kansas and the surrounding area. The city a few miles away is Abilene, the current capitol of not only Kansas, but what is left of Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa. All of the major cities were ransacked before the Scalar departed. Only the small towns and the outskirts of Wichita were left. Topeka and points east were decimated, everyone kidnapped or killed. Same to the south, the west, and north. They just didn’t make it this far. Hard to believe. For any of us, actually, but we were spared. Believe it or not, but Hayes is the new Dallas. The center of the petroleum industry. Wichita is what Seattle once was, the airplane and technology capital of the world. Abilene is, what the history books would equate to, New York City. It’s pretty obvious we don’t have a navy, but we’re working our way to the Gulf of Mexico and points east and west. It’s all about recreating the infrastructure at this point. It takes time. Generations worth.”

His explanation eased my mind enough to exhale. I was worried there for a minute. “Can we help?”

“Well, over time we have been getting steel mills, factories, and all kinds of manufacturing up and running. Trees are becoming more and more plentiful as we plant more and more, and they seed and grow their way out and away from the centers of our enclaves. If you’ve ever heard of the legendary Johnny Appleseed, that is what is happening as we move outwards. We plant in our wake and little by little the world will regain its livelihood and beauty. We hope.”

“I’m so glad I was selected for this journey, Charlie. To see this happening… It’s eye-opening. If I can repair my pin booster, I’d like to offer you a ride to Omega, and Omega One. I have a reason, and I won’t make that offer to anyone else here, for a few reasons, but suffice to say, I’m not an inexperienced little girl, and I trust very few people.”

“What will it take to repair this ‘pin booster’ you refer to?”

“I have no idea, Charlie. I’ve been in your custody since I arrived. I haven’t had a chance to even query the AI for advice on it.” I smiled at him, hoping to get one in return.

I did get one. He smiled. “Ask her. It is a her, right? I was under the impression that all AIs were female when we had them.”

“I have no idea. I’ve never spoken to it. It’s all through the computer, or console screens. Maybe I should work on that.” He had me smiling again. “Let’s go back to the ship and I’ll check it out.”

He nodded, packed up the courier satchel, then had his top sergeant, Sergeant Foster, have it delivered to the Governor. He called his brother, told him it was on the way, and explained what was going on. It was a lengthy discussion, but he conducted that while he was driving us over to the hangar where my spacecraft was stored.

He accompanied me aboard and watched as I proceeded to follow his advice. After several minutes, I came to the conclusion that two things were true. Number one, I was happy that Ronen was no longer on board The Messenger. Number two, it was a relatively minor hardware issue, needing only parts which could be reproduced in any modern machine shop. All we needed were billets of a titanium tungsten alloy, and proper sized diamond drill bits, to replace the broken tie rods and couplers on the gimbals that controlled the device.

“This could be interesting,” Charlie said. “I’m not a metallurgist, but we’ll do what we can.”

I produced the formulations and specification drawings for the parts and gave them to him on another computer that he could take with him.

He then shocked me to within an inch of passing out.

“Chalen, would you have dinner with me tonight?”

“I’m still in your custody, Charlie, but I think I would say, ‘Yes’, given the choice.”

“You are not in my custody, Commander Vorn. You are my guest. Our guest. You are now an official guest of the planet Earth, the State of Kansas, and the United States of America, what little is left of it.”

“In that case,” I told him, “I’d be delighted.”

“Please gather your personal belongings, Chalen. I’m taking you to the Visiting Officer’s Quarters so you can relax a bit. I’ll pick you up there later this evening, if you are still interested.”

“I will be. Give me a minute, please.” I gathered what little I had in the way of personal effects, since we didn’t have any civilian clothing or anything similar on our journey. I did have a uniform, though, so I asked him. “How do you dress for dinner around here, Charlie?”

“Bring what you have, but I’ll take you to the Exchange and we’ll find you something to wear. I’d love to dress you up for our outing, but I don’t want to be presumptuous. I’d love to call it a date, too, if that wouldn’t offend your sensibilities.”

“Charlie, I’m not offended, but what about Mrs. Collins, or any other mate you might have?”

“Trust me, Chalen, if there were another, I would not have asked you to dinner. Or, more realistically, I would have asked you to accompany US to dinner. There isn’t, though, so… It’s just us. You and me.”

“Then it’s a date, I guess. On Omega, in my world, Charlie, a date is part of the beginning of courtship. Am I reading too much into your request?”

“No, Chalen. You are reading it loud and clear. I’m not asking the Commander of The Omega Messenger out to dinner. I’m asking Chalen Vorn, petite, gorgeous, redheaded, elven, pixie goddess from Omega One, out for dinner. Did that make it any clearer?”

I did something I never thought I’d do in a million years. I reached out to him, grabbed his collar and pulled him down to me so that I could kiss him on his lips. “Perfectly clear, Colonel. I don’t want to wear my uniform to dinner. Thank you. Take me shopping?” He nodded, and still stunned, he helped me out of my vessel, into his car, and off to the department store on base.

Chapter Three

It was different, shopping there, especially with a man following me, but again, not much had changed, save the styles. I found a dress that fit me well, in the teenager’s section, some high heels in the shoe department, thankfully they were in style on Earth as well, then I picked up some other things to wear while I was here.

Charlie had told me to buy what I needed, or wanted, and that as a guest of his country, he would pick up the charges and another word wouldn’t be said about it. I took him at his word. The dress was gorgeous, and the shoes were decadent, bordering on sexy. He asked if we wore hose, stockings, on Omega, for our legs. I told him we did, so he took me to that area of the women’s department. It was almost fun having him show me around. In the lingerie section, I picked out a couple of cute bras right in front of him, then some matching panties. I saw his smile.

I was short on Omega. I knew that. I was short there on Alpha, or Earth, as well. At a hundred and fifty centimeters, I was less than their measurement of five feet tall. I think Charlie liked short redheaded girls. The young lady that helped me with a tape measure was taller than I was, and quite a pretty woman with hair an attractive shade of blonde. Charlie never even noticed her. When he saw me pick out the bras, I’m sure he could see they were tagged as a 30C. Did you know men smile with their eyes, too?

