The class field trip was just over half done. Which meant that it had gone on for far too long already.
At least, that was in her opinion. Not that anybody had ever bothered to consult her on the subject.
It didn't matter that her father was the Deputy Commander for this sector of the galaxy. She still had to go to school, just like all of the other children. And that meant going on the annual field trip, just like all of the other children.
It wasn't that she minded the lectures about the planets in this sector of the galaxy. Those were no better and no worse than any other lectures, whether they were held on board this passenger liner or back at school.
And of course, there were the other classes, like Chemistry and Abstract Geometry that were just as boring as always --- though she'd always enjoyed the Physical Training classes, probably because she was so good at it. Even when wearing the gold chains made necessary by the ship's tiny gym --- the Empress Jiltan'th had been named for a Prime but it hadn't been designed for Primes.
And it wasn't that she didn't like the accommodations aboard the Jiltan'th, other than for the gym. As befit her namesake, the Empress Jiltan'th was an elegant --- and old ---cruise liner. It was like vacationing in a well-run hotel. Her room was comfortable, her roommate was more than tolerable, the food was good, and the spare-time entertainment wasn't all that bad, even if she had seen most of the holo-vid programs before.
No, what made the field trip seem so unbearably long was that it meant that she was with her class. Thirty other students her own age.
It wasn't that she didn't like the other students. They were her classmates and she could count most of them as her friends. It was just that they were all girls.
Thirty other girls.
And not one single boy.
Right now, Leysen Strahzi was sitting in the passenger cabin of a lifeboat thinking about the cuddling that was coming up with a certain young midshipman. So far, the cuddling had been all that she had allowed, interspersed with a little kissing. Well, maybe more than a little.
Still, she knew that this relationship wasn't going anywhere in the long term. Once they returned to Tiburon, they probably would never see each other again. And even if they did, nothing could ever come of it.
Tonight, she had put some drab coveralls over her blue school uniform in order to give him something to take off of her. She had also put on two gold chains from her gym class so that they both could enjoy the cuddling. Much more than they could possibly do without the gold.
For he was a Beta. She knew that her classmates would tease her endlessly if they ever found out that she had been playing around with a Beta. And the chaperones would have an absolute conniption. But it was safe play. Even with her gold, she would still be much stronger than he was --- unlike a Prime, there was no way that that he could force anything on her that she didn't allow.
Besides, he was one of the few boys on the Jiltan'th that was even close to her age. Prime or Beta. Being a civilian vessel there just weren't that many other Primes on board, outside of her classmates and their teachers. And what few there were mostly were wounded warriors returning from the front.
She considered herself lucky to have snagged him. Not that there had been that much competition -- he was a mere Beta, after all. She knew that some of her classmates had gotten friendly with the wounded warriors. And probably even intimate, despite the efforts of their teachers and chaperones. But they were so old! Just not her type.
A couple of days into the trip, she had patted his butt as they passed in the corridor. Knowing that he was a Beta, she had been careful to pat him lightly, but he still had let out a yelp --- from indignation as well as from pain. She had pulled him to her, gently hugging and kissing him. Evidently, the apology had satisfied him.
It had more than satisfied him. Since then, they had met nearly every evening in the lifeboat, hidden away from prying eyes and wagging tongues.
Though there was more to do than just cuddle and kiss. There had to be a nonphysical aspect to their relationship, due to the vast disparity in their physical strengths. He was the first Beta boy whom she had ever met who hadn't been intimidated by her greater strength. They spent hours just talking together, he telling her of his life aboard the ship and she telling him about her training preparatory to becoming a Warrior Prime.
They both found the other's life --- if not fascinating --- at least interesting, so different from their own. A Prime's training concentrated on the physical, while a Beta's revolved around the technical. He already knew far more about ships and their systems than she would ever know. Or wanted to know, frankly.
It wasn't that she didn't appreciate what the Betas did. Without the Betas to build and man the great invasion fleets, the Arion Empire would not be the greatest empire the galaxy had ever seen. The very ship that they were on would not exist if not for the Betas.
And she certainly appreciated his selection of the lifeboat for their little trysts. Even though the lifeboat could hold nearly a hundred people, he had assured her that nobody ever came here. Except during the lifeboat drills, and those were only held during the first few days of a voyage. It wasn't the most comfortable place abort the Jiltan'th, but it also was far from being the least comfortable.
