­Kiraling – Part 31 (Chapter 258 – 263)

Chapter 258

I’m getting a boat. Xara wants to water ski so I’m getting a boat.

Through the years my grandparents and parents had different boats, rowboats. I have an old one leaning against a tree in the backyard.

I inherited a tidy sum from my parent’s IRAs, and Kara pays me to work for her, and the Army pays me. And Sharon took over managing my investments, because she’s good at it and I know nothing about it. Sharon does my taxes too. Or she pays someone to do them.

I get quarterly reports on how my portfolio is doing, and for the most part I glance at them and then throw them into the recycle bin. One day I left one open on the dining room table and Xara looked at it. Xara doesn’t worry about money because she has never had to. Her mother is wealthy and covers her school expenses. The house is free and clear. The cars we drive came from Kara.

“Joe, you’re rich.”

“I am?”

“Do you look at these things?” she asked, waving the latest quarterly report in my face.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“They seem to always show gains.”

“Joe, look at this!”

She showed me the last page of the report. I never get that far because the first couple of pages always show that I am making money, and I don’t really understand what I’m looking at, so I never get to the last page, which, it turns out, has the totals, the balances in my investment portfolio.

“Joe, you have over $4 million!”

“Huh. That’s a lot of money.”

“No shit that’s a lot of money! What are your plans for it?”

“I don’t have any plans for it. Sharon manages it for me; I thought if there was anything I needed to know or do she’d tell me.”

“We’re going to spend some of it,” she said.

She didn’t ask me. She told me.

“We are? On what?” I asked.

“We’re going to make a list of charities and donate 10% of your annual earnings, including your investment earnings.”

She didn’t ask me. She told me.

“That’s very biblical of you, Xara.”

“Well, the people who came up with the idea of tithing were on to something. If everyone did that there would be a lot less poverty on this planet.”

“Okay. We’ll make a list of charities,” I said.

“And we’re going to buy a boat.”

She didn’t ask me. She told me.

“Why do we need a boat?” I asked.

“Because we live on a beautiful lake and we should take more advantage of it,” she answered.

“Okay. How big a boat?” I asked.

“Big enough that we can take people out on the lake when we have parties and fast enough that we can water ski.”

“You want to water ski?” I asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“A Velorian goddess who can fly wants to water ski?”

“It’s fun, Joe, you’ll enjoy it too.”

Gloria and Mona were in another room and heard us talking. They walked into the dining room and Mona asked, “What’s this about getting a boat?”

“We’re getting one,” said Xara, “so we can take people out on the lake and water ski.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun,” said Mona.

Then Gloria said that the people she saw on the lake riding jet skis always seemed to be having fun.

Xara liked that.

“We’re getting jet skis too,” she said.

She didn’t ask me. She told me.

Suddenly, I knew what it felt like to be my dad married to my mother.

So, Xara called Sharon and asked her to come out and talk to us about my money.

“Joe, these quarterly reports are only part of the story. Where are your bank statements?” asked Sharon.

I went down to the lair and brought up a box full of bank statements I’d never opened.

“Joe, you’re supposed to look at these,” said Sharon, “why did you keep these, but you threw away the investment reports?”

“My parents kept all their bank statements.”

“And?”

“And I thought if they did, I should too.”

So Sharon went over the bank statements and investment reports with us. It turns out that she already had me giving to charities. And I had enough money in my checking account to buy the boat and jet skis.

“Why is all this money in your checking account?” Sharon asked me. “It isn’t earning interest. You should have been moving money from checking to savings.”

“Oh.”

“Okay, Joe, I’m going to propose some changes. Now, some of the investment accounts are retirement accounts. They belong to you. But the other accounts and your bank accounts can have Xara added to them. I suggest you make those accounts joint accounts. And I want you two to sign and notarize a community property agreement.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Joe, are you sure about this?” asked Xara. “This makes me half owner of everything except your retirement accounts.”

“You’re my wife, Xara. Everything I have is yours.”

So we did that. We went to the bank and notarized stuff and got a safe deposit box and put our community property agreement in it.

Then it was time to look at boats.

When you have a small rowboat, you just pull it out of the water and lean it against a tree when you aren’t using it. Not so with a power boat you can use for partying and water skiing. And not so for jet skis either. Of course, I didn’t know that they couldn’t be left floating in the water tied to the dock. They need a garage, or more like a carport. With a lift that can lift them all out of the water.

And everything needs permits. Want to modify your dock? Get a permit. Want to build a boat house? Don’t even think about it. But the carport things are okay, with a permit.

Xara promised to do all the research and get all the permits. Which I was okay with, at first. Until she came home fuming one day muttering about burning down the Whatcom County Administrative Office building, with everyone in it.

“Xara, are you okay? Do you want me to get the permits?”

“No, Joe, I promised I’d do it.”

“You aren’t going to hurt anybody, are you? Or burn any buildings down?”

She laughed and said, “No, darling, as tempting as that is, I won’t do it.”

Part of the problem she was having was that the county records on my property were … out of date and missing information the county office thought should be there. Current satellite images didn’t agree with older satellite images and there were no records of how the changes happened. Meaning there were no records of any permits or inspections. In the end Kara made a call to SecDef who called someone else who called someone else, who called someone who could make the county stand down. That didn’t make all the permitting headaches go away, but it made it easier.

And Xara wanted to host a Biology Department barbeque, in the back yard, on Labor Day, just a few weeks before Fall quarter started. We had the dock upgrades finished in early August and the boat and jet skis were delivered two days later. Everyone who wanted to operate the boat, or the jet skis, had to take a boating education course, offered by the county for a reasonable fee.

So we all took it. Me, the blondes (all the blondes including Juliet and Bri-An) and Gloria and Mona. You should have seen the instructor’s face when he met seven goddesses in tank tops and shorts.

Gloria got his phone number. “He’s a mature single man. I like him.”

Xara and I called a meeting of all the Supremis prior to the barbeque.

“No skinny dipping,” I said.

“Why not?” asked Bri-An. “We skinny dip here all the time.”

“Yes,” I said, “And I hear about it from the Homeowners Association. Fortunately, there aren’t any community rules against it, but the wives of the men who live around here aren’t happy about it.”

Kara bought up all the land immediately surrounding my property, but whenever the ladies were skinny dipping, the word got out and suddenly our part of the lake was filled with boats that came close enough for everyone on board to get a good view. And the ladies, all of them, always showed off when they had an audience.

“And for this party, there are going to be families with children. Some of them teenage boys. So that means you are going to have to wear something appropriate. No string or micro bikinis. Gloria will approve all swim wear.”

I picked Gloria for this because if she couldn’t wear ultra-revealing attire, she was going to make sure no one did. She has a talent for being a killjoy. Don’t tell her I said that.

Mona invited the young man she had been seeing, a guy she met the last time we hosted a department party. Which was no big deal, he would have been invited anyway since he was part of the Biology Department. Gloria invited the county boating instructor. When Bri-An and Juliet heard about that they wanted to invite men too. But they weren’t dating anyone on a steady basis.

“Are you guys going to Walmart to troll for dates?” I asked.

Before they could answer, Kara jumped in.

“This is a social event. You only invite someone you have a relationship with.”

They accepted that, and neither of them asked Gloria what kind of relationship she had with the county guy.

