Every Man's Fantasy Ch.

26

Thanks for your patience. This is another long chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

*****

1 Yumi Takahashi

The first piece of technology to fail on Samothea was a rotivator that Yumi Takahashi repaired.

Yumi could get none of the large old farming equipment to work, though Michio Nakatani sent her many
replacement parts. She worked on a mechanical plough, a tractor, industrial irrigation pumps and a
harvesting machine. They were all solar-powered but none would function, despite the abundance of
strong sunlight in the tropical region of Samothea. But she got a small rotivator to work. More suited to
a cottage garden, it reduced the time the Farmer Tribe took to plough a field. Until, after a couple of
months, its motor failed.

She knew what the fault was. But it was not something she could fix. Most electronic devices used
superconducting ceramic conduction lanes in place of old-fashioned metal wires because they could
conduct electricity at ambient temperature with no resistance.

Ceramic conduction lanes usually ran through the casing of a machine, which could not easily be
covered with osmium-alloy coating without adding grievously to the weight of the device. A coating
would also shield the solar panels from the sunlight they needed for electric power. Instead, Yumi wove
osmium-coated conduction bands through the body of the rotivator. She hoped they would survive the
incessant impact of low-level x-rays from space.

When Yumi took the rotivator apart, she saw what had happened. The x-rays made the ceramic
superconductors spark and overload, burning out the electronic components. Like all the equipment she
had temporarily fixed, the rotivator was beyond repair after it failed.

The next devices to fail were the laser penknives that Yael sent home soon after arriving on Celetaris.
The last penknife to project a laser beam died a few weeks after Yael left again for Celetaris. They were
cheap tools, unlike the two good-quality penknives that Ezra brought with him to Samothea, which were
still working well after nearly six years. Even so, it was slightly worrying that such simple devices with
minimal circuitry were failing so quickly.
Other failures were even more worrying. Despite osmium-alloy shielding on their few electronic parts,
the Petticoat crew's air-suits started to show signs of weakness. This was a problem because the crew
used them to fly between the settlements and to do heavy-lifting jobs, such as carrying tree-trunks to
make new cabins.

Robyn Bradford, team leader of the Petticoats, ruled that the air-suits were no longer safe for flight or
heavy-lifting.

The next technology failures were the radio links between the council chamber in the Cloner City and
the outlying settlements. The direct hyperspace communications link between Celetaris and Samothea
was still working, though the signal was often weak and patchy; but those in the Cloner City could no
longer talk directly to the Herders' Northern and Southern Camps, the Mariners' Beach Settlement and
the Woodlanders' Forest Camp.

The new hyperspace communications link between Earth and Samothea that Michio Nakatani had
installed was working reliably. Those on Celetaris who wanted to talk to the women of Samothea found
they got a clearer signal if the video chat was routed via Earth. It was worth it, despite an extra half-
minute delay.

The failure of the radio links on Samothea was an inconvenience for the Samothea Project and the
Petticoat crew. It was a cause of sadness to Annela, who liked to talk daily to her sisters in the
Woodlander Tribe. Ezra also craved talking to his thirty bedmates and his thirty-five children. It was a
blow to him, though he could still talk to Solange, Ash and those of his bedmates who happened to be in
the Cloner City.

The disappointing failures of technology persuaded Robyn to order tests done on CSS Petticoat I. Next
time the shuttlecraft landed at Ocean City Astroport, it was taken to an engineering hangar and given a
full airworthiness test and electro-mechanical examination.

The results were devastating. The same problems found in the repaired technology on Samothea
afflicted the shuttlecraft. The superconducting ceramic lanes of its hull, which routed power and data,
had suffered burn lines and fractures that showed up under a microscope.

The craft had been exposed to the x-rays only six times in six months for less than a week at a time, yet
its conduction lanes had already lost 80% of their integrity. The shuttle might perform with no problems
for many more flights but it was sustaining damage at a worrying rate and no one could predict when it
would fail completely.

Robyn had regret but no real hesitation when she grounded Petticoat I.

Danielle took the news in a resigned manner. It was just another thing to add to the long list of the
Samothea Project's problems, about which she was now inclined to believe that, if anything could go
wrong, then it would go wrong.

Rosa Silverstein had designed Petticoat I. She did a quick calculation and decided it was better not to
have the craft refitted with new electronic equipment but to put the money toward a new shuttlecraft,
a sister ship to the more advanced (but much more expensive) CSS Petticoat II, which Ezra gave to the
Samothea Project.

"I threw Petticoat I together from an existing craft plus the new engine," Rosa said somewhat wistfully
to Danielle. "It was just a container with wings."

"She was a fine ship, Rosa. She served us well. Does she have any scrap value?"

"We can retrieve the osmium for our own use. Maybe the Nakatani Corporation can do something with
the hyperdrive unit."

"All right, it's just another cost to add to the mounting costs. Thanks, Rosa."

******

On Samothea, in the Council Chamber in the Cloner City, Yumi gave a mostly pessimistic report to
Madam Gloria and the Advisory Council about the failing technology.

"Is there any technology we can keep working if new parts are sent from Celetaris or Earth?" Madam
Gloria asked.
"Only if they have even thicker shielding," Yumi said, "and they will likely have a shorter lifetime than we
so far predicted."

"We understand that means additional costs," Madam Lawspeaker said. "But maybe it's better not to
rely so much on foreign technology."

"Why not?" asked Yumi.

"Because it makes us dependent on Earth or Celetaris, rather than on our own efforts. It makes us crave
luxury."

"Madam Lawspeaker means that it's better to be poor but pious," Gloria said with a smile.

"That's not a fair thing to say, Gloria," the Lawspeaker objected, sitting up even straighter than normal.

"I'm sorry, Aunt. It was a joke."

"It's not a joking matter."

"No, indeed."

"I don't oppose technology and colonisation, or even men visiting Samothea, merely because it will
make us lazy or disobedient," the Lawspeaker went on, expressing the full measure of her righteous
protest.

"I oppose it because the changes will damage the relative harmony of our society and make us
dissatisfied with our lives, without giving us the means to become more satisfied. If we rely on Earthside
technology and it fails, but no more can be bought, what then?"

"I understand, Aunt. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Don't become reliant on Earthside technology."

"Thank you, Madam, it's good advice."

Gloria was silent a moment. When she spoke again, she addressed herself to Madam Scientist and Yumi.

"Is it possible to have some kind of intermediate technology, better than the tools we presently have
but not electronic, so not vulnerable to the x-rays?"

"Yes," Sally Scientist said. "We can make purely mechanical devices, like the water-wheel that Yumi and
Ryan built from wood and leather. We could make ploughs, seed drills, mechanical harvesting machines,
reapers and binders, carts, lanterns, turning machines and potter's wheels. We couldn't make these
things before because we didn't have good enough tools. But if we import the tools and materials, such
as plastisteel and plastiglass, then we could create something like the industrial society that existed on
Earth before electrical machinery was invented, which used muscle-power, horse-power, wind-power
and water-power."

"Modern materials are very strong, very cheap and light-weight," Yumi added. "The problem is how to
work on them without electrical tools. We'll need more than just traditional hand-tools and bench-tools
to work on these materials. But we can get halfway there if we have the parts made up for us first."

"We've not bothered to import purely mechanical devices yet because we were hoping that modern
electrical machinery would work," Sally said.

"But Ezra's laser penknife still works," Yumi said. "That means there's some modern technology worth
importing. I'll speak to Michio and see what he can send us."

Later that afternoon, during the hottest part of the day, most of the Advisory Council had siestas in their
rooms. Solange helped Odette sort out the Juniors. Ash took Solange's daughter, Tahney, and the other
children from the Cloner City down to the river for a cooling splash. And Madam Gloria played Sally at
chess in her apartment.

As usual, it was a close game. Sally's method of playing was to concentrate for the first half-hour,
pinning Gloria down in a difficult position, then she would relax and watch how Gloria escaped the trap,
with the game usually ending in a stalemate. It frustrated Gloria to know she was being let off the hook
by someone who could beat her if she really applied herself; yet it was always a challenge and a
fulfilment to escape.

After the game, the women relaxed and talked.

"I like Michio Nakatani," Gloria said. "I've spoken to him a few times and told him how grateful we are
for all he does for us. It embarrasses him."

"Yumi talks about him so much that I think I know him myself," Sally said. "She's in love with him, you
know."

"Do you think she wants to go back to Earth?"

"Yes, though she hasn't said so."

"It would be a shame. Everyone likes her and Hayate seems happy here."

Being the only boy on the planet, Yumi's three-year-old son, Hayate, was treasured by all the women,
though they were careful not to spoil him. What fascinated them most was the difference between a
boy and the girls he was growing up with, even at an age when the differences between the sexes did
not seem to matter very much.

Sally paused for a few seconds.

"I'm thinking of resigning from the Council," she said.

Gloria gave her a close look. The petite blonde scientist met Gloria's big brown owl-like eyes to show she
was serious.

"You could appoint Yumi as my replacement," Sally said. "There needn't be an election."
"Yumi would win it anyway. But do you think making her Madam Scientist will induce her to remain
here?"

"It may tempt her to stay if she has a stake in our society."

Gloria nodded.

"You think she might balance the influence of my aunt?"

"I noticed Madam Lawspeaker's disapproving look when Yumi talked about Ezra's penknife, as if more
technology like it were a danger."

"My aunt Dolly's right more often than she's wrong."

"She is."

"And my maverick Deputy Prefect also provides a balance for her."

"She does, but Solange dances to her own tune. Yumi would be more consistent."

"Very well. I'll accept your resignation, Sally, but I'm not letting you retire. We still have a need for your
talents. I'll think up an honourable title for you, even if it's only official chess opposition."

******

Under the influence of the rejuvenation therapy, Annela quickly returned to her hot and horny
condition.

She had boundless energy and an almost uncontrollable sex-drive. Pretty soon Ezra was back in his old
zombie state, where he had sex all night long with Annela, slept two hours and was woken by his randy
bedmate early in the morning to have sex again. Afterward, when she was buzzing with energy and
sexual satisfaction, Annela ran around Fanshaw Park with Hazel, Wildchild, Yael and Cassie Leighton.
Sometimes Danielle would join them. Despite her pregnant belly, Annela sprinted hard to raise a good
sweat. They ended at the Medical Centre for a communal shower and Annela's treatment. But Ezra
stayed in bed, catching up on his sleep.

When Freya woke, she would rush in and jump on him. After tickles, a cuddle, a wash, breakfast and
chores, Ezra would take his five-year-old daughter on the hoverbus to school. Or they would walk
together if there was time.

Freya skipped or ran most of the way, which was less than a mile, but it took half-an-hour because there
were so many interesting things to do and see. There were trees to climb, garden fences to look over,
dogs to pet and people to talk to. Freya was fascinated by everything.

Come mid-morning, Ezra would be at home for Annela's return, horny again, bubbling with sexual
anticipation, her pussy dripping wet as soon as he took her in his arms. During these sessions, she did
not need much warm-up but wanted a long hard shagging. She would push him on his back and climb
aboard, riding him to exhaustion; then going on all fours, he would ram her from behind for as long as
he could, rocking and shaking her as she rose to peak after peak, crying out in joyful agony with every
shuddering climax.

Recently she had been having leg-shaking orgasms that rolled on for minutes, where she lost herself in
brain-fogging pleasure, unable to speak. It was the kind of sweet agony that was so intense she wanted
it to stop but she also wanted it to go on forever. On all fours, she lifted one arm, but her hand flapped
as if she was trying to grip his arm but could not reach. She wanted him to keep thrusting into her until
all the hot sharp pleasure had washed over her and she could breathe again.

When he had satisfied her enough, Annela let Ezra get on with his work while she returned to the
medical centre for her afternoon treatment. He would meet Tatiana and sometimes Hazel in the library
to search the mineral catalogues for the kind of photomorphic crystals that the Samothea Project
needed to upgrade the Beltway Hyperspace system to the new technology. After Annela had collected
Freya from school and taken her to meet Edgar Fanshaw in the park to play with Charlie-dog, she would
drop Freya off with any of her friends who was available, usually Yael or Kelly Mayfield, and go home so
that Ezra could give her a late-afternoon boost.

Ezra would satisfy Annela a couple of times with his tongue and fingers before they went to dinner with
Danielle and Roger, where he would fall asleep at the table. His thoughtful hosts would put him in an
armchair but Annela was so horny she had no qualms about sending Freya to wake him up with a
demand to be tickled before bedtime. Back home, with Freya tucked up in bed, Annela would jump on
him to begin the daily sequence again.

Cassie usually looked in on Annela's morning examination, to check how she was responding to the
nanobots and hormone injections. The results were good, not least because Annela was enjoying a life
of profound maternal happiness. She had the unconditional love of her daughter, as much love and sex
as she needed from Ezra, the love and support of her friends from Samothea and the real affection of
her new friends from Celetaris. She had Erin for woman-love back home on Samothea and a warm
pregnant belly.

Despite the rollercoaster of her hormones and the disappointment of not being able to talk to her
friends in the Woodlander Tribe, Annela did not know how a woman could be happier.

******

Most days, Tatiana and Ezra searched through the geology encyclopaedia in the university library or
looked up papers on the Geology Web, trying to find the best crystal to transmit and absorb x-ray
signatures in multiple frequencies. These were the 'forced moves' by which the new technology would
communicate a signal between the hyperspace Travellers and the Beltway Junctions.

When she was not at a lecture or in a tutorial at the university, nor doing the required reading for the
broad science foundation course that ran simultaneously with her geology degree, Hazel joined Tatiana
and Ezra in the search. It was a good lesson for her, especially when they decided that no existing
crystals were exactly right for the job.

This meant having to synthesize a new crystal. The science was pretty straightforward: define what
properties the crystal should have; choose from the possible ingredients (metals, semi-metals and non-
metals) in the right proportions; and manufacture the mineral under the right conditions of heat,
pressure, gravitation, light, magnetism or other inputs.

After a few days' work on the Institute's main computer, the team had twenty crystal designs to choose
from. Their synthesis was automated and, a few days later, the Institute laboratory had a supply of each
kind to be tested.
Rosa and Cho took over this part of the project, bombarding individual crystals with x-rays of different
frequencies to measure their reactions, or subjecting the crystals to heat, pressure, electrical current or
magnetic flux to test the responses.

Pretty soon, they had a verdict. Three of the crystals in combination should work as an x-ray transceiver
for the Beltway junctions. Now it was time for Oakshott Industries to laboratory-test the new hyperdrive
communication system.

Tatiana and Ezra laid the groundwork for the industrial production of the crystals. Synthesising new
crystals in volume was most often done by space factories. There were many large industrial plants
orbiting hot stars to trap their energy, feeding vast arrays of manufacturing robots. Many space factories
also had chemical laboratories to mass-produce new kinds of minerals.

Some crystals formed best in zero-gravity. Other crystals were made from rare and expensive chemicals
found in only a few solar systems. With hyperspace transportation one of the largest costs, it made
sense to build space factories near those moons and asteroids where the raw materials were mined.

There was a space factory in the same orbit as Argus Space Station, in a solar system that was a
particularly rich mining territory on the border of the Sino-Russian sector of the galaxy.

Tatiana itched to be out in space again. She and Ezra chartered a mid-size mining vessel with its crew to
meet her at the violent magnetic white dwarf star where she, Hazel and Wildchild harvested minerals
from its dangerous moons. On her way, she would stop off at Argus Space Station and consult an
industrial factor about producing the crystals in volume.

She already knew whom to approach. Viktor Bogdanov overpaid for her cargo from to the molten
moons, to secure first refusal on her future cargoes. It made good business sense for him to act as
middleman to produce the x-ray crystals.

Victor traded in every kind of mineral, including the elements needed to synthesise the crystals. There
could be economies of transportation, supply-lines and administration if all the commercial work were
in the hands of one agent.

"Tatiana Filíppovna! Light of my eyes!" the fat merchant exclaimed when Tatiana surprised him at his
booth in the garish trading hall. "How am I worthy to bask in your radiance twice in only three months?"
"You are worthless, Viktor Petrovich, but I have deal for you to cheat me again."

"Sweet Tatiana, it would be my honour to cheat you. What is your proposal?"

Tatiana gave Viktor a data cube with the lists of minerals she was seeking and the method of forming
the kind of crystals they wanted. She gave him a projected cost, underestimated a little on purpose, to
squeeze what she could out of the mineral broker. While Viktor studied the data, his jovial face took on
a level of seriousness that Tatiana admired.

After a time, he said:

"Little darling, will you wait while I conspire with some other robbers; or shall I tell you my answer over
dinner tonight? You'll come to dinner with me, won't you?"

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

"Da, dinner is fine. I not interrupt your - I not know the English of moshennicheskiy ..."

"Swindling."

"Spasiba. I leave you to your 'swindling'."

Viktor grunted as he stood up to make a polite bow over Tatiana's hand.

"My apartment. Eight o'clock. My heart will ache until tonight."

"Yerunda, you old fraud."

When Tatiana left, Viktor called Hui-Lin and Jia-Li.

"My lovely partners," he said, "we have a business opportunity to discuss. Also, our friend Tatiana is
coming for dinner."

The girls gave him their technical support before going shopping ("yet again," Victor complained) to
prepare for the evening's entertainment. He spent a few hours with business contacts, sourcing minerals
and pricing manufacturing services, so he had a provisional offer for Tatiana that evening, which they
discussed late into the night.

As Tatiana could not tell exactly how Viktor was swindling her, she shook hands on the deal. She refused
a bed for the night, so Viktor walked her (huffing and wheezing) to her ship, Sunrise, in the dock. Tatiana
left early next morning on another mining mission to the magnetic star and its molten moons, happy
about her prospects for a successful business venture.

2 Andrew Claydon

Grounding the shuttlecraft was a problem for Outworld Ventures as well as for the Samothea Project
because Andrew Claydon, the representative for the settler company, was booked on the next flight to
Samothea with six of his team-members.

After proposing his plan to sell a million stakes on Samothea, Andrew wanted to see the planet for
himself, to make personal contact with Madam Gloria, her Advisory Council and the women of
Samothea. He wanted to meet them face-to-face, to hear their opinions.

He knew it would be difficult to tell the women of Samothea that their lives would never be the same
again. The latest news from the planet, that modern technology was even less viable than previously
thought, only increased the costs to the settler company. Factories and workshops would have to be
built underground and the kind of life on the planet would be more primitive and less attractive to
settlers.

Even so, he was sure a million inhabitants of dirty, over-crowded violent cities on Earth would pay to
come to a clean, healthy and crime-free planet, even if it would be a rugged nineteenth-century style of
life, with no modern amenities and few electronic devices. But they would pay less for their stakes on
the planet.
There were costs to consider for Outworld Ventures, who had to invest in shuttlecraft, houses, roads,
maybe an astroport. None the less, settlement was viable and the company intended to press ahead
with colonisation, starting with 1,500 of the descendents of the original lost settlers. Where exactly they
would live was a question Andrew would decide only after he had seen the planet for himself.

For now, there was only one shuttlecraft flying and there were the usual rotation of Petticoats to
transport, plus a hold full of old-fashioned heavy hand-tools and bench-tools. Andrew was asked if he
wanted to wait another month and take his team on a future flight, or take the next flight out in the only
spare seat.

He chose to go alone.

******

At the next full Council Meeting, Sarah Wandasdaughter Cloner resigned as Madam Scientist. Instead,
she was appointed Special Advisor to Madam Prefect but she lost her vote at council meetings.

When Gloria proposed that she offer the vacant position to Yumi until the elections at the Cloner Fair, it
was Madam Deputy Prefect, Solange Malkasdaughter, not Madam Lawspeaker, as expected, who
declined to make the council's agreement unanimous.

The motion passed none the less and, afterward, Gloria and Solange stayed behind for a chat.

"Do you have an objection to Yumi?" Gloria asked Solange.

"Not at all. She'll be an excellent Madam Scientist. I hoped only that Sally would stay on until Samothea
Galateasdaughter was ready."

"Samothea has a lot of spirit and is quite brilliant, but she won't be ready for a place on our council for
many years."

"I know, and Sally Scientist has many good years left in her. I'm worried that if Yumi takes the job, then
we'll have nothing to offer Samothea to bring her home."
"You heard Hazel's story of what she and Samothea did last month? The thrill and the danger they faced.
Why would Samothea want to come back here to preside over a heap of broken machines?"

"Gloria, you make it sound like we should all leave."

"I understand what motivates young people to go exploring."

"So what will bring our young adventurers back home?" Solange asked.

"Family."

"Perhaps, but when colonists come and the population expands, we won't live in each other's pockets,
as we do now. A daughter will leave home and live anywhere she likes. What will keep her in her
mother's hut if she can have a concrete house of her own? And when men come, she'll never sleep in
her mother's bed again."

"But that's all we have to offer our girls, Solange: a mother's love and the love of her tribe."

"It may be enough to make them want to take holidays here, as Yael Eloisesdaughter did, but it won't be
enough to keep them here. That's my worry."

"Yet you want men to come here."

"I do."

"Men will cause the biggest change to our society: one that can never be undone."

"They will."
"So what's your plan to keep our society together, to keep our girls here, or persuade them to come
home after their adventures?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking about it."

"So am I, Solange. And I can't see any answers."

******

Gloria spoke to Yumi a day later, to offer her the position of Madam Scientist, saying:

"This appointment is testimony to how we feel about you."

"I don't know what to say, Gloria. I love the women of Samothea and I'm happier here than I was on
Earth; but there's also a life for me at home with my family and friends ... and others."

"Michio's a good man. I thought that making you Madam Scientist would entice you to stay here with
us, but if your happiness lies elsewhere, then I understand."

"It's a great honour and something I would want to do if I was committed to staying here. I don't know
what to decide."

"Take the job until the Cloner Fair, when the position is up for election. Then you can decide if you want
to stand or not."

Yumi was tempted by the affection of the women of Samothea. It weighed strongly in the balance
against the possibility of a reignited love for Michio and her love for her family, especially her brother
Itsuki. She nodded.

"One more thing," Gloria said. "You cannot be Madam Scientist without being a member of a tribe. You
don't have to make a decision yet."
"I'd like to join the Farmers," Yumi said. "I think my work will help them the most."

"Good choice, Madam Scientist."

******

Before he left Celetaris, Andrew Claydon had two conversations. One was with Ezra, who gave him
personal advice about how to treat the women of Samothea, especially what to expect from the chiefs.
He also told Andrew to take light clothes and a good hat.

Andrew's other conversation was with his wife, Marta, who came to see him off.

"Do you really not mind that I'm going to Samothea, to be the only man among more than 100 adult
women?" he asked her.

"Why would I mind? What are you planning to do there?"

"Have very long detailed discussions and, according to Ezra Goldrick, answer endless personal
questions."

"And that's supposed to make me jealous?"

"You know what I mean. If you want me to, I'll wait until the rest of the team can come with me."

"Are you the same man I trusted when I married you?"

"I am."

"Then what's the problem? Go and spend a month as the only man on a planet of sex-starved women.
And behave yourself. You can do that, I suppose?"
"Alright, already. I'm going. I'll miss you."

"Of course you will," she said, kissing him.

******

Andrew Claydon sat in his window-seat on the shuttlecraft, Petticoat II, with a white ten-gallon hat on
his lap. His neighbour, one of the original Petticoats, well-used to the journey, made a little small talk
then nodded off, catching up on her sleep. Eventually she rested her head on his shoulder.

Andrew smiled. He liked the Petticoats. He thought of them like soldiers on furlough. After working hard
for eight weeks, they had four weeks off, which they spent with their families, or like the girl next to
him, partying hard. They returned to their jobs happy but exhausted.

Andrew looked out of the projector-window most of the flight, enchanted by the journey, especially
after the shuttlecraft emerged from the hyperspace beacon and detached its hyperdrive unit in a 3,000-
mile orbit of Samothea. The descent to a planet's surface was always exciting.

After a bumpy entrance to the atmosphere, it was a smooth glide eastward across a vast blue-green
ocean to a kidney-shaped continent.

It was really a large island of a few hundred-thousand square miles, the only inhabited land on the
planet. From 50,000 feet, it looked like a 2d map, coloured green, white, gold and a few smears of dirt-
brown. The spine of the continent was a frozen white massif, a volcanic mountain-range that ran north
and south, bulging out eastward like an over-stuffed belly, pushing out cartwheel arms westward to the
sea. The arms embraced a large forest and split a long green coastal plain into two parts.

The well-watered plain was bordered to the north by desiccated highlands, where nothing much grew,
and to the east by a fertile forest. It was cut by a slow wide river. Verdant but weathered volcanic
mountains to the south separated the inhabited northern plain from its larger pristine neighbour to the
south.
The shuttlecraft turned north to follow a long fringe of golden beach that ran 100 miles along the
western edge of the continent to the silver river. A small human settlement of square white houses with
green-roofs hugged the southern bank of the river. This was Cloner City, where some sixty women and
children lived: the largest concentration of the planet's current population.

Andrew contemplated the vast region that supported only about 150 people. He knew the history. This
was the only continent presently capable of colonisation because the engineers had been halted in their
work by the catastrophic formation of the nearby black hole. Their success was visible in the living green
abundance, compared to the patchy green of the other continents and the green fringes of the polar
regions, showing that some life had made the journey.

Seeds and spores had blown across on the winds. Coconuts and other fruits had floated on the ocean.
The wind had carried insects and birds, and the birds had carried snails and other molluscs. Andrew
smiled again, thinking that, some day, human design would add to this natural colonisation. People
would live and build all over the planet.

Even without modern farming machinery, the inhabited continent could easily sustain many thousands
of people, maybe tens of thousands, though it might never become a fully sustainable ecosystem if
mammals could not reproduce naturally; nor would the standard of living reach that of the developed
galaxy.

With modern machines, a million people could live comfortably between the mountains and the ocean,
with lots of land to spare. Andrew frowned. Appealing as the vision was of a teeming human population,
living, working, building and farming on an abundant continent, their impact on the women of Samothea
would be devastating.

He could not say what the answer was but it was in his good nature to listen to every objection and
consider every viable alternative.

******

The women of the Cloner City greeted Andrew with their usual enthusiasm toward any stranger,
especially a man. They were interested in his clothes, his accent, his family, his wife, Marta, his ten-
gallon hat and his opinions on everything. He was mobbed by the women so much and so often that the
Council could not get him alone to discuss business.
Expecting this reaction, Madam Gloria left Andrew to the mercy of the women of the Cloner City for a
whole day and sent him off next morning to stay with the three outer tribes. If he spent a few days with
each tribe, to see how they lived, then he could return via the farms upstream of the city and spend his
final week in the Cloner City, giving plenty of time for a public discussion of his plans for the planet. This
would give all the women who could make the journey plenty of time to assemble in the Cloner City.

As Andrew could ride well, the Herders lent him their tallest horse and he set off on a bright morning
with a posse of Herders, led by their chief, Galatea, whom he recognised as Wildchild's mother.

His choice of a big hat was a good one. It kept his head cool and gave the women something to laugh at.
At least it was not as ridiculous as Ezra's old hat made by the Mariners, with its leather cap and scrappy
curtains for his neck.

Andrew was entertained royally by the Herders, who brought him to their Northern Camp. He joined the
braves who followed the herd about on the boiling hot plain, admiring their hardiness and skill. A few
days later they reached the Southern Camp, a few hours' ride from the Southern Mountains, where
sheep grazed on the hillsides and the air was fresh and cool.

Either out of loyalty to Ezra, or in recognition of Andrew's faithfulness to his wife, the lusty Herders,
despite their reputation, respected his decision not to take part in their orgies and did not try to tempt
him.

The visit to the Mariner tribe's Beach Settlement was also without sexual temptation, despite the
unsurpassed beauty of the Mariner women, who worked naked and rarely wore more than a short skirt
and a kind of leather bra.

Andrew finished his tour of the three Outer Tribes with a week in the Woodlander Camp, where he
helped by chopping wood and repairing huts. Galatea, chief of the Herders, and Calliope, chief of the
Mariners, put Andrew to work but saved their arguments for the big meeting at the Cloner City. But
Mirselene questioned him closely and was dissatisfied with his answers, not wanting life on Samothea to
change at all, neither by more settlers nor by more men visiting. Andrew expected a full-blown
argument at the Cloner City in a week or so.

With a visit to the Farmer Tribe, who sowed, reaped and weeded in the foothills of the White
Mountains, it was time for him to return to the Cloner City and face the ruling council with his scheme to
change their lives forever with a million settlers from Earth.
3 Hendrik Jakovs

The Samothea Project continued to advance while Andrew Claydon was away.

Since Roger had his useful insight of applying the holographic principle to the monster equation, which
defined how Danielle's new technology would work to upgrade the Beltway Hyperspace System,
progress had been slow but steady. Danielle was certain about the x-ray crystal signalling system, and
the upgrade to the Beltway junctions would be ready soon. When it was ready, it would be the most
commercially rewarding enterprise currently in astrophysical engineering.

Viktor Bogdanov brokered a supply of the viable x-ray crystals at a good price for Oakshott Industries on
Earth, whose field-tests of the new hyperspace technology were progressing well. Danielle, Rosa and
Cho tweaked the design of the hyperdrive motor in response to the results. Also on Earth, Jonathan
Wright and Li Qu Yuan worked on configuring the beacon components of the Beltway junctions.

Meanwhile, the Nakatani Corporation made good profits selling stand-alone and tethered hyperspace
systems to distant planets and remote space stations. Argus Space Station, where Victor lived, would
soon have a direct hyperspace link to its sister Space Station near Capella, and thence to Earth. Another
tethered link was planned between Argus and Celetaris, the richest planet of the Outworld League.

Ezra and Tatiana's mining venture promised to bring them a handsome income, one which would be
vital if Ezra were to partner Danielle in her plan to buy the planet Samothea from Outworld Ventures
(assuming the settler company would agree to sell at a reasonable price).

Despite all the earlier setbacks - despite the fact that progress on the Samothea Project for Danielle was
always two steps forward, one step back - she secretly and cautiously allowed herself to hope, to believe
that not everything that could go wrong would always go wrong.

Danielle took regular relief from her burdens by teaching advanced physics to Wildchild and Yael, which
was pure pleasure for her. Sometimes, the three sat in her office, companionable and silent: the girls
doing their homework: Danielle catching up on the latest papers.

On one such morning, Professor Hendrik Jakovs knocked on the door and came in.
"I have a spare hour," he said to Danielle. "I'll take your students, if you want."

"Thanks, Hendrik," Danielle said. "We're not in a lesson at the moment."

The girls went silently with Professor Jakovs to his office, aware of what a great honour it was that the
head of the Astrophysics Department agreed to teach them personally. Impressed by their abilities and
attitude, Hendrik paid the girls' school-fees out of his own pocket. Now he planned to bring them up to
speed in general physics, to fill in the gaps between the specialised areas in which they were patchily
proficient.

When they left, Danielle visited Rosa in her office.

"Can I borrow your Hendrik jumper, please?" she asked.

"Sure. It's in my drawer."

A 'Hendrik jumper' was a thick warm sweater that many students wore to endure the Arctic climate that
the professor maintained in his lecture theatre. Hendrik Jakovs loved the cold and hated the heat. His
office was even colder than the lecture theatre.

His students joked that the man himself was even colder than his office.

The jumpers were necessary because, despite the late-autumn weather, the girls came to the Institute
dressed for the beach. Yael was in her usual short skirt and slip top, her legs and feet bare. Wildchild had
on her favourite khaki shorts and a white short-sleeved shirt. She was also bare-legged and shoeless.

Five minutes later, armed with Rosa's thickly-woven multicoloured Jersey and her own long blue woolly
that went down to her knees (with a polo neck she could cover up to her chin and ears, and long cuffs to
keep her hands warm), Danielle went to the professor's office to check on the girls.

Knocking and entering, she saw something completely unprecedented.

Yael sat cross-legged on the leather couch, perfectly comfortable with a computer tab on her lap.
Wildchild stood at the holographic projector-board, writing down equations.

The professor himself had doffed his jacket, waistcoat and tie, undone two buttons at his neck and
rolled his shirtsleeves all the way up past his elbows. He was explaining the basics of physics to the girls
and, for the first time in all the years that she had known him, Hendrik had turned off the air-
conditioning. Danielle was astounded.

"You won't need these," she said, holding the jumpers in her arms. "Sorry to disturb you."

She wandered back along the corridor, trying to understand exactly what virtues the girls of Samothea
possessed to cause this apparent miracle. Hendrik Jakovs rarely invited women into his office. He never
gave students remedial lessons. He never took off his jacket and tie. And he absolutely never turned off
the air-conditioning.

The girls from Samothea were bright, keen and a joy to teach; but there were other students with those
qualities. They were also nice to look at, but Danielle could not believe that was Hendrik's motivation.
She had never seen him pay attention to a woman's appearance. She had no answer. Her best guess was
that Hendrik had mellowed with age. She was not absolutely certain she wanted him to mellow. She
liked the scowling old brute just the way he was.

tagSci-Fi & FantasyEvery Man's Fantasy Ch. 26Page 3

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

"Good lord!" she said to herself in a voice of wonderment: "Am I jealous?"

Danielle prided herself on being the only woman who could tame the beast. It was in her presence that
Hendrik acted most like a normal human being. Now it seemed that the girls from Samothea could tame
him as well. Or did she resent not being his only favourite?

"No," she said. "That's silly. Rosa's his favourite, too."

It was something to think about, though, and to discuss with her friends at the next girly lunch.

******

Before the next girly lunch occurred, Danielle discovered more changes to Professor Jakovs. The first
was something she predicted and completely understood. The second was unpredictable and a little bit
unsettling.

She noticed the first change when she brought Hendrik a physics paper he asked her to annotate. She
entered his warm office as he was giving another lesson to the girls from Samothea. On the projector
board, the professor had diagrams and equations from cutting-edge astrophysics, not the basic physics
he was supposed to be teaching, to bring the girls up to speed on their undergraduate course.

Danielle smiled. She completely understood the temptation to skip ahead when teaching pupils so eager
and quick. It was what she had done herself, engaging the girls in the problems of hyperspace
engineering when she should have been showing them the fundamentals of gravitation, mechanics,
thermodynamics and the quantum theory of action. Exposing students to cutting-edge physics was a
good way to teach advanced students but bad for beginners because it left gaps in their education.

When she looked into Hendrik's cold grey eyes, she saw he understood her amusement. Hendrik never
smiled with his mouth but he had a way of smiling with his eyes that most people missed. He did so
now, as an admission of guilt and a request. Danielle nodded, silently agreeing to take up the slack in the
girls' education herself, letting him have the pleasure of giving them advanced lessons.

Now the girls had their normal undergraduate lectures at the institute, advanced lessons from Professor
Jakovs and remedial lessons from Danielle or Rosa. They also taught themselves from textbooks
borrowed from the library. Wildchild took extra lessons in pure mathematics, number theory and
topology from Herman or from Professor Dorothy Martlebury. Yael spent three nights a week with Kelly
Mayfield, sharing her homework, filling in more holes in her education. She shared what she learned
with Wildchild at the weekends, but only in short snatches because Hazel and Wildchild devoted most of
the weekend to having sex with their boyfriends.

The unsettling change in Hendrik Jakovs occurred at the end of an administrative meeting, when he
asked Danielle:
"Do you know if Doctor Welwyn is returning to Celetaris?"

"She's back already, Hendrik."

As someone who never watched the news programs, nor listened to academic gossip, but talked only
about physics and cosmology, Professor Jakovs knew nothing about the reception of Eva's sociology
paper on female astrophysics graduates, its controversy, the debacle of her videocast and her expulsion
from the feminist sisterhood.

After Danielle told him the story, Hendrik said:

"Please ask Doctor Welwyn to visit me at her convenience."

Danielle accepted that he had mellowed so much that he made exceptions for Wildchild and Yael, but
the idea that he was impressed by Eva Welwyn, the radical feminist, and wanted to meet her again was
unsettling. One of the fixed points of her life was out of place. Hendrik avoided women in general. Why
would he want to talk to Eva?

Danielle relayed the summons to Eva, who was just as surprised.

"Do you know why he wants to see me?" she asked.

"No idea," Danielle said truthfully.

Eva was not easily intimidated. When she and Robyn interviewed the professor for their paper,
'Something to push against: the benefits of raising standards for women scientists,' she steeled herself
for his famous misogyny, prepared to ignore his offensive remarks about women.

He made none. Hendrik had been cold but polite. He gave short answers to their questions and
volunteered no information; yet Eva and Robyn did their research unimpeded. The contempt he showed
was for sociology, not for women.
Much as Eva disapproved of Hendrik's misogyny, bitter experience with the feminist movement had
taught her that there was a difference between feelings and actions. It was possible, she learned, to
dislike women (as she believed Hendrik did) without treating them objectively any worse than men. It
was also possible to have all the right feelings (as she thought feminists did) but act in the most
irrational or unkind way.

So it was with only a slight nervous anticipation that Eva knocked on the door to Hendrik's office and
(wearing a thick woollen jumper) went inside.

Hendrik Jakovs stood to greet her.

"I'm impressed by your paper, Doctor Welwyn," he said, "and I'm willing to be interviewed for a follow-
up paper."

"Thank you, Professor, but Robyn and I have no plans for a follow-up paper."

"I hope you'll change your mind. I'm happy to ask my staff to give you the data you need and to
encourage my students to take part in your study, so you can have a larger sample-size to follow
through their educational careers."

Eva was tempted by the offer. Despite Danielle's teasing, that sociology was a pseudo-science and
feminist theory was pure mythology, Eva had the instincts of a genuine scholar and was willing to have
her theory tested by further investigation.

"Why do you want me to continue my research, Professor?"

"I need to understand something Doctor Mayfield said."

"What did she say?"

"That the Celetaris Institute for Science will soon have the largest proportion of female astrophysics
undergraduates in the Anglosphere. She seemed to be proud of it."
Eva smiled.

"She's right to be proud. Most astrophysics departments in the Anglosphere have only about 5%
women, with a higher dropout rate and lower average grades for women than for men. By the spring
semester, your department will have 15 female undergraduates. That's nearly 30%. Your results for
female students are already the best in the galaxy."

"I'm not interested in female students, Doctor Welwyn."

Eva held her breath and counted to ten before responding.

"Then why do you want me to continue my research?"

"I'm worried that, with such a high intake of women students, the dropout rate may increase or we'll
award fewer first class honours degrees."

Eva felt the steam rising inside and counted to twenty this time. She spoke carefully.

"May I suggest, Professor Jakovs, that if female students are more likely to dropout or get lower grades
than male students, then it might be due to the teaching method rather than an inherent weakness in
female students?"

"I agree. That's why I want you to advise me."

"You want my advice? On what?"

"I don't know how to make a department attractive to one sex or the other, only to physicists. When
there were only one or two female students per class, it was possible to treat all students exactly the
same. Your paper shows that some female students thrive under those circumstances. But when there
are 15 female students in the year, the situation may be different. I can't countenance special treatment
for women students, but I don't want to fail them nor allow them to fail. I need to know that no student
is being disadvantaged because there are too many female students."
"Too many?" Eva was astounded by the professor's request. She tried to understand it. "Surely if there
are more female students, the environment will be better for them?"

"But your principle of 'Something to push against' says the opposite. If things are made too easy for
female students, then they don't try so hard and they even use sexual prejudice as an excuse for giving
up."

Eva paused, with mixed feelings at the professor's statement.

"I agree that you can read my paper that way," she said, cautiously, "as if I'm saying that women
students who pass your exceptionally difficult entrance exam and can cope with your exceptionally large
work-load must have such strong inner resources that they can thrive in an environment heavily
weighted toward male students."

"Exactly. My aim is to recruit the brightest and keenest students. Their sexes and emotional lives have
nothing to do with physics. But in a changed environment, with more women students, will women feel
the same compulsion to work hard and prove themselves?"

"Are you worried about your department's results or the well-being of your students, Professor?"

"The well-being of the students, of course, which includes giving them the best education I can, helping
them to achieve their academic potentials, enhancing their intellectual lives and enjoying good careers
as professional scientists. That way I also do the best for my department."

Eva began to understand.

"According to my paper, the women who study astrophysics here do so for the quality of the education
and the prestige of the research the department pursues. Some of those virtues come from Danielle,
Rosa and the other staff-members, but the overall environment, which is so conducive to women
students, is one you're responsible for."

"Not deliberately, I assure you."

"No, I wouldn't accuse you of deliberately helping women," Eva said with a smile. "Professor, when I first
asked to interview you about your female students, you replied that you did not allow women in the
department because they're a damned nuisance."

"I did."

"You weren't completely joking were you?"

"I never joke."

"But you don't really think women are a damned nuisance?"

"All students - maybe all young people - are irritants at times. A parent can think his children are
annoying but still want them around."

"But you have a personal preference for male students?"

"My personal preferences are not part of science. I'm primarily interested in physics and it's my
experience that most people who want to study physics at the advanced level are men."

Eva swallowed back the argument she was about to make that having a preponderance of men in
physics could be a self-fulfilling prophesy, pushing women away from the subject. Instead she smiled
again and asked:

"How can my continued research help you?"

"You can formulate an algorithm for how to treat women students."

"An algorithm? A set of instructions, like a computer program or a flowchart? I'm not sure one can exist.
There are too many variables where human behaviour and psychology are involved. Why would you
need such a thing?"
"I know how to teach but I don't know what it is I do that makes this department suitable for female
physicists. If there's something I do, then it's entirely inadvertent."

"You know, Professor Jakovs, inadvertence might well be your secret. ... Robyn and I will follow your
female students through their careers to research a follow-up paper on the subject. I think it'll be very
interesting."

******

Freya made impressive progress in her infant school, though her teacher at first thought her education
was stunted because she was a slow reader and her vocabulary was small. This was only a side effect of
the paucity of literature in the Forest Camp on Samothea. After she began normal schooling, Freya
picked up new words at an astounding rate: twenty or more a day. Soon she overtook her peers,
seeming to suck in knowledge, filling in the gaps of her education.

She loved her new school at first. There were interesting posters on the walls, with numbers, shapes,
countries, buildings, animals and plants. There was a bookcase with a hundred books that Freya began
to work her way through. She enjoyed making friends. Boys fascinated her. But when the learning curve
began to flatten, she was less impressed. Ultimately, she was disappointed.

The abundant books contained more pictures than words. The videobooks were entertaining rather
than instructional. They made you feel you were in a spaceship or on a farm. But Freya had jumped
through hyperspace three times and stayed on a farm in Australia. She even saw sharks close-up from a
glass-bottomed boat, visited a great city with skyscrapers and flew in a stratoliner over a desert.

Other videobooks were fantasy cartoons, with talking animals and fairy princesses. She frowned at the
talking animals and though she loved the princesses at first, she soon frowned at them as well because
their stories were all the same.

Her main complaint was playtime. She did not mind stopping lessons for a short time to run around. She
loved running and was one of the fastest in her class; but half the day was playtime, including most of
the lessons. And there were no chores to do at all, unless you counted putting away your own books,
crayons and toys, which she thought everyone should do anyway, without being told.
After starting so enthusiastically, Freya found she did not fit in so well. On Samothea, girls learned to
entertain themselves and took an early interest in adult activities, keen to do chores as soon as they
were old enough to perform them. But here there was far too much playtime. After she rejected most of
the toys, and judged the picture-books to be too childish, Freya was bored.

Whenever the dreaded playtime came around again, as it did with relentless monotony many times a
day, she took a book with actual words in it, or a logic-puzzle type of game, and sat in the corner by
herself.

When Annela realised that Freya was bored at school, she asked Ezra what to do. He suggested she talk
to the headmistress.

The school was in a leafy western suburb of Arts City, on the edge of Fanshaw Park. It was a large white
wooden building with green shutters and grey roof-tiles. There were wide steps up to a veranda and a
big yard with a half-height picket fence. A gate opened into an orchard, with apple, pear, plum and
damson trees. A giant horse chestnut, its leaves turning golden brown, stood in the opposite corner of
the yard, and cast an embracing shadow over the house in the late afternoon.

When Annela arrived, the headmistress, Carol Landscome, was tidying up after the day's lessons,
straightening the chairs and putting away toys and books. Freya was helping her.

Annela sat in Carol's office with Freya quietly beside her. She explained the problem.

"Why is your school teaching Freya how to play?" she asked. "That's something every child knows
instinctively. When we first applied to send her here, we were told there would be lessons most of the
day but Freya says half the lessons are just playtime."

Carol was silent a minute, thinking how to reply. She had never heard such a complaint before. It was
not what she expected.

"Freya's a good student and a quick learner," Carol said. "I didn't know she wanted more lessons and
less playtime. I sympathise completely and I wish my other parents had your old-fashioned attitude to
education."
"We're very old-fashioned on Samothea."

"The problem is that we're a community school. Many of our staff are mothers whose children come to
the school. They insist that childhood is for enjoyment. It's hard for me to swim against the current,
especially when there are other schools to choose from."

"Is that why none of the children do chores?" Annela asked. "If children do no chores, then how will they
learn good habits? Freya loves to do chores. It gives her a taste of adult work."

"I know. I think it's admirable. The problem is that we on Celetaris have become too rich and
comfortable. Teaching was not always like this. It's only since the planet has begun to prosper that
we've put emphasis on 'learning by playing', as educationists from Earth call it."

"The children of the first few generations of pioneers had no such leisure during school time. They had
to study hard and mature quickly, so they could go to work and make something of the planet. This was
reflected even in infant school, which taught the three Rs very thoroughly but little else."

"The wealthy later generations, who are in charge now, remember their own austere upbringing or
know the stories of their parents. They want their children to have all the luxury they missed out on.
They spoil their children and expect us to do so too. I once tried to teach them that work is more fun
than play. The lesson was not well received."

"Is there anything we can do?" Annela asked. "I want Freya to stay here."

Carol thought for a minute.

"We sometimes have themed weeks, when we teach a subject every day. We could make one of our
themes the culture of Samothea. Freya could show the other children how she lives at home. The
children will be expected to emulate her."

"A week of lessons and chores?"

"Yes. Many parents take part in our themed weeks. You can speak to them. Tell them how Freya loves to
do chores. We'll say they should let their children do chores as well, and maybe they'll learn to enjoy
them."

"Can I tell them that Freya prefers to have lessons than playtime?"

"Definitely do so. It will remind us older parents about the more fulfilling upbringing we enjoyed before
we all got to be so middle-class and sybaritic. I remember how it was when children were eager for
education and the very idea of a pastime made no sense to us. Time was to be used productively, not
idled away as if it were a nuisance or a burden."

Carol noticed the look Annela gave her and laughed in self-amusement.

"You've inspired me with hope, which is a cruel thing for a teacher. We all treasure the fantasy of
attentive children soaking up knowledge. Our greatest joy is to impart wisdom to eager young minds, to
be a catalyst for a child to discover the pleasure of learning. We hold fast to the dream for as long as we
possibly can."

Annela's eyes were also shining.

"I see you've been touched by that dream yourself," Carol said. "Let's see what Samothea week at
school achieves."

******

Samothea week was such a success that Carol Landscome invited Annela to become a part-time teacher.
The job would suit her very well. Some time ago, Annela told Danielle and Ezra about wanting a job. She
had thought to volunteer as a trainee nurse because she was taking informal lessons on medicine at the
medical centre.

Though it was impossible for Annela to take a job while her sexual heat was so powerful, she had
recently begun to feel a slight reduction in her sex-drive. When she reported this to her doctors, they
ran extra tests. Cassie Leighton gave her the verdict.
"It's good news," she said. "It means the new nanobots are working properly."

"Show me, please."

Cassie projected a graph with a set of numbers onto her office wall.

"This curve on the graph means that the new nanobots are eating up the human growth hormone. This
set of blips shows them reconstructing your DNA. The general trend is downward, which means the
nanobots are finding fewer depleted telomeres to mend. The genetic protection against the x-rays (the
'scarring' which the DNA self-repair mechanism causes) seems also to have been replaced. Do you still
feel horny?"

"Not as much as before."

"Good. The results indicate that your hormone levels will gradually balance and your normal sex-drive
will return."

"Oh!" Annela said, with an element of regret in her voice.

"But as that is the normal sex-drive of an over-sexed pregnant woman from Samothea," Cassie said with
a smile, "I expect poor Ezra won't get any more rest."

Annela smiled.

"Yes, poor Ezra. What do I need to do?"

