Designed Collision Read online

  “So, how does that work?”

  “We pre-load a maximum with a proxy, and they bid for us. The bidding has a time limit, so you need a proxy who is fast. Mine was not fast enough.”

  “So, why were you in such a hurry?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “I am in a state. A delicate state. Sex is constantly on my mind, and I prefer to enact it with a willing partner but don’t wish the stupor to get so deep that I lose control of myself. So, you have a few more days.”

  She blinked. “How did you find me?”

  He grinned. “That is my secret for now.”

  “Yes, Master Karus.” She toasted him with her teacup, and he returned the favour.

  So, how long was she going to wait before putting herself out of her misery? It was quite the problem.

  Chapter Nine

  Danoi showed her the options for instruction that were available on the ship. She gravitated toward the geology and mineral studies as it was what she had been into before the asteroid. Her life as a surveyor for her municipality had been fulfilling, if boring. That phrase had summed up her life until the last month.

  She got her files arranged, and Danoi said he would test her the following day on the data.

  Cassandra walked to the couch and curled up in a corner with her data screen. She read in languages that she didn’t even know existed two months earlier.

  Karus had been out doing something in the ship, and he looked at her curiously. “What are you doing?”

  She shrugged. “Studying.”

  He was wearing a sleeveless top that allowed for his wings. “Why are you over there and not at the desk?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I am more comfortable here. I can relax, and then, I can pay attention.”

  She realized she was a tiny ball with the screen perched on her knees, but she was comfortable. She had made it through geological surveys of nine different regions before he came in. Only forty-six to go.

  “Which world did he set you to investigating?”

  She looked at him as he settled at his desk. “Gwella.”

  He smiled. “Of course, he did. We will be meeting the captain for lunch in an hour. Is that acceptable to you?”

  She blinked and then jackknifed off the couch. She walked over to him, put her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him.

  He pulled her down to his lap and wove his fingers into her hair. The greeting went on for a while.

  When she leaned back and pressed her lips together, she blushed. “Sorry, I almost forgot.”

  He quirked his lips. “Good. I am still trying to decide a punishment in case you forget.”

  She tried to get up, but he held onto her.

  “You are well today? You slept for eighteen hours.”

  She blinked. “That is... I suppose I was tired.”

  “It was a very busy day.”

  She laughed. “It was.”

  “So, what have you learned about Gwella?”

  Cass paused, “I can only compare with Earth, but aside from slightly higher gravity, it seems to be very similar but completely empty. Why is that?”

  “In my system, only Steelix was inhabited. The other worlds that can be turned into inhabitable environments are slowly being transformed. Gwella is the first, stable, completed world ready for colonists.”

  She blinked. “Colonists?”

  “Yes. I have made arrangements with a few merchants to pick up some of your folk with the requisite skills for the new colony. The first settlement is being built on the western hemisphere.”

  Cass smiled. “The Buhkareea expanse.”

  “Correct. What is your opinion of it?”

  “It is rather open. Fine for the main city but a little exposed if you want to have anyone start any kind of crop production. Do you have pollinators?”

  He chuckled. “It seems you are interested in this.”

  “I am.” She shrugged. “It is what I have been doing for the last year and a half. Do you know how hard it is to pollenate with a paintbrush?”

  “No, that is not something that I have ever dealt with.”

  “It isn’t pretty. Are they being given rations to start off?”

  He squeezed her. “Yes. They are being given rations. I am not dumping them there and flying away.”

  “Why do you have to get merchants to make the acquisition? Did you spend all your money on me?” She wrinkled her nose and looked up at him, pressing her hand to his chest.

  “I was barred from transactions at the education station, so I contacted some traders that I consort with now and then and gave them a list of personnel to obtain. Specific occupations and such. The closer they got to the list, the higher the price for the contract sale.”

  “So, you are buying the contracts, and the humans come with them?”

  He nodded and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Precisely. Most of them will be free to book passage to another world in ten years or gain citizenship of Gwella with full rights to travel and settle. They can earn out in as few as three years if they want to go over and above their standard duties.”

  “How?”

  “Take on leadership roles in the community, open clinics, or work to set up new innovations. Even working with the provided species to create sustainable creatures who can thrive in the environment is something that can shorten their contracts.”

  “Wow. So, they can just get on a vessel and go see the stars?”

  “Of course. Once they earn back their education and passage, room and board.” He smiled. “Plus, the fruits of their labours while they are under contract, so it is in their best interest to earn out.”

  Her mind thought to parallels in human history, but there was one large divide. Every man, woman, and child had signed themselves into bond contracts for a chance at survival. They were protected by the contract as well as being bound to it. Cassandra knew that better than most.

  She swallowed and asked a question that was never too far beneath her surface. “Is the Earth dead?”

  He sighed and cuddled her close. “It is dying. Your people can find ways to survive there, but the sky won’t clear for centuries. There will be no growth, no food, and no animals. Unless your people have developed enough geothermal units to keep an entire civilization underground for that amount of time, your people’s only chance is in the stars, and getting there is not free.”