As happy as he seemed to be with his life aboard the Jiltan'th, she would not willingly trade places with him. She was perfectly happy to be training to become a Warrior Prime, as both her parents were. Or had been, in the case of her mother. She was willing to let him have his computers and navigation systems. She would take the glory of conquest.
On the other hand, the simple physical feats that she considered routine were well beyond anything that he had ever dreamed of being able to do.
He might not be intimidated by her great physical strength, but like all Betas, had a healthy respect for it. One evening he had brought a steel bar about three feet long and two inches thick. "Can you bend this for me?" he asked, smiling sheepishly and holding the bar out to her.
"This little thing?" She smiled back as she took the bar from him. Grasping the bar near the ends she slowly began pushing her hands together. The wide-eyed look on his face as the bar bent upwards was precious.
"Can... can I feel your arms?"
She'd never had a boy express any interest in that part of her anatomy. Not quite sure of what to expect, she nodded.
He reached out and touched her right arm, stroking her biceps. As she flexed her arm a little harder he put both hands on her biceps and squeezed with all of his strength. His fingers failed to make the slightest dent in her arm. She flexed a little harder, pushing his fingers out. He repositioned his hands but couldn't circle her arm any more.
Getting a wild idea, she shook his hands off of her arm. Before he could react she quickly twisted the steel bar around his wrists, binding them together, being careful not to close them too tightly around his fragile Beta wrists.
"Hey!" he managed to sputter out, holding his bound out in front of him and looking at the bar binding his wrists together. "Get that off of me." The adoration on his face disappeared, replaced by fear.
"Why should I do that?" she smiled at him. "Now, I've got you just the way I want you." Picking him up by his waist and lifting him over her head, she slipped her head between his arms as she lowered him back down.
With his hands helplessly bound, she had a little fun with him doing whatever she wanted to do. Not that she couldn't have done it with his hands free almost as easily. Still, it was fun, tickling him gently and kissing him while he squirmed, unable to get away from her with his arms around her body.
"Get that off of me," he asked again, when she had pulled her lips back from his.
"Is that any way to talk to a girl?" She tried to look as stern as she could while gripping one end of the bar and giving it a little squeeze, sinking her fingers into the hard steel. "Is that any way to talk to a Prime?"
"Please," he added.
"Oh, okay, since you asked so nicely." She then freed his wrists, tying the bar up into a pretty bow and giving it back to him as a little souvenir of the evening, which didn't appear as if it would happen very soon.
Naturally she hadn't needed to tell him not to get involved with any of the other girls. He would be reminded of that every time that he saw the steel bow. He knew that he was her private property, at least for the duration of the trip. Or until she got tired of him.
But last night, she had gotten just a little too enthusiastic in their play. Putting her arms around his shoulders, she lightly pulled him to her for another kiss. But instead of kissing her back, he gasped and tried to scream, practically in her ear.
She immediately let go of him. As he gasped for air, she used her tachyon vision to look inside his chest. Fortunately, his ribs were still intact; all she had done when she pulled his body against hers was to drive the air out of his lungs. Still, it had put a bit of a damper on the evening.
Tonight, the gold was to ensure that there would be no repeat of the previous night's mishap.
Of course, the gold had other effects on her, as well. As she sat and waited for him to make their appointment, she began touching herself, her hands working their way inside her coveralls to lightly stroke and caress her breasts. Closing her eyes, she imagined that it was his hands doing that to her, the gold both dampening her strength and softening her body. As she continued caressing herself, her pheromones began filling the cabin.
So lost was she in her fantasy that she did not hear the alarms going off outside the lifeboat. She was so deep in her fantasy that she didn't even feel the sudden lurch as the ion storm hit.
She didn't even notice when the hatch opened and somebody entered the lifeboat. Nor did she hear when the person spoke to her. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder that she finally realized that she wasn't alone, that someone had joined her aboard the lifeboat.
However, that someone was not the young midshipman whom she'd been expecting. Lost in the sensual feelings generated by the gold --- and by her own intimate caresses --- she didn't notice. Nor did she care.
She didn't know who he was. Nor did she care. All she needed to know --- all that she cared about --- was that a man had come for her. She reached up and got her arms around him, pulling him down to the seat next to her.
At the first alarm Velder had hurried to the lifeboat. As its pilot, he was responsible for preparing it for immediate takeoff. Entering through the hatch into the passenger cabin and making his way forward toward the cockpit, he was surprised to see somebody already sitting in one of the seats.
