Chapter 8
After lunch, Max asked them to come along; saying that he had something interesting to show them. He led them to a smaller building tucked away more to the back of the camp. Once inside they quickly realized that the building was functioning as a makeshift prison of sorts. When they were led through a small corridor to a room at the back they quickly understood why. There were bars on the window and the door was made of steel. In the right corner there stood a desk with a chair in front of it and two shelves with books above it. Beside it there was a door, which Joanne guessed, led to a bathroom since this had clearly not always been a cell but a normal living space at some point. To the left there was a bed, and on it there was something that surprised all three of the women.
"That's a Bundar," Joanne pointed out the very obvious as she took in the sleeping form. Just like all Bundar, all in all the body looked like that of a human, but their skin was totally black and their entire body was covered with a layer of hair about an inch long. Not so thick that you would call it fur or couldn't see the skin underneath, but it was definitely more hair than a human had. It was also all body covering; leaving only the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the face, and Joanne knew from the info she had read, the genitalia, bare. This hair growth was the same in males and females alike. Joanne knew from reports she had read, that though there was a clear visual difference between the male and the females, for the rest their bodies were similar. Same strength, same endurance, all having black eyes. Joanne guessed the Bundar to be about 7 feet tall, which was the average size for the Bundar.
"I see that you don't bother to shackle him," Pam noted.
"He never gave us reason to do so," Max explained. "The only reason why we have him in this cell is because until yesterday the entire world, us included, thought that the Bundar were the enemy. In fact, they might very well be. There's nothing that says that if one party has bad ideas, that the ideas of the other have to be good. This whole battle between the Bundar and the off-worlders might be nothing more than two predators fighting it out, so that they know just which of them is the biggest bad-ass around. But having said that, again, he never gave us reasons to use shackles. He never tried to attack one of the people that brought him food or anything like that. In fact, it's happened once that someone that had brought the food had forgotten to lock the door, but he never tried to escape."
"And go where?" Terry reasoned. "He must know that there's a hunt on for escaped Bundar. While you're feeding him and hiding him, so, as I said, why go?"
"Good point," Max had to admit.
"How did he get here? Where did you capture him?" Joanne asked.
Max chuckled. "Actually, I guess you could say that he dropped in. A small spaceship of theirs crashed in the lake and we managed to get to the two people inside before the ship sank. Unfortunately one of them died only minutes later from injuries."
"Does he speak English?"
"Yes and no. When we ask him something he always says the same thing in some strange language. We assume that it's his equivalent of one of our captured soldiers giving his name and rank. Then he says in English that his task is to kill the queen, but that's all he ever says in English."
"What Queen?" Pam asked confused. "Since we're their enemies, I assume that he's talking about us; but we don't have a queen. Maybe he really doesn't know English and that sentence is just something they teach their soldiers, thinking that it means something else. Maybe for all we know when he says, 'it is my task to kill the queen' he actually means 'as of now I consider myself a prisoner of war'."
"As good an explanation as any," Max agreed. "But I think that he knows English quite well since we've seen him read some in those books over there. Read for hours; not just leaf through them to see what they are."
"I think we can assume that he knows English then," Terry surmised. "More so because his species could have done the same as we did; intercept the transmissions that have been broadcast from Earth for a century now and learn the languages on their way here."
"Is it normal that he's asleep now?" Terry asked.
"Yes," Max assured. "They seem to have a different rhythm than us. He doesn't sleep for 3 days in a row; is awake 24 hours of the day, and then he goes to sleep for exactly 12 hours."
"To the minute?"
"Well, no, not to the minute; but almost. It's between 12 and 13 hours, closer to 12 though. He never sleeps any longer, and you can wake him up before the 12 hours are over, but it's hard to do and if you do he's as groggy as one of us would be after not having slept for three days straight. He should actually wake up around now."
"Wouldn't it be better if we moved behind that door?" Joanne asked, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at said door. "They're damn strong you know."
"I know, about four times as strong as the average human," Max agreed. "But don't worry. As I said, he's harmless."