“Joe, I’d like to invite Deb. Is that okay?” asked Sharon.

“Sure Sharon.”

“She doesn’t usually socialize with you and Xara,” she said.

“I’ve noticed. Does she want to change that?” I asked.

“No,” she said, “but I need to do something. I spend so much time here that she feels neglected and it is starting to cause conflict.”

“More than Colonel Moore causes?”

“That’s just it,” said Sharon. “She sees my relationship with you and Xara and Sarah as part of a larger whole that doesn’t include her. I need to make her feel part of our circle.”

“The part of the circle that doesn’t include the Colonel,” I said.

“Yes.”

I resisted the urge to draw a Venn diagram featuring all of Sharon’s relationships.

“Tell her she is welcome here.”

“I will. I haven’t invited her yet. I haven’t told her about the party.”

“So she might say no.”

“If she does, I’m going to invite Sarah.”

“Will you tell Deb that?”

“No.”

I wanted to tell Sharon that she could get rid of a lot of stress in her life if she made a decision about the Colonel and Deb. To just pick one and let the other one go.

“I wouldn’t tell her that if I were you, Joe,” said Xara in the connection. Dixon and Johnson agreed with her. I did too and kept my mouth shut.

The party was to be a potluck. Gloria and I would grill chicken and steaks and our guests would be asked to bring salads, sides, and desserts. And vegan options if any of them wanted that. Gloria and I are into eating meat, so that’s what we were preparing.

The next thing to do was to get everyone out on the boat and practice driving, skiing, and watching. Watching the skiers. Someone had to sit in the boat watching the skiers or tubers or whatever and raise a flag if they fell and let the driver know.

This brings out the Protector in P1s. Not just the Protectors, but Sharon too. I found this out when I was skiing. I had never water skied before, I was learning, and I was falling, a lot. And even though I was wearing a life vest, every time I fell, I found myself surrounded by blondes making sure I was okay.

So I switched to a tube. A big donut shaped thing filled with air that was towed behind the boat.

As I said, the ladies had all been through the safe boating class, and I was surprised at how well they followed the rules. I mentioned it to them.

“There are Terrans on the lake,” said Bri-An. “We must make sure we don’t put any of them in danger.”

Gloria was right. The jet skis were fun! Especially when you’re riding tandem with a Velorian. I was driving the thing, with Xara behind me holding on to me with her arms around my waist. Not that she needed to, she could have sat on the damn thing anyway she wanted and used her flight powers to keep herself in place.

Anyway, when you are riding tandem you have to synchronize your actions. If the driver leans into a turn, the passenger must also do so. That was easy to learn. What was fun was when I’d crank the speed up, and then Xara would tighten her grip on the jet ski with her legs and add a little extra oomph.

Life vests. We bought a bunch of them, all different sizes. And for the party, everyone who went out on the water in the boat or on a jet ski had to wear one. No exceptions. Interestingly, I didn’t get any push back on that. The ladies all understood that they had to blend in. Like a Velorian in a swimsuit can blend in. Well, anyway, they all agreed to wear the vests.

We also bought water wings for little kids.

The day of the party came around and it was very well attended. Nearly the whole department showed up, and those who had families brought them. We set up a couple of pop-ups with tables under them. Xara put out sunscreen. Every type of sunscreen she could find at Fred Meyer. And all the moms brought sunscreen too.

And once again, I saw how much the Velorians love little children, and how much the children love the blondes. Xara wanted to take a five year old out on a jet ski. The little boy’s mom wanted nothing to do with that, until Xara leaned into her and released a little bit of trust pheromone.

So mom put sunscreen on him and Xara picked out a life vest for him, put one on herself, sat him down on the jet ski in front of her and off they went. And the kid loved it! When Xara returned to the dock, he was all smiles and told his mom how much fun it was. And that started it. Pretty soon all the blondes were taking little kids out on the jet skis with them.

“You should have bought five jet skis,” Gloria said, “and another boat.”

We could take eight people out at a time on the boat. Mona was driving it and taking people for rides.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a party like this every weekend,” I replied.

Sharon was out on a jet ski with a little girl when Professor Marriage Wrecker decided to try his luck with Deb. I saw him heading over to her and nudged Gloria and gestured in that direction with my head.

He spent about 15 seconds with her and then turned and walked away. I couldn’t hear what was said, but Gloria did.

“She told him she doesn’t fuck men.”

I was sitting in a chair under a tree while some steaks were grilling when Deb brought over a chair and sat down next to me. We were at least 20 feet away from the closest other person.

“These people are all from the Biology department?” she asked.

“All except that guy over there,” I said, pointing to the county guy. “He’s Gloria’s date.”

“Does it bother you that your wife has sex with other men? How many of these men has she bedded?” she asked.

“None,” I replied.

That surprised her.

“None! Not even that professor who approached me?”

“Especially not him,” I answered.

“She sees men outside her department then.”

“No. We have an arrangement. Hasn’t Sharon told you?”

“No. What’s your arrangement?”

“Well, it isn’t exactly ‘our’ arrangement. It’s her arrangement. It’s her way of acknowledging my ‘Terran sensibilities’.”

“Tell me, what is the arrangement?”

“Either one of us can have sex with Velorians, but we can’t have sex with other Terrans.”

“You are the only Terran she has sex with?”

“That’s right,” I answered.

“And she only has sex with you and other Velorians?”

“Yes. Sometimes, when a Messenger comes to Earth, I don’t see her for days.”

“And you have sex with all these Velorian women,” she said, waving her hand in the general direction of the blondes.

“No, not all of them,” I said. “I haven’t had sex with Bri-An and Juliet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have to.”

“I don’t understand, what do you mean, you don’t have to.”

“I would be perfectly happy being exclusive to Xara, but she won’t have it. She says it would be an insult to refuse a Velorian to whom I am Kiraling.”

“So you have sex with Sharon and Kara, but not other Velorians?”

“Yes.”

“What do Kara and Sharon think about that?”

“About me having sex with the three of them?”

“No, about you being the only Terran Xara will fuck.”

“Sharon thinks it’s ridiculous. Kara is more sensitive to my feelings about it, but I don’t think she’d have heartburn if Xara decided to broaden her horizons.”

“Does it bother you that Xara fucks Velorians?”

“The three of them have made it very clear to me that I can’t meet all of Xara’s needs.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“That, Deb, is all the answer you’re going to get.”

“You just bury your feelings?”

“I try to. It would be a lot easier if you weren’t trying to dig them up.”

“I never bury my feelings with Sharon.”

“Xara is the most loving and caring woman I’ve ever known. And except for this one thing, she never asks anything of me. And if Sharon has the typical Velorian attitude towards sex, and I believe she does, then Xara is giving up a great deal for me. I have to respect that.”

“I’d like to have that arrangement with Sharon,” she said.

I didn’t say anything. Pointing out that even if they did have that arrangement, Sharon wouldn’t apply it to me, didn’t seem to be the smart thing to do. Dixon and Johnson wanted me to say it. They don’t like Deb. I told them to shut up.

Deb made small talk with me for the next few minutes until I had to get back to the grill. It’s the most we’ve talked to each other since I met her, and there was no hostility. I know she objects to Sharon having sex with me, and I don’t blame her, but she didn’t berate me over it. And she never mentioned Colonel Moore.

