Princess Rescue Inc (75 page)

“Worth
the wait?” he murmured in her ear. She smirked but didn't answer. She was
curious if he'd try to top himself.

Softly
she asked him if he'd stay. He froze. “I... Deidra come back with me. Come to
my world and be a rich woman, see the world and know it.” She stared at him
taken aback by that.

“I...
I wouldn't be a princess anymore.”

“No,
but you'd be my partner,” he said gently. “Deidra I told you I'm into you
because of you, not for your titles or power. I don't care about them. I want
Deidra the woman,” he said, eyes locking onto hers.

She
saw the depths there, the inky depths she was ready to throw herself into.
Finally though reality cut into her reverie. She bit her lip. I'd be a fish out
of water,” she said regretfully. She realized suddenly he would be the same
here. She instantly regretted the empathy. Regretted and resented it, resented
it because she was fairly certain he'd led her down the path into this trap.
“Besides, my people need me,” she said firmly. “Will you stay? Protect them as
you have protected me?” she asked softly, almost pleading with him.

He
sighed. He knew she'd do this, emotional blackmail. In a way he couldn't really
blame her. He blamed himself for letting it get this far out of hand. She
wriggled a little, expecting a response. He told her softly and honestly he was
not sure. “I have things I still want to do on earth. Things I want so badly to
do.”

“You
can do those things here.” She said quietly not meeting his eyes. Now that she
had a taste of him she wasn't ready to let him go. His hesitancy, his gently
thorough lovemaking had been the tonic she'd needed to put some of her fiery
demons to rest. She still had nightmares but she knew there was a new dawn
coming, one filled with promise of a new day. His sweet kisses were what she
needed to face each day. His arms were wrapped around her from behind. She
nuzzled them, drinking in their strength and warmth.

He
looked down at her, amused. “Change the world? It would take lifetimes to do
it. Electronics, Medicine, Education, Mechanics, god where to start!” He
laughed. “Besides I'm a techy at heart dear, I love fiddling with machines,
making them myself. Politics aren't really my thing,” he said, trying to keep
his tone light. “I'm not a people person,” he admitted.

“I
think I've found that out already,” she murmured chuckling softly. His hands
caressed her body, fingertips stroking here and there. “Behave,” she murmured,
catching his fingers before they went wandering too far and then leaning and
twisting back to exchange a kiss with him. Her laughing eyes haunted his as she
smiled and then relaxed once more in his arms. Of course she didn't let his
fingers go though.

“I'm
not sure I can do it. Change this world,” he murmured.

She
shook her head and turned in his arms to look up at him. “Didn't you already?”
she asked, eyes twinkling.

“Touché',”
he answered. He couldn't help smiling though. She smiled again. She pulled him
down for a thorough kiss. She knew now Wanda had been right, there were other
ways to get what she wanted from him. Ways that were far more enjoyable for
both of them.

Ticundus
grinned as the last Duluthian body was placed in the mass grave. His men had
done excellently, killing the latest night attack without any losses. They were
tired but ecstatic; the gaijin weapons had so far allowed them to fight with
minimum losses. In fact since they'd hunkered down in the ruined wall they had
no
losses to speak of!

It
was unheard of to have such a ruinous exchange in their favor. Both wings of
the Duluth attack had been repulsed, a few of the injured had been captured and
the survivors had fled into the night. Had he more men he would have given
chase!

He
thought about that rash act and then frowned. No, on second thought he wouldn't
have. Lieutenant Galloway had been correct, here in a defensive position he and
his men were leveraging their resources to their maximum. Out in the open,
undefended by walls with the enemy able to charge and run them down it might
have been different. He turned to the others.

They
had three hundred soldiers now, three cohorts of Silent Knights. They also had
a dozen recruits from the refugees who were willing to take up arms. The others
formed an auxiliary, helping their three medics and taking over the day to day
running of the fort's cleaning and cooking chores to allow the soldiers to do
their jobs.

The
gaijin Lewis was due to resupply them today, he hoped she had more ammunition.
The grenades were nice but of limited utility he had discovered. They did a
great job of breaking up knots and forcing the enemy to back off but their
limited range was a serious problem. It would be nice if they could get the
mortar which Gunny Paris had promised was in the works.

“Post
battle chores,” he said turning to Jensig. Jensig nodded, making a note on a
piece of slate. “Stand down a third of the force after a half hour and shit,
shower, and shave. If we don't see any more activity then stand down another
third in two hours and tell them to bed down for six hours.”

“Normal
routine at lunch?” Jensig asked. Ticundus nodded. “Lewis will hopefully be here
by then. All hands on deck to cover her when she lands. We'll unload, get her
back in the air and then sort things out from there,” he said.

“Yes
sir,” Jensig said. He saluted and took off at a trot.

<==={}------------>

Ryans
dodged a squirt of water as he came into the chemistry room after a late
breakfast. He had a lot to do today and not a whole lot of time to do it... his
thoughts chopped off abruptly when he dodged. “HEY!” he complained in surprise.
He frowned as Wanda giggled. She pointed the streaming bottle towards a bucket.
He'd had a hell of a time extracting himself from Deidra. She was wrapping him
around her little finger and only the royal Chamberlain's request for her
company had let him escape. Well, technically she'd left with a pouting moue
and several frisky kisses but at least he'd managed to be free for a time.

Only
a time though, he realized, his freedom now was sharply limited. He felt a
lingering resentment over it, the emotional blackmail bothered him but he
realized it was something he... hell the two of them were going to have to work
out over time. Going home wasn't necessarily possible after all, but it was a
goal he firmly intended to keep, at least for now. Besides, he wasn't sure he
really
wanted
to escape her grasp any longer.

