Read One Thousand Brides Online

Authors: Solange Ayre

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Romance, #Programming Languages, #Computers, #Erotica

One Thousand Brides (7 page)

BOOK: One Thousand Brides
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“What?”

“The lovely pink in your cheeks.”

She put her palms to her face. “I must have blushed when you made that sexual remark.”

He lowered his voice. “So if I said I like the way your nipples swell when I suck them, you might blush again?”

She turned away but not quickly enough. He saw the enchanting pink rise through her face. “Let’s keep walking,” she said. “I thought you were going to show me the ship.”

* * * * *

Jan was amazed at the sheer size of
Ecstasy of Generations
. She’d gone on a singles cruise once—and had no luck—but this ship seemed to be much larger than that ocean-traveling Earth vessel.

Delos explained, “We recycle everything we can but some of it’s inevitably lost to waste. There are only two stops between Teril and Gazeem, our new planet. So we have to carry or grow all of our food for the seven-year voyage.”

“Gazeem?” It was the first time she’d heard the name of the planet they’d be colonizing.

“It’s named after Primus Taddus’ father. He was one of our greatest explorers.”

As they took the shuttle to the shopping level of the ship, Jan asked, “Are your parents still alive?”

“My mother’s on Teril.” He looked out the window as the corridors flashed by. “My father was on the ship. He was one of those who died.”

Jan knew him well enough now to read his expression. He was trying to keep his face blank but she sensed his sorrow. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice soft. “I lost my father a year ago. It’s very difficult.”

“The illness took my father, my brother, their wives, two of my sisters and my wife.” He kept his face turned toward the window. “It’s the same for all of us. Most were traveling in family groups. Almost everyone lost a father, a brother. Some of us had our young with us…all succumbed to the illness. And every female died as well.”

His hands lay on his knees, the knuckles white. Tentatively she put her hand over his. His fingers gripped hers.

Concerned mainly with the kidnapping of her own kind, she hadn’t thought much about the illness that had killed so many Terilians. Now, suddenly, it seemed personal. She tried to imagine going on a cruise with her whole family and losing them all at once. Would she have even wanted to go on living?

His voice was much lower as he added, “It was a hard time to be a doctor. They kept dying. No matter what I did, they died.”

“Were you sick too?”

“No one escaped the illness. There were days I couldn’t work. Couldn’t leave my bed…” He looked down at their entwined hands, his brow creasing.

“On Earth, we have a name for what you’re feeling. It’s called survivor’s guilt,” Jan said. “I’m sure you did everything possible.”

“Part of me knows that,” he said quietly. “Part of me thinks I should have done more.”

“I’m glad you lived.”

He squeezed her hand. “I am too—now.”

The shuttle halted. Delos kept hold of her hand as he led her to the corridor of shops.

Unlike Earth shops, with their brightly lit windows filled with merchandise, these stores consisted of a discreet length of plain gray corridor with small entrances every ten or twenty feet. Jan drew near and read the tiny sign, “Joyous Adornment. Restricted to primuses only.”

“I can read this!” she exclaimed.

Delos took on a smug expression. “You don’t think I’d have fitted you with an inferior brain chip, do you? You’ve gained both spoken and written language.” He guided her to a tiny viewing window at eye level. “Look here to preview the merchandise.”

She peered in at a lovely black tunic. The draped material was caught up on each shoulder by a decorative copper button. As Jan watched, the tunic turned slowly, showing the graceful folds of the front and back. When the rotation completed, the picture changed. Now she viewed herself wearing the garment.

As always, black was slimming. Jan said, “I wouldn’t mind having a tunic like that.”

Delos took a quick look. “Under our sumptuary laws, only primuses are permitted to wear gray or black.” As they went to the next shop, he added, “Of course, you’ll be a primus’s wife. You’ll be able to shop anywhere you want.”

She looked up at him, caught by the pain and bitterness in his tone.

“I have to keep reminding myself,” he told her, his voice grim. “I don’t dare imagine that you could be mine permanently.”

“Isn’t there any way that we can be together?”

He looked into her eyes for a long moment. She felt sure he was going to tell her something. Then he said, “The primuses have first choice. In everything.”

