Chapter 31

The large room was deliberately kept dark, illuminated primarily by long banks of large flickering monitors. Sunlight never penetrated the place.

An ideal place for vampires to live, Thomas Jones often thought. However he was not a vampire, and he didn't live here, though he did spend the bulk of his waking hours here.

Banishing the thoughts of the dark room into an even darker place in his mind, the radar technician blinked and looked at the time display in the corner of his screen. Two more hours and a few odd minutes. Two more long hours.

There was still two more hours to go on this shift. And many more shifts after this one. Three months, two weeks, and three days, to be exact. Then, he'd be out of the Air Force for good, taking his veteran's benefits with him to college.

To a college located somewhere with sunshine. Lots of sunshine.

More importantly, to a college with girls. Lots of girls.

Not that there weren't any women out here in the middle of nowhere. But they were few, and most of them were already spoken for. And the ones who weren't, well, it was easy to see why they weren't spoken for. They probably signed up because that was the only way that they were ever going to catch any men. Either that or they were actually looking for vampires.

In any event, Jones wasn't that desperate. Yet.

Why had he signed up? For the money, sure. A chance to go to college after finishing his stint. And a chance to see the world before then. And what a lot of the world he'd seen so far in his stint! The training base in the middle of Nebraska. Then this radar station in the middle of Greenland. First corn and then ice.

When he did get out of here to go to college, he'd go someplace where it never snowed. Someplace there was a beach. A beach that wasn't covered with snow and ice eight months of the year. A beach with girls. Girls in bikinis. Tiny bikinis. Microscopic bikinis.

Bikinis that wouldn't show up on these radar screens. In fact, if he never saw another radar screen in his life, that was fine with him.

Already, he could see them if he closed his eyes. The bikini-clad girls, that is. Beautiful sleek bodies, long smooth limbs flashing in the water warmed by the sun, skins tanned gold by the sun as they lay basking, hair bleached blonde by the sun...

He blinked his eyes to get rid of those images. He was still on duty for two more hours. With a silent sigh, he returned his concentration to the screen in front of him. It looked just as it always had. Except for...

"What the hell?" He reached for the manual alarm and stopped with his finger just barely touching the button.

The alarm wasn't needed; the officer of the watch was at his shoulder almost immediately. "What is it, Jonesy?"

Leaning forward, Jones looked at his radar screen. The normal civilian air traffic across the North Atlantic could be seen to the south, each blip clearly labeled with the transponder codes. To the northwest, a Royal Canadian Air Force training flight was heading back to their base. Nothing unusual showed. Sitting back, he pulled his finger away from the button. "I... I don't know, Sir. For a moment there, I thought I had something incoming."

"A flock of geese?"

That was almost always the first question. Jones assumed that it was written down somewhere in the officer's manual. But then, an officer wouldn't be able to go to the latrine without a manual.

Jones shook his head. He'd seen plenty of geese on screens before, as had the lieutenant. So had everybody else at this station. "No, Sir. It was much too fast. Almost ICBM speed."

"Shit!" This was just the type of stuff they were here to watch for. This radar station in Greenland had originally been built during the height of the Cold War to warn of a Soviet attack on North America coming over the Pole. Back in those days, bombers had been the big threat. Equipment had been updated with the advent of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Even after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the watch was maintained.

"Shit!" the lieutenant repeated. He glanced around the room at the other stations. None of the other operators had seen threats in their sectors. None of the other alarms were flashing. "Okay, Jonesy, play it back."

"Yes, Sir." Jones' fingers flew over his console. An auxiliary screen came to life, displaying an exact copy of his main screen. The two images diverged as the blips began moving backwards on one screen even as they continued their normal movement on the other.

Jones' finger hovered over the screen. "Right about... There!" Another pass of his hands over the console and the image reversed, playing forward at normal speed.

The blip streaked across about two inches of the screen before disappearing.

The lieutenant leaned closer to the screen. "Shit! What is that thing?"

"I don't know, Sir. The gear didn't get an altitude fix on it, but it appeared to be flying more or less level."

"So it's not a meteor."

Occasionally a large meteor would show up on one of their screens. He'd seen a few. And he'd seen something that told him that this wasn't one of them. "Not with that turn, Sir." He replayed the sequence in slow motion. There was a slight dogleg turn to the right about two-thirds of the way through. "And it's not a missile, not unless the Russkies put one of their missile boats into Hudson Bay." His finger backtracked along the blip's trajectory. "And they wouldn't be shooting this way. Could it be one of ours?" Missiles were tested periodically, though word was always sent out in advance.

"Nothing on the boards about it. Just that RCAF training flight."

"No, this wasn't them. I saw them over here." His hand indicated a corner of the screen, well away from where the blip had been.

Both men watched the screen as Jones played the sequence again.

With a sigh, the lieutenant straightened up. He looked around at the other stations. There still appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary in any of the other sectors. "Well, file it away, Jonesy. I'll send a copy to the guys at the Mountain. Then check your gear. It might just be a glitch."

"Yes, Sir."

The diagnostics revealed nothing wrong with the equipment. None of the other staffers at the station had ever seen anything like it before. It was duly recorded, logged, and forwarded to the North American Aerospace Defense Command Center at Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Probably to be filed away and forgotten with all the other UFO sightings. They'd never find the one that had carried Elvis away. With a sigh, Jones returned to monitoring the monitor. There was still more than an hour and a half remaining in this shift. And three months, two weeks, and three days remaining in his enlistment, before he could go somewhere with girls in bikinis.

The ungainly craft obviously was not designed for atmospheric flight. Despite that, it seemed to have no trouble, descending smoothly through the thickening atmosphere, flying at several times the speed of sound, streaking northeast across the night sky over Canada.

Descending further, the craft dropped into the water of the Davis Strait between Greenland and the Canadian mainland, the heat from its supersonic passage through the atmosphere dissipated almost immediately by the near freezing water. Submerging, it worked its way eastward under the pack ice until it was no more than two miles from the Greenland shore. There, it settled to the bottom, coming to rest under nearly two hundred feet of water.

A door opened and a figure emerged. The figure of a young woman. Despite the temperature of the water, she appeared to be dressed in nothing more than a bikini, as black as her hair. And despite the pressure of more than six atmospheres, she appeared to have no difficulty in moving.

A second figure emerged. This one too was female, her hair as black as that of her companion's, but wearing a glittering silver bikini. After a quick exchange of hand signals, both women kicked away from the drop shuttle and headed for shore, remaining under the ice, their powerful strokes propelling them at a pace that no human could hope to match.

Neither woman seemed to be bothered by the cold. Nor were they using any breathing apparatus, yet they had no trouble swimming underwater.

In fact, they had no trouble speeding past a pair of curious killer whales, quickly reaching the shallower water as they approached Greenland itself. Soon the water was too shallow for swimming.

