Farthest Space: The Wrath of Jan (9 page)

“Actually,” the woman said, “this is
my
planet.
 
You marooned my followers and myself here three years ago, as you may recall.”

Steven gritted his teeth.
 
Unfortunately, one alien planet looked much like another, and the
Arisia
hadn’t been anywhere near this solar system when he’d been shot.
 
“I wasn’t aware this was Harmon IV.”
 

“I didn’t know that was relevant information,” Fred said.

Steven sighed.
 
At the order of his Patrol superiors, he’d suppressed the information about Jan’s attempt to take over the
Alliance
and her subsequent exile on Harmon IV, and erased it from Fred’s memory.
 
The powers that be had been embarrassed by how easily a hundred people had taken over several ships, and they wanted to keep the episode quiet.
 
It looked like that decision had returned to bite him on the ass.
 

Not that they could have avoided landing here anyway, since this was the only Earth-type planet in the solar system.
 
All things considered, he breathed better in an oxygen atmosphere than a methane one.

He scowled at the woman.
 
“Did you carry out this elaborate plan this just to capture me?”

“I see your ego is as big as ever,” Jan said.

“Bigger,” Vaish said under her breath.

He barely suppressed a smile—he loved the way Vaish never lost her smart mouth, even under pressure.
 
In fact, he was beginning to realize he loved a lot of things about Vaish.

It was up to him to make sure her head remained attached to her shoulders—something that mattered more to him than he’d previously realized.

“It has nothing to do with ego.
 
It seems like a bit of a coincidence that my ship was taken over by a Noo’dis’t, and the only safe place for us to land our lifepod just happened to be Harmon IV.”

The woman smiled, showing her sharp incisors.
 
“You’re right, of course.
 
After years of exile, a Canvul scout ship happened to land here, and we… borrowed… their vessel.
 
I sent one of my most trusted lieutenants to take over your ship.”
 

Steven felt a stab of pity for the hapless Canvulians, who were doubtless some of those skeletons killed by particle weapons Fred had noted.
 
“Why didn’t you do it yourself?
 
Ah, I know why.
 
Because you’re a coward, and you’d rather risk the life of a subordinate than your own worthless neck.”

“Big words,
Captain
.”
 
Jan lifted the particle weapon she held and aimed it directly at his crotch.
 
“Keep it up and I’m going to have to perform some surgery.”

Steven flashed an unconcerned grin, refusing to show any fear.
 
She hadn’t gone through all the trouble to bring him down here just to kill him or maim him.
 
He hoped.

“Won’t do you any good to shoot me there,” he drawled.
 
“I have balls of steel.”

“And a brain of stone,” Vaish muttered.

Jan chuckled and lowered the weapon.
 
“You might be right, McNeill.
 
At any rate, I need you… intact.”

“Why did you send us here in the lifepod?
 
Why not just have the
Arisia
bring us here?”

“My people aboard the
Arisia
had other things to accomplish before they returned to this system.
 
We weren’t sure how long it would take.
 
It was quicker and easier to have them deliver you to us gift-wrapped, and to let them go on their way.”

Great.
 
That was precisely what he had feared.
 
The heavily armed
Arisia
was roaming around this sector under hostile control, doing the Stars knew what.
 
“What exactly do you want from us?”

Jan studied him up and down, a hot, suggestive look in her eyes that would have turned him on, once upon a time.
 
But all he could think about right now was Vaish, and how the hell he was going to get her out of this situation.

“You left us stranded here,” she said at last.
 
“A hundred women.
 
As you may recall, we are all genetically enhanced with superior physical and mental attributes.”

“D cups do not constitute mental attributes,” Vaish said.

Jan ignored the snide remark.
 
“We need to reproduce, to create more of our superior bloodlines.
 
For this we require a male.”

Steven felt his eyebrows shoot up.
 
“You’re telling me you captured me for stud duty?”

A cold smile curved the edges of her mouth.
 
“Precisely.”

The thought of being used to service a hundred women who’d once tried to take over the Patrol, and who would doubtless raise their children to believe it was their duty to take over the civilized galaxy, made his blood run cold.
 
But he forced a grin onto his face.

“Well, hell.
 
My day just got a whole lot better.”

“Steven!” Vaish said sharply, apparently under the opinion that he was actually looking forward to being used as a sperm donor.
 
He must be a better actor than he thought if she believed he would really look forward to such an existence.
 
Or maybe it simply reflected her low opinion of him.
 
“This makes no sense.
 
If they wanted you, why did they send me along?”

“You have one use, and one use only.”
 
Jan smiled as she caressed the particle weapon in her hand.
 
“If McNeill steps out of line or tries to escape, we’ll shoot you.”