He couldn't see her face, but from her clothes he knew that she was a passenger, not a crewmember. And a Beta at that, not one of those uniformed Prime brats aboard for their class field trip.
She ignored him when he asked her what she was doing here. Striding up the aisle toward her, he put his hand on her shoulder as he repeated the question.
The girl responded with a surprising show of strength, pulling him down onto the seat next to her. Even as he tried to get up, she turned toward him and wrapped her arms around him, bringing him closer to her, until all he could see was the gleam in her eyes. She then started covering his face with kisses.
As she got up and then sat on his lap straddling him, the front of her coveralls slipped open, revealing another gleam at her throat, even brighter than her eyes. The gleam of gold! Horrified, he realized that she wasn't a Beta after all, but a Prime.
As his fear mounted he struggled to get away from her, but even with the gold, she was still quite a bit stronger than he was. The best that he was able to do was to roll them over, getting on top of her. Her arms were too powerful for him to break out of their embrace however, as she continued to hold on to him tightly, still covering his face with her kisses.
He was fighting a losing battle from the start and he knew it. Not only was she stronger than he was --- even with the gold --- but her pheromones were beginning to take effect on him, driving everything out of his mind except for the girl in whose arms he lay.
Almost everything. He knew that he had to make sure that the lifeboat was ready. The lives of a lot of people were at stake. Including his own. Sexual gratification --- even with a Prime, a life-long fantasy of his --- was simply too high a price to pay. Though if he had to die, he could think of worse places to do it than in the arms of a female Prime.
Yes, in the arms of a female Prime. A young and beautiful female Prime. A young and beautiful female Prime who smelled of honey and wildflowers. Ah, that would be just heavenly.
It really was just heavenly. Abandoning his efforts to get away from her, he wrapped his arms around her body, returning her kisses with his own.
Gradually, reluctantly, resentfully, he became aware of somebody trying to pull him away from the girl. But he wasn't about to let anybody else cut in on him, no matter who it was. He tightened his arms around her, holding her with all of his strength, knowing that he couldn't possibly hurt a Prime with his Beta strength.
He was in the middle of a tug-of-war when he felt his head being pulled back. His left cheek stung as the other man slapped him. His right cheek stung next as the man backhanded him. Velder pulled his right hand away from the girl, preparing to strike back, to defend himself. And his girl.
But as he blinked his eyes and focused on his assailant, he recognized the face. He held back his fist. "Tillek! What're you doing here?"
"What am I doing? What the Stars are you doing? You're supposed to be prepping the craft. When you didn't check in, I came to see what was going on. And what do I find? You making out with some girl!"
Tillek's words made Velder remember what he was doing. No, not that. What he was supposed to be doing. But at the same time, he was pulled back down to the floor, the girl's lips hungrily seeking out his again.
It took all of the strength the two men possessed to pull Velder away from the girl, even as weakened by the gold as she was. They had just gotten the girl --- still lost in her own sensual dreams --- strapped into one of the seats, when the entire craft shook, knocking the two men off of their feet and tossing them across the cabin.
As Velder struggled out of the seat into which he had been dumped, the entire craft lurched again, knocking him off of his feet again. He briefly heard the sound of small objects hitting the outside of the hull. Just as he was struggling to his feet something larger hit, shaking the entire lifeboat and dropping him again, this time in the aisle.
Through the hull came a muffled series of sounds that sounded suspiciously like explosions, accompanied by flashes of light from outside the viewports. A much larger explosion --- shaking the entire lifeboat again and illuminating the interior of the lifeboat --- followed. Then he heard nothing at all. Getting up to his feet and struggling to the nearest viewport he looked out at the shuttle bay.
And beyond.
For they were obviously no longer in the Empress Jiltan'th's boat bay.
The Empress Jiltan'th no longer had a boat bay any more. There wasn't very much of anything any more --- just a spreading cloud of glowing plasma and a loose collection of debris where once there had been half a million tons of passenger liner.
He was so devastated by the sight that he didn't notice when Tillek came up beside him, to also look out the viewport. "Stars! What happened?"
It was nearly a minute before Velder was able to answer him. "Main drive. Nothing else would have done that."
"Any other survivors?"
"From that? We're lucky to still be in one piece."
"Are we still in one piece?"