The party broke up as the sun went down. All in all, it was a successful get together and a feather in Xara’s cap. All the guests helped clean up and the blondes got a kick out of the little ones coming up to them to hug them as they said their good-byes.

Mona and Gloria went home with their dates. Kara flew home and Deb and Sharon stayed the night in one of our guest rooms. I brought Rosey up from the lair and programmed it to clean the house, do the dishes and clean the grill.

Xara and I got to bed about 11pm.

“I saw you talking to Deb.”

“Were you listening in?”

“No, I was having such a lovely time, and our guests were enjoying themselves, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment by getting my hackles up over Deb.”

“She was very civil, Xara. She didn’t insult me or look down on me at all. Professor Asshole can’t say the same.”

“Oh? He hit on her?”

“Yep. She shot him down right away.”

“I noticed he left early.”

“With a woman?”

“No, he was alone. He’s got quite the reputation among the faculty and students in the department. Everyone is on to him.”

“Really? I would think a good looking guy like him would have no problem getting ladies.”

“He comes on too strong, and he’s too obvious about what he wants. I’ve heard he does okay picking up women in bars, but they don’t know him.”

“Mona and Gloria seem to be making progress with their guys,” I said.

“Harold worships the ground Mona walks on,” she replied.

“I could see that. He was very attentive to her,” I said.

“Gloria and her date hit it off too,” she said.

“I hope she doesn’t scare him too much,” I replied.

“She can be very gentle when she wants to,” Xara replied. “And speaking of being gentle, I want you on top tonight.”

Janelle rode in a convertible near the front of the parade, just behind the flag bearers and in front of a float carrying the image, what the church called an icon, of the town’s patron saint. She was asked to wear a dress with a gold sash. The people cheered her when she went by, and that surprised her and pleased her. She was making progress with the population of this town.

As provided for by the town’s laws, the mayor had appointed a man to serve in the place of the councilman she had killed until the next election. And one day this new councilman came to her, hat in hand, and asked her to endorse him at the next election.

“Senor, I have only just met you. It would be very premature to endorse you now.”

“I understand, senorita. Please, let me work with you on the issues this town is facing. I’m sure you will see that I can be of value to our people.”

“Very well, senor, I will keep an open mind.”

After he left, Janelle called Miguel in.

“What do you think of him, Miguel?”

“He comes from a good family, Janelle. His family business is a construction company, and his employees are all loyal to him, as are his customers.”

“Thank you, Miguel. Now, the sanitation union, what are they doing about their leadership vacancy?”

“The current treasurer is running for the president position and has the support of the rest of the leadership team. There is a worker who is also running, and he has the support of the rank and file. The leadership is very unhappy about this.”

Chapter 259

My promotion came through! I’m now Staff Sergeant Ricci.

Xara decided to take me out to dinner to celebrate. When Kara and Sharon heard about it, they wanted to come too. So that’s something great that happened.

The blondes have decided that it is no fun to have me shoot them when I do it my way, because I take it too seriously. Instead of shooting them where they want me to shoot them, breasts or crotch, I shoot them where I want; I aim for a head shot every time.

They countered that by just moving their body’s so I’d hit them where they wanted to be hit. And they are fast enough to do it. I tried to anticipate them thinking that they were anticipating where I would shoot. So I’d aim high so if they tried to get in a boob shot, I’d still hit them between the eyes. But no, they don’t anticipate. They are fast enough that they can wait for me to fire, see the trajectory of the bullet, and get a boob or crotch hit anyway.

“How is this possible? Even with training, human reaction time is no faster than 190 milliseconds.”

I did the math. The muzzle velocity of an M4 is 2,970 ft/s. The blondes were 60 feet away. So it would take 20 milliseconds for a bullet to get to them.

“We aren’t human, Joseph,” said Kara.

“The pathways in human brains are electro-chemical in nature. We have that too, but we also have Orgone channels,” said Xara.

“What are those like?” I asked.

“That’s just the theory,” said Sharon. “The force it requires to break open a Supremis skull also destroys the brain and releases the Orgone. There is no way to examine it.”

They let me shoot at them, but my attitude dampened the fun for them. They wanted to show me their invulnerability and demonstrate their superiority in a way that was fun for them and me. I wanted to perfect my headshot in the hope that if I had an opportunity to take one against a Beta, I would hit my target.

“Joseph, your revolver was ineffective against that Beta in the cave.”

“I grazed him with a headshot, Kara, and he bled. If he bleeds, he can die.”

“How many rounds did it take to kill a Beta on Xanadu? How many Xanadusians died to take down one Beta?” Xara asked.

Kara put her arm around me and took the M4 away from me with her other hand. “Joseph, this isn’t productive.”

I didn’t argue with her.

Chapter 260

With my promotion came training. I was headed for Advanced Leadership Training (ALC) at Ft. Huachuca in a couple of months. In the meantime, there was an online portion of the training to work on.

Colonel Moore had the FBI surveilling the townhouse of the Beta who kidnapped me and the cabin his cronies told her about. Kara had wanted to go into both right away and confiscate any Arion tech that may have been there. But Colonel Moore and I talked her into leaving both locations alone, to see if anyone would show up.

The townhouse the Beta had in Georgetown had its rent paid up for six months. The cabin was in the second year of a paid up two year lease.

Colonel Moore worked with the FBI to put both locations under surveillance. In Georgetown they rotated people parked on the street and even got permission to use an attic that had a line of sight to the front door. The cabin was in the country, in a large clearing in the woods. The FBI set up blinds in the woods to watch it from.

Kara asked me, as her liaison, to coordinate Protector coverage with the human teams. Bri-an and Juliet would provide the muscle if any Arions showed up.

Kara wasn’t completely comfortable with this; she would rather have Protectors doing all the work and keep the Terrans out of it. For two reasons. First, for the protection of the Terrans. She didn’t want them engaging an Arion. Someone, most certainly a Terran, would die. Second, she didn’t want Terrans getting at any Arion tech. She wanted Terra to advance on its own without any outside help. That … seems to be a Galen thing. Terra was supposed to be this pristine planet that the Supremis didn’t fuck with. Of course, the Arions are fucking with us.

On the flip side, it is hard for a small team, even a Velorian small team, to surveil a target 7x24. Bri-an and Juliet were happy to have the help.

And they could make sure that they confiscated or destroyed any Arion tech before the Terrans could get their hands on it. Cue my argument about gathering intelligence. Cue Kara shooting me down.

“I don’t want Terrans building GARs, Joseph.”

“I understand, but maybe our scientists could find something that would help detect and root out the Arions. It is our planet, after all, we should be defending it.”

That argument seems very reasonable to me. Not to Velorians. Any of them.

“Terra is an undisclosed planet. We have to keep Terran involvement at a minimum.”

“But you are working with Terrans, Kara, and our involvement has only grown!”

“Yes, Joseph, out of necessity. If I had more resources, I wouldn’t be involving as many Terrans as I have. But I don’t have those resources, so I have to make compromises. But I’m only going to compromise so much.”

Kara told Colonel Moore, through me, that if the surveillance didn’t yield any results in a month, she would send Bri-an and Juliet in to find whatever they could in the cabin and the townhouse.

