Call Girl

Chapter 22

It had been two whole weeks and Kate was in the kitchen cooking. She had plans to show that once again she did know how to cook when Rick got back.

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 and was home.

Rick saw Kate standing at the kitchen with her hands over her ears and he tried to very quickly change forms but he wasn't quite fast enough. This time, however, she didn't scream but she did place a hand over her heart, willing it to slow down.

"Sorry. You should be glad that you can't come with me. I may lose my mind before this research trip is over. This race is just sooo…." Rick wasn't sure he had a word for it.

"Just so long as they don't eat you." Kate stepped over to kiss him then went back to what she was doing.

"This race eats nearly everything else. The hard part is listening to the animal scream for its life just before the first or even second bite." Rick shuddered then wrapped his arms around Kate from behind and began nibbling on her neck.

"I'm going to ruin our dinner if you keep this up," Kate warned him.

"It's a good thing that you're very tasty, isn't it?" Rick didn't stop his assault on her neck. Kate tilted her head to allow him even better access and moaned a little.

"Later, babe. I have something to show you. Watch this and stir it occasionally." Kate left his arms, headed upstairs, and came back with her rolled up pad. She proudly handed it to him and took over stirring. "Take a look at that and tell me what you think."

Kate thought she was on to something and wanted his opinion. She already had Lucile's.

He rolled it open and looked at what she had. Rick raised both eyebrows and opened both eyes wide. "A Christmas tree, I do believe. Very pretty. Looks like it has a little of everything." He saw ornaments, both handmade and glass. Lights, garland that was silver in color and there was…. Bewildered, he looked at Kate. "What's this at the top of the tree?"

"It's Frosty the Snowman. He even has arms hugging the tree. It's just his head but you get the idea. I thought of an angel but that got me into religion which I don't want. Then I thought about Santa but that does the same thing.

"It could be a star but I couldn't decide on just what the star should look like so I stayed with Frosty. I think he's kinda cute, actually." Kate repositioned his hand so she could see it again and still liked it.

"I think I can handle the handmade ornaments but the glass ones are beyond my skill set. I'm going to need help with those. I haven't yet solved just how I'm going to make a whole lot of them. I only have two hands and only just so much time." Kate went back to the kitchen and began pouring.

"Here, taste." Kate lifted up a spoon for him to taste and watched his face closely. It might be an alien face but she was getting use to reading even this face. "What do you think?"

"I think I should let you cook more often, is what I think," Rick replied since he did like it.

"Thanks. My mother thanks you, too. She's the one that taught me." Since it was done Kate poured it out onto what she substituted for rice.

Kate handed over his plate. "Yours."

"Kate, I'm still really sorry about what happened to your parents and to you. I honestly didn't even know you then," Rick told her.

That had Kate pausing. "I know." She had a question, though. "Did you put all that in your report?" If he did it didn't reflect well on the human race.

"I did. I also included information about New Year's Eve celebrations, Mother's Day, something called the Super Bowl, not that it's a bowl. That part confuses me." That had Kate laughing and she gave him a quick kiss.

"You're cute. Now eat before it gets cold." Kate sat down on the bed to eat since she was afraid of spilling it while trying to get to the sofa or up the stairs.

He chose to stand while eating. "I thought I was handsome, not cute."

"Very handsome. Now eat. Then you can help me figure out how I'm going to make glass Christmas ornaments in large quantities so I can sell them." Kate went back to eating.

o- [:] -o

They were one month in and Kate was feeling trapped on their little ship. There was just so much space to live in. Though as they began to use up their food supplies that space got back to being a little bigger. Still Kate spent most of it upstairs.

Thanks to Lucile and the glass top she could see out and down onto the planet below where her husband was. Surrounded by Zorgons. She had gotten into the habit of making sure she was up here when her husband came back. That way she didn't have to see a Zorgon and all those teeth suddenly show up on their ship.

Logically she knew that it was Rick but it sure as shit didn't look like him till he changed forms. So she was trying to avoid seeing any of that.

Then she heard it and covered her ears with her hands. Her husband was home. He even looked human for a change as she watched him come up to join her. He walked over to her, sat down, and kissed her.

"Learn anything new today?" Kate might not get to go down there and based on what a Zorgon looked like she didn't want to. However, she did want to know how his research was going.

"I'm not sure you would believe me. I'm not sure I believe me. I finally made it onto one of their ships. It was grounded for maintenance. WOW!" Rick still didn't understand what he'd seen.

Kate simply looked at him and waited.

"They have live animals on their ship for them to eat naturally. But they have… Each ship has eight weapons. Four per side. They literally open these portals in the side of the ship and run out cannons that actually shoot these balls." Rick used his hands to form a ball about the same size.