Only moments later, the Bundar started to wake up. He looked at Joanne and Max who were standing in the middle of the room. He sat up slowly and looked to see if there was someone else in the room. It was then that he saw Pam leaning against the door and Terry standing in the door opening. He actually pulled back a little in shock when he saw Terry. Suddenly he shouted 'death to the queen' and launched himself at Terry. He moved so quickly that he had almost reached Terry before Max and Joanne could even move. But as fast as he was; Pam was faster. She moved in front of Terry and braced herself for the impact before extending her hand to stop the Bundar by a well placed hit against his chest. For a second it seemed like his body was suspended in the air as his forward motion was brutally stopped by an unmoving Pam. Then he slumped to the floor where Pam sat on top of him and rendered him unconscious by pushing a few spots which she knew would put the Bundar out for the count.
After a moment of stunned silence, Joanne finally spoke up. "Maybe a few restraints wouldn't be such a bad idea after all?"
Max could only agree and not much later the Bundar had his hands restricted behind his back by a set of handcuffs and had been placed back on the bed. When he woke up he looked around himself again before sitting up and saying once more 'death to the queen'. Then he took a second look at Terry and noticed the thing he hadn't realized before. Yes, that woman looked exactly like the queen... but like the queen that could be found on a four thousand year old image. Clearly this woman couldn't be 'the' queen. He relaxed again, sat back a bit more and leaned back against the wall while sending Terry a dirty look nevertheless.
"What the hell was that all about?" Max asked as he pointed at Terry. "She's done nothing to you."
"She is a descendant of the queen, she has to be; a daughter probably. They have to die, all of them. They have to be stopped. The queen and her breed must be stopped."
"I don't know what queen you're talking about, but if you want to stop the leaders of the off-worlders then you should be helping the Resistance; not attacking us," Max pointed out. Though he was none too pleased by the attack, he was not about to let this opportunity to finally have the Bundar talk pass him by.
The Bundar looked at Max for a moment before snorting dismissively. "If you really are the Resistance, then why is she here?"
"Terry has joined the Resistance, just like Pam did."
"And who is she?"
"Pam Scott, she was the A1 before she joined us."
The Bundar laughed at the answer, his deep voice making it sound more like an amused rumble than the laugh of a human would sound like. "You really want me to believe that a descendent of the queen and her protector, the A1, left them to join the Resistance? Nice try."
"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but..."
Max stopped talking when Terry stepped closer and said that she knew how to convince the Bundar. "Don't ask me how I know, but I know exactly what will convince him."
"Which is?" Joanne asked.
"Max, give me the key to his handcuffs."
"Whoa, wait a minute there," Joanne said as she stopped Max from handing over the key. "Terry, are you insane? He'll rip you apart."
"No he won't. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Max, the key please."
Seeing Joanne's worried face, Terry added with a smile, "Don't worry, I haven't gone insane. I have no intention of getting myself killed; I intend to spend many a day with you yet."
Then she looked at the redhead. "Pam, give me your word that you won't interfere, no matter what."
"Alright," Pam said reluctantly, very deliberately choosing her answer in such a way that she didn't actually give her word.
Full of self-confidence, Terry moved closer and sat down on the bed beside the Bundar before reaching behind him and opening the handcuffs. Once his hands were freed, Terry turned away; presenting her unguarded back to him.
The Bundar looked at her in amazement before looking at the others. There was the A1 who, despite her word, was clearly primed to act if needed. But the Bundar knew that even she was too far away now from preventing him from breaking the brunette's neck if he wanted to. Then there was the man who had been claiming to be part of the Resistance from the first day the Bundar met him. And lastly there was the blonde woman. The Bundar could plainly see how nervous she was about the fact that the woman she clearly loved was putting herself in danger like this. The Bundar knew that none of them would be able to help the brunette if needed, and he also knew that the brunette knew this as well. That meant that he also knew a third thing; she had to be the one.
The Bundar softly placed his hands on Terry's shoulders, but only to move her back around again. "You are the one."
"Yes I am."
"What the hell are you talking about?" a nervous Joanne asked.
Terry smiled at her lover before shrugging. "I have no idea. All I know is that I'm 'the one' he is talking about, even though I don't know what that is, but I also knew that I had to do this."
"Putting yourself in danger like that, is something you 'had' to do?" Joanne asked in disbelief.
"Actually, yes it was," the Bundar answered for Terry. "She had to do this to prove to me that she is 'the one'."
Max walked over to the desk and leaned against the edge. "Well, now that the fun and games are over, and you've proven that you can speak English, care to tell us who you are, and what 'the one' she is?"