Janelle read the dispatch from Near Earth Command (NEC). Then she read it again. Then she read it a third time. Then she sent off a message asking for clarification. The clarification, in so many words, was, “do what we told you to do.”

The Beta who had reported locating Chouridgde had not made contact since receiving orders to capture him. However, NEC was still detecting automated ‘heartbeat’ signals from the two locations he had been using.

She was to travel to the North American continent, to the capital of the United States. She was to determine if the locations used by the Beta had been compromised, and to find his Terran collaborators if possible.

She was given the locations of the Beta’s residence and safe house, and the remote self-destruct codes for his equipment. This surprised her. Her equipment did not have self-destruct capabilities. This was something new.

Priority one was to determine if the Beta’s bases had been compromised and to report back if they were. The reception of the heartbeat signal indicated they had not been, but she was warned to be careful. The Velorians could have set up a trap.

Priority two was to destroy his equipment if at all possible.

Priority three was to contact his Terran collaborators, get any information from them she could, and kill them. Likely the Beta was dead, but the Terrans may be able to confirm that.

She was to leave no evidence that an Arion Prime had been to the area. If she couldn’t complete her mission without drawing attention to herself or to Aria, she was to leave the country immediately.

Her cover story that was established when she came to Terra was that she was an American, and she had been provided with an American passport that, she was assured, was legitimate.

So she made up a story that she was going home to visit her mother, who was sick, and would return in a few days to a few weeks.

She flew into Dulles International Airport and passed through Customs and Border Protection without incident. She rented a car and drove to Arlington, Virgina and checked in to the Westin Arlington hotel.

Before leaving her town in Central America, she had studied the areas where the Beta had his bases, using a Terran online mapping service. She memorized all the routes to and from.

At her hotel she procured paper maps of the area and compared them to the online maps. They agreed. On her maps, she highlighted the routes she would take. For the townhouse, she would start by driving around the area searching for signs of surveillance. For the cabin, she would approach from the woods, checking for any signs that someone was watching.

But first, she went looking for the Terran collaborators. She had their addresses, but from a distance, looking through buildings and walls, she could see that their apartments were empty, and had obviously been searched.

Then she approached Georgetown on foot, checking every building in a four block radius. She found the attic the FBI was using to surveil the Beta’s residence. That ruled out the possibility of getting into the building. So she took her small transmitter out of her purse and entered the self-destruct codes for the Beta’s equipment. She was about to execute the command when she decided it would be fun to see how the Terrans reacted to the explosion that was about to occur. So she focused her attention on them, and was about to send the signal when a woman walked into the room the Terrans were in. A tall, blonde woman. A Protector! She wasn’t wearing a flight suit, but it was obvious from her stature that she was a Protector.

Janelle’s blood ran cold. She instinctively crouched down and ducked behind a building, then cursed her stupidity. A Protector could see through buildings and walls as easily as she could. From all reports, more easily than she could.

She left the area as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself, looking over her shoulder, and up at the sky, to make sure the Protector had not detected her.

She went back to her hotel room and tried to clear her head and think. Her transmitter that could send the self-destruct signal had a short range, maybe half a mile or so. If she used it, and the Protector had any idea of what had happened, she could get caught. And if she was caught, she would be killed. She had no illusions of being able to defeat a Protector.

The next day she made her way into the surrounding countryside to find the Beta’s cabin. When she got to the forest that surrounded the cabin she moved as silently and carefully as she could. She came over a rise that put the cabin directly into her line of sight. That is, an Arion Prime’s line of sight. A Terran would see only forest. She looked very carefully and found the surveillance team, and saw a Protector, a different Protector with them.

Skietra! Two protectors! NEC was correct, there were multiple Protectors on Terra.

She left the forest, went back to her car and to her hotel. The next morning, she checked out, drove to the airport and returned her rental car and flew back to Central America. Only one of her mission goals had been accomplished, she had determined the Beta’s locations had been compromised. The Terrans and Protectors were watching them. And they would eventually get tired of watching and would enter the townhouse and the cabin, if they hadn’t already, and take possession of the Beta’s equipment.

Janelle and NEC didn’t need to worry, but they didn’t know that. The Arion Beta they had sent to Washington DC was both clever and unorthodox, two qualities seldom found in a Prime and almost never in a Beta.

He had booby-trapped both of his locations. He wore a watch that had the equivalent of an RFID chip built into it. The government had the watch, but no one had thought to look for a chip in it. The Velorians had seen Arions wearing watches and jewelry before, so it didn’t occur to them to examine it.

The way it worked was simple. Each of his locations transmitted a short range signal every 60 minutes to activate the chip. If the chip responded the signal was repeated 60 minutes later. Also, anytime he opened the front or back door to either location, the signal was sent to activate the chip, and if the chip responded, the timer was reset. The two locations also communicated with each other and logged the response from the chip, or the lack thereof.

If neither location got a signal back from the chip for five consecutive days, the next time a door was opened in either location and there was no response from the chip, that result was communicated to the other location and both of them would detonate charges that would destroy the buildings.

Chapter 261

I’ve never seen a Velorian turn white, as if the blood had drained from their face. I didn’t think it could happen. But I saw it happen to Xara.

We were having breakfast in the morning when the phone rang. My direct line to Colonel Moore. I answered it and since Xara was sitting right there, she could hear the conversation.

“Staff Sergeant, I need you to contact Kara and tell her to come to my office as soon as she can.”

“Yes Colonel. May I tell her what this is about?”

“Per Kara’s deadline, Juliet entered the Beta’s cabin a few minutes ago to search for Arion equipment. When she did, the cabin blew up and so did the townhouse in Georgetown.”

“Jesus! Was anyone hurt?”

“Not at the cabin. But the townhouses on either side of the Beta’s were destroyed.”

I looked at my watch, it was 7am in Bellingham, that meant it was 4am in Georgetown.

“Casualties, Colonel?”

“Families, Staff Sergeant. Two families were killed in their sleep. We don’t have the details; fire crews are still getting things under control.”

“I’ll call Kara right away.”

I called Kara, she already knew. Bri-an had seen the townhouse blow up and had broken protocol and flown over there right away. She searched as only a Velorian can and didn’t find any survivors. She had called Kara shortly before Colonel Moore called me.

“Joseph, I’m leaving for DC now.”

I hung up the phone and turned to Xara. She was white in the face, and her lower lip was trembling.

“Two families, Joe? Two families were killed?”

She broke down in tears. I put my arms around her, and she buried her head in my shoulder and sobbed.

Later that day Kara called and asked me to come to the Pentagon. Xara put me in a pod and flew us there. I called Colonel Moore when we landed and asked for a pass for Xara. We arrived at the Pentagon and were met at the visitor’s entrance and were escorted to a conference room. Colonel Moore was there with Juliet, Kara, Bri-an, and some FBI and DOJ people, along with SecDef and General Rosenthal. There were also two people from Homeland Security.

The blondes are never subdued. They are never shy. They never take a backseat to anyone. At least, that’s been my experience with them. But not now.

The SecDef started things off.

“The FBI is telling me that the two locations used by the Arion were booby-trapped. Kara, did you know that, or suspect it?”

“No sir,” she said, “I did not.”

Sir??? What the hell?

SecDef caught it too.

