Galaxy Girls

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Septimus lounged on a chair in President Riald’s above-ground headquarters—as much as he could lounge on an item carved out of rock. The shields had been rolled up from the window since they’d defeated DaKem last month, and one of their two harsh red suns burned into the sparsely decorated room. Next to him, Zeon stood at attention and every few seconds flicked looks of disdain at Septimus.

The hall door opened and President Riald thumped in.

“President Riald.” Zeon’s voice rang out.

Riald grunted. He crossed to his massive desk made from trees that grew out of the cliffs of DaKem, the reason Kergeron had battled the planet’s bearlike beings since before Sep’s oldest brother was born four dec-agons ago.

“Good health to you, Uncle Riald.” Sep remained in his chair.

Riald grunted again. Feeling Zeon’s glare at his familial greeting, Sep grinned and parted his legs wider.

“I have a boon for the two of you.” Riald picked up a monitor control and he angled to the side, not turning his back to them. “A reward for your service to Kergeron.”

Zeon aimed a disbelieving stare at Sep, who ignored him. Men like Zeon fought with their brawn. Sep preferred using his brains, something he’d learned young to keep to himself. Kergeron men didn’t like being made fools of, especially by thin-skins, who looked more like the women they kept protected below the planet’s surface than the thick-skinned men who protected them from their two hot suns.

The other few thin-skinned men Sep knew were scientists, doctors or inventors. Careers not suited for Sep’s strategizing talents. He had the mind of a General but the skin of a woman. Only Sep’s relationship with Riald had gained him the rank of a common warrior instead of cleaning latrines.

A monitor hanging from the ceiling lit up, diverting Sep’s attention. A woman older than Sep smiled at them from the screen. Her body was rounded and she glowed golden with fertility, her hair white-gold. Her image disappeared, replaced by another woman. Not as rounded and not young, with a fainter glow. Her hair tinged with a red fire. Then another woman. Younger. Her hair pure gold, rivaling the Earth sun at its brightest. She glowed so brightly Sep’s heart hammered.

He recognized her. Argon’s woman. But Argon was dead.

Sep’s thoughts clicked even as he imagined how her soft body would feel in his arms, how she would taste when he licked the vein in her neck, how he would fill his nostrils with the scent of her skin. He stared at her glowing image, his body hardening with the need to plant his seed.

Zeon made a sound deep in his throat, a warrior’s sound upon spotting the enemy. Riald frowned at them, but Sep kept his eyes on the screen. The golden image blinked off and another woman blinked on. Younger and less rounded, her skin tinted pale gold but without the glow, her hair a golden brown. Not yet reached fertility.

Soon, though. Soon.

Sep sucked in his breath, focusing on his thoughts to avoid an accident in front of his uncle. It had been so long since he held a woman. Too long for a man who loved the other sex. And he didn’t only love them as breeders, like other Kergeron men, their hearts as thick as their skin. Sep loved their softness, so different from his hardness. He loved their smiles and their gratified response to a man who didn’t treat them like a piece of property they wanted to conquer and stake with a sign saying, KEEP OFF, I OWN HER.

“Finding these women is your assignment,” Riald said.

Sep fought his urge to stiffen, aware of Riald watching them. So the rumors from six turns were true. Four women really drugged the men guarding the spaceship terminal. They really fueled a spaceship. They really piloted it from Kergeron to another universe.