Thankfully I was short waisted, so most of the tops I liked fit just fine, and since we wear mostly shorts and short skirts back home, I availed myself of a few of those as well. He helped me pick out a pair of heels to wear with them, too. If I could get him to venture back to Omega with me, he would love walking around in New Columbia. What he seemed to like as I was picking around were very close to the current styles back home.

We pushed the shopping cart to the checkout, he paid for all of it, then on the way back out to his vehicle, I asked him, “Charlie, do you have a home here?”

“Absolutely. I have a house right down the street. We live on base for the most part. As the base commander, I kind of need to be around most of the time. If I’m on vacation or temporary assignment, my deputy takes over, but I’m here most of the time.”

“How big is it?”

“Chalen, as an emissary of your world, I don’t know if it’s appropriate for you to stay at my house, but I’m certainly willing to put you up, if you feel you would be more comfortable with me than alone at the VOQ.”

“I think I would. I know nobody. I know no place. I don’t know anything about your world, other than it’s not that much different than mine, save the old-time vehicles. I don’t even know where to eat, and I don’t have any money, save the precious metals and gemstones onboard The Messenger.”

He immediately stopped the car on the side of the road. “The what?” he asked, quite animatedly.

“We keep riches onboard in case of emergencies. In case we have to buy our way out of a department store and can’t find a handsome, generous colonel to bail us out. It’s common, Charlie. Don’t tell me your aircraft pilots don’t have an emergency stash of something valuable.”

“No, honey, they don’t. They carry their ID cards and such, and a credit card for their own use, but we have no other country to fly to. No one to capture us. Outside the range of our helicopters, there is no sentient life on this rock that we can find. The planet is uninhabited outside our domain. Our very small domain. Plants and such are starting to grow back, but slowly. Do you want to go to the hangar to secure that door? ‘Please’ is a very easy password to remember.”

“It won’t open again for anyone unless I tell it to. We’re fine. No one is going to take the gold and platinum and diamonds and rubies and emeralds off The Messenger. Are you all right, Charlie? You pulled over quite suddenly. Are you well?”

“Yes, hon. I’m fine. That just caught me off guard, the gold thing, but it makes sense when I think about it. Should I hold you for ransom and try to exchange you for your riches?” He grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

“You’ve bought me lunch, pretty clothes, attractive shoes, sexy underthings, and called me both ‘honey’ and ‘hon’. You can have my riches if you take me home with you and let me take a bath. Please tell me you have a bathtub and hot water there.”

“You’re in luck. That was one of the first things they got back up and running. The water and the sewer systems. Everything else just fell into place. Farms, food, fuels, all that unnecessary stuff, but by golly we had toilets and hot water running into our bathtubs and showers within just years after the Scalar left our ruins behind them.”

I giggled. I had to admit, as serious as their situation was, his explanation was funny.

His home was nice. By Omega One military standards, it was quite roomy. I asked him about it.

“The unit commanders are at a time in their lives when most of them are married with families. For the most part, most military officers are married. It’s still the custom here to have at least one wife and a couple of kids.” I looked at him in question. “Children. Young ones.” I nodded. “The senior officer’s quarters, like mine, are made for that and a guest. Four bedrooms, and three bathrooms. It’s quite standard. Being single, it just gives me more room to move around, more windowsills to dust, and more carpets to vacuum. I’ll have the job for a few years, then when I retire, or move up a little, someone else will live here. They will probably be married and have a couple of rug rats.”

“Rug rats? So you do have large rodents to feed Ronen’s remains to?” I thought he was serious. I’d never heard of rug rats.

“No, doll. I’m talking about the kids I mentioned earlier. Little ones. Babies, toddlers, children, adolescents, or mankind’s curse… Teenagers.”

I had to laugh. Charlie was so funny. “Rug rats, indeed. That’s cute. That terminology, rug rats, did not follow our people into space. Charlie, you called me ‘doll’. Are you trying to tell me something?”

“That I’d like to get to know you better? Yeah, I guess I am. Come on upstairs. You can use the tub in the master bedroom suite.”

He took my hand and walked me upstairs to what could only be the so called ‘master’ bedroom suite. From my experience, it was quite nice with a huge bed and very attractive furniture.

“I’ll put all your stuff here on the bed and you can take your time. If you need me, just holler. When you’re done, we can trade places, I’ll shower and get dressed and we can go out to the Officer’s Club for dinner. Sound good?”

“It sounds amazing. Thank you. And, Charlie, the inverse is true as well. I want to get to know you better, too. I don’t trust many men. Very few, actually. My luck with men, both related and not, has been abysmal. I see none of those traits in you, though, yet you control everything around you. I’ve been watching. I have not been your only task today, yet you have handled them all without losing track of me or my welfare for even a second. That tells me something. The way you treat people is telling as well. The one man I do trust, my organization’s commanding officer, is like you. If he wasn’t my grandfather, I might have chased him, but my grandmother would have frowned on that, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, that’s taking inappropriate to a whole ‘nuther level. Eeeeckkk. I take it you had issues with your father. Never mind. I didn’t mean to pry. Go take a bath. Relax. You can set the temperature and it will stay warm. We’ve also reinvented a lot of things in the last many hundreds of years.”

He left me standing there, me being ready to tell him about my past, and wanting to know about his. I grabbed my toiletries, figured out the tub and proceeded to soak the last month away. I left the door of the bathroom open so that he could hear me if I called out, but I needn’t have worried.

“Do humans drink alcohol back on Omega, hon?” I heard him ask from the other room.

“Yes. It’s still done. They have a lot of other ways to loosen inhibitions, too, but that is still one. It’s an ancient tried and true method, I would say. I wouldn’t have any idea what to ask for, so why don’t you surprise me?”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Can you bring something for yourself and keep me company? Just for a bit?”

“Sure.”

When he came back, he made a point of not looking my way as he set a drink down on the side of the tub, then sat on a chair near the doorway to the bathroom. He was being about as polite as he could be under the circumstances. I tasted it. It was quite good. Tart, sweet, mild, all rolled into one. He called a vodka tonic.

“Charlie, have you ever been wed? Been mated?”

“Not entirely, sweetie. I was close once. I was engaged to be married, wedded, to a wonderful woman. She was a great lady, but there was an accident and I lost her before we could make it final. It was quite some time ago.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that. Would it bother you for me to ask what she looked like?”