“Kara, we aren’t blaming you, we’re trying to understand what we could have done better.”

Kara answered, “Mr. Secretary, when a Velorian is granted the title of Protector, she takes a vow to do just what the title says, Protect. We are the strong and we protect the weak. The loss of indigenous life, the loss of Terran life to Arion actions, when we are right there, is a stain upon our honor.”

“Kara,” General Rosenthal said, “those of us who wear the uniform understand how you feel. Staff Sergeant, do you agree?”

“Yes sir, I do.” I answered.

“Kara,” continued the General, “it is important that we find the lessons here and learn them.”

One of the FBI men spoke up.

“It was inevitable that someone, either one of us or one of you,” he said this nodding to Kara, “would enter the premises eventually. This isn’t the Velorians fault.”

“How are you explaining the explosion?” asked Kara.

The FBI guy spoke up again. “Our people are investigating this as a national security incident. We’re going to say we found bomb making materials in the wreckage and the body of the man who rented the townhouse.

“We’ll be going through the wreckage with a fine tooth comb. If we find anything we don’t recognize, will one of you take a look at it?”

“Yes,” said Kara. “Just let me know through Colonel Moore.”

“Would it help if one of the Velorians went through the wreckage with you?” General Rosenthal asked.

The FBI guy said, “Yes, that might be very helpful.”

“I’ll do it,” said Bri-an.

Kara looked at her and nodded.

SecDef asked if we could stay overnight and have another meeting in the morning. We agreed. Colonel Moore called someone in the Pentagon who arranged hotel rooms for us.

That night Xara made love to me and held me, tightly.

“Xara, is something wrong?”

“Joe, what if you had gone into the cabin, or the townhouse?”

“I didn’t Xara.”

The next morning, we ordered room service for breakfast and ate it while watching CNN. They were reporting that sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity had found bomb making materials in the townhouse along with the body of the renter, who authorities were declining to identify.

At 9:30am Kara, Xara and I were picked up and driven to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, VA. There we met with Colonel Moore, the FBI and Homeland Security people and Bri-an and Juliet. We were taken to a large room where everything taken from the townhouse and cabin were spread out.

“There wasn’t much left,” said the FBI guy, “and what we did find we can thank Bri-an for. She was able to search much faster than we could have.”

Kara asked, “What did you find?”

The FBI guy answered. “Not much. There are some fragments of components that Bri-an tells us are Arion in origin, but they aren’t complete. The Arion explosive device made quite a mess of them.

“Normal items you would expect to find, dishes, cooking utensils, fared much better. They weren’t clustered around the explosives.

“We did find watch and clock makers tools, which indicates he may have been constructing more conventional bombs, but we didn’t see any other signs of that.”

Watch makers tools? I looked at my watch, which had technology embedded into it that would allow Kara to listen in to conversations I was having and locate me.

“Did the Arion have a watch?” I asked.

Colonel Moore answered, “Yes, why?”

“Can I see it?” I asked.

The FBI had it and brought it to me. It was a Rolex.

The FBI special agent in charge, I’ll call him Mulder, was wearing a similar watch. I asked him to put it on the table, next to the Arion’s watch.

“Ladies, do you see any differences between these watches?” I asked.

All four blondes looked at the watches. Xara said, “See that mom?”

“I do.”

Mulder asked, “What do you see?”

“There is a very small component in the Arion’s watch,” said Juliet, “that is not in your watch. And it isn’t connected to any of the inner workings of the watch.”

Mulder had one of the FBI techs open the watch and remove the component with a pair of tweezers. He put it under a microscope and said, “It’s a very simple circuit. In fact, it reminds me of an RFID chip.”

The tech brought out some test equipment and waved a wand over the circuit, several wands, several times, and one of the wands caused a signal to be emitted from the circuit.

“It is an RFID chip,” said the technician, “or something very much like one. It transmits a very low power signal.”

The FBI tech said, “This may have been used as a kind of key to the townhouse and the cabin. The charges may have been rigged to go off if a door opened and no signal was received from the circuit.”

That was his theory, and it never got past that. There just wasn’t enough of anything left at either the townhouse or the cabin to confirm it.

Between the two neighboring townhouses that had been destroyed there were seven Terran deaths. The blondes, including Sharon, attended all the funeral services. The eldest son of one of the families was away at college when his family was killed. He was the only surviving immediate member of either family. Kara and Sharon set up an anonymous scholarship fund for him and, anonymously, paid off his existing student loans. Bri-an and Juliet wanted to approach him to offer their condolences, but Kara told them it would be better if they didn’t. They were both heartbroken, I could see that. Xara said she thought it was the first time either of them had lost a Terran. Losing seven at once was very hard on them.

Juliet was feeling guilty because she was the one who opened the door of the cabin that resulted in the explosions. Bri-an was feeling it too, because it could have been her entering the townhouse first, and because the Terrans were killed right in front of her, and she couldn’t do anything to help them.

“Joseph,” Kara said to me, “I’d like you to talk to Juliet and Bri-an. They are feeling much the same way as you feel about your friends Dixon and Johnson.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there with them, but Dixon and Johnson said it was okay. So I did. Back at the house a few days later. Xara made dinner and all the blondes were invited, Gloria and Mona too, and I told them about Dixon and Johnson, and how I failed to save them. We talked about our feelings of guilt. Juliet and Bri-an shared their feelings about losing “the Terrans,” and cried. I cried too. I don’t think I could have made it through the evening if Dixon and Johnson hadn’t been standing there with me. Xara helped too with her gentle, non-verbal encouragement.

As we talked, I wondered about the depth of these Protectors. When it came to Arions, especially Arion Primes, the blondes were stone cold killers. They felt no remorse over killing Arions, even Betas. But the loss of innocent life touched them deeply. They understood the concept of collateral damage, but unlike some officers I had known, they didn’t accept it.

Kara and Sharon flew home, the others were spending the night. After everyone had either left or gone to bed, Xara and I went to our room. We undressed and got into bed and Xara pulled me on top of her. I was feeling very emotional still, and not really in the mood for sex. Xara released a little bit of her pheromones, just enough to get me hard, then pulled me inside of her. She closed her eyes, and I felt her body, especially her breasts, soften. She opened her eyes and smiled at me and said, “Get comfortable.”

Xara’s breasts are always nice, but now … they were like wonderful pillows. I put my head down and she put her arms around me and started massaging me with her vaginal muscles while gently rocking us left and right, back and forth, while she hummed a melody I didn’t recognize, but was very pleasant.

“Go to sleep, my love. All will be better in the morning.”

I closed my eyes and soon was dreaming of holding Xara’s hand while we walked through a field of wildflowers. I could smell them, and honey.

And when I woke up, I did feel better. I was lying on my back and could feel Xara beside me. I opened my eyes and saw her beautiful smile, and I felt even better.

“How do you feel, darling?”

“A lot better than I did last night. Are you responsible for that?”

“I am. The more time I spend with you in the connection, the more I learn about how you work. Are you okay with it?”

“It?”

“With me altering your mood.”

I had to think about that for a moment.

“It’s a little scary that you can do that to me. But PTSD is scary too. I trust you, so yeah, I’m okay with it.”