Why did she have the feeling he’d almost said something quite different?

Chapter Six

 

Delos gave her an appraising look. “You’re probably not ready to do the jumps between floors. We’ll use the elevator.”

He took her to the recreation and exercise floor. Jan imagined the floor would be like a health club on Earth but it seemed that Terilians did not care for mindless, repetitive exercise. Many of their exercise routines engaged the mind as well as the body.

He showed her a large variety of virtual-reality games, usually played wearing full-body suits. Some of them were performed in low-gravity chambers, which looked especially entertaining.

Other games were played in large groups. Delos took her to an observation deck where they watched fifteen primuses, formed into three teams, play something that resembled “capture the flag”.

“Do you ever play that?” Jan asked.

“The Medical Corps has four teams. I’m the captain of the doctors’ team.”

“Because you’re the best player?”

“I’m not the best player.” He grinned. “But I
am
the best strategist.”

“What other games do you like?”

Delos led her to a small room that he said was a ball court. As Jan watched from an upper balcony, Delos stood in the center of the court, unsheathed his claws and said, “Ready!” Small, fluffy balls in various colors began to rain down from the ceiling. Spinning, turning, leaping, Delos caught them with his claws. A scoreboard on the far wall changed rapidly. “If I catch a blue one it counts against me, unless the lights are blinking,” he called up to her, not pausing in his quick movements.

The game looked like fun but when he asked if she wanted to try it, Jan declined. She’d never been athletic and didn’t want him to see how badly she’d do. Perhaps she would try it on her own, later.

He showed her sparring pits where males wearing gloves tipped with rubber claws fought each other. Jan couldn’t figure out the rules as she watched two males in a free-for-all that combined wrestling, clawing and body blows, sometimes standing, sometimes rolling on the ground.

Jan didn’t care for either boxing or wrestling on Earth but the sparring held her interest because it was so quick and graceful. The participants were like two dancers who had rehearsed with each other often and could anticipate the next movement.

Delos watched intently. Jan, startled, saw that his claws were extended. Somehow she’d never imagined the doctor as
dangerous
before.

“Good one!” he exclaimed as one male clawed the other’s face. “That would’ve taken an eye in a real fight.”

Jan shuddered. “Do you ever do that?”

“Not for real—but I spar with Hannus once a week.”

She remembered the orderly who had helped her walk around the hospital room. “Hannus! He’s twice your size.”

Delos gave her a wicked grin. “Yes but I’m much faster.”

As they left the sparring area, Jan saw a glass bulb on a silver stand, filled with tiny, multicolored spheres. Surely the Terilians hadn’t developed human-style gumball machines. “What’s this?”

“I’ll buy a couple,” Delos answered, waving his palm in front of the stand. A light came on briefly, then blue and gold spheres dropped from the machine. He handed her the blue one. “They’re memory balls. Twist open and sniff.”

Watching how the gold sphere separated under his grip, she followed his lead. The pungent odor of Gary’s musky aftershave filled the room. The present seemed to fade away. Gary’s beige and leather living room appeared in front of her eyes. Jan heard herself saying, “I’m just startled. We’ve only been on—what is it, six dates? I had no idea you felt like that about me.”

Gary smiled. “I wouldn’t waste my time going on all those dates with a woman who didn’t interest me. Besides, we’ve worked together for two years. I know you’re punctual, conscientious and an excellent programmer.”

She laughed. “Are you looking for a wife—or a business partner?”

“Those traits form a sound basis for a good marriage,” Gary answered earnestly. One of his faults, Jan had always thought, was that he lacked a sense of humor. “The other thing is, I don’t want children. I figure at your age, you don’t either.”

She’d been about to protest, to say that she was only thirty-nine, when he took a small blue box out of his pocket. “Janis, will you marry me?”

This was what she’d waited for all her life, ever since she’d been a little girl playing “getting married” with one of her mother’s lace curtains for a veil. “Yes,” she breathed, leaning forward to see the small diamond. He gave her a quick peck on the mouth as the past faded…

“Did it work?” Delos asked her. His eyes were concerned as he looked into her face.

“Maybe too well.”