The Bundar said something that none of them understood and then he shrugged his shoulders. "You wanted to know who I am. But seeing that you can't really do much with knowing my name, why don't you just call me Ben. I heard one of the people that brought me food address his colleague as Ben and I kinda like how it sounds. As for who she is, she is 'the one' from the legend; she has to be."
Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, Ben asked, "You don't know the legend?"
"Tell you what, why don't you just start from the beginning and fill us in on the things we apparently don't know," Max suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea, but why don't you fill me in first on what you've been told," the Bundar countered.
Joanne did so.
"Oh, so we are the ones doing all the plundering? Hmm, not a bad idea to bring a story like that, I have to admit. There is just one problem with it; not a word of it is true. I think..."
Ben stopped talking and walked over to the bookshelves where he took one of the books, an encyclopedia, and started to leaf through it. "Ah, here it is, I knew I read something to compare them with; ants."
"Ants?" Max repeated.
"Yes, ants. With ants you have the workers that do most of the work needed to survive, like gathering the food. Above them you have the soldiers, and above that you have the queen. You can compare the people that live to be 80 on average to the workers. The longer living, the ones you call the leaders and that can live to be 1000 on average, you can compare with the soldiers of the colony. The leader's Council, and therefore by extension, the leaders in general take care of the queen, and in return the queen takes care of them. The only real difference with ants is that with the off-worlders it's the workers who are the ones that have the offspring needed to keep the colony alive. While the queen only breeds a select few that are needed to ensure the continuation of her lineage. There is another similarity. You know how the queen of the ants lives for years while the workers die out every year? Well, you can compare that here as well. While most of them live to be 80 on average, and their leaders live to be 1000 on average, the queen can live up to 10,000 years."
Despite the situation, or maybe because there actually were so many similarities, Pam didn't like it at all to be compared to insects. Especially since it all made so much damn sense. "I never heard of this queen you're talking about, and considering the fact that I was the A1, I would think I would be told something like that."
"Then you would think wrong. True, as the A1 you were the most powerful person on those ships right after the Council, but that doesn't mean that there weren't people that knew more than you. You are after all a short living; not a leader. And even amongst the leaders the existence of the queen is only known to a small group. The queen never leaves a certain part of the ship, where nobody but this select group is allowed. Back in your history this was different. Her existence was widely known and there was no confusion about just who was in charge. Back then the Council had more of an advisory role. Then one day there was a failed assassination attempt on the queen, and it was decided that it would be better to hide the fact that a queen existed and pretend that the Council is actually in charge. Yes, they Council does have a lot of power, and yes, they are in charge of daily things, but the queen is the one that has the complete control. She is the one that sets the course so to speak."
"And how come you know all of this if they themselves don't even know it; not even the former A1?" Max asked.
Ben grinned showing off eyeteeth that were almost an inch longer than the rest of his teeth. "We have a saying. It's very simple, but very effective. 'If you want to defeat an enemy, you first have to know that enemy'. We studied them. Because you are short living you don't know this, but we don't rob those planets; they do. Though the robbing isn't to the extent that the Council led you to believe. Oh no. Believe me; an unlivable planet is actually the last thing they want. It's done always in the same way. A planet is robbed of all the things that they find interesting and that are needed to once again fully restock the ships."
"I can see your point about not robbing the planet of all there is to take," Joanne said thoughtfully. "I mean, just think about that for a moment. Yes, those ships are big, but how much is that compared to a planet? You can stuff those ships to the brim and it won't even make a real impact on the planet. Unless you start robbing irreplaceable things like works of art, but that's not really interesting enough to travel through space for."
"Oh no, they are interested in very different things," Ben assured. "Even though all in all they are fully self-sustainable on those ships, slowly over time you do loose resources that need to be replaced. I mean, simply if one extra person is born then there are more people then there were to begin with. You need the extra resources for that person. Extra water, extra ground to grow extra plants in. You need resources, and those get stockpiled, but that doesn't mean that the planet is useless now; it just means that some things were removed. But, as you said, would you notice that? Would you notice 5,000,000 gallons of water being removed from a freshwater source that is being resupplied at the same time by a flowing river? Would you notice the removal of tons of rich soil that has been used to enrich the greenhouses on the ships? Hardly. In fact, I am sure that your planet would have been more than happy to hand that over willingly. Simply for the experience of meeting people that weren't born on your planet. Let alone what your planet would have been willing to give freely in exchange for some of the knowledge they have on those ships."