The two young women waded ashore, shook off the water, looked around to get their bearings, and then split up. Going in different directions, one of them trotted down the ice-covered beach while the other one headed directly inland. Running barefoot across the ice and snow, long shapely legs flashing, they went at a pace that an Olympic sprinter could only match in his wildest dreams.

We still hadn't been able to convert any of our prisoners to our side. Nor had we been able to get any further information out of them.

And in its own way, the absence of any signs of the invasion force was worrying. I just couldn't shake this feeling that they were up to something, planning something big. The fact that Mom and Karen both agreed with me didn't really ease my mind.

Karen and Bill kept trying to monitor their communications, but they had practically ceased. Either they had nobody down on the surface or else they had found another way to communicate with them. For all we knew, all the Arion Warrior Primes on Earth now were equipped with cell phones. The sheer volume of traffic on the cellular phone networks meant we couldn't find them; it would be like finding a needle in a field of haystacks.

Karen and I continued to make occasional random flights around the world, but unless a Prime was doing something spectacular just as we flew by, we would never see them. And these Arions were much too cagey for that.

There were times when I wished that they'd just put up a homepage on the Web so that AltaVista could find them.

Karen and I also spent more time sparring, trying to hone our martial arts skills. It wasn't easy, since we didn't have anybody who could teach us the same techniques that the Warrior Primes learned in their version of boot camp.

But there were other things that we could do. She was getting better at controlling her flight, though she still wasn't anywhere near as fast or maneuverable as I was --- I could still take her in a dogfight every time.

But aerial dogfights were only a small part of our training. Let me tell you, it's no picnic, pretending to be a ground-bound Prime while Karen dive-bombed me. I think I'd rather take on the entire Iraqi Air Force. Our practice mountain deep in the Wyoming Rockies was strewn with smashed boulders and broken trees. Fortunately, no broken Arions. Or broken Velorians.

And at least I got to do it to her as often as she did it to me. And the little Arion half-blood wasn't as good as evading my attacks as I was at evading hers.

The Hummer roared along the road, just outside of the fence that bordered the airstrip. If the stretch of crushed rock that had been cleared of worst of the snow could be called a road. Both the driver and the man beside him were bundled up tight in their parkas against the biting cold, their thoughts more on the relative warmth and comfort of the barracks than on what they were supposed to be looking out for.

As usual, there was nothing to see out here, other than the ever-present snow. Even though the sky was clear, this far north the sun was not much more than a bright spot to the south. Not even a seal or a reindeer, and with no seals or reindeer around, the polar bears had better sense than to hang around.

No one had ever accused the Air Force of having more sense than a polar bear. Nothing ever happened on this patrol, but the Book said that it had to be done every hour. Since it had to be done, they made it as simple as possible. Just a quick drive down to the end of the fence at the water's edge, and then back.

What the hell were they supposed to be guarding against, anyway? Seals? Reindeer? Polar bears? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it wasn't as if the Russians were in any position to mount any kind of an attack. And any Libyans or Iraqis would freeze their asses off long before they even got close.

Reaching the end of the road, the driver slowed down and stopped. "Well, that's it. Nothing out here," he told his companion.

"Got that right," his companion replied, stirring out of his lethargy long enough to look around once before fumbling for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Fishing a cigarette out, he stuck it between his lips and then started searching in his pants pocket for his lighter.

Thinking of the warm meal waiting for him at the mess hall, the driver put the gear in reverse and turned the Hummer around for the homeward journey. Putting it in forward, he stepped on the gas.

"What the hell?" the driver exclaimed. The engine was revving, the wheels were turning, but the Hummer wasn't moving. Turning his head, he looked over his shoulder. "What the HELL?" he repeated.

There was somebody holding on to the back of the Hummer. It looked like a dream. It looked like a girl. But how could a girl hold a Hummer in place? Especially a girl wearing nothing more than what appeared to be a black bikini?

His mind had barely registered the girl in a black bikini out here in the snow when he felt the Hummer being turned over. He barely managed to leap clear to avoid being pinned under the overturned Hummer. He covered his head with his arms as the contents of the Hummer showered around him. A long object landed inches from his head.

Instinctively, he clutched the rifle to him and automatically thumbed off the safety as he got up to his knees and looked around. He blinked a couple of times and brought the rifle up to his shoulder and sighted in. His finger started to squeeze the trigger, and then relaxed.

It wasn't a dream. There really was a girl out here. She was wearing nothing more than a black bikini. A black bikini that left most of her exposed, and tantalized him with what little it did cover. She was just standing there, a faint smile on her lips, her hands on her hips, acting not the least bothered by the cold.

Hell! What was he supposed to do now? The Book, at least that one, didn't say anything about a girl in a bikini. What he wanted to do with a girl in a bikini wasn't covered in that particular book.

"What's the matter?" the girl asked him, smiling as she took a step toward him. "Can't shoot a girl?" She took another step toward him.

Somehow he was not surprised that she spoke English, though there was more than a trace of an accent. He remained frozen, staring at the expanse of exposed female skin as she continued to walk toward him. He couldn't shoot an unarmed girl, and her bikini made it abundantly clear that she wasn't carrying any concealed weapons. He remained frozen as she started to reach for his rifle. His finger tightened on the trigger as he tried to jerk it back out of her reach.

The rifle went off with a BANG. That was followed a split second later by a SMACK as the bullet hit her exposed stomach and rebounded. To his numbed mind the two sounds all but merged into one.

Suddenly, three of his fingers were broken as the rifle was torn out of his grasp.

He barely felt the pain, so intently was he staring at her as she reversed the rifle in her hand. But instead of wielding it as a weapon, she jammed the barrel down into the deep cleavage between her breasts. Quickly adjusting the positions of her hands so that she was pressing her fingers against the outside of her breasts, she trapped the steel barrel in place.

There was a squeal of tortured metal as she pushed in, the steel bending under the force of her hands transmitted through her breasts. She then pulled it out and held it up for his inspection.

Despite what he had just seen, or perhaps because of it, he stood up, his hands moving up as he did so. Horrified, he watched his own gloved hands move of their own volition, cupping the most incredible pair of breasts that he'd ever seen in his life. Or felt, even if it was only through his thick gloves.

"I didn't say you could touch me!" Without any further warning, her leg flashed up between his, propelled by her Arion muscles. Her bare toes struck his crotch, and kept going. His pelvis crumpled from the impact, and yet that barely slowed her foot.

Considering the circumstances, it was a rather graceful flight, though he was in no condition to appreciate it. His body turned over at the peak of the arc, nearly a hundred feet above the ground, before descending head first. The landing was not quite so graceful, as he came down and blood and various body parts splattered on the rocks. Unfortunately for him, or perhaps fortunately, he was well past being able to appreciate either his flight or the landing.