"I... I don't know." Velder turned to lead the way to the cockpit, barely managing to avoid the girl's hands, as she stretched her arms out towards him. Tillek immediately followed at his heels, also dodging the girl's grasping hands.
Ignoring the girl --- who was still in her self-induced golden fog and whose dreamy expression indicated that she was blissfully unaware of the disaster that had just befallen them --- the two men reached the cockpit, where Velder strapped himself into the pilot's seat and quickly ran through the lifeboat's systems. Tillek joined him in the copilot's seat, scanning for other survivors and switching on the radio to try to contact somebody. Anybody.
Neither of them had much good news for the other. The lifeboat's propulsion system was still functional, though one of the drive rods had been damaged. The life support system was intact, but the navigational systems were damaged. Two of the main storage compartments had been opened to space, their contents probably sucked out into the vacuum. They dared not risk opening them from the inside in order to check. They were lucky neither the cockpit nor the passenger cabin had been holed. The scanners could detect no life signs, not even from a Prime who might somehow have survived the explosion and the subsequent exposure to space. The radio could only pick up the static from the glowing plasma cloud.
"Looks like it's just us, old friend," Tillek said. He jerked his chin towards the passenger cabin behind them. "And the kid back there."
Reminded of the girl, Velder switched on the ventilation system, to try to cleanse the air of her pheromones. He knew that he would need to focus all of his mind if he was to get them to safety, and continually breathing an aroused female Prime's pheromones was not the way to focus his mind. At least, on anything other than the female Prime putting out the pheromones. As he now definitely knew from personal experience.
It was several minutes before Leysen regained enough of her senses to take stock of her surroundings. Of course --- the lifeboat. She remembered coming here to meet with that cute midshipman. And why was she strapped into a seat? She didn't remember doing that. Maybe he had done it. But if had, where was he now?
Her fingers were a little unsteady as she fumbled with the straps. If not for the weakening effects of the gold, she probably would have torn them off.
As she got unsteadily to her feet, her world seemed to spin around her. At first, she thought that it was the gold chains around her neck. But as she reached for the clasp behind her neck, the lifeboat lurched again, spilling her to the deck.
Carefully picking herself up off of the deck, she realized that it was the lifeboat, and not her head, which was moving. But why? Her midshipman didn't know how to pilot a small craft like the lifeboat, did he? If he did, he had never mentioned it. Besides, he could never get the clearance to take it out, could he? Certainly not for a joyride.
Making her way to the nearest viewport she looked out, expecting to see the Jiltan'th's boat bay. She was not prepared for the sight of stars that greeted her eyes instead.
Forgetting all about the gold, she walked --- somewhat unsteadily --- toward the cockpit. Reaching the door, she grabbed the handle and pulled, momentarily puzzled when it refused to yield to her Prime strength. Finding the catch and opening the door, she stepped forward into the cockpit. The view out the forward windscreen was just like the one out the viewport.
Two unfamiliar male faces turned and faced her. They briefly met her eyes, before dropping. Following their gaze, she saw that the front of her coveralls were in a state of disarray. She quickly straightened it out, zipping it up all the way to her chin.
"Get back and sit down, girl!" one of the men finally said, looking up at her face.
She flinched at the vehemence of his command, but she stood her ground. "Why are we moving? Where are we going?"
"Go aft and sit down, girl," he said again. "And strap yourself in."
She straightened up to her full height and put her hands on her hips. "Not until you tell me where we're going." She knew that the two men, though both older and bigger than she was, were Betas, and that there was no way that they could possibly compel her physically to do anything that she didn't want to do.
The Betas knew it as well. "We're trying to find a planet," he replied, after a sigh.
"A planet? But why? Why have we left the Jiltan'th?"
"We haven't left the Jiltan'th. It left us." He sighed again. "The ship was hit by an ion storm. It was destroyed."
"Destroyed? We have to go back for the others! There may be others!"
"What others, girl? We're the only ones left alive." He tapped a viewscreen with his finger.
It took Leysen several seconds to recognize what she was seeing. It was all that was left of the Jiltan'th, now nothing more than a loose collection of debris, surrounded by a spreading cloud of glowing plasma.
She felt her knees giving way. She slumped against the bulkhead, resting her cheek against the cool metal. Just the three of them? There had been more than five hundred people aboard the passenger liner. "What... what are we going to do?"
"What you are going to do, girl, is to go back to the cabin, sit down, strap yourself in, and stay out of our way while we fly us to safety --- if we can find some place to go to."