“No, not really. She was a just a hair over five feet tall, maybe an inch or two taller than you, and her hair was just a bit brighter red than yours. I know what you were getting at. Yes, Chalen, you are the type of woman that flips my switches.”

“I wasn’t being negative, Charlie. Just curious. I was mentioning my problems earlier, and I just want you to know a bit of my background, then I’ll be quiet.” I was using my hands at the time to bring water up to my shoulders and let it pour down over my collar bones and my breasts. It felt marvelous. It was the first real bath I’d been in for a month and a half. Showers get old after a while. “My father mistreated my mother, my uncle mistreated my aunt, and both tried to mistreat me at one time or another, but thankfully not at the same time. My mother and my aunt are both deceased now, thanks to those two men, and they wanted me to take over duties in their households as their woman. I escaped to a shelter where my grandparents were able to swoop in and rescue me. I repaid them by attending the Naval Academy as a cross train student from the Planetary Defense Command and graduated with honors. I have been on about three dates, with men, in my life, none of which was followed by a second. I’m leery of men in almost, if not every case, but here I am, in your home, absolutely naked, lying in hot water, completely at your mercy. I can’t explain why, except that when you held your hands out to me on the landing ribbon, I wanted to walk to you and have you put your arms around me. Do you have any explanation for that?”

“I’m just lucky?”

Once again, I had to laugh. “You are funny, Mr., I mean Colonel Collins. Very funny. I’m the lucky one. I’m forty-two light years or so from my friends, family, and home, and yet I feel more at ease here, on a once ruined planet, than I do in my own home on Omega. That’s not normal.”

“I agree. Can I wash your back if I pretend not to look? You can even close your eyes, so I don’t see anything.”

Again, I just broke out in giggles. “Well, now, you have proven that you are a man, after all. Sure. Come on in. If you were betrothed, just maybe, you might know what a female body looks like.”

“I never said I hadn’t been around the block, just that I had never had a permanent mate.”

“Around the block?” I asked him.

“Girlfriends? The girlfriend experiences. An adult woman desirous of my touch? I’m not a virgin, Chalen.”

“Oh, okay. I understand that. I kind of am.”

“Kind of? That’s not like kind of pregnant, is it?”

I failed to hold back another giggle. “No, Charlie. Pregnancy is binary. You are or you aren’t. I’ve never made love to a man before, hence, I’m kind of a virgin.”

“Interesting,” was all I could get out of him. Well, that and his hand, his warm soft, soapy hand, on my shoulders and my back. He even did my upper arms, then kissed the top of my head and went back to the chair by the door.

“Thank you. That felt really, really nice. It’s been a long time for me. Since well before our launch, actually. I have a friend back home that sometimes shares herself a bit with me, as I do with her. I did say open and honest, and you agreed it would be best, right?”

“I did. Do I have competition for your charms?”

“Not a chance. Sella is a friend. A close friend, but a friend, just the same. Picture the girl that helped me with measurements at the store today. Sella maybe has a cuter nose and lighter blonde hair, but close. Not your type at all, unless…” I looked over my shoulder at him and watched him as he gave me a funny look. “Kidding. Sorry.”

“Never apologize for an attempt at humor, sweetheart, but please don’t push me out of the way, or put up a roadblock, like another pretty woman, until I get a chance to make my play for you. Is that something you can agree to?”

“Yes. Is that the polite way of saying you aren’t necessarily into polygamy or polyamory, but won’t turn it down sight unseen?” This time I didn’t turn around. I waited for him to answer.

“Yes. Here, on Earth, it is common practice now for a man to have two wives. It was so a long time ago as well, but only in a couple of cultures. It lost popularity. Not all men do it, of course, as some of us can’t even handle one woman, let alone, two.” Again, I thought he was funny. “It stems from the population problems after the attack. We needed to repopulate, and there weren’t enough men to go around. Seems the Scalar liked men better for some reason. As slaves, anyway. In any case, the surrounding areas were ransacked such that all the men were taken first, then they left before carting off with the women. That left about two hundred thousand, I think it was, extra women behind. I don’t remember all the exact numbers, but there were many more women than men, and we needed to get busy if we wanted to save the world. We’re up around a million and a half now, I think, and making progress. Is polygamy practiced on Omega?”

“In all its forms. Polyamory as well. Before, during and after wedding and mating. It’s not uncommon for post pubescent boys to have two or three girlfriends, all of whom get along. It’s normal. Multiple women marrying their mate in a wedding ceremony? That’s common, too. Several worlds are like that, but there are a couple that I know of where it’s just the opposite, a male and female mate for life and if one dies, the other one generally follows, or stays alone until they do. It takes all kinds to make the universe light up.”

“That’s true. Chalen, I’m going to shower now. I’ll close my eyes as I pass you so that you can’t see me without benefit of cover.”

I’m sure he heard me giggle as he walked right by me, into the shower stall, turned on the water, and started shampooing his hair. He never looked around at me. Not once. He really was a true gentleman. He shaved while he was in the shower as well, but unlike him, I did catch glimpses of him behind the clear glass walls. I also noticed his face was not the only thing he trimmed with that razor.

I dried myself, then donned my bra, panties, and some silky, shiny stockings he bought for me. I shimmied into the dress, then put the heels on. All in all, I’d say I did all right at the store. If I was a man, and I was attracted to short, little redheads, I’d date me, I guess.

“God, you’re gorgeous. You make that little dress look amazing. I really am a lucky man, aren’t I?”

“Thank you, Charlie. I’ll wait for you downstairs. Should I take all this stuff you bought for me to another room? You said you had four bedrooms. There should be one open, unless you have lingering girlfriend experiences still being taken care of.”

“Pick one, or feel free to leave it all here until we get back. Either one. It’s up to you. We can move it later if you want.”

He proceeded to get dressed, right in front of me, pulling his underwear up under his towel so as to be obvious about his desire to make me feel comfortable around him. He was a well-built man. He was well defined, for sure. He didn’t have the muscles of a body builder, but there wasn’t much fat on this man at all. He was, in one word, gorgeous. I couldn’t believe that I was so deeply interested in him. He was, after all, a man. What drew me to him was beyond my comprehension. Was I under a spell of some kind? I didn’t think so. I just believe, at the time, I was… I was… Was I capable of falling in love with a man? Was I?