Having encountered Terrans before, Sirren knew some of what to expect. But this was too easy. Even though this was only a preliminary raid --- just something to announce their presence --- she'd hoped for a little more resistance. She briefly considered continuing on through the fence and further into the military compound, but then rejected it. She had left her calling card, now it was time to return to the drop shuttle and find out whether Mirrin had held up her end of the mission. As capable as her partner had proven herself in training, this was for real. Sometimes people who did well in training folded up when confronted with the real thing. And of course sometimes the reverse held true. Sirren could still remember her own first real assignment, when she had been stranded, alone on the surface of this very planet.

This was not the time to be reminiscing. Turning to the sea, Sirren walked toward the water.

She had just waded into the sea, the water lapping up her calves, when the bullet struck her left shoulder blade. Caught by surprise, she started to fall. Rather than fighting it, she allowed the impact turn her around. As she did so, a foot slipped on an underwater rock and unbalanced her, dropping her to her knees. Lowering her head as she knelt in the near-freezing water, she looked straight at the man who had just shot her.

Apparently, the crash hadn't killed him, only stunned him. While she had been dealing with the other man --- or more likely while she had been reminiscing about her first mission --- this man had managed to crawl out from under the wreckage of his vehicle. Now, rifle in hand, he was looking back at her, an expression of surprise on his face that his bullet hadn't injured her at all.

Sirren had enough experience to know that his weapon had plenty more bullets. "Don't stop now," she told him.

He continued to stare at her, not quite comprehending her meaning. If he had been on a different beach, he could have been perfectly content to continue staring at the beautiful girl in the black bikini. But he wasn't on some other beach. And on this beach no girl had any business being here, let alone being here wearing nothing but a bikini.

But what a girl!

What kind of girl? What kind of girl walks around in Greenland in a bikini? What kind of girl shrugs off a rifle slug in her back? He had hit her, hadn't he?

She brought up a hand and waved it in front of her magnificent chest. "Right here."

Comprehension dawned on him. Centering the sights of his rifle on her chest, right between the two most delectable breasts that he'd ever seen in his life, he squeezed the trigger.

Concentrating on keeping her body completely relaxed, she watched as the bullet came toward her. However, the Terran's aim wasn't quite up to his enthusiasm. She watched as the slug hit the outside of her right breast, dimpling in her soft flesh, moving inward until it met her powerful underlying pectoral muscles. At that point, the soft give of her feminine body ended and the Arion 'steel' started, the bullet pressing her soft yet impermeable skin against the underlying muscles of a true girl of steel. The steel-jacketed slug could not resist her nor penetrate her skin, it merely flattened into a disk before bouncing energetically from her to go whizzing off, splashing into the water about twenty feet from her.

"Try again," she urged, her tongue flicking out to moisten her upper lip.

Just what kind of girl was she? What kind of girl bounces a bullet off her gorgeous boobs and then asks for more?

Well, if that was what she wanted... He squeezed the trigger again.

This shot was a little better, striking the inside of her left breast before ricocheting off, sending a minor tingle across her chest and causing a minor splash about twelve feet away.

"Keep it coming," she urged.

This bullet also hit the inside of her left breast. But instead of ricocheting off into the snow, it ricocheted into her right breast. Having expended most of its kinetic energy against two of the most delectable shock absorbers on the planet, it fell into the water and sank between her legs.

A flick of his gloved thumb switched the M16 into fully automatic. He then squeezed the trigger again.

Sirren watched with some amusement as the man fought to keep the weapon steady as it sprayed bullets at her. It was just another sign of just how pathetic these Terrans were. The weapon was barely powerful enough to tickle her with its little projectiles, yet the man couldn't hold it steady.

The downside was that the bullets were now missing her as often as not. Taking her right hand from her breast, she caught one of the misses as it was about to whiz past her ear.

Bringing it back up to her face, she examined the bullet, now flattened lengthwise between her thumb and forefinger. She then held it out so that the man could see it. "Want a souvenir?" she asked.

He nodded dumbly, not fully understanding the implication of his answer.

"Okay. Catch." A flick of her finger sent the bullet flying back at him, tumbling end over end, striking him in the chest. The tumbling motion kept the bullet from penetrating his thick uniform, but the impact was still hard enough to knock him onto his back, the rifle flying out of his grasp.

He turned to retrieve his rifle. When he looked back at her, she had brought her hand back to her chest and was fondling herself.

He was wondering what she was doing when suddenly two faint beams of red light shot out of her eyes. Even through his thick gloves, he could feel the metal of his rifle heating up. It got so hot that he had to drop it. Snow flashed into steam where the rifle fell.

Getting up to her feet, she walked out of the water and across the snow to where the rifle lay in the snow, a column of steam continuing to rise from the snow underneath. Bending down, she retrieved the rifle, holding it with her hands on the ends of the barrel. A quick twist of her wrists ripped it in half. She then let the halves drop to the snow at her feet.

Reaching down and grabbing the front of his coat, she effortlessly lifted him up to his feet. And beyond, raising her arm enough so that his feet cleared the ground by six inches.

He kicked out, the toe of his boot striking her left kneecap. It sounded as if he'd just kicked a steel lamppost.

Kicking a metal lamppost probably would have done less damage to his foot. He screamed in pain as his big toe broke.

The girl continued to hold him for another five seconds before releasing him. There was more pain as his foot tried to take his weight and failed, dumping him on his ass. Groaning in pain, he clutched his foot in his gloved hands.

The girl simply stood there, her hands on her hips as she looked down at him. With his injured foot, there was no way he was going to get away from her.

As if there was anywhere to go in this icy wasteland. Other than the girl standing over him, he could see nothing but snow and ice. With the Hummer disabled and his foot out of action, he was as good as dead and he knew it. Unless...

How did the girl get here? She had to have some transport. But would she be willing to take him back to the base? Nothing so far in her actions had indicated any benign intentions.

Raising one shapely leg, the girl moved a foot toward his good leg. He started to roll aside but was too slow. Her bare foot came down on his thigh.

He tried to move his leg, but her dainty foot held his leg immobile. Even as he continued to try to free his leg, he could feel the pressure increasing.

The pressure kept increasing. How could such a slender girl put so much weight on one foot? She didn't even look like she was exerting herself in the least, a wide smile on her beautiful face.

The smile seemed to widen as the pressure on his leg grew. Then there was a new kind of pain, and he knew that she had broken his leg. She had just broken the biggest bone in his body as easily as he might have snapped a twig.

He heard someone screaming. It took a moment to realize that the scream was coming from his own mouth.

The girl's mouth was moving as she removed her foot and leaned down toward him, but he couldn't hear her words over his screams. Trying to fight back the pain, his eyes closed momentarily.

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone in the ice and snow, crippled. Unable to stand up, he could barely see the fence from where he lay. Orienting himself, he began crawling back toward the base, pulling himself along with his arms.

He didn't get very far.