She put her arms around me and pulled me in for a kiss and said, “I’m glad you’re okay with it, but I’m not okay with you being scared of me or anything that I can do. Don’t ever, ever be afraid of me, Joe. I’m more than your wife, I am your Kiraling mate.”

“Okay. I won’t be afraid of you. Ever. How are Bri-an and Juliet doing?”

“Not as well as you, Joe. I can’t help them like I can you. But I think talking with you helped them. And we’re more resilient than Terrans. They’ll get over it, a little quicker I think because they talked to you. Speak of the devil …”

Just then our door opened and Juliet and Bri-an came in with breakfast trays. Followed by Gloria and Mona with more platters of food.

“I hope you two are hungry,” said Juliet.

They made breakfast for us. Velorian style, which meant there was way more food than I could eat. Fortunately, I wouldn’t have to. Velorians don’t know what leftover food is because they never leave any food.

So there I sat, propped up in bed with just a sheet covering my lower half, surrounded by five beautiful women not wearing an awful lot, stuffing themselves.

Janelle subscribed to several news sources from the Eastern United States. She knew it was a long shot, but she wanted to watch for any indication that the Beta’s possessions had fallen into the hands of the Terrans. Or the Velorians. She didn’t have to wait long. She saw news reports of an explosion in Georgetown that destroyed several homes and killed a number of people. She cross referenced those reports against maps of the area and saw that it was, indeed, the townhouse of the Beta that had been destroyed. The Terrans were saying a terrorist had been making bombs and blew himself and his neighbors up.

She didn’t know how this came about, but the fact that there were Terran casualties ruled out the Velorians. Those blonde fools would rather die themselves than let a frail be killed.

NEC was happy to hear of it and ordered Janelle to resume her work.

Chapter 262

School was back in session for Xara and I had completed the online portion of my ALC training. It was time to head to Ft. Huachuca for the classroom portion.

There was room for me to stay on base, but Xara wanted to visit me, often, so we opted to rent a house.

I don’t really understand how this course would help me in my current liaison role. The course teaches the student how to plan, organize and evaluate counterintelligence missions during large-scale combat operations. Be that as it may, if I was ever sent to war again, the skills developed in this course would serve me well.

Long days, lots of studying, I don’t think I was much of a companion for Xara during my off hours, but she didn’t seem to mind. She’d put in a full day at school, then fly down to the house I was renting and have dinner waiting for me when I got home. Then I’d shower and go to bed while she did her schoolwork. She’d come to bed when I was asleep and get out of bed to fix breakfast before I woke up. On weekends she’d make up for lost time by using her pheromones to keep me going until she was satisfied, which was way, way past the point where I was satisfied. And then when she was done, she’d put me down for a nap. Damn, that woman takes really good care of me!

Except for my third week. I didn’t see much of her that week; a Messenger had come to Earth. After he left, she resumed her routine with me and was … apologetic.

“Xara, I never complain about it.”

“No, darling, you don’t, and I love you all the more for it. But I can see inside you, I know how it makes you feel.”

“Xara, this is the only thing you ask of me. I can live with it, but please, don’t make me dwell on it.”

She put her arms around me and gave me a kiss, then took me by the hand and led me to the bedroom.

“Let’s see if I can get you to dwell on something else.”

And she did.

Chapter 263

Time doesn’t fly at ALC. The schedule is grueling. But it eventually ended, and I drove home. I got home the Monday before Thanksgiving. Xara had decided to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Gloria and Mona volunteered to do the cooking. All the blondes would be there, and Sharon would be bringing Deb. I didn’t ask Sharon what Colonel Moore was doing for the holiday. I didn’t ask Colonel Moore either.

Rosey does a good job keeping the house clean, but it didn’t perform too well cleaning windows from the outside. Xara said we could get a program module for that, as well as the equipment it would need (it doesn’t climb ladders) from Kelsor. Well, screw that, I decided to clean the windows myself.

So I got my cleaning supplies, a ladder, and the hose, and then was joined by Xara, who didn’t need a ladder, and we finished the job very quickly.

Wednesday night, the night before Thanksgiving, Gloria and Mona had a cooking emergency. They didn’t have enough whipping cream or cranberries. So they asked me to go to Fred Meyer and buy those.

Gloria and Mona had banished everyone from the kitchen, no one was allowed to help. Xara didn’t want to sit home bored, so she came with me. On the way to the store Xara’s phone rang. Apparently, they needed more flour for the pie crusts, so we added that to the list.

Thankfully, Fred Meyer was open late. Also, we were not the only ones doing last minute Thanksgiving shopping; the parking lot was nearly full.

We bought what we needed and were driving home, out on a county road well after dark, when I blew a tire. The right front tire. I got out and looked at it and told Xara to fly the groceries home and I would change the tire.

I opened the trunk and pulled out the jack and the spare and Xara took them both out of my hands and said, “We can get this done very quickly. I’ll need you to help.”

“Me help you, Xara? I can do it myself.”

She kissed me and said, “Joe, sometimes you can be so clueless.”

Then she squatted down by the tire and unscrewed the nuts by hand, then lifted the front end of the car with one hand and told me to swap the tires. I did, and then handed her the nuts and she screwed them on, then set the car down. Five minutes. It only took her five minutes.

As we drove home, I said, “Xara, sometimes I wonder what you need me for.”

“I need you for your love, darling. I need you for your companionship. I need you for your sense of humor. I need your perspective. And I need you to keep me humble.”

“I keep you humble? How do I do that?”

“By reminding me every day what it means to be human.”

I just nodded. I really didn’t understand what she meant.

We got home and brought the groceries into the kitchen. Gloria took them out of the bags and asked, “Where are the olives?”

“You didn’t ask us to get olives,” I said.

“Of course I did,” she replied.

“No, you didn’t,” said Xara.

Gloria might have argued the point with me, but not with Xara.

“Will you please go back and get olives?” she asked.

Xara and I got in the car to drive back to Fred Meyer. I said, “You certainly keep Gloria humble.”

Xara replied, “I win an occasional argument with her. It doesn’t mean she’s humble.”

This time, before we got into the checkout line, Xara called Gloria and asked if there was anything else she needed us to get. The answer was no.

Shortly after we returned from the store Deb and Sharon arrived. Sharon had borrowed one of Xara’s pods for transporting Deb, and they came in through the lake entrance in the lair and came upstairs. Deb wanted to go straight to bed, which she did. Sharon asked if there was anything she could do to help and was promptly told by Gloria to get out of the kitchen and stay out.

Juliet, Kara and Bri-an all flew in about 11am Thanksgiving morning. At about 11:05am Gloria chased them all out of the kitchen. At 3pm Gloria asked us all to come into the dining room. The turkeys were carved (one large turkey would hardly satisfy five Velorians), potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce were out, and we sat down for dinner.

“Before we begin eating,” Gloria said, “I want you to know that Mona and I prepared this dinner for you, because you are our family. We are both permanent exiles from our home world and you have taken us in and shown us nothing but kindness and love. We thank you.”

For Gloria, that was a long and emotional speech. And we were touched.

Juliet and Bri-an echoed Gloria’s sentiments.

“This is my first time on an undisclosed world,” said Bri-an, “and before I came here, I worried about how I would handle the loneliness and isolation. But the people around this table have become my family, and I am very grateful to you.”