"Exactly what you've been doing. Have as much sex or as little as you feel you need (or as Ezra can
supply)."

Annela happily took on the role of part-time teacher's assistant, working in the afternoons so she could
collect Freya from school.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

In the next few weeks, her sex-drive diminished further and she demanded sex from Ezra only twice a
day. Sometimes it was even only once. The first day she tried to not have sex for a whole day was when
she felt so contented that she brought Freya into their bed after her goodnight tickles.

It was a maternal woman's dream, to sleep with Ezra cuddling her on one side and Freya on the other,
curled around her pregnant belly. Annela held her daughter all night and long into the next morning. She
woke randier than ever; but all three had slept so long that they had to rush Freya through breakfast
and straight to school.

Missing out on both the previous night's sex and morning sex, Annela suffered an intense frustration
that she could barely control. At mid-morning, sprinting home after her medical treatment, she jumped
on Ezra and goaded him into giving her the hard pounding she desperately craved.

She lay back with her legs up, her belly big and round, her tits aching, her eyes shut. She rocked and
moaned loudly with every thrust, until her pussy quivered and her legs shook. Now she succumbed to
climax after climax, crying out as she hit her peaks. Finally, Ezra also succumbed, echoing her ecstatic
cries. "I love you, Annela!" he grunted as he spurted out his load, holding her tightly.

She held him just as tightly, sighing in contented satisfaction as they kissed. Relaxed, warm and fulfilled,
cuddled in the arms of her lover, her hormones at last returned to normal. It was a heavenly release
after a hellish frustration, but she never again tried to go a whole day without sex.

The success of Samothea Week at school and the experience of being a teacher to spoiled but curious
children inspired Annela to talk to Madam Gloria again about the Samothean Juniors, her idea of a few
months before. There had been a successful experiment when Kelly Mayfield visited the planet in the
summer. Kelly came home full of confidence, enthused to go back to Samothea for the whole summer
next year, despite being put to work every day.

On Annela's behalf, Gloria assigned the job of proposing the Samothean Juniors to her special Advisor,
Sarah Wandasdaughter. Sally pursued the task with enthusiasm, discussing with Annela how to
formulate the rules for the Juniors and trying to work out costs.

4 Ryan Mayfield
On Samothea, when another marathon meeting in the Council Chamber with Andrew Claydon ran on
late into the evening, Solange sent a Junior to tell Ash, her bedmate, to take her daughter, Tahney, to
bed and not to wait up.

After the meeting, Solange followed Gloria into her room and stripped naked. It was a few months since
the two women had shared a bed, which Solange always initiated when she had something to say.

"If you want to talk in private," Gloria said, "we could simply go for a walk in the orchard."

But she contentedly undressed and got into bed with Solange, pressing their naked skins together to
share their warmth.

"I know," Solange said, "but I reckon I can tell what you're really thinking when we're naked together."

"You're nuts."

"But you indulge me anyway."

"Maybe I'm also nuts. So what do you want me to do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing, my fanny!" Gloria said with a laugh. "You're always up to something. The first time we shared
a bed, you tried to get me to have sex with Brad. Now I guess you want me to seduce Andrew. You know
he's married, don't you?"

"But that makes him more attractive, doesn't it?"

"Yes. It's absurd. Why is that?"

"Reliability, dependability, fidelity. A married man seems like a catch because he's already proved to be
a good mate."

"That really is absurd. If a woman takes a husband away from his wife, all she proves is that he's
unreliable, untrustworthy and faithless."

"Whoever said women are rational?"

"I did and I still do. However, I have forbidden anyone from trying to seduce Andrew. And there are
plenty of far more attractive women here than me."

"Physically, yes, but none with your allure."

"Flatterer. What's your real plan?"

"I want to go to Celetaris."

"Why?"

"Someone from the Council should be there to help with the discussion. I know you felt impotent during
the court-case but that was because we voted not to take part in it. There's no such restriction now. If
you won't go back with Andrew, then I will."

"I can't stop you going if the Samothea Project Team agree to give you a lift, but I would prefer if you
didn't. We can talk to Danielle, Roger, Ezra, Annela, Andrew and the girls everyday over the
communications link. What can you say on Celetaris that you can't say from here?"

"Nothing, except that I can read their faces close-up and know what they're thinking."

"I understand but you'll be more useful to me here for now. If things change, then I may change my
mind. Will you obey me?"
"I will always obey you, Gloria."

"Really? So why do I feel I'm being manipulated or softened up for something?"

Solange laughed and snuggled closely to the Prefect.

"You've got nice tits, you know," she said. "You should wear low-cut dresses and show them off a bit."

******

Eight weeks into the term it was Ryan Mayfield's twentieth birthday. Rod and Ed had the perfect outing
for him.

Ryan came home for the weekend and the lads took him with Hazel, Wildchild, Yael, Kelly and Freya on
the hovertrain to Waterfall City. They checked into a hotel in the modern part of the city, on the west
bank of the mile-wide river, upstream from the thundering waterfall.

They walked to the Bohemian old mining town on the east bank, crossing the river on the exciting
footbridge that passed close enough to the waterfall to drench their plastic raincoats. From the old
town, they took a cable car to the freshwater lake below.

The lake was a large stretch of the river, twenty miles long and five miles wide, fed at one end by the
boiling turmoil of the falls, but peaceful at the other end, where wading birds delved for crustaceans in
the muddy shallows between clumps of reeds and bulrushes. Many rivers ran from the lake, meandering
across the planet through granite escarpments and wild gorges, heading to the vast central ocean on the
equator.

A hoverbus ride along the forested southern shore took them to a small settlement with a dozen
wooden boat-houses standing on stilts partway into the lake and some concrete houses inland among
the trees, rented all summer to holiday-makers. A long jetty pushed into the water from the shore,
connecting the boathouses to a coastal boardwalk. Waves from the turbulent falls on their way to the
shore grazed the underside of the walkway.
By day, fishermen plied their patient sport on the jetty, or passed the time of day with boat-owners and
tourists. By night, lovers took romantic strolls along the walkway or stared at moonlit reflections on the
water.

There were cafes and a restaurant on the jetty and, a good walk away, beyond a small granite headland
that poked its nose boldly into the lake, there was a water sports centre, with sailing, diving, canoeing
and exciting motorised toys for adventure tourists.

The newest toys were hydrofoil jets. Ed and Rod's birthday gift for Ryan was to hire six of them. The buzz
of excitement among the friends was palpable as they trod the coastal path to the jetty where the boats
were moored.

The brightly coloured hydrojets were fast looking, with sharp bows, an open cockpit protected by a
plastiglass screen and a roll bar over the driver's head. There was an engine behind the bucket seat and
hydrofoils to rise up onto at speed.

Two of the boats were out on the lake, engines roaring, skimming across the surface on their foils. Jets
of water arced into the air behind them, leaving white frothing trails as the drivers raced on a zigzag
course for the fun of producing as much splash as possible.

The owners of the hydrofoil business were a young couple from Earth. Fit and weather-tanned from an
outdoor life, they were friendly and welcoming, keen to show off the boats and explain how they
worked.

Water was sucked in under the cockpit and expelled at the stern. There was a foot throttle and a
steering wheel. The roll bar over the driver was another application of the Nakatani air-jelly technology.
It created a bubble around the cockpit to protect against splash, or to seal in the air if the boat
overturned. The keenest drivers left the air-jelly turned off, to get the most wind and water on their
faces.

Three physics students, Wildchild, Yael and Kelly, wanted to see the engine. A big hatch on the back
opened to a bundle of eight pipes, four feet long, with underwater inlets at the front, a directional hose
at the back controlled by the steering wheel, and valves halfway along. Beside the valves were clear
plastiglass windows through which microwave flash lasers pointed, powered by batteries. The flash
lasers worked at a low frequency, designed to boil water.
"Microwave lasers are really 'masers'," said Yael, adding her own commentary to the owner's
description. "But everyone calls them 'lasers' anyway."

When the tubes were filled with water and the valves closed, the lasers vaporised a few cubic inches of
water. Firing in turn, together they turned a litre of water into twenty-four litres of steam, forcing the
column of water out of the hose, driving the boat forward.

When the jetfoil was going fast enough to rise onto its foils, there was enough pressure for a ramjet
effect, when the inlet valves stayed open because the weight of water in front of the laser was a barrier
to the steam. Then the flash lasers pulsed almost continuously. There was a satisfying roar and hiss from
the jet and a thump in the back from the acceleration, as water was expelled from the outlet hose in a
stream of boiling violence.

With final instructions on the safety features that were designed to prevent collisions, the drivers were
seated, engines started and the boats given a push off from the quay to go bobbing out onto the lake,
where they could open the throttles and have some fun.

Yael was last because she took Freya, who was strapped onto her lap with a harness. Freya wanted to
stand behind Yael and hold onto the roll bar so she could see everything, but it was too dangerous, so
she had to be satisfied with a murky view through the visor as they bumped out onto the lake.

Kelly was already racing, having driven jetboats in the immersive video games at the shopping mall.
Finding the steering wheel and accelerator familiar, she put her foot down and roared ahead.

As Yael gained speed, the boat rose up on its foils and the ride became smoother but wetter. The
whistle from the wind and the roar of the other boats was amazing. Yael and Freya streaked through a
fine mist of spray from the leading jetfoils. It soaked their hair and dripped down their goggles.

Manoeuvring was easy at speed. The boat tilted into the corners and the bows rose and fell with a dab
of the throttle.

Then there was the wash. Chasing the others into the middle of the lake, Yael's jetfoil leapt into the air
as it crossed the wakes, when the jets whined for lack of water. They released a satisfying hiss when the
boat hit the surface again and lunged forward.
Freya screamed with joy at all the bumps and shakes, the wind billowing her hair.

"Faster, Yael, faster!" she shouted.

When Yael caught the other girls, they all wanted to go fast, enjoying the speed and the g-forces, turning
sharply to jump over each others' wakes. They chased each other all the way to the other side of the
lake and back again.

The boys kept to the middle of the lake where they were insane, recklessly driving the hydrojets as if
they were dodgems. They played chicken with each other, driving head-on and turning at the last
moment to try to soak or even sink the other boats with their jet spray.

After half-an-hour, they all met in the middle of the lake, gently bobbing on the waves, as the rippling
wash the boys had manically produced dampened down and dispersed.

Ryan loved his birthday present. He was by far the wettest, having taken on so much water that he was
sitting in a bath. Rod was next wettest, but Ed was as dry as the girls: a testament to his skilful driving or
his lack of a death-wish.

For the other half-hour, they had races on a zigzag course outlined by buoys, where the skill was to turn
as tightly as possible without tipping over or going too wide on the next turn. An extra problem for those
following the leader was to steer through the misty spray. The best fun was to nudge ahead when
someone took a corner too widely or too sharply and had to correct. Then the overtaking boat would
drench the boat behind.

Ed won, despite the weight advantage the girls had over him, due to his skill in cornering. After getting
ahead, no one could catch him. Rod's boat had taken on so much water that he struggled in a tight turn,
and Ryan, the absolute maniac, carried the weight of an extra man in water. He enjoyed himself anyway,
taking corners too tightly and rolling over a couple of times.

Ryan came last but with a huge grin that lasted even after they dried out over lunch in the restaurant on
the quay, warming up with bowls of Irish broth.
They took the hoverbus back to Waterfall City, going the long way westward around the lake and up its
mountainous northern shore to the modern city on the west side of the great river. The girls snuggled
up to their boyfriends. Freya sat on Kelly's lap and gazed out of the window at the scenery, catching
glimpses of clear blue lake between pine trees on the snaking mountain road.

Hazel put her hand in Ed's trousers and felt his hot erect cock. She gave him a pecking kiss on the cheek
and smiled happily. They chatted quietly together.

Sitting with Rod, behind Hazel and Ed, across the aisle from Yael and Ryan, Wildchild was silent as usual.
Yael was also silent, which was far from usual. She was reading Wildchild's mind. She knew Wildchild
had two kinds of silence. One was when there was nothing she wanted to say. The other was when she
was thinking. This was the thinking kind of silence.

"I know what you're thinking about," Yael said to Wildchild. "You're working out whether we can use the
hydrofoil engine on Samothea."

"We know that Ezra's laser pens work at home," Wildchild said, "so we might be lucky and find the flash
lasers also work; but it's the rest of the electronics that we might have a problem with."

"The batteries will need heavy shielding," Yael said.

"I'm thinking of a large boat that could carry the extra weight or a pump on the ground floor inside the
Council building, which is pretty well shielded from the x-rays. It could pump water to a tank on the roof,
either for the bathrooms or to provide water power."

"And irrigation pumps for the Farmers. But the problem is the inlet valves."

"Yes," Wildchild agreed. "The valves are electronic and they need to be timed to coincide with the
lasers, so they close to create water-pressure and open again to let in more water. If we can't use
electronics, then we'll need to make some kind of mechanical system that will maintain the water-
pressure on the inlet side of the pipes."

"Veins," said Ryan, the medical student.

"What do you mean?" asked Yael.

"I know!" said Kelly, who was seventeen and studying biology as one of her final-year high school
subjects. "There are flaps in veins to stop blood running the wrong way. They're flexible and angled
away from the direction of blood-flow, so blood normally pushes them flat against the sides of the vein.
But if blood tries to flow the wrong way, it pushes the flaps out from the sides and they block the flow."

"I get it," Yael said. "Like doors that open only one way."

"That might work," Wildchild agreed. "After the flash lasers have vaporised the water and the steam has
been expelled, there'll be a vacuum and water will be sucked in again from the inlet side of the pipe,
opening the valve. When the laser fires, the water that tries to go out of the inlet side of the pipe will
push the valve closed, creating pressure that forces the boiling water toward the outlet. The material of
the valves will need to be very strong, flexible, resilient and heat-proof."

"And at high-speed," Yael added, excited by this new idea, "water-pressure at the inlet end of the pipe
will keep the flaps open, so the pipe is filled again quickly, and the water itself is the barrier to the steam
ejecting from the inlet."

"This won't be a problem for a big boat, which needn't go as quickly as a jetfoil, nor for a standing
pump," Wildchild said, "but a material for the flaps that bends with different reaction-times depending
on the pressure might work at both slow speeds and high speeds."

They were silent all the way back to the hotel, thinking about how to make the jetfoil engine work on
Samothea.

******

Dressing for dinner was fun.

Rod was expelled from the room he shared with Wildchild so the girls could help each other put on their
posh frocks. Yael wore the classic short black dress that Mariotta Goldrick had bought for her. She first
wore it to the concert in Arts City on her eighteenth birthday, six months ago. The outfit came with
underwear: tights, suspenders, bra and, after some resistance, because it was not her period, knickers
as well. It was Kelly who insisted, saying it made Yael looked gorgeous.

Six months of a good diet on Celetaris, plus some belated growth, had given Yael a few curves. She was
as tall as Hazel but thinner. All the girls were thin (except little Freya, who was chubby for now). Hazel
curved the most, with a delicious slender hourglass shape, but 'slender' was an even better word for
Yael, who was thin from side-to-side as well as from front-to-back.

Although she was all knees and elbows, there was now a dip in her waist, which the dress exaggerated,
clinging to her hips. The low vee-neck and push-up bra gave her an even more alluring shape, though
the focus of anyone's attention seeing Yael for the first time would be on her angelic face, framed by a
halo of wavy golden hair, graced with large dark-brown eyes that glistened with intelligence and joy.

Hazel and Wildchild had dresses that Ed and Rod sent them out to buy when they planned the surprise
for Ryan.

Hazel chose a classic scarlet-red mini dress: strapless, low in the neck and tight to her body, showing off
her curves and long shapely legs. Kelly's dress was also red, with a crochet lace trim and a pleated satin
skirt. Wildchild, despite not caring as much as the others about clothes, had chosen a striking black and
white dress that perfectly set off her curly black hair and electric green eyes.

It was black on the bottom-half, with a white triangle that began as a point at the tight waist and was at
its widest at the hem over her right knee. The top half was white, with a black triangle on the left side,
wide from neck to shoulder, tapering to a point at her waist. Her only ornament was her silver necklace
with its blue-grey pearl, hanging chastely in the v-shaped neckline.

Uncomfortable high-heeled shoes completed their outfits. So, with Freya in her emerald dress with the
big bow on her back, they went down to the hotel dining room to meet the boys, who were in plain suits
and had just the right amount of understated handsomeness to underscore the beauty of the ladies
without diverting attention from them.

There was a dance floor with a small band playing. This was the perfect start to the evening, though the
girls from Samothea had to take off their shoes to dance.
There were five girls and three boys, so the boys chivalrously danced with the girls in turn, leaving the
two spare to dance with each other, until it was time to eat.

There was more dancing after dinner but, in between numbers, when the boys went to the bar, Hazel,
Wildchild and Yael had a few minutes at the table together to talk in their secret sign-language. Hazel
had a pressing question for Yael.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

"What are you doing to Ryan for his birthday tonight?"

"Anything he wants."

"You should suck his cock."

"I do that anyway."

"On your knees."

"I did that with Carlin. We took turns."

"It makes Ed feel like a king," Hazel said.

"Rod doesn't like me kneeling to him," Wildchild signed. "He says it's servile."

"Don't you like kneeling to him?" Yael asked.

"Yes. And he doesn't think it's servile when he kneels to lick my pussy."

"Rod's funny," Yael said.

"Yes, but he's also wonderful," Wildchild agreed.

"We should all do it tonight, at the same time. Don't let Rod refuse," Yael said.

"How about letting Sam and me have sex with Ryan for his birthday?" Hazel said. "After all, when you
first told us about him, you said we could try him out."

"Hands off!" Yael signed frantically. "He's mine!"

Hazel and Wildchild laughed.

"Mine and Carlin's," Yael continued. "Carlin and I share him because we've got the same soul."

"I thought you and Sam had the same soul," Hazel said.

"We share the soul of friendship," Yael explained, seriously, "not the sexual soul."

"I think you've taken my place, Hazel," Wildchild said, "judging by how much time you and Goldilocks
spend snogging."

"You're just jealous," Yael signed with a smile.

Wildchild had no jealousy but completely understood why Yael and Hazel were so friendly together.

Yael and Wildchild had a bond of love so deep that they never needed to express it. It showed in their
telepathic ability to understand each other in a silent instant. Even so, Yael hugged and snogged Hazel
most days because Ryan was away at medical school for weeks at a time and her girlfriend, Carlin, was
on Samothea. Yael needed to be hugged and kissed many times a day or she would pine and be a
nuisance.
She would have sat on Ezra's lap and hugged him if he was not always busy working, shagging Annela or
fast asleep in a chair.

Like a normal girl from Samothea, Hazel loved affection, but Wildchild was not a hugging kind of girl. She
made as much contact with Hazel as her girlfriend wanted. She indulged Freya, whom no one could
resist. But both Hazel and Rod felt her affection mostly during sex, when Wildchild's passion had no
limits. She loved everything about sex and had no inhibitions. She was also as fit and strong as an
Olympic athlete, so Hazel and Rod had the erotic times of their lives.

The boys interrupted the girls' discussion by pulling them back onto the dance floor. So the dinner
ended with the girls walking on air and their boyfriends, especially Ryan, as horny as they had ever been
in their lives.

******

In their bedrooms, three happy and well-fed girls knelt in their underwear before their boyfriends and
took their erect cocks into their mouths. Wildchild did not allow Rod to refuse. Ed felt like a king and
Ryan's only worry was that, after two months without sex, he would not last long, however hard he tried
to hold off.

With Yael's pretty mouth around his cock and her tongue, so soft and smooth, loving and caressing,
Ryan had no chance. He tried manfully to contain himself but pretty soon, as Yael bobbed her head and
he ran his fingers through her wavy hair, he arched backward, groaned heavily and erupted into her
welcoming mouth.

When she had done, he lifted her up and carried her to the bed, lying her on her back. Spreading her
legs wide, he planted his mouth on her pussy.

The other girls were still on their knees sucking when Ryan's tongue and fingers brought Yael to a first
pulsating ecstasy. He lay on her and sank his hot shaft into her narrow slit, making her rock and moan.
He always lasted much longer the second time and even longer the third time. Yael was still riding him
halfway into the night, his mouth warmly on a small succulent tit, her hair flying backward, ripples of joy
suffusing her skinny body, making her legs shake and her breath come in spurts.

******
Next morning, they went to breakfast in the old city. They sat at tables outside a cafe while a soft
autumn wind swept leaf-litter around their feet. A guitarist in the square picked out a languid melody
under a lamppost. Artists sat on stools, sketching the buildings for those tourists with romantic tastes
and spare coin.

As the friends chatted, the girls from Samothea kept up a parallel conservation, telling stories of last
night's passion in their sign language. There were occasional giggles from Yael and smiles from Hazel and
Wildchild. Freya laughed because Yael was laughing.

After a couple of minutes, Ryan started making signs of his own to the other lads. He flapped his fingers
and rolled his hands, crossed his thumbs and put his fingertips together. Ed caught on and signed back
with crossed arms, fingers on his elbows, tapping a pattern.

The girls noticed. Yael and Hazel stopped their conversation to study the boys' signals, trying to work out
the pattern but Wildchild understood immediately and smiled to herself.

Rod had something important to communicate. He made extravagant gestures with his whole arms,
patting his chest, playing the piano on the tabletop, waving his hands in circles either side of his head.
He ended by flamboyantly sticking his thumbs in his ears, waggling his fingers.

The girls burst out laughing, none louder than Freya.

Wildchild signalled to Yael:

"What do you say, Goldilocks? Shall we teach them our language?"

"Let's teach them the public one. There are some things we want to keep between ourselves."

"All right."

That afternoon, on the hovertrain home, the girls taught Kelly, Rod, Ed and Ryan the secret language
that Wildchild and Yael had invented when they lived in the Herder Tribe and wanted to talk unnoticed.
******

The same weekend Danielle received some good news.

She heard the story directly from Michio Nakatani and Stephen Oakshott in a conference call. The x-ray
communication system to co-ordinate the Beltway hyperspace junctions passed all its tests. The new
technology worked well enough for them to start the Beltway Hyperspace System upgrade. Danielle's
invention was a success!

In a day, the triumph was splashed all over the news media, especially the Physics Web and the Business
Web. Orders immediately flooded in and the partners in the business - the Nakatani Corporation,
Oakshott Industries and the consortium of miners and manufacturers assembled by Tatiana and Ezra -
geared up quickly for production.

In a first rush of optimistic excitement, an article on the Business Web valued the new technology at
twelve million Galactic Pounds.

Things seemed to be going right at last. One quarter of the value of the business belonged to Danielle,
though she would not relax, unable to believe her luck would hold. So it was in a completely neutral
mood that she responded to an invitation from Vice-Chancellor Joan Mayfield to a meeting in her office
with Doctor Michael Hoxton, the Dean of the Celetaris Institute for Science, and Paul Kessler, the
Institute's lawyer.

The Dean looked as hassled as always. The handsome lawyer smiled apologetically. Joan was her usual
busy self, organised and forthright, in seeming contradiction to her overcrowded and messy desk.

Danielle was good friends with Joan and Paul, who were instrumental players in the Samothea Project.
She had great respect for Dean Hoxton, not least because his balding head and harassed look
represented the visage of a man with five lively daughters.

The situation was uncannily familiar.

It looked like a repeat of the meeting two years before, when Danielle first met Michael and Paul. At
that time, Michael wanted to stop Danielle from working on her hyperdrive motor due to the threat of a
patent-infringement suit by the Nakatani Corporation. The lawsuit was happily resolved and now the
Nakatani Corporation was a partner in the Samothea Project.

Whatever the reason for the summons, Danielle could only hope for a repeat of the same outcome.

"Thanks for coming, Danielle," Joan said. "Michael has something to say about your Samothea Project
technology."

"Yes, Michael?" Danielle said.

"We all admire your work very much, Doctor Goldrick ..."

"Her name's Danielle," Joan ruled from her seat of power. "We're all friends here, and no one needs
buttering up, least of all Danielle. So out with it, Michael. What's the problem?"

"It's the Beltway Hyperspace System upgrade. It was invented on Institute premises in Institute time,
with Institute computer resources and using the Institute physics laboratory. So the invention belongs to
the Institute."

"Don't be an ass, Michael," Joan said.

"Really, Joan!" Michael protested.

"Michael's right," Danielle said. "I ought to share the patent on the Beltway upgrade technology, though
it is not only my work."

"We don't need you to, Danielle," Joan insisted. "We'll get plenty of rewards from the good publicity. All
the best brains in astrophysics will want to come here now. Not to mention the businesses that will
want to sponsor our students and our research. Thanks to the Samothea Project, the Celetaris Institute
for Science is truly on the map."
"But if Danielle sells the patent, we'll miss out on a huge payout," Michael protested.

"It's true. I'm sorry, Michael," Danielle said, "but I need the money for a special purpose. Paul, if we sell
the technology, can we make it a condition of the sale that the buyer agrees to endow the university
with something, like a department, a building or sponsorship for Ph.D. students?"

"We can. I don't see it putting off determined buyers."

"What's your special purpose for the money?" Michael asked.

"I can't tell you yet," Danielle said. "But I promise, the Institute won't lose out."

"Of course, we won't," Joan said. "The Institute is Danielle's home now as much as anyone else's. She
wants us to prosper. ... So now that you're satisfied, Michael, we can all go back to work."

It was a statement, not a question. Michael did not look satisfied, but he was used to doing what he was
told by bossy women. He nodded in long-suffering silence. Danielle smiled apologetically to him and,
with a wink to Joan and Paul, skipped back to her office to prepare for the next problem.

******

Now the Samothea Project promised to bring in some serious money, Danielle realised she needed to
organise the business in a more professional manner. She began by sorting out the Project's accounts,
which were in a complete mess.

The truth was that Danielle had never expected to make any money. Beyond conscientiously insisting
that everyone submit receipts for all their spending, she had no real control over expenditure. It was
pure luck (backed up by the generosity of Stephen Oakshott) that the enterprise had not folded years
ago.

Another thing Danielle had always been conscientious about was warning her investors and colleagues
that their stakes in the Project might never turn a profit. She was happy to be proved wrong.
At the moment, three members of the Samothea Project - Danielle, Stephen Oakshott and the Nakatani
Corporation - owned 75% of its shares, 25% each. Rosa Silverstein, Li Qu Yuan, Herman Melzner,
Jonathan Wright and Hestia Smith owned another 5% each, making up the other 25%.

The shares represented a proportion of the future profits to be made by upgrading the Beltway
Hyperspace System, worth millions when the new technology was fully deployed. There was also the
existing hyperdrive system, which was working well and making returns for the Nakatani Corporation
and Oakshott Industries, some of which would eventually feed back to the shareholders when the
financial investments of the two companies had been covered.

Danielle was thinking ahead. She would need the money soon if (with the help of Eva and Ezra) she was
to buy the planet Samothea from the settler company. With the promise of a secure income, and
Andrew Claydon on Samothea explaining his plan to the Advisory Council, it was time to push her own
plan forward. For that, she needed to know exactly how much money the Project had.

Another factor forcing Danielle to do her accounts now was the Women's Business Initiative. This was
the group that Eva approached when she first thought about buying Samothea. Eva asked the Initiative
to approach Outworld Ventures informally, to ask if the planet was for sale and for how much. Either
because Eva asked first, or because it was a noted feminist group asking, the response was four million
Galactic Pounds - a figure much lower than the prices obtained by similar discrete approaches on behalf
of Danielle and Ezra.

The Women's Business Initiative was able to put pressure on Outworld Ventures because it was a male-
dominated company that signed up to give 30% of its senior positions to women. The company failed to
find enough women with the right skills, qualifications or desire to do the jobs, so they were vulnerable
to a kind of blackmail from feminist groups that accused them (however unfairly) of institutionalised
misogyny.

After she was expelled from the feminist movement, Eva assumed she had lost the support of the
Women's Business Initiative, so she was pleasantly surprised to be contacted by the head of the group,
who wanted to visit Celetaris and meet the Samothea Project team.

Her name was Elspeth Bereded. She owned an accountancy firm and requested to see the Project's
accounts. It was a sign that she meant business and a good reason for Danielle to make sure the
accounts tallied perfectly.
Danielle started with her usual enthusiasm, which did not last. She liked to use her mathematical brain
for concepts just on the edge of her understanding, imagining new physics principles or understanding
exotic particles. Financial accounts, by contrast, were easy but tedious. The painstaking work made her
grumpy and sullen.

Roger felt the brunt of her moody reaction and her disinclination for sex. As usual, he was
understanding and patient.

The girls from Samothea also noticed Danielle's mood and insisted on helping. Now there were four
bright minds to work on the accounts. When the business students, Rod and Ed, were brought in as well,
it was only a few more days until the great mess was sifted, collated, ordered-by-date and almost
perfectly balanced. A few stray amounts were unaccounted for, but they were negligible, so Danielle
balanced the books from her own pocket.

Her relief was palpable and her conclusion very welcome: the Samothea Project was rich. Not with
millions but a healthy number of thousands, and a strong potential for much more.

They had a quick celebration, with a bit of mutual gloating at the good result, but it was a school night,
which Yael normally spent with Kelly. She skipped away early. Hazel and Wildchild normally spent the
evenings studying, but Roger sent them away with Ed and Rod because there was something he had to
say to Danielle in private. Hazel winked at him as she and Wildchild pulled their boyfriends out of the
apartment, leaving Roger and Danielle alone.

"Wife, come with me to the bedroom," he ordered.

"Ooh!" she said, jumping up to obey him. "I love it when you're all manly and commanding."

In the bedroom, he turned to face her, a stern look on his face.

"Your attitude toward me this last week has been somewhat less than endearing."

Sometimes Roger tried to use British understatement. Occasionally he was successful.

"Less than endearing? I've been a complete bitch and I deserve a good hard spanking!"

"That may be true but first I'm going to patronise you."

"Patronise me how?"

"You have a good brain, Danielle, but you're not a businessman. Accounts make you testy. Now that we
know the Samothea Project can afford it, I want you to hire a man to do the job properly. You're not to
worry your pretty little head about accounts any more."

Danielle laughed.

"You're very masterful, husband. ... You're also right. I agree. ... May I have my spanking now?"

"You may. Assume the position."

He sat on the edge of the bed as Danielle, smiling with happy anticipation, lay on her front over his legs.
He pulled her skirt up and her knickers down and began to wallop her. She shut her eyes to enjoy the
lovely sensation, breathing deeply and occasionally yelping.

When her buttocks were red and hot, her pussy soaked, her nipples stiff and her mind satisfyingly
numbed with pleasure, he stripped off her clothes and tied her up. He crossed her arms behind her,
tying her left wrist to her right ankle and her right wrist to her left ankle.

Pulling her roughly on the bed, he laid her on her back with her head dangling over the edge, upside
down. Now he fed his hard cock into her mouth. She sucked greedily, bobbing her head as best she
could, lashing the topside of his cock with her tongue.

He was ready. He turned her around, firmly pulled her knees apart and thrust in hard. She loved the
manhandling and the hard pounding. She came many times before he finished, her pussy quivering, her
back arching despite the restraints. She got an extra jolt of painful pleasure when he squeezed a nipple,
just as she came.
He untied her and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging on tightly.

"I love you, husband," she said, when she was calm enough to talk. "I really needed that."

"So did I."

"I thought about a professional manager for the Project on the day I started that marathon. It was only
stupid pride that made me try to do it on my own. I'll speak to Stephen Oakshott and ask him to
recommend someone."

Twenty minutes later, Roger was ready again. She lay on him and rode him slowly, their bodies pressed
lovingly together. She fed him her tits for a good sucking and he gave her warm pink bottom an
occasional slap, the slight sting reminding her of the joyful sensations of an hour ago.

5 Elspeth Bereded

Elspeth Bereded landed on Celetaris at the end of a week when Danielle not only did her accounts but
gave dozens of interviews to news media about her amazing new hyperdrive system, explaining how it
will revolutionise hyperspace travel, reducing costs significantly, increasing the speed of long-distance
journeys.

Eva Welwyn met Elspeth (who brought an assistant, a serious-looking young woman) at Ocean City
Astroport. She escorted her to the Conference Centre on the Institute campus, where members the
Samothea Project team assembled to greet her.

Elspeth was an ancient Ethiopian woman, with black skin like parchment, an aquiline nose, thin lips,
white hair and rheumy dark-brown eyes. Having succeeded in business running an accountancy firm, she
spoke softly and to the point, not wasting time with elaborate courtesies.

Eva introduced her, saying:

"Elspeth is the co-founder and CEO of Bereded Solomon Partners. She's been a businesswoman for fifty
years and is now Chair of the Women's Business Initiative."
"Thank you for that introduction, Doctor Welwyn," Elspeth said in a quiet and matter-of-fact voice, "but
I'm a 'businessman' and a 'chairman'. Besides wanting to help women in a competitive male-dominated
commercial world, the Women's Business Initiative is dedicated to common sense. We use the word
'man' in its proper sense, to indicate both sexes. We don't accept the myth that one can change reality
by changing a few words. We women didn't win our freedom just by doctoring the language."

Danielle had to prevent herself from applauding this speech, for which Elspeth was an instant hit with
the Project team, although Eva sighed in impotent protest at yet another successful woman who
seemed to repudiate her brand of feminism.

There was a young reporter for a local Arts City news outlet whose job it was to cover the Samothea
Project, which seemed to generate interesting news items every week now. He was alerted to Elspeth's
visit by Roger, who was making a videobook of the Project. They would share the video footage.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

The reporter asked Elspeth why she was visiting the Science Institute.

"I'm here to learn more about the Samothea Project," she explained, "which is currently the most
prominent technological enterprise in the galaxy led by a woman. The Initiative gives personal and
commercial support to women in business. We help by sharing our experiences and offering advice.
Sometimes we invest in an enterprise or use our contacts to raise funds."

"Will you be investing in the Samothea Project?" the reporter asked.

"That's to be determined, young man," Elspeth said, keeping secret the plan to buy the planet
Samothea.

There were a few more questions before Elspeth and her assistant were invited into a private meeting
with Eva, Danielle, Ezra and Roger.

They went through the accounts of the Project, with Elspeth asking questions and her assistant taking
notes. Elspeth wanted to know liabilities and costs so she could estimate potential future earnings. As
this was all written down or fresh in Danielle's mind, she could give precise answers or good estimations.
Elspeth made no explicit statement about the finances but only nodded in an inscrutable way, yet
Danielle felt that the ancient woman was satisfied with the business accounts. At any rate, when her
questions ran out, Elspeth sat back in her chair and shut her computer tab with a flourish.

"Now we've done bean-counting," she said, "can we discuss other matters?"

"We can," Danielle said. "Everyone here is party to the plan to buy the planet Samothea."

"I have some bad news," Elspeth said. "Some of our more radical members are fearful of the bad
publicity Eva generated. I doubt we can do anything about them but we have a good body of support
from the core members. They joined the Initiative to help other women, not to express their feminism
or ride a political hobby-horse."

"Does that mean you can't support our venture with investment funds?" Eva asked.

"It will make it less likely. On the other hand, the condition we previously proposed, to make Samothea
a woman-only planet, might get the more radical members back on-board."

"Some of our group are unhappy with that condition," Danielle said. "Besides, we haven't asked the
women of Samothea themselves if they want their planet to be woman-only."

"I understand that; and it won't help you if my organisation makes it a condition but does not come
through with the support. So we'll leave this question until I've reported to my board and we make a
proposal. Meanwhile, there are other kinds of support we can give."

"What are they?" Roger asked.

"Loan guarantees; good publicity; all the skills and services that a club of diverse businesses can provide.
Some of our members are consultants to politicians. There are few of them, however, and none are core
members. Most of the core members joined the organisation for the sake of networking or for its social
benefits. Like a stag club, we do charitable works and have big dinners."
"Do you dress up in fancy outfits and give yourself honourable titles?" Ezra asked, thinking of the
women of the Cloner Council on Samothea.

"That would be ridiculous, young man. However, I can tell you're only joking. Men do all that dressing
up. Our social nights tend toward gossip and dancing."

"Now," Elspeth continued, "I'd like to meet some of the women from Samothea."

"We've arranged lunch at my apartment," Danielle said. "Three of our friends from Samothea will be
there. They don't yet know of our plan to buy the planet. If you're ready?"

Annela was at her teaching job. Freya was at school. Ezra had work to do and Roger wanted to go over
the footage with the reporter, but Hazel, Samothea and Yael were in Danielle's apartment preparing
lunch. The men said goodbye to Elspeth and her assistant.

It was a warm late-autumn day and Elspeth wanted some fresh air. They walked across Fanshaw Park to
the apartment blocks.

Hazel and Wildchild had been Juniors in the Cloner City for a year. Yael spent a couple of weeks in the
Cloner City when her bedmate, Carlin, was a Junior, so she picked up some of the Juniors' way of doing
things. It seemed completely natural to the three girls to greet the venerable lady with curtseys.

Elspeth was enchanted.

"You're the girls from Samothea we admire so much," she said.

"We're the girls from Samothea," Wildchild said.

"Are all the women on Samothea this polite?"

"Most of us, Madam," answered Hazel. "Please sit here."

Danielle and the girls served lunch. When everyone was comfortable, Elspeth said to the girls:

"Do you have anything you'd like to ask me?"

"Yes, Madam," Yael said. "How old are you?"

"Yael! That's not a polite question," Danielle said.

"Isn't it? Sorry, Madam."

"What's your name, young lady?" Elspeth asked.

"Yael Eloisesdaughter Woodlander."

"Well, Miss Eloisesdaughter-Woodlander, the truth is that there's an age women reach when they no
longer bother to count the years."

"What age is that, Madam?"

"In my case, about thirty. Though, if I had your beauty, I would continue counting into my seventies."

"If you think I'm beautiful, you should meet my bedmate, Carlin Erinsdaughter. She's got curves and
dimples."

"Has she? Is a bedmate a girlfriend?"

"More than a girlfriend: a lover."

"I see. Well I think I was 94 at my last birthday, but I may be wrong by a year or two. Anyway, I'm very
old and ought to be beyond personal vanity; but one never quite is, you know."
"You're not very old, Madam. I have a friend who's 113 and he's only recently retired."

"Thank you, Yael. What's your role in the Samothea Project?"

"I'm not sure I have one."

"She's decoration, Madam," Wildchild said.

"Hey!" Yael protested.

Danielle smiled.

"Hazel, Sam and Yael are valued members of the Project," she said. "They are students at the Institute.
Hazel and Sam are training to be Planetary Prospectors. Yael's forte is physics. We don't know yet what
she'll do but it will be magnificent."

"Prospectors and a physicist? I'm not sure you'll be able to pursue those careers on Samothea. Are you
planning to return there?"

"We are," Yael said with conviction.

"What about other people going to live on Samothea? What do you think about that?"

"It depends on the people. We're taking our boyfriends home with us."

"You've got a boyfriend, Yael? I thought you said you had a girlfriend."

"I've got both: a girlfriend and a boyfriend."

"I see: the best of both worlds."

"Exactly!"

"And you girls feel the same?" Elspeth asked Hazel and Wildchild. "You want your boyfriends to live on
Samothea?"

"We do," Hazel said.

"So what if, hypothetically, the majority of women on Samothea say they don't want men to live on the
planet? What would you say to that?"

"You mean like Madam Mirselene?" Yael asked.

"Who is she?"

"She's the Chief of the Woodlander Tribe. Madam Mirselene is happy to make an exception for Ezra and
my boyfriend, Ryan. I think she'll make exceptions for Ed and Rod as well. But she thinks more men will
disrupt our society too much."

"I understand her concerns and I sympathise with them," Elspeth said. "Does Madam Mirselene have a
lot of influence on Samothea?"

"Yes. Though she's only one of six tribal chiefs, she has what Danielle calls a 'formidable personality'."

"She sounds like someone I would enjoy meeting. Are there many on Samothea who share her view?"

"Madam Lawspeaker and Madam Recorder."

"Are there some there who want men to settle on Samothea in unlimited numbers, not just a few
exceptions?"
"Madam Deputy Prefect and Madam Scientist."

"Are there any other opinions about whether men should be allowed on Samothea or not?"

"All of Ezra's bedmates want at least one man on Samothea but some would probably tolerate many
more," Yael asserted.

"All of Ezra's bedmates? How many bedmates does he have?"

"Thirty, Madam."

"That information was not in the news reports I saw about the Samothea Project."

Now Yael saw the hand-signal that Danielle had been making to her and she shut up, but Elspeth did not
pursue the question of Ezra's bedmates. Instead, she checked the time, received a nod from her
assistant and got up to leave.

"Thank you for lunch," she said. "It was very pleasant to meet you all. I'll talk to my committee and send
you an answer via Eva."

******

Esther Grandley, Mayor of New Exeter, sat in her office in the Town Hall of New Exeter City, reading the
latest news reports on the Samothea Project and the progress of the Beltway Hyperspace System
upgrade. She made some notes and set her computer to do a calculation.

Her keen young political assistant knocked on the door and came in.

"Yes, Nigel?"
"Your meeting with the business consortium is in ten minutes, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Nigel. Wait one minute."

She handed him a stack of forms she had signed.

"I want you in the meeting with the consortium," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Esther looked at the calculation done by the computer and made another note, nodding with
satisfaction.

She got up and walked to the window. She wiped the condensation with her elbow and looked outside
at the freezing planet. The sky was painted with grey cloud. It met the snow-covered fields somewhere
on a grey horizon, though the fields and trees outside the city were beginning to show patches of green,
as grass and leaves bravely emerged from their deep winter sleep. Nowhere in the Anglosphere had
winters like New Exeter.

She gazed at the city. The squat snow-covered buildings looked warm and comfortable from the fourth
floor of the giant Town Hall, a monstrous edifice out of proportion to the low-rise, steep-roofed homes
and shops of the city.

Directly below her, lying facedown in front of its pedestal beside the steps up to the Town Hall, was the
twelve-foot-tall statue of Alexander Marazon. When the tyrant was exiled, the people toppled the
statue to express their wrath at the man who plundered their planet. Now children climbed over its
smashed head, and merchants laid their wares out on its back and legs.

Esther looked down at the market square, pleased to see the bustle. Tourists and traders in synthetic
parkers or thick fur-coats bought and sold energetically, clapping their hands or stamping their feet to
keep warm, their breath condensing into steam as they haggled.
It was good to see the planet thrive. The condensation on the windows was proof. With the economic
growth of the last year, the appropriations committee had sanctioned the use of ceramic heaters in the
government offices. They cost pennies to run but it was the symbolism that was important.

While New Exeter paid off its debt to the settler company, government employees were expected to sit
in unheated offices to save money. Esther led by example. Until recently, the three floors of the Town
Hall in which her stripped-down government performed its necessary functions were unheated, while
the ground floor was an indoor food market and the ten higher floors were leased out to commercial
businesses who could afford to make themselves comfortable with thick carpets and central heating.

The great generator designed to warm the planet was idle. The appropriations committee, influenced by
the fur trade representatives, and from good old-fashioned English and Yankee cussedness, refused the
money to import hydrocarbon fuel. However, to reflect the economic growth and burgeoning prosperity
brought about by Mayor Grandley's policies of zero taxation and no welfare state, government
employees were now graciously permitted not to freeze to death at their desks.

Hence Esther could be comfortable in her office in a tweed suit, her synthetic parka with artificial fur
lining hanging on a rack by the door next to her warm gloves and thick scarf, while a small ceramic
heating-pod valiantly convected its one-kilowatt of warmth for sixteen hours a day, steaming up the
windows.

There was a knock on the door and six members of the business consortium entered. These were the
men whom Esther had persuaded to invest in a tethered hyperspace link to Celetaris using Danielle
Goldrick's new technology. It cost a lot of money but ultimately brought good dividends, gaining the
Mayor credit with the mining enterprises, fur-traders, gem-traders and sports tourism businesses. Even
the hunting tourism industry admired her acumen, despite her disapproval of hunting.

"Welcome, gentlemen," Esther said. "I assume you've been keeping abreast of the news reports, so you
know how well Doctor Goldrick's new hyperdrive technology is working on the Beltway system?"

They admitted they did.

"As the first commercial use of the new technology was our very own tethered link to Celetaris, which
you'll agree has been a good investment, it makes sense that we should look favourably on all Doctor
Goldrick's works."
The businessmen agreed to that.

"In which case, I would like to know what investment your consortium plans to make in the Beltway
upgrade?"

They had no plans because the shortest distance to the Beltway system was at the Hydra spur but it was
more cost-effective to take the existing tethered link to Celetaris and join the Auriga spur there, though
it was a much greater distance. When a new tethered link was made between Earth and Celetaris, or
between Capella Space Station and Celetaris, the long way around would be even cheaper and quicker.

"I know money is tight and we haven't yet paid off our debt to Outworld Ventures," Esther said, "but I
think we can be a bit more ambitious now."

She made the case for a direct link to the Hydra spur. She also had figures for how profitable the
Beltway upgrade itself might be, were investors to get in on the ground floor.

The businessmen politely listened to Mayor Grandley telling them (as a friend of business, not as a
busybody politician, of course) just how they should spend their own money.

At the end of an hour, with every commercial or financial objection bulldozed away by Esther's
indefatigable faith in Danielle's technology, the consortium agreed to consider investing in the
Samothea Project. Even the fur-trade representative agreed.

******

Michio Nakatani, son of the Chairman of the Nakatani Corporation and Director of the company's
transportation division, sat in his father's office as a pretty secretary poured out two glasses of vintage
Scotch whisky.

"Drink, my son, drink!" Touma Nakatani said. "You've earned it."

The occasion was the first operation of a new Beltway hyperspace junction.
Michio copied his father and downed the glass. He tried not to cough but struggled, going red in the
face, trying to hold it in.

Touma Nakatani laughed and slapped his son on the back.

Michio spluttered but managed to swallow down the fiery liquor.

"It's very good," he said, breathlessly.

Touma Nakatani laughed again.

"You'll love it when you're forty," he said.

Since the Board of Directors forced Michio to allow the new hyperdrive technology onto the open
market in the form of tethered hyperspace pathways, the transportation division had been thriving.
Now that the long-awaited Beltway Hyperspace System upgrade had begun, transportation would likely
become the most profitable division in the company.

Michio's relationship with his father was the best it had been in years. Six years ago, Touma Nakatani
tricked his son into abandoning Yumi on Capella Space Station, trapping his son at home on Earth. An
arranged marriage to Sakura, the beautiful daughter of a rival businessman, cemented the partnership
of the two companies.

Although Michio tried to love his wife, Sakura felt the marriage was not what he wanted, so she
refrained from having children. After Yumi was discovered alive on Samothea, Sakura realised Michio
longed for his lost love. They began to live separate lives. Sakura was a party-girl, but discrete, and
Michio was an honourable man, dedicated to his business. He never blamed Sakura and never
questioned her relationships, her girlfriends who liked to drink and her boyfriends who took her
dancing.

At a signal, the pretty secretary refreshed their glasses, bowed and left the room. Now Touma spoke
softly to Michio.
"My son, you're unhappy."

"I'm happy, father."

"No, I can see. ... My boy, I know about Sakura."

Michio hung his head.

"Sakura is not a respectable wife, my son. She shames you."

"No, father. It's my fault. I've not been a good husband."

"You gave her wealth, social position, importance."

"She had those already. I gave her only a straight-jacket."

"Michio, she goes partying with other men."

"You've had her followed?"

"I protect what's mine. Your honour is mine."

"Sakura can't be blamed. She was forced into our marriage."

"You mean that you were, too?"

Michio stood up to his father once before, over the frivolous lawsuit against the Samothea Project. Now
he stood up to his father again. Actually standing up to make his statement.
"Father, I've never blamed you for making me marry a woman I barely knew. I honestly tried to love
Sakura, but I really loved Yumi and I still do. You were wrong to separate us."

Touma shut his eyes a moment; then he spoke quietly.

"Your great-grandfather built our company with his bare hands, working in a shed in Akihabara electric
town. My father expanded the Nakatani Corporation to become the foremost industrial and electronic
business in Japan. It was easy for me to take over and expand further. Now we are among the greats of
the whole galaxy. Part of our greatness is the partnership with Sakura's father."

"But if you and Sakura divorce," Touma said, "so that her father is ashamed and splits up our company
just as we embark on our biggest ever project, then you'll be the first of our family to contract our
business rather than expand it."