This time, she made no attempt to disobey, meekly walking back to the cabin. Returning to the seat where she had been, she sat down and strapped herself in.
Five hundred people. All gone.
Her friends and classmates. All gone.
The friends she'd had all her life. The friends with whom she'd shared secrets. Secrets that she'd dared not share with her parents. All gone.
The friends with whom she'd shared her dreams and aspirations. The glorious deeds they would perform for the Empire as Warriors Prime. All gone.
As tears filled the outside of her eyes, their faces filled the inside.
She finally found oblivion as she cried herself to sleep.
"I can think of worse places than Talis," Tillek said, when Velder announced the only possible destination within the range of the damaged lifeboat. "At least, we've both been there before. Though I can think of far better places."
"Just what the Stars are we going to do with her?" Velder asked, without taking his eyes from the controls.
"First, we have to get this crate down on Talis. If we don't take care of that problem, we won't have to worry about the second problem at all."
"Sure, but once we're down, we'll have to do something about her. You know as well as I do, she's not going to like it down there one bit."
"It isn't a very nice place for a girl, is it?"
Velder snorted. "She's a Prime, for Stars sake! She's not going to take it lying down."
"Like you were, when I found you?"
Velder looked up from the controls and shot Tillek a glare, without saying a word.
"Sorry, old friend. That was out of line. It was all I could do to resist her pheromones myself,aand you'd been exposed to them a lot longer."
"So what do we do if she starts acting like a Prime, once we're down there?"
Tillek glanced back, to make sure that the soundproof door to the passenger cabin was closed. Not even a Prime's sensitive ears should be able to hear their conversation. Still, he lowered his voice. "You mean, to keep her from simply killing any men who try to tell her what to do?"
"Right." Velder drew a slow breath. "Starting with us."
There was a long pause, before Tillek nodded his head in agreement, "Starting with us." He drew a slow breath. "I guess we should thank the Stars that the whole class wasn't conducting lifeboat drills at the time. One Prime is already about ten too many for me."
"Still, having a Prime with us could be useful," Velder said after some consideration.
"On Talis?" Tillek snorted. "A male, sure. But a female?"
When Leysen awoke several hours later, her body stiff and sore from sleeping while sitting, it took her several seconds to take in her unfamiliar surroundings. Then it all came flooding back.
The lifeboat. The image on the viewscreen. The glowing plasma cloud.
Five hundred people. All gone.
Her friends and classmates. All gone.
All while she had been making out with the midshipman.
With a start, she realized that she hadn't been making out with the midshipman. He had to be among the five hundred dead. It was one of the two men who were now flying the lifeboat. Feeling a sudden flush of embarrassment, and relieved that she was alone, that nobody had seen her crying, she quickly adjusted her coveralls.
As she was straightening her collar, her fingers brushed against the gold chains around her throat. She was just about to remove them when one of the men came into the cabin. She wasn't absolutely certain, but she thought he wasn't the one she had been making out with. She immediately dropped her hands to her lap.
He sat down across the aisle from her. "Here." He drew something out of his pocket and handed it over to her. Taking it from him, she saw that it was an emergency ration bar. "Eat it," he said, taking out another, unwrapping it and taking a bite.
Unwrapping her bar, she took a tentative bite out of it. It tasted just as bad as she remembered.
"We found a possible planet, but it'll take us several days to get there."
She took another bite of her bar, letting his words sink in.
When she didn't say anything, he spoke again. "What were you doing here, girl?"
She flushed with embarrassment as she remembered what she had come here for. And what she had been doing when the other Beta had entered. And what she had done to him. "I... I..." she stammered out.
"You were here to meet a boy, weren't you?" She lowered her eyes and nodded dumbly, not meeting his eyes. "And judging from the gold chains, he was a Beta boy, right?" So much for her little secret. Not that too many people would find out about it any time soon. She nodded again, still without meeting his eyes, and took another bite of her bar.
He finished his own bar and stood up. "Okay, this is the way it's going to be. As I said, it's going to take us several days to get to a planet. You will stay out of the cockpit and in this cabin, unless you need to use the facilities." He pointed to a door at the aft end of the cabin. "You will keep the gold chains on until we get there." She looked up in surprise. He raised a hand to keep her from speaking, and smiled reassuringly. "No, we're not going to touch you. But with the gold on, you won't need as much food. This lifeboat has been damaged, and we lost a good chunk of our supplies. And we may need all of your Prime strength once we're down, just to survive, until we can contact a rescue ship."
