Rumblings
24 May 2020Maggie Oz
Worst thing about a great weekend? Sunday afternoon, you know it's work tomorrow 
We'd had the best of times on our little island, sun, sand, sex, surf, sangria but now it was time to head home.
We'd barely slept the whole time, Ienpelang's "Day" is over 72 hours long so our 2 standard day weekend meant that the sun didn't set the whole time we were there. We snoozed a bit but for the most part were wanting too much of each other to waste time sleeping.
The shuttle collected us and returned us to Doyle's where Always Forever was waiting for us.
When I got to the command couch there was a message on my comm. It was from a Materials Broker I'd had some dealings with, he was letting me know he had the Chemical Processors I was looking for.
"Do you mind a slight detour on the way home, Jamie?" I asked
"Of course not, I love flying about in this little ship,"
"Super, there are some mods to the drive I can do if we pop over to Sha Wa"
"Even more jump range? "
"Yes , I'm hoping she might hit 50, if we're lucky"
We launched and I punched in Sha Wa as our destination,
"Do you want to fly her?" I asked
"I thought you'd never ask! " said James
He took the controls and we set off. It took a little getting used to but the power and responsiveness of a Clipper make them a joy to fly and James took no time to settle in. He even docked us at Horowitz Dock.
James lingered around the retail district while I met up with the Materials Broker and organised the trades for the gear I needed.
"Just one more stop?" I asked
"As long as I get to keep the command chair?"
"Deal"
McKay Settlement on Pyemmatsety was our next stop, another Materials guy, this time metals.
Once I had everything I needed I couldn't wait so James and I sought out a workshop and installed the mods to the FSD.
We got her up to 35ly unladen and that was without the Guardian booster. I was overjoyed!
As we walked back to the space dock we started to attract a certain degree of attention.
A lot of people were looking and staring at us.
"Maybe we should have changed out of our flight suits?" I whispered to James
"Oh ? ... oh" he said as he looked about and then looked at the Imperial Eagles on his and my shoulders.
"I am so sorry, it hadn't even dawned on me we are in Federation Space"
We walked a little quicker, but tried not to make it appear so.
"There's another one" I heard coming from behind us somewhere.
A young man, probably still in his teens was hastening towards the space dock, heading to the passenger lounge.
He was slight and small, his face carried a livid bruise
As he passed through a turnstile a nearby dock worker put his foot out and tripped him up, sending him sprawling to the floor, his meagre possessions falling from the pack he carried.
Bravery in numbers saw some of the other dockworkers move towards him, surrounding him and kicking his things out of reach
"Hey wat cha' doin' cloner boy? "
"Mebbe he wants you as a slave Jimmy? "
"Whaa? he kin just print out as many as he wan's"
Before I could register, James had weighed in.
"Is there a problem here, Gentlemen?" Said James politely in his best Imperial accent
"This ain't none o' yer ... " started one of them, as he turned around, his words cut off by the cliff of muscle that filled his vision as James stopped behind him. ".. busi .. ness" he finished quietly
"This ain't nothing to do with you big fella, just walk away," said one of the dockers, a muscular fellow who was still a head shorter than James and had the street smart look of a brawler.
"I'll be walking away, and taking my countryman with me," Said James beckoning the wretch towards him.
"He ain't going no where, he's a clone and we's got to correct that," said the muscular docker
"He's not a clone," said James walking over to the fellow and picking him off the floor. "Clones have a mark on the back of their neck," he said and revealed the plain and unblemished neck of the fellow to the crowd.
"What you need to look for, is this," said James, bending over and revealing the Engramming Unit mark, a small mark made on the area of the Engramminc Backup Device that shows where to cut should the device need to be non-surgically removed, i.e. when the person is dead.
As he made this move he pulled the fellow around behind him and pushed him towards me, I grabbed him
"Walk smartly over and get inside," I said in a low voice pointing to Always Forever, he made good his escape.
"Wait.. so YOU is a clone?" said muscle man
"I am, in fact, I am a Generational Clone, as is my Pilot," said James showing his hand towards me
"Well ..... we's got business wit you then" said muscle man. The others of the pack were doing the maths of our size v their numbers, maths wasn't a strong point with any of them.
I was wearing a toolbelt with a pouch on it for bits and bobs. I put my hand on it as one might imagine someone might put their hand on a gun holster and tried to look edgy. The most threatening thing in my pouch was a really old bobby pin as far as I could remember.
"We're leaving, everyone just stay calm," said James after a few seconds of standoff and we began backing towards the ship.
The dockers seemed a bit relieved by that and were able to make a show of sounding us out without actually endangering themselves.
Not long after we were boosting into space.
"Wow," I said " I've been to that station 100's of times before, those guys even recognise me on occasion. What is going ON?"
"There is a madness taking over Mags, I don't like where it's heading. "
"It's my bloody fault!"
"No, you were just an excuse, something higher up is driving this"
We headed back to Tannhauser and let the fellow we'd rescued out there, he said he'd be OK now he was back in Empire space.
"I should drop you back to the Ach W" I said to James
"Can we go back to your's first? I'd like to shower this sand off before I head back to the ship" he replied, making the excuse I hoped he would
"I'd like that"
We showered together and washed away the sand and salt.
"Why not stay for dinner?" I suggested "I can have something delivered and then I can run you back .... in the morning," I said, running my fingers along James' arm.
"Sold!"
We ordered a delivery from the Tannhauser Maxime's, a selection of some of their finest delicacies and an amazing bottle of red.
We turned in soon after dinner. A beach hut is all well and good but nothing beats being in your own bed, in your own home, with your lover.
Our lovemaking that night was gentle and prolonged, the primal savagery of the island had calmed and we fully explored each other's bodies and boundaries for hours, finally falling into a deep, contented sleep.
.....
"madam" I could hear far in the back of my consciousness
"mmmmppffh" I replied
"madam ......" again "MADAM !"
"What the shit !" I sat bolt upright in bed
"ahem, I apologise madam but I am concerned that given the hour, Mr James may not make it to his post in time"
I looked at the clock
"JAMES, JAMES! " I cried shaking him, "Get up you great lump, it's bloody ten past 7 ! "
James bolted awake as well with an "Oh crap" and started the hunt for his clothes.
I watched him scurry about, enjoying his body being on display
.....
....
"DAC?" I said
"Yes, Madam? "
"How ... umm... how did you know we were still asleep? Do you have cameras in here? " I asked, covering my breasts
"No Madam, all my optical devices are either external to the building or cover the common areas, none are in your chambers"
"Oh good," I said, relieved, dropping my arms to the bed
"I do however have sensors in those spaces"
"You monitor my bed?" I said with alarm, wrapping myself in the sheet, eyes darting about looking for sensors
"uh .... Madam ... I ... I AM your bed" replied DAC
"Totally nothing weird or creepy as fuck about that," called James as he rummaged for his socks
I looked in horror at the bed and tried to push the sheet under my bum
"Why would you do that?" I wailed
"It is part of my function Madam, I am the Domestic ASSISTANCE Unit, I work hard to ensure you are completely comfortable at all times, for example, last night when you were kneeling on the bed I altered its height and firmness such that Mr James could easily place his .. "
"THAT'S ENOUGH !!! ... ah That's enough thank .. thank you DAC, we get the picture"
"Yes Madam"
"DAC please remove your presence from my bedroom from now on"
"Very well Madam," said DAC, sounding crestfallen again.
"Drive me home, lover," said James with a grin
I got dressed under the sheets.