"I will leave the company rather than harm it, father. Sakura and I will divorce when Sakura wants it.
Then I will go to live with Yumi on Samothea, if she'll have me. And I will be a father to my son, your
grandson, Hayate."

"I have photographs. If you show them to your father-in-law, then he will disown Sakura. You can
divorce her and stay in your job."

"I refuse, father. I cannot be so cruel. Sakura doesn't deserve it."

"You are a moral man, Michio," Touma observed coldly.

"Are you not a moral man, father?"

"I'm a practical man. I do what's good for our family and our company."

"Was it practical to trick me into abandoning Yumi?"

"She was a poor girl from Kyoto who ensnared you. Her father is a temple cleaner."
"And my great-grandfather worked with his bare hands in a shed in electric town. Maybe Yumi would
also break out of her class and begin a wealthy dynasty."

Touma did not answer.

"Father, I will ask Sakura for a divorce and I will ask Yumi to marry me. If you want me to leave the
company, then I will do so. But I will not dishonour Sakura or abandon Yumi again, even if the company
splits in two and everyone in Japan laughs at me."

******

Tatiana trained the pilot of the mining vessel that she and Ezra chartered in her technique of making
microjumps to the safe sides of the molten moons around the magnetic white dwarf star. Satisfied that
they were proficient and bringing in good harvests of minerals, she took a cargo-load to Argus Space
Station.

She called on Viktor Bogdanov to discuss their business partnership. The jovial fat man said the income
from the mining prospect was growing, with large profits likely and the space factory was embarked on
a major production run of the x-ray crystals.

There were also tethered hyperspace links under construction between Argus, Capella and the nearest
node of the Beltway Hyperspace System, which will reduce transportation times and costs.

They toasted the success of their business venture and got onto more speculative topics.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

Tatiana refused to confirm the well-known secret that some businesses had enquired to buy the planet
Samothea from the settler company on behalf of both Danielle Goldrick and her brother, but Viktor had
the story almost precisely correct.

The pair ended up as Russians so often do: drunk, telling outrageous lies, childish jokes and dirty stories.
Hui-Yin and Jia-Li left them to it and went to bed.
Next day, after Tatiana left for Celetaris to catch up with Ezra, a special parcel arrived for Victor. A box
like it arrived for him every month from Earth; and every month he heaved himself up from his two
stools, packed up his booth in the Merchant Hall and waddled, wheezing and panting, down to the
importation docks to collect it in person. The gross man brought the two-feet-long package back to his
apartment, holding it protectively.

His petite Chinese partners were preparing the apartment for dinner. Pretty round-faced Jia-Li was
cooking. Hui-Yin, with the elegant shoulders and delicate hands, was laying the table.

"I'm home, ladies," Viktor announced, holding his precious box.

"Not another one," Hui-Yin said. "Why do you bother with that thing?"

"It's traditional now."

"Well, not until after dinner. We're almost ready."

"As you wish."

He put the box on the bed and washed his hands ready for the meal.

For a grossly fat man, Viktor did not eat very much and the girls seemed only to taste their dishes.

After dinner, if there were no guests or they were not going visiting, they usually relaxed in deep
armchairs and discussed the day's events. During this time, it was Viktor's job to listen to his partners. It
was a job he enjoyed and was good at. But tonight Jia-Li said:

"I'm horny. Play with us?"

"But not in that thing," Hui-Yin said.

"All right, all right. You're enough to wear a man out. Help me out of it, then."

They went to the bathroom and the girls helped him strip off his clothes. There were rolls of fat around
his neck, under his arms and across his chest. His belly was a mountain.

They threw his velvet suit and underwear in the wash.

Hui-Yin stood behind him, reached up to the back of his neck and pushed a delicate finger into the rolls
of fat there. Then she pulled hard.

Viktor's back seemed to split away from him in two large slices, pink on the edges, rolling over his
shoulders and down his arms, which he stretched out.

Jia-Li stood in front of him and put her hands up to the gap that opened at his neck. She pulled the fat-
suit all the way down. An athletic man, naked and covered in sweat, stepped out of the suit, which
wobbled and undulated on the bathroom floor. It was already beginning to coalesce, to solidify into a
pink mass.

"Gross," Jia-Li said, as she always did when the suit came off.

The real Viktor Bogdanov, a hairy muscular man, peeled off his fat cheeks, fat nose and blubbery neck to
reveal a long thin face, with sunken cheeks, a strong jaw and a month of beard-growth.

"Phew!" Viktor said. "It's always a relief when it comes off."

"We don't know why you wear it," Hui-Yin said. "It's no shame to admit you've had a rejuvenation
treatment and that you use nanobots to keep yourself thin."

"It's expected of me now," Viktor said. "People think fat men are rich and successful."

"But you are rich and successful," Jia-Li protested. "We think you like hiding behind all that blubber."
"It also puts people off their guard," Viktor admitted. "It makes them think I'm soft and cuddly."

"You are soft and cuddly," Hui-Yin said. "Now go into the shower and wash off all that sweat, otherwise
we won't let you touch us."

"And shave off that bristle," Jia-Li said.

As Viktor obeyed, the horny girls got into bed and began to make love. When Viktor was clean and
shaved, he came naked back to the bedroom. He stopped in the doorway to watch the girls. They knew
he was there and made love with giggles, showing him their bottoms, just to tease him.

It worked. He was firmly erect and ready when Hui-Yin had teased and fondled Jia-Li to a point where
she was quietly moaning and ready to pop.

Hui-Yin made way for Viktor and pulled Jia-Li's legs apart. The girl had no resistance. Her sopping wet
pussy flared invitingly. But she was to be denied for a minute. Hui-Yin lent over her and put her mouth
around Viktor's cock. She swirled her tongue on its head until it was coated with saliva. She pulled back
smiling, gave a wink to Viktor and sat on Jia-Li's face.

Viktor positioned himself and, with gasps from the girl, sank his cock into Jia-Li's tight slit and began to
thrust, shaking her skinny body.

She neglected Hui-Yin's pussy and threw her head back to wallow in the vigorous fucking, moaning
loudly and bucking as Viktor drove into her.

She climaxed hard, with a triumphant squeal as he came in her, grunting and panting.

When it was Hui-Yin's turn, she rode Viktor slowly, taking her time, while a reinvigorated Jia-Li lapped at
her nipples and gently rubbed her clitoris. Hui-Yin also came with a triumphant squeal, her pussy
pulsating on Viktor's cock. He had another satisfying finish and, afterward, relaxed on the bed, covered
in as much sweat as when he was inside the fat-suit.
The girls lay either side of him and cuddled him. Jia-Li ran a hand through his chest hair, twiddling her
own long black hair in an absent way. He could tell she had something on her mind.

"Do you have something to say, Jia-Li?" he asked.

"Are you happy, Viktor Petrovich?"

"Yes, my sweet, very happy, thanks to you girls."

"Then I have something to confess."

"What do you have to confess?"

"I've done something you'll hate me for."

"I forgive you."

"How can you forgive me before you know what I've done?"

"I'm a Russian. Holy Mother Church says I must forgive, so I forgive. ... But I also take revenge!" he said
with a theatrical flourish of his hand.

"I don't want you to take revenge on me, Viktor."

"I was only joking, pretty Jia-Li. You really are forgiven. Tell me what you did wrong."

"I was clearing up your trunk and I saw your private papers. So I read them. I'm sorry."

"Jia-Li is like a cat," Hui-Yin said. "If there's something interesting, she has to look."
"It's my fault for not locking them up properly," Viktor said. "We'll forget it ever happened."

"There's something I can't forget," Jia-Li said. "You have letters from Alexander Marazon."

"We know who Alexander Marazon was," Hui-Yin said. "He was dictator of New Exeter."

"He was President of Marazonia," Viktor insisted.

"He was a tyrant."

"He was democratically elected but was forced by circumstances to assume emergency powers."

"He robbed the settler company of thousands and forced New Exeter into bankruptcy."

"He expropriated the robber barons of the settler company, who were exploiting the colony. It was the
collapse of galactic trade that caused the bankruptcy."

"You believe in free markets, Viktor Petrovich. Your fortune has been made on the free market. You say
that's why the Anglosphere is richer than the Sino-Russian Federation. You prefer to live on Argus rather
than in Russia. But Alexander Marazon wanted the government to control the economy and he ruled
people by force. Why are you defending him?"

Viktor paused and said quietly:

"He was my grandfather."

This was something that needed to be explained. The girls sat up to listen to Viktor's story.
"After my grandfather was exiled from Marazonia," Viktor said, "he took refuge in the Sino-Russian
Federation, living in Vladivostok."

"We call it Haishenwai," Jia-Li said.

"I was born there. My grandfather never talked about his past, about the treachery of the people of
Marazonia. This was at my father's request. My father wanted me to have a normal education and to go
into business, not politics. But my grandfather wrote up his story in the letters he left me. Now I want
revenge."

"You aren't your grandfather," Hui-Yin said.

"I know."

"Whom do you want revenge against?" Jia-Li asked.

"I'll show you."

Viktor called up the computer viewing screen and played a clip. It was from Roger Harcourt's videobook
about the fate of the Outworld Colonies since independence. Viktor had the computer play the scene in
which Roger interviewed Mayor Esther Grandley in her office in the capital city of New Exeter, skipping
to the point where Mayor Grandley said:

"... the original reason to colonise New Exeter was to harvest the minerals from the asteroid belt.
Business only slowed for the mines there and they've been at pre-slump levels ever since Marazon was
exiled. In fact, he sold them off too cheaply to fund his welfare state and his vanity projects, such as this
monstrous Town Hall and that vulgar statue."

"Vulgar statue!" Viktor scoffed. "I've seen the photographs. My grandfather's statue was a masterpiece."

His passion frightened Jia-Li, but Hui-Yin was not so easily intimidated.
"Why do you want revenge against Mayor Grandley? Was she responsible for your grandfather's exile?"

"No, but she's responsible for blackening his memory now."

"How are you going to take revenge?"

"I haven't decided."

"We won't let you ruin New Exeter."

"I won't ruin Marazonia."

"What about the girls from Samothea?" Jia-Li said. "They're sending us information about the Samothea
Project, including New Exeter. Are they helping you in your revenge? You promised you wouldn't cheat
them."

"I'm keeping my promise."

"None of this makes sense, Viktor Petrovich," Hui-Yin objected. "You're fabulously rich. Why bother with
revenge when you could live on Earth and buy a palace in Rublyovka? You could have gold taps and gold
handrails, with servants to polish them all day long. You could have a dozen tall blonde Russian women
to love you."

"I don't want any tall blonde Russian women when I have two beautiful Chinese women."

"You won't have us if you waste our money seeking revenge. Some of your wealth is ours, remember."

"I promise. Your money will be well invested. ... I think I may buy us a planet."

******
Elspeth Bereded's official letter to the Samothea Project offered the support of the Women's Business
Initiative in three ways.

Firstly, members of the Initiative would pay for some medical treatments for the women of Samothea,
such as fertility treatments. This was women helping women: a major aim of the Initiative. It was an
unconditional gift and immediately available.

Secondly, the Initiative would guarantee loans for the Project up to a million Galactic Pounds.

Thirdly, the Initiative would make the approach to Outworld Ventures on behalf of the Samothea
Project, with the hope that their influence might get a better price out of the settler company.

Loan guarantees and representation to the settler company were on condition that the Initiative could
propose directly to the women of Samothea that their planet became a women-only colony.

Elspeth promised that her own company would join a consortium to buy the planet Samothea and that
she would encourage other members to join, but it would be in a private capacity, not as a collective
endeavour of the Initiative, which was not fully behind giving money to the Samothea Project.

Although Eva had the support of the Initiative, with no pledges of money to pay her part of the cost of
the planet, she had no real influence. She would make the Initiative's case to the women of Samothea as
fervently as she could but, from her position, she could not demand a woman-only planet.

This left Danielle and Ezra to argue about how much each should pay into the Project. Eva waited
patiently for them to agree to a compromise in which Danielle got her way and Ezra did as he was told.

Danielle insisted she would try to buy the planet outright, so Ezra could keep his money for his
bedmates and children. Ezra wanted to pay his half, even if it cost him everything he had; even if he had
to take on debts for the rest of his life.

They argued as a loving brother and sister, without the personal bickering of siblings who know exactly
how to tweak each other's most sensitive spots; but it was not an argument they could resolve until they
approached Outworld Ventures and got an official price for Samothea.
"There's another thing," Danielle said. "I've changed my mind about supporting Eva's idea of a woman-
only planet, now that she can't contribute any money to the project. And before you protest again, Ezra,
you should know that Roger agrees with me."

"Roger's kind enough to indulge you, Sis," Ezra said, "but what if Outworld Ventures asks you for ten
million Galactic Pounds, as they did before?"

This started them off on their argument again. As neither would give way, and she had to get away to a
meeting, Eva interrupted to bring the quarrel to an end.

"What Ezra is saying, Danielle, is that you may be the family genius but you're still only a woman."

Danielle laughed.

"Ooh! Eva Welwyn, radical feminist, has finally got her tease on. You go, girl! ... And as for you, big
brother: just think yourself lucky that Hazel persuaded me to spare your life two months ago."

"I give up," Ezra said.

"I'm taking Eva to her first girly lunch with Joan, Cassie and Rosa this afternoon. I'll ask their advice
about your role in the Samothea Project."

"Can we talk about the Samothea Project at girly lunch?" Eva asked. "Is it a suitable topic?"

"Why would it be unsuitable? What do you think we talk about at girly lunch?" Danielle asked.

"I don't know: men; shopping; your periods?"

Danielle laughed again. It was exactly her style of teasing with an outrageous stereotype that contained
a grain of truth. It was something Eva had started to do only after Danielle forced her to laugh at her
own feminist nonsense.
"I've created a monster," she said.

******

Eva had a meeting that morning with Professor Jakovs. Danielle went to fetch her from his office on the
way to girly lunch. She knocked and waited outside, not wanting to intrude on the conference.

"Come in," said Hendrik.

"Hello, Hendrik," Danielle said. "I'm just collecting Eva for lunch."

"Where's your lunch?"

"Oceano in the precinct."

"That's where I'm meeting Professor Martlebury. I'll come with you."

Hendrik accompanied Eva and Danielle to the hovertrain terminus outside The Vortex, the twisting
science faculty tower at the western end of the Science Park. They shared a cigar-shaped twelve-seater
capsule with a few students and another staff member.

From the platform, the hovertrain zipped away across the Science Park on a rail fifteen feet in the air,
riding a magnetic levitation beam eastward to Arts City. There were three more stops in the science
park: for The Needle (the university administration tower by the campus quadrant), the large white
dome of the conference centre and the medical centre, a featureless white box on the eastern edge of
the campus.

Now the capsule was full. It set off for the suburbs of Arts City, cutting off an edge of Fanshaw Park. It
stopped among the avenues, parks and comfortable family homes of the in the western suburbs, where
Joan Mayfield lived, Kelly went to high school and Freya went to infant school.
At the central business district, they changed track southward toward the harbour and the central
ocean. After ten minutes in all, they alighted at a large square with fountains, empty flower baskets and
small ornamental trees in terracotta planters. The shops had multicoloured awnings so that pedestrians
could walk from the station through the shops and offices to the harbour without getting rained on.

Half the shops in the precinct were cafes or restaurants. The others were posh boutiques for clothes,
jewellery, beauty parlours and hairdressers. One was a fishing tackle shop: a masculine preserve out of
place away from the waterfront.

Oceana was Danielle's favourite Portuguese fish and pasta restaurant. It had bay windows under a blue
and white awning. Inside were rustic wooden tables, comfortable wicker chairs, crisp white tablecloths,
quick and helpful waitresses and excellent food. This was where the Project team had entertained
Mayor Esther Grandley. It was a preferred destination for the girly lunch if the friends had an extra half-
hour to spare.

Eva and Danielle joined Rosa, Joan and Cassie at a table in the window. Hendrik nodded to the ladies
and found himself a table for two at the back of the restaurant. He took out his computer tab to project
a page of equations onto the tablecloth and was instantly lost in a science problem, unconcerned that
Max Martlebury had not turned up yet. Meanwhile, the women at their girly lunch ordered wine and
hors d'oeuvres and tried to keep Danielle under control.

Later, when Danielle and Rosa (lusty women with good appetites) were tucking into their main courses,
while Joan, Eva and Cassie picked carefully at their salads, Professor Max Martlebury stood by the
fountain in the square outside the hovertrain station and called his wife on his communicator.

"Dot, I'm at the precinct. Why am I here?"

"You're there for lunch with Hendrik," Professor Dorothy Martlebury, the galaxy's foremost expert on
programmable mathematics, said to her absent-minded husband. "You were to meet him at Oceana at
twelve."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. Thank you, Dear."

He went into the restaurant and found Hendrik.

"Hello, old man," Max said. "Sorry I'm late. What are you working on?"

"Oh, hello, Max. Are you late? I hadn't noticed. It's the usual problem: the unification of hyperspace and
quantum gravitation."

Some people live in an ethereal realm where the mathematically possible is as familiar and immediate
as the physically real. Max Martlebury and Hendrik Jakovs were two of them. So was Danielle, when she
went into her trances. Otherwise, like Dorothy Martlebury and Rosa, Danielle kept a good grip on
practical reality.

A few minutes later, Eva saw Danielle looking at the two men, silently pondering.

"What are you thinking about?" Eva asked.

"I was wondering why the truly great physicists are all men."

"Oh, come on, Danielle!" Eva exclaimed. "What about you and Rosa?"

"We're good, I agree, especially Rosa. And I have high hopes for Samothea and Yael; but Hendrik lives in
a world of exotic matter, multidimensional forces and parallel universes which I visit only for a time; but
he comes back to our tiny sliver of reality only when he feels like it."

"Is that his gift: the power of abstraction?" Joan asked.

"I think so. Remember what Esther Grandley said at the dinner we had here in the spring, that women
are generally too practical to undertake the kinds of single-minded tasks that men specialise in, those
requiring days of concentration? Maybe that's why the great artists, musicians and scientists are all
men. Even the best chefs are men."

"No, no, no, no, no!" Eva objected. "I'm damned if I'm going to let you say that Max Martlebury is a
greater mathematician than Dot Martlebury just because he's a man."
"Isn't Dot recognised galaxy-wide as a leading mathematician?" Cassie asked.

"She is," Danielle said, "but she studies a practical subject, programmable maths, not the pure number
theory that Max is an expert in."

"What Esther said about women being practical, she meant it as a positive thing," Eva said. "But you've
turned it into something negative."

"I agree with Eva," Joan said to Eva's astonishment. "I don't think being absent-minded is a virtue. I
wouldn't like to be able to concentrate on a single problem for days at a time and forget the real world
around me. It would drive me nuts."

"However," Joan added, either because she believed it or just to tease Eva, "I agree with Danielle that
most of the great artists, scientists, composers, architects and chefs are men ..."

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

Eva started to protest, but Joan continued quickly.

"... but so are most of the maniacs, mass-murderers, torturers and psychopaths."

Eva raised her arms in impotent protest, but she recognised a valid argument hidden inside Joan's
teasing, which was the apex fallacy. Feminists were prone to say that the reason most physicists or chief
executives were men was that 'society' discriminates against women; but they never said that the
reason most criminals are men is that 'society' discriminates in favour of women. If there were biological
reasons why men were more likely than women to be criminals, then there may be biological reasons
why men were also more likely to be physicists and chief executives.

The fact that she could be driven to challenge a fundamental faith of her philosophy by Joan's silly tease
had a profound impact on Eva. She silently examined the disturbing thought.

Danielle noticed that Eva had stopped talking. She believed that a woman at girly lunch who did not get
her fair share of the conversation was like a guest who did not get her fair share of food. Danielle said to
Eva:
"What are you thinking about?"

"You'll laugh if I tell you. You all mock me enough already."

"You can't deny us now. We'll explode from frustrated curiosity. I promise we won't mock you. Out with
it."

"It's that I'm not sure how I fit in anymore, now that I've been expelled from the movement."

"You could try being a normal woman," Cassie suggested.

"A normal woman?" Eva asked.

"No offence meant," Cassie said.

"I'm not offended, Cassie, but I don't understand what you mean."

"A traditional woman," Danielle said.

"A genuine woman," Joan said.

"A genuine woman, Joan? Implying that feminists are artificial women?"

"Not artificial: man-made."

"Man-made?"

"Yes. Feminists are made by Karl Marx and he was a man."

"Ridiculous!" Eva laughed.

"Whatever we call ourselves, normal women, traditional women or genuine women," Danielle said, "you
should try being one, Eva. You might enjoy it."

"You mean, like a housewife and mother?"

"More like a woman who drinks wine and gossips," Rosa said.

"Nothing dishonourable in being a housewife and mother," Joan said, ignoring Rosa. "The worst part of
radical feminism is how contemptuous it is of women who want just to be wives and mothers. They
consider them unintelligent and bovine."

"I never have," Eva protested.

"Besides, I think Danielle means the underlying womanly virtues," Cassie said.

"All right. I'll bite," Eva said. "What virtues does a traditional woman have that a man-made woman
lacks?"

"Nurturing, building a family, patience, good-humour," Joan said.

"Endurance through adversity," Cassie said.

"Seeing the good side of men," Danielle said.

"Yes, and not resenting men for imagined privileges," Joan said.

Eva was enjoying the discussion and did not want an argument, but she had to know what Joan meant.
"Do you really think that feminists resent men for having abilities that women lack? That's like resenting
men for being heavier or taller than women."

"Don't feminists complain that things are easier for men than for women?"

"Aren't they?"

"Sometimes they are. Sometimes they're not. Take Hendrik and Max, for example. Danielle admired
their power of abstraction, which is a good thing, but the downside is that they're like overgrown
children who need mothering. How can you resent their so-called privilege of being at the top of their
professions when they haven't even ordered any food yet?"

Eva glanced over at the men, who sat at a bare table, engrossed in a series of equations projected onto
the tablecloth.

She recognised a tiny element of truth in the accusation that she resented men. She admitted that
feminists of her type did think that men as a group benefited from some kind of social privilege, of
which every woman was a victim. As if rich, happy, successful and powerful middle-class women, like
her friends at their girly lunch, were somehow excluded from something due to their biological sex.

Looking at Joan, Cassie, Danielle and Rosa, Eva saw respected members of a chivalrous and playful
society in which women were adored, not abused or suppressed. Eva's theories crashed on the rocks of
reality. There were no victims here. Rather, the women were equal to men in every way and sometimes
superior. Socially, they were beneficiaries of the care and support of the men in their lives, which gave
them an advantage that most men their own age lacked.

"Is the fact that two absent-minded men haven't ordered food yet supposed to bring out my nurturing
instincts?" Eva asked.

"Yes," Danielle said. "Exactly that."

"Tell me what a nurturing woman would do," Eva said.

"She would go and help them, as if they were lost children."

"All right. I'll do it, but only to shut Danielle up."

Eva walked over to Hendrik and Max, straightening the mid-length skirt of her grey suit as she walked,
her high heels clicking over the tiled floor.

Despite being expelled from the order, Eva still wore the feminist uniform of a business suit in
conservative colours, plain blouse, high heels and long hair, preferably in a ponytail. She knew the tight
dress and well-cut blouse suited her slim figure. The high heels bunched her calf-muscles, giving shape
to her good legs. It also made her bottom stick out and raised her shoulders, pushing out her chest. She
pretended she wore the uniform to feel 'empowered' (whatever that meant).

The small reality demon in the back of her mind, which she had hitherto suppressed as a reflex of
internalised misogyny, now ran wild, calling out her delusions and cover-ups, telling her the truth: that
the kind of power she really wanted was power over men, to attract them and make them admire her.

Because that thought amused rather than offended the new Eva, she greeted the men with a winsome
smile.

"Hello, Hendrik," she said.

The men looked up and, with a small wheeze from the corpulent mathematician, politely stood.

"Hello, Eva," Hendrik said. "Max, this is Doctor Eva Welwyn. Eva, this is Professor Max Martlebury."

"How do you do, Professor? I'm a big fan of your work," she said.

"That's very kind of you to say so, Doctor Welwyn, but you probably mean my wife, Dorothy. She's the
success story of our family."
"I already know Dot. She spoke at a conference I organised ten years ago. I meant your statistical
reversion theory. I use it in my work."

"You're a social scientist? I'm glad to hear that my work on number puzzles has been useful to you."

"It has indeed. So may I be useful to you and recommend the sardines? They're particularly good today."

"Thank you, Eva," Hendrik said. "We've been so occupied with an abstruse cosmological problem that
we forgot to order."

"Good Lord!" Max said. "That explains why I'm so hungry. Thank you for the recommendation, Doctor
Welwyn. I'll order right away."

Her good deed done, Eva returned to the women at the girly lunch, though she was still in earshot when
Max said to Hendrik:

"What a pleasant young woman! Has she been long at the Institute?"

"A month, though she visited us before."

"She's remarkably attractive, don't you think? I'm allowed to say that, you know, because I'm a
grandfather."

"Is she? I hadn't noticed. Are we both having sardines?"

Eva had been what Joan called a 'genuine' woman for only five minutes and already two privileged men
had offended her in two different ways. One man noticed her looks, thereby treating her as a sex-object
(the worst possible outrage for a feminist). The other man, far from treating her as a sex-object, had not
even noticed that she was 'remarkably attractive' (an instance of flattery that Eva was happy to bank
and keep for later self-amusement). This was so much more offensive that it made her smile to herself
again.
"What are you so happy about?" Danielle asked when she returned.

"Max thinks I'm 'remarkably attractive' but Hendrik didn't even notice."

Danielle laughed.

"So who's winning:" she asked. "The feminist outraged by Max or the genuine woman affronted by
Hendrik?"

"I'll tell you when I've decided," Eva said, wisely.

******

Andrew Claydon returned to the Cloner City much impressed by all he had seen and done. Then
followed a week of public meetings with Madam Gloria and the Advisory Council, always in public,
allowing questions from an eager and pressing audience.

On the final afternoon, after another day of intense questioning and argument, Gloria invited Andrew to
her room for a quiet supper, served by two of the Juniors, who left them alone to talk.

They sat on the balcony and were comfortable.

"Thank you for this," Andrew said. "Though I was willing to keep answering questions, I'm grateful for
the chance to relax."

"You've been patient enough. You've earned a break from us on your last evening. Besides, those of us
who don't want settlers to come here ..."

"Madam Lawspeaker, Madam Recorder and Madam Mirselene, for example?"

"Yes. They'll never be satisfied with your answers, however well you put them."
"I understand. Do you agree with them?"

"I'm very sympathetic to their concerns, even if our protest is useless. ... However, I didn't invite you
here to go over the arguments again. I invited you here to get some peace."

"Thank you," Andrew said.

He relaxed in his chair and they were silent a few minutes, enjoying the view over the flat muddy delta,
with its wide silver river rolling lazily out to the sea and the yellow sun setting on the horizon.

Breathing deeply, Andrew said:

"You know what I like best about Samothea?"

"Tell me."

"The noise."

"You like the noise?"

"Because it's mostly natural, not mechanical. ... Everywhere you go on an inhabited world, there's the
sound of machinery. Maglev trains, hoverbuses, ground cars, jetcars. Atmospheric jets, stratoliners,
spaceships. Boats, elevators, AC units. ... It's not always oppressive or loud, but it's persistent and
ubiquitous. There's always a hum, a low-pitch rumble or a background hiss."

"Don't you cease to notice a persistent noise?"

"You do, like the tick of a clock. But the opposite also happens. When you get away from mechanical
noises for long enough and hear only natural sounds - animals, insects, birds, the wind in the trees, the
splash of a river - your senses are heightened not dulled. Because they're random noises, you don't
adjust to them, you don't ever stop noticing them."
"Is that good?"

"It's healthy. It gives one a kind of balance to get away from the city and forget the background noises of
man. The heaving of the waves or the rush of a waterfall may be louder than any human noise but
there's a special peacefulness to them."

"I understand."

"I knew you would."

The shadows lengthened and the sun turned red. The wind picked up and a chill embraced them.
Andrew breathed deeply again.

"I've been thinking about a compromise to propose to my company that might be more acceptable to
the women of Samothea. However, there's no guarantee my company will accept it. My job was to find
the best way to implement our settlement plan, not to change it. But if they accept my compromise, I
would like to know that you approve it too."

"I'm happy to give you my opinion. I'll keep this conversation between us, until you permit me to share it
with my sisters."

"Thank you. My idea is to make the inhabited part of Samothea a National Park: a reserve where the
women of Samothea can make their own rules and new settlers can only visit but cannot live
permanently without permission."

"I see."

"I know some of the Woodlanders' forest was already intended to be protected, where only temporary
wooden buildings could be constructed and no concrete structures built."

"That's right. The same was true for the beach, up to 100 feet from the high-tide mark."
"So I propose simply to extend the protected area. The Park will embrace the whole forest, the plain and
the Mariners' shore, all the way from the White Mountains, where the Farmers live, to the Southern
Mountains, where the Herders graze their sheep. The northern boundary will be the river. Within that
region, you'll be able to live your traditional lives and have full say over who comes to live in the Park."

"I'll be grateful to protect some of what we have."

"I think it will be better than merely protecting your society. Economists say that living conditions
improve with population density, up to a point. When a city or country becomes too crowded, then the
quality of life reduces again. My calculation is that a million settlers will be just the right number to
make your planet richer and your lifespans longer by bringing you modern medicine and some
technological comforts."

"I believe you but I cannot see us agreeing to unvetted settlers in such numbers or ever considering
colonisation as anything other than a disaster. Though I know it won't change anything whether we
accept or reject your compromise, if your company accepts it, I will do what I can to persuade my sisters
to approve it too."

6 Paul Kessler

When Andrew came back to Celetaris, he sent his report to Outworld Ventures, saying what he saw and
learned on Samothea. He also sent a long video message to his bosses, making the case for a National
Park on the currently-inhabited parts of Samothea as a compromise.

His answer arrived within a week. Outworld Ventures rejected his compromise on two grounds. The
company had a legal commitment to the descendents of the pioneer settlers and their 1,500 relatives
who wanted to take up their ancestral stakes on the planet. Many of their portions of land would be
within the National Park.

The other reason was the cost of maintaining the national park as undeveloped land, although it would
cost the same to raise the living standards of the women there are those outside the park, where some
industrial development was be possible.

It was a disappointment to Andrew. It meant that the original plan was to be pursued unchanged.
Danielle learned about the attempted compromise from Gloria. She thought it had been a good
compromise, so she added it to the options for the planet's future if her team were able to buy
Samothea.

The fact that Outworld Ventures was pressing ahead with colonisation meant it was time for the Project
to make its bid. Assured that her part of the new technology was worth at least a few million Galactic
Pounds, and with loan guarantees from the Women's Business Initiative, Danielle was ready to proceed.
She began by discussing the proposal with the Project's lawyer, Paul Kessler.

Eva, Roger and Ezra met Danielle in Paul's office, where she began by telling Paul the history of their
separate and anonymous approaches to Outworld Ventures and the positive responses they received.
Now they needed to know what legal difficulties there might be in buying the planet.

"There are a few problems," Paul said. "You'll be responsible for policing all contacts between Samothea
and the rest of the galaxy. It will be up to you to prevent the claim-jumpers, chancers, rogues and illegal
miners from just turning up on Samothea and taking what they liked. Access to the planet is now
relatively cheap and easy, thanks to Danielle's wonderful hyperdrive technology."

"Won't legitimate mining companies have to apply for a licence to excavate on Samothea?" Roger asked.

"Yes, but there are thousands of known planets and millions of moons and asteroids much nearer to
Earth and not near a black hole emitting destructive x-rays. I can't see any of the big mining companies
wanting to work on Samothea. It's the small-scale illegitimate miners who will rob your mountains of
their minerals in secret. You'll never be able to stop them."

"On the other hand," Paul continued, "their depredations will be mere pinpricks. Samothea has four
continents and two polar regions: millions of square miles of mineral-rich territory. The inhabited
continent is really only a big island. The pollution caused by wanton industrial methods on the other
continents won't be noticed."

"I understand that," Danielle said. "What matters to me is what happens to the women in the inhabited
region of Samothea. How can I protect them?"
"If you want to raise the living standards of the women of Samothea and police the planet and trade-
routes, but you won't sell a million stakes on the habitable continent, then you have to find another
source of income or use up your capital."

"We need to make a success of owning the planet," Ezra said. "If we go broke and have to sell it to
anyone who will buy it, then the women of Samothea will be even worse off."

"We know the costs of making life on Samothea viable," Danielle said, projecting a table of figures.
"These are Andrew Claydon's calculations for the cost of importing plants and animals to make a long-
term sustainable ecology; for rejuvenation therapies; nanobots for build the DNA protection from the x-
rays; roads, houses and ports - all of them using heavier osmium shielding or built with mechanical
devices, not electronic."

"The Women's Business Initiative will not cover the cost of every treatment," Paul said. "The economic
costs of building an advanced infrastructure would be paid for by settlers if Outworld Ventures were the
owner. For you, they are capital costs."

"For those settlers we want," Paul added, "there's the cost vetting. If Outworld Ventures do the vetting,
they will check only medical and criminal records. But we want to judge potential colonists for their
moral characters. Are they citizens in good standing, ambitious, hard-working, law-abiding, honest,
reliable and decent? It will cost a lot of money and time to interview every applicant personally and to
check their references."

"There's also political interference from Earth. Anglosphere authorities are pressing Outworld Ventures
to take a strict line with Samothea in the hope of exercising control over the colony, forcing the settler
company to accept mass settlement from poor countries on Earth. Outworld Ventures is rich enough to
resist Earthside interventions for now. If you were the owners, I'm not sure you could resist the
interference."

"Why?" Eva asked. "What leverage would they have over us?"

"The planet Samothea may be in breach of the anti-polygamy law. If so, then Samothea can be refused
membership of the Anglosphere. This means no automatic free trade deal with Earth and the
Homeworld colonies. The Outworld League, including Celetaris and New Exeter, might be happy to trade
with Samothea, but it would cause tension with Earth. Who knows what the Sino-Russian sector may
decide? They are notorious for stealing patents and copyrights, or slapping odd tariffs on imports at a
moment's notice (and then complaining loudly if anyone retaliates)."
"Because the main industrial use of the planet at first will be mining, and mining ventures need to trade
with the Anglosphere, polygamy may be the biggest problem of them all."

"Polygamy is illegal on Samothea," Roger said.

"True, but Ezra's multiple bedmates may be taken to represent de facto polygamy. At any rate, Earth
politicians will press us on the issue, even more so if the ownership of the planet passes out of the hands
of an Earth-based company into private hands on an Outworld colony."

"What's your conclusion, Paul?"

"It depends whether you have enough money to buy the planet outright. If not, then it would be very
bad to load up with dept. Maybe some kind of compromise is possible if you could lease the planet from
Outworld Ventures. They would be mad to turn you down if you take over some of their capital costs
and employ them for fifty years to provide security and all the other services the planet needs.
Everything for them will be profit. Our problem would be to afford the ongoing costs without selling a
million stakes to settlers."

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 26

byErinaceous©

"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.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

1 Fallout

2 The auction
3 Yael's whales

4 The Samothea Company

5 Student House

6 Buying Samothea

7 Epilogue: a new candidate

*****

1Fallout

At home after Solanj's outrageous actions at Ocean City Astroport, Danielle fumed by herself in her
study. Solanj had revealed to the galaxy's News Web that Ezra had multiple bedmates and multiple
children. This publicity disaster was followed by Kalyndra Fernesdaughter's display of submission to him,
kneeling on the platform and calling him 'Master'.

Danielle hid in her study for a good hour, not wanting to show her anger to her guests, especially not
Ezra's children, Freya and Tahney. When she was calm enough, she made a videocall via the direct
comms link to the Council Chamber on Samothea, asking to speak to Madam Gloria, Prefect of
Samothea. She showed Gloria the news report of the event.

"My Deputy Prefect's a scamp, isn't she?" Gloria said.

A less secure woman than Danielle might have been offended by Gloria's apparent flippancy in regard to
the serious problem that Solanj created for the Samothea Project.

"I think she's more than that, Gloria. She may have jeopardised a possible compromise with Outworld
Ventures. Did you tell her to make a scene?"
A less secure woman than Gloria might have been offended by Danielle's implicit accusation that she
was a party to Solanj's outrageous behaviour, or even the cause of it.

"No, I didn't, Danielle, and if my maverick deputy had asked my permission for her display, I would have
refused. However, the news about Ezra's bedmates must come out sometime."

"Yes, but we pay a publicity team to manage this kind of thing. Who knows what damage Solanj has
done?"

"You understand what she was trying to achieve?"

"She wanted to use Ezra's polygamy and Kalyndra's submission to outrage the public, bringing the
settler company into disrepute. She doubtless thought that Outworld Ventures would prefer to offload
the planet cheaply to us rather than face embarrassing questions from the public on Earth."

"That appears to be the essence of her tactic."

"How could she think it would work? Outworld Ventures might just as well use the fact of Ezra's
polygamy to forbid him from returning to Samothea. She's emboldened Earthside politicians who want
control over your planet and weakened the position of the settler company, who might have to appease
Earth by outlawing multiple bedmates and flooding Samothea with even more settlers."

"Yes, that's possible I suppose. Solanj has certainly put you in a difficult position. She needs to be better
behaved."

"She needs a bloody good hiding!"

"I'm sure Ezra will oblige. He's done it before ... and I see that Kalyndra brought her whip."

******

Ezra did punish Solanj and Kalyndra but he did not use the whip. Not at first anyway.
That night he tied the women up back-to-back, sitting on one side of the bed, legs outstretched. He
blindfolded them, so they could hear everything he did with Ash on the other side of the bed.

He told Kalyndra not to talk and she obeyed, happy to be commanded by him. As for Solanj, although
she loved to obey him as much as Kalyndra, she always needed to put up some resistance first, to force
him to dominate her. She refused to be silent, so he stood before her and said: "Open up."

Expecting something good, like a hard cock, Solanj opened her mouth. He stuffed a sock in it. A large,
rolled up, woollen sock, which he secured with a gag, tied at the back of her head.

"Now you'll be quiet," he said. "Ash, come to me."

They made love in a noisy and satisfying way. A few minutes' kissing, then his warm mouth on a sweet
little tit, transported Ash to heaven, her heart bursting, her skin tingling. She had missed sex with him
even more than she realised.

Ash moaned lustily when he put his mouth on her pussy, sucking on her clitoris, lashing it with his
tongue, until she gave a big yelping cry with an arched back and quivering thighs.

"Oh, God! Just like that!"

He kept her on the plateau, giving her more noisy joy, pushing in a finger to rub the best spots in her
tight pussy, lapping at her clit until it became too sensitive, while she bucked, sighing with amazing
pleasure, her hands on his head, fingers grasping his hair.

She had another big climax and went silent. Now it was his time. He laid on her and thrust his hot hard
cock into her narrow slit. She gasped and he began a hard and fast fucking. She crossed her legs over his
back, digging her nails into his shoulders, moaning happily with every thrust.

Soon he slowed and they savoured the delicious feeling of a sexual re-connection, expressing their love,
making it last as long as possible.
She tapped his shoulder, wanting to go on top. She rode him, leaning backward, goading herself to
another climax that arched her back. Then she lay on him, belly to belly, just moving her hips up and
down.

Soon she wanted him to take her from behind. She went on all fours and he knelt behind her. It was a
sensuous fucking, with his thighs pressing against her sensitive bottom and his cock giving her a stretch
and rub from a different angle. She crossed her arms and rested her head on them, eyes closed, getting
a deeper penetration.

Ezra delighted in the assertive character of his lovely Chinese bedmate. Ash was completely submissive
by nature. She was a servant to Solanj, who submitted to Ezra, so he might have thought she would be
even more submissive toward him. But, like all the Herder women, she was uninhibited in sex, driven to
seek her own pleasure, happy to tell Ezra what she wanted him to do, believing him when he said that
whatever pleasure she took gave him even more pleasure.

"Pull my hair," she said.

He grabbed her long straight black hair and pulled her up, his other hand on her stomach. The angle of
his thrusts now caught the spot in her pussy that gave her a special joy. She wailed happily and he felt
her stomach muscles bunch as she tipped over the edge into another climax.

He pulled out and let her recover from her orgasm. She wanted to be on her back again, to take his
weight and be held down.

He lay on her and began thrusting.

She was chirruping now, breathing hotly in his ear, saying: "More! More! Harder! Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh,
God!"

Ezra plunged his cock into her even harder. It was their final moments. Her back arched again and they
gripped hands, fingers intertwined. Her head went back and her eyes rolled up. She had an unbearable
spasm, agonising and fulfilling, rolling on and on as her pussy quivered around his cock.
His own hot sweet agony was almost upon him. He pressed his lips on hers and she pushed her tongue
rhythmically into his mouth. In a moment he groaned and released. She gripped his waist with her thighs
as the relieving warm flood pulsed into her.

He thrust a few more times to ease away the tension.

"Ash, you're the perfect bedmate," he said.

They held each other tightly, pressed together, panting in unison, heartbeats returning to normal.

******

He untied Solanj first and she kissed his sweaty cheek. Much as she wanted Ash to have her fun with
him, she wished they had not taken so long because she had an eight-month-old baby resting heavily on
her bladder.

"Help me up," she said.

Ezra pulled her to her feet and Solanj skipped (though it was more like a waddle) to the toilet.

When Ezra released Kalyndra, she smiled at him and said:

"I know this isn't my whole punishment, Master."

"No, Pet. I've saved something for when we're alone."

"Please can I sleep with you tonight?"

"No, you'll sleep with Solanj. Ash is my bedmate for now."

"Yes, Master."

******

Fertility treatments for Kalyndra and Ash began on the next day with physical exams, blood tests,
endocrine tests, DNA tests and holographic scans.

Ezra and Solanj went with Ash and Kalyndra, to give them support and to keep out of Danielle's way.
Ezra knew his sister would be angry for quite a while.

Although it was not fair for Danielle to blame Ezra as much as Solanj and Kalyndra, he understood her
well, judging that her anger would give her a powerful impetus to work painstakingly to put things right.
This was another reason to give his sister her distance.

First Danielle soothed the head of the Samothea Project's publicity department, who had thrown his
hands up in despair and threatened to quit. It was hard enough to put a positive spin on Ezra's thirty
bedmates and thirty-five daughters while they were mostly on Samothea, out of the public gaze. It was
impossible now.

The publicity department's spin was that the women of Samothea were hardy survivors, independent
women who had generously helped a stranded and injured man. This was only part of the story. Solanj's
intervention revealed the other part, which was that many of the women of Samothea treated Ezra as a
kind of oriental monarch, despite his objections. The full story of Ezra's harem was now headlined on the
News Web.

Next Danielle took Andrew Claydon to lunch for an insider's view of how Outworld Ventures reacted to
the revelations. The company made no public statement at first, but when Earthside politicians accused
them of supporting polygamy on Samothea, the company publicly denounced polygamy, confirming that
it would always be illegal on Samothea.

Andrew understood what motivated Solanj and secretly sympathised with her. He was prepared to
intercede on Danielle's behalf with his company by canvassing the opinions of the senior management
on the future of Samothea.
Someone else to placate was Elspeth Bereded of the Women's Business Initiative. Elspeth knew about
Ezra's multiple bedmates but did not mention it publicly, which now looked suspicious, as if she had
been covering up a scandal. Some members of the Initiative also had cold feet, now that their hope for a
woman-only planet seemed to be dashed by the women of Samothea themselves.

Elspeth used her position to ensure that the Initiative honoured its commitment of medical treatments
for the women of Samothea.

Reassured, Danielle asked her friend, Doctor Cassie Leighton, how the medical examinations of Ash and
Kalyndra went. Did the medical team need anything from the Project toward their treatments? The
news was good and the medical team needed nothing.

Thus Danielle gradually cooled down, though when she had anything to say to Ezra, she sent Annela to
him with the message. This was a kindness to Annela, who was still feeling sexual heat from her
rejuvenation treatment, though the hormone injections and tests were now every two days and took
only a few minutes.

Annela was gradually getting less randy, but she still wanted sex with Ezra almost every day. As go-
between to the two estranged camps, she had a couple of hours alone with him each morning, when
Ash, Solanj and Kalyndra were at the medical centre and Tahney was in the infant school with Freya.

Another benefit of using Annela as a messenger was her telepathic ability to understand others. It made
her a perfect peacemaker, which was Danielle's eventual aim, as Roger learned one night in bed.

It was a Thursday night, so Roger tied up his wife and fucked her. Afterward, as they relaxed in each
other's arms, whispering nonsense, they gradually began to talk about the day's events. Roger tried to
intervene on Ezra's behalf.

"You can't really blame him, you know," he said.

"I don't blame him at all, but I won't say so yet. I want him to stew a bit longer."

"Why?"
"Power."

"You? Power over Ezra?"

"Power over Solanj. I need her to respect me, to know that I'm no pushover. Ezra told me how she tests
everyone. If she thinks I'm touchy and difficult, she'll give me some space. I can't have her interfering in
any deal I might yet do with Outworld Ventures."

"I'm proud of you, Darling. I had no idea you could be so devious."

"Me too. It's an experiment. When I think I have Solanj where I want her, I'll let Annela broker an
understanding between us."

Roger was ready to go again now. He lay on her. She spread her legs and put her arms around his neck.

"I love you, my brilliant wife," he said. "I hope your plan works."

******

While Solanj and Kalyndra were in disgrace, Ezra punished them with forced sexual abstinence. After her
first night with Ezra, Ash also abstained because she was undergoing gynaecological examinations to
discover the cause of her infertility.

However, it was the genetic tests that explained why Ash was barren. She suffered a side-effect of the
cloning method used on Samothea. It caused a hormonal shortage so that she went through the normal
menstrual cycle but there was no ovulation.

There was a simple answer: hormone replacements by injection or a pill. Or, if she wanted to be
impregnated quickly, then a standard procedure of in vitro fertilisation would work. Ash was offered the
basic rejuvenation treatment that Annela was undergoing, to repair the depleted telomeres of her
chromosomes (another damaging side-effect of cloning). The same nanobots would likely correct the
hormone deficiency in the long term.
Ash had to decide if she wanted the procedure.

The cause of Kalyndra's infertility took more intensive investigation and was interesting enough for the
doctors at the Medical Centre to want to make her a case study.

Kalyndra was content to be a guinea-pig, despite all the prodding, swabbing, and sampling of blood,
urine, breath, sweat, skin and intimate secretions. The answer was that a different side-effect of the
cloning caused Kalyndra to ovulate only a day or so before she menstruated, meaning that the egg never
had a chance to be fertilised (or, if it was fertilised, it was flushed out of her uterus anyway). This
explained why she also failed to conceive by cloning.

Again, some hormone therapy and the rejuvenation treatment would solve the problem.

Now Ezra himself had a problem. Rejuvenation treatment had made Annela insanely horny and
insatiable, demanding sex from him five or six times a day, often for hours at a time. Assuming the
treatment would do the same for all the women of Samothea, who were already sex-mad, Ezra believed
he would die of sexual exhaustion. Besides, he would never get any work done.

His first request to his bedmates was to wait until Annela's sex-drive had returned to normal before
having the treatment, one at a time.

"You can decide between yourselves who goes first."

"Listen to the boss man," Solanj mocked. "As if he's the only man here who can satisfy us."

As Ezra was the only man Kalyndra and Ash (or Solanj herself) wanted to satisfy them, her tease had no
effect, except to remind Ezra that he was supposed to be angry with Solanj. He said:

"Ash will be first because she did least harm, followed by Kalyndra, with you last - if at all."

******
On the day that Ezra forgave Kalyndra, she stood before him in the bedroom, wearing a short white
dress that Yael bought for her when they went shopping. It had a low v-neck and a long slit on the skirt;
but what it concealed of her luscious tanned body - her perfect tits, her thin waist and long long legs -
was more erotic than what it revealed.

He made her stand there while he leaned back on the bed, with the bag of ropes, pegs and the whip
half-open beside him. She felt butterflies in her stomach as usual, the nervous anticipation that
hardened her nipples and wetted her pussy. But Ezra relaxed and made her wait.

"Master, please will you tie me up?"

"No, Kali."

"Master, please will you use my real name?"

"No, Kali."

"Master!"

"I love you Kali but your punishment is to learn who has the power in this relationship."

"You do, Master. I give it to you."

"No, Kali. It's you. Absurd as it sounds when I'm restraining you and flogging you, taking my pleasure
from your beautiful suffering, it's you who's driving it all, getting exactly what you want."