“That goes for me, too,” said Juliet. “Being a Protector comes with challenges, and the people here have made those challenges much easier.”

Deb said, “I know that I have avoided coming to these functions in the past. I want you to know that I too appreciate being included.”

Nice words. They didn’t last.

I was asked about my recent training, how the weather in Arizona was, that kind of thing. Kara filled us in on the latest drugs her pharmaceutical company had in trials. Sharon talked about her marketing company. Xara talked about her classes, Gloria and Mona brought us up to date with their dating lives with their boyfriends.

Juliet and Bri-an talked about getting jobs. From a Protector standpoint, they worked for Kara. But they wanted to establish identities like Kara, Sharon and Xara had, and they thought getting part time jobs might be the way to go. Bri-an thought about applying for a librarian aid job at the high school Xara went to.

“Xara, are you there?” I asked in the connection.

“Yes, my love.”

“I’m imagining how popular the school library will become with Bri-an working there. The boys will be all over it!”

She giggled in the connection. It’s a unique experience.

Everything was going so well, then I had to open my mouth. I wasn’t trying to start trouble.

“Deb, you’re a dancer. What have you been doing lately? Where have you been performing?”

“Oh, I’ve been dancing in local theater productions lately. In January I’m going to start working on a show in New York.”

“On Broadway?”

“Yes.”

So far, so good, right? Hah!

“Xara,” Deb began, “at the Labor Day party Joe was telling me about an arrangement you have with him, regarding sexual partners. He says you don’t sleep with other Terrans. How did he talk you into that?”

Sharon said, “Deb, please, don’t.”

“Oh, it’s okay Sharon. I just want to know how Joe convinced Xara that would be a good idea. Maybe I could get some pointers since I’ve never been able to convince you of that.”

“It wasn’t Joe’s idea,” replied Xara. “He didn’t talk me into anything. Joe is Terran, and his sexual morals have deep roots in his Terran upbringing. I offered that arrangement because I love him, and I don’t want sexual jealousy to come between us.”

“But Xara,” Deb said, “it’s very unlike Velorians to limit themselves like that. Surely you resent Joe for forcing this on you. And of course, just look at him, he isn’t sacrificing anything, the only way he could get a Terran woman into bed would be to pay her.”

Xara put down her fork, looked Deb in the eye and said, “Joe didn’t force anything on me. Our “arrangement” was my idea and I hold to it to honor my husband. I don’t harbor any resentment towards Joe and frankly, Deb, I don’t appreciate your attempt to cause trouble in my marriage.”

Deb came back with, “Oh, I’m sorry Xara. I don’t want to cause any trouble for you. And I understand you are allowed to use Messengers whenever one is around. Though I suppose ‘allowed’ isn’t the right word, since there isn’t anything Joe could do about it. Do you ever wonder what he is thinking when you’re off having sex with a god?”

“You know Deb,” I said, “it’s just occurred to me that you are in my home sitting at my table, insulting me and my wife. Please drop it.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Joe. I didn’t mean to rub salt in your wounds,” said Deb. “I just have one more question: You are Kiraling to three Velorian women, yet you haven’t been enhanced. Why do you suppose that is?”

Everyone stopped eating and looked at Deb. They were not friendly looks, and I didn’t understand why, after everything else she had said, that this question would be the one to provoke that reaction. I’d heard the ladies reference enhancement, Sharon told me Deb was enhanced, but they never elaborated on it, and I figured it must be something between Sharon and Deb, so I never asked about it.

“I apologize to you all,” said Sharon. “Deb and I will leave now.”

Deb opened her mouth to object and Sharon shut her down. “Don’t! Not one more word from you Deb!

“Xara, I’ll bring the pod back in the morning.”

They went down to the lair to exit through the portal into the lake. They were yelling at each other on the way downstairs.

“Is this enhancement thing something I should be concerned about?” I asked Xara.

“Oh Joe …” she said.

“Joseph, you know Xara, Sharon and I all love you, don’t you?”

“I do, Kara, and I’ve never doubted it.”

“Enhancement, Terran enhancement, is something that is very unpredictable. It can result in no changes at all, or it can result in the Terran becoming very powerful. A very powerful Terran can be a very dangerous Terran, and Joseph, we love you dearly, but your … mental state … makes you a poor candidate for enhancement.”

“Because if my PTSD causes me to lose my temper, or have a flashback, I could hurt someone.”

“Yes, Joseph.”

“And enhancement wouldn’t affect my PTSD. It wouldn’t cure me.”

“We don’t know,” said Xara, “it might cure you, or it might do nothing at all, or it might make it worse.”

“Okay. I’m fine with it. I wish you had told me before Deb brought it up.

“Um, how is a Terran enhanced? How do you do it?”

Xara giggled and said, “Joe, have you ever wondered why I don’t let you bring me to orgasm when you go down on me?”

I just looked at her.

“We have a gland, Joseph,” said Kara, “that releases a retrovirus when we climax. It enters a Terran through their mouth.”

“I thought it was because you were afraid you might crush my skull,” I said.

All the ladies laughed at that.

“Did I say something funny?”

“No, Joe,” replied Xara, “and yes. You are in no more danger of being injured by me when you are performing oral sex than when we have vaginal sex.”

“Which means, Joseph, you are always in danger when having sex with us, but we have the training and discipline to keep you safe while enjoying ourselves and making sure you enjoy us,” said Kara.

The rest of dinner went … better. We made a lot of small talk. I fended off extra servings of turkey and mashed potatoes that Gloria wanted me to eat. And I’m glad I did, because she and Mona really went all out when it came to preparing dessert. Or desserts. There was a lot to eat.

The next morning Sharon returned Xara’s pod and talked to us.

“I am so sorry about the way Deb behaved yesterday. Joe, she wasn’t trying to get to you, she was trying to get to me, and she just took it out on you.”

“I don’t blame you, Sharon. You aren’t responsible for her actions. If anyone needs to apologize, it’s Deb. And I don’t want her coming to my home again until she apologizes and promises something like this will never happen again.”

“I agree with Joe,” said Xara.

“You’re right, of course,” said Sharon. “I don’t know if she’ll ever apologize to you. She can be very stubborn.

“Did she … cause any friction between you two?”

“The only friction between us,” I replied, “happened in bed. And Deb was definitely not responsible for that,” I said with a grin.

“And if Deb asks,” said Xara, “last night Joe and I talked about our sex arrangement, and I know what Joe is thinking when I’m with a Messenger.”

You’d think Sharon would be able to read the room. Or maybe she was reading the room and her curiosity got the better of her.

“What is he thinking when you’re with a Messenger?”

“Xara and I will keep that between us,” I said.

Sharon left and I asked Xara, “Why did you lie to her?”

“It was only half a lie,” she said. “Maybe we didn’t talk about it last night, but I know what you think when I’m with a Messenger. And you never bring it up, you never complain about it, and I know it’s because you love me.”

“I do love you, Xara. And I wish I could meet all your needs. But I’d rather you had your needs met and were happy than … I just want you to be happy.”

Suddenly the pheromones were out and I was on my back on the kitchen counter and Xara was ripping off our clothes, and damn, I really liked that shirt, and was telling me that no Messenger ever made her feel loved the way I do. Just then Gloria and Mona walked into the kitchen, saw what was going on and turned and left the room.

