Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

"So we need a price for the planet that leaves us a good sum over after I've sold my shares in the Samothea Project," Danielle said.

******

With a good understanding of the legal problems, the Samothea Project team instructed Elspeth Bereded to make an official bid to Outworld Ventures to buy the planet Samothea.

She did so in person on Earth, at a meeting with senior executives of the settler company in their high-rise office in Los Angeles. The executives were polite and welcoming but unbudging. It made no difference that the bid came from the Women's Business Initiative on behalf of Danielle's consortium. Maybe their influence persuaded Outworld Ventures to make an offer at all; but the offer was ten million Galactic Pounds.

Danielle expected it. Her cynical attitude to anything connected to the Samothea Project, recently abated, now returned. It was the same amount that she had been quoted when a friend of Stephen Oakshott had approached the settler company on her behalf.

The irony was that Danielle was herself partly to blame. The success of her hyperdrive technology made it cheap and easy to get to Samothea, which also made the potential value of the planet so much greater to the settler company. There may also have been a mixture of influences: political forces on Earth wanting to keep Samothea under the sway of an Earthside company; but Outworld Ventures also driven by commercial considerations to sell for a good price, in defiance of Earthside governments.

Needless to say, the price was far beyond the pocket of the Samothea Project, including any loans they might receive. The danger of defaulting on the debt and losing ownership of Samothea made an actual bid impossible.

At that price, even the compromise suggested by Paul Kessler, in which Danielle's consortium would lease the planet from Outworld Ventures, was not viable. It seemed that the wanton immigration of a million settlers was going to go ahead, against the wishes of the women of Samothea and the Samothea Project Team.

Something needed to be done to persuade Outworld Ventures to drop their price.

7 Solange Malkasdaughter

On the night that the women of Samothea learned the offer from Outworld Ventures, with the Project Team's hope of buying the planet apparently gone, Solange walked naked from her bedroom to Gloria's room. She entered without knocking, rightly expecting Gloria to be still up, reading on her couch.

"You're getting to be a nuisance," Gloria said, putting down her book.

"Rubbish, you love me. Come on, bed-time."

In bed, as they cuddled warmly, Solange cupped one of Gloria's tits as she lent over to kiss her.

"What are you doing?"

"Just being friendly."

"You're up to something. What is it?"

"I want to go to Celetaris. Really, this time."

"Will it be safe? You're eight months pregnant."

"I'm told space travel is perfectly safe for pregnant women."

"I don't suppose you'll tell me why you want to go to Celetaris right now?"

"Better you don't know, in case."

"In case, what?"

"Just in case."

"I see. Will you go alone?"

"No. I want Ash and Kalyndra to take up the Women's Business Initiative's offer of fertility treatments. They've both tried by cloning and by fucking Ezra. I'll go with them, to support Ash."

"Kalyndra? If you do what I guess you're planning to do, and if it doesn't work, then the Council will sack you. There'll be no reprieve."

"You know me: risk everything to win everything."

******

Next day, when Solange opened the communications link to the Samothea Project, it was Annela who answered from the terminal in Danielle's apartment.

"Hey, Annela. How's your belly?"

"Big and warm, Madam. How's yours?"

"Kicking and squirming. She's got my temper and she's not even born yet. I think I'll call her 'Fury'."

"Did you want to talk to Ezra?"

"Yes, eventually, but maybe you can answer a question about the medical treatments offered by the Women's Business Initiative. How do ask for them?"

"We just need to tell the medical centre the names of the women and what treatments they need. They'll send the bill to Elspeth."

"Sounds good to me. Can you tell them to expect Ash and Kalyndra on the next shuttlecraft and that they want fertility treatments?"

"Very well."

"Can you also tell Danielle that I'd like come on the shuttlecraft with Ash? Tahney and me, we need four seats."

******

One month after Andrew returned to Celetaris, and a week after Outworld Ventures replied with its offer to the Samothea Project Team, Solange, Tahney, Ash and Kalyndra arrived on the shuttlecraft.

From the hygiene station, the newest visitors from Samothea walked out into the vibrant confusion of Ocean City Astroport, with its buzzing crowds, bright lights and whizzing transports. Behind them, the engines of the shuttlecraft wheezed as they cooled down. The airframe still dripped from the decontamination spray. In front of them, on the platform, were Ezra, Annela, Freya, Danielle, Roger and half-a-dozen other members of the Samothea Project.

A group of reporters now regularly followed the Samothea Project. They stood on one side of the platform, cameras and microphones ready.

Ash was the first to look out. She blinked under the bright lights and looked timid. At least it was warm on the platform, despite the wintry conditions outside.

Solange strode out after Ash, holding her daughter's hand. She winked at Ezra, who looked fondly on his bedmates and his daughter. He was not surprised that Solange took all the noise and activity in her stride. She said something to Tahney and released her. The four-year-old started off at a sprint down the platform to Ezra, crying: "Daddy! Daddy!" as she ran.

