Chapter 44
QSS Ra'allom
En route to Sector 4
When it was all over, when it was finally done, Spencer found himself looking up at he ceiling where a beautiful woman had been moments ago. "Can't…stop…shaking.' He said. It had been so good, but now it didn't want to stop. Even the soft breeze from the air system was setting him off again.
"I know." Her voice was soft in his mind, pulling up a blanket even as a warmer blanket of power enfolded him. She settled close but didn't touch. "Just rest now. It will be better when you wake."
Oh, he didn't need to talk. Words were so hard to hear. "Promise?"
"Promise."
He opened his eyes sometime later to a remarkable sight. "Is that Jupiter?"
"I believe so. We got underway while you were resting." He felt the mattress dip as she turned. "How are you feeling?"
"Less shaky." He found his glasses and put them on to get a clearer look at the planet going past the window. Viewscreen. Something. "What happens now?"
"Your senses should have sharpened. Now we see if any have become too sharp. Computer, lights up thirty," She said the last bit out loud.
As the lights came up he turned to look at her, so elegant in her nudity. "Everything seems the same."
"What about sound? Talk to me."
"That's not bothering me either." He thought about it a moment more. "No, it's really not."
"All right." She reached over to take a small vial from her nightstand. "Smell. Carefully, try not to spill it."
He noticed she pinched her nose tightly shut when she handed it over. He took a careful whiff. Smelling salts. "Whoo. Strong. But I'm all right." He capped the vial and handed it back.
She smiled and fanned the air before she put the vial away. "I'm hypersensitive to scent myself. Now, how about touch?" She reached over and lightly ran her hand over his chest.
He shivered under her touch, falling back on the bed with a groan. Erotic as sin, he thought, that's what that meant. "Don't stop. Please."
"Hypersensitive to touch. That would be one." She leaned over and traced her lips where her hand had gone. "So am I, you know."
Yes. Erotic as sin. He felt his body reacting almost instantly. "I want to do it again." He said.
"Oh good." She purred as she fit her body against his. "So do I."
"The problem is that I'm high." Spencer said after their second time. He was, his head felt like he was floating in cozy, comfortable bliss. Like nothing could hurt, ever. "This could be addictive."
"You know, that word doesn't translate." Sa'rai replied. She was draped over his torso, a soft, living blanket. "The news on Earth kept going on about the opiate epidemic and addiction. I still don't know what they were talking about."
"Opiates are alkaloids that bind to opiate receptors in the brain. Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences."
"And Terrans have detrimental consequences to the use of those drugs?"
"Yes. They develop a physical dependency requiring using ever increasing dosages until they develop neurological damage, among other things. It can be deadly." Wait a minute. "Do we develop physical dependency?" Did he already know the answer?
"No, we don't. Just the opposite, we have difficulty making those alkaloids naturally once past puberty. All of us do, really, but it's particularly difficult for Nobles. When is why we tend to depression, lower pain tolerances and hypersensitivities. Every gift comes with a drawback after all."
"So what do you do?"
"Well, Companions and commoners tend to exercise to trigger a release naturally. But what we do takes too much energy to risk wasting it on unproductive movement. Especially when food stores are rations, like in much of the galaxy. When in difficult straits we microdose with alkaloids, to keep depression and hypersensitivity from becoming serious issues. It's like, I don't know if this will translate, vitamins. Not as good as the natural version, but better than nothing."
Spencer rolled to his back to stare at the ceiling. He never told anyone that he didn't have physical withdrawal symptoms when he quit. He just figured he was lucky, his cravings had been entirely psychological. It made him feel wonderful, which he had only realized after Tobias introduced him to it. "I tried that once, for a short time." He admitted. "It made me feel good. I thought I was addicted to artificially feeling good. And I got really crabby with everyone when it stopped. Everything hurt when it stopped."
"Of course it did." She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "Your brain was starving."
"I forced myself to live like that for the past ten years because it was the morally right thing to do."
She dropped her head to his shoulder and groaned. "Terran morals. The biggest pain in my arse in the galaxy. I'll explain that sometimes. Do you know you are the…third strongest and bravest person I've ever met? And the first two are Companions. You're easily the strongest Noble I know."
"Hardly." They'd been in combat. He'd never been in combat.
"No, truly. What are you going to do now?"
"I still don't want to use the artificial ones. Is there any way for us to increase production naturally? The Q version of healthy living?"
She smiled at him slowly. "Why do you think we have so many lovers?"