"A guaranteed cure for cancer being nothing more than a pill," Max reminded. "Just for that alone we would have been more than willing to fully resupply all of those ships."
"So why are they really here? What's the real plan?" Joanne asked.
"The real plan?" Ben repeated. "What they normally do next is to leave behind a descendant of the queen. Someone that is a good match, but not good enough to actually take the place of the queen should the queen die. The queen's descendant and about half of the population on the ships stay behind on the planet to build a new colony, to compare with the ants again. All to ensure the continuation of the species. They kill all that is seen as a threat and turn the rest of the original inhabitants of the planet into slaves of sorts. And so they rule over that planet from then on. I say slaves of sorts because the percentage is too big for everyone to truly be a slave. For most it will be mostly as it was under the Russian Czars that I read about in those books."
"The Czars," Max repeated. "You mean do your work or be killed?"
Ben thought about that before nodding. "You could say that. It would basically mean most of the population working very hard in bad conditions just so that a very small percentage on the top can live in what I would call gross luxury. Of course, they do indulge in having personal slaves as well. After all, they need something to make up for the sober life they had to live on the ships. No, they want the planet working just fine... with them being the masters, and the original inhabitants being the slaves. So they don't rob planets; they enslave them. After some time of establishing this new rule, and making sure that they are in a position that they can keep their power even without the backup of the spaceships, the queen and the half of the population on the ships that is not rewarded by being allowed to live on the planet, then continue on to the next planet."
"That explains the law that every woman must have had at least two children before the age of 40," Terry said in understanding. "They need those children for the population to grow again so that it can be split in half at the next planet."
"Right," Ben agreed. "Such a journey to a next planet that sustains life, is suited for their plans, and has a population that they can enslave, normally takes a couple of hundred years. For the queen that can live to be 10,000 years such a timeframe isn't that long, but for the short living it means that they are going to die in space without ever seeing a planet again."
Ben lifted a finger in a 'wait a minute' gesture. Apparently some gestures were universal in use. "Now, at that point those workers have just waged war and are used to being in control of a slave species. As I said, it takes time to establish the system of control on the planet before the ships move on again. In that time those people also were on the planet basically doing all they wanted because they could get away with it. They are used to the freedom of living on a planet. And suddenly they have to live a most boring life on some space ship where there is nothing to do but wait for the day you die? Not a good combination; those workers might get some strange ideas, like taking over power and turning the ships around. The long living might also not be as happy, but they know that they live long enough to reach the next planet, and they know that for the leaders there is a pattern. You have to go with the ships the first time, but the next time, on the next planet, you will be with the group that stays on the planet. So they stay loyal to the council and by extension, though even most of them don't know she exists, stay loyal to the queen."
Ben hesitated for a moment while thinking about what to explain next. "But the normal workers; that's a problem they have to take care of. That's why in the first years after the journey has continued the leaders introduce a truly tyrannical system. Every single person who dares to mention the war is directly killed on the spot. Children are separated from their parents and are told the same story they told you; about how you are all the protectors of the human race and that you are on a journey to a planet where you are going to protect that planet from some evil force that is set to destroy all of humanity, and all that. That evil enemy doesn't exist, but the important part is that after only three generations there isn't a single short living person alive that knows the real story, and you all truly think that all the training you do is so that you can save human kind in some huge upcoming war. People that believe that are a lot easier to control than people that know about 'the good old days' where they were in control of a planet instead of living on a ship. Once the time then comes where you have to do what you were really trained for, conquer and kill, the leaders will be standing behind you with the proverbial, or actually literal, gun and tell you; 'do or die'. And when they are in complete control of the planet, the story starts again. Enslave, send half of the population on to the next planet, tell the people on the ships that they are the good guys, and so on, and so forth."
"If this big enemy never existed," Terry asked, "Then how come we know about the Bundar? And how did I know what I had to do to convince you? And how come I feel that I know for sure that the story you just told us is the truth and not just a made up story, just like the Council told us a made up story? And... just what the hell am I?"