Ezra scooped her up and held her tightly, kissing her fondly.

"Have you missed me, Sweetie?"

"Lots and lots, Daddy," Tahney said.

Now Freya escaped from Annela, who had been holding her back. She also ran along the platform to Ezra, crying out: "Tahney!"

Ezra gave Tahney another kiss and let her down so she could have the breath squeezed out of her by a rampantly happy Freya. The girls embraced with a huge hug. They had made friends the previous year, when Ezra and Freya stayed in the Cloner City.

Solange was the first to say hello to Ezra. Showing her nicely pregnant belly in a long blue dress, she gave him a passionate kiss in full view of the news media cameras. Ash came next and she was just as passionate.

Kalyndra surely did not feel apprehensive, yet she held back, sheltering behind the group of Petticoats and their families, who hugged and kissed on the platform.

While Ash occupied Ezra, Solange smiled a greeting to Annela but only nodded to Danielle and the others waiting to be introduced by Ezra. Instead, she boldly approached the reporters and stood still, waiting for them to focus on her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Solange addressed the reporters, as confident as any native of Celetaris who was familiar with cameras and microphones. "I'm Solange Malkasdaughter Herder, Deputy Prefect of Samothea. I'm here with my daughter, Tahney, and my bedmate, Ash Linsdaughter Herder. Over there is Kalyndra Fernesdaughter Mariner."

"Welcome to Celetaris, Ma'am," one of the reporters called out. "What have you come here to do?"

"As you can see, I'm eight-months pregnant and I'm going though a particularly horny stage, so I've come here to claim my bedmate rights from Ezra Goldrick of the Three Tribes."

That caused a momentary hush, then a flurry of questions, which Solange ignored. She waited for silence before speaking again.

"Ash and Kalyndra are also Ezra's bedmates and neither of them has managed to conceive by him, so they're here for fertility treatments, in the hope that Ezra will impregnate them during their stay."

Solange again ignored the flurry of questions, most of which concerned how many bedmates Ezra had, which was an item of bad publicity that supporters of the Samothea Project hoped had faded from the public consciousness. Instead, she nodded to Kalyndra, whose actions were by far the most shocking that afternoon.

Kalyndra stepped out from the group of Petticoats and made her way toward Ezra. She was wearing her Mariner work outfit: a short leather skirt revealing tanned thighs (and nothing on underneath). She had a short leather jacket, showing her muscled midriff, bare shoulders and generous cleavage, with the undersides of the succulent mounds peeking out from the bottom of the jacket.

The leather ties of her sandals criss-crossed her calves, emphasising her long strong legs. Her black hair fell in shiny waves down her back. Aged 30 and six feet tall, Kalyndra was a Mediterranean sex-goddess who made the observing men (and some of the women) gaze with their mouths open.

The crowd of reporters went silent again and simply stared as Kalyndra walked up to Ezra, a naturally erotic wiggle in her hips, carrying a small cloth bag. Ezra tried to signal to her not to do what he divined she was about to do but Kalyndra was on autopilot.

An unaccustomed nervousness in one usually so fearless caused beads of sweat to emerge on her top lip, on her thin stomach and her luscious cleavage, adding lustre to her healthily glowing bronze skin.

The reporters caught up with reality and stopped staring. Cameras flashed, videographs were held up for a good view and microphone dishes were pointed at the gorgeous woman from Samothea.

As Kalyndra reached Ezra, she fell to her knees, opened her cloth bag and proffered him its contents. There was a long leather whip, a gag, binds, a blindfold, leather straps and pegs.

"Master, your Pet is here to serve you," Kalyndra said, in the full hearing of the audience, the reporters and the Project Team members.

"Get up, Kali," Ezra said, speaking long before she had finished. "Come and greet me properly."

"This is how I greet you properly, Master," Kalyndra insisted.

Ezra bent down to whisper in her ear:

"I'm unhappy with the scene you're creating, Pet. Now please stand up."

Kalyndra stood up, satisfied that he used her real name; though she would have preferred him to use it in public.

"I'm sorry I embarrassed you," Kalyndra whispered back.

"Solange put you up to this. I'll have words with you both when I get you home. God knows what damage you've done!"

If Ezra sounded annoyed, it was nothing compared to Danielle, who was seething. Ignoring the reporters, who trained their cameras on her and called out their questions, Danielle said to Annela:

"Fetch Freya and come with us. We're leaving."

"What about Ezra?"

"He can make his own way."

Annela looked to Ezra who nodded approval, so she called Freya to her and followed Danielle, who turned on her heel and marched the other way on the platform, dragging Roger with her. Freya would not let go of Tahney, so Solange said:

"Go with your Aunt Annela, Baby. Ash and I will fetch you later."

Freya ran along the platform after Annela, holding Tahney tightly by the hand.