He finished dressing, then stood up after putting on his shoes, took my hand, and walked me downstairs. Just my hand in his did something to me. This was getting unfathomable. I asked him for a few minutes, then visited the restroom downstairs. One of the bedrooms was down there, with a full bathroom attached to it. It also had a door to the hallway, which I used. I looked back at him over my shoulder as I entered. His smile was endearing.

My feelings had no basis. There was no reasoning behind them. As I sat on the stool and used it, I thought about the last day or so. The tumble from space into his world. The distinct possibility that I could have died this morning. The death of the captain. The landing. Charlie with his arms out asking me how I would communicate. I was smitten there and then. Period. Life is too short. Too fragile not to take it by the horns and do something I wanted to do. And as far as I could tell, I wanted to take this man home to my grandparents and ask them if he could take me from them. That was my new goal.

As we walked into the Officer’s Club, his hand was in the upper part of the small of my back. He was that tall and I was that short. It felt wonderful. It felt safe. We were led to a table in the corner again, with a little placard on which was printed, ‘Reserved’. As soon as we were seated, he began talking with me again.

“My brother wants to meet with you tonight. I asked him for an hour or so alone with you. He won’t be bothering us for a bit, but just to warn you, he and his wife will be here after a while. They are eating downtown and then will join us. Are you all right with that? I can call him and cancel, if you wish.”

“No, Charlie. By all means, it’s fine. If he is the leader of your civilization, as I think you described, I need to ask him for a couple of favors anyway, so it’s best we meet early so we can all talk about my predicament, my needs, and my desires.”

“Okay, we’ll talk business later, after he gets here. In the meantime, I want to talk about personal things.” I know he saw me smile. “You are not attached to anyone back home, I take it?”

“No, not at all. Not even my career, but I plan on staying in the military for a while, if I can. If this trip is a success, or should I say if it remains a success, I’m sure they won’t mind me staying.”

“In that case, may I see you after we’re done with the work stuff? I mean more dates, or as you said, the beginnings of the courting process. The more I think about it, the more I desire you and your presence. I have the same problem you do, Chalen. I don’t understand the attraction, nor do I want time to proceed slowly while we pursue these feelings. I told you of my late fiancée. I never had this compulsion toward her. I’m not comparing the two of you, but just stating the facts. The feeling I am experiencing is completely new to me. I’m a grown man, Chalen. I should only feel this strongly about something if there is a damned good reason for it. Well, I’m telling you now, I’m all in and I’ve only known you for ten hours. That sounds a bit frightening, doesn’t it?”

I couldn’t disagree with him. “Yes, in one way, it does. But, then again, if you look at it the other way, it’s calming. It’s as if the universe sent me billions, trillions, and possibly even quadrillions of kilometers away from home, just to find the one human meant for me. Is that scary? Of course it is. Charlie, feed me, then let me beg for that to which I am not entitled.” I looked at him and smiled, and while not my most seductive smile, I wanted him to know how much I wanted him. What a play on words my life was becoming.

We ate what he called Chateau Briand for Two, a red meat specialty served with decadent root vegetables and followed by a firm chocolate cake product covered with a frozen cream topping. It was a very satisfying meal. Having the man of my dreams feeding me some of it, with smiles on his face, and desire in his eyes, was just more topping on the otherwise perfect ‘date’.

We talked a bit about our childhoods, school experiences, and even our military backgrounds, which were similar considering we both started out as fighter pilots. They were also dissimilar, considering I had soloed while traveling faster than the speed of light, while he had so far only surpassed the speed of sound by a factor of two or three.

Charlie’s recovering world had retaken the skies several hundred years ago and were putting together the makings of a fine space presence. He told me of the systems that were ruined by the Scalar turning the topsoil, as it were. Entire programs in space providing geolocation on Earth and a neighboring planet, Mars. The moon of earth had a settlement on it that was also raided by the Scalar and razed to its dusty origin. They didn’t bother the Mars settlement, but after years with no support from Mother Earth, the occupants were unable to survive.

Remaking the atmospheric air force for defense of their small remaining enclave was fairly easy, since there were several examples of their technology as well as some remaining manufacturing capability. Over hundreds of years since the Scalar retreated, they had progressed exponentially. They had reconnaissance capabilities and had scoured the entire planet, one square meter at a time, looking for human survivors, but found none. Then he changed the subject, thankfully, back to us.

When we were about knee deep in the muck of sickeningly sweet loving innuendos and promises of the hope for a beautiful eternity together, Charlie’s brother showed up. Attempting to stand, as a sign of respect, he quickly motioned me to stay seated as he took my hand, kissing the back of my knuckles, formally welcoming me to their world. His wife curtseyed and took my hand in hers as well, then leaned forward and kissed each of my cheeks. I had seen similar greetings before and recognized them as genuine, sincere, and very serious business.

“Lieutenant Commander Chalen Vorn, Omega Planetary Defense Command, please meet my brother, Governor Bradley Collins and his wife Ashley. Brad has requested an audience with you, however, brother mine, I will warn you now, she has requests to make as well. I don’t know what they are yet, since we wanted to talk about personal things first, but now that introductions are out of the way, would anyone like a drink?” Charlie asked, performing well as the penultimate host of the interworld gathering of our peoples.

“If it’s all right with you, Brad, I’d like a Moscato, please,” Ashley told him.

“Charlie, I think I’d like to try what Ashley ordered. What is that, anyway, Ashley?”

“It’s a mild, somewhat sweet, white wine, made with grapes and sometimes tweaked with a little fruit of some kind or another. You’ll like it, I’m sure. Most people do.”

I nodded, and Charlie called a waitress over to order.

Ashley was a funny, and very nice lady. “So, are you an alien? You look more like a transplant from a story known on Earth as Tinkerbell. She was a cute little fairy. A mythical creature of beauty, feminism, and magic. She was blonde, naturally, but a couple of her friends were redheads. You are truly a beautiful specimen.” She leaned in near my ear and whispered, “So, what do you think of Charlie? Wouldn’t he be a catch?”