"You're joking, right? Cannons? Like real cannons?" Kate was thinking English sailing ships or that cartoon with Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. A portal would swing up and they would use rope to pull the cannon out far enough to shoot it, then pull it back in so they could reload it. "That's nuts! They're in space so how does that work?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet, nor have I had a chance to examine one of the balls. However, the one I saw looked solid enough." Rick used his hands to show how big it was again. "How they shoot it and how they reload it out in space I have no clue. Though I have a crazy idea. Say they load the cannons before takeoff and while out in space have only those eight shots. They have to land again to reload them." Rick thought it was stupid but hey, so far this entire race was a little on the stupid side.

"That's NUTS!" Kate considered his theory for a moment. "It might explain why they have so many ships. But why do they have so many in the first place? As far as I know it's just them in this system. Isn't it? Lucile!"

Lucile appeared. "Richard's theory has merit even if it is insane and yes, they are the only race in this system. Perhaps you should focus on whethher they have ever had visitors and that is why they have so many ships," Lucile suggested while looking at Richard; she waited.

"It's possible. I'll see what I can find about that. If they did have visitors and they built this many ships to combat them if they came back, I'm not sure what my client's going to think about that." Rick had his own idea about that.

"It's going to get them killed is what it's going to do," Kate said. "Speaking of which, how do we find out what they want to do with Earth?" She didn't want to be the last of her race.

"I can ask when we go back. Just don't expect an answer. Until your planet can even make one space ship with or without FTL they have lots of time to decide," Rick warned her.

Kate thought about that and didn't see them making any type of space ship in even a hundred years. Likely a lot longer and that was if they didn't blow themselves up first.

"I suppose you're hungry." Kate had been so focused on trying to figure out what ornaments to make and how she was going to make them that she'd forgotten to start dinner.

"Not really. Watching a Zorgon kill something then start eating it has made me lose my appetite." He liked meat as much as the next person. It was just that he preferred not to watch the animal being eaten raw while still screaming.

"Poor baby." Kate stroked his cheek and kissed him. "I'll make you something anyway and I promise not to scream while I'm doing it." Kate kissed him again, got up, and went down to the kitchen so she could start on their now late dinner.

That allowed Rick to retrieve the pad she was using for her idea. What he saw was a lot of doodles of ornaments as well as some very nice photographs. "This looks like your work, Lucile."

"I am helping Katherine with her choice of jobs, yes. What she needs is a shop to make them, a warehouse to store them, and a place to sell them. All of this will require money. Money she does not yet have," Lucile advised him.

"Will it work?" Rick kept looking at what she had.

"They are a very artistic race. If she can appeal to their artistic side with her Christmas items she may well succeed. Some of the more simple items like her idea for Raggedy Ann dolls and teddy bears may not be artistic enough for them.

"However, if she can get the children to like them, that in turn will cause the parents to buy the toys for their children. So it may all actually work. I can see that her idea for Christmas trees and Christmas lights and everything about Yule has a very good chance of catching on.

"Katherine just needs to be careful and not put any religious connotation into anything she does." Lucile had already cautioned her about that.

"If the warehouse is a tower it could be built on one of the islands. Simply move everything from there to the city by pod. As for the shop to make all this…." Rick was afraid space in the city would be required and that would increase the cost.

"Now as for the store location I have a thought about that." He just hoped Kate liked it since it would involve TiPhar. He believed Kate was needlessly jealous of her.

o- [:] -o

Kate was downstairs rummaging through the refrigerator. She wanted something but she didn't know what it was when she heard it and put her hands over her ears. It also had her grinning since it meant Rick was home.

Then her grin vanished. He was home early! She closed the refrigerator and hurried upstairs where she found him spread out on his back on their bed. Kate crawled onto the bed so she could reach him to kiss him. Maybe even talk him into a little or if she was really lucky, a lot of sex. Except what she saw, even in his alien form, wasn't what she was expecting. "What's wrong, babe?" Kate stroked his cheek.

"I'm tired. I'm tired of hearing an animal scream for its life just before or as it's being bitten before being eaten while still mostly alive." He'd had enough.

"Oh, Rick." Kate kissed him. "Don't go back tomorrow or maybe even the day after. Take a vacation for a while," Kate urged and kissed him again.

"Vacation?" Rick wasn't sure he was familiar with that word.

"It's an Earth thing. It means take a day off and do something else. Go somewhere else. Please, babe, we can go somewhere else. Just for the day.

"Lucile, FTL jump us to somewhere. Please, Lucile," Kate called out and watched as Rick just lay there on their bed.

Lucile showed up. "The closest place is two weeks out." That was a lot farther away than just one day.

