Hanging next to it encased in a netlike bag
was what looked like a strapless bra and briefs that matched the
gown. The gown was silky, but it draped with the fullness of
satin.
“Does this gown meet with your approval?”
Zaron asked, eyes sparkling a deeper blue than usual.
Bron held it up for her perusal. “I love it.
It is something I would have picked out for myself if I possessed
the funds.”
“I’m glad,” Zaron stroked the gown. “It was
our favorite.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know how to put on the
bra,’’ she said after they assisted her with the briefs.”
Bron lifted each of her breasts into the cups
and the cups molded themselves to her size, lifting her breasts
without wire or pain. It fastened in the back and adjusted itself
to her figure. “This would make a fortune back on Earth,” she
mused.
Zaron lifted the gown over her head. It fell
into place, draping just right over her large breasts and petite
waist.
She heard Naffie at the door. “Duchess said
it was time to pick out your earrings.”
“I’m afraid I have nothing to do this gown
justice.”
Zaron pulled a box from behind his back. It
was wrapped in a net fabric with a beautiful satin ribbon.
“That’s from me, Mommie.” Naffie entered the
room, jumping with excitement.
Syn opened the box; inside were pendant
earrings with a silver filigree teardrop encasing a large amethyst
with diamonds surrounding the gem. They were the most beautiful
earrings she had ever seen. She bent down and asked, “Can you put
them on?”
Naffie carefully took out each earring in
turn and placed them on her earlobes. Syn looked into the box. “No
fastenings? I wouldn’t want to lose such a treasure.”
“They stick to the skin, Mommie. They won’t
fall off.”
“Sit, Pa Chette.” Zaron pulled out a pair of
silver sandals with a four inch heel.
“Will I be able to walk in those?”
“Oh yes, Mommie. You can walk anywhere you
like with shoes.” Syn laughed.
“What our offspring is trying to tell you is
that the shoes are balanced by a field that enables you to walk
with ease.”
Syn stood up. “These are as comfortable as
house slippers.”
“Now, we will dress. Would you like to go to
the kitchen and small dining room to check on progress?”
“Yes, darlings, I think I would.”
* * * *
Syn wandered through the kitchen and dining
room. The table was set. On one credenza sat the roasts and the
side dishes. They were kept warm by a technology that baffled Syn.
On the other side of the hall sat the pies with a cold storage unit
holding individual scoops of ice cream. The vanilla sauce was
heated in a similar manner to the turkey and ham. Everything was
done. All that was left was waiting for her Warriors and her
guests.
* * * *
“No road is long with good company.”
—Turkish proverb
Mark and Juraens were in
the library when the rest of the guests arrived for the moontine
meal. The first of the other guests they saw was Tigger. Tigger was
followed by Anya, Tonas, and Jonal.
Syn made cosmopolitans and passed one to each
of those seated. “This is usually considered a fem drink but I
thought that you might like it. Syn served each in a martini glass
with a piece of curled lime.
“My favorite drink but I can’t…” Anya patted
her stomach. Bron poured her some Tierest juice. She lifted her
glass, “To new friends and old…”
The rest of the party followed suit. Syn
served a selection of canapés.
“What did we just do?” Bron sipped his drink.
“This is quite good.”
“It’s called a toast, love. Earthen people do
it to salute those with who they are drinking.”
“Toast?” Zaron’s mobile eyebrow lifted. “I
thought that was caramelized bread.”
“On Earth one word can have two meanings…”
Syn explained to the general audience.
“Between slang, curse words, and double
meanings, I doubt this language will ever completely translate to
Sarran,” Juraens grumbled.
“Then you will have to use Earth words to
convey the meanings. You know we have more than one language on
Earth. Sometimes we borrow words from other languages to give
nuance to the meaning.” Juraens sighed and Mark smiled, “Later I’ll
explain in more detail, Beloved.”
“I gather you heard about the incident
today,” TeZaron said to Juraens.
“Yes, Highness, I did. Do we have any idea
who might have perpetrated such a heinous act?”
“Let’s go into dinner, I believe TaSyn has an
idea,” Bron interjected.