After she said that, I leaned toward her and said simply, “I’m working on it. Wait for my request for help from your husband.” We shared a smile. She was evidently trying to help her brother-in-law find love and happiness.

“Commander Vorn…” I interrupted the Governor.

“Sir, if you will, please just call me Chalen. That will be fine. While I understand the desire for formality due to the gravity of the circumstances, there is no need for it. I am but a messenger from my world to yours.”

“Thank you, Chalen. I have read the documents provided by your government and have no problems with the request to join this Grand Federation, save one.”

“What might that be, Governor?”

“First, Chalen, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Please call me Brad.” I nodded. “We, as a world, a nation, a people, have little to offer a great organization like your Federation. While not too proud to admit it, we would hate to be a strain on your resources more so than a benefit to the organization.”

“I think, sir, that if you read carefully, and maybe even between the lines a bit, you will find their offer is for ‘assistance unrequited’. This planet, we feel, is the origin of humanity. With that being said, the Federation, at least its human member organizations, wish to help restore Alpha, your Earth, to its fullest potential. The second option doesn’t sound all that feasible after seeing the progress and livelihood here on your lovely world. I doubt that over a million people would want to leave all they know to start over somewhere else. Regardless of how similar it is, it would not be their birth home.”

“I get that, young lady. Charlie told me you needed help from us. What could we possibly have that you might need?”

“Could you enlighten me on your spaceborne capabilities?” I asked. I needed to know for two reasons. “Charlie mentioned satellites being launched.”

“Chalen, I would need to know the reason for the request before I answer questions like that. You need to understand that while we are isolated here, we are not alone in the universe, nor are we one big happy family, so to speak. There are those insipid individuals, right here on Earth, who don’t like the way we do things, and additionally, there is always the threat of outside forces, much as you have the potential to be, from which we may at some time have to protect ourselves. Pray tell, what is it that you need? I will share what I think I can.”

“I need to know if you have a launch coming anytime soon. I would like to place a communications torpedo onboard so that I might let my people know what I have found, what I have experienced, the story of Venal and Ronen, and, of course, whatever you would like to reply to them from the package they sent for you.”

“Charlie? Anything you know of?” Brad asked his brother.

“Yes. Next week, GPS Thirteen,” he said, simply.

“Is something like that even possible?” Brad asked.

“If I can put your program into my AI, she, yes, Charlie, I called my AI she,” Charlie laughed, as I continued, “she can design a fix that will allow attaching on the side of the booster to get it above the atmosphere. From there it can find its way home in about a week or so.”

“Wow.” Brad was impressed.

“Interesting,” Charlie said.

“Wait a minute. You said you would put our program into your AI? This will take a level of trust I’m not sure we can muster. Our entire system, our livelihood, our world could be at risk. Are you aware of what you’re asking?”

“Brad, please don’t take this wrong, but you are not a threat to the Federation, nor to Omega, and not to Omega One, my country, if you will. You have nothing I could use once off your planet. Your assistance will help you as well. I have a second request. I propose to you a safety, if you will. Arm your brother and have him guard me and my actions to insure I act only in the best interests of your people and your planet. Have him watch me closely as I send the torpedo, then as I have your people join my craft to another two of your smaller boosters, then watch me even more closely as I make the month-long trek home to Omega. If he feels safe at the end of our journey, he can holster his weapon and declare himself the envoy, or Earth’s Ambassador to Omega One, Omega, and the Federation.”

“Chalen, are you requesting my permission to kidnap my brother?”

“Pretty much, Governor. It is an official request by the emissary from Omega to provide an emissary from your world, but only if it’s Charlie. Else I send my torpedo, then spend two or three weeks in my spacecraft attaining orbit and take off for home.”

Charlie asked, “You can do that? Attain orbit without boosters?”

“Yes, Charlie, but it takes weeks and is the most dangerous method, especially since your near space thermosphere and exosphere are full of garbage and debris.”

The two men looked at each other and simultaneously uttered, “Oh.”

“This girl is amazing, fellows. Charlie, you need to go with her.” Ashley was determined to put the two of us together. If she only knew…

“I agree. Charlie, by the power vested in me as the elected governor of Earth, I am assigning you to accompany Chalen back home and represent us to their governing bodies and organizations. As well, and I don’t like doing this, even with this much justification, you are hereby promoted to the grade of Brigadier. I’ll have your belongings moved after you leave. That house has to be the base commander’s or deputy base commander’s because of the communications capabilities, so you will have to move. Fred can take over as your replacement and we’ll look for a replacement for him and his new deputy can move into your place after we get you out. Wow. I feel a plan coming together. Can you arrange with the space people to get her a booster for her torpedo and a couple for your ride to her place? Don’t worry about piggybacking. I have a feeling that our investment is going to come back exponentially.”

“Yes, I can take care of it,” Charlie said, looking at me and smiling.

“Thank you, Brad. I swear on my career, my country, and my world, that no harm will come to you or yours from your decision. That is my most heartfelt guarantee.”

“I’ll take you at your word, Miss Vorn. I am entrusting you with the life and wellbeing of my own brother. Please act accordingly. Now, since the horse is out of the barn, as it were, Chalen, in answer to your question, we are close, most probably within a hundred years or so of being where we were, technologically, when the Scalar first landed. Will we resettle on Mars? Probably not any time soon. That will be for future leaders to decide, but it gained little for the population of earth in comparison to the lives and treasure it cost. I would say distant space travel might be a better use of our resources. We could use help in that arena as well. One thing Charlie can do for us on Omega is to wrangle technology we can’t seem to recreate. We, that we can find, never possessed faster than light capability. I’m assuming since you came from distant stars in only a month, that you not only have that capability, but to a much higher level. Hyper warp or some such as the science fiction shows once glamorized.”

“That is true. Our limit, at this time, is about two light years for each comparative planetary day of travel for living beings. Our days are slightly longer than yours. I travelled forty-two light years in, I think I recall, twenty-five days. Twenty-four days? Not important for this conversation. That was not at the maximum capability we possess. The Messenger is not a warship, and certainly not a military attack spacecraft. It is armed, and shielded, but not to the degree of an Omega One naval battleship, dreadnought, destroyer, corvette, or even a cutter. As a bastion of humanity, with guarantees of mutual trust and support, I have no misgivings about saying my government would provide not only the facts of the technology, but the means to build, utilize, and maintain such. I think that’s a safe bet, as your brother might say in his colloquialisms.”