"Res... rescue? We, we're not going home? Where... where are we going?"
"There's only one habitable planet in range. It's called Talis." When she showed no signs of recognition he continued on. "It's a rough and primitive world, but there are humans living there. You probably haven't studied it in your classes yet, but you'll find a memory crystal on it in the hypno-teacher." He pointed to the device, also at the aft end of the cabin. "I suggest you brush up on it. It's rather barbaric, not a world that you'll like, but it looks like it's going to be our home for a while."
She took a final bite of her bar, finishing it off. "Yes..." She realized that she didn't know his name. Well, there was a way out of that difficulty. "Yes, Sir."
Despite the seriousness of the situation he almost chuckled at that. "Don't give me any of the 'Sir' Kintzishit, even if I am now the Captain of this crate. My name is Tillek."
"Yes, Tillek. And my name is Leysen." She refrained from mentioning her family name; her father's rank hadn't meant a thing whle she had been aboard the Jiltan'th, and she knew that it would mean even less on this lifeboat.
"Fine, girl." He jerked his thumb towards the cockpit door. "That's Velder up there, flying this crate. But then, I believe you've already met him."
She lowered her eyes, unable to answer him, too embarrassed by what she had done.
"Just remember what I told you, girl." With that, he turned and walked forward to the cockpit door, going in and closing the door behind him.
She stared after him. Just who does he think he is, anyway? Telling her to keep her gold chains on? Does he think he can take advantage of her? He knows she's still stronger than he is. Maybe the two of them are plotting something.
Just to make sure, she opened up the front of her coveralls, exposing her breasts. She then slid the straps of her uniform off of her nipples. Reaching up to the back of her neck, she unclasped one of the chains circling her throat. There was a brief play of green sparks between her nipples when she removed the chain, lasting for about five seconds. When the sparks faded out, she covered up her nipples again. "There," she said to herself, "I'm still wearing my gold, but now let's see them try to take advantage of me." She zipped up her coveralls and dropped the gold chain into a pocket and sealed it.
When the cockpit door remained closed, she unstrapped herself and got up. Walking aft she sat down in front of the hypno-teacher, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her right forefinger.
It was an unfamiliar military model, quite different from those that she had used in school. Though it was currently attached to the bulkhead, it was obviously intended to be portable. Which only made sense; if the lifeboat came down on the surface of a planet, the equipment inside it might be needed elsewhere.
Even though unfamiliar, a hypno-teacher is still a hypno-teacher. She quickly activated it and found the files for the planet to which they were headed. Talis was an insignificant planet, the second of four circling an insignificant little yellow star.
There wasn't much data available on the planet. The usual orbital surveys. The world was mostly ocean. One smallish continent, some smaller outlying islands. Atmospheric analysis. The usual nitrogen-oxygen mix. And some data on the inhabitants who were --- as Tillek had said, a barbaric group.
She was surprised to find that a small group of Betas had actually landed on the planet, living with the natives, who called themselves the Talisi --- hence the name given to their planet. She was even more surprised to find that she recognized two of the names. Checking further, she discovered that they had been scheduled to be guest lecturers later that week. At least they wouldn't be total strangers to the planet, she thought to herself, rubbing her nose with her finger again. Assuming they get there at all.
Soon, all thoughts of the two men in the cockpit disappeared from her mind, replaced by the hypno-teacher's lessons.
Without any need for words an uneasy routine quickly developed. The girl stayed aft by the hypno-teacher, except when she came forward to receive her twice-daily ration bars. The men usually stayed forward --- when either one bothered to come back into the cabin at all --- strapping himself into a seat for a short nap. Very few words were spoken at all, even during meals, which consisted of more of the bland and tasteless but nutritious ration bars.
Velder in particular never said a single word to her. Afraid that he was still angry at her for nearly raping him, Leysen saw no need to try to engage him in conversation, not even to offer an apology. After all, a true Warrior Prime never apologized to a mere Beta for any of her actions.
Though neither would admit it, both sides were relieved that the other made no overtures. There was no physical contact of any kind.
As he ate his ration bar, Velder pretended to stare out the viewport at the blackness of space. But his thoughts were not on what was out there. Instead, he watched the reflection of the young girl sitting aft, absorbed in the hypno-teacher.