"Yes, Master. I understand."

"I know you do. So tell me why you made a public submission to me when you knew it would embarrass
me?"
"Because I'm not ashamed of being your pet, Master. Because I want the whole galaxy to know what I
am to you."

"But what to me is wonderful passionate love-making with my gorgeous bedmate, to you is a life-style.
The difference didn't matter on Samothea. It matters here."

"Why, Master?"

"Because some people who support us might be shocked or offended into not supporting us."

"People like the Women's Business Initiative, Master? Women who tell other women how to be
women?"

Ezra had a revelation.

"Solanj didn't put you up to it, did she? Your demonstration was your own idea."

"Devon, Thalassa and I decided on it and Solanj approved when I told her."

"Why?"

"Because what we have together fulfils me. It gives me hope and serenity. I want the whole galaxy to
know how proud I am to be your slave. And if people think that we're going to live differently on
Samothea when Outworld Ventures takes over, then I want them to know that I disagree."

Ezra was silent.

"Do you forgive me, Master? Will you punish me now?"

"I forgive you, Kali, but your punishment is the same. I love you. I struggle to control my desire for you
whenever I'm with you, but I'm going to make love to you today like a normal bedmate."
"What about the promise you made always to tie me up, Master?"

"That rule doesn't apply here, after your behaviour."

"Yes, Master. Sorry, Master."

"Come here, Kali, and kiss me."

They began to make love like normal bedmates. She sat on his lap and he stroked her hair as they
pressed their tongues together.

He took her short dress off slowly, pulling the top down, exposing her big tanned breasts and her large
dark-pink nipples. He licked gently on a nipple before taking it into his mouth. He kissed the other tit,
sucking on the underneath and working up to the nipple.

He cupped her pussy. He could feel its heat. Her long slit was damp. Her clitoris was sensitive. She
hummed and exhaled when he rotated it slowly with his palm. He slipped a finger into her slit and she
pushed her pelvis forward to engulf it, but he left his finger resting within her folds and did not
penetrate further.

It was a gentle tease and a sensual build up. He kissed her ribs, then her neck and up to her mouth, back
down to her lovely tits, further down to her belly and up again to her lovely tits again. She was hot and
panting by the time he reached her pussy and slid his tongue along her slit up to her clit where he made
circles.

With his mouth on her pussy, sucking on her clit, diddling it with his tongue, she had the electric
sensation, the buzz that warmed the skin of her thighs and belly, tingling up her spine, making her back
arch.

Again he delayed, to tease her and keep her from her peak. He kissed along a long thigh, slowly, up and
back down, brushing over her pussy, which ached again for his touch, and along the other thigh. The
teasing was making her moan. She was ready but there was something missing for her.
Normally, in a tight restraint, with her bottom hot from a hard spanking, or her skin tingling all over from
a vigorous flogging, she would have melted into her highly sensitised state, where every touch was a
lightning jolt and he needed only to put a finger or his cock in her slit and she would instantly climax.
Then he would balance her on the mountain peak, rising and falling as waves of orgasms washed over
her.

The more he gripped her, spanked her and drove his shaft relentlessly into her, the more she
surrendered to the almost unbearable pleasure of being his toy, his sexual object, his Pet.

But without the restraints, without the assault on her flesh, without his rough domination when he used
her for his uncontrollable need, she was slow to get off. Love and sex alone were enough for a small
orgasm. There was joy in penetration but it was only the relief from an urgent itch that needed to be
rubbed. To be tied down and fucked hard made her float on a sea of ecstasy, where pleasure never
ended and her soul soared above the world.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

Kalyndra responded like a loving bedmate, crossing her legs over his back, holding his head as he sucked
on a tit, moaning with joy, grateful to her Master for the pleasure he gave his pet; but in the end it was
Ezra who succumbed. The regular kind of sex was not enough for him now. He needed more. He needed
to tie her up and do mean things to her.

She lay beneath him, bucking her pelvis in time with his thrusts, moaning and gasping. He loved her
squirms and yelps, her deep hums and catlike purrs, but he knew she had more in her, more to give him.

He pulled out and ordered her to lie on her front with her arms behind her back. He tied her wrists
tightly to her knees. Roughly rolling her over, he stuffed pillows under her back, pushing her up in a
steep arch. It was the hardest restraint he had ever used. She arched so far over that both her knees and
her forehead were on the bed, her tits pointing upward, her back strained almost to breaking.

Her stomach muscles were like iron. He gagged and blindfolded her. With a leather strap, he flogged her
belly, watching her tits bounce, making her pant with short breaths. It was exactly what she wanted.
Kalyndra was in heaven. The warmth from the flogging spread around her body, giving her a sensual
tingling that danced on top of her deep sexual hunger.
He flogged her thighs, adding to the delicious pain. It was the dull thudding pain she loved, the pain she
got off from.

The ache from the flogging went to her pussy, driving her up the mountainside to the ecstatic peak she
had approached when he was fucking her, but bigger this time.

Her belly and thighs were red from the whipping. He struck her harder and she loved it more, keening
with pleasure. When he flogged her stomach again, he hit spots he had already struck, doubling the
pain. It brought her closer to the peak.

Seeing her reaction - her noise, her squirms, her attempts to buck her pelvis as if she was being fucked -
he hit the same spot again and again. It sent her mind somewhere else while her body did what it
wanted, which was to have a huge orgasm. Kalyndra shook and her skin flushed. She felt the tightness in
her throat and held her breath. The heat spread over her body and she cried out for joy.

Ezra stopped the flogging. He increased her stretch by spreading her knees. Then, with a mouth on a tit,
he shoved his cock into her and fucked her senseless.

Kalyndra came again and again, shaking her head. In her tight restraint, she could move only her head,
hands and feet, but her pussy moved of its own accord, spasmodically massaging Ezra's cock with
muscular ripples, goading him toward a satisfying release. He held off as long as he could but her
response was irresistible. With a rough grip on her tits, he pounded the last few times into her and came
with a great groan, the pulsing surges seeming to last for ages.

Gentler thrusts helped them descend from the aching heights. Gentle kisses on her tight body showed
her his love. He rested on her as the tension drained away.

When he untied her, she wrapped herself around him. Hot and sensitive, she wanted to be held tightly.
When he kissed her, he felt tears on her cheeks. They were tears of joy and relief.

"Thank you, Master," she said. "Thank you for giving me everything I need."

******
The morning after Ezra forgave Kalyndra (good and hard), Annela went for breakfast with Danielle, as
the women liked to do when they had the time.

Annela was such an easy person to like, and she spoke so openly about everything in her life (even
personal stuff about Ezra that his sister sometimes preferred not to know), that Danielle found it hard to
believe she had known her for only seven months.

They went to a cafe in the precinct, the square on campus outside The Needle, where there was a
hovertrain station and a selection of shops and restaurants. Sitting at a table, they chatted about Ezra's
bedmates. It was not a subject they usually discussed. Danielle had no desire to interfere in Ezra's love-
life. She simply accepted that Annela was content to be only one of thirty bedmates. Having accepted
that fact even before she got to know Annela, Danielle had been too busy to examine exactly what it
meant.

Now there were four of Ezra's bedmates on Celetaris, and the News Web was openly talking about
Ezra's 'harem', there were questions Danielle had to ask her friend. She needed to know how Annela felt
about Ezra's other bedmates.

"I like them," Annela said.

"You don't think of them as rivals?"

"No. We all give him different things."

"I understand that. I even understand what Kalyndra gives him, but what does Solanj give him?"

"Contest. She stands up to him."

"Implying that you and the other bedmates obey him without demur?"

"Well, not really."

"The opposite of not really, Annela. I've never seen Ezra order you around."

"No. Ezra's so considerate that we don't need to assert ourselves to get our way. He always tries to
please us. Solanj gets him to do things he would do anyway, but she makes it seem as though she had to
fight him to get her way. It's quite comical to watch sometimes. But they both enjoy the game."

"I would understand if you were jealous of Kalyndra, but you sound jealous of Solanj."

Annela laughed.

"I'm not jealous of Kalyndra at all, perfect though she is, but I admit I'm a little wary of Solanj."

"Why?"

"Because Kalyndra could never take Ezra away from me, even if she wanted to (nor would she try). But
Solanj could."

"I don't believe it, Annela. You're special to Ezra. You can see it in the way he talks about you, the way
he treats you and looks at you. When I asked him what his plans were, he said he was going back to
Samothea. I asked him when, and he said: 'When Annela's ready to return.'"

"That was before Solanj came here."

"But you're his soulmate."

"Solanj is also his soulmate."

"Does Solanj want Ezra for herself? Has she ever tried to get him to herself?"

"Not to herself, but she tried to kidnap him for the Herder Tribe. That's why he burned her with his laser
penknife. She's proud of the scar."
"I see. So Ezra will resist her."

"He might. But Solanj is charming and fascinating. She's also very persuasive. She got Wildchild to
become a Junior. And she's made big changes to our society, especially in the Cloner City. I expect she's
indispensable to Madam Gloria now."

"Do you dislike her?"

"No. I like her very much. She's always been kind to me. When I had my brain cancer and blacked out,
falling on top of Freya, Ezra was staying with the Herders. After I felt better, I told him not to make a
special trip to see me, but Solanj persuaded him to come anyway. I'm glad she did.

"Later, when I went into the emergency escape pod, Solanj arranged an escort of Herders, who sang and
danced at the feast to take my fear away. She's a good, kind, loving woman. If I could give Ezra up to
anyone, I would let her have him."

Danielle looked doubtful. Annela read her mind perfectly.

"You know I was Ezra's first bedmate on Samothea? He wanted to be with me alone, but I persuaded
him to be bedmates with all the Woodlander Tribe. I told him: If you have something good, wouldn't you
want to share it with your sisters? ... Later on, for a moment, I regretted persuading him, but I came to
accept it, although it is not just my sisters from the Woodlander Tribe now but my sisters from all three
outer Tribes."

"That's something I don't really understand," Danielle said. "If I had something precious, I would share it
only with Roger (unless it was chocolate)."

"That's because there's so much abundance on Celetaris. On Samothea, where we have so little, we
naturally want to share what little we have with those we love."

"I suppose so, but I would never share Roger himself."

"Wouldn't you?"

"No! Besides, with whom would I share him?"

"Eva."

"Eva? You've seen Eva and me together. We bicker all the time."

"Yes, you love Eva."

"I love Joan and Cassie as well but I don't want to share Roger with them."

"Of course not. They've got husbands. Eva's got no one."

Danielle was silent a third time, thinking through what Annela implied.

"You know, you're a very disconcerting woman, Annela Freyasdaughter Woodlander."

"I know. Ezra says I'm a witch."

"I think he's right."

******

A few days later, after long discussions with his bosses, Andrew Claydon had good news for Danielle. Not
only might Outworld Ventures still be open to an offer for the planet Samothea, it was hinted that they
would consider reducing the price.

Reading between the lines, Danielle judged the settler company was severely spooked by the bad
publicity, which triggered a storm of hostile news coverage around the galaxy, especially on Earth,
including threats of political investigations. These would distract from plans to develop the company's
other colonies. It would be good business to offload the problematic planet quickly and cheaply.

If true, it would be amazing news. With Outworld Ventures willing to sell, the Women's Business
Initiative would renew their offer of loan guarantees and even exert pressure on the settler company to
reduce its price further.

Aware that Solanj's disgraceful behaviour might be vindicated, Danielle gave the miscreants another day
of the silent treatment, just to make sure they got the message. But after a week it was time to get the
family back together, not least because Danielle did not like the girls' sleeping arrangements.

While the newcomers stayed in Ezra's apartment, Annela and Freya moved in with Danielle and Roger.
This pushed Yael out, who went to stay with Kelly Mayfield. To make more room, Hazel and Wildchild
moved in with their boyfriends, Ed and Rod, which was good for sex but bad for the boys' important
final-year studies.

The girls were used to being vagabonds, but that was when they owned only one change of clothing and
no books, so it was easy to move between huts or to live in tents. Now, with wardrobes full of clothes,
plus airsuits, books, computer tabs, bows and arrows and even a bottle of whisky, their belongings were
distributed randomly among their friends. The girls did not mind having to flit between apartments but
Danielle wanted them back with her.

Deciding to let Ezra and Solanj know they were forgiven, Danielle sent Annela with a message inviting
Solanj for a chat, woman to woman.

"I should go with you," Ezra said to Solanj.

"It can hardly be woman to woman if there's a man there," Solanj replied. "Why do you think you should
come?"

"It might turn violent."

"I think I can protect myself."

"I'm not worried about you."

"Ha! You'd defend your sister against your favourite bedmate?"

"You're not my favourite."

"Aren't I? Who else do you treat as an equal?"

"I treat all my bedmates as equals, to me and to each other."

"You may try to, Ezra, but that's not how we feel about you. We're women, don't forget. We all want to
kneel to our man."

"Except you?"

"Exactly! You kneel to me."

"I love you Solanj, but only because you're completely nuts. Please apologise to Danielle. You shouldn't
have interfered with her plans and undermined her position."

"And if Danielle's plan meant I could not have my chosen bedmate on my own planet, what then?"

"You should still apologise."

******

Despite Solanj's defiance in front of Ezra, Danielle's trick of acting moodily successfully inspired her
respect, which Solanj showed at their face-to-face meeting.
"Danielle, I'm sorry I embarrassed you and interfered with your plans for the future of my planet," Solanj
said.

Danielle nodded to acknowledge the apology. "The damage you did may not be as severe as I first
thought."

"You're more forgiving than I deserve."

It was extraordinary meekness from Solanj, a woman covered in angry-looking tattoos, whose aggressive
bluster was legendary. Danielle took a good look at the woman and wondered how she produced her
effect of power. Solanj was of medium height, but she carried herself with such dignity that she seemed
taller. She was also thin and wiry but her personality so outweighed her physical strength that no one
noticed how slight she was.

"I've something to tell you that I've told Gloria," Danielle said. "Andrew Claydon reported that Outworld
Ventures is still willing to sell the planet and might not insist on the original price. It seems they prefer
not to deal with a political hot potato right now."

"I'm relieved that it may turn out so well for us."

"It's uncertain but it may be that Outworld Ventures wants to offload the planet quickly and relatively
cheaply."

"I expect pressure from the Women's Business Initiative helped as well, besides your own hard work."

Danielle did not believe the woman could be so modest, yet Solanj seemed sincere.

"Don't mention Andrew Claydon's report yet. We need our lawyer and other experts to look into the
fine details before we can make a sensible offer."

"I'll tell only Ezra."

"Yes, you can tell Ezra. Invite him and the others to dinner tonight."

Danielle paused.

"I know how much my brother loves you from the way he describes you," she said.

"How is that?"

"Everything he says about you he says in a tone of fond exasperation, as if reporting the mischievous
antics of a favourite child."

Solanj smiled. "There was I, thinking he respected me for my brains and judgment."

Danielle also smiled. "He respects your brains and judgment, Solanj. So do I. Please, no more mischief? I
want us to be friends."

"We're sisters, Danielle. I promise, no more mischief."

******

Dinner that night was lively, as feasts always were for the women of Samothea. The apartment was
crowded, so Danielle wisely bought in the food, despite many willing helpers. She also thanked heaven
the apartments were solidly built with dynamic sound insulation devices and thick plasticoncrete floors.

Danielle marvelled at how Solanj could relax, despite spending a week in disgrace. It seemed to have no
effect on her playfulness. Unpretentious and friendly, she helped at dinner despite her status as Deputy
Prefect and her big pregnant belly. She was also unfazed by any of the amazing things she saw on
Celetaris, such as the buildings, the technology and the crowds of people.

Curiously, although Kalyndra had behaved as badly as Solanj, Danielle never blamed her. It was easy for
her to like Kalyndra, once the natural inklings of jealousy had abated. The beautiful Mariner was as
helpful and kind as any other woman from Samothea and although no one could doubt the intensity of
her devotion to Ezra, she made no further public spectacle and never claimed more of Ezra's attention
than any other of his bedmates.

So things quickly settled down for the group. With seven women and two children from Samothea
sharing the lives of Ezra and his family, there was little peace and no opportunity to hold a grudge. Life
was too much fun and there was too much to learn and discover.

******

Everyone could see that Ezra was making love to Ash and Kalyndra because the girls smiled so much and
looked serene. But he had not yet properly punished or forgiven Solanj.

The moment came in Danielle's apartment the afternoon after the face-to-face chat between the
women. The extended family had a late lunch, after which everyone except Solanj and Ezra went out.
Annela went to her teaching job, followed by a staff meeting. Kalyndra and Ash went to the medical
centre. Danielle, Hazel, Wildchild and Yael went to the Science Institute. Freya and Tahney were already
at school. And Roger went to the library because it contained a few thousand books he had not yet read.

Left alone in the apartment, Solanj and Ezra sat on the sofa to talk. Ordinary talk turned into lovers' talk,
which turned into kissing, more urgent kissing and bundling into a spare bedroom to make love.

Although Danielle had forgiven Solanj, and things seemed to be going their way with regard to the bad
publicity, Ezra had not yet made love to her because Solanj was in disgrace. She did not know why she
could not be in disgrace and also in Ezra's bed, but she made no complaint for now.

Ezra might pretend to be annoyed with her for Danielle's sake, but he was not going to stay angry with
the mother of Tahney for long, especially as she was carrying another of his daughters. Besides, one
reason he loved Solanj was her unpredictability.

His real reason for neglecting Solanj sexually was a lack of time. Ezra loved all his bedmates and thought
he had a special kind of connection to each of them. If this was romantic nonsense, yet his bond with
Solanj was one of the strongest. He saw completely through her bravado and savoured her challenge as
a crazy turn-on and prelude to a sweet surrender.
Solanj told the truth when she said at the Astroport that she was in a hot and randy stage of her
pregnancy. She had urges that Ash could not satisfy, even with the wooden cocks they used. She
desperately needed his touch, his strong arms around her, his unbridled sexual hunger, when he
rammed his cock into her and made her squeal. Just kissing him made her pussy drip, weakening her
knees.

Ezra put a finger in her sopping pussy. Solanj gasped and clung to him, wanting more, but he broke off
and said:

"I've told you off for what you did at the Astroport, but I never really punished you."

Solanj licked her lips.

"Lie on your front," he ordered.

Smiling with her chin raised, Solanj said: "Make me!"

He did so, quite easily. She was not strong enough to resist. He forced her arms behind her back, crossed
her wrists and held them tightly with one hand. He pushed her forward so she knelt on the bed. With a
pillow under her head and a strong hand holding her, she was subdued. He spread her legs and lifted her
skirt.

Her bare bottom was pushed up and vulnerable, ready to be spanked hard.

Ezra told her the reason for her punishment with every stroke.

Smack.

"That's one, for causing a sensation at the Astroport."

Smack.
"That's two, for letting Kalyndra cause her own spectacle."

Smack.

"That's three, for making Danielle angry with me."

Solanj started out laughing but the spanks got gradually harder. Now she held her breath before each
slap and breathed out heavily afterward.

Smack.

"That's four, for embarrassing me."

Smack.

"That's five, for embarrassing the settler company."

Smack.

"That's six, for probably being right."

Solanj was happily moaning, yelping at the spanks but keening with pleasure in the gaps between them,
as the hot pain diffused to a warm glow and a buzz in her loins.

Smack.

"That's seven, for suffering so beautifully."

Smack.
"That's eight, for being so sexy."

Smack.

"That's nine, for making such a lovely noise."

Smack.

"And that's ten, for luck."

The last spank was the hardest. It rocked Solanj on the bed and made her gasp.

She thought the punishment was over and turned to look at him, sexual hunger in her eyes, dripping
passion in her pussy, her nipples hard and aching, her skin warm and tingling.

Ezra pushed her back down into the pillow.

"I'm not done," he said.

He did not hold her now. She had submitted completely and pushed up her bottom again, longing for
more of his violent touch.

Smack.

"That's eleven, for enjoying this so much."

Smack.
"That's twelve, for being so wet."

Smack.

"And that's thirteen, just for fun."

Now he was done. Again, Solanj tried to turn around, to embrace him, but he grabbed her arms, knelt
behind her and stuffed his engorged shaft into her dripping wet cleft. He started thrusting and, as
always, she used her pelvic muscles to squeeze his cock with all her strength.

Solanj pushed back in rhythm and moaned approvingly as he filled her and withdrew, filled and
withdrew, gradually going faster. She rocked and moaned.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

Quickly on a peak, the heat from her battered buttocks spread around her body, blending with the hot
joy from her ravished pussy. It tingled along her thighs, over her belly and chest and back down her
spine. A deep ache built in her, as the joy in her pussy spread around her body in warm surges. The
blood roared in her ears and her throat constricted, stopping her voice. She floated on pink cotton wool
clouds. She shut her eyes tightly and saw fireworks.

Her deep ache built to a tense and messy climax whose intensity hit her almost by surprise. She hunched
(as much as a greatly pregnant woman could hunch) and her thighs shook. Now she sighed in happy
ecstasy as Ezra ploughed on and on.

There was a knock on the door.

"Ezra, are you in there?"

Danielle left work early to collect Freya and Tahney from their school, while Annela was delayed at her
meeting. She had the girls with her and was looking for him.

"I'm here, ... ugh ... , Sis," Ezra said, breathlessly. "Ugh ... Solanj is with me, but we're, ... er ..., rather
busy."
"Good God, Ezra," Danielle exclaimed. "Can't you keep it in your trousers for even ten minutes?"

"What can't Daddy keep in his trousers?" Tahney asked.

"His cock!" said Freya with a huge giggle that Tahney joined in.

"Freya!" Danielle said. "Who taught you that word?"

"Yael taughted me."

"I should have known. That girl has a lot to answer for. ... Come on, you two. We'll wait in the living
room until your father and Solanj are ready to join us."

Half an hour later, after Ezra had finished off in Solanj and they had a shower together, they came into
the living room. Ezra looked a little sheepish but Solanj looked triumphant. Freya and Tahney ran to
jump on him, demanding to be tickled, while Danielle rolled her eyes and gave up trying to censure Ezra
or his bedmates.

******

Although Gloria disapproved of Solanj's exhibition, she would not criticise her deputy in public, so it was
not until the evening after Ezra punished Solanj that the two women managed to have a private
conversation.

When the Council Hall emptied after a meeting, Gloria stayed behind to make a videocall via the comms
link to Danielle's study in her flat on Celetaris, where she could talk to Solanj alone.

Solanj looked happy rather than contrite, with a glow of sexual contentment.

"Madam Deputy Prefect, you're a menace," Gloria said.

"I know."

"Why are you standing up?"

"Ezra also thinks I'm a menace. He expressed his disapproval in a physical fashion on my arse."

"Serves you right. How are you going to reverse the damage you caused?"

"I'm not sure I can."

"I don't believe you had no backup plan for when your ruse failed."

"I may have an idea how to salvage the situation."

"And I suppose you can't tell me what that idea is?"

"I'm still working on it. Besides, we don't yet know if my ruse did fail."

Gloria made the hum of doubt. "If you're going to interfere again, I would like you to tell me first, in case
I disapprove. If you would be so kind."

"Yes, Madam," Solanj said with unaccustomed (but not perhaps entirely convincing) meekness.

******

It was a treat for Danielle, now Solanj was forgiven, that the girls' sleeping arrangements went back to
normal. Annela, Freya and Tahney joined Ezra and his other bedmates in a crowded flat, while Hazel,
Wildchild and Yael returned to their rooms in Danielle and Roger's apartment. Sometimes Freya and
Tahney wanted to stay with their aunt Danielle and uncle Roger. Sometimes Ezra's bedmates stayed
with them.

When the News Web circus began to die down, seven days into the nine-days' wonder, so that
questions about Ezra's many bedmates took second or third place behind the latest political scandal,
real-life crime, or vapid celebrity flashing her boobs in public, Andrew Claydon's initial report was
confirmed by an official message from Outworld Ventures to the Samothea Project.

The planet was still for sale and, if the purchase could be expedited quickly, the company would reduce
the price to six million galactic pounds. There were some conditions because the settler company had
commitments to the women of Samothea and potential settlers to honour. And although the price was
more reasonable, it was still more than the Project could likely afford.

However, the impetus was now with the Samothea Project to come up with a lot of money and an
attractive deal for Outworld Ventures, one that would insulate the company from the cause of the
public scandal and the disapproval of Earthside politicians.

Danielle, Eva and Ezra allowed themselves to hope again.

Solanj never took credit for her role in making the settler company come to the negotiating table. Nor
for releasing, in one big publicity splash, the scandal that would have undoubtedly been a disaster if it
had come out when negotiations regarding the planet's status in the Anglosphere were more advanced.

Far from acting as if her actions were vindicated, Solanj took a modest role in Ezra's extended family,
expecting no special treatment due to her status on Samothea. The tattooed Zulu woman with the
famously aggressive manner was relaxed, comfortable, friendly, helpful, and so obviously in love with
Ezra that Danielle succumbed, as Ezra had done, to the charm of a woman with no off-button but also
no rancour or meanness.

Danielle stopped trying to hide her pleasure at Solanj's company, despite sharing Annela's wariness of
the woman's frustrating charm. So, in a few days, Solanj had Danielle and Roger wrapped as firmly
around her little finger as Ezra was himself.

2The auction
With Outworld Ventures willing to sell, it was time to raise the money to buy the planet Samothea by
auctioning the rights to the new hyperdrive technology.

When the technology to upgrade the Beltway Hyperspace System was first proved a success, business
analysts valued the whole package, including patents for the original engine and the hyperspace
beacons, at 12 million galactic pounds. Now it was in full production by a consortium of space
engineering firms led by the Nakatani Corporation and Oakshott Industries, with long-lasting contracts
and a regular income, the technology might be worth even more.

Stephen Oakshott announced an auction of shares in the new technology for one month's time. The
question was: Would the money raised be enough to enable Danielle, Eva and Ezra to buy Samothea
from Outworld Ventures?

Danielle owned 25% of the shares. Stephen Oakshott and the Nakatani Corporation owned 25% each.
The last 25% in equal portions belonged to Rosa Silverstein, Li Qu Yuan, Herman Melzner, Jonathan
Wright and Hestia Smith.

Danielle called her partners to tell them she intended to sell all her shares. Stephen again promised to
give Danielle his 25% share and, again, she refused, although between them they might have gathered
the price that Outworld Ventures asked.

The Nakatani Corporation was holding onto its shares, so only 75% of the business was for sale.
Everyone expected Nakatani to bid for a controlling majority of the business, though many other bidders
were lining up, including members of the consortium and outside companies who wanted a piece of the
promising technology. With luck, there would be a bidding war, although Danielle and Stephen thought
it would be simpler if Nakatani gobbled up the entire public offering.

The other shareholders were happy to cash in their shares, believing Danielle when she said it was a
good opportunity. They would all make their fortunes.

******

A week after the auction was announced, Sakura, Michio Nakatani's estranged wife, had a big row with
her father, who demanded she return to her husband and become a dutiful spouse again. Sakura was
not to be ordered around. Instead, she took a good hard look at her life and realised she had been only
drifting for years. Now she wanted to take control of her future, beginning with a divorce so she could
step out from the shadows of her father and her husband.

The papers had been signed months ago. In them, Michio agreed to a generous settlement. After a short
hearing, the family court granted the couple an amicable divorce. Knowing how his ex-father-in-law,
Genzo Ayikama, would react, Michio asked Sakura not to announce the divorce until the auction for the
new technology was completed in three weeks' time.

Unfortunately, society news always leaks out. Sakura's father felt ashamed of his daughter for
negotiating a divorce without consulting him; and he felt insulted by Michio for trying to keep it a secret.
Genzo Ayikama threatened to break up the merger between his company and the Nakatani Corporation,
which would be financially disastrous at the present time, when the Corporation was going to bid for full
control of the new hyperspace technology, borrowing a good proportion of the company's value to
support the purchase.

A board meeting was called and there was a lot of polite but unfair blame put on Michio. The directors
were shocked and dismayed at the danger that the company might be split up due to Michio's actions.
Genzo Ayikama was silent, letting the board express his anger, but Touma Nakatani sat next to his son
and glared defiance.

As the directors took turns, courteously but severely, to rebuke Michio, Touma whispered to his son:

"I still have the photographs of Sakura's wild parties. If I threaten to make them public, Genzo will
relent."

"I refuse, father. I will not allow anything to harm Sakura."

"Genzo has poisoned the board against you. If you don't fight back, they'll demand your resignation, or
the company will split."

"Then I'll resign."

"No, my son. The company is our family. If Genzo can't live with us, then he is the one who must go."
The whispering was noticed. The room went silent as the directors waited patiently for the private
conversation to finish.

In the silence, Touma Nakatani stood and bowed to the board.

"Gentlemen," he said, "my son has offered to resign to keep Mister Ayikama and his company in our
partnership."

The directors and Genzo looked satisfied.

"However," Touma went on, "I've persuaded him to stay in his post. I'm sorry if you're unhappy,
gentlemen, but this company is my family and I stand by my family."

After expressions of outrage from Ayikama, and a discussion too excited to be heard properly, the
meeting broke up in acrimony.

Genzo Ayikama was unhappy and said so in public. It did not take long for Nakatani shares to go into
freefall as rumours of an imminent split were spread. Fear of a split threatened to prevent the company
raising the short-term financial capital it needed to buy the hyperdrive technology outright. Even worse,
shortage of cash might threaten any role the Nakatani Corporation could play in the upcoming auction.

Without a strong bid from Nakatani to prevent rival companies getting a foothold in the business, a
Sino-Russian company could buy the technology and take over the Beltway upgrade. Chinese companies
were notorious for harvesting valuable technologies and replicating them at home, regardless of
intellectual property rights.

The problem affected Oakshott Industries, as Stephen sadly told Danielle during a videochat.

"Goldrick," he said, "I have to withdraw my 25% of the business from the auction. I hoped Nakatani
would buy the new technology outright, but now they're not bidding at all. If we lose control of the
technology, then I have a problem."

"What problem?"
"I can lose the Beltway upgrade business."

"You have a contract to upgrade the Beltway."

"True, but there are ways around a contract, especially if someone else controls the technology. I can't
afford to do without the Beltway upgrade. My company has been preparing for it for more than a year,
diverting our resources, turning away work. Without it, our order books are quite slim and the finance
people are giving me warnings."

"I understand, Stephen. Do we go ahead with the auction or call it off?"

"I think the technology is such a valuable prize that we can go ahead. It might make us look stupid if we
announce that only 50% of the new technology is available for sale, but I don't think it will put off too
many bidders. Even those who were going to bid for a controlling interest can take a position on the
technology now with the hope of increasing their stake in the future. The enterprise is already
profitable."

"Good, because a delay might put our purchase of Samothea in jeopardy."

"I'm sorry I can't let you have the proceeds from my share of the business. You know I meant to give you
the money."

"I was going to refuse it anyway."

"There's something else, Goldrick. Will you keep back 1% of your shares so we retain a controlling
interest?"

"Won't having half the business available for purchase bring in keener bidders?"

"It will, but you've seen the plunge in the Nakatani share price. Some dealers hope that Nakatani splits
up before the auction, so it may be forced to sell its shares to raise funds; in which case up to 75% of the
technology will be available. They're swarming like vultures."
"Vultures don't swarm, Stephen," Danielle said, letting her mouth run itself while her brain was thinking.
"So we put up 49% for sale: my 24% and the 25% of Rosa, Li, Herman, Jonathan and Hestia combined?"

"I think it's best. I'm sure the Nakatani Corporation will survive its present problems, so we'll keep our
combined 50% to prevent being manoeuvred out of our parts in the upgrade. That's a real earner for
both of us at the moment. If you keep back 1% of your shares, then you can have the casting vote."

"All right, Stephen. I'll do it."

******

The Nakatani Corporation held together. Threatened by a protracted, messy and expensive split that
would inflict damage on both partners, the directors agreed to outside mediation, but the damage was
done. Nakatani shares were down 30% and the corporation felt the hardest squeeze on its finances
since it was founded.

The corporation need not sell its stake in the new technology but it was safer to keep its cash and not
increase its exposure. Michio Nakatani called Danielle to apologise.

"My father and I will always be grateful to you and Stephen for not letting the technology leave our
hands," Michio said. "I promise I'll do what I can to help you buy Samothea."

"You're a good friend to the Project," Danielle replied. "You don't have to apologise whenever bad luck
comes along - though I'm sure a statistician would wonder at how much misfortune we've met."

"It seems we've been smitten by more than our fair share of bad luck, Danielle, but what you've done is
new and experimental, so there's bound to be more failure than success on the way. Besides, some of
it's my fault."

"All right, Michio. Let's see what the auction brings before you blame yourself anymore. We might find
our luck is turning at last."
******

The auction took place in the grand ballroom of a London hotel. It was fitted out with a dais for the
auctioneer, chairs for the audience and booths for the holographic images of remote bidders on Earth.
Delays over hyperspace comms links meant off-world bidders had to travel to Earth or send an agent to
the hotel.

The auction was well-attended, despite the reduced number of shares available. 49% of the shares in
the technology were to be auctioned in seven tranches of 7% each.

The bidders were identified by numbers, though Stephen told Danielle the names of the likely
candidates.

The bidders sat in rows. They held wooden paddles with their numbers, which they raised to place their
bids.

It was all very old-fashioned but fascinating to the members of the Samothea Project, who watched the
bidding in a room of the Institute's conference centre, hosted by Joan Mayfield, with Eva, Ezra, Roger
and all the women of Samothea. The auction scene was holo-projected onto the conference table. They
could see the auctioneer on her dais, gavel in hand, display boards behind giving the number of the
highest current bidder and the value of the bid.

The auctioneer was quick and repetitive as the bids came in thick and fast, at first in increments of 5,000
galactic pounds, then 10,000 pounds and on up. She acknowledged every new bidder, saying: "Welcome
bidder 3 from Hong Kong," or "Welcome bidder 7 from Dubai." There were bidders from Chicago,
London, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

Rod and Ed sat with Hazel and Wildchild. The boys had a good understanding of financial matters and
could help the girls follow some of the details, such as guessing who were the names behind the
anonymous bidders and explaining why the bids sometimes jumped up quickly, hung around on a
plateau, then ascended again, when a bidder who had sat out since the beginning joined the contest
again.
The auctioneer captured the interest of the viewers on Samothea when she said: "Welcome bidder 14
from Outworld" to the agent of a remote bidder in the third row. Once bidder 14 started, he was very
keen, taking part in the final stage of every tranche.

The women of Samothea enjoyed the spectacle and the tension. They clapped after every tranche was
sold. For them it was quite an event, though they were disposed to make anything unusual into a party.

"We should have brought food," Ash said and no one from Samothea disagreed with her.

Bidder 14 from some Outworld colony seemed very unlucky because he bid in every round but never
won a tranche of shares. Ed thought he was trying to push up the price and did not want to win. Roger
suspected that bidder 14 represented the consortium of New Exeter traders over whom Mayor Esther
Grandley exercised some personal influence. Hazel and Wildchild had no better information, but they
had a different suspect in mind.

At the end of the two-hour auction, amid the celebration in the conference room and applause at the
auction, it seemed that Danielle was right to say the Samothea Project's luck had turned. Despite the
problems of the last few weeks, the share auction was a success. 49% of the technology was sold for just
over seven million galactic pounds. Including fees, this gave Danielle 3.5 million pounds.

She was short 2.5 millions to buy the planet outright, but it was an excellent start.

The first step toward acquiring the planet Samothea would be to incorporate the Samothea Project as a
trading company. Danielle threw herself into the task to the exclusion of everything else, beginning with
the appointment of Elspeth Bereded's company, Bereded Solomon Partners, as the Project's
accountants.

3Yael's whales

A week after the auction Solanj was fully nine months pregnant. She knew it was almost her time and
announced to Ezra in a cool matter-of-fact way:

"I've done what I came here to do. I should go home."

"You can't go now. You're almost due."

"I can have my daughter at home, among my sisters."

"You have sisters here as well, plus the medical centre, in case of complications. I want to see you and
our daughter safe."

"You worry too much, Earthman. We're hardy folk, us Samotheans. At home, a woman can drop a brat
in the morning and be back at work in the afternoon."

"You talk a lot of crap, Madam Cowgirl. I want you here so you're staying here. Now do as you're told!"

"As I'm told?"

"Commanded."

"I like being commanded. What other commands do you have for me?"

"Kneel down and open your mouth."

Solanj obeyed, licking her lips, though he had to help her kneel, and kindly placed a cushion the floor for
her knees.

"Now I see the advantages of staying on Celetaris," she said, though it came out more as "Mumble,
mumble, mumble, hmm!"

******

It was mid-winter on Celetaris and Yael was out of sorts.

The vibrant girl, always enthusiastically engaged on a task of utmost importance, or dreamlike with her
head in a book, was often now to be found sitting on the couch in the window-seat of Roger and
Danielle's apartment, staring out at a cold wet world, contemplative and unusually quiet.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

It was neither the cold nor even the dull cloudy days that depressed her. Though she had not yet lived
through a proper winter, Yael had known freezing cold mornings in the White Mountains on Samothea,
where the night-rain fell as snow. But it was different on Celetaris, where it was cold all day long,
whether it was wet or dry.

A frosty morning had ice-sharp beauties for her to admire, and sometimes the sky was cloudless and
piercing blue, which was enchanting. On the first day of snow, Yael took Freya and Tahney out in their
winter coats and fur-lined boots to stamp on the frozen puddles and snap icicles from the boughs of
trees in the park.

Even better was when the cold snap froze the lake in Fanshaw Park and the park warden tested the ice,
approving it for skating. Luckily, it was still frozen at the weekend, when the carefree girls fetched Ed,
Rod, Freya and Tahney and ran in an excited babble to the stalls set up by local entrepreneurs to hire
out ice-skates.

Lights hung from the trees at one end of the lake and other stalls sold hot drinks and pastries. Logs were
rolled onto the ice, to separate the beginners from the experienced and to give less confident skaters
somewhere to rest between ambitious launches.

Expert skaters kindly lent hands or gave advice to beginners. Freya and Tahney were given plastic
penguins almost their own heights to hold onto for balance, while Hazel, Wildchild and Yael held onto
Ed and Rod, who were accomplished skaters already.

They came home thrilled and exhausted, determined to master another exciting new skill.
Unfortunately, the cold snap quickly lifted and it rained all next day. The rain set in for the rest of the
month. It was cold enough to be a nuisance but not cold enough for snow. Yael returned to her window-
seat and sighed to see the rain wash the street outside and dribble down the windowpane.

Fun as learning to skate had been, Yael was a girl for summer and sunshine. Without snow, the only
compensation she could see in cold weather was that it enhanced the beauty of her friends, heightening
the contrasting colours of Annela, who had auburn hair and pale skin, and Hazel, the blonde with a
peaches and cream complexion.

But the woman whose colour the cold did the most to augment was Wildchild. A faint blue tinge on her
pale neck, cheek and forehead made a lovely contrast with the rosy colour that exercising in the cold
brought to her high cheekbones. The damp on her wavy black hair and black eyelashes after the girls
sprinted around the park on a bright cold morning, added even more sparkle to her electric green eyes.

Wildchild's beauty made Yael want to hug and kiss her more than normal, which Wildchild indulged this
time, understanding Yael's needs perfectly.

One thing Yael disliked about winter was wearing so many clothes: a long skirt, a jumper and a hat, even
gloves. Like all the women of Samothea, she loved dressing up, having had so few clothes in her life until
now, but she preferred short skirts and thin skimpy tops. Her solution was to wear her short skirts over
thick woollen stockings but she had no alternative to heavy jumpers and puffy coats if she did not want
to freeze to death.

What Yael found most oppressive about the winter, despite its beauties, was to be inside when it was
daylight. This was why she took to the window-seat and moped. Except for the members of the Cloner
Council, the women of Samothea were used to an outdoor life, coming in only to escape the freezing
night-rain. It seemed absurd for it to be cold and wet in the daytime.

Other things also changed due to the weather. Hazel and Wildchild spent more time with their
boyfriends, who stayed over every night, keeping their girlfriends warm. Wildchild had never been so
horny. She was gradually wearing out both Rod and Hazel. But Yael missed sharing a bed with her sisters
in Danielle's flat, when they would snuggle and whisper secrets, comforting Yael while she missed Carlin
and Ryan.

It was some compensation to sleep with Annela when Ezra was occupied with Solanj and Ash or
Kalyndra, and it solved the problem because it was when they shared a bed that Annela discovered the
cause of Yael's discomfort. The girl felt she was not needed as much as before.

The job of looking after Freya and Tahney was shared between anyone who fancied entertaining the
girls, so Yael had fewer child duties.
Most of her friends were occupied now with work. Danielle spent every day and evening in her office,
discussing with Eva and Ezra their bid for the planet Samothea, or she was on videochats with the
accountants.

Roger had nearly finished his latest videobook on the Outworld Settlements, so he was confined to the
library or his study, editing. Annela enjoyed her teaching job so much she asked for extra hours. Ryan
was at the medical school in Arts City until the end of term, three weeks away.

Even Kelly was studying hard now and had no time for shopping or hanging out. Yael would be needed
again when it came time to help her revise for exams but now the girl had to get her head down and
cram her brain full of knowledge.

There should have been enough work to occupy Yael, with her normal physics lectures and her double
homework to catch up on her missing education, but neither Danielle nor Rosa had spare time for the
remedial lessons she and Wildchild shared, and Professor Jakovs postponed their advanced classes until
the end of term because he had examinations to set.

Even Ezra, Yael's lifeline for cuddles and an interested listener when everyone else failed her, was either
discussing business with Danielle and Eva, running the mining company he and Tatiana owned, or he
was commandeered for sexual duties by his horny bedmates. Tatiana herself was out prospecting and
not expected back for a while.

So Yael had hours by herself when it was too wet and cold to go out.

Annela spoke to Danielle, telling her how Yael felt. Despite having more work to do than ever, Danielle
spent an hour she could hardly spare looking up data. Next morning at breakfast, she said to Yael:

"Come to my office for a chat this afternoon."

Yael arrived early, keen for anything new. Danielle called her in.

"Tell me about the jetfoils you and the others drove on the lake at Waterfall City," she said.
"Their engines work by pulses of laser-light that boil water in narrow tubes behind a valve, expelling the
steam from a directional hose. Wildchild had the idea of using the technology on Samothea, to drive a
large boat or as a pump in the Cloner's council hall. The pump could also be used by the Farmers for
irrigation."

"I like the idea, but I think the engine will work just as well to drive a submarine."

"A submarine on Samothea?" Yael asked. "What for?"

"Do you remember a problem Andrew Claydon found with the ecology of Samothea? He said the oceans
would become sterile within a century without large deep-diving animals, like whales, to stir up the
ocean's layers above and below the thermocline."

"I remember. The whales bring up cold nutrient-rich water from the ocean-depths and bring down warm
oxygen-rich water."

"Well, the cost of importing whales to stabilize the ecosystem is so large it wouldn't be possible even
after the establishment of a million settlers and a functioning modern technological society."

"Because they need specialised transports and they're very heavy," Yael added.

"Exactly. But we can send lightweight parts to Samothea to assemble a submersible to do part of the
ecological job that whales do. It will be powered by sunlight that will charge its batteries. The submarine
will be lighter than water. The laser-powered engine will drive it deep under the ocean. When the
batteries run down, it will float back up to the surface, where the photovoltaic cells will begin to
recharge. When it's fully re-charged, the engine can drive the submersible into the depths again. What
do you think? Do you want to make a computer model of a submarine?"

"I'd like to. But what about the x-rays?"

"That's why a submersible is so appropriate. The best shielding materials are the osmium alloy or thick
concrete. Water's not quite as good but it's effective."
Yael told the computer to show figures and do a quick calculation.

"A metre of water is enough to stop the x-rays," she concluded. "But what happens when the submarine
comes to the surface to recharge in the sunlight?"

"The parts of the submarine we need to shield, such as the batteries and the mechanism to turn the
engine on or off, can be on the bottom of the craft. We know some kinds of solar collectors work on
Samothea because Ezra's laser pen works and it's solar powered."

"The top surface can have solar panels," Yael said, already designing the submersibles in her head,
adding: "It'll need a mechanism to keep the robot whale on the surface until its batteries have fully
recharged. And it can go up and down across the thermocline many times before the batteries run out."

"It can be triggered by water pressure. Also, it'll need to be cheap to make and easy to transport in parts
and assemble on Samothea. Eventually we want thousands of them."

"What about salt water?"

"You mean that boiling sea-water leaves a salt residue? The tubes can have non-stick surfaces and be
washed through each cycle."

Yael began her new project (Hazel called them "Yael's whales") with her usual eagerness, researching
submarines, bathyspheres and other submersibles, learning about the tensile strength of plastisteel and
the mechanics of instruments to measure depth and water pressure.

It was an intellectual adventure that soon produced results: a computer model that could be tested in a
virtual world.

******

Solanj knew the moment she was ready to pop. She had contractions all day.
They were at the dinner table in Danielle and Roger's apartment with all Ezra's bedmates. While Yael
compelled everyone's attention with the story of her robot whales, Solanj stood up and announced:

"It's time."

Ezra was on alert. He gave his communicator an order and ran to fetch the hospital bag he and Ash had
packed. Two minutes later, as the lift opened on the ground floor and as many women who could fit
inside it helped Solanj to the entrance, they heard the whoosh and roar of a jetcar's engines as it landed
outside.

"We could have taken the hoverbus, you know," Solanj said.

"I know," he said, helping her in. "And back home, you'd have walked or ridden a horse to your hut."

The seat extended sideways from the vehicle. Ezra sat her in it and it smoothly slid back in. He took the
other front seat while Ash and Wildchild climbed in the back. The jetcar took off and the others made
their way to the medical centre on foot.

At the hospital, Solanj refused a bed and an anaesthetic. Instead she squatted, supported by Ezra and
Wildchild, while Ash mopped her brow and spoke encouragement. The nurses brought towels, hot
water and bedpans. They dressed the bed anyway and paged a doctor.

There were no complications. Within two hours, Solanj bore a scrunched-up, wrinkled, beautiful six-
pound girl, whom Ash caught in thick towels and presented to Solanj, calming the crying baby by putting
her to her mother's tit. A few minutes later, after some more pushing, the job was done and Solanj now
agreed to use the bed to rest. She sat up, suckling her daughter. As the girl sucked, Ash lay next to
Solanj, with Ezra standing on the other side. Wildchild helped the nurses clean up.

Solanj was exhausted but fulfilled, high on endorphins but ready to sleep. Wildchild congratulated her
with a kiss on the lips. She left the three bedmates together and reported to her friends who were
waiting outside.
Next morning, Tahney was introduced to her sister and was so happy she danced. She shared her joy
with Freya, who came with Annela and Kalyndra. Eventually everyone came to visit, crowding the room
and bothering the nurses.

In the late afternoon, Solanj went home with Ezra and Ash to his reorganized flat. She promised not to
leave her chair or her bed. In the evening, they set up a comms link in her room to the Council Chamber
on Samothea, so that Madam Gloria and her Advisory Council could greet the newest daughter of
Samothea.

"Congratulations, Madam Deputy Prefect," Gloria said. "That's good work. She's beautiful."

"Thank you, Madam, she sucks well."

"I expected as much. What are you calling her?"

"Ciashara."

"It's a lovely name. Fitting for another one of our blessed daughters. Ezra, are you there?"

"Yes, Gloria." He appeared from the corner of the room.

"You're to be congratulated as well, you lucky man."

"Thank you, Madam."

"There are others here to congratulate you both."

Gloria stood back while the Advisory Council lined up to give their best wishes in turn, ending with their
newest member, Yumi, now Madam Scientist, who expressed shy but sincere admiration. She may even
have cooed.
4The Samothea Company

The Samothea Project began as the informal name Danielle gave to the team who helped her develop
the hyperdrive technology. Then it became the formal name of the enterprise based at the Celetaris
Institute for Science, which managed contact with the planet and agitated for the interests of its
inhabitants.

Now it was time to launch 'The Samothea Company': a business designed to raise enough money to buy
the planet from Outworld Ventures, to set up trade deals for the colony, develop its natural resources
and support its native population.

Incorporating the company was simple. Danielle, Eva and Ezra were co-directors (unpaid). Paul Kessler
was lawyer (also unpaid). Bereded Solomon Partners were the accountants and there were many
advisors. The company needed a business manager, for which Danielle had an idea.

