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As he walked towards the door he heard a noise behind him and turned in time to get wrapped in the arms of Tanz. Then her lips were on his and a chunk of the previous night came crashing out of the shadows in his mind. Once he got over the initial surprise he kissed her in return and she melted against him. Once the kiss ended she rubbed her face against his.
“Jack! Were you going to slip away without saying goodbye?” she quietly scolded him.
A guilty look passed over his face and he nodded. “Much of my memories from last night are messed up by the Lussht. I thankfully remember kissing you but I woke this morning buried under naked Shreen with no idea why. I don’t know the social protocols for orgies. I’ve never been to one.”
“What’s an orgy?”All content is © N0velDrama.Org.
“Uh, it’s when multiple people all have sex together,” he explained.
Tanz smiled. “We didn’t do that. You and I had wonderful sex and you taught the others your techniques. They had sex together. Oh! The four ladies did all lick you into a delicious orgasm.”
A distorted memory of tongues licking his entire body played through his head but he was sure that one wasn’t accurate.
“Oh, ok. Good. Well, I had a lovely time and I hope the others did as well.”
“We did.”
Jack and Tanz looked to see the others were joining them in the foyer. Hahn was grinning at Jack as Berris happily clung to him. They came forward and rubbed their faces on either side of Jack’s. They moved back and the other couples took turns rubbing their faces against Jack’s. He was a little overwhelmed by their affection and it must have shown as Tanz gave him a hug.
“I haven’t slept that well in years. Not since I was a child in the sleep pit with my entire family!” Geng exclaimed.
“It’s true! Jack gives off so much heat he feels like a family all on his own!” Julli grinned.
He snorted as he knew two Altarians that would agree with that statement. Speaking of them, “I’d better head back to see if my friends have returned from Altaria. It was truly wonderful to spend time with you all. I enjoyed myself immensely.”
There was a chorus of compliments and goodbyes and with a final kiss from Tanz he headed out.
He was able to retrace the route from the previous night back to his room. As he walked in he saw Gee and Bal sitting on the couch in their fur coats.
“Good morning!” he called out.
“Good morning, Doctor,” Gee responded. Bal just looked at him with a frown.
He rubbed his face. “Yeah, that’s just a misunderstanding. I never claimed to have a doctorate. I need to have a shower as I’m a sweaty mess. I woke up naked in a sleep pit with seven naked Shreen. Lovely people by the way.”
Two sets of eyes stared at him incredulously.
“How went your meeting yesterday?” he asked.
“Security Minister Hellna was very pleased with your acquisition and has promised to pay you for the item when you return.” Gee said then gave him a frustrated look. “Please hurry. We are to meet our driver in less than thirty minutes at the parking lot next to the Marketplace. The King made arrangements for us to go to a different resort than the one we planned on visiting. It is a great distance away on the Ridge in his home village.”
Jack grinned. “That’s perfect! I’ll get to talk with the working class! The King’s people!”
“Hurry,” Bal said sternly.
Jack frowned at her then went to get some clean traveling clothes. He took a quick shower and got dressed as Gee and Bal got the luggage in order.
Once he came out of the bathroom Jack was given a ration bar instead of being allowed to call for breakfast. He gobbled it down, grabbed his bags and they made their way out of the palace.
Everyone seemed to want to nod at Jack today and he smiled and nodded back to each of them as they walked through the shopping district and Marketplace once more. In the parking lot was a large enclosed vehicle the size of a bus. Jack looked closer and there was no question. It was a bus. He hadn’t ridden on a bus for a very long time.
An old Shreen was standing next to it. He looked up when they walked through the door. “You Jack?” he called out.
Jack nodded and the senior nodded in return. He opened a door in the belly of the bus where they put their luggage and skis. This sealed up their driver opened the mail door and they climbed inside.
“Grab a seat and buckle in,” the driver said as he moved to his seat behind the controls.
The deeply cushioned seats in the passenger section had four point safety restraints. Jacks eyebrows went up. As he buckled in he called out to the driver. “Why the safety harness? Aren’t we travelling through the tunnels?”
The bus turned out into the wide tunnel and began to accelerate. Soon they were moving at a rapid pace.
“Tunnels only go half way to the Ridge. The rest is surface travel. Get comfortable with the harness now because taking it off when we’re outside is not advisable.”
Jack looked over at his Altarians but they were busy conversing with each other.
Now was as good a time as any to start his assignment. “What’s the name of the village we’re going to?”
“Boon Falls.”
“Oh! There’s a waterfall there?” Jack asked in delight.