He took her hand. His warm grip was comforting. “Not all memories are good ones.”

Strange, she hadn’t realized how very unromantic Gary’s proposal had been until she relived it. The thought seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth. “What memory did you experience?”

“A conversation with my wife.” A crease appeared on his brow.

“Do you miss her?” Jan tried but couldn’t keep the jealousy out of her voice.

“I did.” He sighed. “It’s been a long two years. We never dreamed we’d be trapped in this metal shell without our mates.” He fell silent as they went down a long corridor.

“Where are we going now?” Jan asked after they’d walked for awhile without speaking.

“I want to show you the maze room,” he said.

A hologram outside the door of the maze room showed the day’s prize, a gold ankle bracelet. “We’ll try this together,” Delos said. “I’d like you to wear that.” He rubbed his cheek against hers.

“You may as well forget it right now. I’m terrible at games.”

“We’ll see.” The door closed behind them. “Wait for a moment until our eyes adjust.”

She almost asked him tartly how they were expected to see in the dark. To her surprise, she began to make out dim shapes in the curtain of black that draped the room.

“The prize is somewhere in the center of the room but we can’t go there directly,” he explained. “If we choose the wrong path, we’ll be dumped out of the maze.”

He walked forward, leading her by the hand. Suddenly the ground slid beneath her feet. Jan almost fell but Delos steadied her. “Careful! We’ll go slowly.”

She breathed a sigh of relief when he put his arm around her waist, guiding her over the shifting ground.

“Stop!” he warned her. She looked down. The ground had ended, leaving them on the edge of a void.

“What now?” she asked.

“We wait.”

She heard a soft sound as something approached them. A hovering platform drew near then stopped while it was five feet away.

“Now we’re going to jump,” he said.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You can do it. You’re Terilian now.”

She knew she still looked doubtful. He grinned. “I should know—I’m your doctor. I’ll count to four and we’ll leap.”

He counted down and they jumped. To Jan’s surprise, her legs were stronger than they’d ever been. The short leap was effortless. She landed on the platform with a foot to spare.

She clutched Delos’ waist as the platform rose through the air. It took them to a dark area where they had to proceed single file.

“I’m not sure I like this,” she said, stepping back to let him lead the way.

“Really? Terilians often seek out small, confined spaces.” He walked forward with confidence. “They make us feel safe.”

She followed him, staying close enough to touch him.

They came to a place where three corridors branched off in front of them. He checked out each entrance then said, “This way,” heading to the right.

To her relief, the area soon widened and they were able to walk side-by-side again. She felt much more secure with his arm around her.

“Tunnel coming up,” he warned.

Hesitantly she entered an even darker area. She raised her hand, feeling the top of the tunnel about a foot above her head.

Delos stopped walking. Had he sensed some new challenge?

Suddenly he gripped her around the waist. Pulling her close, he kissed her hungrily. Heat coiled in her loins. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, caressing his teeth with her tongue, moving her lips under his.

She basked in his warmth, inhaled his attractive cocoa scent but she couldn’t see him at all. It was like being embraced by a phantom.

She felt him lift her tunic. Then his hand was on her mound, his fingers tangling in her curls. She let him touch her, enjoying how he stroked and rubbed her until she gasped with desperate arousal.

She heard steps in the distance, steps that drew nearer, then stopped.

“What if someone comes in?” she asked breathlessly.

“He’ll envy me. I get to taste your beautiful nipples…like this…” His mouth was on her breast, his teeth nipping her gently through the fabric of her tunic. She threw her head back, panting.

Eyes were watching them from the dark. Lustful eyes. She opened her mouth to ask Delos to stop but all that emerged was a long moan of pleasure.

He murmured into her breasts, telling her how beautiful she was, how much he longed to mount her, how the aroma of her sex excited him. She ached for him to touch her harder, deeper.

Eyes shone out of the dark at the entrance to the tunnel. Yellow eyes. Did she recognize the scent? She couldn’t think about it. All she wanted was more pleasure.

He jerked her tunic open at the shoulder. His mouth closed over her right breast. He drew the nipple into his mouth, flicking it again and again with his tongue.

BOOK: One Thousand Brides
4.74Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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