“Then we are in agreement, young lady. We’ll get your torpedo up to break the surly bonds, then strap a couple of roman candles to your butt and send you home. With company, of course,” Brad said, smiling at me in a way that assured I knew he was being jovial in his statement.

I looked at Charlie and mouthed, “Surly bonds? Roman candles?”

“I’ll tell you later, babe,” Charlie said, loud enough for all to hear, and upon hearing it, Ashley looked at me, smiling the smile of a victor.

Chapter Four

Ashley and I discussed her children, fashion trends, the weather, and several other things, before it dawned on me that I was just another human among humans. It was a good feeling. She quietly told me about Charlie, and her general opinion of the man so many people felt would probably be one of the next governors of the United States. She explained that as they expanded, they would probably also expand to electing more governors and a president similar to what they had in past millennia, but that wouldn’t be necessary for generations in the near future. Right now, the government was small, very representative, and very effective. The consensus was that it needed to stay that way.

The night out with his family ended and Charlie escorted me to his vehicle and then home. I had been looking forward to this time for hours now, and wondering, even to myself, how I would handle us being together, alone, with no pressure, no expectations, and for all intents and purposes, no known boundaries.

He asked if I wanted a nightcap, a drink before bed, he explained when I looked at him in question. I told him a sip of water would be fine, but that what I really wanted was for him to accompany me upstairs and whisper ‘goodnight’ in my ear. That made him smile.

He helped me move all of my new clothes from his bed to the bedroom across from the upstairs hallway bathroom, then after he picked a little green slip out of the pile, pulled me back to his room and proceeded, without asking and conveying all sorts of situational control, to undress me, touching me gently and intimately, but not sexually, then slipping the silken item over my head, then my breasts, allowing it to fall down over my naked bottom. He then tapped me on that said naked bottom and told me to get into bed. I did so, and watched the focus of my ardor undress himself, then finally, he slipped his shorts, his underpants, if you will, off his middle, down his legs, then pick them up, wad them into a ball and toss them into his dirty clothes hamper.

“Two for the home team,” he said, when his shorts went in on top of the other things. “It’s a euphemism for scoring points in a game we call basketball.”

“Oh,” I said, nodding, since it now made perfect sense.

I was mesmerized by his body once again. This time, though, I was gazing head-on at everything Charlie had to offer from a physical standpoint. Tall and trim yet appearing strong and able. Swarthy with short, well-groomed hair. Handsome. And yes, hung. I had seen many. This one was not the small one I saw before his shower, earlier. It was longer and thicker, and hairless, for the most part. I was right about his shaving more than his facial whiskers. It made his manhood stand out, as if presented on a pedestal for my perusal.

Yes, it made me wet. Not normally affected by such sights, this one was for me. Not a passing glimpse of a crewmate between the shower and a bunk, no, this one was for me and me alone. I held my arms out to him, silently asking him to come to me and hold me. He did just that, then instead of ravishing my body and taking me for his very own, he kissed me deeply and whispered in my ear, “Goodnight, darling. We’ll talk about more in the morning. The time is not quite right, but it will be. Soon, it will be.”

He turned me to face me away from him, pulled me back to him with his hand spanned over the entire area of my abdomen, his mostly firm member nesting itself between my butt cheeks, and just held me until I heard him breathing softly, sleeping. In his effort to protect me, he left me breathless and wanting. Something no man but a true and honest gentleman is capable of doing to a woman. That was the final straw.

Waking to hear noise in his kitchen downstairs, I approached him, put my arms around his middle and hugged myself to him. “Thank you for last night, Charlie. Do you have to work today?”

“No,” he said, “It’s Saturday and we’re off duty unless I get called in for an emergency. I did get a note from the machine shop in town. They are partnering with an aircraft manufacturing plant down south of us to make the parts you need for your pin booster gimbal. They will work through the weekend on it, so if you want to throw some baubles at them for their trouble, feel free to do so. If not, our government will pay for it with taxpayer provided funds, knowing full well it’s an investment in our future.”

“No, let me pay for it. Ask them how much, then help me figure out how much in gold and platinum to provide them in order to make it a fair trade for services. I understand the sentiment you present, but it’s not fair to the people of Earth to pay for repairs to an alien spacecraft they knew and know nothing about, in hopes they may someday be able to venture out toward the stars. No thanks. It will be best to pay my own way when I can. Not saying I won’t let you buy me dinner still, but I can’t do that with gold and jewels anyway, now, can I?”

“You are such a doll.”

Charlie must have received ten comm hits while he made, and then while we ate, breakfast. He explained that everyone and their mother wanted to know who the cute little redhead was that he was seen with the night before. I was flattered, yes.

I helped him clean up then followed him around as he cleaned his house and did laundry. I was around mid-day when, with both of us still in nightclothes, I snuck up behind him, wrapped my arms around him and asked him, “Can you take a break?”

“Absolutely. What did you have in mind?”

“If I said, ‘You’, what would you think of me?”

“That you are a lot like me. Chalen, I’ve been thinking about us all morning long, but trying to stay busy so that I don’t just turn, like this,” he turned, took me in his arms and lifted me so that my face was in front of his, “and do this,” then he kissed me. He kissed me long, and hard, and romantically. Even sexually and with a desire he had not yet showed me. “It’s been just over twenty-four hours since we met. Is that enough time for us to declare that we want each other for all time?”

“If I said, ‘Yes’, what would you think of me?”

“That you are a lot like me.” He chuckled, I giggled, and he carried me back upstairs and threw me onto his bed. “I want you, Chalen. I want you as a mate. As a lover. As a part of me. I want us to be one.”

“Take me, then, Colonel, and make me your own. Make me part of you. Make me your mate. I will explain it to my commander when we get home, but I’m not letting you go until either my grandfather says, ‘No’, and slays you like the enemy at the gates, or I grow old and die in your arms. Make love to me, Charlie, and own me.”