  Cassandra accepted that. This was not a trip to the mountains gone awry. Humanity had been the victim of a giant chunk of rock that struck their little world hard enough to break it forever. The sooner they found a way to take action elsewhere, the sooner they would know that they could survive and thrive anywhere. She hoped. Her year and a half of silence was enough of a lesson in how empty her world would soon be.

  He held her in silence until he finally patted her hip. “Right. We are going to have lunch with the captain.”

  She nodded and straightened, scooting off his lap and standing up. She stepped away from him and smiled. “Master Karus, shall we go?”

  He stood up, flexed his wings, and offered her his arm. “Of course, Mistress Cassandra.”

  She inclined her head regally and smoothed her hair over one shoulder. She placed her hand on his wrist, and they took a walk to the captain’s private dining room.

  The captain stood up and bowed. “Master Karus, Mistress Cassandra, please be welcome.”

  She bowed with her hand still on Karus’s arm. “Thank you for the welcome, Captain Nkrault.”

  He beamed, and his orange face and blue hair showed him to be of the same species as Kofu and Danoi. “Are you a native of Steelix?”

  “I am a citizen, yes. Master Karus has been generous to my species. When we were in need, he helped tens of thousands of our people. We have been on Steelix for four generations.”

  She blinked. “I believe I must change my education goals to include the history of Karus’s star system. I might be able to get an idea of things to come.”

  Nkraul
t smiled brilliantly and waited while Karus held her chair out for her, seating her on the captain’s right hand while he went to sit across from her. The chairs all had narrow backs, but she found that with the correct posture, she didn’t even notice.

  The captain smiled and tried to engage her in conversation. “So, Mistress, what do you think of star travel so far?”

  She smiled. “I find that it is added to the things that I need to adapt to. I am guessing any other quarters on the ship would be enough to threaten my sanity after the last year and a half. I am not used to being in confined areas.”

  The captain chuckled. “You are fortunate to be in your situation, then. What did you do after the impact?”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “When the actual object struck, where were you, and what did you do?”

  She flicked a look at Karus, and he was looking at her with interest.

  “My uncle’s property had been turned over to an agricultural course at the local university. The idea was to make a sustainable farm that needed little to no exterior interference. The university called to let us know that with the disaster looming, they had sent all personnel home, which left the animals on their own. I offered to go and man the farm as best I could and drove out into the countryside to try and keep the creatures alive.”

  A soup course arrived, and she smiled at the server, waiting until Karus ate before she started.

  Nkrault asked when he was halfway through his bowl, “Will you continue?”

  “Oh. Right. Well, I let all the animals out of their confinement so that they wouldn’t hurt themselves when it happened, I locked up the wind generator, headed into the cellar, and locked myself inside as the radio signal went dead. That is when I cried.” She tried to remember what had happened in which order.

  “The next days were a blur of checking on the greenhouse, the high tunnel, and every other food source. The chickens were fine, the horses had run to the edge of the fencing and then come back, and the goats looked at me like I had come to save them and were now the leader of the herd. Days took on a pattern. Feed and water them, check on the plants, keep the power going, keep myself going, and save enough of the power to keep the heater running through the night.”

  The salad course arrived, and she continued, “I harvested my food when the plants fought growing in the high tunnel, kept the greenhouse going using the lights. Preserving and pickling were important. Eating the eggs as my primary food source was difficult, but I mixed things up as best I could. The meat in the freezer lasted me nine months, and I supplemented it with the deer that died in the first blast. That was another nightmare. I am not used to that much butchery. It is arm-wearing work.”

  She nibbled at her salad. “Things were hard. I talked to myself a lot, and then, I saw this weird apparition walking toward me. He offered me a job and a place in the stars. Here I am.”

  Nkrault blinked. “He was on your world?”

  Karus smiled. “I took a shuttle.”

  “So, then Kofu arrived and began his tutoring, I got pretty good or at least good enough at languages, learned a bit of history about the education station, and then some history of the Hmrain. Contract negotiation, trade regulations, fair market value, and how to assess it. It was a trade-related education.”

  The captain frowned. “I thought you would be given more domestic training.”

  She grinned at Karus. “He has staff for that. I am for another purpose.”

  Nkrault turned an orange so hot it looked like flames. “Ah. Of course. My apologies.”

  She grinned and tried to figure out how to eat her main course. A glance at Karus showed her he was using two eating prongs and a wide bowled fork.

  She took the clue and kept eating. It was a pasta made with vegetables and served with a meat sauce.

  Three more courses and they knew all they needed to about her previous occupation, her work during the disaster, and her preparation for life as a Hmrain bonded companion.

  Apparently, she was quite the conversationalist as long as it included the details of being a midwife to a goat.

  Chapter Ten

  She went through the test Danoi gave her and handed it back for him to grade.

  He blinked at her in surprise. “You got every question.”