Mirrin had farther to go than Sirren to reach her objective, since she had to circle around in order to approach the base from the other side. That, however, was no problem, as she had a method of travel unavailable to most Arion Primes. As soon as she was out of sight of her partner, she stopped running. Leaping up into the sky, she circled once to verify her bearings, then disappeared into the low overcast.

The overcast barely hampered her vision. Seeing the ungainly enclosed motorized vehicle below her, she dropped lower, flying above and behind it. Verifying that it was indeed her target, she flexed her calves a little harder and moved ahead. Turning, she dropped down and landed in front of it, facing it and putting her hands on her hips.

She could see the expression of surprise on the vehicle operator's face as she suddenly seemed to materialize in his path out of nowhere. That was about all he could do before the vehicle slammed into her.

The sheer mass of the vehicle surprised her, forcing her to take a step back before she could assert enough of her flight powers to absorb the vehicle's momentum. The thick steel crumpled around her body, the roaring engine feeling good as it briefly vibrated against her stomach and thighs before being crushed between the rest of the vehicle and her much harder body.

Peeling away the metal with the ease that somebody else would have shown simply removing a coat, she stepped back and looked at her handiwork. Obviously, the operator and the other Terrans with him were not made of the same stuff as she was. The operator was dead, his blood and brains splattered on the inside of the windshield. The two in the back appeared to have been stunned by the impact, only their slow ragged breathing telling her that they were still alive at all. The man who had been seated beside the operator was the only one still conscious, trying to get out of the wreck. The impact had twisted the door, it didn't even budge when he threw his sizable body at it.

She calmly walked around to stand in front of him. "Need some help?" she asked, bending down toward him.

He looked up in surprise at her voice, staring at her through the cracked glass. He then started edging away from her, until he fetched up against the operator's corpse.

"Let me help," she said, reaching forward and grasping the door with her right hand.

As she straightened up, there was a tortured squeal of metal as the door came off. A casual flick of her wrist sent it flying into the air over her head, coming down into the snow over a hundred feet behind her.

The man backed away from her when she reached in for him, all but crawling over the dead operator.

"Don't you want to come out and play?" She pulled her arm back and straightened up, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head. "Then I'll just have to get you out the hard way."

Leaning forward yet again, she gripped the door posts in both hands. The steel deformed under her fingers as she tightened her grip and again straightened up. Lifting the entire vehicle over her head, she began shaking it.

She stepped aside as the operator's corpse fell out. Her quarry remained inside, holding on with blood-covered hands.

"Come on out and play," she said, shaking even harder. He continued to hang on even as the two men in the back were thrown around, their heads banging against the metal sides.

She shook harder. He screamed as he lost his grip on the blood-slicked surface and fell.

He slid across the seat. He hit the top of her head and bounced off. He hit the top of her breasts and bounced off. He slid down the front of her body and down her legs, finally coming to rest across the body of the operator.

"So you did decide to come out and play," she said, smiling down at him.

Rolling over onto his back, his eyes widened in fear at the sight of the beautiful girl wearing nothing more than a silvery bikini as she effortlessly held the Hummer over her head. He tried to scuttle away from her, not fully realizing that the slippery mass underneath him had until a few short minutes ago had been the driver.

He screamed when the Hummer moved in her grasp. He continued screaming even when he realized that she was simply pressing it over her head as if it was nothing more than a free weight in a gym, and a light one at that.

Mirrin was enjoying the look of fear in the man's eyes as she toyed with a weight that wasn't even giving her a decent workout. If he thought that he was seeing an exhibition of strength, she would really show him one.

Tightening her grip on the vehicle, she took a couple of steps back and then cocked her arms back to hold the vehicle behind her back, exerting just enough of her flight powers to maintain her balance. "Here, catch." Then she brought her arms forward, throwing the vehicle toward him.

He screamed again and covered his head with his arms in a futile gesture.

She hadn't intended for her throw to hit him. Instead, she sent the vehicle crashing against the side of a hill more than a hundred yards behind him. If the two men in the back were still alive, the crash probably killed them. And even if it didn't, the resulting explosion of the gas tank definitely finished them off.

Before he could get to his feet, she was kneeling astride him. "Don't you want to play?"

He tried to push her off of him. When he couldn't budge her, he began striking her with his gloved fists.

She leaned into his blows, taking them on her chest.

Mirrin's large breasts bounced slightly from the man's feeble blows. The effect was curiously arousing, feeling like soft caresses to her. Savoring the feeling, she leaned even closer.

She was so close that he couldn't even get a proper swing at her. It was all he could do to try to push her away. Unfortunately for him, his efforts seemed to have absolutely no effect on her, the girl who had effortlessly held the Hummer over her head.

Sliding a hand under his back, she lifted his body to hers. He felt the air being forced out of his lungs as she pressed his chest against hers. Grabbing her shoulders in his gloved hands, he tried to push himself away from her. The pressure merely increased.

His vision was beginning to go gray when she finally relented. "Oh, are you having trouble breathing?" she said. "Maybe your clothes are too tight." Opening her arms, she let him drop to the ground.

The respite was short-lived, however. Bending down over him, she took hold of his jacket. The thick material parted under her fingers like it was paper.

The cold air hit him like a sledgehammer. Even as he tried to grab the remnants of his jacket, she tore apart the rest of his uniform. Within seconds, other than the few scraps in his hands there was nothing left but the boots on his feet.

"There. Is that any better?" she asked, straightening up and stepping back.

He couldn't have answered her even if he'd wanted to, his teeth were chattering so hard. He wrapped his arms around his body in an attempt to preserve his body heat.

"Oh, what's the matter now?" She leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees. "Cold?"

Even though she wasn't touching him, he could feel the warmth radiating from her gorgeous and nearly naked body. Without realizing what he was doing, he opened his arms and reached for her.

"Oh, so you do want to play." Taking a hand from her knee and reaching around him, she lifted him off the ground and pulled him to her.

The girl's incredible breasts were once again pressing against his chest, threatening to drive the air out of his lungs again, but at least they were warm, the bikini hardly blocking anything at all. He wrapped his arms around her warm body, holding on to it as tightly as he could.

Amused, Mirrin held the man's body lightly against hers for a moment. Then, still holding him by just one arm, she began gently rubbing his chest over her breasts.

Ah! Now she was distributing the heat over the front of his body. He continued to hug her as hard as he could.

Unimpaired by the man's hardest embrace, she gradually picked up the pace of her stroking. At the same time, she gradually increased the pressure.

As he held her, Mirrin felt her breasts beginning to flatten very slightly against the Terran's strong chest as she started to hold him more tightly, his knee rubbing against her crotch and his cock, hardening despite the cold, throbbing insistently against her lower stomach, both sensations sending thrills through her strong body. She also felt the firm grip of his fingers as he held her so tightly. Pausing for a moment, her senses full of these wonderful feelings, she found herself getting very aroused, her arms instinctively holding him more and more tightly, the tiny muscles under her soft skin tightening as her breasts became so much firmer. She wrapped her other arm around him as well.