"I can tell you what the hell you are," Joanne spoke up. She didn't like the depressed tone in Terry's voice one bit. "You are the person that makes my life complete, the person I love, the sole reason for my life. You are the person that always went above and beyond to help people. You, are not just the daughter of some queen; you are actually my queen."
"She is basically right," Ben agreed. "You are who you are. In fact, don't let what I just told you make you believe that you are some perfect person."
Terry finally managed a weak laughed. "You mean I'm not perfect? Joanne always says I'm perfect though."
"Then her opinion is clouded," Ben said amused. "In fact, if it makes you feel better, I can tell you that you are actually a freak of nature."
"I don't know if I like that explanation that much more," Terry said, but her smile told Ben that his words had the desired effect of making her feel better. "Care to tell me what this has to do with nature?"
"What this has to do with nature is, that nature was indecisive about you," Ben explained. "Were you going to be just a normal worker, or were you going to be a leader, or were you going to be the next queen? So you became none of them, and all of the above. You live and age like a normal short living, you can influence people like a leader can, and you got most, if not all, of the qualities of a queen; except for her long living ability."
Pam had interacted with leaders more than enough to know that they didn't have any ability to influence people; they used power and intimidation, and she stated as much.
"Yes they do have such ability," Ben disagreed. "If they take some effort and engage people in friendly and light conversations, people are more inclined to listen than they would to non-leaders. But as you just said, they prefer to do it the easy and more effective way."
Terry also never noticed anything about an influencing ability. "I've never been able to force my will on people."
Ben shook his head. "That's also not what I mean; it's not as strong as that. What I mean is that people feel at ease when talking to you. So much so that they are more open to your suggestions than they would be otherwise. If on top of that you are someone that is good at talking, then you are able to influence people because they are willing to listen to what you say, and think about what you say. You don't force your will on them, but you open them up to your ideas."
Pam hesitantly put a hand on Terry's shoulder and said softly. "Back on the ship, when you and Joanne asked me to come along. Both of you made sense. But when Joanne was talking to me, I still wanted to stay. It's only when you tried to convince me that I started to think that coming with you might not be such a bad idea."
Terry only looked at her, not knowing what to say.
Ben looked at Max before suggesting, "It might be best if you give her a negotiator's position to smooth out... issues... that are sure to arise from the fact that you want to make Earth humans, off-worlders, and us Bundar into one group."
"We, um, already did that," Max said slowly.
"Let me guess; you had a feeling that she would be the perfect person for the job, right?"
Max didn't say anything but looked at Terry with surprise.
"And what are these queen qualities that I supposedly have?" Terry asked, ignoring Max's look.
"One part of the story you were told is true; the ships you travel in have indeed been built by a race of highly advanced beings. What you weren't told is that those ships were built to serve. At first they served the Manraqi. Then the Manraqi landed on a planet and started to die; just like you were told as well. The Manraqi made the mistake of believing in their own abilities too much. They thought that they could find a solution to the problem before it was too late; they didn't. By the time they realized what the problem was, it was too late for them. Another part of the story is true as well. The Manraqi had been breeding a species of beings that they had been placing on planets that were uninhabited. What you weren't told though, is that they also came across planets that had other advanced life on it, and that the Manraqi passed these planets by. The Manraqi only put the species they bred, pre-humans so to speak, on planets where there was no other sentient life."
"So there truly is other life out there that isn't human?" Joanne couldn't help but ask, only to remember just who she was asking and adding somewhat lamely, "Well, beside your people that is."
"There is a lot of life out there," Max assured. "The problem is that only a few of them are advanced enough that they can hop on a ship and come for a visit. For most species the faster than light barrier is impossible to break. And without that..."
"It might take thousands of years just to visit a neighboring star," Joanne said in understanding.
"Right. Now, the Manraqi were one of those exceptions, and they evolved to break that magical barrier long before any other species we know of did. Then, as I said, the Manraqi landed their ships and realized too late that they made a mistake. Yes, the planet environment was safe for them, but there was a virus living on the planet that was very infectious and deadly for the Manraqi, despite their vast knowledge. The few Manraqi that were alive in the end figured that it would be a waste if their ships would go unused. So they figured that since the species they had bred had been advanced to an acceptable standard, they might as well be trusted with having control over the ships. They took a woman of the bred species and changed her genetically so that she could control the ships. That's how the queen takes care of her people. She makes sure that the climate and environment on the ships stay at a point where the people can actually live and thrive on the ships. She is also the one that steers the ships. Well, actually, it's more like her pointing the way and the computers and sensors of the ships doing the actual steering."