* * * *
The party adjourned to the dining room where
Syn’s sterling silver Revere bowl was filled with flowers, the
purple fantasies and what looked like Earthen lilies. Syn’s
grandmother’s candelabras, each holding five candles; sat on either
side of the table which was set with opaque deep purple plates
trimmed with silver bearing the House of Air crest. A bowl of fresh
salad was served from the sideboard to each of the guests.
“I made a light dressing of olive oil and
balsamic vinegar. I hope that everyone will enjoy it. Blue cheese
is an acquired taste and ranch was too heavy for the rest of the
meal.
Syn had the chefs make up place cards so
everyone knew where to sit. On a sturdy side table were two plates
filled with tuna as well as saucers of milk. Naffie came in after
an early supper and bid everyone good moontine.
“I’m really tired, Mommie. Garlance and
Stoker will put me to bed and then come down to eat. Can I give you
kisses?”
“You can and some to your sires and Anya for
taking such good care of you on the tarmac.” Kisses and hugs went
all around the table and Naffie trundled off to bed.
“If our guests do not mind, I am going to
ward the room. Tigger and Duchess, will you check for any listening
devices? We found one in the study today.”
::There are none. We would have heard the
buzz if one was hidden.::
Syn asked Mark to show Bron and Zaron how to
carve the turkey and ham. “I insist, with the permission of my
WarriorPair, that we dispense with formality for dinner. Bron and
Zaron, is this all right with you?”
::Yes, since the fems passed we, Sarrans,
have been too caught up in ritual. It would be a nice change.::
Tonas noticed that the cats and their supper
were placed near Jonal. “My Firefly, I see you get to eat with the
compelling odor of
tu na
in your nose.”
Mark hid his laugh under a cough. “What is
this dish to which you so object?” Zaron asked in defense of his
fem.
“It is nothing your fem has done Zaron, it’s
the smell of cat food, especially
tu na,
” Tonas replied.
“Let me smell it,” Bron asked.
::With your
permission,::
he asked Duchess.
::Granted.::
Bron took a sniff, “Ulna, this is foul…”
Zaron left his seat so he could also smell
the tuna. “Fuck!”
“Fuck?” asked Bron.
“I’ll explain later, Dearest.”
“We need to find a better reward for the
cats, especially if my plans come to fruition and we place them all
over Sarran. Did you know they kill banc?”
Anya asked, “What is a banc?”
Syn answered, “A type of Sarran rodent that
you don’t want to see. It seems they have no natural predators and
overrun the planet.”
::Another reason why cats are superior. I
caught a few at our manse this suntine.::
“I’m certainly glad I didn’t see them,” Anya
said. ‘‘I’m afraid of mice.’’
“These are mice on steroids.”
“Ugh.” Anya shuddered.
Tonas put his arm around their fem, “Your
Warriors will protect you from the banc.”
Anya whispered to him, “More likely Tigger
will do it.” Tonas made a comical face at his bonded and proceeded
to eat.
While the guests made light conversation,
Mark showed Tonas and Zaron how to carve a turkey and slice a
ham.”
Syn served family style and the Sarrans were
surprised at the richness of the ham and the turkey with the Sarran
bread, sausage, onion, and pine nuts. The stuffing was eagerly
anticipated.
“To be honest,” Zaron said, “I am very
impressed with Earthen cuisine.”
Mark, who saw the pie, tart, and strudel
sitting on the sideboard said, “Wait until you taste dessert.”
Anya smiled. “Don’t expect this at home, my
loves, I can’t cook.”
“I stored all of the recipes in the
fabricators. I intend to input all of my cookbooks into the general
information pool. This way the fem can get ingredients to cook the
familiar or alternately to replicate the finished product. However,
fresh is always better.”
“I agree,” Mark interjected.
“We are going to have to set up an import
list,” Bron said patting his stomach. “Now I see why you were
worried about fattening. Thank the Goddess for Tierest juice.”
“Why don’t we take coffee and dessert in the
library, I believe the wards are strongest there.”
* * * *
“I suppose we must get to the business end of
this wonderful dinner.”
“I hope you brought more coffee with you,
Syn,” Mark said. “That sludge from the ship was barely
drinkable.”
