Gateway to HeVan (6 page)

“I wasn’t planning
on getting pregnant.  I love the girls already, but I’m not sure what type of mother I’m going to be yet.  That’s the bright side to having three husbands. There are plenty of hands around to share the labor, or change the diapers, if you understand me,” she said with a wink.

BianCa
was thinking of how to respond to such a revelation.  On KowLer, the women didn’t leave the home.  They were primarily responsible for the care of the household and the children.  As she was pondering the situation, they arrived at Grace’s door.

“Okay, let’s go hit the closet.  You can get out of your cloak and put on something more
comfortable,” said Grace.

“You are very kind,” said the
princess.  BianCa was shocked.  She didn’t know what this strange woman had been planning when they left.  But she had to admit to some curiosity about this clothing Grace had mentioned.  Besides, if her brother tried to give her a hard time about it, she had the excuse of diplomacy to fall back on.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to become friends.  They both learned a lot about each other’s cultures. 
BianCa decided to accept the gift of the Levi’s 501 button-fly jeans and a knit golf shirt in pink.

“What is this animal embroidered on the front of the shirt?” she asked Grace.

“It’s an alligator.  It doesn’t have any specific meaning; it’s just the logo of the guy who designed the shirt.  You look cute and a lot more comfortable than before.  If you have to run, or get dirty, you don’t have to worry about all the white you were wearing,” said Grace.

“Well, I couldn’t possibly wear these clothes outside of my home, but I think I’ll enjoy wearing them inside,” said
BianCa.

“If you’re brother or husband gives you any
flak, just tell them you couldn’t turn down a gift from the HeVanian Queen’s sister.  Now, since you’re free of white clothing, do you want to meet the puppies?” she asked.

After putting her formal clothes in a garment bag Grace unearthed for her and a romping visit with Sugar’s pups, they headed back to Addie
’s cabin.  On the way, Grace let BianCa in on the joke about the movie and how Addie was telling her
Ankida
it was a documentary about a real person instead of fiction.

It was a giggling
BianCa who re-entered Addie’s quarters.  Ben was happy to hear his sister’s laughter.  She had been forced to marry for political reasons but her husband, the duke, was a cold man.  She and her husband had failed to have a child like many others.  It had been some time since he had heard her laughter.  When she entered the room and he saw what she was wearing―to say he was shocked was an understatement.  He didn’t say anything because she was smiling.

BianCa
rushed into speech before he could say anything, “Look, Ben, Grace has gifted me with clothing from her birth world.  She explained this is the most popular clothing on her planet.  Both men and women wear these,” she said.

King Ben
KowLer had stood upon seeing his sister.  Since none of the other men in the room acted in a lustful manner and even took her attire in stride, he took a breath and smiled at her.  He could tell she was nervous. 

“It is a new look for you,
sissa
.  Do you like them?”

“Oh
, yes!  I love them.  I won’t wear them in public, but I shall wear them in my home all the time,” she said.

He may have said more but Grace interrupted.

“Say, Addie, did the king mention their women were having trouble getting pregnant lately?” Grace asked.

Ben was really shocked now.  It was a strict planetary secret about the females of their world being unable to conceive for the past six and a half years.  Their doctors had not been able to find a reason for the lack of fertility.

“Is this right?” Addie asked him. 

While Grace and
BianCa were out of the room, they had been circling around each other with meaningless chit-chat.  It seemed Grace had been more successful than she at breaking the ice.  Grace turned to the king as she re-took her seat on the couch.

“Didn’t Addie tell you?” she asked and waved a hand at her sister.  “She’s the
Goddess of Fertility.  Anyone within a three thousand mile radius of her, who is having unprotected sex, gets pregnant, even if they’re taking a chemical preventative birth control.  Didn’t you wonder why nearly all the women on board are pregnant?” she asked.

“She’s right,” said Addie with a half-smile.  “It’s one of the reasons we left Earth so quickly.  Even people with fertility problems were suddenly getting pregnant.  It started with the local area but by the time we left, it had stretched over a thousand miles.  It’s only gotten stronger since then.  If you like, we can orbit your planet for a few days.”

“I would be very grateful if you did.  I won’t tell anyone why you are orbiting.  It might not work and I don’t want to get their hopes up,” he answered.