It
wasn't fair really. In a perfect world she'd want him for him, not because she
needed him. He'd wanted her for her, not because of her rank or titles. In fact
to him they were a hindrance and a burden, now more than ever. He sighed
mentally. But they didn't live in a perfect world, far from it. They had to
make do with what they had and try to make the best of it.

“What's
that dare I ask? Super soaker?” he said shaking his head. His hand accidentally
touched a wet spot on the door jam. He looked down and then raised it to his
nose and sniffed the foam. “Smells like vinegar,” he observed.

“That's
because it is dummy,” Wanda said smiling. “Vinegar water, and sodium
bicarbonate,” she explained, hefting the device.

“Baking
soda?” Ryans asked shaking his head.

“Yup.
Raided a bakery for this,” she said holding up the improvised device. “They've
been stocking up, hoarding the stuff. Caused a shortage in town. We're stuck
using them for a lot of baking goods now.”

Ryans
chuckled. “Capitalism. You've gotta love it.”

“Yeah
well, whatever,” she griped. She shrugged that off.

“So
what's that for? Other than getting me wet?” he asked.

“I
missed remember?” she asked turning and putting the jar down. He opened his
mouth to retort but she kept talking. “To answer your question it's a prototype
fire extinguisher.”

“Oh,”
he said thoughtfully. He paused and looked at the jar. “Kinda small you know.”

“Smart
ass,” she mock growled. She shook her head. “Proof of concept.” She took the
tree gum stopper out and removed the soaked tissue paper ball attacked to the
pipe stem.

“Something
they teach you in chemistry class?” he asked, leaning against a counter.

“Hardly.
Get your hands away from that,” she said not looking up. He carefully moved
away from the counter. “Its' sensitive,” she said in way of explanation. Gently
he moved to the center of the room and put his hands in his pockets. He didn't
want anything blowing up, splashing him, or whatever.

“Better,”
she smiled, darting a glance at him over her shoulder. She turned after a
moment and held up the pieces. “It's a simple thing, Jar, rubber stopper,
tissue paper, and a pipe stem with the tip shaped into a nozzle. I actually got
the idea from a very old chemistry book my dad had when he was a kid. He passed
it on to me. It's the reason I got into chemistry actually.”

Ryans
nodded. “Okay, I thought you were working on gunpowder?”

She
frowned. “Well, if we're going to start fires I better have a way to safely put
them out right?” she asked despairingly.

He
sighed and reluctantly nodded, hands up in surrender. “Right. Point. Gotcha.”

“Besides,
Max wants them too. We can't get to the extras in the cache for now, so I
rigged this.” She held up the jar then tapped her foot on a metal cylinder on
the floor. “Freakin' thing's heavy, but it works.”

He
looked it over and went to pick it up. “No don't tip it dummy, that's how you
activate it.” He froze and put the bottle down carefully. She pointed.

“See
it's got this here piece of hose I snagged from max connected to this fitting.
You tip the thing over and the bicarbonate and vinegar mix and instant
pressure.”

“Ah.”

“And
I've got a couple done. I'm going to turn it over to some industrial guy Max
met who will probably make and sell the things and be a quad zillionaire,” she
said in disgust. She shook her head.

“Well
not...”

“You
know what I mean,” she said, testy. He chuckled.

“Right.
So that's a problem?” he asked.

“Well,
I want a royalty or something. It's not exactly rocket science but damn it,
it's my thing,” she growled. “I'm the one who put the thought into it. It's not
fair that he is going to reap the reward for my efforts for the rest of his
life while I don't.”

He
blinked and then nodded. “Right. Okay. You want a piece of the pie. Suddenly
capitalism got back into the conversation again,” he replied wryly.

She
snorted and poked him. “Look who's calling the kettle black moneybags.”

“That's
Mr... “ She gave him a quelling look. “Never mind,” he murmured. He shook his
head. “We'll work it out. But honestly, I'd rather see these things out and
about in quantity than someone charging a fortune for them.”

“Ah.
True,” she nodded.

“Max
wants them for the industrial sector?” he asked.

Wanda
nodded. “And the hay lofts and stables. One dropped match or knocked over
lantern and its whoosh!” She threw her hands up. “Great Chicago fire all over
again.”

He
winced. That was a very real concern of his and just about everyone these days.
The approaching summer heat had dried everything out. “Yeah. And without a cow
to blame it on. Or at least a Terran one,” he snorted. “Right. Smart. And one
near the kitchen. And in the center of long halls or near fire prone areas.”

“Why
do you think I've got one?” she asked, pointing to the one near her door. He
looked then shook his head.

“And
if there's a fire and you’re not here when it starts and can't get to that?” he
demanded. She blinked at him. “Or that runs out?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Um.
Okay. One in the hall,” she said. Her shoulders slumped. He smiled and patted
one shoulder. “That's my girl. Now. About some of your other projects I was
wondering if you could do something like say some plastic for the 3d printers,
and some better shampoo, something with anti-dandruff and anti-lice maybe...”

<==={}------------>

Max
smiled as he hefted the piece of wood and turned it over and over. The piece
was really a form of plywood, made up of various plant materials all bonded
together and shaped into a rectangle. Impressive for a medieval society, even
more so now that he knew that eighty percent of their wood supply came from
this. Ironwood and traditional wood was incredibly hard to harvest.

“It's
a....”

Plywood.
We call it oriental strand board actually,” Max replied, nodding to the
carpenter. Oriental strand board was a mix of wood chip layers in various
directions. Each layer was in a different direction to give the material
strength. The interesting thing was that this was made out of essentially
recycled material, or at least half of it was. The other half was made out of
some native cellulose material.  “I take it this is your answer to the
lack of wood?” Max grimaced. “Can't say I blame yah, I for one wouldn't want to
tangle with another
basilisk
. Let alone any other predators hiding in
the bush,” he said and nodded.