“A foolish plan,” Vaish said with ice in her voice.
 
“Steven is not that concerned about my well-being.”

“Oh, I think he is.
 
It was evident to me even three years ago that he was in love with you.”

Well, shit
, Steven thought.
 
It sure as hell hadn’t been evident to
him
, but he didn’t say so.
 
In retrospect, it did seem that he’d had… feelings… for Vaish for quite some time.
 
Not that he’d call it love.
 
More like intense affection.

Which made the fact that he’d been sleeping with every woman to cross his path over the past five years seem a little less than noble, somehow.

He put the matter out of his mind and dredged up his best dumb expression.
 
It really wasn’t much of a stretch to look dumb, unfortunately.
 
He liked to think it was because he was a terrific actor, but he was secretly concerned it was because he really wasn’t too bright.
 
The Stars knew that if he had half a brain he wouldn’t have been in this mess to begin with.

“Don’t worry, I’ll behave myself,” he said.
 
“It sounds like a great plan to me anyway.
 
Stranded on a gorgeous planet and having sex with a hundred beautiful women.
  
I mean, is there a downside here?”

“You might think so,” Jan said.
 
“Because when all of us are pregnant, we’re going to kill you.”

Steven swallowed, and his grin faded.
 
“Yeah, you’re right.
 
That’s definitely a downside.”

*****

Steven had never been through a rematerializer before.
 
The
Alliance
had banned them, and for good reason.
 
The device took a body apart molecule by molecule, and didn’t always reassemble them quite perfectly.
 
The slightest mechanical error, and a man could find himself quite dead.
 
Or at least missing something crucial.

At least the process wasn’t painful.
 
One moment he was standing in a sunny meadow, and the next he found himself standing in a gloomy, dank cave.
 
He couldn’t prevent himself from glancing down.
 
He was relieved to see it looked like his balls were still there.

This might have been a good time to try to make a break for freedom, except one of Jan’s stooges had a particle weapon trained on the rematerialization pad.
 
He stood quietly and waited.
 
A moment later Jan rematerialized, with Vaish next to her.

“Move off the pad,” she said.
 
Mindful of the gun pointed in his direction, Steven moved.
 

He was relieved to see Vaish, but he was still concerned about Fred.
 
Since Fred had moved his whole personality into the lifepod, they could easily destroy him simply by blowing up the lifepod.
 
He hoped they wouldn’t do that, since they probably needed the machinery and could doubtless use a computer.
 
But it was nevertheless a possibility, since they must realize Fred was loyal to him and would make their lives difficult if at all possible.
 

He’d designed Fred ten years ago, and the artificial intelligence had been his closest friend ever since.
 
The thought of losing him after all this time caused a pang in his chest, as sharp as if Fred had been an organic lifeform.
 
The truth was that, computer or no computer, Fred was more human than many humans were.

“So, McNeill,” Jan said, gesturing around her.
 
“What do you think of our home?”

Steven looked around.
 
He hadn’t marooned Jan and her followers with enough raw material to create furniture or shelters, since there was plenty of wood on the planet to build with.
 
Metal bunks from their ship stood arrayed against the walls, and lights had been placed every few meters, but very little else had been done to make the dark cavern seem friendlier.

“I just
love
what you’ve done with the place,” he said.

“You marooned us here,” Jan said, her voice dripping with anger.
 
“We’ve done our best to make a life here.
 
We managed to train the cats—despite their size they’re really quite biddable and make excellent pets—but there are other dangers, so we live in the caves.”

“Very homey.
 
They should put you on the cover of
Galactic Home Decorating.
”

A crowd of thirty or forty stunningly beautiful, statuesque women had started to gather around them.
 
Steven looked at them, seeing faces he recognized from Jan’s first attempt to take over the
Arisia
, and from there the galaxy.
 
Some of them were Noo’dis’ts, but numerous other species were represented as well.
 
All of them were genetically engineered—the work of a scientist who’d obviously liked big breasts—and all of them were looking at him with lust.
 

He knew it had to be lust because that was what women always had in their eyes when they stared at him.
 
Although in this case lust looked an awful lot like hatred.

“Now,” Jan said.
 
“Take off your clothes.”

Steven blinked.
 
“I beg your pardon?”

“Take off your clothes.
 
Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Ordinarily stripping in front of a woman didn’t really bother him, but taking off his clothes in front of a crowd of hostile, hard-eyed women made him oddly nervous.
 
Steven slid a sideways look at Vaish, but to his dismay she didn’t appear too sympathetic to his plight.
 
In fact, a small smile seemed to be playing around her mouth.
 
Sighing, he stripped off his shirt.