“Why don’t you and your sister stay on board for a few days?  We’ll hammer out an agreement about the
Gate while we’re orbiting―two birds, one stone.  I didn’t bring up the subject before because I haven’t reviewed the agreement Regent Malpha put in place.  If you would provide me with a copy of your negotiations and the final agreement, we can discuss it afterwards,” she said.

“I agree,” he said with a smile.  “And I also would like to get out of these presentation clothes,” said the king.

BianCa interjected.  “I know the women of KowLer would be happy to provide you with maternity clothes.  We’re well known for our embroidery.  If you provide us with all the women’s sizes, I’ll have the clothes sent up while you’re in orbit.  Do you have infant clothes?” she asked.

“We originally expected
to arrive at HeVan before anyone actually gave birth.  I like the way you think, though; we should prepare for any eventuality,” said Addie, musingly.

“We’ll include some things for the babies, then.  Believe me, the women of
KowLer will be so grateful, a few clothes will be a very small payment by way of a thank you,” BianCa pointed out.

“
You’re very generous.  I know we’ll all love the gifts,” said Grace and Addie at the same time.

The chime for the door sounded, interrupting their conversation.  Soon Glynnis and her
Ankida
arrived.  Arjun made the introductions.  Glynnis went right up to King Ben KowLer and began shaking her finger at him and scolding him on the behavior of the “young man” she’d spoken to the night before.  Addie started laughing at the look on Ben’s face.

“Granny Mac, you don’t need to scold
; we’re working everything out.  King Ben wasn’t responsible for the accident,” said Addie.

“He’s the king, isn’t he?  The buck stops there, I say,” she said emphatically.  She turned and seeing
BianCa, sat next to her on the couch.  “Hello, you look like a nice young girl.  Was it terribly difficult having him as a brother growing up?” Glynnis asked her with a smile.

Her question set the tone for the rest of the visit.  They didn’t have to try very hard to convince Ben and
BianCa to stay for the Indiana Jones movie marathon.  When Arjun, Kylan, and Rune told Addie they forbade her from pursuing archeology, Ben was shocked when BianCa and Grace burst into laughter.

As Addie had first suggested, it was easier if they all became friends.  Ben and
BianCa knew they would miss this unusual queen when she left their world.

Princess BianCa spent most of her time on the HeVanian ship and rarely returned to her quarters on Ben’s private ship.  Grace had even assigned quarters for her on the ship.  The fact they were over the engine room and weren’t as luxurious as her stateroom on her brother’s ship, didn’t bother her.  It was the first room where she could be completely private.  She kept it clean herself, leaving her servant on her brother’s ship.  She enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the lack of a rigid social structure.  She also enjoyed wearing the
jeans
given to her by Grace.  She knew when she returned to KowLer, her opportunities to cover her legs like this would be rare.  She was treating this as a short time away from her normal life.  With the queen’s help, perhaps she would be able to give PietRo a child.  It would make things easier between them.

They had been circling
KowLer for eight days now.  She’d been trying to reach her husband, the duke, and was worried because he wasn’t answering her hails.  Finally, on her ninth transmission, he answered her.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been answering you, wife.  I’ve been in important meetings and couldn’t be disturbed,” he said.

Their marriage had been an arranged one to solidify the relationship between their two clans.  Clan LucenTio was the second largest clan after KowLer, so tying them together with marriage had made sense to her father.

She wasn’t in love with her husband.  She hoped if she were able to give him a child, then love between them would grow.  If not, she would love the child.  She was happy to see him so she could tell him of the Nephilim Queen’s abilities.

“I’m sure someone has told you of the Nephilim Queen and her gift of fertility.  She will be leaving soon; I thought we could try again to have a child,” she said in a soft voice.

The duke smiled, “I would like that
, too, wife.  I need a son to carry on after me.  I would also like to meet this queen.  Do you think it could be arranged?” he asked.

“Yes, I believe so.  I’ve become friends with both the queen and her sister, the Lady Grace.  I’m sure they would be pleased to meet you.  They have even assigned a cabin
for me on their ship so I wouldn’t have to spend hours each day in a shuttle.  I’m actually transmitting from there now,” she explained.

“Give me the hailing frequency of their command deck and I will make arrangements to arrive tomorrow,” he said and signed off.

The fact he didn’t say goodbye or ask how she was didn’t bother her.  She had grown accustomed to his brusque manner.  She knew he was very busy as Proctor of his clan and often didn’t have time for the niceties.  He was as trapped in this marriage as she was.  She heard his father was much the same.  While her own father was a hard man, she remembered how his eyes always lit up when he saw her mother and children.  BianCa still hoped for love to grow in her marriage.  They had only been married for a little over two years; there was still time.