Outworld Ventures informally asked for six million galactic pounds, so the current shortfall was 2.5
million. The Company's only capital was Danielle's 3.5 million in cash, the shuttlecraft, and an income
from the tethered hyperspace links from Celetaris to New Exeter and Samothea.

The first task was to attract angel investors: moneyed people of good will who believed in the women of
Samothea and did not mind investing in an enterprise that had little chance of delivering a return. There
would be no profit for investors because selling stakes on the planet to settlers would be the only source
of income for a generation or more, but the reason to buy the planet was to prevent disruptive
colonisation.

Eva asked Elspeth Bereded if the Women's Business Initiative would buy shares in the Samothea
Company. Elspeth responded quickly. She had no support to use the Initiative's own money but she
agreed to exert her organisation's influence over Outworld Ventures to keep the price down. She
committed her own firm to investing 50,000 in the company.

Ezra spoke to Edgar Fanshaw, who wanted to help, if only to oblige his young friends from Samothea
who had brightened his twilight years, making him a friend when his family were away for long periods,
too busy with work and life to visit him. However, although Edgar was rich, most of his wealth was tied
up in his family's mining and transportation business. Having retired, he had little influence over the
board of directors and could not persuade his children or grandchildren, who now ran the firm, to invest
in a project that promised no profit. Reluctantly, he told Ezra he would use his own spare money to
support the Samothea Company but there were no large sums available.
The mining venture that Ezra and Tatiana set up to exploit the molten moons around the white dwarf
star was doing well, but they were highly leveraged ("up to the eyeballs," Ezra said). When the business
expanded, there would be money available, but there was nothing to spare at the moment and no
collateral for new loans of any real size.

Ezra pledged all his personal wealth, which Danielle refused, knowing he wanted to pay for rejuvenation
therapies for the women of Samothea, though his fortune would barely cover the costs for his thirty
bedmates.

Rosa and Herman had something to say to Danielle. They arrived in her office, prepared for an
argument.

"We have 700,000 galactic pounds between us from the sale of the technology," Rosa said. "That's
enough for ten lifetimes. We don't need that much money, so we're investing half in the company."

"I won't let you."

"It's our money," Herman said.

"And we'll have a say over the future of Samothea, which is our concern as much as yours," Rosa said.
"We also want to see the women of Samothea flourish."

"Also," Herman added, "we're going to sponsor Ph.D. students at the institute, the way Stephen
Oakshott sponsored our Ph.D.s."

"You've both thought this through?"

"Yes," Rosa said firmly.

"Then, thanks. We need the money. I just pray there'll be a return on your investment."
******

Roger called Mayor Esther Grandley to discuss his suspicion that she got the consortium of New Exeter
businessmen to push up the price at the auction for the other bidders.

"Not me, Roger, my lad," she said. "I wish it were, but I don't have that kind of influence over the
consortium."

"I thought they admired you and took your advice."

"Ha! You know businessmen. If they're not getting handouts from the government, they're only
interested in short-term profits and playing safe."

"I know you're exaggerating, Esther. Thanks to you, New Exeter has a strictly free market constitution
with full separation of state and economy. You can't give handouts to any business. That's also why New
Exeter has the fastest growing economy in the galaxy."

"Well, that and our low starting-point. Yes, I admit the consortium has irritated me on this matter.
Danielle's technology has been good for us and I'm convinced that taking a position on it would pay
dividends; but they wouldn't even bid. They just sat there and nodded when I outlined the advantages."

Roger smiled at the image.

"You make it sound as if they're naughty children and you're their teacher."

"Aren't they? Aren't I?"

"They would certainly benefit from listening to you."

"Flatterer! All right, let's see what influence I have over them when it comes to investing in the
Samothea Company. In fact, I might approach the organisation of small businesses. They're the real
innovators and risk-takers, the true entrepreneurs. Big businesses just want to own infrastructure and
charge rents. Small businesses are profit-seekers."

"Forgive a stupid question, Esther, but if that's true, why didn't you meet with small business
representatives before?"

"Many reasons, some of them good. Small businesses tend to be wary of politicians, assuming they're
only interested in getting elected or in favouring big businesses with corporate welfare. That's how
Alexander Marazon operated, farming out government contracts to his friends."

"In my country on Earth, we called it 'socialism for Wall Street'."

"Quite so. Another reason is that small businessmen are so busy they don't have time for politics. Also,
there are so many of them, they rarely reach a consensus, while the five or six biggest businesses usually
see eye-to-eye on political matters. Mostly, I think it's because growing companies are often in debt, so
they have no spare cash to invest in something outside their immediate concerns. However, I'll give it a
try. They can only say 'No'."

"Good luck, Madam."

Esther had a friendly meeting but no luck. The businessmen, large and small, were grateful for her
policies that kept the government off their backs, but they could not foresee the financial benefits of
owning part of a planet so remote and with raw materials so difficult to exploit. Nor was there a big
population to which they could sell large quantities of produce. The Samothea Company was not a good
investment for them.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

******

Despite his objection to 'barbarian Outworld colonies', Stephen Oakshott put as much of his own
fortune as he could spare into the Samothea Company. His main aim was to support Danielle.

Michio Nakatani also invested in the company. Unable to buy the hyperdrive technology for an
outrageous amount, as he intended, Michio caused consternation to the board of directors by
purchasing half-a-million pounds of shares in the Samothea Company. He also put up a quarter-million
of his own money.

There was no business case for the investment, but Michio had his father's support. With the effect of
the recent debacle still being felt by the corporation, the board could not currently risk showing disunity
by challenging the father and son.

When Touma Nakatani backed Michio's investment, knowing his son wanted to help the colony for
Yumi's sake, it was the final act of reconciliation between father and son: the moment when Michio
could completely forgive his father.

Even with the committed monies, the Samothea Company had only 4.5 million galactic pounds, a long
way short of their target.

Wildchild and Hazel knew how to fill the gap. They talked to Victor Bogdanov, suggesting he should buy
into the new venture. After all, he took an interest in Samothea and his Chinese bedmates, Jia-Li and
Hui-Yin, said he had too much money.

"My earnest young friends," Viktor replied, "what excellent advice. How much should I invest?"

"Every penny you have," said Wildchild.

"Dear Sam, I'm looking to make a profit."

"You will, in the long term."

"From what products, what raw materials, what natural resources of Samothea?"

"150 natural resources."

"You mean the women of Samothea? I agree that people are the ultimate resource but only when they
have salable skills. What skills do the women of Samothea have?"
"We're expert survivors. We're kind, hard-working and patient. And although we're women, we get on
pretty well without quarrelling. Those are skills."

"They are skills indeed, good ones, and valuable on Samothea itself, but they're not what you might call
'exportable'."

"We know you drove up the price of Danielle's hyperdrive technology," Hazel said. "You were the
anonymous Outworld bidder. But you didn't want to own the technology. You just wanted to help us. So
now you can help us some more."

"You make a convincing case, Hazel, but what if my purpose wasn't to help the Samothea Project make
money but to cause someone else to lose money?"

"How did you make anyone lose money?"

"Well, a few people overpaid for the hyperspace technology. They might have bought it for less if others
had not bid so much for it."

"Is that true, Viktor?" Wildchild asked. "Won't the owner of the technology make profits even if they
overpaid? They'll just get smaller profits."

"Yes, indeed, but remember that real cost is opportunity cost, as I'm sure your lucky boyfriends have
explained."

Ed and Rod had indeed explained basic economics to them, one principle of which is that the real cost of
a good is not the price of the good but the goods that the consumer might otherwise have bought with
the same money and must now do without.

"You mean that, thanks to your interventions, the bidders who paid more than they needed cannot now
afford other things, and the others things they could have bought would have interfered with your
plans," Hazel said.
"Exactly so."

"What other things?" Wildchild asked.

"Rival technologies, hyperspace infrastructure, tethered hyperspace links ... maybe a planet."

The girls silently looked at each other.

"What is it my friends?"

"We can't tell if you're teasing us or confessing."

"Confessing to what, Sam?"

"That you want to support the Samothea Company, to help Danielle buy our home planet."

"But there's no profit in it for me."

"Not everything's about profit, Viktor."

"Oh, Hazel, you sweet naive child. Only you could make me believe in human goodness."

"Now you're definitely teasing us," Wildchild said. "There is nothing evil in profit. We know you're
pretending to be cynical, Viktor, but you're really begging for a reason to invest in the Samothea
Company."

"But what reason could there be for me to invest?"

"The risk of missing out because someone else can see a gap in the market before you do."
"Go on, Sam, explain yourself."

"What I mean is, if real cost is opportunity cost, or the set of all things I might have bought instead of
the goods I did buy; then isn't real profit 'opportunity profit', or the set of all profits you might have
made if you had invested differently? And isn't opportunity profit greater than actual profit?"

"Bravo Sam!" Viktor said, laughing. "You're a born salesman. What you said makes no sense at all but it's
completely convincing."

The girls laughed along with him.

"Does that mean you'll invest in Samothea?" Hazel asked.

"You girls are irresistible. You've persuaded me. I'll risk my future prosperity, and that of Hui-Yin and Jia-
Li as well, on a bold throw of the dice. I will invest half-a-million galactic pounds in your white elephant.
Do you know how many roubles that would be (if anyone besides the Russian government still used the
things)?"

"57.8 trillion," Wildchild, the maths genius, said instantly.

When the girls reported their success to Danielle, she sounded sceptical, even more so when she heard
the details of the peculiar conversation.

"He must have been teasing us," Wildchild said. "He just wanted us to persuade him."

"He would never have committed a penny if it had not been his purpose all along," Hazel agreed.
"Besides, Hui-Yin and Jia-Li wouldn't let him squander their wealth."

"So either Viktor's playing a deep game or there's something he knows about Samothea that no one else
does," Danielle concluded. "I wonder what it is?"
******

The last person to commit money to the Samothea Company was Hestia Smith on Capella Space Station.
She earned 350,000 galactic pounds from her stake in the hyperdrive technology. Now she wanted to
invest it all in a share of the planet Samothea.

Seeing her friend's name on an application for shares in the Samothea Company, Danielle contacted her
urgently.

"Hestia, what are you doing?" Danielle protested. "Please don't risk your money on something that most
likely will never return you a penny."

"I trust your genius," Hestia said. "Investing in your projects hasn't let me down yet."

"Samothea isn't an investment, Hestia. It's a hobby, an indulgence, or maybe a crusade. It's not designed
to make any money. I'm buying the planet to give it to the women of Samothea. I'm sure I won't get a
penny back."

"I understand that, Danielle, but there's nothing else I want the money for."

"There must be. You own half The Goat and Compass pub? Now you could buy a string of pubs, and a
bunch of hotels besides."

"I agree the pub was a good investment but I was really investing in my own place of work. Now I'm
thinking about a change of career."

Danielle looked quizzically at the gorgeous Entertainer. She knew that Hestia was brighter than she
pretended to be, but Danielle had once had to explain some simple financial matters to her, who
seemed not to grasp mathematics very clearly. There must be something else driving Hestia's action,
beside an absurd faith in Danielle's brilliance.

Hestia read Danielle's mind perfectly. She said:

"You remember I once said I had the dream of living on a woman-only planet? I know I spoke facetiously
and it's really just a fantasy - every woman's fantasy at some stage of her life, I think - but I want to keep
the possibility alive. Maybe I can't use my stake in Samothea to steer the policy that way, but at least I'll
have a voice in the discussions."

"Hestia, you're nuts. But you have a wealth of experience. I can't see that your voice in the company will
be a bad thing. I'll do everything I can to make sure you don't lose out by helping me pursue my dream."

"I know that, Sweetie. We'll help each other."

"Though I'll have to tell you, I don't like the idea of a woman-only planet."

"Now you tell me!"

******

With money promised, the idea of buying a planet suddenly became very real. As co-directors, Danielle,
Eva and Ezra set about properly structuring the company. At their first meeting, Danielle had a proposal:

"We need a business manager," she said, "and I know the best man to ask."

Eva opened her mouth to speak but Danielle cut her off.

"No, Eva, it doesn't have to be a man. It just is."

Eva smiled. "Who is it?"

"Andrew Claydon."

"Andrew? Who works for Outworld Ventures? Whose job it is to organise the settlement on Samothea
of a million colonists?"
"Yes, that Andrew," Danielle said.

"All right, Sis," Ezra said. "Tell us why you think Andrew will be good for us and how you propose to
poach him from Outworld Ventures."

"He's been to Samothea, where Gloria and the others liked him. He took their side as much as he could,
proposing a National Park where the women could live somewhat protected from the effects of mass
immigration ..."

"But Outworld Ventures rejected his idea," Eva interrupted.

"Yes, which may incline him even more to our side."

"Enough to leave Outworld Ventures and join us?" Ezra asked. "Have you spoken to him?"

"I haven't spoken to him yet but my theory is that, when we buy Samothea, Andrew's current role with
Outworld Ventures will be redundant, so they may release him. My other reason to ask Andrew to join
us is that I want to propose the National Park to our shareholders. He'll be the right man to implement
the plan."

Danielle won their approval even without invoking her 50% share in the Samothea Company. They
arranged the first full company meeting, sending out invitations to every shareholder and all interested
parties.

5Student House

With the days on Celetaris at their shortest, Annela no longer walked Freya and Tahney to Fanshaw Park
after school to play with Charlie-dog because Edgar Fanshaw got a reprieve from his bossy nurses. Most
of the year, they made him take the energetic mutt to the park both morning and afternoon. Now he
escaped his afternoon walk. He sometimes escaped the morning walk as well, when it was very wet and
cold.
Instead, Edgar invited Annela and the girls for tea after school every day. The adults would sit by the fire
and chat, while Freya and Tahney had hysterics chasing Charlie around the garden or up and down the
conservatory, to the amusement of Edgar and the annoyance of his housekeeper and gardener.

Most days, Annela walked the girls to Edgar's elegant home along a leafy lane lined with comfortable
weatherboarded houses. The houses were variations on a theme: different sizes and colours but mostly
square with verandas, grassy yards and white picket fences. Some were two storeys high, others three
storeys with attic rooms.

The last house on the corner before the road turned along the edge of Fanshaw Park had a large sign
outside with the words 'For Sale/To Let' prominent in glowing white letters. It was on three floors. The
top floor was a room in the attic, whose dormer windows opened to a balcony that ran around all four
sides of the square roof, giving views of all the compass points.

To the north were the arable acres of the Fanshaw Estate's home farm, with its farmhouse, barns and
grain silos. To the west were the playing fields of Fanshaw Park, with the lake hidden in the woods
beyond.

To the south was the Science Park with its faculty towers. The central ocean was visible as a mist
hanging over its surface. To the east in the foreground was a rooftop view of the avenues and green
parks of the suburbs. In the background were the skyscrapers of the central business district: a ghostly
city floating on the horizon.

Southwest, within the Science Park, were the apartment buildings where Danielle and Roger lived and
where Annela and Ezra shared a rented flat with Solanj, Ash and Kalyndra. Northwest, behind a high yew
hedge, was the handsome red brick Georgian mansion of Edgar Fanshaw, with its sash windows, English
lawn and glass conservatory, full of over-wintering begonias, gardenia, fuchsia and other tender plants
at risk from the boisterous girls and the careless mutt.

When Annela took the girls home, she had a question for Ezra.

"I saw a house near the school," she said. "It was for sale or to let. That means we could pay to live in it,
doesn't it, like your apartment?"

"It does."
"How much is the rent on the house?"

"I can look it up. Why do you ask?"

"As a house for Hazel, Wildchild and Yael."

"Don't they like staying with Danielle?"

"They do, and Danielle wants them there; but things are pretty cramped. If the girls had a house to
themselves, they could each have their own rooms. Then they could have all their belongings in one
place. And they could have their bedmates to stay whenever they liked. In fact, the boys could live in the
house as well."

Ezra found the house on the Commerce Web.

"It sounds ideal," he said. "There are seven bedrooms including a big room in the roof, and lots of space.
Its rent is good value. Only ten galactic pounds a month."

"We can call it 'Student House'," Annela said.

"We need to work on the name."

The girls loved the idea of Student House. Whether or not they would spend any time there, rather than
flit between the various locuses of their vagabond existence, was another question, but they were keen.
Next term, they could also get more students to share. They had friends at the institute whom they
would ask.

Ezra set the rent so low that Hazel and Wildchild could afford it out of their monthly stipend from Viktor
Bogdanov.
Yael earned some pocket money from occasional modelling jobs for the photographer in the shopping
mall. For whatever reason, good or bad, the women of Samothea were in the news again. Yael was
convinced she could pay her rent if she got some more modelling jobs.

Ezra had a better idea.

"Yael, will you be the housekeeper if I let you live there rent-free?"

"What will the housekeeper do?"

"Make sure the house is kept clean and tidy and that all faults are reported to me, so I can get them
repaired."

"Is that all? I'll be like a Junior, doing chores?"

"A lot like that, if you want."

"I want."

In fact, there would be little for her to do. The girls from Samothea loved doing chores and if they made
a mess, they always cleared it up. They were practical and careful, so there would be few breakages or
repairs. But it gave Yael some responsibility and allowed Ezra (who loved the girl like a daughter) to
indulge her with free lodging without spoiling her.

"I think I'll take the attic room for myself," Yael announced. "Also, I think I should be called Madam
Housekeeper; and you two," she said to Hazel and Wildchild, "ought to curtsey to me."

"Bugger that!" said Wildchild while Hazel smiled and patted Yael sympathetically on her perky little
bottom.

******
The house came furnished with carpets, a fully supplied kitchen, chairs, tables, cutlery, crockery and
even some paintings on the walls. There were a few things the girls needed to move in: some
bedclothes, bathroom supplies, towels and a robot vacuum cleaner. With help from Joan, Peter and
Kelly Mayfield, Ed, Rod, Annela, Ezra and all their friends from home, they moved into student house in
a weekend.

Yael said a tearful goodbye to Danielle and Roger, as if she were leaving forever and would not be only
15 minutes away. But it was the start of a new adventure.

Although they refused to curtsey to her, Hazel and Wildchild happily let Yael have the bedroom in the
attic with the 360° view from the square balcony. The girls themselves had adjoining bedrooms on the
first floor, but they shared a bedroom when their boyfriends were not visiting.

Ed and Rod would not move in with their girlfriends to start with. They were paid up for the year on
their rooms and, with important final year exams looming, would benefit from not having such strong
sexual distractions.

Kelly was such a frequent visitor that she was given a wardrobe to herself but she shared Yael's room
when she stayed overnight.

Danielle was sorry to see the girls go. Much as she loved having them around, she thought Roger
preferred the peace and quiet. For once, she misread her husband.

Roger was such a naturally patient man, dominant only in the bedroom, that Danielle had to watch
herself from taking him for granted. She rarely failed to appreciate him, and she loved when he asserted
himself and took back control.

In this case, Danielle misinterpreted a remark Roger once made, that the girls were fun, helpful and
friendly, but they took up a lot of room and caused a queue for the spare bathroom. She thought Roger
meant he wanted his space back.

Then there was the nudity.

It started nearly six months ago, on the morning after the girls arrived. Roger came out of the bedroom
to see them exercising in the living room, naked like the ancient gymnasts. Wildchild was doing vertical
sit-ups with her legs hooked over the back of a chair, pulling herself up from an upside-down position.
Hazel and Yael were on the floor, facing each other with legs spread wide apart, feet opposed, taking
turns to pull each other and stretch their backs.

Roger went straight back to his bedroom. A minute later Danielle came out in her bathrobe, her hair in a
towel, a toothbrush in her mouth. She took in the scene at once. Later that day, gifts arrived for the girls
of shorts and sports bras, just to spare Roger's blushes.

The problem was that the girls did not much like tight-fitting underwear and regularly forgot to wear
them. Unlike Ezra, Roger never got used to their nudity, yet he loved having the girls around, despite the
inconvenience.

It was only after the girls left that Danielle realised her mistake. To rectify the problem of a sadly silent
and uncluttered apartment, Danielle made them promise to come to all the communal meals, insisting
they leave a change of clothes and a toothbrush in her apartment, in case they wanted to stay over
when a dinner went on too long. So insistent was Danielle that the kitchen in Student House barely saw
any activity. So Danielle and Roger enjoyed the company of the girls almost as much as when they lived
together.

There was compensation as well. Now they could make love anywhere in their flat, whenever they
wanted to, even on the thick shaggy rug in the living room (which needed washing every time Danielle
squirted on it), or on the couch in front of the picture window with the glorious view of the Science Park
and the faculty towers.

******

With his divorce from Sakura officially announced, Michio Nakatani thought it was the right time to visit
Samothea, to see Yumi and meet his son, Hayate, at last.

Feeling the strain of separation from her family and friends, Yumi encouraged him to come. She thought
more and more about her old love, encouraged by Ezra's sensible advice that, if Michio had changed,
then it should be easy for her to forgive him and be a family. Her brother, Itsuki, told her how Michio
had matured, standing up to his father and the board of directors. His honourable treatment of Sakura
was exactly the kind of strength she could admire. The boy whom Yumi had loved but who let her down
had become a man whom she could love again.
The Samothea Company had only one shuttlecraft flying missions between Celetaris and Samothea.
Despite millions in the bank, it could not afford another one.

Michio booked three seats and took a Nakatani company transport to Celetaris with a hold full of hand-
tools and construction materials for Yumi. He had two passengers: his friend, Itsuki, and Yumi's baby
sister, Shinju, the little pearl. Not a baby anymore but a university student, Shinju was on her first
adventure away from Earth. She was 13 when Yumi left Earth six years ago. Now Shinju was just 19 and
going to see her big sister again. It was a thrill as great as leaving Earth to visit Celetaris and Samothea.

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

Itsuki was beyond excited himself, overjoyed to meet Danielle and Roger again. He knew the rest of the
team by face and name already and had the pleasure of introducing his little sister.

Michio was more restrained until Danielle's hug put him at his ease. He and Danielle had never met
before but they were already good friends, having spent hundreds of hours talking business over the
hyperspace comms link.

Even so, Michio hesitated again when he met Ezra. Both men paused a moment. They offered their
hands at the same time and shook with a strong grip and a genuine smile.

Danielle viewed the interaction of the two men and correctly interpreted the emotional undercurrents.
The two men shared Yumi - not in the sense of ownership but in the sense of loving her and wanting the
best for her. The question for Ezra was whether Michio was good enough for Yumi. The question for
Michio was how to treat the man whom Yumi had seduced and then come to love after Michio had
abandoned her on Capella.

An inveterate admirer of masculinity, Danielle was pleased to see how the men quickly judged each
other and silently showed their approval, dispelling any fear of jealousy or recrimination.

Annela stood next to Danielle. She also understood the scene.

"I know what you're thinking," Annela said.

"You always do," Danielle agreed.

"You're thinking that the men have solved a problem with a handshake and a smile that it would have
taken two women hours of talking to solve."

"Yes. I admire the manly way of doing things, but, on the whole, I prefer our womanly ways."

"So do I. We might not settle things so quickly but we are certainly more thorough."

******

Tatiana returned from her prospecting trip. After meeting the new visitors from Samothea, and
reporting the progress of their mining venture to Ezra, she found the girls doing their morning exercises
on a frozen day in the park.

"Welcome me!" she said.

Yael ran to hug her, enthusing: "Tatiana! I'm glad you're back!"

Hazel and Wildchild were less demonstrative, affecting the studied nonchalance of seasoned
prospectors. They kissed her on the lips in the Woodlander style.

"Ay, pretty girls," she said addressing them in turn: "Golden angel, English rose, and you, Sam, you
Cossack girl. I get you fur hat. You look like Rooshian woman. We go to breakfast, da? I have question for
crew."

The question Tatiana had for Hazel and Wildchild was whether they wanted to go prospecting during
their winter holiday in a few weeks' time. Needless to say, they jumped at the chance. All nonchalance
forgotten, they hugged Tatiana.

Yael's automatic complaint at being left out was only half-hearted. Ryan was due back from Ocean City
Medical School later that month and he would be hornier than ever, which suited her perfectly.
"Is paying job," Tatiana explained at breakfast. "Viktor negodyay, wants us go to asteroid belt around
star and prospect minerals. Also take scientific readings."

"What kind of readings?" Wildchild asked.

"I do not know, but he gave instruments. Three cases."

This was intriguing and it was hard for the girls to contain their excitement for the next few weeks until
the university semester finished and Tatiana was ready to leave.

******

The shuttlecraft, CSS Petticoat II, landed near the Cloner City on Samothea. Yumi was there with Hayate
to greet the passengers. She was laughing and crying to see her brother and sister again, giving them
huge hugs and showing off Hayate to them.

Michio came out a minute later, hesitant and subdued, but there was no hesitation or restraint by Yumi.
She ran up to him and held him tightly.

Hayate was as excited as he had been in his life. He danced with joy at meeting his uncle and aunt. He
danced again when his mother called him over to meet Michio.

"Hayate," Yumi said, as Michio knelt down with his arms open. "This is your dad."

Now Michio was overwhelmed. His cheeks were wet as he lifted up his son to carry him around, holding
him tightly and kissing him whenever the urge took him. If anything reconciled Yumi to her decision it
was the sight of Michio and Hayate, the joy and love on their faces. When she had kissed her sister and
brother enough, she took Michio's hand and led him to the Council Chamber.

As Madam Scientist, she was expected to introduce her family at a celebratory meal and not to flinch or
roll her eyes when the women of Samothea asked intrusive questions or made embarrassing remarks.
During the feast, Yumi had a moment to talk alone to her little sister.

"Shinju, I'm sorry I missed watching you grow up. You were a gawky teenager when I left."

"I'm still a gawky teenager."

"You're a beautiful young woman. Do you forgive me for leaving you behind?"

"I forgave you ages ago, though I didn't understand then. I do now. Michio explained it to me. It was his
fault."

"It wasn't completely his fault. I had a romantic notion of running away to escape his family's pressure,
without realising how powerful his family could be. If I hadn't made him try to leave, his father wouldn't
have forced him to marry Sakura."

"But if you hadn't left, maybe Michio would never have stood up to his father."

"Maybe not."

"And it's all right now, isn't? You'll be happy together now, forever."

"I think we ... I think we should rescue our brother. It looks like the Cloner women have their claws in
him. Come on."

After the feast, the women demanded that Michio and Itsuki dance with them. There was a lot of
pushing and shoving to monopolise the men, besides the inevitably embarrassing questions about their
personal lives and their attitudes toward staying on Samothea to impregnate all the women of the
Cloner, Farmer and Miner Tribes.

Itsuki looked a little unnerved by the hungry looks of the women crowding him. Yumi went to claim him
for herself. However reluctantly, a request from Madam Scientist would be respected.
Yumi left Michio to fend for himself, though she glanced over at him occasionally. He seemed happy,
being a gentleman, dancing with all the women in turn, taking an interest in what his partners said,
playing his part in the conversation.

Yumi smiled at the happy looks of the women he was charming and made up her mind.

******

Most students and staff at the Celetaris Institute for Science had a month-long break for the winter.
Kelly Mayfield's school was shut and her brother, Ryan, came home from the Ocean City Medical School
to help relieve the amazing frustration that Yael had built up in the last few months (not to mention his
own frustration).

It was time to enjoy the season of snow and ice, with long evenings in front of an open fire, cuddling
under blankets.

Yael wanted to go back to Samothea with Ryan, to see her two mothers and be with their mutual
bedmate, Carlin, and her tribe, but Michio had snapped up the last three seats on the shuttlecraft.
Although Yael took her disappointment well (three days locked in her bedroom with Ryan helped),
Danielle had a task for the girl, to occupy her during the winter holiday.

"You made a computer model of a robot whale," Danielle said. "Now I want you to make a working
prototype. Some of my students are staying on Celetaris for the winter. I'll get them to collaborate with
you. It can be an engineering project."

Yael was keen to start. She wanted to do everything immediately: meet her collaborators; buy the
components (an engine, solar collectors, mechanical depth gauges and timers); and print up the parts of
the casing on the holoprinter using plastisteel resin. Smiling, Danielle treated Yael like a self-powered
toy: she pointed her in the right direction and let her go.

Now whenever Yael was not having sex with Ryan, she was absorbed in her robot whale project, getting
on well with the two senior students, whose experience and knowledge moderated the enthusiastic
girl's desire to do everything at once.
******

Hazel and Wildchild prepared for their prospecting trip with Tatiana by having as much sex with Ed and
Rod that they could in the weeks before they left, culminating in a weekend spent in bed in Student
House, giving their boyfriends the kind of lusty goodbyes they hoped would last them a month.

The girls were alone in the house because Joan Mayfield invited Yael to stay with them over the holiday.
This meant Hazel could be even noisier than usual, especially one time when Ed fucked her up against
the wall that joined the two bedrooms. She lent face-forward against the wall, her hands flat, her back
arched steeply to push out her bottom, legs apart. Ed rutted her with long hard strokes as she wailed.
She cried with a new high note when he reached between her legs and rubbed her clitoris, pushing her
over the edge again.

On the other side of the wall, despite its insulation, they clearly heard Hazel's screaming joy. Wildchild
was just as happy, though not as noisy. She lay on her back, her legs spread, her back arched. Rod's
mouth was on her pussy, as it had been for the last hour, bringing her to one stunning crisis after
another.

With the boys sexually satisfied, the girls met Tatiana for the next excitement of their young lives.

They took a shuttle to the spaceship 'Sunrise' at the engineering station in a 3,000-mile orbit of
Celetaris, where its hydrogen fuel cells and batteries were charged. They brought food, water and full
oxygen tanks for the life-support system.

When the girls saw Viktor's instrument cases, which were small black boxes, two feet square and six
inches deep, with glass apertures and shallow receiving dishes, Hazel said:

"What do you think, Sam? Some kind of radiation detector."

"Yes, which makes the destination very interesting. Tatiana, did Viktor say how to use the instruments?"

"We take them to asteroids, turn them on, leave them outside an hour, bring them back in. Do again
every day. Nothing else. The villain was very secret."
It was a five-day journey to the asteroid belt using a standard hyperdrive: plenty of time to speculate on
what information Viktor was collecting and why.

They emerged from hyperspace about a light-year from their target, a young hot blue star, which they
approached by microjumps. The asteroid belt orbited the star at about 200 million miles and was 20
million miles thick.

It was a bit of a mystery. It was a very thick asteroid belt with more than enough mass to make a planet,
but they could not tell if the belt was the remnants of the original dust cloud from which the star formed
(matter which, for some reason, never coalesced into a planet or moons), or whether a planet had once
existed but was smashed to smithereens by a violent impact. There were no other planets or asteroids:
just a large cloud of dust and comets further out.

Some of the asteroids had crazy shapes with wild jagged edges, as if they had been smashed when they
were molten and quickly frozen; but most were smooth pebbles, which indicated a slow and gradual
formation under gravitation. It was something to puzzle about as they investigated the belt and took the
radiation readings that Viktor wanted.

Sunrise had radiation detectors of its own. They showed that the star was very active, giving strong
readings across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, especially strong in the ultraviolet region and x-
rays, which they had to be careful about, limiting their outside exposure in spacesuits.

******

Yael's engineering partners were two long-haired lads from smaller Outworld settlements who could not
afford to return home for the short winter break, so they normally took on some seasonal work. This
holiday the Institute employed them on the project.

By the time the engine they ordered was delivered, they had holoprinted the first prototype whale,
which was shaped like a football six feet in diameter. Its shell had 32 panels, 12 pentagons and 20
hexagons, making an approximate sphere. The panels had thick edges that projected out from the
sphere, making dips in the surface. The edges were glued together with a sticky kind of sealant. The dips
would catch the water to drag it along with the robot whale as it sank and rose.
There were solar panels on the top half of the sphere. The engine sat in the middle of the sphere, its
outlet tube at top dead centre, the inlet in the opposite position on the bottom. The instruments to turn
the engine on or off depending on its depth were tested as well as they could be in the laboratory. Now
it was time to launch the prototype into the Central Ocean to see how it performed.

The oceanographic department of the Institute owned a survey boat with a hoist and a flat platform.
Yael, Ryan and her partners wrapped up warmly and took the boat onto the ocean on an icy-cold day.

They released the whale and it sank until only the top six panels were above the surface. The engineers
checked the readings: they did not expect the solar panels to charge the batteries on such a dull cloudy
day, but there was a tiny trickle of juice from the panels.

It was time to turn on the motor.

A big spurt of water was pumped out of the outlet tube and the whale began to sink, gaining speed,
leaving a frothing chaos on the surface as it descended to 100 feet, where the engine turned off as it
was programmed to and the whale gently bobbed back up to the surface. After a few minutes, the
engine was triggered to start again and the whale descended.

This happened another ten times in the two hours of the test before something went wrong inside the
whale and it failed to reappear. As it was lighter than water, any problem with the engine or batteries
would cause it to float, not sink, so the sad conclusion was that a seal had failed and the whale sprang a
leak, filling with water.

They waited another hour but it did not reappear, so they noted the location to let the oceanographic
department know of a possible hazard, should the whale resurface sometime, and went back to the
institute to report the failure.

"It's not a failure," Danielle told the deflated team, not letting them dwell on the problem. "In the
spring, we'll send divers down to recover the whale and learn the cause. In the meantime, I'm
authorising the purchase of another engine. Go ahead and make the parts for the prototype mark II.
Also, buy yourselves stronger sealant, one designed to work at low temperatures."

6Buying Samothea
Danielle, Eva and Ezra, co-directors of the Samothea Company, hosted a meeting for the shareholders
with the company lawyer, Paul Kessler, and other interested parties, to discuss the plan to buy the
planet.

Danielle chaired the meeting, with Joan Mayfield, Vice-Chancellor of the Institute, Rosa, Annela,
Kalyndra, Herman and Roger as witnesses or advisors. Elspeth Bereded and Stephen Oakshott on Earth
took part in the meeting over the comms link. Ezra also represented Edgar Fanshaw but Hestia, Michio
and Viktor Bogdanov agreed that Danielle could speak for them.

"I'm pleased to say that The Samothea Company has 5.5 million galactic pounds in the bank," Danielle
said, "which is only half-a-million short of what Outworld Ventures informally asked. However, we need
a lot of working capital, at least a million pounds, so we must either try to get the settler company to
take less money, or we must seek more funds."

She looked around the table, including the holoprojections of the remote shareholders.

"From the looks on your faces, I can see that no more funds are available; so we need to consider what
compromise we can offer to the settler company."

"Outworld Ventures is in an impossible position," Paul said. "Earthside politicians are breathing down
their necks, using the scandal of Ezra's bedmates to push the company to accept many more settlers
than the million they've already promised. We'll help them by taking the planet off their hands, putting
them at arm's length from the problem and reducing the purchase Earthside authorities have over
them."

"True," Danielle agreed, "but if our maximum offer is 4.5 million, then they'll need an extra sweetener to
reduce the price further. The obvious answer, I think, is something like the deal they reached with New
Exeter, which is a 50-year contract to provide services to the planet. Then Outworld Ventures can say
they're merely a service-provider to Samothea and cannot be held responsible if members of the colony
have multiple bedmates."

"The services we want from Outworld Ventures is security, technology, medical treatments, domestic
mammals, other fauna and flora, and friction-free trade-routes," Ezra added. "The only service we don't
want is vetting new settlers. The Samothea Company and the women of Samothea will do the vetting.
This means we can set the limit to the number of settlers and properly assess a potential settler's moral
character."
"And we can choose the sex of the applicants as well," said Eva, exercising the bee in her bonnet.

"It sounds like a mostly good plan," Joan said with a cool look at Eva, "and I can see how it may induce
Outworld Ventures to reduce their price further because the income from the service contract will be
pure profit for them. The problem is that your company will run out of money if you don't have a solid
income yourself."

"Is there any chance we could get them to accept four millions?" Roger asked.

"I will try on behalf of the Women's Business Initiative." Elspeth said.

"Our best card is that the settler company will want the service contract to last as long as possible," Ezra
said, "so they won't ask too much from us in case we go bankrupt."

"There's another problem," Paul said. "Outworld Ventures agreed to honour the family claims of the
original lost settlers and about 1,500 relatives have applied."

"Yes," agreed Danielle. "The problem is that the settler company was going to transport them at its own
expense, but we don't have enough money to do that. It would be bad publicity for us not to honour
their promise, but what other answer is there? Even if we could afford it, what about our promise to the
women of Samothea that they would have a say over all candidates for settlement?"

"Can we assume half the settlers are men?" Gloria asked.

"Perhaps slightly more than half."

"As you know, I'm not opposed to men coming to Samothea but the numbers will be a problem for us,
though we're not in a position to make demands."

"We're buying the planet in order to protect your way of life, Gloria, or at least control the inevitable
changes as much as possible. But I may have an answer. We all liked Andrew Claydon's idea of making
the inhabited part of Samothea into a National Park, where settlement would be in the gift of the
women of Samothea. We could forbid more settlement in the National Park, at least temporarily, until
the consequences of renewed colonisation are properly understood."

"I discussed the plan in detail with Andrew," Gloria said. "We like it very much. There'll have to be
transfers of properties inside and outside the National Park. Though we live communally now, we have a
Family Name Book that records who owns what portions of land. For example, Galatea, Chief of the
Herders, owns the plain between the Cloner City and the Southern Mountains, whereas my family owns
a parcel of land, one-hundred square miles, north-east of the white mountains, where no-one has been
in 100 years."

"We'll take prior ownership into account," Danielle agreed, "and make sure neither Samothean natives
nor the descendents of the settlers lose out."

"I propose a woman-only National Park," Eva said.

"What do you mean, Eva," Gloria asked.

"I mean that men could not live there permanently, though they could visit."

"I doubt many of us would want that ..."

There were a chorus of women in the background of Gloria's comms link saying 'Not me'. Annela and
Kalyndra also spoke up, saying: "Nor me."

Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

byErinaceous©

"... but I'll put the question to the whole population and we'll decide by the majority."

"Very good," Danielle said. "Then I propose we offer Outworld Ventures a deal where we buy the planet
from them (for as little as possible) and employ them to build a new settlement away from the National
Park. We'll have full vetting of the settlers and the new settlement will be the basis of future
colonisation."

"What will it cost us?" Paul asked.

"We can't say yet exactly how much," Ezra said. "I've roughly outlined some figures, but if this meeting
approves the plan, we'll get proper estimates. It might not be feasible."

"The lost settlers were farmers, builders, mechanics and their families," Roger said. "Their role was to
build homesteads, roads, farms and factories after the engineers had finished terraforming the planet.
Because few electronic devices will work, the new settlers might not have the technology to build the
comfortable kind of society they expect."

"We'll help them as much as we can," Gloria said. "Teaching them our survival methods. I know you say
it'll be a medieval level of existence, Roger, but for us, that'll be an improvement."

"Very well," Danielle said, summing up. "If Outworld Ventures accepts our proposal, then we will ensure
that the women of Samothea can choose how many settlers they want and of what quality, profession
and social background. Together, we will be responsible for their vetting. Settlers will be invited to the
inhabited continent and we'll employ Outworld Ventures to make the other continents habitable, if
possible. If, however, the x-rays remain an insurmountable problem, then we'll establish a pre-industrial
civilisation on the inhabited continent alone."

The shareholders found no fault with this plan and authorised Danielle to go ahead with the offer to the
settler company.

"I have one last item to discuss. We need a business manager, an experienced executive with proven
planning skills. I suggest Andrew Claydon, assuming Outworld Ventures will release him."

"What a good idea," Gloria said. "We all liked Andrew when he came to visit."

"He's a good man," Paul agreed, "but there's a downside. The benefit to Outworld Ventures of selling
Samothea to us (besides the money) is putting themselves at arm's length from the planet. If their man
in charge of settling the planet is suddenly working for a company opposed to mass immigration,
politicians on Earth may suspect a conspiracy."

"We'll just have to see," Danielle said. "I think the benefit of Andrew as our chief executive outweighs
the danger of paranoid hostility from Earthside politicians."
The meeting closed with the agreement that Andrew Claydon would be offered the chief executive
position in The Samothea Company and that a lower figure would be offered for Samothea, with the
sweeteners of most favoured trading partner and (almost) comprehensive service provider for the
settler company.

The first positive response was from Andrew Claydon, who agreed in principle. The rest was a matter of
hard bargaining.

******

With the help of the Women's Business Initiative putting as much pressure as they could on Outworld
Ventures, having been brought back on-board by the prospect (not guaranteed) of a woman-only
National Park on Samothea, Outworld Ventures accepted the offer of 4.5 million galactic pounds with a
50-year contract to provide services to the colony of Samothea.

Andrew Claydon's smooth transfer from Outworld Ventures to the Samothea Company was an
optimistic harbinger of the smooth transfer of ownership of the planet between the two companies.

So, aged 34 and having achieved notable success as an astrophysical engineer, Doctor Danielle Goldrick
bought herself a planet.

7Epilogue: a new candidate

When she was 13, Hana Jeffries, a genius at physics, maths and most other subjects, passed the
exceptionally difficult entrance exam for the astrophysics department of the Celetaris Institute for
Science with perfect marks. She was the first candidate ever to do so.

Daughter of Mary Weatherall, schoolteacher of Capella Space Station and member of its governing
council, and of Arthur Jeffries, the Constable of Capella Space Station, Hana had the official title of
'Saviour of the Space Station' because she and her best friend, Morty Bowman, had alerted the station
to the danger of a nuclear fusion unit that was likely to blow up.
Now she was nearly fourteen, it was time for her parents to make good on their promise of a year
before to let Hana leave for university. Mary and Arthur were worried for Hana's safety and how she
would cope without her family and friends.

The answer came from Hestia Smith, Hana's honorary aunt, who was friends with Doctor Danielle
Goldrick, the famous astrophysicist now on Celetaris, a famously crime-free Outworld colony. There had
been no serious crimes reported on Celetaris in the last fifty years. None had ever been recorded on the
university campus in Arts City.

Hestia gave up her job as an Entertainer on Capella and planned to travel to Celetaris, to seek a new
career on a new world. She could mentor Hana, to help her, if the self-possessed girl needed any help.

Mary and Arthur were persuaded but the decision rested with the Science Institute. Hana would be four
years younger than almost everyone on her astrophysics course. If she were offered a place, then it
would help the family finances if it came with a scholarship, despite Hestia's offer to pay. Mary and
Arthur promised Hestia they would accept her offer only if Hana was refused a scholarship.

To apply for the spring intake to the Celetaris Institute for Science, Hana sent in her application form
plus a personal statement. It was a video recorded by Morty in which Hana gave a brief tour of the space
station and explained who she was and what her ambitions were. She showed the star charts for the 18
constellations of the zodiac that she and Morty invented when they were aged nine. She showed the
flower display in the park, which Morty designed and she planted.

For a sample of her scientific studies, Hestia thought Hana should send an account of the fusion reactor,
whose fault Hana and Morty diagnosed; but that was old news for Hana, who was more interested in
fundamental concepts of physics, including the outstanding problems of cosmology that she knew
Professor Jakovs was pursuing. She sent in a paper on the unifications of physical forces, ending with the
problem of reconciling hyperspace with quantum gravitation.

Hestia persuaded Hana to let her send the paper to Danielle, who quickly replied, saying:

"I love Hana's paper."

"Good," said Hestia. "Will you accept her as a student, or is she too young?"
"She's fully capable academically. It's her ability to cope emotionally and socially that we need to decide.
She might be too young because there'll be no one else her age, nor any family or friends to accompany
her."

"I'll be there."

"You will? You're coming to Celetaris?"

"Yes. You know I said I wanted a change of life and a new job? I'd like to be active in the Samothea
Company, if there's a role for me."

"I'm sure we can find a role for you. I'll talk to Professor Jakovs about Hana."

"Thanks, Dearie. I knew I could count on you."

******

Hendrik Jakovs was familiar with Hana's impressive exam score and her application to the Institute.
After he watched her presentation and read her physics paper, he summoned Danielle to his office.

"Doctor Goldrick," he said, "you can help me with my decision regarding Hana Jeffries. You went to
university two years early, didn't you?"

"I passed the Cambridge University entrance exam two years early but my mother persuaded me to
postpone for a year; so I did a foundation course in engineering instead of the first year of mathematical
physics. On the basis of that, Cambridge allowed me to do triple science: maths, physics and
astrophysical engineering."

"Do you recommend the same procedure for Miss Jeffries?"

"No. I was bright but she's off the charts. I think she'll cope with coming to university four years early,
especially here, which (for some reason) is a particularly nurturing environment for young women."
"But so many of these child geniuses don't fulfil their potential, especially the girls. They burn out before
they achieve anything. Many of them end up as teachers or worse."

"That's true."

"There was a ten-year-old math genius who came to Oxford when I was there," Hendrik recalled,
somewhat wistfully. "She was a true phenomenon. What greatness did she achieve? Nothing. She ended
up working with an advocacy group, lobbying busybody politicians for some made-up injustice or other.
Such a waste."

"I'd hate to have been in that position myself," Danielle said. "Hot-housed, advanced beyond my
emotional abilities at the time, and burned out at 18. I'm glad my mother intervened and kept me back
from university for a year."

"Do you think we'll be hot-housing Hana Jeffries?"

"No. She's been mostly self-educated so far, with only a year's specialised tuition. It seems to have
grounded her in a sensible way. I like that her hobby is gardening."

"If you don't mind my leaving her moral development to you?"

"I expect she'll fit in perfectly with Hazel, Samothea and Yael. Besides, a friend of mine is coming with
her as a mentor. Hestia will have a good influence on the girl. Hana will not lack worldly advice with
Hestia around."

"If you say so. As for the question of her scholarship: it's for Doctor Mayfield to decide, though she
asked my opinion."

"What did you tell her?"

"That I have no opinion. It's not a scientific question."

"I think Joan probably wanted to know your feelings on the matter. As a human being."

"But I have no feelings on the matter, not even human ones. If the girl burns out, then I'll be sad, for her
as much as for our waste of time and money. If she does great things, then I'll be happy for her and for
our good investment."

Danielle smiled. This was the old Hendrik she loved, not the worrying new one who turned off the air-
conditioning for the sake of mere girls and sought the company of Eva Welwyn (even though he failed to
notice how attractive she was).

"It's worth the risk, Hendrik."

"I trust your judgment, Doctor Goldrick."

******

On Danielle and Hendrik's recommendation, Vice-Chancellor Joan Mayfield accepted Hana, despite her
age. She happily raided the pot of money Rosa and Herman gave the university for Ph.D. students and
offered the brilliant girl a scholarship.

Danielle arranged a videocall to Hestia and Hana to tell them the good news. Hana was a little
overwhelmed by the announcement. An unpretentious and serious girl, Hana knew her own worth, but
she never boasted. If anything, she was too modest.

She had her mother's mid-blue eyes, mid-brown hair and pointed chin but her father's fleshy nose. She
also had her mother's serious manner and sharp mind (magnified to genius level). With her father's
simple honesty and common sense, Hana was level-headed and wise far beyond her years, the perfect
foil to her honorary aunt Hestia, who was fun-loving, happy-go-lucky and somewhat scatty.

What was all her own in Hana's character was her lively sense of mischief, usually brought out by her
best friend, Morty, but it had been dormant for the last year.
Danielle brought Yael into the videochat as well. Wildchild and Yael had invigilated Hana's entrance
exam and applauded when she finished in record time. Hana had even picked up a smattering of the
girls secret sign language.

Yael was signing to Hana now, saying: "I'm glad you're coming to Celetaris. You'll love it here," knowing
that Hana might not know all the words but she would surely understand the gist.

Hana signed back: "I'm looking forward to it."

Although Danielle was talking to Hestia, she read the hand movements and was pleased. With Hestia
there as mentor and with Yael and Hana already making friends, she had no fear that the girl would
acclimatise to their odd ways.

******

A few weeks later, on Capella Space Station, Hana had her fourteenth birthday party. There was cake
and dancing and sad goodbyes from family and friends. Afterward, Hana and Morty escaped to their
secret room under the Star View Promenade for a private goodbye.

Meanwhile, Hestia went home to change into an evening dress for her own leaving party at the Goat
and Chariot pub in the East Causeway. As she was not working that night, Hestia wore her clothes for
fun, not to advertise. It was a comfortable party frock, black and lacy, with swirling patterns and short
sleeves, showing a little skin but no boobs, with a wide enough skirt so she could dance, which she
intended to do with all her friends.

