Call Girl
Chapter 21
Kate had smiled at TiPhar as she walked past. She was dressed much like she was, however, Kate no longer had braids in her hair so no lights on the tips. It was something she needed to fix while they were there.
Rick had arranged to stay only that one night. They had gone on a big shopping trip. Rick had gotten them more food than usual and they presently had little empty space on their little ship. Kate also had one additional dress as well as a new hair style and some new jewelry to go with both.
They'd even managed to eat at a restaurant instead of using up some of their newly acquired food. Right now they were leaving their future home behind. Since Kate and even Rick spent most of their time upstairs having all the food take up a lot of the space below wasn't that much of a problem.
Of course Kate and even Rick had to work past some of it to reach the spaces below the sofa and the bed to get clothes. Kate was also trying out something. She hadn't inserted one of her Diva cups. She wasn't supposed to have a menstrual cycle any longer so she was planning to test that theory. Hopefully it would only leave a blood spot and not something far worse. However, that also meant she could have sex whenever she wanted.
"How long is this trip?" Kate asked him as they both watched the lights as usual.
"For us, just short of a month. We went the wrong way to get your nanites and didn't really get that much closer to get home. Three weeks from our client. It's the reason for all the food. Not including your nanites which influence how much we have now," Rick responded.
"So what do we know about them? We must know something," Kate queried.
"Lucile?" Rick was going to let her explain what they had.
o- [:] -o
Lucile dropped them out of FTL just outside of the system for their next research project. What little information they'd been given suggested that this race had spaceships already. Quite a few, actually. Only a simple dumb drone had been sent and it had collected very little data. So the plan was to sit out there and watch for a little while.
They only had one major issue to contend with. FOOD! The ship could only hold just so much and the next closest system to buy food was almost two weeks away. It was almost as fast to go back to their clients' system to get food than go to the other one.
Going to their future home system was even farther. They were going to need a plan as to how to deal with that. First, however, they needed to figure out what to do once they arrived.
"Exiting FTL." Lucile had come into view to warn them since they were both upstairs. Neither of them expected to see anything but they could be wrong.
o- [:] -o
They'd been there a week while Rick was letting Lucile do all the work for now. What she had found was that yes, they had a home planet and yes, they had a lot of spaceships. She had already counted two hundred twenty-two of them. Granted all of them had finally landed on the planet while others came up off the planet and did a patrol of the system.
Lucile had shown both of them a closeup view of one of them since they were all the same. "That's a spaceship?" Kate looked it over. "You're certain? It looks like a rocket to me. I mean it even has fins at the bottom." They both kept looking it over. It was fat, there was a ridge that cut it in half, a fin on the top, three fins at the back where the actual rocket was located. "It has glass." Kate indicated the three slots on either side of the front ridge. "I don't see anything else. Are they dangerous besides there being a lot of them?"
"Based on what I can find they are fueled. Their engines appear to be chemically fueled somehow," Lucile told them. "Given that type of fuel I do not believe them to be FTL capable. So far their normal speed is below ours though if we wanted we could simply do an FTL jump to escape."
"So how do we get close to the planet? This many ships mean we're bound to be spotted." Rick had to get onto the planet to do his research. Preferably close to a base that these ships used.
Lucile had an answer for that. "Easy, we do what we did when we approached the Earth.
"FTL jump and sit over one of the poles. So long as none of those ships actually travel there it should be fine." He didn't know if they even used scanners of any kind. They had to have something but so far Lucile had very little information.
"Do you plan to stay on the planet like you did on Earth or come back here?" If he stayed down there it was going to leave her all alone up here till he came back. Whenever that was and Kate really didn't want to be left all alone. Save for Lucile, of course. Just she couldn't make love to Lucile nor did she want to.
"I'll be back for a few hours each day. I'll just need a find a deserted spot to transport to each time." Rick leaned toward her and gave her a quick kiss.
"Right answer. Now what do I do while you're gone? How can I help you? I can't look like them, whatever that is, so what do I do?" It was looking like she was going to be very bored while stuck on their little ship.
"I have a thought about that but I'm not sure what to do with it. Home is all about art. Architecture, paintings, sculpture, you name it. What is art like on Earth? Something that you can duplicate at home. After that I don't know.
"Get Lucile to help you with design ideas. She downloaded a lot of things while we were on Earth. Think of something. Make whatever it is at home or decide if you can create a business out of it. Build a factory, open a store in the city somewhere, or force them to come to you." Rick shrugged. "That's all I've got. Oh, you could take classes to learn to be a teacher. Teach grade school, maybe." Rick had another idea. "I know we can't have children. At least right now, but we have time. Let the science of it catch up to us."
"Maybe." Kate wasn't sure about teaching children anything. However, she couldn't think of anything artsy at the moment.
"You have six months." Rick kissed her quickly again. "Ready, Lucile? The sooner we get started the sooner we get paid and the sooner we can start to have a home." Rick was ready to get this over with.