We spent the next two hours making love, him showing me so many things a man can do just as well as a woman, and several other things a woman has no business attempting without the proper, live, male equipment. I was well owned by the time we grew exhausted, and he pulled me up on top of him, just holding me.

“I guess I own you now, my dear. I declare you mine. In your little torpedo, please tell your commander I desire you to accompany me for all my days. I hope he likes me. I’m more worried about your grandmother, though. I’ll bet she’s more worried about her little girl than he is.”

“That is probably true. They’ll love you. I love you. Your clothes heater is giving an alarm. Is that normal?”

“Only if the clothes are dry. If not, well, it could be a fire, or a robber stealing my undies, or any number of other things, but I’ll bet if we shower and get dressed, we can fold some clothes, then ride around, or maybe even fly around and I can show you the world, as we know it.”

Once again, his quips made me giggle. My giggles brought joy to his eyes. Yes, men show their smiles in their eyes.

In the shower, he showed me how to clean myself internally, using his internal woman cleaning device. He had me up against the wall in his shower stall, gasping for breath as he held me around my waist and again had his way with my petite form. It was all him, all control, all man, all male, all the time. I loved it and climaxed for the sixth or seventh time of the morning. It was his third, I think, and maybe his best. The way he took me in the shower showed me who would run this relationship. It was not the little redheaded commander from outer space.

Once dressed, he held to his word, showing me how he took care of his chores, folding and putting his things away, then took me to the landing ribbon, he called it the runway, where he checked in with the people there and in a small aircraft with overhead wings, he took me up and around the entire area where humanity was not only surviving, but thriving and doing so very well. I could see where there was civilization, then farther out was wasteland, only providing comfort for small plants and a few sparsely located trees. He took us south, he called it, and showed me how they were working their way down to a large body of water, the coastline of which I couldn’t see. He called it The Gulf. The area we flew over had roads and trees and homes and signs of life.

“It takes time, Chalen. We’re getting there. One thing the Scalar did was cause a situation where the waterways were all able to recover from over harvesting of marine life. The historical records show they didn’t care much for water, always traveling over it, but never in it or through it. When they crossed a bridge, they destroyed it. They literally destroyed everything they saw. If you have agricultural land back home, think of a newly plowed field. Nothing showing but freshly turned soil. In this case it was freshly turned soil, sand, rocks, and the like, but everything that lived on land, plants, bugs, animals, and especially people, were gone. Eaten, killed, burnt, taken, or whatever, but gone. The ground was sterilized somehow as well. There was nothing left, as you can see out there, but dust, mud, dirt and rocks.”

“And yet, when they got around your area, they just stopped.”

“Yep. There are those that thought the vinegar bombs turned them away, but it’s hard to believe that a species capable of this mass destruction, almost invincible, could be turned away by a jar of pickles with no pickles in it.”

“What?”

“Pickles are vegetables, normally cucumbers or okra, sometimes eggs, soaked in vinegar. Lots of people, me being one of them, like to eat them. All that is left is the vinegar and spices. It is very acidic, and many believe that they are susceptible to acid, or its fumes, or whatever. If they come back, we’ll know. We are prepared for that now, should it happen.”

“Oh,” I said, thinking those people may be on to something. “Acids, depending on mediums and such’ can have very disastrous effects. While some acids eat rust away from metals, once bare, those same metals can rust even faster. It’s possible that you have found their one weakness that they cannot overcome.”

“Their kryptonite, so to speak,” Charlie said, once again leaving me in the dark. I looked at him in question. “Superman, an old-time fictional superhero, could do just about anything until someone approached him with an element from his home planet called kryptonite. It would bring him to his knees, so to speak. Yeah, maybe we found the Scalar’s version of kryptonite. And it’s easy to make. Just leave some stuff laying around too long and there you go, instant vinegar. Some wines will turn to vinegar over time. Our people are working on that. There was little, if anything, left of the Scalar. They never left their casualties behind, many saying they witnessed them eating their own dead. Uckkk. Sorry. The records were pretty graphic.”

“I wonder what became of them.”

“I hope we never find out, my love. I hope we never find out.” He said, ‘my love’, causing me to have a catch in my breath. Oh, Goddesses, was I in trouble here!

The sun was beginning to fall toward the horizon to the west, so Charlie flew us back to the landing ribbon where we parked his aircraft and after he spoke to the people there, they took care of it for him. He took me, once again, to the Officer’s Club, where we ate dinner. Several people stopped by, talking to him about one thing or another, but after introducing me, by name only, they would finish their conversation and leave us alone.

“Charlie, how many people know where I’m actually from?”

“About a hundred. The ninety cops who were on duty when you arrived, me, my brother, his wife, a couple of people on his staff, three or four lawmakers on the Homeland Security Committee, and that’s about it. Your existence is actually the most highly classified information on the planet. We are afraid open knowledge will number one, strike fear into the hearts of our citizens, or number two, bring out the crazies and endanger your life, or worse yet, both. It’s the most tightly held secret we have. I hope that doesn’t offend you. Our people, while they can imagine life out there, aren’t ready to be exposed to that information. Brad intends to release the information after we leave. There will be pictures, movies, videos, and testimony of our troops, but for the most part, it will be held tightly until you are gone. Next time, however, will be different. By the time we return, it will be a public affair.”

“Do you think there are really people that would want to hurt me because I’m from… Out there?” I asked, pointing up.

“I’m disappointed to say this, but yes. One thing the Scalar were not able to kill was greed. It is a vile human fault, and probably causes more problems than any other sin. If one were to kidnap you, for example, they could ransom you back to us for just about anything. They don’t even know your grandmother, but they know someone would want you back.” Again, he made me giggle. “Suffice it to say, we are under constant watch. My men are in the background where we may not be able to see them, but we’re pretty well taken care of. Does that make you feel unsafe?”

“No, not as long as you are within arm’s reach. Charlie, I am yours now. As long as you are near, I am where I need to be and will be happy there.”

“That’s not mushy at all,” he said, smiling.

“Mushy?”

“Loving, covered with sentiment, oozing with emotion, sickeningly sweet. You know, girl stuff.”

I just laughed.