Aged 35 but looking 23 thanks to three rejuvenation therapies and an indoor life on a space station,
Hestia was beautiful and successful at her chosen job, which was to make men happy for money. At the
peak of both her allure and her career, however, Hestia wanted a change. She had had enough of men
(well, most men).

Hestia used to love all men but she did not want to be bubbly and perky any more, nor smile at people
whom she no longer found interesting or particularly likeable. She was comfortably off, having kept the
loyalty of many rich clients in her career, without the expensive vices, such as drugs, that ravaged the
lives of so many women in her profession on Earth.
When Hestia decided she needed to find a new role in life, she sold her 50% interest in The Goat and
Chariot pub and, with her honorary niece, booked a transport to Celetaris.

As a shareholder in the Samothea Company, Hestia wanted to visit Celetaris and meet the team. She
was not quite sure what she would do there but she had enough money for a long holiday or to live for a
while without working, so Hestia was going to take it easy and re-examine her life. She was certain she
would find a new role somewhere.

Also at the back of her mind Hestia preserved the idea she once jokingly proposed to Danielle of living in
an all-female society. Maybe it would not be possible for her to move to Samothea, but she was
interested enough in its unique society to support the colony in whatever way she could.

The new owner of The Goat and Chariot threw a goodbye party for her. Mary and Arthur were guests of
honour.

The party started with a speech by Mary, saying how her friendship with Hestia and Arthur began during
a crime investigation. Tom, the slow barman, gave a mumbled speech saying how much he and the
regulars at the pub would miss Hestia. An Entertainer made a sincere speech, thanking Hestia on behalf
of all her colleagues, praising her as a mentor and friend. One of her loyal customers said what joy she
brought to the space station.

The last speech was made by Arthur. He thanked Hestia for bringing Mary and him together and
enjoined her to take good care of Hana. He said that Capella would be a less interesting and glamorous
place without her.

Hestia cried, which she liked to do at anything sentimental, and insisted that Arthur start the dancing
with her. So he made a toast to their friendship and took her by the hand onto the dance floor.

With Hana at home looking after her three younger sisters, there was no reason Mary and Arthur could
not stay to the end of the party; but neither of them much liked loud music or flashing lights, so Hestia
understood when they went home to spend a last evening with their oldest daughter.

That night in the packed pub, her friends gave Hestia a wild send-off. Brad Formast, on his way to a new
job, took a detour to Capella and arrived just before the party broke up. Shabby, unshaved but very
welcome, he was in time to toast Hestia's safe journey to Celetaris. Hestia disappointed all her old
customers when she took Brad home with her for the night.

******

The story of Hestia and Hana continues in The Mystery of Eden Homeworld.

Murder on Capella Space Station

byErinaceous©

Author's foreword:

This is a stand-alone story (submitted for the Geek Pride event) set in the same narrative world as the
story series, Every Man's Fantasy. The events occur about 15 years before the start of chapter 1 of Every
Man's Fantasy and feature events in the earlier life of two characters from the series.

Erinaceous.

1 Murder on Capella Space Station

Arthur Jeffries smiled.

The report said 'murder'. Murder on Capella Space Station.

Arthur smiled because the idea was ridiculous. As the Constable of Capella Space Station, he was the
only professional law officer on a jurisdiction known for its lack of crime. His incredulity at the report
was understandable. It was also understandable (though less excusable) that he was excited because
there would be a corpse, witnesses, clues and suspects.

In his two years as Constable, after five years on the beat in New York, one of Earth's over-populated
crime-ridden cities, the most serious incidents Arthur had so far dealt with were drunken freighter crews
fighting in the seedy pubs on the East Causeway.
Now there was a real crime to solve. And what a crime: the very worst. Murder! Its horror couldn't be
properly appreciated until it occurred in a community that had never known a murder in the whole of its
existence.

Commissioned ninety-eight years ago, in Earth-year 2441, Capella Space Station was forty-two light-
years from Earth. On a complex orbit about the four stars of the Capella system, it looked like a giant
gyroscope, with a spindle ten miles long and a wheel with four spokes three miles across, turning at a
sedate pace to create an Earth-normal artificial gravitation for those on the inside edge of the great
wheel's rim.

Most of the population of the station lived and worked on the rim, which was divided into four
causeways. The West Causeway had posh shops and good hotels. The North Causeway had the homes of
the permanent residents, a school and a hospital. The South Causeway had food halls and workshops for
craftsmen who could repair any machine. The East Causeway had rowdy bars, casinos, pawn-brokers
and brothels.

The East Causeway also had the police station, squeezed between a pawn-shop and a launderette, with
Arthur's flat above. Despite the unwholesome reputation of the East Causeway, Capella Space Station
was the most law-abiding place Arthur had ever lived. There were ten-thousand permanent residents:
mechanics, shop-keepers, bankers, teachers, cooks, hydroponics farmers, gardeners and Entertainers
(that is, prostitutes, who were legal, licensed and guaranteed disease-free).

There was also a transient population of space riggers, miners, freighter crews, military personnel on
furlough and Planetary Prospectors (who risked their lives finding new planets for Earth to colonise).
They all visited Capella for supplies, to look for work, to feel some gravitation (albeit artificial) underfoot
or to gamble, drink, shop, trade and spend time with a friendly Entertainer.

Added to this diverse humanity were about a million settlers a year from Earth, who came to Capella to
embark on giant hyperspace transports to distant planets. They spent their fortunes leaving an old, dirty
and over-crowded planet for the chance of a new life in a pristine Outworld colony.

Now twenty-eight years old, Arthur Jeffries was of middle height, with an athletic build, a long face, fair
hair, fleshy nose and naturally hangdog eyes. Wearing his clean and pressed police uniform proudly,
with shiny shoes and shiny buttons on his tunic, he felt a thrill as he hopped onto the lift to the West
Causeway and the Excelsior Hotel, in one of whose rooms was a corpse and a mystery to solve.

******
The dead man was called Ashmore Raleigh. He was well known as a rich and important industrialist.
Born in America but with businesses across the Anglosphere, he lived mainly in the Caribbean with his
wife and family. Raleigh was visiting Capella to start a long business trip to some Outworld colonies. He
checked into the hotel with a female companion but the hotel didn't record her name and she wasn't in
the hotel now.

The victim had severe bruising to his throat and ribs. Some of his ribs showed sharp edges through the
skin, where they'd been broken. There was no other bruising or skin damage. Semen on the bed sheets
showed that Raleigh was murdered in bed during or after having sex.

Arthur took photographs and bagged up the evidence, including a pair of skimpy women's panties and a
bathroom towel with makeup stains. He released the body to orderlies of the space station's small
hospital, where a doctor would verify the cause of death.

The evidence was ambiguous. Circumstantial evidence (the makeup stains, knickers and semen) made
Arthur suspect the missing female companion, but Raleigh was fit and strong-looking. It would have
been hard for a man his own strength to strangle him. There were no signs of a fight or any weapons. So
how were his ribs broken? The breaks were where a woman's thighs might have been during sex in the
missionary position.

When the video from the hotel lobby was relayed to Arthur's communicator, it showed Mr. Raleigh
checking in with a young woman. Aged about eighteen or twenty, slender but curvy, elegant, amazingly
good-looking, with deep-red chestnut hair, the woman wore a sombre knee-length brown dress and
dark-grey high heels with ankle straps. Arthur doubted that this woman had the hand-strength to crush
Raleigh's windpipe or the thigh strength to break his ribs.

The lobby video showed the same woman leaving the hotel alone about an hour later at 12.30. She was
rushing and hadn't brushed her hair. It was possible that the death was an accident, after which she
panicked.

A moment later there was a result from face-recognition. The woman was identified as Sharon Smith,
aged nineteen, recently arrived from Earth, working as a licensed Entertainer and living on the East
Causeway.
Arthur felt no need to hurry over to Sharon Smith's apartment to question her. If she was the culprit,
then she would be on the run, though there was nowhere to run to on the space station. In any case,
she would be found when she used her credit stick or her communicator.

Capella Space Station had strict privacy laws but, with a serious crime to investigate, the part-time
Justice of the Peace granted Arthur a warrant to access Sharon's personal data. A licensed Entertainer
would be easy to trace.

Arthur also requested to see video recordings from the businesses along the West Causeway. Shop-front
video footage and street cameras might show where Sharon Smith had run to.

2 Coincidences

While Arthur waited for the videos to download and the doctor's report to arrive, he took the bag of
evidence to a laboratory on the South Causeway for analysis. Then he returned to the police station
because his communicator showed a message that someone was waiting for him.

It was three o'clock and his visitor had been waiting for some time. She was a woman in her middle
twenties: middle height, middle weight with mid-brown hair of a middle length and mid-blue eyes. She
was pale, homely and a little dowdy. A pointed chin and a ski-jump nose were the only distinctive
features of her face. A handkerchief stuffed up the sleeve of her light-blue woollen cardigan reminded
Arthur of one of his schoolteachers.

"Constable Jeffries?" the woman asked as he arrived at the station and opened the door to let her in.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"My name is Mary Wetherall. I'd like to report a crime."

"Very well, Ma'am. What's the crime?"

"My suitcase was stolen. A woman bumped into me in the street, knocking me down. When I got up, I
saw my suitcase was gone and that she was carrying it away. I chased after her but she was too quick
and I lost her."

"Was there anything of value in the suitcase?"

"Yes, my spare clothes. What has their value got to do with it?"

"I have to prioritise my time, Ma'am. Although thefts are very rare here, if it's only clothes, which you
can replace easily, then I have a more important crime to solve."

"More important? I arrived on Capella Space Station today to start a new job. Except for my suitcase, all
my belongings are in a container in the docks. But before I could check into a hotel, the only spare
clothes I have were stolen from me. Doubtless your lost puppy or jay-walker is important to you, but
allow me to think my suitcase is important to me."

(Definitely a teacher, Arthur thought to himself.)

"I beg your pardon, Ma'am, your clothes are important to me, and I will certainly make them my priority
after I've solved the murder that was committed about three hours ago."

"Murder?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Mary was shocked. The frustration of waiting outside the police station had made her irritable. She was
about to apologise for her brusque attitude when another young woman came into the police station
with a bright happy step and a cheerful smile.

"Constable Jeffries?"

"Yes, Miss?" Arthur answered, staring at her.

"I've received a message on my communicator to say that face-recognition has been used on me,
against my right to privacy. It told me to report it to the police, so here I am, reporting it."

The young woman was between eighteen and twenty, slender but also curvy, elegant and amazingly
good-looking, with deep-red chestnut hair, large dark-green eyes, high cheekbones, a bow-shaped
mouth, straight nose and a perfect complexion.

Arthur was still staring when Mary broke the silence.

"It's her!" she exclaimed. "The woman who stole my suitcase."

"What suitcase?" asked the girl.

"You know very well what suitcase. You knocked me over and ran off with it. Where is it? I want it back."

"I'm sorry about your suitcase, Ma'am, but I know nothing of it. What I want to know myself is why
Constable Jeffries is staring at me with his mouth open."

That jogged Arthur back into the world.

"Excuse my staring, Miss. Can I ask you some questions?"

"Ask away, Constable."

"What's your name?"

"Hestia de L'Amour."

"Really?"
"Yes."

He typed with one finger on his desk keypad.

"No one of that name is currently on Capella."

"It's my professional name as an Entertainer. I recently changed it. Maybe your records are out of date,"
Hestia explained cheerfully.

"So what was your previous name?"

"Sharon Smith. You can see why I changed it."

"Second question: Is this you?"

Arthur projected the video from the hotel lobby camera onto a wall-screen opposite his desk. It showed
Hestia entering the hotel with Ashmore Raleigh and rushing out an hour later.

"Well, bugger me!" Hestia said, showing her Northern English roots. "It certainly looks like me, but it's
not me. I wouldn't wear a dress like that. Nice shoes, though."

The woman in the video dressed in a style as if she were about ten years older than Hestia, who was in a
tight black jumper, black woollen stockings and a short red skirt.

"And look at her hair?" Hestia added. "I'd never leave a hotel room with my hair in a mess. Besides, I've
only been here a month. I haven't had a customer in the Excelsior yet."

While the video played, Arthur surreptitiously manoeuvred himself between Hestia and the door,
concealing a pair of handcuffs behind his back. When Hestia turned to him, he slipped the handcuffs
over her delicate wrists.
"Ooh! Kinky!" she said with a laugh.

"What?" asked Arthur, feeling himself losing control of the situation.

"I charge double for bondage, you know."

Arthur asserted himself.

"Sharon Smith, I'm arresting you on suspicion of murdering Ashmore Raleigh in the Excelsior Hotel on
the West Causeway between 11:30am and 12.30pm today."

"And stealing my suitcase!" Mary insisted.

Arthur plonked Hestia into a chair opposite his desk and set out his computer tab to make an official
record of the arrest. Hestia made herself comfortable in the seat, more amused than offended.

"Between 11:30 and 12:30, you say? Then I can prove I wasn't there. Ask the barman at The Goat. Tom
will vouch for me."

The Goat and Chariot pub, eight blocks clockwise on the East Causeway, was famous, as was Tom, the
slow barman. It was a popular bar, though it was better to arrive after the evening staff started their
shifts, or wait twenty minutes to be served. It was also where the prettiest Entertainers on Capella hung
out, waiting for customers.

On the chance of avoiding detestable paperwork, Arthur placed the video call. Tom answered in his own
sweet time.

"Yes?"

"Constable Jeffries here."

"What do you want?"

"Some civility first, and, secondly, do you know Hestia de L'Amour?"

"Never heard of her," Tom said and ended the video call.

Arthur stared at his communicator for a second in disbelief.

"He's a moron," Arthur said, shaking his head.

"Oh no, Tom's a sweetie. He's just being protective. Let me speak to him, please?"

Arthur opened the call again and held his communicator in front of Hestia.

"Tom, it's me," Hestia said gaily from her chair.

"Are you all right, Hestia? What's going on?"

"I'm fine. Constable Jeffries is being a gentleman (except for the handcuffs). You don't have to protect
me. I'm not in trouble. You can tell him the truth."

"If you say so."

Arthur took the communicator and said to Tom:

"When was the last time you saw Hestia?"

"About 1pm today. She came into the pub at about 11 this morning and helped me set out the tables.
..."

"Helped you?" Hestia protested. "I did all the work!"

"... There wasn't much going on until 12," Tom blithely continued, "when customers started coming in.
Hestia danced with a couple of men and left with one of them at about 1 o'clock."

"Did anyone else see her there?"

"Three or four of the girls, plus the bloke she went out with."

"All right, thanks."

"You can check the concierge in my apartment building, as well," Hestia cheerfully added. "She checked
me in at 5 past 1 and out again at about 3. I came straight here."

"That's all right," Arthur said, undoing Hestia's handcuffs. "You're free to go."

"But it's definitely her," Mary insisted. "You saw the video. How can it be anyone else?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but you're mistaken," Hestia said sweetly.

"I'm not mistaken. I'm a teacher!" Mary said, which was a non sequitur that made Hestia stare at her
and Arthur smile, congratulating himself on making at least one valid deduction today.

"I mean that I'm trained to notice things," Mary explained. "If it wasn't you who stole my suitcase, then
it was your doppelganger."
"And I think her doppelganger murdered Mr. Raleigh," Arthur added. "I can guess why she stole your
suitcase, Miss Wetherall. She needed a change of clothes to evade the cameras. I don't think the killing
was an accident at all."

3 Deputies

Arthur would have liked to be chasing down the suspect but the trail was cold even before he was
alerted to the crime. He needed to see the West Causeway videos to know where the woman ran. While
he waited for the videos and the doctor's report, Arthur brewed up a round of hot drinks. The three of
them sat at his desk, sipping mugs of coffee and thinking over the puzzling crime.

"How come Miss de L'Amour has a doppelganger?" Mary asked.

"I've been pondering that question myself, Ma'am," Arthur said.

"Do you have an identical twin sister?" Mary asked Hestia.

"No."

"What about a clone?"

"Why would anyone clone a human being?"

"Could your identical twin have been adopted at birth?" Arthur asked.

"And ended up on the same small space station as me, when there are a hundred Homeworld colonies
and a dozen Outworld colonies to choose from? It seems unlikely."

"All the world comes through Capella Space Station at some time, Miss," Arthur said.

"Constable Jeffries," Hestia queried: "Why do you call me 'Miss' and you call her 'Ma'am'?"
"I'm sorry. What should I call you?"

"Hestia."

"And you can call me Mary. We may as well be on first-name terms if we're going to be working
together."

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"I mean I'm joining your investigation. I want my suitcase back and I don't trust you to consider it a
priority."

"Why would I take you with me?"

"Because you need my help. For some reason, you seem to be the only policeman here."

"There are six men who volunteer as deputies. I call on them as I need to."

"Six men? Can't women be deputies?" Hestia asked.

"They can but, so far, no woman has volunteered."

"Well, one has now," Mary said in a firm voice.

"Two," said Hestia, holding up two elegant fingers.

"It might be dangerous," Arthur cautioned. "The victim was strangled and his ribs were crushed."
These grisly details didn't put the women off, so Arthur swore them in as deputies. It was less trouble
than the fuss they'd have made if he'd refused. Besides, three pairs of eyes were better than one when
searching for a face in a crowd.

The doctor's report came in saying that Raleigh died of asphyxiation caused by a crushed windpipe. The
only marks on his throat were from human hands whose size indicated a woman. With the shop videos
downloaded at last, the three investigators left together to track the suspect, who dashed out of the
Excelsior Hotel, bumped into Mary, stole her suitcase and disappeared somewhere on the West
Causeway.

******

Arthur led the way to the lift that went straight up through the roof of the East Causeway into one of the
spokes of the great wheel and across the spindle to the West Causeway. He pressed the button to
summon a cubicle. Hestia hopped daintily onto the perspex cylinder and braced herself by linking an
arm around the hand-rail, excited to be involved in a criminal investigation.

Mary and Arthur followed, but Mary was new to this form of travel and didn't hold on tightly. When the
lift shot up toward the centre of the gyroscope, the reduction in artificial gravity and the Coriolis effect
threw her off-balance.

Mary stumbled to her knees. Hestia bent to assist her but Arthur was oblivious, watching a shop video
on his communicator.

"Chivalry is alive and well and its name is Arthur Jeffries," Hestia said.

"Umm, what?"

Then Arthur noticed.

"I'm sorry, Mary. I should have warned you."

He offered her his hand.

"I can manage," she said, but from then on Arthur remembered his manners and warned Mary of
changes in gravitation, especially when the cubicle span around in the centre of the spindle, so they
would descend to the West Causeway feet first. The three-mile journey took about five minutes. By the
time they reached the West Causeway, Arthur had viewed enough of the videos to know that the
woman ran anti-clockwise from outside the hotel and didn't double back.

The West Causeway, home to posh hotels, banks and expensive shops, was clean and bright under
strong white artificial lights. There were flower baskets and small trees for ambience. The shoppers who
strolled unhurried by were stylishly well-dressed.

Arthur started outside the hotel where Mary had been knocked down by pseudo-Hestia and followed
the video trail of the woman along the causeway, leading his new deputies.

"What subject do you teach, Mary?" Hestia asked as she skipped along behind the Constable.

"Mathematics," Mary replied. "Do you really have sex with men for money?"

"Oh, yes," Hestia answered happily, completely unashamed.

"Why?"

"Because I'm no good at maths. ... I like your skirt. Is it Spontini?"

Under her frumpy light-blue cardigan, Mary had on a beautifully-cut knee-length pleated fawn skirt.

"It's a knockoff," she admitted. "I can't buy Madame Spontini on a teacher's salary."

"It's a good knockoff."

"I like your boots," Mary said in return, unable to resist Hestia's naturally cheerful charm.
Hestia did a spin as they walked, twirling up her short skirt to give a glimpse of bare thigh at the tops of
her thick black stockings. She had amazing legs, long, lean and shapely. Her cute little ankle boots were
shiny black leather, with laces and two silver buckles.

Murder on Capella Space Station

byErinaceous©

"They're Leora West," Hestia said. "I can show you where I got them. I couldn't afford them when I lived
on Earth but there's nothing to spend your money on here except shopping, so I've gone up a notch in
fashion."

As his deputies chatted about clothes, Arthur led them half-a-mile along the causeway to a point where
the videos ran out. It was a thin alleyway between a row of shops and an apartment building. Arthur
guessed that the fugitive ducked in here to change her clothes. Sure enough, they found her old clothes
and Mary's suitcase behind a large wheeled dustbin. Mary checked her belongings to see what was
missing.

"She took my lemon yellow dress and a red cardigan."

With the exact styles and colours noted, the image of the woman could be updated. Soon Arthur's video
feed showed the fugitive running further anti-clockwise and then disappearing into another alleyway,
from which she didn't emerge.

In the second alley, a hatch down to the maintenance levels had been forced open, its handle broken
off. Arthur made a call to a volunteer deputy, telling him where they were. He then climbed into the
hatch and started down the ladder.

Pausing halfway into the hatch, Arthur said:

"I suppose there's no point in my asking you two to wait up here where its safe?"

"No point at all," Mary said, even though she already had her suitcase back.

"Come on man," Hestia added. "Move along. You're blocking the road."
"Men always do that," she added as an aside to Mary.

******

The maintenance level on the outside edge of the space station rim was a continuous white corridor
with access doors on each side. It was eerily quiet in the corridor. Their footsteps echoed off the walls.
To save energy, lights went on before them and turned off behind them. They checked the doors were
all locked shut.

One-hundred yards along the corridor, they found a door that had been forced open. It led into a long
room that spanned a whole sector of the rim. The walls of the room were lined with shelves stacked
with the kind of maintenance equipment space riggers used to work on the thousands of
communications dishes that mushroomed over the surface of the space station.

Every hundred yards or so, in recesses behind supporting struts, were compression chambers with inner
and outer airlocks giving access to the deadly vacuum of space.

The only place to hide was in a compression chamber. Arthur contacted his deputy again and told him
where to come, with a firearm.

"We need to check the chambers," Arthur said. "We'll split up to do it more quickly. We're making visual
inspections only. If there is any sign of the fugitive, then you're to call me and come back here
immediately, where we'll wait for backup. We know that Hestia's doppelganger is very strong. None of
us can tackle her on our own. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they both said.

They took a third of the room each and began to check the chambers.

It was Hestia who found the fugitive. She wasn't hiding but sat with her back against the airlock. Her legs
were stretched out. Her hands lifeless by her sides. Head bowed.
The girl looked so sad that Hestia ignored her orders from Arthur and opened the outer door. She went
inside.

"Hello," she said.

The woman looked up. She was the spit and image of Hestia, with a face of angelic beauty, despite her
smeared makeup, black streaks of tears on her cheeks and her hair in a mess.

Hestia knelt down by the woman, talking gently.

"What's your name?"

"Hana."

"Hello, Hana. I'm Hestia."

The woman focussed and recognised her.

"You're Sharon."

"Yes, I'm also called Sharon. How do you know me?"

"I don't know you."

"Do you know why we look alike?"

"Yes," Hana said, but added nothing more.

"Are you all right?"

"I killed a man. ... I didn't mean to. We were in bed, making love. ... It was our first time. ... He said:
'Choke me,' so I held his throat and squeezed. ... I couldn't stop. Something was controlling me. ... He
struggled, trying to get up, so I held him with my legs. ... I held him tightly. I heard bones crack but I
couldn't let go. ..."

Fresh tears ran down her face and she heaved with sobbing.

"Hestia," she said between sobs: "I squeezed the life out of him."

Hestia's heart broke for the girl and she put her arms around her.

"Careful, Hestia," Arthur Jeffries said from the doorway. He and Mary had caught up with her and heard
the whole confession.

"Hana didn't mean to do it," Hestia said, turning to him, her eyes filled with sympathetic tears. "It was
an accident."

"No," Arthur said, "it was deliberate, but it wasn't her fault. My guess is that someone reprogrammed
her."

"Reprogrammed?"

"Hana is a robot. That's why she's so strong."

"A robot?" Hestia was incredulous.

In most of the Anglosphere, robots were fancy domestic appliances: self-driving vacuum-cleaners or self-
cooking ovens. Only Japan specialised in humaniform robots: robots so lifelike they were
indistinguishable from people.

"I'll show you," Arthur said.

He came into the chamber and stood over Hana. She looked up at him. He took out his badge.

"Hana, do you recognise this badge?"

"Yes, sir," Hana said. "You're a law officer."

"I am. And you're programmed to obey me."

"Yes, sir."

"Then get up and come with me to the police station."

Hana stood. She meekly accompanied Arthur all the way to the police station, while his deputies
followed behind, too astounded to speak.

4 Interrogation

The police station on Capella was little more than an office for the Constable, with a desk (spick and
span, due to Arthur's clear desk policy), a freshly painted steel safe, a brand new coffee-maker on top
and a water cooler against one wall. A projector screen stood against the other wall and there was a
bathroom out back but no jail. In a recess where a jail might have been, there were storage cabinets and
some padded benches where drunks could sleep off a night's excesses, handcuffed if necessary to a
steel leg of the bench.

Hana sat with the others in a chair at Arthur's desk. There was no point in handcuffing her. If she wanted
to break free and leave, only Arthur's orders could stop her.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Hestia asked Hana because no one else had offered and she
was hungry herself.

"It's a robot," Mary said. "You should ask if it needs to be plugged in."
"Actually, I do eat and drink," Hana said. "I can metabolise food and I have all the usual human
secretions, for which I need to ingest liquids."

Arthur took Hestia's hint and ordered dinner for them all from a nearby caterer.

"You deputies deserve a proper dinner. You did good work today. Thanks."

"We're not done yet, my lad," Hestia said.

"I suppose not, though it's up to our Justice of the Peace how I pursue the case."

"We can ask it questions, though, can't we?" Mary asked.

"You can," Arthur said. "Hana, I'd like you to answer my deputies' questions."

"I feel you should go first, Hestia, under the circumstances," Mary said.

After all, she had her suitcase back and Hana had changed into her own clothes again, returning Mary's
dress and cardigan.

The most obvious question was, why did Hana look like Hestia? She did so, even down to her naked skin
and intimate parts, as Hestia had checked when Hana undressed.

"Is there anything you want to say first, Hana, before we question you?" Hestia asked.

"I want to apologise to you, Ma'am," the robot said to Mary, "for stealing your suitcase. I needed to
disguise myself. I expected to be caught immediately, but in a disguise, I could run further."

"Why did you go to the maintenance levels?" Arthur asked.

"To throw myself out into space. I feel so guilty for what I did. If I were out in space, my power cell
would drain and the pain would end."

"Why do you feel pain?" Hestia asked.

"I'm programmed never to cause harm to a human being. It's like an instinct for me. But I killed a man. I
shouldn't have been able to. Knowing I defied my programming makes me feel so ashamed that it hurts
all over. It hurts when I remember and it hurts if I try to blank out the memory. It hurts most that I can't
put it right or apologise."

Hestia was moved to tears again but Mary looked calmly at the robot and was unmoved.

"Why didn't you go out the airlock?" Arthur asked.

"I'm also programmed not to harm myself. My programs conflicted. I couldn't open the air lock and I
couldn't move away from the hatch. I was frozen until you ordered me to come with you, sir."

"Why can't you harm yourself?" Hestia wondered.

"I'm a very expensive model. The most expensive sex-robot ever built. I'm programmed not to let myself
be irreparably damaged."

The buzzing of his communicator told Arthur that Mrs. Malkin, Headmistress of the school and Justice of
the Peace, wanted to speak to him. He nodded a few times as she spoke. Then he said:

"Yes, Ma'am, I understand. I'll be discrete and if it becomes political, then I'll refer everything to the
governing council. But I agree with you: for now it's a police matter. ... Thank you, Ma'am. I had
excellent help."

"Ladies," Arthur said to the girls.

"Deputies, I think you mean," said Mary.

"My apologies. Deputies: I have some information for you. Our JP has learned that Hana was built by the
Nakatani Corporation of Japan and that she was on hire to Ashmore Raleigh directly from the
manufacturer. I will ask police forces on Earth to interview Raleigh's family, his business associates and
the Nakatani Corporation."

"I'm authorised to keep Hana here while a robotics expert is sent from Earth to examine her. If I deem it
safe, then we can keep her functioning. Otherwise, I can command her to turn herself off."

The name Nakatani was a reminder to Hestia, who thought she knew why Hana was her double. She
needed to speak to the robot to confirm it.

"Arthur, I think you should turn Hana off to ease her pain, but can I ask her a couple of questions first?"

Arthur nodded.

"Hana, do you mind?"

"I'm a servant," the robot said. "I will do what I'm told."

"When you recognised me as Sharon, you said you knew why we look alike but you also said you didn't
know me. Can you explain?"

"I overheard in the laboratory where I was built that the person I'm based on was called 'Sharon' but I
never met her. When I saw you, I knew you must be Sharon."

"Oh, then I have an idea why Hana and I are doubles. I once did a job for the Nakatani Corporation. My
story's a little confused because it all happened in a whirl and some of it's guesswork but it ends with me
coming to Capella."

The food Arthur ordered arrived now. As they ate dinner (and Hana sipped water), Arthur said to Hestia:
"Why don't you tell us your story from the beginning? I'd like to know how you came to be on Capella."

"I come from an ordinary Northern English town," Hestia said, "and was brought up quite poor. I always
wanted to be a model, so I left school early and moved down to London to work in the fashion industry.
But my tits are too big. Also, I like food and I don't take drugs, so I wasn't skinny or ill-looking enough for
the women who run the fashion industry and I missed out on the big jobs."

"But I lived with a great bunch of girls. Some of them did nude modelling. Some of those did
pornography. And some of those were escorts. I didn't bother with nudes or porn. When I became
eighteen, I went straight from modelling to escorting, which I loved. I love sex and I love men - all
shapes, sizes, colours and types of men - so long as they're clean and polite. Now I'm paid for doing
something I love more than anything else in the world."

"Last year, one of my girlfriends caught a nasty disease from a customer. I'm super-careful, but so was
she. It made me think. I heard about Capella Space Station. Things are better here for Entertainers than
for escorts girls on Earth. Here we're checked medically, protected by law, legally registered and safe."

"That's right," Arthur confirmed. "Because the Outworld planets are paranoid about catching diseases
from Earth, and Capella is the gateway to the Outworld colonies, we have the strictest hygiene rules in
the Galaxy, with medical tests and quarantine for every visitor."

"Also, Entertainers here work freelance," Hestia added. "In London, the agency kept half my fees. Here, I
hang out in The Goat and Chariot, which encourages Entertainers because they attract customers, and I
pay a small finder's fee for every punter they send my way."

"Best of all, though, whores on Earth are looked down on and insulted, but here I'm a respectable
businesswoman."

"That's also true," Arthur agreed. "Entertaining is a respectable profession. We keep it so by prohibiting
soliciting in the street. I suppose it's possible to take home an unlicensed prostitute, but only registered
Entertainers are guaranteed to be honest and not rip-off the customer by emptying his credit stick or
taking incriminating videos for blackmail."
"Exactly!" Hestia said, "So last year I applied to come to Capella. I got character references from two of
my customers (a judge and vicar), passed my medical tests, bought an Entertainer's licence and made
my travel plans. Then I got an unexpected offer: a modelling job for a company in Japan."

"The Nakatani Corporation?" Arthur asked.

"Yes. The offer included return flights, room, board and a good-sized fee, which I could keep for myself. I
liked that, so I signed the contract without properly reading it."

Hestia smiled at Mary's tutting and Arthur's indulgent look.

"I know, I'm stupid like that. Anything legal or mathematical makes my eyes glaze over. I read two
paragraphs into the document and said to myself: It seems fine so far, I'm sure it must be fine all the
way through."

She laughed at the pitying looks on their faces.

"Well," Hestia went on, unashamed of her happy-go-lucky attitude, "I knew that the contract included
nude modelling in erotic poses. I was vaguely aware that it included a full medical examination and
measurements of every detail of my body and face. But it must have included something I didn't read."

"Let me guess," said Mary: "it included the use of your physical features to make a sex-robot?"

"That's what I think, that the Nakatani Corporation used my video shoot and measurements to make a
sex-robot. Do you think that's the right story, Hana?"

"I do, Hestia," the robot said. "I don't know how many other models of me there are, but I know I was
never mass-produced, unlike most sex-robots. I've been leased out only to the richest and most
exclusive clients. The salesman introduces me as the most beautiful, most erotic and most sexually
responsive sex-robot ever built."

"There now," said Hestia. "Isn't that an endorsement!"

******

"I have a question for you, Hana," Arthur said, "if you're programmed to obey me, can I command you to
stop feeling pain?"

"Thank you for suggesting it, sir, but it won't work. My moral sense is a part of my basic program. I must
feel guilty for my crime."

"Why do you simulate feelings at all?" Mary asked.

"It is for my role as a sex-robot. I'm programmed to feel everything more strongly than normal people
and always to show my feelings. Although I'm designed after Hestia, I imagine I blush more easily than
her and I probably orgasm more readily. For those clients who like to hurt me, my skin marks easily and I
cry out at the slightest pain."

"I thought you said you were programmed to protect yourself against damage," Mary said, not too
pleased by what Hana was describing.

"I am, Ma'am, but I receive no permanent damage from sex-play. That kind of pain recedes immediately
and the bruises vanish within an hour. I'm actually programmed to enjoy it, or at least to savour its after-
effects. I react with sexual excitement when I'm punished. ... But the guilty pain I feel at the moment will
never fade."

Hestia thought she couldn't feel more sorry for Hana than she already did.

"Arthur, can you stop her pain, now?" she asked.

"Yes. Are you ready, Hana? Do you have anything else to say?"

"No, sir, I'm ready. Please order me to turn off. When I'm dormant, there's a microswitch under the skin
behind my right ear to power me down completely."
"Mary, do you have anything more to ask Hana?"

"No. Turn it off."

Arthur told Hana to sit on one of the benches in the alcove and go to sleep. She smiled gratefully at him,
then her eyes closed and she went stiff. The ghost of the smile still haunted the corners of her mouth.
He found the microswitch behind her ear and pressed it.

As an experiment he put a hand to her cheek.

"She's already colder," he said.

******

There was nothing to do until the robot expert came from Earth.

Hestia thought she should go home. She worked nights: she needed to prepare her apartment and
change. Mary thought she should take her suitcase to her hotel room and unpack. She had an early start
the next day, being inducted into her new job at the school. Arthur thought he should do his hated
paperwork and bring the regular deputies to up to date on the case.

Instead, all three sat at Arthur's desk and tried to digest the day's events. There was lots to say. Hestia
started.

"Mary, why do you call Hana 'It'?"

"Because it's a machine with a program, not a person with a soul. Why do you call it 'She'?"

"Because Hana is a real person to me. I can see how much she's hurting."

"She's programmed to simulate real feelings, to respond like a human."

"Isn't that true of everyone? We don't know what's really going on in anyone's head. We can only tell
what they feel by what they say and how they act, which we compare to our own experiences."

"That's true," agreed Arthur, provoking a pointed look from Mary, who said:

"But, Hestia, you seem to sympathise more with the robot than with its victim. Hana murdered a human
being!"

"You're right, Mary, I don't mean to be callous and ignore Mr. Raleigh, but Arthur thinks Hana was
reprogrammed. What if she's like someone who's been brainwashed or hypnotised? Then she can't be
blamed."

"That's also true," Arthur said. "I agree with Hestia that Hana seems to have real emotions, so how can
we tell the difference between her feelings and those of humans? But does Hana really feel responsible
or is it just a simulation, as Mary says?"

"It's the same thing," Hestia said.

"Is it?" Mary asked. "Even if Hana really feels remorse, there is still a big difference between moral
principles and computer programs."

"What do you mean?" Hestia asked.

"I mean that if Hana had been programmed to feel pleased rather than guilty when she causes harm,
then that feeling would be just as real to her, though her morality would be completely different."

"I suppose so," Hestia admitted.

"But that's the same for all of us," Arthur said. "Education and training can also change our
'programming'."
"Not so easily," Mary insisted. "And not so much."

This was an argument that wasn't going to be resolved in an evening and they really did all have things
they needed to do. Hestia and Mary stood up to leave. Arthur escorted them to the door, saying:

"If Hana does have real feelings, then it may help to have someone sympathetic here when she wakes.
Hestia, will you come back when the robot expert arrives?"

"Yes, we both will, won't we, Mary?"

"I don't know if I'll have time."

"Sure, you will. It's your case as much as mine or Arthur's. Besides, we're both still deputies, aren't we,
Arthur?"

"You are. I haven't discharged you yet."

"Exactly!" said Hestia. "Now Mary has to turn up."

5 The examination

The robot expert from Earth was expected in a week. Meanwhile, representatives from two interested
parties contacted Arthur and asked to observe the official examination of the sex-robot. One request
was from the Nakatani Corporation, the owner of Hana. The other request was from a lawyer on behalf
of Ashmore Raleigh's family.

Murder on Capella Space Station

byErinaceous©

In his discussion on the matter with Mrs. Malkin, the Justice of the Peace, Arthur was sympathetic to
both requests, especially the request from Raleigh's family. The victim who hired Hana from the
Nakatani Corporation was a married man. Whether or not an affair with a sex-robot counts as adultery
on Earth, it must be utterly shaming to his widow. Carmen Raleigh deserved to know how the case was
proceeding.
Permission was duly granted for the interested parties to observe the robot expert's examination.

Hestia was keen to remain involved in the case. Having heard nothing for a few days, she called Mary to
suggest they pay a visit to Arthur for an update.

They caught up with him in the late afternoon at his office just as he was leaving to give a report to the
governing council. After Hestia briefly checked on Hana, who hadn't moved and seemed peaceful, his
special deputies let Arthur rush off to his meeting.

Hestia had a suggestion for Mary.

"Let's go out tonight. I'll take an evening off and we'll go dancing. It'll be fun."

"Sorry, I have work to mark and lessons to prepare."

"Oh, come on!"

"I'm serious, Hestia."

"Well let's go and have a coffee and talk about it, at least."

Mary couldn't refuse, so they went to a cafe and sat at an outside table to watch the passers-by in the
street. A waiter came out to serve them and returned to fetch two coffees. A man at another table
beckoned the waiter as he passed and said something to him. When the waiter returned with their
drinks, Hestia offered her credit stick to pay but the waiter said: "The gentleman over there bought your
coffees. He hopes you enjoy them."

The girls took a look at him. He was the consummate wolf. In a grey jacket, light grey trousers and
expensive shoes, his white shirt was open to reveal black chest-hairs. He had a day of stubble expertly
groomed, thick black hair combed back and mirrored sunglasses.
Hestia waved to the man to thank him for the coffee while Mary stared disapprovingly. No stranger had
ever bought Mary a drink before but it happened all the time to Hestia, who loved compliments and
always responded happily.

When the man came over to ask Hestia out, Mary was impressed by the kind but efficient way she let
him down. Bubbly and with giggles, Hestia thanked him for the coffee, saying what a lovely gesture it
was and how much she and her friend appreciated the compliment. Unfortunately, she couldn't go out
with him because she was an Entertainer, but he was exactly the kind of generous man she preferred as
a customer.

Flattered, despite being turned down, the wolf left sheeplike, carrying Hestia's business card.

"That was fun," Hestia said. "I love the game."

"What game?" Mary asked.

"The contest between the sexes. I don't really get to play it for real, not in my job."

"What are you talking about, Hestia?"

"I mean that the man wanted to know what it would take to get me into bed. The coffee was a bid. Just
to talk to me. Then he would up the ante with a movie, flowers, dinner, clothes, even jewellery,
depending on how much I fancy him. It's a shame I had to cut him off, but I may get a new customer out
of it. Which is nice. He's very attractive."

"Yuck!"

"You don't like him?"

"Not at all. He's too sure of himself. And what's with the hairy chest? I'm surprised he doesn't have a
medallion."
Hestia laughed.

"That's another thing I like about the game: we all have our own preferences."

Mary pondered that statement for a second. Much as she liked the lively beautiful girl, something in
Hestia also irritated her. She knew what it was but she didn't want to admit it.

"Do you know you acted all girly when that man came over to talk to you?" Mary asked.

"Oh, yes. He may pretend to want a feisty kind of woman, all flashing eyes, jealousy and Latin
temperament, but he's really the sort of man who wants a submissive little Miss who looks up to him."

"Don't you get sick of being treated like a bit of fluff?"

"But I am a bit of fluff!" Hestia insisted, not offended by what any other woman might have taken as an
insult.

Mary couldn't hide her contemptuous look but Hestia only smiled. She lent over and kissed Mary on her
cheek.

"Don't be angry with me, darling. You're right, except for one little thing. I like being a bit of fluff. And I
especially like that a bit of fluff can afford Leora West shoes and Madame Spontini evening gowns."

In the first split-second, because Mary was jealous of Hestia, she thought this was a dig at her, who
could afford only a knock-off Spontini skirt. But she quickly realised that Hestia was completely artless
and sincere.

Hestia was always open about her profession. It was the first thing she told any man who showed an
interest in her. It was not as if she was stringing men along just for what she could get out of them.

So why shouldn't Hestia trade on her good looks and friendly nature to make a living? And why
shouldn't men give presents to Hestia and buy her drinks if they were besotted enough to do so?
In fact, Mary could admire Hestia, now she had seen through her 'pretty little airhead' act. But Mary
knew that Hestia could see straight through her own 'spinster schoolteacher' act, which she invented
only because random strangers didn't pay for her drinks or ask her out immediately they saw her.

Anyway, Mary couldn't stay annoyed with Hestia because the real problem wasn't Hestia's fault. The
real problem was that Arthur was one of the men besotted with her. All the time the three of them had
been together, Arthur looked only at Hestia. True, he opened doors for them both and he helped Mary
in the lift; but he did so only after Hestia told him to.

Mary never confessed that she fancied Arthur but Hestia knew it. Because she was kind enough not to
say anything, this was reason enough for Mary not to blame Hestia any more for causing her jealousy.

"Hestia," she said, "I've changed my mind. I'd like to go out with you tonight."

"Good girl! That's more like it. And I know exactly what we should do."

"What's that?"

"I'm going to show you how much fun we can have just being bits of fluff. We'll go to your hotel room,
dress you in your sluttiest clothes and then we'll go clubbing!"

Hestia linked her arm in Mary's and hauled her along the pavement, despite Mary's plaintive objection:
"But I don't have any slutty clothes!"

"Then we'll cut some interesting slits in one of your cardigans!"

"That was a low blow," Mary said, but she laughed.

That night, the girls had a good time. Mary didn't mind that most of the men who came to dance with
her did so to get close to Hestia because Hestia loyally sent them all away (some of them with a wink
and an invitation to come and see her at The Goat and Chariot another time, with their credit sticks).
Next morning, in a spirit of liberation, Mary threw out all her cardigans.

******

Three days later, Professor Maurice Erskine, the robot scientist, Mr. Raleigh's family lawyer and a
roboticist from the Nakatani Corporation arrived on the same hyperspace flight. All three men
presented their credentials to Mrs. Malkin, the Justice of the Peace, who met them in her office at the
school, with Arthur in attendance.

Professor Erskine was tall, dignified and about seventy years old, with unruly grey hair and a bow tie. He
wore his lab coat as if it were a uniform. Mrs. Malkin offered him the use of a classroom for his
examination of Hana.

Mr. Raleigh's family lawyer was named Robert Festing. He was sharp suited and sharp witted, respectful
and concise, though he represented the injured and shamed party. The Nakatani Corporation roboticist
was called Daisuke Ishikawa. He was cautious and overly polite. He seemed worried, asking permission
to question Hana and make his own examination of her basic program.

Mrs. Malkin refused his request and gave Arthur a clear order that no one other than the professor, he
himself and his deputies were to have contact with Hana or to be alone with her. It was such a strange
case that it was important to prevent even the suspicion of a badly-conducted investigation.

Maurice Erskine began his preparations to test Hana immediately, setting out computers, cameras, a
three-dimensional holographic projector and various kinds of data probes to record Hana's responses
and download her program. He expected the examination to take all the next day.

That evening, Maurice asked to hear first-hand the events that led Arthur and his deputies to Hana's
capture.

Happy to help, Hestia and Mary came to the police station to meet the professor, whose manner was
charming.
"I've studied the project that produced Hana," he said, looking at the dormant robot, "but I've never met
a production model. It's a privilege to meet the best sex-robot ever made. And," he said to Hestia with a
little bow, "it's an even greater honour to meet the unsurpassable beauty on whom she was based."

"Ooh!" cooed Hestia. "Aren't you just the sweetest man? Mary, did you ever hear such a nice
compliment?"

"No," Mary said with a wry smile. "Not personally."

The interviews morphed into a long conversation that ran on late into the evening, as Mary, Hestia and
Arthur had as many questions for the professor as he had for them. They sat at Arthur's desk in the
station with a take-out dinner and were on first-name terms.

Maurice Erskine was a man in love with robots and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of them.

"What can you tell us about Hana?" Arthur asked.

"She is one of three production models from the original project. Her basic program has five modules:
care for others, obedience, self-preservation, femininity and sexuality. These are the sources of her
emotional responses, which are designed to be supernormal. Hana feels everything more strongly than
a human would."

"You mean she's designed to exhibit enhanced behavioural responses," Mary insisted.

"Yes, Mary, that's what I mean, although it's an open question in the theory of Artificial Intelligence
whether or not a robot also feels what it exhibits."

"It's not only her behaviour that's enhanced," Hestia said. "Her tits are bigger than mine. Why did they
make her like that?"

"I think it was an adjustment for this particular customer. And it's a sad indictment on the man, in my
view, that instead of being satisfied with something naturally perfect, he wanted something unnatural
and physically impossible."
"Plastic boobs," Mary said.

"Exactly. Hana caters for other kinds of tastes as well, poor soul, with her submissive response to
punishment."

"What else is special about Hana?" Mary asked.

"Like all advanced humaniform robots, she can learn. For example, she's programmed with forty
languages but can acquire new languages by listening and observing. Her primary subject of study is
sexuality, however, which she learns on the job (as it were). But nothing she learns ought to interfere
with her basic program modules, so I'm keen to discover how her harm/care module got corrupted."

As this was what Maurice would investigate the next day, the conversation turned to the question they
had previously left unresolved. They wanted to know if the professor thought robots were really
conscious (as Hestia believed) or did they merely simulate consciousness (as Mary believed)?

"I agree with Hestia," Maurice said. "If a robot seems intelligent, conscious and moral then it is all of
those things. I believe that Hana's feelings of guilt and remorse are genuine."

Mary objected, making her point that a robot's simulated morality can be changed at any time and the
robot would never know the difference.

"Yes, Mary, that's true," Maurice agreed. "It's an important difference between robot behaviour and
human behaviour, and not so clearly in favour of men. Consider: if Hana's basic program has been
hijacked to turn her into a killer, then this wicked act was certainly done by a man."

That made Mary ponder.

******
All next day, Professor Erskine worked on downloading Hana's program and her memory to his
computer using data outputs on her neck and analysing the results. When they had free time, Hestia and
Mary came to watch and supply the professor with coffee.

The lawyer, Mr. Festing, and the roboticist, Mr. Ishikawa, sat at the back of the classroom, taking notes.
Arthur or a deputy stayed with them at all times. Only Professor Erskine was ever alone with Hana.

Every check for viruses and malicious code in Hana's brain that might hijack her behavioural instructions
showed nothing foreign in either her basic program, her acquired behaviour or her memories.

The professor projected Hestia's program onto the classroom wall as a seemingly endless cascade of
computer code. He ran comparisons with a copy of Hana's basic program but it revealed no differences.

At the end of the first day's examination, Maurice made an announcement:

"I believe that Hana's program has been infiltrated but I can find no trace of a hijacker. If there's rogue
code in her program, then it's too well hidden to be revealed by the crude means available to me here."

"I need to get Hana under the magnetoscanner in my lab where I can unpeel the layers of her brain
activity and prove for sure whether or not her program has been hijacked."

Daisuke Ishikawa, the Nakatani Corporation roboticist, jumped up with an objection.

"I forbid it!" he declared, his politeness discarded. "Hana is the property of the Nakatani Corporation.
This procedure is dangerous. It will leave Hana destroyed or impaired!"