With her mind floating in blissful forgetfulness, her assignment was forgotten for the moment as she began to react simply as women have always reacted to being turned on. Without thinking, she soon found she was holding him so tightly that her now breasts had stopped compressing, the Terran's ribs bending slightly inward under the firm pressure of her no longer soft mounds. Sensing the erotic contrast between her strength and the man's, a feeling of tremendous power surged through her body. Yet despite that awareness, she was completely unaware of how strongly she was holding him, his body bending around her firm chest. A thrilling tingle started between her legs and ran up across her stomach until it reached her breasts, unconsciously compelling her to begin using them to completely overpower this man. A distant part of her mind knew she could just as easily use them to destroy him if she wanted to.

That exciting thought was enough to cause her body to become totally aroused again. Her nipples, now as super as her muscles, grew until they were more than an inch in length as they pressed firmly into the Terran's chest through the thin fabric of her uniform. Yet because her breasts were already compressed to the point where they were in equilibrium with the man's strongly muscled chest, the increase in pressure gave them no place to go except through the soft masculine body that she held in her arms. She was barely conscious of the Terran's final gasps as the air in his lungs was forcefully expelled by her expanding chest. She knew only that her nipples were burning and tingling strongly, and that she needed to stroke them across his strong chest. She suddenly loved the little thrills she felt as each of the Terran's ribs bent her nipple downward slightly before they would slip free and snap upright again, his chest growing wetter, the slippery warmth helping her nipples slip smoothly over his ribs.

Sighing softly, she rested her cheek on his shoulder, her long silky hair draped luxuriously over his upper body. Without realizing that she was doing anything but indulging in her own sensual pleasures, her steely nipples slowly ripped through his skin and into his chest muscles themselves while she simply basked in the wonderful sensation of rubbing her nipples against his hard ribs. Her powerful hands held his upper arms as she started lifting his body up and down across her body, her embrace so forceful that her now steel-hard nipples began creating two huge deep furrows down his chest. She continued to hug him tighter and tighter as she slowly reached her arms further around his back, his ribs painfully and slowly bending inward around her inhumanly erotic breasts as she pressed them more and more firmly against his chest.

The man reacted by painfully reaching up to grab the sides of her chest while frantically trying to push the distracted girl away from himself. Yet he was terrified when he found that he couldn't make the slightest difference in the pressure her breasts were exerting against his chest, her eyes closed as she seemed to be indulging in some private fantasy. Struggling like a man possessed, his vision started to grow darker as he found he couldn't breathe any more either, the pain of his torn skin and muscles becoming more than he could bear. Finally, with one last gasp of strangely erotic agony sweeping through his body, he felt his ribs passing the point of no return, his fragile calcium bones collapsing noisily under the inexorable pressures exerted by the girl's beautifully firm and now completely lethal breasts.

Meanwhile, lost in a fantasy that was beyond human comprehension, Mirrin continued to dreamily hug the man even tighter to herself as she unconsciously bent his spine further and further under her hands until it too snapped in half, her hands effortlessly pushing his shoulder blades into the remains of his chest as his body collapsed in her tight embrace. So lost was she in her erotic reverie that she still had no idea what she was doing to this man. Her eyes remained closed as she enjoyed the tingling feelings that coursed through her young body. Smiling dreamily, her soft lips gently kissing his ear, she leaned her head on his shoulder while letting her long silky black hair flow gently down his back. Dreaming of her last Prime male, of embracing him this strongly, she ran her hands luxuriously down this man's strong back, imagining it was his body she was holding so tightly against her own, her thoughts momentarily lost in the rapturous sensations of that memory.

At the same time, the immense and uncontrolled strength of her hands continued to crush the remainder of the Terran's ribs, fracturing his lower spine while she gently ran her fingers across his torso. Squeezing her thighs together to try to push his knee more firmly up against her hungry crotch, she was frustrated when she felt his leg suddenly dissolving softly between hers, a muffled snap barely audible before all the resistance of his leg faded away.

Growing more and more frustrated, she ran her lower down his back until she finally held his hips, a sudden irresistible urge to press his body even more firmly against herself. Tightening her abdominal muscles, she suddenly felt several very sharp cracks, totally unaware that his hips had just shattered against the wet steel of her hard pubic bone, guarding as it did her suddenly needful sex. Completely lost in the overwhelming sensuousness of her passion, she pressed him ever more firmly between her legs, the remaining bones of his thighs bending the little they could before they also shattered loudly.

It was at this moment when the original part of her mind screamed, the flash of realization of what she was doing to this Terran causing her to suddenly snap her eyes open. Overcoming her hazy sensual daze, she looked down to see the his distorted and crushed body hanging in her arms, horrified as she suddenly realized that she had broken nearly all of the bones in his body as she had hugged him to herself so passionately. Gasping, she opened her arms and stepped backward, the crushed body of the now dead Terran falling into the formless heap of a rag doll on the ground. With her passion escaping her as fast as it had come, she brushed her tousled hair from her face to reveal her eyes. She shook her head slowly as she took several calming breaths and took in her surroundings, remembering her mission.

It was time for her to return to the drop shuttle. Turning around, she leaped into the sky. Ten seconds later and two miles away, she knifed into the freezing water.

With no obvious signs of the Arion invasion force, we had plenty of time to try to recruit more of our prisoners to our cause, to share their knowledge, their training, with us. But even with Bill telling them how well he'd been treated at our hands, they still only gave us their equivalent of name, rank, and serial number. Maybe if Bill was to really tell them how well we --- and Karen in particular --- had been treating him... But they were Arions; Mom and Bill agreed that we didn't need to tell them about that, they could figure it out on their own. I think they were more afraid of what their own Primes would do to them if they were recaptured than they were of what we might do to them. And even though the Arions had never signed the Geneva Convention --- heck, there were countries on Earth that still hadn't signed it --- we were abiding by it.

I suppose deep down I really couldn't blame them. I remembered the stories that Mom had told me about her recapture by the Arions. How they had treated her and my mother, my real mother, a woman I've never met. They probably expected us to treat them the same way, even after we've been treating them so well --- or at least not so bad --- for so long.

Things were no different this time. I could see the fear in each of their eyes, fear that wasn't there when they looked at Mom or Karen. After all, they were just Arions, while I was the bad Velorian. The fear of Velorians must really be ingrained into the psyches. Mom and Karen, of course, were immune, but I still saw it even in Bill's eyes every time that we met at the office.

This time it was just Mom and myself. I sat next to Mom as we interviewed each prisoner individually. Actually, Mom did the interviewing, speaking with them in Arion while I just sat there and acted the dumb blonde. Though to them, I wasn't a dumb blonde --- I was a feared and hatred Velorian.

As used to playing the dumb blonde as I was, it pretty quickly got rather boring. By the time we were halfway through the prisoners, my mind had started wandering.

