The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore (best ereader for pdf and epub TXT) 📗

mouth to rebut, but shut it again. Yiorgos was right, but he wasn't about to admit it. "You're killing my moment of relaxation. Why don't you… do your Netfolding or something!"

Yiorgos harrumphed and opened the mini fridge. He pulled out a bottle of yellow-glowing liquid with a holographic label. "Whoa! Proximan golden ale!" He popped open the top and took a sip, shivered, then smiled. He grabbed another and lobbed it to his partner.

Dirken sat up and took a drink, savoring the momentary sourness of it, then thrilled in the sweetness that replaced it, along with a spreading warmth through his body. Proximans didn't have the same reaction — it was no different to them than a regular beer was for humans — but this rare ale was magical for humans and many other species. It tasted like a stout at first, but then the aftertaste became sweet vanilla.

Yiorgos laid down on the bed as well and they fell into an exhausted silence punctuated only by the action of drinking their ales.

"The musician," Yiorgos said. "The one who hit Eow with the lyrophone."

Dirken thought back to the fight in the Sanctum. "Yeah," he answered. "She didn't need to do that. She could have just run for it."

"Do you remember what she said?"

"Yeah. It was weird. Something about someone named Eva."

"No, not Eva. AVA. Remember the quantum computer artificial intelligence that tried to take over Earth? Before she died, the albino said, May AVA bring peace."

Dirken took another swig. He was very comfortable. His eyelids were growing heavy. "That's a heck of a leap. Maybe she was talking about someone named Ava, not the computer. Besides, why would a slave musician of a mafia don care about a thousand-year-old computer?"

"Exactly," Yiorgos replied. "Why? And why would she think it would bring peace? AVA threatened to destroy Earth and Mars with their own weapons of mass destruction if it didn't get its way."

"Ridiculous." But the thought implanted a seed of doubt in him. The albino waited for them at the airlock. She gave her life to protect him and Yiorgos. Why? She didn't even know them. "She didn't need to do that," he repeated, his eyelids heavy.

A thrum vibrated through the ship, growing in intensity, then hit a crescendo and died away. They had gravjumped again. It would be hours before they reached Nüwa. He had time to rest, so he let himself fall asleep, nestled in the extreme comfort of the plush sheets and pillow.

Dirken awoke some time later as the ship thrummed again. Another gravjump. Had he been asleep for so long? It usually takes at least half an hour to go between jump points.

Yiorgos had gotten up and was at the refrigerator. He noticed Dirken was awake and tilted his head slightly, opened his mouth to say something.

But just then the door to the suite slid open, revealing 'TakTrak. The Corthian clacked and whirled with laughter and announced, "And now for your entertainment, my friends!"

'TakTrak stepped aside with a flourish and in walked a muscular human male clad only in a black leather thong and a Rigellian female in a thin red negligee.

The escorts struck alluring poses to present themselves.

"I'll take them both!" Dirken said, sitting up on the bed.

"Of course, friend Dirken. Enjoy!" 'TakTrak said, then backed out and closed the door.

"Oh brother," Yiorgos said. He turned to the attached office. "I'll be in here."

Dirken had already taken off his shirt before the escorts stepped forward to the bed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

A PLEASANT DISTRACTION

The Rigellian blinked her six eyes at him and ran her hands down her negligee. "You can call me Sugarplum, sweetheart," she said. The voice emitting from the mouth at the top of her head had a vaguely Chinese accent — probably trained in Terran by someone from Nüwa. "Have you had a Rigellian before? It is a treat."

"I have," he answered, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Then you must know that we have certain… skills." The little tentacles around her fleshy mouth wiggled as the tip of her long, purple tongue licked the lips there.

"Oh, I know. Let's see what you can do with that luscious mouth, baby."

Dirken looked to his right and saw Yiorgos, shaking his head, disappear with the Heart into the adjoining office.

The human male came to Sugarplum's side and gave a wry smile.  Young and slim with defined abs like a swimmer. Light blond hair. Dark blue eyes. Barely older than twenty, Dirken figured. He was what some people called a "twink," though some considered the term derogatory, so Dirken never used it. The young man knelt at the bed and unbuckled Dirken's pants, his eyes glancing up to see if there was any opposition. There wasn't.

The male escort reached for the buckle of the Dirken's blaster holster, but Dirken stopped him. "Leave it on," he said, thinking back to his encounter with Eow. Besides, no one touched his blaster.

"Ooh!" Sugarplum said. "Kinky! I like a man who appreciates danger."

She ran one of her flap-like hands down his chest. It was fleshy but warm and soft like kid leather. When she reached his leather pants, the male helped her pull them off. They slipped over his rapidly growing erection.

"Mmmm. Tell me, sweetheart," she said, "do you want Andy first, or me?"

Andy raised a slim, blond eyebrow and cocked a mischievous smile.

Dirken shook his head. He wasn't generally into men, or humans for that matter, though the occasional ménage à trois was enjoyable. "You first, Sugarplum."

She waved her six ventral belly flaps in excitement. "My pleasure!"

Andy stood and gently pressed Dirken back onto the bed as he pressed a button on the console in the headboard. The emitters around the bed glowed, and Dirken felt the pull of gravity fall away. They floated upward, gently entangling each other, flesh against flesh. Infrared emissions from the emitters sent soothing waves of warmth through his muscles.

Sugarplum pulled herself to Dirken's pulsing, erect penis. She slid her yellow-and-red-striped