Robert Festing, the lawyer for the Raleigh family, joined in Mr. Ishikawa's protest, though more calmly.
He said in a smooth voice:

"I dispute that Hana is the property of the Nakatani Corporation. She was hired by my client's husband
and is her legal property for the moment. None the less, I agree that the procedure is too risky. There
must be another way to retrieve the data."
"Gentleman," Arthur said, "Our JP will decide if Hana is to go to Earth with Professor Erskine. However, I
wonder why Hana needs to go under a risky procedure now that you have downloaded her program.
Can't you just load it up to another computer and scan that?"

"No, Constable, I can't. Hana's basic program is designed specifically for her brain and body. It wouldn't
work except in an exact copy of the robot."

"Well, can you guarantee that your magnetoscanner will not damage her?"

"Sorry, I can't do that, either. As you know, I prize Hana highly as a remarkable creation and would do
nothing deliberately to harm her; but if I'm to test properly for a hijacker in her basic program, then I
have to probe her brain layer by layer. I will go as carefully as I can but there's always a risk of damage,
especially if the rogue program is buried very deeply."

"If there is a rogue program at all," Robert Festing said.

"My company built Hana," Mr. Ishikawa said. "We can disassemble her in our laboratory without causing
damage."

"As the representative of the victim here, I clearly cannot agree to that," Mr. Festing replied.

"I will put your offer to Mrs. Malkin," Arthur said, "but her ruling already is that nothing will be allowed
to compromise proper procedures in this case."

The men had to be content with this, though Mr. Ishikawa seemed unhappier than Mr. Festing.

Mary and Hestia were assisting the professor at the time and Mary had a question for him.

"Maurice, when you say that Hana's program wouldn't work except in an exact copy of the robot, are
you saying her mind is similar to a human mind? You can't download a human mind and upload it to a
different person because the architecture will be different."
"Exactly right, Mary. Computer functioning occurs on distinct levels that we call hardware, firmware,
middleware and software, but human mental functions are distributed about the whole nervous system,
not just the brain but muscles, senses and hormones. The same is the case for Hana. Her program is
distributed about many different levels of function that cannot easily be disentangled."

"This is another big difference between humans and most robots. It's a deliberate difference, of course,
because we want robots to have downloadable programs and interchangeable parts so that they can be
easily reprogrammed and mended if they go wrong. Hana is more human than most robots, which is
why it took such a devious method to reprogram her."

"If you could re-enact the whole event that led to Mr. Raleigh's death, would that reveal the rogue
program?" Mary asked.

"Yes, I think it would. If a rogue program runs, taking over Hana's normal programming, then it would
show up on the holographic projector. However, there is no guarantee it would rerun again and a re-
enactment would be very risky for the man playing Mr. Raleigh. Also, I don't know what moral questions
it would raise to use Hana for sex while she's a suspect in a criminal investigation."

"I don't think either question is a problem if we use a male sex-robot to play Mr. Raleigh's role," Arthur
suggested.

"Yes, that would work," Maurice said. "Are there any such robots on Capella, or would we need to send
to Earth for one?"

"I know where I can find one," Arthur said. "Leave it to me."

The professor's temporary laboratory was shut down for the night and Hana was returned to the police
station and turned off. Arthur made a call to a business on the South Causeway.

When he wasn't filling in his hated paperwork after pacifying drunk freighter crews, Arthur enjoyed
wandering around the workshops of the South Causeway, chatting to the mechanics and repairmen. On
these visits, he often saw an old and battered male sex-robot that the owner said would still work.

Arthur bought the robot on behalf of the governing council and went to collect it.
"It's a basic humper," the repairman said as he powered up the old robot. "I've wiped its memory. Its
basic program has variable settings between sensitive and rough, the tongue and fingers have inbuilt
patterns, but its main use is to shag like a jackhammer. Twenty years ago, some rich wife of a Prospector
owned him, until her husband came back."

Half-an-hour later, Arthur was back at the station with the robot in tow.

"Is that the best you could find?"

Hestia was offended on Hana's behalf at the quality of the robot she would have sex with.

"Hana won't care," the professor said.

"No, but I care. Come on Mary, help me clean him up at least."

Covered in dust and cobwebs, its skin was discoloured and peeling in places. There were dents on the
body and head. Half the hairs on its once shaggy chest were gone. Its clothes were stained and
threadbare, its eyes lifeless and artificial, but the teeth were good and the cock maintained its elasticity,
despite heavy use.

They all took part in cleaning and preparing the robot. They washed it in the shower, shaved off its
remaining chest-hairs, glued back the peeling skin and touched it up with makeup. They borrowed some
clothes from lost property and, when they finished, were pleased with their work.

Hestia asked:

"What's his name?"

"I've no idea," Arthur said.

"Well what did the repairman call him?"

"He just said he's a basic humper."

"Then we'll call him Humphrey," Hestia ruled.

With that, Humphrey was ready to receive a new program compiled from Hana's memory of the sexual
encounter in the hotel room. When the program ran, Humphrey would do everything that Ashmore
Raleigh did, including speaking the same words at the same time, with the hope that he would provoke
the undetectable hijacker in Hana's program to reveal itself.

******

Next day, they took the two robots to the classroom laboratory, which now contained a bed from the
school clinic. Small broadcast caps adhered to the data points on the back of Hana's neck. They reported
to the professor's computer how the basic program was running. The output was projected onto the
wall as cascading lines of program code, slowly at the moment, while Hana was not doing much.

Murder on Capella Space Station

byErinaceous©

Other broadcast caps were affixed to Hana's skull under her hair. Professor Erskine directed these
outputs to the holographic projector, where they formed a three-dimensional graph with five main
peaks.

"The five peaks relate to Hana's five basic program modules," he explained: "harm/care, obedience, self-
preservation, femininity and sexuality. As the sensory inputs change or her responses do, the peaks will
rise and fall. Their movement should tell us what part of the program is directing Hana's behaviour at
any one time. It's here that we'll find our interloper. ... Are we all ready?"

There was assent all around.

"Then let's begin."

Hana was in the same clothes as on the day of the tragedy. She stood beside the bed. Humphrey's
program was triggered and the robot made his way to her.
"I'm going to help things along here a little," Maurice said, as he snapped a vial of male pheromone and
dabbed it on Humphrey. When Humphrey reached Hana, she reacted to the pheromone with obvious
lust, breathing deeply and biting her lower lip.

Hana was designed to go into a kind of sexual trance, where every erotic feeling was magnified and her
sexuality program was dominant. The pheromone trick was to get her into this erotic state quickly,
despite the unnatural conditions. Sure enough, the sexuality peak now stood higher than the other four
peaks on the graph.

Following his program, Humphrey took Hana into his arms and kissed her. Hana responded strongly,
kissing him back passionately, holding him around the neck. She melted into the kiss, bending her body
in an arch as Humphrey held her tightly around the waist.

The sexuality peak was twice all the others now.

"That's Hana's arousal," Maurice said. "She's amazingly responsive."

Their tongues were pressed together. Humphrey began to fondle Hana's bottom. She squirmed and
gyrated, pressing her hips against him.

Without breaking the kiss, he started slowly to undress Hana, unzipping her an inch at a time, pulling the
dress down as he went. When Hana was unzipped to her waist, Humphrey gently slipped the dress off
her shoulders. He pushed her long hair to one side and kissed her neck. Hana's head went back,
exposing her throat, which Humphrey kissed greedily. He kissed across Hana's collar bones from one
shoulder to the other.

Humphrey eased her dress ever further down, exposing her breasts. Hana wore no bra. Her tits jutted
out firmly, the dark-pink nipples big and hard.

Humphrey put his mouth to one of Hana's tits and sucked. Hana threw her head back again and gasped.
She held Humphrey's head with both hands tightly to her breast.
He licked and sucked, making Hana moan happily. Then (being a man) he did the same to the other tit.
Lingering and loving, Humphrey gave each tit the same treatment again before going to work on Hana's
ribs.

On his knees now and kissing down her flat stomach to her slit of a belly button, Humphrey pushed her
dress off completely and Hana stepped out of it.

He lifted her up and carried her to the bed. He lay her flat and tugged off her soaking panties, losing
them somewhere in the bed sheets. Hana spread her legs and Humphrey kissed slowly down the outside
of her right thigh and back up the inside. Hana sighed deeply. The moisture of her pussy glistened in the
artificial light. Its scent, the aroma of eager readiness.

But Humphrey passed over her pussy and kissed slowly down her left thigh, building her arousal with
teasing denial.

The three-dimensional landscape had been a big sexuality peak for twenty minutes now, indicating that
Hana had not left her trance.

"He's good," Hestia said. "Hana's having fun."

Humphrey teased Hana more, kissing around her pussy, occasionally brushing her pubic hair with his
lips. She responded with short breaths and encouraging moans, her arms over her head, gripping the
pillow, eyes tightly shut. He worked his way toward her pussy once more and Hana couldn't wait. She
grabbed his head and held his mouth to her pussy.

Humphrey duly obliged her with his tongue, sending Hana into heaven.

Her back arched and her juices dribbled down his chin as Humphrey licked up a frenzy on her sweet
pussy, his hands on her waist, holding her tightly.

Hana gripped the bed sheet and began to buck. Humphrey licked and licked. Hana moaned deeply. Still
Humphrey licked. Hana panted and arched even further. Humphrey licked even more. Hana held her
breath. She grabbed his head again and cried out: "Oh, God! Oh, God! Just ... like ... that!"
She came hard. The peak on the holograph hit the ceiling of the display as Hana's thighs shook. She
flushed pink from her belly to her neck. The wave of pleasure tensed the muscles from her head to her
toes. She felt the convulsions in her pussy, along the small of her back, in her hard nipples and her
throat. The tingling, numbing, electric spasm made her go limp as it receded, leaving a warm afterglow.
The sexuality peak on the graph sank back down. Hana sighed.

Humphrey expertly kept Hana on the boil. He sucked on her clitoris and pushed a finger into her pussy,
pressing downward to give her a stretch. Hana writhed in ecstasy, her head shaking side-to-side.
Humphrey pushed in a second finger. With his left hand, he massaged a tit, twiddling the nipple.

With Hana loving the penetration, Humphrey began to kiss his way back up her belly, thrusting into her
sopping pussy with his middle two fingers and diddling her clitoris with his forefinger.

The dribble from her pussy ran down to her tight hole. Humphrey swirled the juice onto his little finger
and pushed it into Hana's arse. She gasped. Now he was fucking her with his hand, going deeper and
faster, two fingers in the pussy, one on the clit and one up the bum.

Hana's holograph was an entire mountain range.

Humphrey pushed the middle two fingers of his left hand into Hana's mouth and she sucked on them
greedily. He took a tit into his mouth again and kept up the rhythm with his right hand. Hana had
nowhere to go except more peaks and more orgasms. She stiffened, held her breath, neglected sucking
his fingers, arched and came again, with shakes and moans.

Another beautiful climax made Hana cry out and now it was Humphrey's time. He lay on her, pressed
their mouths together, held her shoulders and thrust in hard.

Hana gasped happily. Then Humphrey did what he was designed to do. He humped Hana senseless. She
crossed her legs over his back and moaned sweet joy loudly in his ear, reaching a plateau as Humphrey
kept up the rhythm.

He pushed himself up to make a steeper angle. Hana liked that very much. His hydraulic cock hit the
sweet spot with every thrust. She arched even further, so only the top of her head was on the bed, her
waist impossibly thin, her chest puffed up, ribs showing, firm tits pointed upward. Still Humphrey
humped away, with an arm under her back to support her. Hana sighed deeply in between her gasping
moans as his mouth found a tit again and sucked hard.

Hana's holographic read-out had registered only the sexuality peaks for the last forty minutes. But it was
almost time for Humphrey's own peak. True to his program, Humphrey pushed himself up and thrust
even more quickly. He gasped out:

"I'm there. I'm there. Choke me!"

Hana put her hands around Humphrey's neck and began to squeeze.

"I've got you now!" said Professor Erskine in triumph. "You're a wily one but I can see what you're up
to!"

He stopped the lines of code cascading down the wall projected from his computer tab and highlighted a
string. He told the computer to recognise similar strings and restarted the cascade.

"They're synchronised," Mary exclaimed, pointing at the holograph.

The sexuality peak was undulating with regular rises and falls in time with Humphrey's thrusts,
registering Hana's joyful response. But the self-preservation module undulated in time as well.

"That's right!" Maurice enthused. "The harm/care module is completely flat but the sexuality and self-
preservation modules are aligned. Every burst of sexual passion has an equal charge of self-defence.
That's why she's strangling poor Humphrey."

"Does Hana believe she's being attacked?" Mary asked.

"No. Her self-defensive behaviour is a reflex under the control of the rogue program. She's not aware of
it. Hana knows she's having sex."
As Humphrey's breathing was artificial, only for effect, Hana's throttling did no harm. He continued to
thrust into her, shaking the bed with his vigorous humps. She squeezed harder.

In the original event, Raleigh had passed out by now but Humphrey was a sturdy robot. He continued
humping away as his program looped the final few seconds of his instructions.

Hana, in a trance, misguided by the rogue program, squeezed Humphrey's neck with all her might.

Just as Humphrey at last achieved his peak, Hana snapped his head off. The headless robot arched
backward and ejaculated. An arc of artificial semen landed on Hana's thigh and the bed as Humphrey's
head clanged on the floor and his body fell limply forward.

Hana snapped out of her erotic trance and scooted up the bed in horror, crying and shaking. She held
the pillow against her for protection. Her head sank down and she sobbed.

Hestia ran to comfort her. She climbed onto the bed and held Hana tightly, calming the robot, who
shook with guilt and shame.

"Don't blame yourself," Hestia said. "He was only a machine. You didn't kill anyone."

"I'm only a machine," Hana said pitifully.

"No you're not. You're a person as well."

Hana put her arms around Hestia and held her tightly while she sobbed.

******

"We've got the beggar!" Professor Erskine said. "There's no doubt Hana was programmed to murder Mr.
Raleigh, knowing his sexual proclivities, triggered by the words 'Choke me'."
"It's a clever little program. It hijacks the existing program by changing the start and end positions of a
string of code. That's why a comparison with the original program can't see the difference. When it's
triggered, it writes new code over the existing code, jumps to another string, puts the original code back
and starts all over again."

"Can you tell who wrote the rogue program?" Arthur asked.

"No. Most programmers have a signature but I wouldn't be able to recognise one in this case. That
doesn't mean we can't catch the culprit. I can tell you the precise moment that the new code was
infiltrated into Hana's brain."

"You can? When did it happen?" Arthur asked. "We know when Hana left the Nakatani laboratory and
joined Mr. Raleigh."

"I can't tell you yet, Arthur. I need to get Hana under the magnetoscanner. Even then, it will take a few
days of gently probing through her program; but the evidence is there, now I know what to look for."

"You still need to take Hana away?"

"Yes."

"May I remind you that Hana is our property, professor," Ishikawa said. "You have no right to harm her."

"I won't harm her. If I was scanning her brain for the rogue code without knowing what I was looking for,
then I might have scrambled her program or fried her circuits; but now I know what I'm seeking, I can be
much more gentle. There will be no damage at all, I guarantee."

******

While the remains of Humphrey were cleared away by the deputies and the professor secured his data,
Arthur reported to Mrs. Malkin.
"What's your theory for who the culprit is?" she asked.

"The program is sophisticated, Ma'am, so my guess is that an engineer at the Nakatani laboratory
uploaded it to Hana. He would have the opportunity and the skill, but I assume he was paid either by a
business rival of Mr. Raleigh or by a family member, presumably Carmen Raleigh."

"Carmen Raleigh had a strong motive," Mrs. Malkin said.

"She did, Ma'am. Raleigh cheated on her many times, often quite publicly. However, a dispute last year
between one of Raleigh's companies and a subsidiary of the Nakatani Corporation also puts the
engineering firm in the frame."

"The rogue program used Raleigh's sexual proclivities as a trigger," Mrs. Malkin said. "How well was this
known?"

"I'm not sure. Carmen Raleigh likely knew but it's also possible that it's something Raleigh kept from his
wife and revealed only to a mistress, who might have told anyone."

"I see. So what are the risks in transferring Hana to Professor Erskine's laboratory, to be examined under
his magnetoscanner?"

"She'll need strong police protection because the only way to protect the guilty party now will be to
destroy Hana's brain with a magnetic pulse gun."

Mrs. Malkin and Arthur discussed a plan of action, then she sent him to gather everyone to her office.

When everyone was gathered in the Head Mistress's office (except Hestia, who refused to leave the
distraught robot, and the professor, who took his equipment back to his hotel room), Mrs Malkin made
her announcement.

"I have authorised Constable Jeffries to arrange Hana's transfer to Professor Erskine's laboratory in
Oxford. Meanwhile, Hana will stay powered off on a bench in the police station, which Arthur will keep
locked whenever he's absent, until a police escort arrives from Earth. Any questions?"
There were lots of questions from Mr. Ishikawa and Mr. Festing, which the JP answered after dismissing
Arthur and his deputies.

Mary, Hestia and Arthur took Hana to the police station. They had a long conversation on the way. At
the station, Hestia took Hana into the shower and helped her dry off and dress. She brushed Hana's hair,
made her drink some water and treated her as lovingly as she would a sister. The two sat together on
the bench in the recess until it was time to go home.

With everyone gone, Arthur locked the door. He spent another hour working at his desk. He checked
that his guest on the bench was peaceful before going upstairs to his welcome bed.

******

Two hours later, in the middle of the night, when all was peaceful and the street lamps turned off to
save energy, a black-clad figure crept past the shadowy doorways along the East Causeway to the police
station. He easily picked the lock and checked with night-vision glasses for an alarm or motion-sensors.

Satisfied he was undetected, the intruder walked the few steps to the dormant figure on the bench, put
a black metal cylinder with a hand-grip against her temple and pressed the trigger.

The lights went on. Arthur and three of his deputies stood in the station, blocking the exits.

"Robert Festing," Arthur said, "you are under arrest for trespass with intent to commit a crime; with
attempted destruction of property; and with attempted tampering with evidence."

"Attempted?"

Hestia stood up, stretching her arms and back, stiff after sitting motionless for three hours on the bench.

"I'll take that magnetic pulse gun, thank you," Arthur said, relieving Mr. Festing of the weapon he
thought he'd used to fry Hana's brain.
"Hestia, how are you feeling?" Arthur asked.

"It was warm," she said, touching her temple where the gun had been placed. The magnetic pulse she
received was harmless to her but would have destroyed Hana, making the evidence of her altered
programming undetectable.

As the deputies marched Mr. Festing to a hotel room, to be securely locked in, Hestia stretched again.

"Ooh, my back's stiff," she complained.

"It would be after three hours sitting in the same position. Are you sure you're fine?"

"Completely fine. And Hana's safe. Was Mr. Festing the murderer?"

"Police on Earth will continue the investigation now but my guess is that Carmen Raleigh was behind it,
with Robert Festing's help."

Hestia placed a call to Mary, who had taken Hana back to her hotel room after she and Hestia had
swapped clothes in the bathroom.

"Did it go all right?" Mary asked.

"Yes, very well."

"I'm pleased. We were worried about you."

"Hana was worried?"

"Yes."
"Don't you mean that she exhibited the kind of mechanical behaviour that, were she human, you would
interpret as showing signs of worry?"

Mary laughed.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

6 Reset

It took less than a week for the police on Earth to wrap up the case because Carmen Raleigh and Robert
Festing made plea-bargains. They implicated an engineer at the Nakatani laboratory, who was bribed to
write and plant the code in Hana just before she was delivered to Ashmore Raleigh.

Carmen Raleigh admitted to negligence, saying that the rogue program was intended to frighten her
husband, not to kill him. The tragic accident happened only because Hana was so much stronger than a
normal robot.

Robert Festing's plea-bargain would see him disbarred from practising law in the Anglosphere. He would
likely pay a fine for trying to destroy evidence but escape jail-time for conspiring to kill Ashmore Raleigh.

The Nakatani technician would get the worst treatment, no doubt: losing his job, unable to work in the
computing world, maybe even a prison sentence.

The fate of Hana was left to the decision of Capella Space Station's Justice of the Peace.

Daisuke Ishikawa stayed on Capella at the orders of his company, to try to secure the release of Hana
back to her owners. Professor Erskine was still on Capella because he was a lover of robots. He felt guilty
about poor old headless Humphrey, so he had the wreckage taken back to the South Causeway
workshop, where he helped repair the robot.
On the afternoon that Maurice got Humphrey to speak again, Mrs. Malkin invited him, Mary, Hestia, Mr.
Ishikawa and Arthur to her study to discuss news of the case from Earth. She was unhappy with the
result.

"I disapprove of plea-bargains on principle," she said. "The law should be the law. In this case, it's
patently false that Carmen Raleigh was just trying to scare her husband with a practical joke that went
wrong. I blame the police on Earth for not making a better case."

"Won't justice be served?" Arthur asked. "After all, Raleigh was a rat."

"So let his wife divorce him or take his money. He deserved whipping, not strangling."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Is it true that Hana is stronger than a regular robot, Mr. Ishikawa?" Mrs. Malkin asked. "Why is that?"

"It's a feature of Japanese robots, Ma'am," he explained. "We give them double the strength of an
equivalent person. Robots are programmed to obey law officers, so the Japanese police have many
willing and very strong deputies available."

"In Hana's case," he continued, "because she's such a valuable robot, her self-preservation module was
enhanced and she was given about five times the strength of a woman her own weight."

"I see. So what do we do with her?" Mrs. Malkin asked the group.

"There's a small chance her rogue program can be triggered again," Maurice said, "unless it is removed,
which might damage her."

"Normally a victim's family can ask the court to destroy a rogue robot," Arthur said, "but that won't
happen in this case, where a family member is the culprit."

"Hana can't be destroyed," Hestia protested. "She's innocent!"

"She is also very valuable," Ishikawa said.

"Yet she left your factory in a defective state," Mrs. Malkin said unimpressed.

"Can Hana be reset to factory conditions?" Mary asked.

"Yes, she can," Professor Erskine said. "It will wipe all her training, memory, experience and basic
program, including the hijacker. Then she can be reinstalled from scratch."

"But she'll lose her personality," Hestia said.

"Some of her personality will be lost," Maurice agreed, "including her guilty feelings, bad memories and
shame."

This made Hestia pause. She felt sorry for Hana and didn't want her harmed; but if resetting her would
wipe away her unearned guilt, then Hestia would rather Hana was reset than be in pain.

"Hana's basic program will be the same afterward, Hestia," the professor assured her. "The fundamental
elements of her personality won't change. She'll have all her instinctive likes and dislikes. She'll even
know her own name. And she'll have the fun of learning about sex again."

Murder on Capella Space Station

byErinaceous©

Hestia couldn't be completely happy about the prospect of resetting Hana but it seemed to be the best
option. She smiled and tried to be relieved for her robot double.

"Mr. Ishikawa, would your company object to Hana's program being wiped and reinstalled?" Mrs.
Malkin asked.

"I will check with my head office, Ma'am. I'm certain they will agree but will request that we do it
ourselves."
"Then you can tell them they can have Hana back only if they agree to the professor resetting her here
on Capella."

******

The Nakatani Corporation agreed to Hana being reset to factory conditions by Professor Erskine. They
sent him the latest version of her firmware and basic program. He wiped the old program and data. For
eight hours, Hana sat on the bench in the police station, dormant, with cables attached to the data
points on her neck, uploading new software.

As Hestia spent most time with Hana, comforting her and keeping her company, checking on her even
when she was powered off, it was only fair that she should be the one to turn Hana back on again.

Hestia sat next to Hana on the bench, holding her hand, as the robot woke up after the reset. Hana
opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Hestia's beautiful face, looking concerned.

"Hello, I'm Hana. What's your name?"

"It's Hestia."

"Are you human, Hestia?"

"I am."

"You're lovely. Are all humans as perfect as you?"

"Yes, we are, Hana, in our own individual ways."

Professor Erskine came over to check on Hana and the sex-robot reacted immediately. Her smile
broadened, her pupils widened, her skin coloured pink and she pushed out her chest. She blinked and a
little squirt from her tear ducts made her dark green eyes sparkle. The hand that Hestia held felt
warmer. Hana followed the professor with her eyes as he approached, completely ignoring Hestia, who
smiled to see that the femininity and sexuality modules of the sex-robot's basic program worked
perfectly.

******

When Daisuke Ishikawa took custody of Hana, he came to say goodbye to Arthur and his deputies.

"Have a safe trip back to Earth, sir," Arthur said.

"Thank you, Constable, but we're not going to Earth. My company thinks that, due to her notoriety,
Hana will not be in quite the same demand as before. Instead, we've received a request to supply sex-
robots to a new resort called Erythos."

This was a place in the news. A red rocky moon with a giant crater filled with hot mineral-rich water,
whose steam covered the moon's surface with a thick pink mist. Wealthy tourists sat in the red bubbling
water for its health benefits, followed by relaxing massages. Now the owners wanted to provide
additional services.

"Hana will suit them perfectly," Ishikawa said. "Rich old men wanting companionship, care and fun. It
will be like heaven for her."

Though she was happy that Hana would survive and have a useful career, none the less Hestia cried
when she said goodbye to Hana. She kissed the robot, hugged her a last time and wished her luck.

7 Epilogue

Arthur didn't see his special deputies again for two weeks. Mary settled into her position in the school
and found an apartment to rent. Hestia continued to make her name as one of the most sought-after
Entertainers on the station. And Arthur returned to his normal police business of hated form-filling after
drunk-and-disorderly incidents by riotous freighter crews.

One day, Tom, the slow barman at The Goat and Chariot, told Hestia that a customer had requested to
meet her that evening but he wanted to remain anonymous. Despite Hestia's entreaties, Tom refused to
say who it was. Normally, she would reject such a customer but she trusted Tom. So, that evening, she
prepared her flat, put on fresh bed sheets, showered and did her make up. Not knowing the preferences
of her client, she wore only black suspenders, stockings and a stylish scarlet corset under a sheer white
silk dressing gown. She also put her hair up. A black choker emphasised her long thin neck.

The knock on the door was exactly at 8pm. Hestia answered it immediately.

"Arthur!" she exclaimed.

There, before her, was Arthur Jeffries in a smart grey suit, scrubbed clean, blushing pink, stiffly holding a
large bunch of red roses and a bottle of champagne. He smelled of aftershave.

"Oh, Arthur! This won't do at all. I can't have you as a customer. You're a friend. ... Well don't look so
disappointed and don't stand there like a lemon. Come on in. Take a seat. I'll just go and change."

In five minutes, Hestia was back, wearing jogging pants and a capacious sweat shirt. Her choker was
gone and her hair was down. She still looked gorgeous. Nothing could change that. But the element of
sexual allure was missing.

Arthur didn't know why he'd come in. He was embarrassed, still holding the flowers and wine, as his
fantasy disappeared before his eyes.

"For me?" Hestia asked as she prised the roses from his grip. She sniffed them. "Why thank you, Arthur.
They're lovely."

She put the flowers in the kitchen sink for now and returned to sit opposite him on the sofa.

"This won't do at all, my lad," she repeated. And, because he still hadn't spoken, she said in gentle
tones:

"You must understand that I don't want you as a customer, Arthur, because I want you as a friend.
When I was an escort in London, one of the girls gave me good advice. She said: a customer can become
a friend but never let a friend become a customer. It will destroy the friendship. ... You do understand,
don't you, Sweetie?"

"Do you mean you're rejecting me for my sake?"

"Certainly not! I'm rejecting you for my sake. But I'm not rejecting you as a lover. I'm rejecting you as a
customer."

"You'd reject me as a lover as well, though, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, but not for the reason you think. I don't want any lovers at all. It's not in my plan. I knew some
escort girls who had boyfriends and I didn't understand it. If I had a lover, I'd want him to be jealous and
possessive and completely torn up if I was with anyone else. I don't want a man who would happily let
me be an Entertainer."

"But won't it be a lonely life, without any love?"

"In one way, yes. But, in another way, I have lots of love. I love men and I love sex, so I won't be bored
and I won't lack company."

"I don't understand and I don't think it's what's best for you, but it's not my place to judge you."

"You can judge me, Arthur. As a friend, I want you to. I'll always listen to your opinion, even if I won't
follow it. ... Have I hurt you, Arthur? Is it really love?"

"I don't know what it is, but you're so beautiful and so much fun to be with that I think of you all the
time. The last two weeks have been torture for me, missing you, longing for you, wanting to tell you how
I feel but knowing you'd reject me. Then I thought, if I was one of your customers, then you could
pretend to love me, just for an hour or so, and I could have my dream."

"I'm sorry, Arthur, I want to be your friend, not your dream."

He sat there in silence as the reality sunk in. The dream faded quickly now he could see there was no
hope, but what Hestia said next put everything on another footing anyway.

"Besides," she added, "what would Mary say?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you know how she feels about you?"

"No."

"Good lord! Men! I've no idea why I like you so much: you're all so daft! How can you not know? You're
lucky I'm here to watch over you, my lad. I'll call her."

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

Hestia placed the call.

"Hi Mary, it's me. Where are you? Arthur's here already. ... What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean
the party I invited you to a week ago. ... Sure I told you, didn't I? ... Well, I meant to. ... Yes, I know my
brains are made of fluff. ... That explains why no one else came. ... Anyway, it's just the two of us here,
so you've got to come. ... If you're not here in ten minutes, I'll send Arthur to fetch you. ... That's right,
Sweetie, see you soon."

Hestia got up.

"I'm going to change," she said. "When Mary gets here, open the champagne and give her half of the
roses. And for God's sake, man, smile!"
Arthur didn't smile.

Even so, despite his embarrassment, despite his lost dream, despite his confusion, now that he knew
how Mary felt about him, everything changed.

He had never thought that much about Mary. Sure, he admired her brains and he liked her forthright
personality. He noticed she had done something with her hair (or was it her makeup?) and he had not
seen her in a cardigan for a while. But it was the fact that Mary liked him that made him think differently
about her.

It was something to ponder and also something to feel good about. Arthur sat on the couch, musing
while the minutes flew by.

Eventually there was a knock on the door. Hestia sprinted past in an emerald party frock and high heels
to let Mary in.

"Come on, man, fetch the roses and open the champagne. Don't sit there like a sad pumpkin," she
ordered as she ran past.

Arthur did as he was told while Hestia detained Mary in the hall, admiring her frilly dress and the subtle
blonde highlights in her light-brown hair.

He popped the cork just as Mary entered the room. She was hesitant but happy to see him. Arthur was
just as happy to see her. He held out a glass of champagne and a half-bunch of red roses.

Then Arthur Jeffries, Constable of Capella Space Station, smiled.

******

Author's afterword:

Thank you for reading my story.

Hestia and Arthur are minor characters in Every Man's Fantasy. I hope you'll read the whole story (and
vote and leave a comment).

If you do read the series, then you'll find Hestia appears in chapter 1, chapter 6, chapter 15, chapter 19
and chapter 22 (with a brief mention in chapter 20). Arthur Jeffries appears in chapter 15 and chapter
22.

Hestia's story is not quite finished and even Arthur and Mary have future cameos.

Happy reading!

The Mystery of Eden Homeworld

byErinaceous©

Thanks for your votes and comments.

This is a non-erotic science-fiction story, the latest in the series of stand-alone short stories featuring
Hana Jeffries. It's the story I promised at the end of Every Man's Fantasy, chapter 27.

There are some tie-ins to the Every Man's Fantasy series, where the story fits in between chapters 27
and 28.

I hope you enjoy it.

Erinaceous.

********

The Mystery of Eden Homeworld

1 Leaving Capella
"What are guyots?" Hestia asked.

"They're undersea volcanic mountains with flat tops," Hana answered.

Hestia Smith and her honorary niece, fourteen-year-old Hana Jeffries, were in their seats on a
hyperspace liner, waiting to depart. It was Earth-year 2,559 and they were leaving Capella Space Station
for the Outworld planet Celetaris, a week's journey on the regular stopping service. An in-flight program
about an optional excursion to Eden Homeworld captured Hestia's interest.

"It says Eden was once a volcanic planet covered with miles of water," said Hestia, "but after
terraforming, it now has ten-thousand islands in a great ocean."

"Did they use electrolysis or photolysis?" Hana asked.

"Pardon?"

"The terraformers must have evaporated the ocean by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. On an
Earth-sized planet, oxygen will stay in the atmosphere but hydrogen will escape into space or be
collected for fuel. Electrolysis does it with electrodes. Photolysis uses plants or nanobots. Does the
program say which method was used, or both?"

"It doesn't say. It just says if you choose one excursion this journey, make it to Eden Homeworld: it's a
paradise. We should go there."

"You said you wanted to visit Erythos, Auntie."

"I do, but Erythos is for lazy rich people who like spa-treatments. You'd be bored. Eden's better."

Hana looked up the price-list for excursions to Eden. There were day-trips and longer holidays.

"They seem very expensive," she said doubtfully.

Hana was going to university four years early and her parents had saved hard to afford their brilliant
daughter's flight and living expenses.

"Aw, Sweetie. My treat. We'll take the day-trip. It saves packing our suitcases again."

Aged 38, but still looking 23 thanks to rejuvenation treatments, the red-haired Entertainer had recently
retired from her job of pleasing men for money. Now Hestia was looking forward to a new life on
Celetaris, where she hoped she could be useful to her niece.

It was only forty minutes since they made a tearful farewell to Hana's family and their friends in the
passenger dock.

While their trunks were settled in the hold, they trundled sheeplike through the lines of the customs and
hygiene station, wearing magnestrip waistbands and overshoes to prevent them floating off in the low-
gravity dock, tugging suitcases weighed down with magnetic lugs.

Despite her tears, Hana was excited to leave Capella Space Station for the first time in her life. Hestia
was no less excited. She had not been on a spaceship in nearly twenty years, not since she left Earth to
seek her fortune on Capella.

After embarkation, the crew in blue-grey uniforms and orange magnestrip vests smiled as they helped
passengers to their cabins. Hana unpacked her case, clipping her clothes into the cupboard to prevent
them floating around in zero gravity, securing her suitcase in a drawer.

She took her wash kit to the bathroom.

There was a shower cubicle which puffed out damp air, to be wiped off with a sponge, followed by a
blast of warm dry air. The next cubicle was a toilet with an adjustable intimate attachment for each user.
The spaceship was designed to accelerate and decelerate at 1g for long periods of flight, creating an
Earth-like gravitation, but there would be times when the ship was just cruising, when anything not
clipped into place or attracted to the floor by magnetic lugs would float around and be a nuisance.
Looking at the arrangements, Hana decided she would wait until they were accelerating before using the
toilet.

"I can hold it in," she said to herself. "So long as I don't drink anything."

"What's that, Sweetie?" Hestia asked as she packed away her makeup case.

Hana showed her the toilet attachment.

"It's not so bad once you're used to it," Hestia said.

"Yuck!" said Hana.

Her last item to stow away was a big soft furry toy rabbit. White with pink ears, nose and belly, it was a
going-away present from her best-friend Morty Bowman and his family. She hesitated a second, then
decided she was not embarrassed, so she pulled off her magnetic waistband and overshoes, kicked off
from the floor and floated up to the ceiling.

Hana executed a perfect roll, twisting out to place her feet on the ceiling, cushioning her motion to stop
dead. She tucked the rabbit under the blanket of the top bunk and pushed off again. With another twist
and roll, she landed on the floor, with her feet ready to slip into the magnestrip overshoes.

Hestia watched her niece's self-taught gymnastic skills. "You'll do," she said.

With their clothes and cases stowed away, they left the cabin to find their assigned seats for the
departure.

As soon as they sat down, a voice came over the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm your flight manager, Carol. On behalf of Captain Edwards and the crew, I'd
like to welcome passengers who joined us at Capella Space Station. This is the regular stopping service
clockwise through the Beltway Hyperspace System to the Outworld colonies. Our next stop is in about
eight hours at Eden Homeworld.

"Please take your flight seats and watch the safety briefing on the big screen. Crew-members will be
happy to help you in any way you need or answer any questions you have. I wish you a pleasant and
comfortable flight.

"Crew announcement: fifteen minutes to departure. Check and secure the cabins. Thank you."

Hana looked around the circular deck. There were twenty cabins around the rim, with emergency
escape pods and other amenities in between. The middle of the deck had lifts and stairs to other levels.
Forty passengers sat in large comfortable seats facing a big curving screen toward the centre of the
deck. It was showing the safety briefing. The seats had strong harnesses and pockets with clips to secure
personal belongings in zero gravity, like Hana's computer tab. There were directional speakers in the
soft protective headrests.

Carol, the flight manager, broadcast again.

"Crew announcement: check that all loose items are safely stowed away. Secure all passenger
harnesses. Ten-minutes to departure."

Stewards came around to fasten the harnesses and check the headrests were curled into place.

It was now that Hestia looked at the in-flight magazine, projected in 3d by beams from her headrest.

She could have learned about guyots for herself but she liked that Hana knew everything. "Some people
have the webopedia," Hestia would say, "but I have the Hanapedia," and Hana would roll her eyes.

With the safety briefing over, the big screen projected images from the surface cameras of the
spaceship.
In a choreographed movement, six tugboats positioned themselves alongside the ship. Their long
antennae-like grapples extended to three times their lengths and made strong magnetic fields. Their job
was to pull the spaceship away from the passenger dock and guide it clear of the space station.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the flight manager said again. "Magnetic artificial gravitation has been turned
off and lights guiding you to the emergency escape pods have been turned on. Crew: dim the cabin
lights and take your stations for manoeuvring."

The cabin lights went down and they felt lighter in their seats. A new voice came over the speakers.

"Ladies and gentleman, this is Captain Edwards. We're ready to depart Capella Space Station and launch
toward the clockwise Beltway beacon. Crew: manoeuvring in one minute."

Exactly a minute later, there was a soft jolt as the ship detached from the docking point and was pulled
away from the space station by the tugboats. Powerful rocket exhausts washed over the hull, making a
faint hissing inside. A deep slow vibration - felt rather than heard - signified that the ion drive had been
turned on.

They felt the inertia as the great ship was slowly turned around and pointed away from the space
station. The bass rumble of the ion drive became a smooth background buzz, like a radio hum, but it
quietened down and was almost undetectable as they gradually picked up speed.

Ten minutes later, flight manager Carol's voice again came over the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're clear of Capella Space Station and have said goodbye to the tugboats.
We're on our way to the beacon, which you can see as a small blue dot in the centre of the screen.
Captain Edwards has engaged the ion drive to bring us up to our approach velocity of just over 100,000
metres per second. Your harnesses will remain secure until we are at 1g acceleration. Thank you."

There was a surge as the drive flipped a heavy beam of ions out of the rear of the ship at nearly light-
speed. The passengers were pushed down into their seats. The space station, Hana's home, began to
recede.

"We're at 1g," Carol announced, as the cabin lights came on and the harnesses released.
"We will accelerate at this rate for 2 hours and 50 minutes to reach entry speed for the beacon, after
which we will cruise for another half-hour. When we enter the hyperspace plume, it will take only three
seconds before we emerge from the exit beacon near Eden Homeworld, 60 light-years away. We ask you
to return to your seats before the acceleration stops and we become weightless again.

"Meanwhile, the restaurant, bars and shops are open. Please enjoy your journey."

"Can we look around the ship?" Hana asked.

"Sure. Let me get my credit stick so we can book our excursion."

"I need the toilet first," Hana said, having been valiantly holding it in all this time.

The tour took them almost the whole length of the ship, which was a strong tube with an ion drive at
the stern and the pilot's station at the prow. The body of the ship was split vertically into sixty decks.
Forty decks had passenger accommodations. Other decks were for the crew, restaurants, bars, games
rooms, a children's play area, shops, a rudimentary gym, a helpdesk to report problems, cinemas and
even a casino.

After they visited the travel agent to book the day-trip to Eden, Hestia and Hana went exploring.

The restaurants and cafes were comfortable and already busy. They were open only during periods of
acceleration and deceleration. Food and drink were not permitted outside the restaurants, due to the
nuisance of spillages during zero-gravity flight. The food looked good but it was afternoon by their body-
clocks and neither was hungry.

They visited the shops and looked in on the entertainment deck but did not stay long at either.

When they returned to their seats, Hestia took out a fashion magazine and Hana studied a physics paper
on her computer tab. She projected a 3d image of a Beltway hyperspace junction, a grey tube a
kilometre in diameter, filled with complex electronics.
Hana rotated the holographic image with a flick of her fingers, zooming in to focus on the junction's
mechanism, dismantling its components, learning how it redirected spaceships out of the Beltway onto
a spur, either back toward Earth, where the hundred or so Homeworld planets were, or outward toward
one of the dozen Outworld planets, where Hestia and she were headed.

"Are you worried about jumping through hyperspace? It's perfectly safe, you know."

It was the man in the seat next to her who spoke. He was a middle-aged black man with a moustache, a
squareish face and a soft voice.

"Thank you, I'm not worried," Hana said, "though I've never jumped through hyperspace before."

"I asked only because I can see you're reading about the Goldrick junctions. I thought maybe you sought
reassurance."

"I'm reading all Doctor Goldrick's papers."

"Hana's going to study astrophysics with Danielle Goldrick at the Celetaris Institute for Science," Hestia
said with immense pride in her honorary niece.

"That's impressive. May I call you Hana? I'm Tom. This is my wife, Grace," the kindly man said, indicating
a middle-aged black woman in a flowery dress.

"This is my aunt Hestia."

"How old are you, Hana?"

"Fourteen."

"Just fourteen," Aunt Hestia boasted. "She was fourteen yesterday."

"And you're going to university?" Tom said. "I'm even more impressed."

"Are you a physicist, Sir?"

"Please call me Tom. ... I'm an electronic engineer. I specialise in security systems but I like to keep up
with all science and technology. I know that the Goldrick Junctions are being upgraded to Doctor
Goldrick's new hyperspace technology. Like you, we're going to Celetaris, but from there we're taking
the tethered link to New Exeter. That was the second hyperspace pathway built with Doctor Goldrick's
new technology. The first one was to Samothea, as I expect you know."

"Are you going to New Exeter just to use the new technology?"

"It's not the only reason. Our son, Luke, is competing in the Airsuit Trials there."

"Airsuits are another of Doctor Goldrick's inventions," Hana said. "I've a paper on airsuit technology to
read but I haven't got to it yet. How do they work?"

"They're very clever. They use microwaves to compress the air around the suit into a force-field,
something like an exo-skeleton, but with an almost frictionless surface. With a good supply of air, you
can fly an airsuit. On New Exeter, Luke flies his suit around ice lakes and abandoned quarries. We think
he's got a shot at winning a prize in his age-group."

"Tom, stop boring the poor girl."

It was Grace who spoke. She had a round happy face and a warm smile. Tom's accent was East Coast
American but Grace spoke with a warm Caribbean lilt.

"Please excuse him, Hana. If he's not going on about science, he's boasting about Luke."

"I don't mind, Ma'am. I love science and Luke sounds brave and skilled."

"Thank you, he is. Call me Grace."

The neighbours for the week-long trip spent an enjoyable half-hour getting to know each other. Grace
was a senior nurse practitioner. Hestia explained that she would be looking for a new job on Celetaris.
All four were going on the one-day excursion to Eden.

The travellers went to dinner together and stayed in the restaurant until closing time, when the flight
manager announced that acceleration would stop in half-an-hour. They were back in their seats and
secured with the harnesses in good time for entry to the hyperspace beacon.

The forward camera showed the purple hyperspace plume glowing with static electricity within the
silver-grey ring of the beacon, with golden lights flashing around its rim. In a minute, they plunged into
the plume and there was only static on the external cameras.

Three seconds later the forward image cleared to show black star-filled space. In the rear was a
hyperspace beacon receding from them, its purple plume stitching back together around a vaporous
black hole caused by the exiting spaceship.

There was an announcement.

"This is Captain Edwards. We have emerged from the exit beacon and are now on course for an
engineering station in a 3,000 mile orbit above Eden Homeworld. Crew: manoeuvring in five minutes."

The flight manager came on the speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are cruising at 100,000 metres per second. Your harnesses and headrests will
remain secured in position until Captain Edwards has turned the ship around. You'll be weightless as we
cruise for half-an-hour before decelerating at 1g, when the harnesses will release and you can leave
your seats. Thank you."

The spaceship began to rotate about its long axis, giving the passengers a sideways impetus, pushing
them firmly into the backs of their chairs. After a minute, there was a different motion, like falling
forward, as the great ship gently turned nose over tail until it faced in the opposite direction.

It was a delicate manoeuvre done slowly and carefully. Even so, a few passengers had queasy stomachs.
"Clever," said Hana, who knew something about gyroscopic motion and suffered no queasiness herself.

"What's clever?" asked Tom.

"How Captain Edwards twisted the ship as well as turned it over, to reduce the effect of the change in
momentum on us all."

"Yes, I see that. It was well done."

Half-an-hour later the ion drive came back on and they began their deceleration at 1g, giving them the
same downward inertia as gravitation on Earth.

Passengers could leave their seats again. As it was night-time by Earth standard time, Hestia, Grace and
Tom went to bed, to catch a few hours' sleep before their excursion the next day. Hana never slept
much. She stayed up to read Doctor Goldrick's paper on microwave compressed air technology.

2 Gravitation

Next morning, two-hundred passengers disembarked at the engineering station in a 3,000-mile orbit
around the planet Eden. A large shuttlecraft waited to take them down to the planet. Most of the
passengers had reached their destinations. Some were visiting Eden for a holiday, and some, like Hestia,
Hana, Grace and Tom, were day tourists.

After the shuttlecraft made a hot and fast entry to the atmosphere, it levelled off at ten miles up and
began a steady glide down to the surface. The pilot retracted the heat shields from the camera windows
and the passengers took their first real view of Eden Homeworld. Those who had not seen it before
gasped.

Eden was a paradise. From that height, its colours were mostly shades of blue and green, with wispy
white clouds and a big soft yellow sun making the ocean shine and the land glow.
The ocean was vast, though only a remnant of the original sea that had been four miles deep, now
mostly evaporated away by terraforming. Thousands of volcanic mountains rose as green pinnacles
through the surface. Once underwater, the guyots stood proudly out, up to a mile in height.

Some mountains joined up to form large islands, with the water forming shallow inlets: blue fingers
washing as milky foam against the shores.

As the shuttlecraft descended, more features became visible. Some steep-sided guyots had grey granite
peaks, their slopes cultivated with light-green terraces, rich in crops, or pastures separated by dark-
green hedges. Other mountains and the valleys of the bigger islands were covered by rich verdant
forest.

Some volcanoes were bare granite pipes. On others, fountains erupted from their peaks and fell as
waterfalls or fast-flowing rivers down their walls.

The shuttlecraft flew over dozens of guyots and coral atolls before making its final descent in a wide
circle toward a large island formed from three mountains. This was 'The Three Ladies', a triple city built
on an island.

The astroport was on Daughter City, on the eastern point of the triangle. Nine miles to the west was
Mother City, the business centre. Thirteen miles to the north was Grandmother City.

As they circled the island, losing height and speed, the passengers had a good look at the three ladies.

Grandmother City was steep-sided and lush with pastel shades in the hazy sunlight. It had a pink and
white fairytale castle on its granite peak over a cascading waterfall that fell into a wedge-like chasm.

A minute or so later they passed the crystal and steel skyscrapers on the flat peak of Mother City,
glimmering in the morning sunlight.

Now on its final approach, the shuttlecraft circled Daughter City. Its flat top, more than a mile across,
contained the astroport, its runways, conning tower, passenger buildings, hangers and transport links.
Many light aircraft queued to land or taxied on the runways. A terrestrial stratoliner took off below
them and made a turn out to sea, quickly gaining height, the sun glinting on its wings.
The Mystery of Eden Homeworld

byErinaceous©

They flew over the houses, offices, schools and parks of a living city that grew out of the mountainside.
Hoverbuses negotiated the steep winding streets up to the astroport and a maglev monorail coasted on
stilts across the arable terraces between the mountains, heading for its station beside the terminal.

******

They landed safely and disembarked on a warm sunny morning into the glass-covered astroport. About
sixty passengers were on the day tour. They were met by guides in red jackets who collected them
together into groups of ten or twelve.

The last group to be formed included Hestia, Hana, Grace and Tom. They were delayed because Hestia
and Hana, who had been living under artificial light on a space station, stopped to apply lashings of sun-
cream before they could be exposed to natural daylight.

The tour-guide was a young Korean woman called Min. She vainly tried to hurry her group along but
Hana caused a further delay. She had something else she wanted to do.