He brought a hand up to his face, touching his lips, remembering how it had felt to have her lips touching his. A kiss unlike that of any other woman whom he had ever experienced.
He could still remember how it had felt to have her body in his arms, a body so different from that of a Beta woman. He could also remember how it had felt to be in her arms, an embrace unlike any that a Beta woman could give. Even with the gold encircling her throat, he had been helpless in those powerful arms. He would have been helpless against her greater strength --- even with the gold --- even if he hadn't been under the influence of her sweet pheromones, and he knew it.
And he also knew that he had enjoyed it. For the first time in his life, he had felt the arms of a female Prime around him. For the first time in his life, he had his arms around the body of a female Prime.
As he continued to study her reflection, he hoped that it wouldn't be the last time.
Through the viewport Leysen could see the approaching planet and one of its two accompanying moons, the other lost to sight on the far side. Through the white clouds she could see the blue of oceans and green of vegetation on the one continent. Even zooming in with her super-vision, she couldn't see any signs of human habitation. There were no lights on the night side to indicate the presence of cities, which had her momentarily puzzled until she recalled that the natives didn't even have electricity.
Her sightseeing was interrupted by Tillek's voice coming through the intercom. "Strap yourself in, girl! We're going down." No sooner had she tightened the straps about her when the lifeboat shuddered, indicating its first contact with the planet's atmosphere.
The craft continued to shudder as it descended through the atmosphere. Soon, there was nothing to be seen outside the viewport, except for the glow of the atmosphere as it was ionized from the friction of their passage.
"Brace yourself back there, girl!" Tillek's voice came back over the intercom again. "It's going to be a rough landing!" She braced herself, holding on to the seat in front of her. "Hold on! We're going to hit!" She heard a few more words before the intercom cut off --- words she was sure were not intended for her hearing, including some words she had never heard before.
They hit. The impact threw her forward, her head hitting against the back of the seat in front of her. The seat back was made of steel, with all of the padding in front. Fortunately for Leysen, her skull was made of something much harder than mere steel. A dent the size and shape of her forehead appeared in the seat.
Still, the impact was enough to stun her momentarily.
As the sun climbed toward its zenith, the warriors of Simpore gathered in the temple courtyard for the daily ritual. There were no women among them; the females were not allowed in the temple for this --- or any other --- ritual.
As the large heavy metal doors --- twice the height of a man and nearly a foot thick --- at the top of the steps opened, the men dropped to their knees as one.
Emerging from the temple and standing at the top of the steps, the young woman surveyed the men below her. Descending, she walked among them. Whenever she stopped in front of one of them, he bowed his head to the ground and kissed her foot.
There was no sense in hurrying the job. But then, there was no point in tarrying, either. The sooner she selected the men, the sooner the honored could prepare to worship their goddess.
As she walked among them, she occasionally put a finger under a chin and tilted up the face to gaze upon it. Here and there she could see bruises upon the bodies of the men; worshipping their goddess was not an easy task for the men. This, despite the care that she took to be gentle with their fragile bodies, as the men worshipped the body of their goddess.
She grasped one warrior by a strap of his harness. Even though the warrior was easily twice her size, she showed no signs of effort as she raised him up, actually completely lifting him up off of the ground before she set him down on his feet. Leaving him standing, she continued walking through the courtyard. Twice more, she lifted warriors to their feet, before she turned and returned to the stairs.
Her hips swayed gracefully as her long shapely legs carried her to the top. She knew that every pair of eyes were upon her; all men --- even those not so honored today --- could still worship their goddess with their eyes.
Near the top she stopped and turned around, one foot placed two steps above the other. Putting one hand on her knee and the other on her waist, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, she again surveyed the men below her.
There were men below who had never been selected for the honor of worshipping their goddess. Not many, but a few. As she looked down at their upturned faces, she could see the faces of many of their fathers as well. They too had had the honor of worshipping their goddess.
A wave of her hand dismissed the men, who all bowed to her before leaving the courtyard.
She then entered the temple and closed the doors behind her with simple flicks of her wrists, confident in the knowledge that the three honored men would present themselves at sunset, when the temple doors would again be opened. No man ever refused a summons to worship his goddess.
From inside the temple, Tani'a Veloor --- the self-styled Golden Goddess of Simpore --- did not see the shooting star pass overhead, before disappearing over the northern horizon.