Bron and Zaron smiled as if they had a
secret. The party adjourned to the library where Syn poured coffee
and Bron and Zaron some Asta brandy.
Bron said, “Report…”
“I imagine that Zaron told you the worst of
it.” Juraens poured himself a second cup of coffee. “This is damned
good.”
It was a good thing Syn had set up an
urn.
“Bane and Septis were the traitors on board.
Septis got away in a Zyptz ship. They went out via the officer’s
hanger next to engineering. Jonal and I told the Elders that this
was a weakness in ship design prior to the mission. We reinforced
the hanger, removed the shuttles, and put a double guard around the
perimeter. Septis let them in through the bridge door to the
hanger.” Tonas took a sip of his Asta.
“Mark?” Bron asked.
“I was able to retrieve the vaccine and
antidote with the additional serum that was used to turn human
bodies into accepting Sarran males. Bane had sold it to the Zyptz
through an intermediary on the Galactic Council who was working
with a Sarran Elder.”
Juraens spoke. “We took causalities. We were
lucky the fem were spared and that Mark is an experienced trauma
surgeon. We lost two Warriors but not a single fem was injured;
although it was damn close in the admirals’ quarters if not for
Tigger’s timely intervention.
::On Earth we called the Zyptz roaches.
Obviously they evolved on their planet to be a higher order
species. They are scavengers and tend to infest dwellings in the
cities. Earth has what we call an insecticide that is able to kill
them, however, it is dangerous to humans, animals and plant
life.::
Tigger added.
::I took care of them in
Anya’s apartment, but the Zyptz are one thousand times the size of
Earth roaches.::
“I’d say to dust their planet with DDT, but
that would be genocide,” Anya said fiercely.
“Let’s table that discussion. The Zyptz have
done all the damage they can do until they build their forces back
up. That should take a few years. We can decide later the morality
of genocide for roaches,” Mark said with asperity.
“Syn has an idea as to why we are having so
many troubles with aggression and suicide in the ranks. She has
also postulated a
profile
of the type of criminal Elder who
would perpetrate such insanity,” Bron stated.
“Mark might be able to help me here. I
believe that some of the Warriors are suffering from PTSD.”
“Fuck, Syn, you’re right. For Jonal’s,
Juraens’s, and Tonas’s benefit, please explain what PTSD is and how
it occurs.”
‘‘PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a
behavioral dysfunction brought about by extreme stress usually,
under combat conditions. It manifests itself in depression, outward
aggression, inability to control one’s emotions, and behavior that
may be under ordinary circumstances diametrically opposed to the
Warrior’s original character.”
Mark agreed and added, “It
is also possible for a human to suffer PTSD from childhood trauma,
such as rape or abuse; or from the unexpected loss of a loved one.
Although rape and child abuse are not common on Sarran, on Earth it
exists in abundance. But emotional trauma and combat situations
were common on Sarran for the past ten years.”
“I tried to do a criminal profile on the type
of man on the Elder Council who was likely to demonstrate this kind
of behavior. Zaron, can you do whatever it is you do to show them
what I meant. I don’t understand how the computer technology works
on this world, I had a hard enough time with the oven.”
Syn’s mild joke broke the tension in the
room.
Zaron gave everyone a picture in their mind
of what she tried to convey.
::Only TeAngle and TeZuff fit the
profile.::
“Before you charge off to arrest a suspect,
remember that profiling is not an exact science. It helps to
identify a possible pool of suspects, but you still need hard
evidence to convict.” Mark looked at the others in the room.
“It seems that the only people we can trust
are sitting in this room.”
“In light of the fact that a member of the
Elder Council could be a traitor, what do we report?” asked
Juraens.
“The bare minimum of facts would do nicely. I
wish we didn’t have to include the cat’s abilities in the reports,
but it was the topic of many conversations aboard
Brightstar
.” Mark sipped his coffee and took a piece of
strudel.
“Christ, Syn, you can cook. I’m terrible at
it and it seems my Beloved isn’t much better than I am,” Mark said,
munching.
“I think we can keep a few secrets about the
cats, especially their ability to detect listening devices and
explosives.” Jonal took another slice of pie.