Standing on the platform, she took a tennis ball from her backpack and looked up at the ceiling of the
astroport to check its height. There were people around her but plenty of room for her task.

Hana threw the ball straight up in the air, watching it climb and fall back toward her outstretched hand.
She caught the ball and smiled happily.

"Real gravitation," she said to Hestia with satisfaction. "Make a video of me for Morty please?"

Hestia took Hana's communicator and videoed the girl as she threw the ball in the air again, spinning
around to catch it with a great beaming smile, her pony-tail swishing across her face.

"Look, Morty!" she cried to the camera. "It comes down in an exact straight line!"
Hestia filmed the exuberant girl in her innocent fun, laughing as she flung the ball up and caught it again.
Best of all, Hestia got a still shot of Hana in mid-air, just as she launched the ball again, kicking her heels
up, her knees bent, her back arched, her head thrown back and her arms raised. Her whole frame was
an expression of pure joy.

This was when Min came over to hurry the pair along. Down to only eight members, she complained
that they would be the last to take a hoverbus from the astroport. Hana sheepishly apologised to them
all as she got on the hoverbus, explaining that she promised to send a video to her best-friend back on
Capella of her first experience of gravitation.

"Don't you worry, Honey," Grace said on behalf of everyone, whether they agreed or not. "It's important
to get your bearings in a new place, especially if you've never been on a planet with real gravity before."

Hana's youthful innocence won over the other members of the group. They got to know each other as
the tour began with a hoverbus ride down the mountainside, through the valley between Daughter City
and Mother City, crossing a shallow inlet of the ocean when the hoverbus turned amphibious to scoot
across the water like a jetboat.

Besides Grace and Tom, whom they knew, and Min the guide, Hestia and Hana introduced themselves
to a Chinese couple, Nuo and Chen Yang, who were shopkeepers in their seventies. In the twenty-sixth
century, seventy was still middle-aged and the Yangs were a fit and active couple. They were headed to
a planet in the Sino-Russian sector and taking excursions at every stop on the way.

The last couple were Rowen and Agatha. Tall blonde women from the Nordic Alliance, they were friends
in their thirties on holiday together.

Apart from Min, who immigrated to Eden, they were all tourists from Earth or Capella.

******

The hoverbus took them on an exciting climb on a winding road up sheer cliffs to Mother City. It
deposited them at the ground-floor entrance to a large shopping centre in a sheltered canyon between
vast skyscrapers.
Mother City was ultra-modern. It was for businessmen, serious shoppers and tourists who liked to party
in nightclubs or enjoy the kind of entertainments that need flashing lights and loud noises. It was fun to
visit for a while. They had a good breakfast at a food court on the roof of a plastisteel skyscraper among
the wispy clouds, with the bustling city far below.

An hour in Mother City was long enough for this particular tour group, who had not come to Eden to go
shopping or look at skyscrapers. They took the maglev monorail from the central station, which crossed
the wide valleys on plastisteel legs, connecting all three cities. In fifteen minutes, they plunged into the
middle of the mountain of Grandmother City. The monorail ascended the seven levels of the city in a
spiral inside the mountain, stopping to deposit passengers at underground stations on its way to the
peak, sometimes emerging from between the streets, to run on elevated platforms for a quarter-mile or
so.

The tour group departed the monorail at level five, three-quarters of the way up the mountain. It was
the human heart of Grandmother City: a circle of terraced houses, narrow streets and wide squares with
street markets and an artists' quarter.

They emerged into bright sunlight. Min took them on a walking tour through the winding streets. Stone-
built houses in long terraces seemed to grow out of the cliffs. Eight stories high, they had wooden
shutters, narrow balconies and romantic garrets in which artists traditionally starved or looked for
inspiration from cracks in the plaster. Between the streets, there were glimpses of the ocean or heady
rooftop views of the lower levels.

The artist colony thrived in these charming back streets, where the best cafes and bars were found.

Crossroads opened out into squares with fountains or shady plane trees. Cafes with tables under blue-
and-white parasols spilled out into the wide streets. Market stalls with colourful awnings and noisy
vendors sold fruits, vegetables, bread, cheese, cooked meats and artisan wares, blocking the traffic.

Hana was pleased to see the citizens of Grandmother City were keen gardeners. Lush red bougainvillea,
lilac and honeysuckle grew on wires across the narrow passageways. Front gardens in the wider roads
had orange trees, olives, miniature pines, lollipop-shaped laurels and box hedges. Mock orange and
climbing roses in yellow and pink hung over the doorways. Back gardens had American sycamores and
tulip trees for shade. There were fig trees for fruit, laburnum for colour and jasmine for perfume.

With stops to browse the street markets, the tour of the artists' quarter finished in the early afternoon.
Min told her group:
"Our next stop is a cafe on the main square beside the castle. There's a funicular here to the plaza on
level seven, or you can take the stairs. There are 430 steps, so those of us taking the funicular will give
the energetic climbers a half-hour head start."

Grace and Tom preferred to be lazy and even the fit Yangs declined the stone steps; but Hana was
determined to walk, to feel as much gravity as she could. Hestia also fancied the exercise. Rowen and
Agatha came with them, so the four went on foot to the next meeting point at the top of the city.

On the bracing climb, they chatted about home and work. Agatha and Rowen were schoolteachers who
left their husbands at home to go travelling for a fortnight during their long summer holiday. They were
simple unpretentious folk, friendly but quiet. Their only affectation was to call themselves 'travellers'
rather than 'tourists'.

Min was waiting for them at the top of the steps and led them across a wide cobbled square, with the
castle on one side and shops, pubs, cafes and hotels in a crescent around the edge. At one end of the
crescent was the monorail station.

On the open side of the square between the station and the castle, there was a low wall and a
protective barrier to a sheer drop into a chasm that split the top of the mountain, as if a chunk has been
sliced from it.

The waterfall from a natural spring in the castle grounds splashed over the edge of the peak and
cascaded into the chasm. There was some wind at this height, a mile above the ocean. It drove spray
from the falls onto the plaza, making the cobble stones glint and shine.

The back yard of the café opened to a view over the red-tiled roofs and luscious gardens of the city.
Hana ran to the parapet to gaze on a vista she had only glimpsed between the houses on the stone
staircase.

From the platform built into the cliff, the full beauty of the city opened to her view, one of the most
magical sights in Eden Homeworld.

Beyond the roofs was the terraced mountainside, with the shimmering blue sea beyond and other
mountains hazy on the horizon. The golden afternoon sun drenched the abundant fields, planted with
violet lavender and green spiky wheat. Butterflies fluttered in their manic flight around a buddleia bush.
A hundred feet below them, bickering in a fig tree, a flock of parakeets was a colourful nuisance on a hot
day.

Perfumed roses climbed the walls of the parapet and infiltrated the wooden balustrade.

"The scents are intoxicating," Hestia said. "It reminds me of a poem I learned at school. Just the line:
'sweet musk-roses and eglantine'. I smell musk roses, but what's eglantine?"

"It's a pink flower, the dog-rose or briar," Hanapedia said. "I can't see any here but we have it in the park
on Capella."

After applying more sun-cream, they sat in the garden under a parasol to eat a late lunch while enjoying
a cooling breeze and a heart-melting vista.

There were two items left on the tour: buying overpriced kitsch in quaint little shops around the pretty
cobbled square, and visiting the castle, which was the town hall, police station, museum and art gallery.
There was a special treat in the art gallery of a jewellery exhibition.

Hana was not interested in shopping and she loved a museum. Hestia preferred shops to a museum but
they both fancied the art gallery. Rowen and Agatha had the same preference and, as the others had
shopped enough in the artists' quarter before taking the funicular, the whole group set off for the fairy-
tale castle.

They began with a tour of the town hall, which had a library, a plush great hall lined with portraits and
heraldry, half of which served as a council chamber, and a museum that told the history of the colony.
Hana took the longest in the museum, learning how the planet was terraformed (it was both hydrolysis
and artificial photolysis), so aunt and niece lagged behind the others.

They briefly caught up in the castle grounds, which had planted verges, a small orchard and a rose
garden, but they fell behind again when Hana lingered on the glass-floored viewing platform over the
waterfall. Hana was thrilled to stand above the waterfall as it dropped over the granite escarpment and
disappeared into the mountainside. It reappeared further down the mountain as a stream that splashed
through the terraces to the ocean.
She ran to the edge of the platform to look straight down, which frightened Hestia even more than
standing on a glass floor above the chasm.

"Don't go so near the edge please, Hana? It gives me the shakes," Hestia said.

"It's all right, Aunt Hestia," Hana assured her, leaning over the barrier. "There's a safety net. It's a
shame: it spoils the view."

After the terror of the chasm, they went to find peace in the art gallery.

3 Exhibition

The art gallery was a series of rooms running either side of a long corridor above the great hall.

It featured local artists whose most common subjects (of those paintings that had recognisable subjects)
were the people of Grandmother City, living or working in their quaint houses, winding streets, cobbled
squares or the fantasy castle. Given the location and the Mediterranean light, views of the sun-blessed
terraces and the shimming blue ocean were also popular.

Each room of the gallery was devoted to a school, with paintings in a similar style placed together.
Hestia and Hana loved the domestic scenes and the landscapes best. They appreciated the historical and
devotional paintings, the portraits, nudes and still lifes, but Hestia was less happy with the last few
rooms at the far end of the corridor that led to the special exhibition room.

They were filled with paintings in the modernist style: abstracts, childish still lifes, distorted landscapes
and portraits of people with noses and eyes on opposite sides of their faces and horribly contorted
bodies.

Hestia had to laugh at some of them.

"You probably understand art better than me," she confessed to Hana, standing before a particularly
incomprehensible canvas. "When I was a girl, I liked a painting of a dog or a sunset because I liked dogs
and sunsets. Now I can appreciate more subtle things, like showing the brushstrokes or leaving some of
the canvas bare. It doesn't have to be a beautiful subject to be a beautiful painting. But this is just ugly.

"It looks like leftovers from dinner. And this one," she pointed to a distorted portrait of a woman: "has
got three ears and a belly-button on her chin."

Hana laughed.

"Sometimes the artist is trying to teach us a new way of looking at the world, such as seeing the
dimension of time as another spatial dimension."

"Really? This makes sense to you?"

"It does, but that doesn't mean I like it."

"Come on, let's hurry through this wacky stuff and look at the jewellery. It better be good to make up for
having to wade through all this. Yuck! There's even more of it in the corridor."

The jewellery exhibition was the current highlight of the gallery. It had its own museum guard. At the
moment, it was a tall thin man with dark spiky hair. On display stands were a dozen pieces of desstrolite
crystal jewellery. One of the rarest and most expensive minerals in the galaxy, desstrolite had the
uncanny property of changing its crystal structure randomly in response to light of different intensities
and angles of incidence.

Normally translucent white, the most admired desstrolite crystals had impurities that shone as rich blue
veins as the lattice stretched and deformed under the natural variation of light, so that it seemed to
viewers like the blue veins were dancing.

Hana said desstrolite had a fractal quality but she did not try to explain to Hestia what fractional
dimensions were. It was enough that the crystals scintillated and coruscated with a special kind of
beauty.
Cut into regular shapes and polished, the jewels needed to be seen close up for the best effects, so the
number of visitors was restricted. Only one tour-group at a time was admitted to the exhibition.

Min's tour group were lucky to have the exhibition to themselves for half-an-hour before the museum
closed. It was a treat, because other places they went in Grandmother City were busy enough to make
them wait in line. Now they had plenty of time to admire the astonishing jewellery before having to take
the monorail to Daughter City astroport and catch the shuttlecraft back to the spaceship.

More than half of the jewels were shaped like teardrops. The largest of these, an inch long, was on loan
from a shop on Argus Space Station. It rotated in a glass case under bright lights, making an image of
finger-like blue lightning threading through white cotton-wool clouds. The motions were regular enough
for the viewer to see patterns but random enough to keep his interest as the image continuously
changed.

The masterpiece of the jewellery exhibition was a thin sculpted four-inch-square piece. On a display
stand under bright white lights, with no glass protector, it was possible to get up close to the jewel,
though discreet signs warned viewers to stay back from the edge of the display stand.

Nuo and Chen were there first, on either side of the jewel. They were mesmerised. Being fair-minded,
after five minutes they gave up their places to Rowen and Agatha, who were enraptured as well.

Grace and Tom came next.

"It's fascinating," Grace said. "It looks like a beach with yellow sand and green palm trees, but it's all blue
and white. How's it done?"

"I don't know," Tom said. "I guess it's like those diagrams in which a few dots moving in a coordinated
way tricks the mind into seeing an entire figure moving. The edges suggest an image and the mind does
the rest."

"There's a tree here ..." Grace pointed, moving her hand close to the gem.

An alarm went off and the display stand was bathed in red light. There was a sharp hissing sound and
Grace felt her hand pushed away by a firm cushion, as if the air itself became solid.
"Step back, please Ma'am," the spiky-haired guard said.

"Oh, did I do that?" Grace was shocked. "I'm so sorry."

"It's all right, Ma'am. It's happened more times than I've counted. Nothing to worry about. It'll reset in a
minute."

The alarm sounded for ten seconds and went off when the attendant called his office to report the false
alarm.

Grace was still apologising to the guard while Tom had a close look at the source of microwave
compressed air that instantly formed a force-field to protect the jewel.

"It's very sensitive," he said.

"Yes, Sir," the guard agreed. "Too sensitive, if you ask me, but at least we know it works."

The misty air cleared and the red light went off.

"And here's the jewel, safe and sound."

Grace was still embarrassed, so Tom took her away to look at the other exhibits. Hestia and Hana took
their places and were soon enthralled as well.

The design was carved just a millimetre into the crystal but it was enough to produce a transcendent
effect when the viewers' eyes adjusted. An image popped out of the background. Sculpted from milky
white clouds and scintillating blue veins, there was the outline of a desert island, framed by palm trees,
with a wide beach and a shimmering ocean.
The palm fronds seemed to bend in the wind, as waves brushed against the sandy beach. By some kind
of cognitive trickery, the vivid image seemed to take on the natural colours of the scene, though the
jewel was clearly blue and white at the same time. The effect was mesmerising.

Hestia and Hana saw mirror images of the ethereal design. They were so engrossed they did not hear
the public announcement that the museum was closing in ten minutes. Nor did they hear the second
announcement five minutes later, which prompted the other tour-members to go to join Min. They
were so enthralled by the jewel that they remained transfixed even after the final announcement.

The guard stayed patiently near the door during the visit of Min's group, except briefly when Grace set
off the alarm, but he paid attention to Hestia. Like a normal red-blooded man, he took many long looks
at her and hoped she did not catch him staring.

Now Hestia and Hana were the last visitors in the exhibition. The guard spoke softly, not wanting to
break the spell but needing to move them on.

"Excuse me, ladies, but the museum is closing now."

Nodding in obedience, Hestia took one last longing look at the jewel and shut her eyes tightly.

"Guide me out, please," she said to Hana.

"Guide you? Why?"

"I love that jewel so much that I want to keep its image in my mind and not look at those horrible
paintings again, so I'm keeping my eyes shut until we get to the stairs. You'll have to guide me."

"You're nuts, Aunt Hestia."

"I know, Dear. Indulge me."

Taking her hand, Hana guided Hestia through the door and along the corridor to the stairs down to the
exit, where the tour-group was waiting for the stragglers, as usual. They were at the top of the stairs
when an alarm bell went off.

Hestia was forced to open her eyes. A short blonde museum guard came running from the other end of
the corridor. She stopped by the entrance to the exhibition room and spoke a few words. Then she
continued her run to catch up with Min's group. She looked shocked and worried.

The rest of the tour group were marshalled by another museum guard who ran around the end of the
castle to stop them leaving. He led them back up the stairs.

The Mystery of Eden Homeworld

byErinaceous©

The whole group was escorted by the two guards back along the corridor to the stairs they first came
up. When they passed the exhibition room, they looked inside. The desstrolite sculpture, the priceless
jewel, was missing from its display stand.

Two museum guards were by the stand, looking puzzled. The spiky haired guard put his hand over the
stand's barrier and the alarm went off, exactly as it had done for Grace. The red light shone and the
force-field ascended to push his hand back from the barrier.

The alarm was silenced and the air cleared, revealing an empty display stand again.

Now the tour group was hurried along the corridor down to the great hall and asked to sit in the
delegates' chairs in the council chamber to wait for instructions.

Min approached the blonde guard.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, I'm Min Dae. I'm responsible for getting my tour-group back to Daughter City
astroport. They're due to board a shuttlecraft to their hyperspace liner in about ninety minutes. Do you
know how long we'll be delayed? As you know, the monorail takes twenty minutes."

"I'm sorry, Miss Dae, I don't have anything to tell you. That's my boss there, Mr Atherson, the Museum
Manager, talking to a staff member. He'll let me know as soon as he has any information."
"What's your name?"

"Jill Coburn. Please try not to worry."

Min's group sat waiting patiently. They took at look at Mr Atherson, who was of medium height, past
middle age, fair-haired with a reddish face at the moment. He was giving orders but seemed to be using
activity to overcome his embarrassment at the greatest test of his career: a priceless jewel stolen on his
watch, even while he was in the building.

Also sitting at the other end of the hall were about thirty other visitors who had been in the castle when
the alarm went off. They were guarded by members of the museum staff, who were soon joined by two
constables from the police station next door.

A stocky dark-haired woman in a blue uniform with sergeant stripes followed the constables. Finally, a
dour looking man in a grey suit arrived. He was the senior policeman, known to Mr Atherson, who went
to greet him.

"Inspector Masham, thank you for coming, thank you. It's such a disaster, a catastrophe. What can we
do? What do you need me to do?"

"We'll talk in your office, Colin, and we'll get this all sorted out. Come on."

4 Investigation

Inspector Masham followed Colin Atherson into his office, which was beside the main entrance, next to
the cloakrooms. The door was open, showing the computer workstation that controlled the security
system for the museum.

The sergeant came over to talk to Jill Coburn. Min stood up to explain her worry that the tour-group
might miss their flight.
"Sergeant Wren, Ma'am," the police officer introduced herself. She had a brisk efficient voice and a
straightforward manner. "I understand your concern, but you'll have to be patient for now. Inspector
Masham will explain things to you soon. I'll let him know that you're pressed for time."

The sergeant joined Inspector Masham in Colin's office to watch the security footage from the exhibition
room. After ten minutes, during which Min became increasingly agitated, the inspector finally came out
to address the museum's visitors and staff.

He stood in the middle of the hall and waited for silence. He was a melancholic man, with heavy bags
under his eyes, a grey mournful face and grey thinning hair. Though he stood tall, his demeanour made
it look like he stooped. His freshly-pressed suit looked like it came already crumpled.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a sad voice, "I'm Inspector Masham. I'm sorry to keep you here but
there's been a theft from the exhibition room. A four-inch square sculpted jewel has gone missing from
its display stand. At the moment it's a complete mystery how the theft was performed.

"You may appreciate the difficulty we policemen find ourselves in. We need to learn how the theft was
done, who took the jewel and where it is now. If you'll forgive my saying so, the thief is likely to be a
visitor to the exhibition, so I'm going to ask you to permit Sergeant Wren, her constables and the
museum staff to search you.

"Now, I tell you upfront that we have no search warrant. It'll take about thirty minutes to obtain one. A
judge has already been notified. The problem is: I know some of you are on a day-trip here and need to
be at the astroport soon.

"Unfortunately, I can't let anyone leave, just in case you have a priceless jewel on your person. So I hope
you'll all consider it a fair request, in order to save everyone's time, to let us search you.

"My constables are setting up an x-ray device and the museum guards are preparing a table on which
they can search your bags. Does anyone object to being searched?"

With Min's encouragement, there were no dissenters in her tour-group. Nor did the visitors at the other
end of the hall protest, though none was near the exhibition room at the time of the theft.
The group of thirty was processed first. They relinquished their bags for a visual inspection and lined up
to walk slowly through a portable x-ray machine like a thick doorway. The jewel was not found on any of
them so the inspector let them all leave.

Min's group was also quickly processed and the jewel was not found on any of them, to Min's relief. She
assumed they would also be free to go, but the inspector asked them to return to their seats.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "You may wonder why we've kept you behind. The reason is that you
were all near the exhibition room when the jewel was first seen to be missing. In fact, two of you were
in the exhibition room when the security video shows the jewel disappearing."

Without waiting for a response, nor observing the consternation his remark caused, the inspector
returned to Colin's office, which Colin had temporarily vacated, leaving Sergeant Wren with the tour-
group.

"Hestia Smith and Hana Jeffries?" she read their names from a sheet. "Please come with me."

"Oops! Now we're for it," Hestia said standing up.

"Shush! Aunt Hestia," Hana warned. "It's not funny."

Min stood up as well, preparing to accompany them.

"Sorry Ma'am," Sergeant Wren said. "The inspector wants only these two ladies."

Inspector Masham greeted Hestia and Hana with a smile that did not make him look any happier. He
guided them into Colin's office, which was a windowless box with a computer workstation at one end
and an oval table for meetings at the other.

Hana took the details in at a glance. There was a clear desk, with the computer keyboard aligned square.
There were no family photographs or posters of favourite sports teams, but the only personal item in
the office was a Chinese puzzle box: the kind with a false bottom or drawer.
Inspector Masham invited them to sit and view the video projection, while the stout sergeant stood
defensively by the open door, legs apart, arms folded, a stern look on her face.

"Thank you for joining me," Inspector Masham said mournfully. "I wonder if you wouldn't mind looking
at the security video."

He began the video of the exhibition room. It showed Hestia and Hana staring in a kind of rapture at the
desstrolite jewel without moving for at least three minutes, until they were informed by the spiky-haired
guard that the exhibition was closing. Then Hana took Hestia's arm and guided her like a blind woman
out of the room.

The inspector paused the video and said to Hestia:

"Can you tell me what I'm witnessing please, Ma'am?"

"It looks daft, I know, but I thought the jewel was so beautiful that I didn't want to look at the ugly
paintings in the corridor, so I asked Hana to guide me out with my eyes shut."

"That makes eminent sense to me," the inspector said with his sad smile. "I'm no fan of paintings that
look like someone sneezed on them. But, if you'll forgive my saying so, such behaviour might be
considered somewhat, er, unusual."

"I know," Hestia admitted.

"Even a not particularly alert policeman might go so far as to call it ... well, ... what's the word?"

"Suspicious," Hana said quietly, unable to resist filling in the blank left by the inspector.

"Thank you, Miss Jeffries. It could seem like suspicious behaviour. I see you're an intelligent young
person, so maybe you'll tell me what precisely is so suspicious about this behaviour?"

"It looks like a distraction," Hana said.

"Quite so. Let's watch some more of the video. Look, if you will, at Mike Baddage's face."

He played the video. It showed the spiky-haired museum guard (whose name evidently was Mike
Baddage) focussing on Hestia and Hana as they paraded to the exit. If they had been trying to distract
him, they could not have done a better job.

"Now take a look at the display stand while the video plays on."

Mike Baddage was looking at Hestia's bottom as they left the room when there was a shimmering in the
air around the display stand and the jewel magically disappeared, as if by a conjuror's trick.

Mike did not notice at first, but when he did his checks before closing up, his gaze passed the display
stand and he did a double-take like a cartoon character. He did a third take and then ran to the wall to
press the alarm button.

The video continued, seeming to Hana to go in slow motion, so closely did she absorb every detail,
committing it to her perfect memory.

A male museum guard arrived first. He went up to the stand with Mike. They looked shocked and
worried.

Jill Coburn, the short blonde guard, appeared in the doorway. She stared open-mouthed, said a few
words and left at a run.

A minute later, the tour group stood in the doorway, looking on as Mike put his hand out toward the
absent jewel to trigger the alarm and the protective force-field.

Inspector Masham paused the video there.

"Now isn't that interesting?" he asked. "Even the dullest policeman would be suspicious, don't you
think?"
They did not answer.

"However, you don't have the jewel with you, and you were many feet from it when it magically
disappeared, so you couldn't have swiped it and hidden it somewhere. It's all a big mystery."

"It is," Hestia agreed.

"You weren't the only people acting suspiciously in the exhibition room before the jewel magically
disappeared."

He reversed the video to the place where Grace triggered the display stand's protective measures and
paused the image there. He sat back in his chair, gazing miserably at Hestia and Hana. His silence
created a vacuum into which he hoped their confessions would leak.

There were no confessions.

"It was an accident," Hestia said. "Grace didn't mean to set off the alarm."

"No doubt. The jewel was still there when the force-field receded. But it's my curse to have a suspicious
nature."

There was another sad pause, a gap waiting for an incriminating admission while he examined their
faces for signs of guilt.

Sadly, no admission came. He sighed: an action that plumbed his melancholy demeanour another level.
Hestia thought it all an act and struggled not to laugh at him. She put her hand over her mouth.

If the inspector noticed, he said nothing but merely turned back to the screen.

"I've no more questions for you at the moment," he said. "Please return to your seats. Sergeant Wren:
bring over Mr and Mrs Martens."
While the inspector borrowed his office, Colin Atherson went to check on the museum guards, trusting
to the police. Satisfied his staff had no problems, he visited the closed canteen and returned with a tray
of soft drinks for everyone.

Having taken drinks from his tray, Min said to Jill Coburn:

"He's a thoughtful man. He's kind to us tour-guides, who can be a nuisance in the museum."

"He's fair but a stickler for the rules."

"I feel sorry for him," Min said.

"So do I," Jill agreed. "He looks calm on the surface but I think he's worried."

As Sergeant Wren collected Grace and Tom for their interview with the inspector, Hestia winked at
them.

"We're suspects," she said, trying by levity to mollify the alarm Grace appeared to feel.

"It's not good to be suspects," Hana whispered to Hestia.

"Don't worry, I've done this before," Hestia said. "Your dad once suspected me of murder and your mum
suspected me of stealing her suitcase. Anyway, they've got everything on video, so I'm sure they'll find
the culprit soon and let us all go."

"Maybe, but I'd like to see those videos for myself."

"Do you know something about the theft?"

"I'm not sure. I need to think about it. I may know how the theft will be done, I just don't know who'll do
it, nor whom to tell about it. I don't know whom to trust."

"I think the inspector's trustworthy."

"Why do you say that?"

"He has such a sad face."

"That makes him trustworthy?"

"It does to me. Call it woman's intuition."

"There's no such thing. Besides, I'm a woman and my instinct says the opposite."

"All right, darling," Hestia said, smiling at Hana's determination. "How about confiding in that nice
museum manager who brought us the drinks?"

"It's the same problem. Anyone might be the culprit."

"I suppose so."

Hestia then realised what Hana had said.

"What do you mean you know how the theft will be done? Hasn't it already been done?"

"No, I don't think so. We saw on the video that Mr Baddage set the alarm off by hand. We also saw Mr
Baddage test the alarm after the supposed theft, proving it was working. Grace set off the alarm before
the theft. So, if the security system has been working the whole time, and the jewel can't be taken
without setting off the alarm, then the jewel must still be there."
"Well that's where logic lets you down, Hana. We both saw that the display stand was empty."

"Logic isn't defeated so easily, Auntie. An empty display stand means either that the jewel is missing or
that the jewel is still there but invisible."

"How can it be invisible?"

"You remember the microwave compressed air technology that powers the force-field around the
display stand?"

"Yes."

"It's the same technology that Doctor Goldrick used to make the airsuits that Grace and Tom's son Luke
flies."

"What of it?"

"I read Doctor Goldrick's paper on airsuits last night and one of the things the microwave compressed air
technology can do is create something like a mirage. When light passes through air of different
pressures, it gets bent, and bent light can focus an image, so that something distant can appear nearby.
If there are microwave beam emitters on the display stand, then they can produce an effect in which the
light is bent around the jewel, making it appear as though it isn't there, as if you can see right through
it."

"You mean it's a trick done with mirrors?"

"Yes, except the compressed air works as a lens, not a mirror."

"Why would someone trick us into thinking the jewel's been stolen when it's really still there?"
"In order to cause exactly this kind of commotion, where everyone gets searched and the whole
museum gets turned upside down. In the confusion, a thief can simply swipe the jewel, knowing that no
one will suspect him because he's already been searched."

"Won't he set off the alarm himself if it's working properly?"

"He will, so there must be a way around that problem which I haven't worked out yet."

"What else do you need to know?"

"I need to look at the security video from a good time before the jewel seemed to disappear, to see if
someone places microwave beam emitters on the display stand. They might be tiny dots. And it would
help to know how the security system works, to see if it can be bypassed."

"You could ask Tom. He works with security systems."

"Yes, but isn't he the most likely suspect?"

"Tom! Why's he a suspect?"

"Tom and Grace together. He might know how the security system can be bypassed and Grace triggered
the force-field."

"It was an accident."

"It certainly looked like it, but what if Grace set off the alarm while placing something on the display
stand?"

"Like microwave beam emitters?"

"Exactly. Tom or Grace might have turned on the beams when we all left the exhibition, to make the
jewel seem stolen. Now all they need to do is create some kind of distraction so they can go back to the
exhibition room to pocket the jewel."

"I don't suppose we can ask Tom if he knows how to bypass the security system without alerting him to
our suspicions."

"No, and it's just as likely that Tom and Grace have an accomplice on the inside who can turn off the
security system at the right moment to steal the jewel."

"Ooh, yes!" Hestia said. "Tom's the brains behind the heist; Grace placed the beam emitters; and an
inside man (probably one of the museum guards) sabotages the security system. No one suspects the
inside man because he was nowhere near the exhibition room when the jewel went missing; and Tom
has already been searched, so no one suspects him either."

"That's one scenario."

"Why can't you suggest it to the inspector?"

"Because he's a suspect as well. It's as likely the inside man is a policeman as a museum guard. But I do
like the idea that it's an inside man in cahoots with one of us visitors because we might be back on the
spaceship before everything's properly sorted out here."

"That's it, Hana! That's why the theft was planned for closing time when a tour-group was present,
because we're pressed for time to get back to the shuttlecraft. If the inspector's in on it, then he'll keep
us here to the very last moment, then declare the case unfathomable and let us go. Meanwhile, he'll
arrange for the security system to be turned off and nab the jewel for himself."

"I thought you said the inspector is trustworthy."

"Don't mock me, young lady. Besides, it might be any policeman or museum guard."
"It looks like Inspector Masham agrees with that judgment," Hana said, indicating activity in the middle
of the hall.

The museum staff was lining up to go through the portable x-ray machine, observed by the policemen.
The policemen themselves followed. Even Sergeant Wren went through it. When Inspector Masham
finished interviewing Tom and Grace, he walked dejectedly through the device himself.

Looking on, Hestia and Hana smiled to each other, sharing the knowledge that, for at least one of the
participants, it was a charade. None had the jewel hidden on his person. Not yet anyway.

******

The x-rays did not reveal the thief, so Min and most of the tour-group were feeling frustrated. There was
about an hour before they would miss the shuttlecraft.

"If Tom and Grace are suspects," Hestia said, "what about the rest of the tour-group? Can Nuo and Chen
be implicated?"

"What kind of shop do they own?"

"I don't know."

Hestia turned around in her seat and spoke to the man behind her.

"Nuo, what kind of shop do you have?"

"A jewellery shop," he said.

Hestia could see Hana's smile through the back of her head.

"How much is the stolen jewel worth?" she asked Nuo.

"I don't know for sure, but I would guess at least 100,000 Galactic Pounds."

"Phew! That's a pretty big fortune," Hestia said.

She turned back to Hana.

"That settles it" she whispered. "The Yangs are involved. They're going to fence the loot. What about
Agatha and Rowen? They're respectable teachers."

"What better disguise to transport the stolen merchandise?" Hana said.

"So they're mules. Is Min also a suspect?"

"As you said, it's very useful to the thief that the last tour-group to visit the exhibition should be one
that urgently needs to leave the scene of the crime. Min might have arranged it so that we would be the
final tour-group."

"I think Min is either a good actress or she was genuinely trying to hurry us up. Remember, Sweetie, you
and I dawdled the most."

The Mystery of Eden Homeworld

byErinaceous©

In fact, it was Hana who had been the slowest because everything was so new to her and she was a girl
with infinite curiosity. She gave her aunt a guilty smile.

"How can we know which of the staff-members is in on it? It might be them all," Hestia asked.

"Yes. ..." Hana began, but she went quiet, thinking.

"Hana?"
"Sorry Auntie. I think I've just worked something out."

"Tell me."

"How can the jewel be stolen when the security system has been proved to work properly?"

"I don't know."

"By persuading Mr Atherson that his system is faulty and suggesting he reboots it, to see if it clears the
fault."

"I get it. Meanwhile, the thief is in the exhibition room. When the alarm is temporarily turned off, he
pockets the jewel. Very clever."

"If we're right, then we can set a trap for the thief. Mr Atherson can tell everyone he'll reboot the
system, then someone can monitor the video source. Whoever approaches the display stand when the
system reboots is the thief."

"But the problem is?" Hestia prompted.

"The same problem. I don't know whom to tell to set the trap. Suppose I tell one of the conspirators?"

"Is there a time-limit? I mean, how long will the microwave beam emitters work?"

"I don't know. They can have their own battery power, in which case they might last weeks. Or they can
pick up power from the lights, so it might be a few hours or a day."

"What can we do?"

Hana looked around.

The inspector, sergeant and constables were in conference with some of the museum staff at the other
end of the hall. Only Jill Coburn and Mike Baddage were not involved. Jill was with the tour-group and
Mike was by the exit and cloakrooms. They could see Colin Atherson in his office through his open door,
studying the security videos.

"I'd like to see that video footage."

"How can I help?"

"If we go to the bathroom, you can distract Mr Baddage while I look over Mr Atherson's shoulder."

Having gained Jill's permission to go to the toilet, Hestia came out first and engaged Mike Baddage in
conversation while waiting for her niece. She did not need to do much to provide a distraction. Mike was
happy to have a good reason to gaze at her lovely face.

Hestia was one of the most beautiful women in the galaxy. She twiddled her chestnut hair a little,
pretending to be shy, while Hana snuck past and loitered outside the communications room, around the
corner by the entrance and the stairs up to the gallery, hidden from view by those in the hall.

Hana memorised a good few minutes of the video footage when a loud cough from the inspector caused
Mike Baddage to look up. Hana also reacted, skipping up to her aunt as if she had just arrived from the
cloakroom.

5 Suspicion

"What did you learn?" Hestia asked Hana when they were in their seats again.

"I saw some of the earlier video. The display stand from before our group arrived is identical to how I
remember it when we visited, so we can say that no one in our group interfered with it."
"Good, that exonerates Grace."

"Yes, but Tom may still be involved."

"We're running out of time," Hestia said. "What if we just announce what you think to everyone, the
innocent as well as the culprits?"

Hana paused for a moment to think it through.

"You mean that the thief won't be able to go through with the crime if everyone knows how it'll be
done? It might mean we never know who the culprit is, but if we're right, we'll prove the jewel's still
there, and the inspector must let us go."

"If we suggest this plan to Inspector Masham but he's actually the thief, then it'll look like he's guilty if
he refuses."

"We have to make the announcement in public, so he can't refuse."

"Yes, we must. Ready?" Hestia asked.

"Now?"

"No time like the present."

Hestia stood up.

"Inspector Masham, Sergeant Wren: Hana and I have something to say. Can everyone come here so we
can explain?"
"Madam," Sergeant Wren said, coming over to deal with the unusual request, "we're conducting an
investigation and there's less than an hour until your tour-group must board its flight. We can't waste
time with distractions."

"We think we know how to get the jewel back."

"Well, then, tell us and let us act on the matter."

"I'm sorry, sergeant. We're not telling you what we know until everyone's here to listen to us."

"What it is, sergeant? Are they confessing?" the inspector asked.

"No, Sir."

"We're not confessing, inspector," Hestia explained, "but we think we know where the jewel is. Hana
worked it out."

"Well, I have something to confess," Inspector Masham said. "We're at a dead-end in our investigation,
so any change of tack may be beneficial. I would like to hear what Hana has to say. Gather around
everyone."

With everyone together, Hestia pushed Hana forward to say her piece.

"We think the jewel is still on its display stand," Hana said, giving her theory of the beam emitters.

"We also think the culprit is one of us here. Someone who's waiting for the display stand's security
system to be rebooted so he can take the jewel without triggering the alarm."

There was not much discussion. Just a few murmurs from the policemen and the museum staff, until the
inspector said:
"I think it's an excellent theory, Miss Jeffries, and I propose that we test it straight away. We'll all go to
the exhibition room now, except for you, Colin. Will you stay in contact with me by radio, and turn off
the security system when I ask? If the jewel's there, then we'll all be witnesses."

"And I will be most gratefully relieved," Colin said.

With the police and museum staff hurrying them along, they were all soon standing around the empty
display stand. Inspector Masham radioed Colin and asked him to turn off the security system.

"Miss Jeffries, come forward if you will," the inspector said. "You should have the honour of picking up
the jewel."

With a glance at Hestia and a shy smile, Hana stepped forward and put out her hand to where the jewel
should have been.

Her hand passed through empty air. With a puzzled look, she passed her hand through the space again.
The jewel was genuinely gone. Her theory was wrong.

She felt around the edge of the stand for the microwave beam emitters. There were none of those
either.

Hana looked astonished. Hestia came to her side, to defend her niece from the inspector's displeasure.

"Well, that's a disappointment," Inspector Masham said, sounding resigned rather than angry. "Now we
need a new theory to explain our mystery. Suggestions anyone?"

There was silence.

"Well, how about this theory?" he proposed to Hana. "The jewel was stolen hours ago, and what
everyone looked at was a 3d projection."
"I don't think so," Hana answered, "because a holograph wouldn't show the fractal effects. It had to
have been the real crystal we saw."

"Then we have a problem," the inspector said. "From the time that Grace Martens triggered the alarm
until we saw the image of the jewel disappear on the video, the only people who looked at the jewel
were you and Miss Smith. We have only your word that it was a real jewel you were looking at, not a
holographic image that replaced the jewel, which had already been swiped and hidden someplace."

"Cor!" exclaimed Hestia. "That's some fancy reasoning."

"It can't be true," Hana said. "While the security system still worked, we couldn't have taken the jewel
without setting off the alarm. I know you've only my word that the jewel was real and the microdots on
the display stand must have been removed, but we would need to be able to bypass the security
system."

"Well someone managed to bypass the security system and steal the jewel without setting off the
alarm," the inspector said.

"Whoever turned the security system off temporarily and came here to swipe the jewel," he continued,
"most likely also removed the microwave beam emitters. But the only people who left the hall since the
jewel was seen to be missing are those members of this tour-group who went to the toilet.

"And the only one of those who wasn't watched the whole time, but snuck away while her aunt was
distracting Mike Baddage again ..."

The inspector paused meaningfully.

"... was you, Miss Jeffries."

6 Solution
A policeman escorted Hestia and Hana back to their seats. Inspector Masham followed mournfully
behind them. Sergeant Wren arrived having completed an errand for the inspector. She whispered
something to him. He nodded silently and sighed.

"Miss Dae," he said. "How long does the tour group have before its flight?"

"Forty minutes," Min replied.

"Then there's still time to take the monorail. Your group is free to leave. I apologise for detaining you all
this time."

The group began to collect their bags. Min handed their bags to Hestia and Hana but the inspector said:
"Not those two. They still have some questions to answer."

"What about their connection to the hyperspace liner?" Min asked.

"Sergeant Wren has contacted the transportation company on their behalf. I'm sorry to inconvenience
you, ladies, but I would be in dereliction of my duty were I to let you leave while there is such a mystery
surrounding the missing jewel."

There was nothing Min could do. She looked as sad as the inspector and tried to reassure Hestia and
Hana. The other members of the tour group, led by Grace and Tom, discussed refusing to leave out of
solidarity with Hestia and Hana, but it would be a useless gesture. There was no time to waste and the
sergeant hurried them out of the town hall.

"I'm going to interview Miss Jeffries alone now. Colin, I'll use your office once more."

"Go ahead, Sir," Colin Atherson said. "I have to close up the museum anyway."

Despite her police guard, Hestia followed Hana and the inspector, not wanting to leave the girl alone.
She heard the inspector say to Hana:
"Miss Jeffries, are you prepared to save us all time by confessing now?"

"Yes, Sir," Hana said, "I'll tell you everything."

"Hana!" Hestia protested. "What on Earth do you mean?"

"Miss Smith," the inspector stopped and turned to Hestia. "You could assist my investigation by
fascinating Mr Baddage one more time."

"Fascinating?"

"You are the most charming woman I've ever met. I say that as a happily married man, so I know you
understand what I mean."

"Well, really!"

"Go along, please, Ma'am."

Hestia turned on her heel and went to find Mike Baddage. Her police escort followed discretely at a
distance.

Hana and the inspector were in Colin's office when Sergeant Wren returned.

"The tour-group is on the monorail," she said, "and we're ready in the exhibition room."

"Very good. You can make the arrest whenever you like. I believe Mr Baddage is agreeably occupied?"

"Yes, indeed, sir. She's a siren, that one. I doubt he'll interfere when Miss Smith is paying him attention."

She left the inspector and Hana alone in the room.

The inspector looked miserably at Hana and sighed.

"It was there, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Sir. There's a kind of trap-door on the top of the display stand that's a fraction of a millimetre
higher than it was before. I think the jewel is lying flat under it."

"So a mechanical device, not the clever advanced technology you suspected?"

"No, Sir. I was wrong."

"You were the inspiration for solving the case, Miss Jeffries, and you almost solved it alone. Thank you
for not revealing the secret. Now we can catch the thief in the act. You know who it is?"

"Mr Atherson."

"Quite so. How did you work it out?"

"It's only a guess, really. His Chinese puzzle box has a trap-door, which might have given him the idea. I
thought of it when I saw the top of the display stand had a square gap. Mr Atherson would have had
access to the display stand while the exhibition was being set up. He could have made a mechanical
device with a trap-door to fit in the square gap.

"Very good. What else?"

"Mr Atherson has access to the security video footage. His office shows he has a tidy mind, and
sometimes people like that are skilled with computers, so he might be able to doctor the video, to hide
the evidence of the device. The video shimmered when the jewel disappeared, which may be evidence
of doctoring."

"Anything else?"
"Only that we might catch Mr Atherson in the act because we forced his hand, compelling him to rescue
the jewel and maybe hide the trapdoor mechanism, replacing it with a blank. If we hadn't intervened, he
could have turned off the security system or rebooted it at his leisure, maybe at night; but he must do it
now, before he's found out."

"I think you've covered it, Miss Jeffries. Thanks to you, Atherson has the perfect opportunity to collect
the jewel and hide it somewhere safe. Also, thanks to you, we may catch him red-handed. Do you want
to watch the arrest?"

"Is there time?"

"Yes. The sergeant made arrangements."

"Oh," Hana realised something. "Will there be a news report about the crime?"

"For sure. It's a famous jewel."

"Can I call my parents?"

"Do you think they'll worry?"

"My Dad will. Mum's not a worrier."

"Use the computer here."

Hana put through a call to the police station on Capella Space Station. Arthur Jeffries, Constable of
Capella Space Station, answered.

"Hello?" he said warily before the distorted image came fully into focus.
"Daddy, it's me!"

"Hana, sweetheart! What's going on? Where are you? Are you in trouble?"

"No trouble, and I don't have much time. I'm on Eden Homeworld with Aunt Hestia. We just helped
Inspector Masham solve a crime. I wanted you to know because our names will be in the police gazette
and probably on the galactic news."

"Inspector Masham? 'Misery' Masham? Is he on Eden? I heard about him at the police academy twenty
or more years ago. What kind of help? You didn't lend him money or buy him alcohol did you?"

"Of course not, Daddy!"

There was a snort from the inspector.

"What kind of crime was it?"

"The theft of a jewel. Sergeant Wren and the constables are arresting the museum manager now. I'll tell
you the rest when we're back on the hyperspace liner. Love you, Daddy!"

"Well done, sweetheart! I love you!"

"So Arthur Jeffries is your father? I'll call him sometime and tell him what a lucky man he is. Off you go
and fetch your aunt."

Hana ran to get her backpack and collect Hestia, so they could make the shuttlecraft in time. On the
way, they saw Colin Atherson being led away by Sergeant Wren and the constables, with Mike Baddage
looking very confused.

"Are you ready?" asked the inspector.

"Yes, Sir," Hana said.

"What's happening?" Hestia asked, as Hana grabbed her hand to pull her along.

"This way," Inspector Masham said, opening the main doors to a dusky evening.

As they emerged onto the cobbled plaza outside the town hall, a police jetcopter with flashing lights
made a roaring descent and landed fifty feet from them, blowing dust and leaves around the square.

"Come on," Inspector Masham shouted over the racket. "In you get."

He helped Hestia into a seat, passing her the harness so she could strap herself in.

"Do you want to sit up with the pilot?" he asked Hana.

"Do I?"

He helped Hana clamber up into the front seat and leant over to strap her in. He got into the back with
Hestia and put on his own harness.

With a tap on the pilot's shoulder, he shouted: "Daughter City Astroport. The direct route. And you can
break the speed limit if you like."

The pilot nodded and checked they were clear to take off. He pushed the lever for maximum thrust. The
roar was immense. The jetcopter wobbled and then leapt straight up leaving a cloud of dust.

At 500 feet above the castle, pointing at Daughter City thirteen miles away, the pilot lit the rearward jets
and the 'copter launched forward.
The wind whistled around them as they raced on a straight path, nose down, houses and terraces
flashing past them far below. To the west, the sunset was a thin orange strip, with pink streaks reflecting
in a dark-blue sky.

Daughter City was lit up. There were red, green and white landing lights for the astroport and yellow
street lights in the suburbs that clung to the mountainside. It was a magical view of a magical place on a
magical day. Hana was enchanted.

Coming in hot to the roof of the astroport terminal, the pilot banked and spun 180 degrees with full
forward jets, stopping their motion in a second, giving the passengers an exciting shake and jolt as they
landed firmly. Hana laughed happily while Hestia wondered where her stomach went.

To the sound of whining jets cooling off, Hestia and Hana hugged the sad inspector. Shouting "Goodbye"
they ran off into the terminal building to join the tour-group in the lines for the shuttlecraft.

There were hugs all around again, especially for Min, whose relief was profound. Explanations had to
wait, though, because the line began to move as soon as they arrived and, within minutes, they were on
the shuttlecraft and secured in their seats for take-off.

7 The journey resumes

Back on the hyperspace liner, detached from the engineering station and accelerating toward the next
hyperspace beacon, the eight members of the tour-group went to dinner together.

Hana explained how the inspector had solved the crime.

"Everyone was a suspect," she said, "but Inspector Masham deflected suspicion from Mr Atherson onto
Aunt Hestia and me, to encourage him to retrieve the jewel before anyone looked too closely at the
display stand."

"Why did he send me out to 'fascinate' Mike Baddage (a thoroughly nice bloke, by the way)?" Hestia
asked.
"To keep him out of Mr Atherson's way. All the museum guards except Mr Baddage were given jobs by
Sergeant Wren. They were so loyal, they would have gone with Mr Atherson to help him, but the
inspector's plan needed Atherson to be in the exhibition room alone.

"Auntie, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the right answer when I realised it in the exhibition room, but I had
to play along with the inspector. After that, we weren't alone long enough."

There was more to explain, about the mechanical device in the display stand, the puzzle box on Colin
Atherson's desk, the doctored video and the elaborate plan to steal the jewel while people were in the
exhibition room, rather than in the dead of night, when Colin would be the prime suspect because he
alone had both access to the museum and control over the security system.

"I feel sorry for him," Hestia said.

"I know," Tom agreed. "To live with all that beauty and wealth and not to have it oneself."

They talked long into the night, until the flight manager announced that the restaurant was closing
because they were soon be in weightless cruising before entering the hyperspace beacon.

By the time they were through the beacon and diverted by a Goldrick Junction toward the spa planet
Erythos, it was time for bed. Even Hana felt tired.

In their cabin, at the end of an adventurous day in the most magical place she had ever been, Hana
hugged her honorary aunt one more time.

"Thank you for everything, Auntie. I love you."

"I love you too, Sweetie. No one's ever had a niece quite like you."

Snuggling up to her soft rabbit, Hana Jeffries, 'Saviour of the Space Station' and now successful
detective, went blissfully to sleep and dreamed of a pink and white fairy-tale castle.

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