“Tomorrow is Sunday,” he said, telling me of plans we had. “We have been invited to the house of one of the lawmakers I mentioned, along with all of the others involved, save the security folks. One of them will be there with us, and several will be out and about watching over us, but not all of them. There will be about ten or so people there that want to talk to you. It is to be a very informal gathering, disguised as a backyard barbeque party, and again, Top Secret Hush Hush and all that rot.” Another giggle escaped. I just can’t help it when he’s trying to be funny. He really is.

“They’ll probably ask you about life on Omega, the trip here, the purpose of the trip, the purpose of the Federation. You know, things like that. They know one of you died, because we had to make a report about Ronen’s remains and have him taken care of. His cremation is Monday, the day after tomorrow, first thing in the morning, then he will be returned to the ship in a sealed urn. Things like that need to be documented. You need to feel at ease, though, and not pressured while they question you. If it looks like that is happening, Brad or his deputy, are likely to step in and drop a hammer. I don’t want you to feel at all badgered, or hurried, or feel a need to be defensive, whatsoever. If you do, in any way, you need to let us know.”

“You know, Charlie, I’m not much of a representative for my government. There is much more information in that courier satchel than I have. I mean unless they want to know about menus at restaurants and what kind of music we have and things like that.”

“You’ll do fine. You’re smarter than you think you are and have much more information than anyone on this rock would be able to digest, save a couple of the brains down in Wichita.”

He took me home, and to bed, but this time there was no innocence, no question as to either of our desires, and no boundaries. He treated me like a rag doll. A very happy rag doll, taking us both to the edge of release and beyond, several times for me, and a couple for him. Once again, the shower was an effort in getting messy before cleaning up. Having him take me from behind was sublime but having him lift me up then settle me down onto his manhood while kissing me and holding me to his chest pushed me over the edge so quickly, that I climaxed a second time and passed out on his chest, still impaled, as he did the same and climaxed in me.

Chapter Five

We slept late, then just laid there snuggling for the longest time. It was comfortable for me, and he seemed to enjoy it, so I’ll say we both felt right together. Spending the morning just chatting like a couple of newlyweds was fun in itself, but we had to get to a party. An inquisition of, hopefully, the most friendly kind.

Upon arrival, I felt out of place, dressed in shorts, a tight little top, and high heels, but then a couple of other women showed up dressed similarly, so that set me at ease. Brad showed up with Ashley and while she was wearing a bit of a more conservative top, her miniskirt wasn’t at all conservative, nor were her high heeled sandals. I no longer felt like a display piece in a shop window. I felt more like part of the gang.

When the questioning started, I found out that the women were actually elected representatives and members of the aforementioned Homeland Security Committee. Wow.

I was able to explain just about everything I knew, down to our hyplex drives, not how they worked, but how I operated them, as well as the shields that kept us from dying when we were in hyplex dimensioning. I had to explain that thousands of the forces of gravity, applied instantaneously, especially as measured on a larger planet, will basically turn a human body into a pinkish mist. I asked them not to ask me how I knew that. It was not a fun memory.

Not one of them gave less than a groan of disdain. I had a following.

I was asked about life on Omega, and the difference between Omega and Omega One. I explained the difference between our countries and planets, but briefly, since as soon as I started, they all nodded, understanding the implications of what I was saying. Alpha… sorry, Sol Earth was that way, too, with many continents all divided up politically into countries. That was before the Scalar. Even before that, many countries were blending, joining together to form larger more feasible countries, I was told. “Sounds like so many other worlds,” I offered.

They stumped me when they asked me why Omega One was called that when the capitol, New Columbia, had a unique name, as did other countries on the planet. I had no idea. I’d never learned that. I’d never asked and had never been exposed to the subject. I did tell them I’d try to find out if it was important. They laughed and said there were much more pressing issues to worry about. True.

Brad then spoke to the group, informing them of his intentions with Charlie, having him return to Omega with me as their emissary, working on trade and technology purchases and the like. He announced the promotion, and his new title, stating he would most probably be replaced by his deputy, then his deputy would be replaced as soon as a decision on that could be made.

These were nice people for the most part. One man, a member of the governor’s staff, a legal person, if I recall, was a bit direct and wanted to know the real reason I was there and if I was actually a scout for a larger force coming behind me. No matter what I said, I don’t think I was able to put his mind at ease. Rhonda, one of the elected women, told me during a break when we ate, that I would never be able to make him happy, no matter what I said. He was a doomsday naysayer, she added, telling me not to let him make me feel uncomfortable.

The gathering lasted for several hours, during which a lot of things were discussed, including another one of the female lawmakers asking me about my relationship with Charlie. Charlie saved me, or threw me into the fire, one or the other.

“Come on, honey. Don’t let Dot pry too much into our love lives. The whole world will find out.” The two of them started laughing. I didn’t know whether he had just announced our relationship or was making a joke to draw attention away from it. I found out later it was the latter, as she didn’t believe I’d be able to fall for a guy that fast. Little did she know. Dorothy, or Dot as they called her, was dead wrong.

One of the men, Roger Woods, took Charlie and me aside and told us that yesterday, a small rocket with the payload canister dimensions I had given Charlie, was pulled from inventory and would be ready for launch on Tuesday. It was a simple affair, an expendable device that would take the torpedo above the stratosphere and push it out and up at around seven hundred thousand feet of altitude. There, the torpedo would be released and could do its thing, firing the small hyplex drive reactor on board, and letting the homing device take it back to Omega. His only question was, if what I had explained about our drives was true, how did the torpedo make it back in a fourth of the time that a ship would take.

I looked at Charlie and he knew I was asking if I should answer the question factually. He nodded.

“Roger, thank you for that question. Mass. Acceleration. Shielding. Terminal velocity. Reactor size. Those factors create a window wherein the torpedo, without a living thing aboard and made of almost indestructible materials, can accelerate without the need for the shield and the field protecting it. Without the shield, and at its smaller mass, the acceleration can occur at four to five times the rate and continue until the torpedo approaches Omega where it is told to reverse its acceleration and is gathered by a forcefield used to catch it. A person will never reach that speed as there is no known way to protect anything living from that amount of acceleration forces. Think of an artillery shell, or maybe just a bullet in an old-style firearm. Your finger wouldn’t last as it accelerated down the barrel, but a piece of metal will. It’s similar to that.”