The Mutant World (42 page)

President Kaminski laughed.
“That’s because those folks don’t have any kind of morals concerning sex.”

“I’m not sure that’s exactly true,”
said President Chambers.
“I think it’s just that their ideas of what is and is not immoral are different. I know for a fact that they have NO tolerance for pedophilia or rape.”

President Kaminski nodded, and said,
“This is true, but when children reach puberty they are allowed to indulge their urges without restraint. Indeed, the only actions their parents take is to insure that early pregnancies are avoided by having specialized healers tie off a young girl’s tubes. Our people on the other hand, have all sorts of moral and religious prohibitions inherited from the homeworld that makes this impossible to make acceptable in our society at large. Besides…those who do not have Bainian blood outnumber those who do. They are in the majority here and they cannot understand the agony of ‘The Hunger’. Thus they refuse to bend to any, how do you say, ‘Liberal’ policies concerning Akkadians of Bainian descent. They feel that if the minorities don’t like the laws and values of this land they should go back to the empire. How ridiculous! Most of these people were born and raised right here and have been Akkadian citizens for generations. They are NOT Bainian. But the fact remains that the gene is in many of our people’s blood, and at puberty the blood begins to boil.”

“It would seem that you are less practical than your neighbors. How do your people cope with this?”
asked President Chambers.

“Many Akkadian women fight these urges from puberty to adulthood,”
said President Kaminski,
“but when they lose it, look out. This is especially true in females who have been fighting ‘The Hunger’ either with medicine, willpower or both for a very long time. This is true even for Bellasarian royalty. When such a female becomes ‘Ignited’ willpower and reason is lost and there is nothing that can hold her back. Even medical suppressants will no longer be effective. As I’m sure you yourself have noticed, Bellasarian men are as physically appealing as the women, and they are very primal in ways that seem to turn certain women on.”

President Chambers did not respond immediately. She couldn’t deny she had fantasized about several of the men she’d seen here.
“Yes, they are indeed a handsome people,”
she said.

President Kaminski noticed her blushing and with humor continued.
“For some reason we cannot understand, Akkadian women totally lose it when they become ignited. Even a Bellasarian female has some kind of control, at least in the beginning. They sometimes dismiss the problem until it cannot be ignored any longer, but there is that time in between of restraint, not certain of our women. You ever see a man seized, thrown to the ground and ravaged to complete exhaustion by a woman?”
The American President shook her head
. “You will if one of these Akkadian mixed-blood women bonds with one of those Bellasarian men.

“I…” began President Chambers. The Akkadian President gave her a humorous look and she stopped. Beverly had to remember to think her response. This was obviously a sensitive topic. Mental conversations could be listened in on by other telepaths, but whispers could be overheard by anyone. President Chambers began again, but this time she thought her response.
“I think that it’s because, unlike a Bellasarian girl, your women have been taught to think of sex as…well, immoral and something to be ashamed of outside of a certain context. They suppress their urges on a very deep level. Whereas a Bellasarian girl has absolutely NO bones about going after what she wants from a man, either as a mate or just for some temporary fun. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve heard that Mavie girls are something else too after they are…What’s the phrase the Bellasarians use…‘Ignited’? And for the same reasons…sort of. Queen Bal and some of these other Mavie who’ve found boyfriends among the other Bellasarians are the proof. Anyway, I wouldn’t imagine that this would be a problem for a Bellasarian man or even his wife, providing that the woman asked her permission first. A single man doesn’t even fall in the equation. Indeed, from what I’ve seen everywhere I’ve been in Bellasaria, any untaken man from fourteen to four hundred is fair game for all. We’ve both seen, well…orgies erupt at informal gatherings in the empire. So why are they so careful now?”

President Kaminski chuckled and replied,
“For one, this is not an informal party, but a formal one. Even in the empire, not a single lewd act or fight occurred during a formal party, only a little kissing. Two, these people try to avoid any chance of igniting an Akkadian woman. Our cultures are too different. Akkadian women are seen by Bellasarians as prudish, selfish, unreasonable…even cruel. Akkadian women, even those of Bellasarian origins, will not compromise even in the case of ‘The Bonding’ because of moral issues and our laws. Polygamy and polyandry are not legal in Akkadia.”

President Chambers made a face.
“I see. Akkadian women don’t share.”

“Exactly,”
said the Akkadian President with a chuckle.

******

“Empress, do we
have
to wear these…these…
clothes
,” said Queen Tabitha.

“Endure it,” replied Beral III. “They put up with our ways while they were in our domains.”

“Not all of them,” said Lord Talos.

“Never fear, my lord,” said Beral. “These aliens will regret slighting our people when we discuss potential trade partners and allies tomorrow.” The Bellasarians were speaking verbally. Many of the assembled dignitaries could hear them. Some of them, the ones who couldn’t take the Bellasarian culture any longer and went straight to Akkadia, began to squirm nervously. Many had mistakenly assumed that they would be able to get the things they really wanted from the Bellasarians from the Akkadians and avoid exposing themselves any further to the naked and lewd barbarians of the empire. By now however, it was clear that they couldn’t make good on any agreements with Earth without the empire’s cooperation. The Akkadians totally lacked the dimensional portal technology. They feared that their actions may have jeopardized the entire purpose of this unprecedented event, at least where their nations were concerned. They were right.