"I've been in the control room on several of the ships, and I've never seen some queen," Pam pointed out.
"But did you see someone actually steer the ships?" Ben asked. "You still need a control room to coordinate all kinds of daily life things. Also, keep in mind that the ships were built by beings that all were vastly advanced. The ships were more than likely built to all be controlled individually, just like your scout ships are piloted by normal people now. It is just that the Manraqi knew that they didn't have the time to change so many people so that every ship could be controlled by a different person. So they linked all ships and had one person be in control of them all; the queen. That's another reason why the queen is so important; she makes sure that the mother-ships stay linked like that and travel as one group without losing ships that drift off, so to speak, along the way. I believe that Terry also has these controlling abilities."
"Me? I hate to tell you, but those ships never listened to me."
"No? So you never had a day that you went home tired and in the pleasure room the room you are longing for is already active? You never had that you were in a hurry and the distribution rooms just happen to be on the floor you are at, and also seemed to actually be waiting there for you?"
Terry looked at Ben with her mouth hanging open. What Ben said was correct, but she never really thought about the fact that on a ship with 150 decks, there might be times where you would have to wait for a distribution room.
"You have to wait long for those? I can't remember ever having to wait for a distribution room, not once in my entire life. They were always there, so I never knew anything else."
"Sure," Pam assured. "Even if I didn't feel like waiting too long and used the A1 override code, it could take up to twenty seconds for the room to arrive, depending on which floor I was and where the room was."
Pam looked at Ben before asking, "One thing I still don't get is if this big bad enemy we are told about, the one we were supposedly trained to defeat, doesn't exist... then who are you?"
"The last planet the ships visited was an easy prey, at first sight. The people were weak and didn't have any armed forces at all. The plundering and enslaving began and not many security measures were taken with this easy prey. That was a mistake, because the Leaders didn't know about the treaty between that planet and our planet."
"Which treaty?"
"They were weak, proverbially speaking, and didn't really have the physical abilities to actually wage war. They were just farmers living on a planet with soil so rich that they could grow so much food that they could feed their own, and an entire second planet with it. We were warriors on a planet that was so barren that it only barely provided enough to keep us alive. They always had to deal with others coming to their planet to rob from them. We were always waging war amongst ourselves for what little there was to have. They weren't stupid, and neither were we. A treaty was signed between our planets. They would supply us with the food they had in abundance anyway, and we would protect them against the people that were always robbing them. The treaty worked out surprisingly well, and some years later a Union was established, existing out of our two planets and a few other planets in the solar system."
"More than one planet in a solar system supporting life," Joanne said amazed. Then she cringed. "Eh, sorry for the interruption. It's just that..."
"Space has always been her hobby," Terry explained tolerantly. "And with your story you're pretty much making her day... every five minutes. Please continue, she'll stop drooling soon."
Joanne stuck out her tongue at her smiling lover before also saying, "Yes, sorry, please continue."
Ben hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should give some examples, or simply only stick to the core of the explanation. Then he decided that the examples were too big a part of the story to skip over.
"There was also a planet that was even more barren than ours, but the people on that planet had found ways to still grow food on such a barren place. They joined the Union. They started to exploit our barren planet and provided food for us, taking a little of the pressure away from the other planet. Another species, close to our sun was living so close to the sun that they were only able to keep themselves alive through technology, they knew that their species was destined to die out on that planet. So they offered the Union all their technology and technological know-how. In exchange they were allowed to settle on our planets so that their species would survive. In the end the Union existed out of 8 members, divided over 2 solar systems that were close neighbors, at least on astronomical scale. Every member brought something unique to the Union; us included. We had proven several times over when we protected the other planet that we are capable of fulfilling a protector role and so we took on the role of being the Union's policing force. Everything worked out very well, perfect, we were all happy, and all that perfect life stuff."
Ben chuckled at his own words before explaining the use of them. "As you can see, the relative ease at which the Union formed had us believing that life was good, and could only get better."