Afterward, she told me, “Joe, when it comes to enhancement, it is something we believe that we owe our Kiraling, at least a Kiraling who isn’t a Supremis. The three of us discussed it at length before deciding we shouldn’t enhance you. I wish it was different, but that’s the way it is. I hope you aren’t too upset about it.”

“Xara, look inside me, and tell me if I’m upset about it.”

A few seconds later she said, “No, you aren’t, but I think that’s because you don’t understand what enhancement can do for you.”

“Then leave me in ignorance, Xara.”

I thought there might be a little bit more discussion about it. Boy was I wrong. This time she took me on the living room floor. Mona and Gloria were already in the room. They stood up to leave before my ass even hit the floor.

“I’ll buy you new clothes, darling.”

Union bosses weren’t quite the same as drug bosses. They didn’t dress as well. They weren’t armed as well, and they didn’t have henchmen bodyguards. But they screamed just as loudly, and they were much, much more entertaining when they begged for their lives.

Janelle had three of them crying in her playroom now, and she wanted them to last. But it had been so long since she’d used her playroom for its intended purpose that she was afraid her excitement would get the best of her.

These three were from the union that represented the city workers who cleaned city offices. The Custodial Workers Union. Or something like that. Miguel had learned that these union bosses had a weekly poker game.

Miguel … the longer she knew him, the more impressed she was. He was developing contacts among the city workers, workers who supported Janelle, and they were telling him things. Things like the Custodial Union leadership playing poker with union health and welfare funds.

The poker game was held at the hunting cabin of one of the union bosses, the treasurer. The cabin was well off the main roads and was isolated. There were five men playing poker. Three of them she knew from the custodial workers union, the treasurer, the president, and the senior shop steward. The other two, she didn’t recognize. She broke into the cabin and quickly, using chloroform, incapacitated each of the men.

Oh, they tried to fight her. And when they failed at that, they tried to kill her with guns. She paid no attention, going to each man in turn and putting a cloth soaked with the chemical over its nose and mouth. When she was done, she had five unconscious frails lying on the floor. She checked the ids of the two she didn’t know and found business cards. They ran custodial supply businesses. She didn’t know if they were guilty of stealing from the union, or just had social connections to the bosses. She decided that if she didn’t know if they were complicit in union corruption, she would treat them as if they were innocent. They would die painlessly in their sleep. She broke their necks.

Next, she tied and gagged the three union officers and threw them into the back of her van. Then she went back into the cabin and gathered up all the money she could find. This would go to Miguel as a reward for his good work.

By the time she got to the playroom the union frails were awake. She carried them into the playroom and stripped off their clothes. Then she stripped and folded her clothes neatly. Next, she snapped the zip ties that had bound her toys feet and hands and removed their gags.

“I’m going to have fun with you,” she said, “and then I’m going to kill you.”

They attacked her. Three naked frails against a naked Arion Prime. She didn’t even bother to fend off their attacks. She just let them punch and kick her. One grabbed her from behind to hold her while the others hit her. All they accomplished was to injure themselves. After a few minutes they were exhausted with bruised knuckles and feet and shins. They stopped trying to hurt her.

“Senorita Janelle, why are you doing this? How can you do this?” they asked her.

“I can do this because I am a superior being. I am doing it because you’ve been stealing from your union members, and they have come to me for help. And I’m doing it because it amuses me.

“Now, I’m going to masturbate, using you as my sex toys. You probably won’t survive it, but if you do, you’ll die screaming from the pain I will inflict upon you.”

These last statements started the crying and begging. Janelle laughed at them. And then she released her pheromones, and not just a little. She saturated the air with them, and her toys became erect and forgot all about the threat to their lives.

She pushed them all down to the floor and sat on the face of one and commanded it to, “pleasure me with your tongue.”

She then reached out to the other two, it wasn’t a long reach, they were trying to get close to her anyway, and pulled their heads into her breasts. She didn’t have to command them to do anything. They knew what to do.

She wanted to orgasm so badly, but she disciplined herself and rotated the men through the three positions. Finally, when she couldn’t stand it anymore, she began helping the man under her until she climaxed, and it was wonderful, and well worth the wait. She rested a bit, luxuriating in the afterglow of her orgasm, before pushing the other two away from her.

She stood up and looked at the frail who had been beneath her. Its head was caved in. She had gore on the inside of her thighs and her crotch.

She turned on the fans in the playroom and used one of the hoses to clean herself off. The two remaining frails were getting their wits back and when they saw what had been done to their friend, they pissed themselves.

“You two are doing very well,” said Janelle, “usually my toys piss and shit themselves.

“Which one of you wants to go next?”

Now they were on their knees begging for their lives. She emitted just enough pheromone to get them hard, but not so much that they’d lose the ability to think. She pushed one over and mounted it and began riding it. She left the other alone. He crawled into a corner and began sobbing.

Through discipline and concentration, she managed to get three orgasms from the frail beneath her before she crushed its pelvis. And its penis. It was still alive, so she began writing her name into its chest with her heat vision. Its screams made the other frail begin to wail, and to pray.

When she was done torturing the frail beneath her, and it was still alive, she decided to play a different game. She walked over to the frail crying in the corner and helped it up to its feet. The fool was so confused that it thanked her and hugged her. She made gentle cooing sounds to it and told it not to worry, she was going to give it a chance to live.

“Do you want to live?”

“Yes, yes, please, I want to live. I have a wife and children, they need me.”

“Alright. I’m going to give you a chance to live. I’m going to open the door and let you out. I’ll wait in here for twenty minutes. After that, I’m going to hunt you. If you can evade me until the sun rises, I will let you live, unharmed. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you.”

“But if I catch you, I’m going to burn you to death. After I crush your balls. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Do you think you can do this? If it’s too much for you I can crush your balls and burn you now. Should I do that?”

“No! No! Please, no!”

“Very well then.”

She opened the door of the playroom and let the frail run out into the night.

She spent the next twenty minutes torturing the other frail to death. Then, she left the playroom to hunt her last toy.

It was dark. It couldn’t see where it was going and ended up going in circles. The starlight was more than enough for Janelle to see as if it was day. She watched the last frail for a few minutes before walking up to it and wrapping her arms around it.

“Gotcha!” she said.

It nearly fainted. She lowered it to the ground and held it to her gently, but firmly.

“Catch your breath,” she told it.

It caught its breath and got itself under control. She was sure it thought she was going to let it go.

“Now, turn around here so I can see you.”

It turned around.

“I can barely see you, senorita.”

“I know,” she replied, “my vision is much better than yours. Now, let me look at you.”

She did a cursory examination and said, “It looks like you ran into a tree or a rock. You’re bruising.”

“Yes, senorita, I did run into things. I couldn’t see.”

“Well, don’t worry about that now. You’re done running.”

Saying that, she reached between its legs, grasped its scrotum, and squeezed. The frail cried out in pain, and the harder she squeezed the louder it screamed, until there was nothing left of its testicles but bloody gore.

Then she dragged it back to the playroom, which wasn’t very far, and showed it what she had done to its friend. And then, one by one, she began burning off its limbs until it passed out from the pain. Tiring of her game, she pushed her hand through its chest and crushed its heart, then began cleaning up the room and disposing of the bodies.