  “Yes, I have always tested well. Can I have a new assignment?”

  He paused. “What would you like to do?”

  “Look into the history of Master Karus’s territory and how to outfit a new colony.”

  Danoi looked to Master Karus. “Does he know you are doing this?”

  Karus spoke calmly. “I know, and I endorse it. Please give her all the data that you can gather. Then, test her on the practicality of her translation of the information.”

  Danoi smiled. “Yes, Master Karus.”

  He pulled out the data blocks for her, and then, Danoi told her he was going to test her on practicality, execution, and use of the contracted resources.

  “You will have two days to work out a plan.” Danoi smiled.

  She looked at the scrolling expanse of data. “Two days?”

  “It is a test, after all.” He chuckled. “Well, now that you are set for two quiet days, I will leave you and go to arrange dinner.”

  Cassandra looked at the tablet and scowled at the information. She picked it up, crawled off the bed, and went to stand in front of Karus’s desk.

  He looked up, and the expression on his face was nearly begging for a set of bifocals on the edge of his nose. “Yes, Cassandra?”

  “Master Karus, may I use the projection unit to work on this data?”

  He smiled. “Do you think that will help? You have to work with a lot of geological and climatological data. Not to mention the population that you will be managing.”

  She caught his turn of phrase, but she ignored it. “What population am I starting with?”

  “Five hundred, mixed genders. All adults. The family groups won’t be released from the education station for six more months.”

  Cassandra definitely caught that one. “You are going to be contracting more humans?”

  He shrugged. “From a distance. I am hiring someone more local to select the candidates, and I will be selecting the personnel from Steelix.”

  “You are going to populate an experimental world with survivors from mine?”

  He frowned at her. “Yes.”

  She grinned and walked around the desk, set down her tablet, and then, she climbed onto his lap and knelt, straddling him. He leaned back but cupped her hips.

  Her kiss was wildly happy. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drove her tongue into his mouth while he sat there, surprised. The surprise wore off quickly, and his hands gripped her hips.

  She reached down to unbuckle her gown. She leaned back and whispered, “If I initiate sex now, is that bad timing?”

  His eyes went from grey and gold to swirling gold in a second. She got her dress unbuckled, and the panels opened, Karus surged to his feet and carried her to the bed where she had just been studying. He set her on the edge of the bed and eased the fabric from her shoulders.

  She braced herself on her hands as he spread her thighs wide. He pulled her forward, so her butt was in midair and draped her legs over his shoulders. She was staring at him, but his attention was firmly fixed on the slick skin that he was drawing two fingers across.

  She shivered, and when he extended his tongue to stroke her clit with hot, wet, enthusiasm, she lay back and closed her eyes. It felt so much better to feel it than watch it.

  Heat filled her senses, and she hit her first orgasm fast and hard. Karus kept his tongue moving on her, and his fingers plunged and retreated inside her.

  She whimpered as he didn’t let up on her, and sensations built rapidly. He switched his fingers and tongue, plunging his tongue deep into her while his index finger circled and circled.

  She let her gasps and moans reach his ears. The second climax fought her, and she remained
locked on the edge. She made a soft noise of desperation, and Karus left her, set her feet down, and removed his clothing layers far more swiftly than she would have thought possible.

  He shifted her until she was more firmly supported by the mattress, and then, he fitted his erection against her. His molten gaze was fixed on hers when he slid into her. He rocked into her, inch by inch.

  When he was settling into her, she felt pressure as she was slowly stretched. He must have been watching her closely because he paused.

  “Breathe. Relax. Nod when your body is ready again.”

  She chuckled. “Be careful what you ask for.”

  He grinned. “Something like that.”

  He carefully settled with his weight on his elbows, and his wings flexed over them to create a private darkness where the only light was in his eyes.

  She felt something on her clit, slowly sucking and squeezing. It was definitely a unique sensation.

  She whispered, “What is doing that?”

  “You don’t think that a species like mine could exist on looks alone.”

  She felt the surge of moisture from her body around his cock. The ease of the hot friction was freeing, and she sighed in relief.

  She looked up toward his eyes and nodded. His hips didn’t move, but his cock began to twist into her and then ease, working as deep as her body could manage.

  She blinked, and her body tightened around him, trying to embrace the screwing motion. Sweat broke out across her breasts and belly. She gripped his shoulders, running her hands down his biceps, up and down his chest. She couldn’t be still, and the tension was building. He wasn’t moving the rest of himself one inch.

  She ran her hands along his shoulders and gripped him with her short nails. She was gritting her teeth as biting was presenting itself as a means of ending the frustration that was rising.

  He chuckled. “Do as you like. I am here to learn your preferences.”

  The suction on her clit got harder, the movement inside her more insistent. She held off as long as she could, but when the pressure had her on the edge of screaming, she lunged up and bit his left arm. She didn’t draw blood right away, but she didn’t let go. When her orgasm hit, she bit harder; blood flowed into her mouth.