President Chambers noticed a very large woman sitting amongst the high nobility. She had seen this giantess before, only this time her face was uncovered. Her long snow white hair was pulled back in a topknot with bangs in the front. She had full lips, her eyes were brown and she had high cheek bones with a pleasingly shaped nose. Her skin was light brown. This, along with her other features showed much mixed ancestry. She was at least seven feet tall with breasts damn near equal in size to the empress’s. In her case though, because of her overall size, they seemed less excessive. The rest of the woman was just as voluptuous and well-proportioned. Unlike the empress, this woman would never be confused for fat no matter what she wore and the Earth/Akkadian style dress she was wearing did nothing to deemphasize her incredible figure, in fact, just the opposite. This woman was perhaps one of the most stunningly beautiful women she had ever seen in her life, stunning even among the beauties of Bellasaria. Years ago the president had seen a black haired beauty that had looked just like her on TV when former President Hill visited Bain Island thirty five years ago…Earth time. The future president had been a
much
younger woman of fifteen then, but she never forgot that woman. How could anyone forget a woman like that? Aside from her hair, she hadn’t changed at all, even though by Bellasarian time centuries had passed. President Chambers knew she had suspected it all along, but…was that possible? Maybe she was just a descendant. Then Beverly saw the forest queen and her daughter approach the large elder.

If there were any remaining doubts to this woman’s identity, the way Princess Abe nearly fell over herself to speak with her personally removed them. The wild girl had never been so respectful and excited to see anyone since the president had first seen her at the Bellasarian capital, not even the empress. President Chambers knew that the Great Forest Kingdom was founded by Harold the Great, a son of Cato Curtis. But she also knew that Harold’s mother was the High Lady Gorgo. That meant that if she was right this woman was Princess Abe’s direct ancestor, and not just hers. Prince Tabba, whose father, High Lord Talos, was also a direct descendant of Cato and Gorgo, also seemed quite excited to meet her. Very respectfully, Queen Tana approached and said words to the big woman who smiled and placed her hands on both of the young people’s heads and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened her eyes and both of the young people smiled gratefully and returned to their place. The empress and her consort had been watching with pride from their place and the large woman smiled and nodded to them.

The giant woman then looked at Beverly and smiled wider. Her fangs appeared fully and the American President felt a chill. There was no mistake. This woman could only be who she thought she was. That would mean the other woman she’d seen with her when she was in Illia was definitely
“The”
Bellasaris of Bain. Then she heard a familiar voice in her head.

“The old lady is very beautiful, no?”

President Chambers looked over. The First Lady of Akkadia was watching the squirming and uncomfortable Bellasarians as well. It was blatantly obvious that she enjoyed watching them tried to conform to
her
people’s ways. It was also obvious that she had NO clue who the
old lady
really was. ‘Old Lady’, President Chambers sighed. Gorgo was older than anyone on Earth and most of the folks on Bellasaria, but she had almost every man in the place drooling and many women green with envy. President Chambers really hated Bellasarians sometimes.

“Yes, she is a most beautiful woman,”
replied Beverly dryly.

“All of these men are just dying to know what those big boobs look like. But they’ll never get a look here! We Akkadians don’t tolerate lewd and immoral behavior in our nation!”
said the First Lady firmly.

President Chambers felt uneasy, and for two reasons. The first being that Gorgo was now revealing her presence openly when before she and her sister were content to observe from the shadows and in disguise. The second was that she had shown her teeth to her. Even President Chambers knew that teeth shown to strangers by a feral mutant was never a good thing, and if history was correct, Gorgo hated humans almost beyond tolerance.

“You don’t know who that is?”
asked President Chambers, just to be sure that this sanctimonious woman was as clueless as she thought she was.

“Obviously she’s some old relative,”
said the Akkadian First Lady.
“Big over developed women are very common among those people! No doubt the elder was giving the two Bellasarian royals a blessing for their upcoming marriage. It hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s coming. Humph! The two have been fornicating all over the place since that incident in Illia. I would say it’s obvious that they bonded. I’m surprised they were able to make the little she-panther wear clothes of any kind here.”
First Lady Kaminski chuckled.
“She can barely walk in those shoes. That old granny must be someone special to make that wild child come here and conform without complaint.”

The American President looked at the Akkadian First Lady and decided right then and there that the woman was a prudish moron.

******

President Chambers, the First Man and a small number of other Earth leaders and their aides were escorted to the inner chambers of the presidential palace. The French President looked nervously at the huge mutant warriors standing guard by the doors. These men were
not
Akkadians. This room was not as large as the ballroom, but it was large enough to comfortably seat all of the Bellasarian leaders and the selected Earth leaders and their aides.

The Akkadian President and his wife were seated in their proper place, but President Chambers noted right away that Empress Beral III and High Lord Talos, now dress in the robes of their own land, were not seated in the place of honor usually reserved for guests of their stature. These places were sitting vacant between them and the Akkadian President and his wife. Who or
what
could bump the empress and High Lord of the Bellasarian Empire from their place of honor? President Chambers had a good guess. When the Earthlings had been shown to their places there was a moment of nervous silence and then President Kaminski stood and nodded to a young page, who quickly left and moments later returned white faced.

“They are coming, Mr. President,” he panted excitedly.

Several powerfully built mutant warriors entered the room first and placed themselves accordingly and then a small group of people entered, all with snow white hair or hair turning white. In front was a tall beauty with a voluptuous figure that had to be seen to believe. She had light golden brown skin and her hair reached to her ankles. Her eyes were brown and she had full lustrous lips. Her nose was aquiline. President Chambers recognized her immediately from the old footage of President Hill’s and Torre’s diplomatic encounters decades ago, but her hair was shorter and reddish brown then. She was not
as
large of breasts as the Lady Gorgo towering behind her, but she was nonetheless most impressive in that area.