BianCa
reached for the communications panel again.  She wanted to tell her new friend her husband was coming for a visit.  Perhaps a dose of the Nephilim would loosen him up the way it had her brother.

****

Natalie was spending time each day with her
Ankida
, Peet and Reeko, getting to know them.  She was happy they had agreed to court her slowly.  Sometimes it was hard; she was insanely attracted to the strong, dour warriors.  When they described their province on HeVan, she realized it was much like Scotland.  She began to think of them as highlanders, like the men in the historical romances she often read.  Of course, she had two men, which was a new one and the main reason she was moving slowly. 

They each spoke of their childhoods and what growing up was like on each of their planets.  She introduced them to movies and had given them a large list of must-see videos so they could understand her culture better.  It also gave them something to do while she went about her duties.  They had wanted to act as her personal guard
, but she had put a stop to that idea. 

Where was the danger?
Natalie thought.

Being one of only a few women on the ship who wasn’t pregnant, Natalie and Jennifer had both requested duties on the ship.  Jennifer worked in the kitchen and Natalie was in charge of all visitors. 
She’d enjoyed being the official greeter when King Ben first came on board.  Her background in marketing made her a natural for the role.  Her seventh degree black belt added an extra boost of confidence.  In addition to their conversations—Peet and Reeko, when they learned of her expertise, enjoyed working out with her.  They all learned and it gave them more opportunities to hold her close.

The warriors she dealt with every day responded to female authority, making it much easier to juggle all the requests they still received from the Venger on a daily basis.  Many of the
House representatives wanted to meet individually with the queen.  They had concerns about the situations in their individual Houses and this was the perfect opportunity to discuss them with Addie.  The queen was more or less a captive audience; her
Ankida
made sure she didn’t overtire herself. 

For those who were given an appointment,
Natalie met their shuttle and escorted them to Addie’s cabin.  After their time was up, she interrupted the visit and escorted them back to the shuttle bay.  She often wished for roller skates on busy days.  It seemed as if she spent all her time walking the corridors between the shuttle bay and the queen’s quarters.  She considered it her cardio exercise.

Still, she was glad to have something to do.  Long space voyages were pretty boring.  It was almost like taking a cruise: look out the porthole and the view was always the same.  The fun happened when they hit port.

They had cut back on the travel between ships during most of their flight due to the difficulty in docking while both ships were moving.  In those instances when it was necessary, they allowed the shuttle to come into the landing bay.  It was only during these brief stops for supplies or for other reasons when she got super busy, that she enjoyed it.  Besides, all the walking made her butt look great.  Since she had met her
Ankida
, this was especially important to her.

They had been orbiting the planet for eight days.  They had agreed to orbit for ten to allow for the maximum amount of women to become pregnant. 
Being in one place for so long, resulted in a lot of comings and goings between the two ships.  They were also taking advantage of the king’s hospitality and reloading the ship’s stores.  They now had more than enough beautiful maternity clothes and also two store rooms full of things for the babies as thank you gifts from the grateful women of KowLer.  If they stayed for much longer, though, they would need water.  It was much harder to fill the water reservoirs without docking at a station.  Arjun didn’t trust the KowLer that far as of yet.  Natalie decided to stop in and see what Jennifer had cooking as soon as she got a break.

Jennifer was really busy using all the new fresh ingredients and she was having a great time trying out new foods and making up recipes for the food replicators.  More and more women on the planet were becoming pregnant.  The numbers were currently in the tens of thousands and growing every day.

Natalie had heard Addie warn King Ben that his infrastructure would be taking a hit with the coming baby boom.  She related stories about the baby boomer generation on Earth and how it had over-stressed the government at times.  This would potentially be the largest generation and as it aged, the culture would have to adapt with it.

All these thoughts were running through Natalie’s mind as she made her way to the docking station.  She was there to greet two representatives from the House of Seraph.  Halfway there, she received a transmission that Duke
LucenTio, BianCa’s husband, had arrived early. She guessed he was anxious to see his wife. 

If the space ship’s a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’,
she hummed under her breath.

As
she neared the docking station, she wondered if he were anything like King Ben.  Just before she opened the door to the docking station, her personal communicator beeped so she stopped.  She pressed down on the crystal. “Hello, this is Nat.”