"Powering up FTL in preparation for a short jump," Lucile advised them. "FTL jump…now. Making adjustments to our position and scanning for ships." If they were going to do this they needed to keep from being seen and found out.
Rick and Lucile knew that if they were spotted then left suddenly, the Zorgons would be on guard if they came back, requiring a whole new plan.
o- [:] -o
Rick gave them a few hours to see if they'd been spotted before beginning his work.
"Think good thoughts," Rick asked Kate and Lucile.
It started with a localized high pitched whine, then his body was broken down into cheap, diffused, eight bit, colored squares. Those same squares became far more distinct and the colors more pronounced. Then with an audible, "POING!" he was gone.
Kate took her hands off her ears since he was gone. "You people really need to come up with a better system." She hadn't been forced to use it lately so the contents of her stomach was safe for now. "Please tell me, Lucile. Is he safe?" Kate begged.
"Richard is fine. He will signal me if he needs immediate transport. So how much of an artist are you?" Lucile was ready to get started helping her with what she wanted to do with her life.
Kate shook her head. "I'm not, not really. I haven't done any painting since I was a little kid. Same for drawing anything. Never done any sculpture or even used clay to make pots." Kate sat down on the bed in disgust. Rick's idea wasn't bad but she wasn't even remotely artistic.
"I'm so pathetic. Maybe he should have chosen TiPhar." Kate instantly waved her hands to stop Lucile from saying anything. "I didn't say that. In fact, never tell Rick I ever said that."
"Said what?" Lucile answered and smiled at her.
That still left Kate sighing since she didn't have an idea. She was going to lose her mind sitting at home all day with nothing to do. She most definitely wasn't selling herself for sex. She was so past that time in her life.
"Artsy, so what is artsy that someone might want to buy and Earth based." Earth was all she had to work with.
o- [:] -o
Kate was on snack number four for the day and was sitting upstairs with her pad trying to think of things. So far things just weren't coming to her. Then she heard it and covered her ears with her hands. Once it was over, she began smiling. It meant Rick was back. Kate made it down all of two stairs when she saw it. And wow, did she mean IT! The mere sight of it had her screaming at the top of her lungs and stumbling backwards as far away from the stairs as she could get.
It also had her looking around. She didn't see anything that she could use as a weapon to defend herself with. All she saw was some throw pillows. The weapons were down next to Lucile. Based on the amount of teeth she saw she knew she was dead. She was about to become someone's lunch.
Then she heard it on the stairs. It was actually coming up! Of course it was coming up. Its lunch was up here, meaning her. Then Rick's head came into view. His head in his natural form that she now knew really well. She was thinking that if she ever saw another of his race she might actually be able to pick him out of a crowd.
"RICK! There's something down there." Kate whispers and points downstairs. She didn't see how he could have missed seeing it. It was almost as big as their bed. In fact part of it had to be on their bed to even be standing there.
"Sorry, love. That was me." Rick kept climbing till he had joined her.
"THAT WAS YOU?" For a moment she had forgotten that he could change his form to anything. "Are you telling me that was a Zorgon? It's hideous! Dammit, you scared the shit out of me!" He was now close enough to hit so she did just that. Then she hit him again for good measure. "Do that again and I'll hurt you!" Kate seethed then reluctantly let him kiss her.
"You wouldn't believe these people and I'm using the word people loosely." Rick had had one hell of a day and it was only day one of six months.
"You change again so you can show me and I'll hurt you so bad, Richard Castle! They're ugly. So what did you learn?" Kate asked him.
Rick, however, changed subjects. "Have you been eating?" Her nanites needed things.
"Now that you mention it I'm really hungry. I've been eating since you've been gone, promise," Kate swore.
"I'll go make dinner. Stay here, I'll be back." Rick kissed her and was kissed back then he headed downstairs.
Lucile was safer. "Lucile?"
Lucile came into view. "How can I help, Katherine?"
"A Zorgon. Show me one, please. Only make it a lot smaller and maybe with a lot less teeth," Kate asked her and instantly drew back from it since she couldn't help herself. The damn thing was ugly and still full of teeth.
It was standing on two legs that looked to be full of muscles. It had two arms that were about as long as hers, though maybe thicker. They ended in nasty looking claws. It had a shortish fat tail. There was a ridge of spines starting at the head, down the back, ending at the tail. However, it was the head that had most of her attention. It reminded her of a cross between an alligator and a T-Rex. And teeth! Hell, the repulsive thing had one heck of a mouth full of teeth.
"Okay, that's enough, take it away." She had seen all she cared to see and watched it turn into Lucile then vanish. It got her up and over to the stairs and down on all fours to look first. Yes, Rick had said he was going downstairs but if there was one of those things down there she was going to stay up here. Worse, if Rick had changed back into one of those things just to scare her she was going to kick him where it would hurt the most. He would be speaking in soprano for hours.