We were interviewing the last prisoner --- a male --- when I noticed his eyes. Despite his very obvious fear of me, he kept sneaking furtive glances at me. Resting my hands on the table in front of me and leaning forward, I let my arms push my breasts together and higher.

His gaze flicked over to me and rested on my chest --- what there was of it showing through the unbuttoned powder-blue jacket --- for a couple of seconds. He them must have become aware of my scrutiny, for his eyes flicked up to my face and he visibly flinched, as if he was afraid that I was going to vaporize him on the spot with my heat vision.

In my current mood that was about the last thing that I wanted to do to him. As Mom kept talking to him I stood up and walked around the table. I was wearing slacks instead of a skirt, but I made sure that he could still see the way my long legs flexed as I paced back and forth. Out of the corners of my eyes I could see his gaze following me.

Mom noticed it too, for she broke off what she was saying to him in order to tell me to sit down.

Letting out a soft sigh, I returned to my chair and sat down. If the prisoner was surprised to hear a Beta ordering a Velorian around --- let alone the Velorian obeying the Beta, he gave no sign of it. He continued to cast furtive glances my way.

Even if my body couldn't, my mind continued its wandering. Leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest, I wondered how the prisoner would react if I sent Mom and the guards out of the room and then started to take my clothes off. Would he continue to be fearful, or would he respond in the proper way?

I closed my eyes as I thought back to how Randall's hands had felt on my body, caressing me so much harder than any Terran male could ever do.

Would this Beta's hands feel the same way? His Beta strength would be no match for my own, but it was still something that no Terran male could hope to match. It wouldn't feel the same as a Prime's strong hands, but then we didn't have any Primes available. Karen was the closest thing, and no matter what else she was, she definitely wasn't a man.

Not that I'd really go for a Prime, even if we had one around. I'd already been raped repeatedly by one, and in turn I'd raped a bunch of them while under the influence of Orgone. I didn't particularly care to repeat either experience.

But a Beta would be something to consider.

Heck, why limit myself to just one of them? We had nearly a dozen male prisoners available. Strip them all of their clothes and toss them into a large room. Then I'd walk in there, alone, one girl with nearly a dozen men, all of them bigger than the girl.

They wouldn't stand a chance against my pheromones. They'd come after me with everything they had. I wouldn't resist as they ripped my clothes off to get to me. For a while I'd resist their efforts to get me down to the floor, just standing there with my hands on hips, savoring the feel of their big hands all over my body as they combined their efforts, their weight, to force me down.

Eventually I'd yield and let them take me down to the floor so that they could have their way with me.

When their interest started to flag, I'd turn the tables on them, having my way with them.

I could spend a couple of pleasurable days --- and nights --- like this. They could take turns napping and eating while I went through them.

I opened my eyes to find Mom standing over me. "Wake up, Julie!" She had me by the shoulders, shaking me hard enough to almost pull me out of my chair.

"Okay, I'm awake." I flexed my legs, exerting just enough of my flight power to root me to the spot so that Mom couldn't shake me any more. I looked around and saw that we were alone, the guards having taken the prisoner away. "Sorry. I guess I just nodded off," I told Mom, trying to hide my daydreaming. I wasn't very successful in hiding a yawn.

"Julie! What do you think you were doing, strutting around like that?"

"Aw, Mom! I was just getting bored out of my skull and needed to stretch."

"You can do that without being quite, shall we say," she winked at me, "so demonstrative."

"You mean decorative, don't you?" I smiled at her and tried to wink. Damn, I'll never be able to do it like she does.

She ignored my comment, and my attempted wink, heading for the door. "C'mon, my little one. I need some fresh air."

"But we're not done yet, are we?" I tried to focus on the job at hand. "We still have a few more."

"I think we're done for today," she said. "You must have had a good dream while you were napping. You're leaking enough pheromones to make me horny."

"Aw, Mom." I followed her to the door. "It doesn't take much to make you horny."

"Julie!"

"Sorry." The smile on my face probably didn't match my repentant tone.

My pheromones really had been turned on. As we approached the outside door, the sentry stiffened to attention. As we got closer, his eyes started to glaze over and the grip on his rifle loosened. I was tempted to reach out and take it from him but that probably would get him in trouble, letting a girl disarm him when he was supposed to be on duty.

I could hear his heart pounding and I could see the rising bulge in his pants. His knees almost buckled when I smiled at him in passing. I didn't think it was a particularly seductive smile, just a friendly one, but his heart rate shot up through the ceiling.

It didn't take any imagination to know what he would be doing as soon as he found himself alone.

And as I flew Mom home, I could see she was making a real effort to keep her hands where they belonged. I figured Steve was going to be in for a real busy night. And my darling husband wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight, either. Not if I could help it. And if a Velorian couldn't help it, then no one could.

I knew just how to start things off. And I wasn't thinking of making him dinner; plenty of other wives across Colorado were doing just that. My darling husband is the only man on the entire planet with a Velorian wife.

After taking a quick shower, I dug the package out of my closet and put it on. I'd bought the outfit the previous week when I just happened to be in the south of France, but I hadn't yet shown it to him. I'd intended to save it for the summer, but what the heck.

I'd just put it on when I heard him come home. "I'm up here," I called down to him. Hearing his steps coming up the stairs to our bedroom, I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes.

Hearing a sharp intake of breath, I turned my head toward him and opened my eyes a crack. His eyes were open more than a crack as he took in the sight before him.

"Wanna help me off with this?" I asked, sliding a couple of fingers of my right hand under the mesh top.

I can always count on my darling husband to do the right thing. Of course, the fact that I was still leaking pheromones like a sieve may have had a hand in helping him do the right thing. While my enhancement hadn't given him the true power of flight, he didn't need it as he all but leaped across the room and onto the bed. "Easy, easy," I cautioned him, catching him and lowering him down on top of me.

Taking it easy on me was something that my darling husband seldom did. Just another of the things that I loved about him. His hands quickly found their way inside my top and began exploring my body. As if he hadn't done it all that much before. After all, my darling husband knows my body better than any other man does. And while I've felt stronger hands on my body, his hands --- and the rest of his body --- are almost as hard as are those of an Arion Prime.

However, he wasn't all that much help in getting me undressed. Once he maneuvered one of my nipples through one of the holes in the mesh, he fastened his mouth on it and began suckling. His other hand was still inside my top, rolling my other nipple between them and then pinching it.

Slowly pulling up my top with one hand, I took hold of his head with the other and started disengaging his mouth from my nipple.

He bit down hard on the nipple.

Or at least as hard as any Terran man could bite down on my sensitive flesh. If it came down to a contest between his teeth and my nipple, I knew that the nipple would win, despite his enhancement. But I'd probably ruin my top in the process.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. He let go of my nipple and allowed me to pull him free. But that wasn't the end of it. He attacked my breasts again as soon as they were fully uncovered, gripping them in his steel-hard hands and squeezing them as hard as he could.