Kate looked at Lucile and pleaded with her since she had control over everywhere they went. "We need more food anyway. Please!"

"Plotting course. Entering FTL…now." Lucile loved Rick almost as much as Kate did and she was right. He needed a vacation from this place. This research assignment was costing Richard more than he should have to pay.

o- [:] -o

Kate could tell that Rick was feeling better after even just two days in FTL so she had high hopes for wherever they were going. She loved him so she wanted what was best for him.

"What are we eating and why is it making that noise?" Rick looked over Kate's shoulder at what she was doing.

"It's an Earth recipe. I just don't have any Earth food to use to make it with so this better work." Kate kept stirring so it didn't burn. "Here, heat these up in the oven for me. I had to make them by hand from scratch so cross your fingers." Kate handed something over to him.

"Take the drinks upstairs then come back for your plate," Kate told him as she began dishing out what she'd been making.

"Here's yours." Kate handed him a plate and Rick realized what she had made was still sizzling a little and looked hot. She followed him with her own plate.

"Like this." Kate folded hers into a burrito and carefully took a bite since it might still be too hot. The heat delayed her taste test to see if it had worked.

"Interesting." Rick continued chewing. "This tastes pretty good. What's it called?"

"Fajita. I had to do substitutes for the beef, the peppers, and even the onion. The sauce, though, is from Earth. I found some in storage, amazingly enough." This time Kate took a bite and tasted it. It wasn't exactly like she remembered it but it wasn't bad. Good enough to try again.

"Thank you," Rick told her and took a drink.

"I'm actually beginning to enjoy cooking." Kate chuckled softly. "I'm betting my mom is laughing at me even now."

"I don't mean for cooking again, though the fajitas…," he paused and looked at Kate. "Did I say that right? Fajitas?" Kate nodded and he continued speaking, "I mean for the insistence that I take a vacation from my research. I've chosen my mate for life very well. I love you, so thank you."

Kate was sure she felt a blush starting. "I love you too and you really needed this. Didn't you take vacations when you were on Earth?" Surely he hadn't worked every day for however many months he had been there.

"Not like this, no. Humans are not Zorgons. You may like wars a little too much but you don't eat your food alive after you just bite into it. Listening to it scream for its life." Rick was really hoping hearing it would fade in the four weeks plus that this would take.

But it did mean that six months just became seven months. He still owed it to his client to finish the entire six months.

"Do they really eat anything?" Kate was questioning if that meant humans as well.

"I don't actually know the answer to that just yet. So far if it's meat, they eat it. They do eat some fruits and vegetables but they seem to love meat." Rick went back to eating.

"No guess as to what they'll think of Zorgons?" Kate had one but she didn't like it. No race even as screwed up as this one deserved genocide.

"Being a threat doesn't just mean will they attack them if they found them. It means are they a threat. A threat to their lives. A threat to their empire. A threat to their food supply. A threat to their way of life.

He wiped his mouth. "You may not like them but they're the power in this section of the galaxy and they intend to keep it that way."

"I don't approve of genocide or murder for any reason. Life isn't that cheap. I'm not sure I even want Bracken murdered for what he did. Maybe these Zorgons are a bit much but genocide?" Kate shook her head.

That got Lucile to show up. "Richard is correct. He chose his mate for life well." Lucile and Rick watched Kate's smile widen and she began to blush. "Richard, I have given some thought to Katherine's quest. I was thinking that some equipment from Sur'Kesh might be of some help."

"Sur what?" Kate wasn't stupid. She knew what she was thinking about was going to cost money and if it didn't work out it was going to be money wasted.

"Sur'Kesh, home planet of the Salarians, a race my client hasn't yet encountered. My parents told me about them once. Their planet isn't exactly close, Lucile. This ship could make it, I think, but we'd run out of food. Especially at the rate that Kate uses it up." Rick teased her with a perfectly straight face.

Kate glared at him. "Oh, ha, ha. It's not my fault. It's your stupid nanites. I'm thinking they're constantly finding something inside me that needs fixing. So how far is it?"

"About five months plus a day or two," Lucile responded.

"We can't carry food for even half that." Kate understood they were making their own oxygen and their own water. Their waste got dumped out into open space. But food? That was another problem all together.

"We're going to need to stop at places along the way. Better start making plans, Lucile. We can discuss where you plan to take us to reach that far later. Just don't fly us through a Super Nova or something worse." Rick teased Lucile this time, knowing full well she would never do any such thing.

"There's worse than a Super Nova?" Even Kate knew what a Super Nova was.

"A Super Black Hole," Lucile answered and vanished to begin her course planning.

"Sorry I asked." Kate went back to eating and ignored the grin on Rick's alien face.