Kate could see most everything and all she saw was Rick in his natural form in the kitchen so she gingerly got up and walked down. She moved very carefully and looked everywhere. She even took a peek down the stairs to make sure there wasn't one of those down there.
"So Zorgon and what are you making?" Kate looked around him, hummed her acceptance, and felt her stomach grumble a little. It seemed having pure adrenaline shot through her nanite-filled system made her hungry.
"Zorgons, what a day. I'm still sorry." Rick turned his head and kissed her cheek. "I've been surrounded by those things all day long and kind of forgot I was one for a moment."
"Just don't do it again. If I had a weapon I might have shot you." Provided she could hit him with it. Though given how big a Zorgon was how could she miss?
"I'm pretty sure I would recover but I'll make a note of it. Just be ready to see me as a Zorgon again. I don't dare change first. I might be spotted and going back would be difficult." Just teleporting in and out was a risk. He didn't need to add to that risk.
Kate moved to sit on the bed. "So what did you learn?" Granted it had only been one day but surely he had learned something.
"For one they don't talk. They do a lot of grunting, a lot of screaming, and despite their size they can be fast when they want to be. They can also jump straight up really well. Tried it myself once. Oh and they're meat eaters. I'm thinking a lot of their planet is devoted to breeding animals and you don't want to know what they do with those. Talk about gross." Rick put what he'd made into the oven.
"How gross?" Kate knew she should keep her mouth shut but she was curious.
"Well…" Rick sat down on the bed next to her and they looked at each other. "They don't butcher them and they don't cook them." Rick let her imagination fill in the rest.
"EWW, ICK!" Then a thought struck her. "Please tell me you didn't eat one like that." He hadn't gone native on her, had he?
"Definitely not. Besides I took my lunch with me like always. I just had to find a quiet place to eat it. Remember, I may look like one of them but I'm not. My mouth isn't full of teeth and not nearly that big," Rick reminded her.
"Good thing, too. So six whole months of this, huh? You're sure we need the entire six months?" Kate asked him.
"That's the job, Kate. Do you really want them all dead that badly?" Rick feared the worst if he didn't do his job properly.
"No. No, I suppose not. So are we safe up here?" If they had to suddenly leave, Rick and Lucile might be right. How would they get back and not be spotted?
"I don't have an answer to that question yet. I did see one of their ships leave the planet, though. Very primitive yet they're advanced enough to not need booster rockets to do it with. It must be the fuel that they use. Whatever that is. Still a lot to do."
Rick changed subjects. "So how goes my idea on what you could be doing while I'm down there?"
"Not great. I don't sculpt and I don't paint. Unless you count painting a wall maybe with a roller or a paint sprayer." Kate chose to fall backwards onto the bed and lay there looking up.
"So how can I help? What do people do on Earth? They do make things. I saw a lot of things doing my research. What about all those events you have each year? Is there something in any of those that you can do? I know they prefer something very elegant to wear and make but perhaps something simple will catch on. Create your own little niche," Rick offered.
Kate sighed and tried to think if any of that would work. "Fourth of July, maybe. I could make fireworks if I knew how to." Kate shot that down as soon as she thought of it.
"Valentine's Day, maybe. Get everyone to want to buy the love of their life or future love of their life something. But they already do that most likely." Kate shot that down.
Then a thought hit her and suddenly she sat up and looked at him. "What about Christmas? A lot of Christmas ornaments are made by hand. Christmas trees, Christmas lights can be very festive. Lots of garland. Tree skirts around the tree. Does it snow there?
"I should probably skip the religious aspect of Christmas. I don't want to get into trouble. I could make it Yule based. I'm going to need help. I don't know how to make Christmas lights. Maybe start a Christmas tree farm so we could sell trees.
"I could make Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls or maybe teddy bears. Though neither of those are very elegant." Kate had thought she was on a roll till she hit a snag.
The oven timer went off so Rick got up and left her so they could eat.
o- [:] -o
"Elegance, my love, is what you think it is. What if at home we decorated one of those trees in a manner that you like? Show it off to everyone. Make what you want in small numbers then go into town and sell them in one of the parks. After you get a permit, if you even need one. I don't know about that.
"Start small and work up to bigger. Maybe one day open a shop and sell them from there. Work out how to make them in larger quantities and do a display somewhere. At home, yes, but get permission to do one in a park, maybe. Let them learn to like it and want it."
Rick reminded her that time wasn't truly an obstacle for them. "Don't forget just how long you and I are going to live. So what if it takes fifty or even a hundred years. Just be ready for it to take a lot less than that."
"A hundred years." Kate really needed to think about that. "Thanks, babe." Kate leaned across and kissed him. Now she had something to start her design ideas with.
"Since I haven't eaten seconds yet…." Kate looked at him coyly then reached out to take him in her hand and see if he was interested in making love to her. She was feeling rather frisky at the moment.