The driver glanced back at him. “You do know the surface is frozen, don’t you?”
Jack blushed. “Yes, sorry. On Earth we name places ‘Falls’ when there is a waterfall nearby.”
“Oh,” was all he got back. They rode on in silence.
“How did Boon Falls get its name?” he finally pushed.
“It’s where the village founder, Boon, landed when he fell from the ridgeline above. There’s a marker in the center of town where they found what was left of his body. The location was good so they built there.”
He looked over and saw Gee and Bal were enjoying the dismayed look on his face. Jack settled back in his chair and closed his eyes. He’d pick up the conversation later.
The steady drone of the tires on the smooth surface of the tunnel soon lulled him to sleep. He dreamt of waterfalls so tall the water from them fell as rain on the lands below.
The bus jolted and Jack came awake with a start. He glanced around and saw they were no longer in the tunnel. The bus was in a large bay which looked like a bus terminal.
The driver looked back at him. “Ah! You’re awake. We’re getting equipped with tracks for travelling over the snow. Do you have eye protection?”
Jack looked to his left as Gee was handing him something. He took it from her hand and saw it was a pouch with goggles inside. “Yes.”
“Put them on. We’ll be outside in a few minutes. I just have to load our other passengers.” With that he exited the bus.
Jack saw the goggles had a detachable strap so he unhooked one side and wrapped the strap around his head as he held the goggles over his eyes. He reconnected the strap and pulled it tight. They fit well and were pretty comfortable but there was no decrease in the amount of light. He looked over at Gee who glanced back. “The goggles do nothing!”
She gave him an annoyed look. “Wait,” she said and turned back to Bal as they put their own goggles on.
Jack could no longer suppress his curiosity. “Gee. Why don’t they use gravity repulsion tech? Flying would be so much faster.”
She saw he would not be put off with a glare so she answered. “The Shreen do not like flying. They will not board a vehicle that does not touch the ground.”
Jack leaned back in his seat in surprise. He hadn’t heard of that before.
More Shreen climbed into the bus. Each paused when they caught sight of Jack and the Altarians. He gave them a friendly smile which probably wasn’t as reassuring now that his horns looked like he recently gored someone.
The first two were older males who seemed to be travelling together and gave Jack a suspicious look.
The next passengers were a young female with an infant in a carrier. She returned Jack’s smile though her eyes lingered on his horns. As she moved by Jack was able to see into the carrier and smiled widely when he saw the sleeping infant. Jack realized this was the first time he’d seen one. He thought that was a little odd.
While the oldsters moved to the back the female took the seats behind Jack. Once she locked the carrier into the seat by the window and checked on the sleeping child she moved to the aisle next to Jack.
“Excuse me Ambassador Danner?” she said in a quiet voice.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to thank you for what you did for my cousin, Tyg.”
“Ah, the King is your cousin?” Jack said with a smile. “This is a happy coincidence!”
She smiled crookedly. “Not really much of a coincidence since we’re going to Boon Falls. There’s only three distinct families living there. The population is mostly siblings and cousins. I’m Stef and behind you is my daughter Caal.”
“She’s the only child I’ve seen since I arrived. Are there no children in the city?” he asked.
“There are some but mothers do their best to return to their family when they are going to give birth. The child needs to be raised close to family.” She smiled sadly. “There are always a few stubborn fools who put their careers above family and try to adopt a more separate lifestyle but that always leaves the children having difficulty integrating to society. These children… don’t last long.”
Jack was a little shocked to hear this. He looked at Stef and glanced back to Caal. She caught the implication.
“No, Caal is growing up with family all around her. I just brought her in to see a specialist as she developed a chronic ear infection. He gave me some Skrahak oil for ear drops and Caal will be fine after a few applications.”
“I have a three year old boy at home with a similar ailment. I wonder if Skrahak oil would work for him. The doctors haven’t been able to help him so far. Poor little guy.”
“Pick some up and show it to your doctor,” she suggested.
The driver stepped back on board and looked back to the two men at the back, nodding to them with a smile. He looked to the young female.
“You and Caal ready to go?” he said gruffly.
“Yes, Papa.”
Jack looked at the driver in surprise. “Tyg’s uncle?”
Stef smiled and nodded as she returned to her seat and strapped in.
The bus moved forward again but this time the ride across the paving wasn’t smooth at all. The tracks made for a bumpy, and noisy, ride. They climbed up a long ramp then passed through the large doors to the surface. The bus was immediately bathed in the harsh white light of the sun reflecting off every crystalline snowflake for as far as the eye could see.