Wrapping an arm around him and pulling him to me, I gave him a nice hard hug. Maybe not hard enough to crush steel, but probably still hard enough for my nipples to leave their mark in aluminum.

Still keeping my arm around him, I rolled us over to get on top of him. Loosening my embrace somewhat and sliding my other hand between our bodies, I began working on his shirt buttons.

Just because I'm the strongest girl on the planet doesn't mean I'm the most graceful. Once I ripped the first buttonhole apart, I gave up on the remaining buttons and expedited matters by simply ripping his shirt apart.

It wasn't the first time that I'd ripped his clothes apart in my eagerness to get to his body, though I certainly didn't make a habit of it. Once the shirt was gone, I rose up into the air just enough to get his pants and shorts off in the conventional way. I then tucked up my long legs to let him get my panties off.

Now that we were both in our birthday suits, it was time to get serious. I lowered myself on top of him, putting my mouth over his.

His hands found their way between us and found my breasts again. After a few seconds, I broke off the kiss and slid up his body, letting him use my mouth on his favorite part of female Velorian anatomy. Or at least his favorite pair of parts.

As much as he was enjoying things, I wanted to get some use out of my favorite part of his enhanced Terran anatomy. A uniquely male part.

Pulling myself away from him, I rotated and lowered myself again, spreading my legs. His hands moved to my hips to guide me as I impaled myself on his erect shaft. Once he was fully in me, I abandoned my flight powers and put my legs to work.

His hands moved up my flanks until they found my breasts again.

The nice thing about my darling husband --- one of many --- was that I could use a significant portion of my strength on him. Of course, I did have to be careful of the furniture. What wasn't so nice was that he couldn't return my caresses. His steel-hard hands were fondling my breasts with all of his strength, which my enhancement hadn't increased much. To be honest, I've had other Terran lovers who could hold me harder.

However, none of the others could have survived what my inner muscles were doing to his shaft, gripping him firmly while my legs sped up the pace of their rhythmic pumping.

As he was about to climax, I tightened my grip even further. The grip of my most intimate folds would have crushed steel --- let alone any ordinary Terran flesh --- but it only served to delay his release until I was ready.

My own climax was building up within me. My tight grip inhibiting motion, I reached down and grasped his hips to add the power of my arms to that of my legs.

Finally I was there. Relaxing my inner muscles, I let him shoot his seed into me while I shook with my orgasm. I gradually sank forward, laying him back down, panting for air while I lay on top of him, panting just as hard.

I lay on top of him for about a minute before rolling over to my side of the bed. When my breathing slowed down to something approaching normal, I propped myself up on an elbow.

My darling husband was still panting as if he couldn't get enough air. I scooted closer, snuggling into the crook of his arm and throwing my own arm across his chest. As his arms wrapped around me to hold me tight, I closed my eyes and let my world shrink down to the sound of the heart thudding in his chest as it rose and fell rapidly with his breathing.

"Oh, I almost forgot," he said when he had finally recovered his breath. "Laurie called today."

Laurie's my sister-in-law, George's older sister. Even though I'd once spent a weekend up at her dorm room while I was still in high school, we really haven't been very close --- especially since she married and moved away. At least, I haven't been close; I can't say the same for my darling husband. I rose up into the air and scooted over, again propping myself up on my elbow. "I hope you said hello for me."

"You can do it yourself. She and Henry are coming over next week. With Henry Junior."

Laurie and her husband had given George a niece a couple of years ago. We'd both gone out to see her shortly after her birth; his parents had actually been there during the birth of their first grandchild.

Now earlier this year they'd produced a son. My darling husband had already gone out there once to see his nephew, though I had yet to see the little tyke.

This from a girl who can fly anywhere in the world, if not quite in the blink of an eye, without working up a sweat. Maybe I need to take my family ties a little more seriously. After all, it's not like my darling husband is going to be giving his parents any grandchildren on his part. We know it's not going to happen, despite his enhancement. And despite all of our practice.

It was getting a little uncomfortable hearing his parents' little 'hints' about when we were finally going to get around to it. It just wasn't going to happen. As compatible as we were in other ways, a Terran male just wasn't capable of impregnating a Velorian female.

The fact that nothing was going to come of if certainly didn't keep us from going through the motions. If anything, it just gave us all the more reason for doing it.

As if a Velorian had ever needed a reason. My husband's sister bringing her family to visit was certainly good enough. As soon as George had given me the highlights of the itinerary, I slid a hand under him, picked him up, rolled over onto my back, and lowered him into position between my legs.

As he guided himself into me, I moved my hands to his hips. As well as he had taken to my enhancement, there were still some things that he couldn't do well enough. His strength and speed were no better than that of a moderately athletic Terran man.

That wasn't a major problem, as my arms had more than enough strength and speed to spare. Sometimes I'm content to let him do it at his pace, but not this time. He grabbed on to my breasts and held on as tight as he could while I began pumping him in and out of me.

When he was just about ready to climax again, I again tightened my inner muscles to delay his release until I was ready. At the same time, I sped up the pace of my pumping until it was all that he could do just to hold on to my breasts.

Finally I was there. My body bucked wildly on the bed, all but throwing him off of me. Our cries of pleasure drowned out the creaking of the springs under the mattress. His hands lost their grip on my breasts. If it hadn't been for my hands on his hips --- and the tight grip of my inner muscles on his hard tool, he might have been bounced off the ceiling. Or through it, my climax was that good.

He remained on top of me, both of us panting for air, as my body gradually subsided.

"I suppose we have to invite them over for dinner," I finally said when there was some chance of getting a reply.

"Well," he said, a lopsided grin on his face, his hands fondling my breasts. "I suppose we could take them out to eat."

Okay, so I'm a Velorian. That makes me a supergirl. But that doesn't make me a super girl in every way. I'm the Girl of Steel, not the Iron Chef. My culinary skills are adequate --- just because I can eat ground glass and chase it down with sulfuric acid doesn't mean I like doing anything like that, nor does anyone else around me. No one has died yet from eating one of my meals, but I'm no gourmet.

It's one thing for me to admit it, but it's completely different when someone else says it. And to my face, no less. And especially after what we've just done. Even if I know that my darling husband didn't marry me for my cooking.

"Thanks a lot." Rolling over, I tipped him off of me and onto the bed. "Just for that, you can go to bed without supper."

He'd kept his grip on my breast. Now he gave it a good hard squeeze. As hard as any Terran man could do, at any rate. "As long as I get to have you for dessert, Jule."

No, my darling husband most definitely did not marry me for my cooking. I rolled over on top of him, using my flight powers to scoot up his body, lowering my other breast over his face and offering him dessert.

There are limits to the male body, even an enhanced one. And the first two courses had been rather intense, even if I say so myself. After a few more minutes of cuddling, I reluctantly pulled away, claiming first dibs on the shower so I could cook supper while he took his own shower.