Oh. "Oh. Well, in that case." He tugged her to his lips again.
After the third time she said they needed to eat. Thankfully she had something called a replicator. The pastry she brought over was buttery rich and had a tart component and was utterly delicious. Spencer couldn't help noticing Sa'rai's arm as she reached over him to the plate, the small scars in her elbow. "Do you microdose?"
"No. Thanks be the Elder Kings I've never been in a position where I had to. I always had at least one lover around, ever since boot camp." She looked down as he ran a finger over the scars. "I was a pilot." She smiled at his confused look. "The energy we direct comes from somewhere else, the various sources in the universe they think. I'm not a physicist. But the energy to direct that is entirely mental. Our brains burn a lot of glucose when we use our powers. Intravenous glucose solution is a standard part of a pilot's kit, so we don't run out of mental energy in the middle of battle. Same with the navigators on capitol ships, energy surgeons during major incidents, there are a lot of reasons. Nearly every Noble carries those scars now. Souvenir of service in the fleet."
"That's why no one questioned me. So, healthy living includes multiple lovers."
And a good diet, ample, restful sleep, a little exercise when the conditions allow. Probably not all that different from Terrans. Well, except for the monogamy part." She rested her head in her upraised hand. "Is that what's bothering you?"
"Somewhat." He admitted. "I always thought I would wait for…um…"
"Marriage?"
"Well, yes."
"Terran morality again. Is this the part where you ask me how many lovers I've had?"
"That would be rude."
"You're the only Nobleman. Emphasis on the man."
"Really?"
She nodded. "When I said you were the strongest, bravest Noblman I know I meant it. I was holding out for someone like you. I freely admit to having many lovers, Nobles, Companions, even other species. But they were all female. I wanted to wait for just the right Nobleman."
"Did you?"
"Call me a romantic."
"And you chose me. Why?"
She actually blushed. "Confession? Look under the bed."
Spencer leaned over, felt a drawer under the bed, and opened it. It was filled with books, in multiple languages from multiple worlds. But the ones on top, the ones with many bookmarks, were entirely familiar. "Rossi exaggerates for effect." He said.
"Not according to my intel." She rested her chin on her arms and looked at him. "You know, we don't have serial killers. Without powers, your brain starving for endorphins, sickened from a Terran diet, and yet you went up against them anyway. Over and over and over again."
"I thought it was my duty to use my gifts for the greater good."
"Do you have any idea how dammed attractive that makes you?"
"I think I do after tonight." He looked over the pages she had marked so he didn't have to look at her. "So when you say multiple lovers, do they have to be from multiple genders? What about Stout Will? I thought Nobles and Companions always slept together."
"Complicated. And entirely his story to tell. Like I said, I stuck to women."
"So I could stick to male lovers. Except for one."
"If you wanted to. But we already share a similar value system, if we're not careful we might end up sharing the same life goals as well…"
"Such as?"
"Protecting that system, keeping it safe. Keeping the people in it safe."
"We might already share the same life goals."
"Careful. That's a good way for two Nobles to end up in a committed relationship."
"I'd be all right with that."
"I need to produce and heir and a spare in the not too distant future."
"I'm definitely all right with that."
"And I don't get to go to a gene bank. It would mean more nights like this. Without birth control. But not yet, in a few more years when things are more stable."
"Even more all right with that."
"I won't make you sit on the throne with me. Too much politics there."
"I'd rather look after Earth, honestly."
"It means a lot of travel. Time apart, that sort of thing."
"I already travel a lot. I think we can work with that if we can write."
"We can write. I can make certain of that. All right then." She cupped his cheek so he had to look at her. "Join my house?"
She was proposing, he realized. And it was so very right. "Yes."
She kissed him then, and rolled over onto him again.
"I thought I was supposed to develop powers doing this." Spencer said after round….he had lost track.
"You are. You have." Sa'rai replied. "Between the endorphins and the distraction you haven't had a chance to notice." She rolled back to her side of the enormous bed and pulled out two bottle of water. "Here." She offered one. He reached for it. "Use your other hand." His other hand was on the side he was lying on, it was awkward. "No, your other hand. If you focus you should be able to feel it."
He focused and he realized there was something there. It was there, much like a third and fourth arm and hand, except they felt immensely powerful. He reached with it, gently, carefully, and plucked the bottle from her hand.
It floated across the bed to him.
She smiled. "Welcome home, Lord Garron."