“Natalie, this is Peet.  My brother and I would like to invite you to eat your evening meal with us.  We heard Jennifer has developed a new recipe you will particularly like,” he said.

“Really―did she say what it was?” she asked.

“She said it was called lasagna with a fresh salad on the side,” he repeated word for word.

“I’m there!  I love lasagna.  By the way, how do your backs feel today?” she asked, twirling her hair around a finger and trying for nonchalant.  She knew they were getting close to the time when they would need to
join
and she was nervous about it.

“We are fine.  We will not pressure you to
join
until you are ready, Natalie.  Please believe us,” he said, easily able to read her nervousness.

“Thanks, Peet.  I tell you what.  After dinner, we can go up to Observation Lounge 3 and neck.  I’ll even let you guys get to second base,” she teased.

“I like the way you think.  We’ll pick you up at the dinner chime.  Goodbye for now.”

“Goodbye,” she said.  Tapping the crystal again, she passed her hand over the door to the docking station and walked in.

In the waiting room on the ship’s side of the airlock, she saw three men as she expected.  It was easy to spot which two were Nephilim―from their size alone.  They must be the representatives from the House of Seraph.  They wanted to discuss something to do with farming, she remembered.  Addie told her she actually knew very little about farming, even though she had grown up on one.  Of course, she had agreed to see them.  It helped pass the time and she was learning more than she had from absorbing the memory savers she’d been given.  For one thing, the memory saver’s most recent knowledge was two hundred years old, Addie said.  These men provided her with a vision of what HeVan was like today.

The third man was much shorter; he must be the duke.  He was dressed in ceremonial robes even fancier than King Ben’s.  He had a vest over his white shirt, with a sash and lots of medals.  He reminded her of a third world dictator puffing himself up.  He strutted forward to where she stood by the entry.

“Hello, I’m Natalie.  I’ll be your guide while you’re visiting the ship.  Lord Juno, Lord Francis, I believe the queen is looking forward to your visit.  Did you know she grew up on a farm?  If you’ll follow me,” she said to them, before turning to speak to the third man.  The duke didn’t even give her a chance to open her mouth.

“You there
, girl, as I’m sure you’ve been informed, I’m Duke LucenTio.  I know you must have some inadequate excuse as to why you were not here to greet me when my shuttle docked.  I don’t wish to hear it.  I’ve been kept waiting in this―place,” he said with a flashing look of disgust, “―for some time.  I’m sure these two
farmers
won’t mind my making my bows to your queen ahead of them.  They can see her anytime, can they not?” he asked snidely.

Natalie was thinking she would need a measuring tape to see if this guy’s swollen head would fit through the door. 

“I can see how anxious you are to make a good impression on the
Nam-Nin
, having arrived so far ahead of your scheduled visit.  Unfortunately, I have my orders and the schedule cannot be changed.  I’m sure you will appreciate being able to spend the intervening time with your wife.  If you come along, we’ll stop by her quarters first,” she said, before turning and passing her hand over the door sensor to open it again. 

She could practically feel the heat of his anger as he strode behind her.  She didn’t think she’d get in trouble for the way she had spoken to him.  She’d walked a fine line between civility and sarcasm.  If he put on his privileged asshole impression for Addie and her
Ankida
, he’d find out very quickly how low a threshold Addie had for bullshit and ass kissers. 

All of a sudden, she felt sorry for
BianCa having to be stuck with this guy.  She hoped he was different when they were alone and this was just posturing of some kind.

Seven minutes later―she’d timed it like an endurance test―she stopped in front of
BianCa’s quarters on the visitor’s deck.  The visitor’s deck was very nice.  However, for safety reasons, it was at the opposite end of the ship from the queen’s chambers.  The visitor’s deck was the lowest deck with living quarters.  Natalie thought they were great and just as nice as any others.  Also, getting to Addie’s deck only took four minutes in the lift.  She bet this jerk would have something to say about it, though.  She was right.

“This is where you have put the duchess?  I can feel the engines beneath my feet.  These can’t be your best quarters.  I will have something to say about this, you may be sure,” he said, as Natalie pressed on the door chime.  She really had had enough of this guy.

BianCa opened the door.  “My lord, you are early!  Please come in,” she said, stepping aside.

“What are you wearing?  I forbid
—” was all Natalie heard before the door to the room closed.