Yes, I had decided to forgive him for his crack about taking his sister's family out for dinner. I would cook supper for him. As for dessert... Well, that was what my darling husband had married me for, after all.

Replacing the access cover and fastening it in place, the copilot sighed and stood up. All this for a Stars-damned loose cable. He was going to have to ream the mechanics when he got back up to the orbiting ship.

There had been a momentary glitch on the cloaking device as they entered the atmosphere. Given the natives' crude technology, they probably hadn't been detected. Still, there was no sense in taking chances. And naturally, the pilot had pulled rank and ordered him to check it out as soon as they landed and disembarked their two passengers.

He'd had no choice. That was the problem with the chain of command; it was fine if you weren't at the bottom, then you could always palm a problem off on someone else lower down. Unfortunately, he was at the bottom of a very short chain of command; everything that had to do with this drop shuttle flowed downstream until it eventually got to him.

He couldn't blame the pilot for being unhappy with this assignment; he wasn't exactly overjoyed with it either. They both were pilots; they belonged in flight, not sitting still on the bottom of an ocean. But she didn't have to take it out on him, not when he didn't have anybody to take it out on. At least, not until they got back up to the ship. Oh yes, he was going to have to ream out the mechanics for letting this past their routine checks. The next time that they signed off on the drop shuttle, everything had better be in perfect condition. That was supposed to be their job, not his.

It had taken him a while, but at last he had tracked down the loose cable. Fortunately, it was nothing more than that. He hadn't been looking forward to going through a complete system check and overhaul.

Brushing off his hands, he returned to the cockpit. As cramped as it was, he felt most comfortable here. At least, if he was going to be alone.

And despite the fact that he was the only male on this mission along with three females, he was going to be alone.

Of course, two of the three females didn't count, since they were Primes. As pleasurable as it might be to fantasize about being in the arms of one of them, he didn't dare to approach either of them. A Beta never approached a Prime. And if a Prime ever approached a Beta, the prudent thing to do would be retreat as quickly as possible. It might be fun to fantasize about it, but he knew that in reality he wouldn't survive the experience. Though he fondly thought back to the half Prime whom he'd known briefly in the place called Alaska. He'd survived quite well in her arms. But she was dead now, killed by the Velorian Protector when she'd wiped out everyone at that outpost --- including the Warrior Prime in charge. Besides, at the moment the two Primes were out of the drop shuttle, on assignment. His assignment was to get them here, and then take them back up to the ship when they were finished down here.

His and the pilot's. And as usual, while he maintained the watch and did the other chores, she was back in the crew cabin, getting her rest. Thinking about the man she'd left up in the ship, no doubt.

Thinking of that brought his mind back to the half Prime. She had been the most incredible partner he'd ever had. Forcing the memories out of his mind, he looked at the chronometer. How long were they going to be out there?

Just how long were those two beautiful Primes going to be out there? Better not to think about them. He glanced at the chronometer again.

He'd just looked at the chronometer for the third time when he heard the airlock begin its cycle. Getting to his feet, he hurried aft.

The two Primes emerged, both of them dripping wet from the water outside.

"Are we ready to go?" asked the shorter, senior one.

"Yes, Lieutenant Sirren," he replied with a shallow bow. "I shall inform the pilot you have returned." Giving the two women another shallow bow, he turned away. Given his earlier thoughts, each second of looking at them was sheer torture, especially when they stood in nothing but their battle uniforms, water still glistening on their flawless skin.

Somewhat to his surprise, the pilot was already in her seat, starting the pre-flight check.

"The cloak?" she asked by way of acknowledging his arrival in the cockpit.

"Just a loose cable," he replied, taking his seat and strapping himself in.

"Very well."

It wasn't very well. Biting back a curse at the sloppy mechanic who hadn't properly attached the cable, he took his part in the pre-flight check.

The pre-flight check completed, the drop shuttle took off for a quick hop to the other side of the big ice-covered island. The cloak functioning perfectly, it was not spotted on any radar before it slipped under the waves again.

My sister-in-law Laurie and her husband were in town for a couple of days, and we were meeting them for dinner. We --- my darling husband and I --- had decided after all that it would be better to take them out to a nice restaurant than to subject them to my humdrum cooking. If Laurie wanted home cooking, she could take her family to her parents' place.

Despite the chilly weather, I'd put on a little backless silver number. I wouldn't have dressed like this if we had to deal with our little nephew, but fortunately the grandparents were going to be babysitting both kids this evening. And probably spoiling them rotten in the process. But then, that's in the job description for grandparents.

Since my darling husband was still getting dressed, I picked up my laptop computer, intending to get in a couple of hands of FreeCell while waiting.

Of course, there are other ways to pass the time, but best one involves removing our clothes, so we were saving that one until we got home after dinner.

It never fails. No sooner had I sat down on the floor with the computer in my lap than I heard my darling husband's footsteps descending the stairs.

Something else never fails. Just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, the phone rang.

"I got it, Jule," George called out, his steps receding as he went for the phone in the kitchen. I didn't bother to eavesdrop, opening up the computer and reaching for the power switch on the side.

It wasn't a long conversation. "That was Laurie," George said, coming out of the kitchen. "They're running a few minutes late, but they'll still meet us for dinner."

"That's fine," I called out over my shoulder. It looked like I might get in a few more hands than I'd originally thought. But even before I could win my first hand, the phone rang again. And again, George ducked back into the kitchen.

"Jule! It's for you," his voice came from the kitchen a few seconds later. At least he knew that he didn't have to yell for me to hear him. "It's your mother."

"Okay. I'm coming." I switched the computer into standby mode and stood up. Going into the kitchen, I picked up the phone. "Hello, Mom. What's up?"

"Julie, we need to have you come in right now," she said, without bothering with any preliminaries.

"But Mom!" I started to protest. She knew about our dinner plans --- we'd been planning this all week --- ever since my sister-in-law had finalized their travel plans.

"I think we've got a situation," she said quietly.

That could mean only one thing. I didn't even bother to sigh. "Okay, I'll be right there." Barely resisting the urge to crush it in my hand, I instead hung up the phone.

"George, will you make my excuses to your sister?" I asked the man hovering at my elbow. "Something's come up at work."

"Sure, Jule." He knew what I did, and more importantly, he knew that it was far more important than any dinner date could be, even with family.

"Thanks." I gave him a quick kiss. "Tell Laurie how much I was looking forward to seeing her again."

"I will."

I barely heard him, for I was already moving toward the kitchen door, still in my heels and silver dress. I'd briefly considered going upstairs to change, but decided against it. If I needed them, I had several changes at the office.

A neighbor would have had to be looking directly at the door in order to see me, for I was up in the air and moving at better than a hundred miles per hour just steps past the door. I might have gone even faster if not for my dress, but it's not like it's a long flight.