Then he pointed at Terry and Pam. "But then your people came and attacked that planet that we had the first treaty with. Besides the laws that had been created in the Union by that time, we still had a special tie with that planet. Our first treaty had been verbal with us giving our word. Just so that you know; our word means everything to us. We never break it, not even if it means our death. Usually when an emergency call comes we send in a small recon force. Normally this is enough for attacks to stop since the enemy knows that soon they will be facing a force they can't defeat. But when the emergency call from that planet came, we immediately sent all forces we could send. With great success. Your people didn't know what was happening and within just three days they were forced back into the ships. That's also the reason why we know so much about your people. We took some prisoners in that time, and one of them happened to be a Council member; you can imagine how many interesting things he had to tell us."
"Well, now we also know why the Council members never leave those ships; they learned that lesson well," Joanne noted.
"So it seems," Ben agreed. "Now, as easy as the battle was for us; those ships... that was a whole different matter. Even with our most powerful weapons we couldn't damage them. All we could do is sit and wait for them to come out. But after four months of waiting we realized that as far as waiting is concerned, the people that were used to living and could self-sustain themselves on those ships, would have more patience than us. So we turned to technology for help. The species that had come from the planet where life was impossible by now, they set themselves the task of creating a weapon that could get through that damn metal that those ships are made of. Slowly but surely they had more and more success; creating weapons that did more and more damage while it took that metal longer and longer to repair itself."
"Impressive," Joanne merely said. She had used the Sentient Metal in the beginning to smooth the way between the off-worlders and the people from Earth. Because of that she knew exactly what the test results had been from those safety institutions all over the world, and exactly what kind of damage Sentient Metal could take.
"Determined," Max corrected slightly. "Then came the day that they said that they had done it. They had a weapon of which they were sure the walls would not be able to repair themselves again. The 'big' weapon was an incredibly small thing; so small that I would be able to close my hand around it. The inventor insisted that he would be the one to test it. Against our advice he closed in on the ship and was just about to fire when a group of the black troops stormed out and dragged him into the ship, killing those of us that had gone with him to guard him."
"Bad timing," Pam guessed. "I would have ordered the same. If all the time experiments are done by some people that were guarded by other people, I would tell my people to look out for that. Especially when I noticed that the damage they are doing is getting worse. I would order a group to be ready to take the experimenting people into the ship the next time they try something. Just so that I could ask a few friendly questions of course."
Ben only nodded his agreement. "Obviously we don't know what happened inside the ship, but half an hour later the ship suddenly moved. I can't describe it any better than saying that it was just as if the ship cramped together in pain. Half an hour later, the ship suddenly lifted off and disappeared. Mere moments later the rest of the ships did the same. While we were glad that they were gone, we knew that this wasn't over. Either they would be back at some point to bother a union member again, this time prepared for us. Or they would move on to the next planet outside the Union and do their destructive thing there. So we were faced with a dilemma. Should we follow and leave our homes and the Union unprotected against other threats, or should we stay behind and leave them to do their thing, hoping that they wouldn't come back one day stronger and more deadly. So we reached a compromise. Most of us would stay at home and protect the Union, but as many as we thought we could safely miss would follow and try to stop them from doing more destruction."
"That explains why in your story you had this vast army that could push them back into the ships within three days, but now you only had this relatively small force and didn't really put up much of a fight," Max said in understanding.
"That, and the fact that they had a whole planet to support them," Ben said. "Millions, billions, of people ready to support where and however needed. We didn't have that. All we had was what we had on our ships, but we weren't about to just give up without at least trying. Anyway, I'm ahead of myself. We gathered a group of people who were willing to go after them; knowing that it was going to be a one way trip. We may live longer than Humans, but we knew upfront that it would be a long time before we would be able to catch up with them. Many, if not most, of us that started the journey, will have died of old age by the time we get back, even if we were able to leave this very minute."
"You tell a very convincing story," Joanne said. "The problem is that the Council once told me a very convincing story too. Who says that you aren't lying now just as much as they were then? Just because one party turns out to be the bad guys, doesn't mean that the other side is automatically the good guys. You can also have the bad guys and the really bad guys. So who tells me that you aren't lying?"
"I do," Terry spoke up. "Don't ask me how I know, but I know for sure that he's telling the truth, just like I knew for sure what I had to do to convince him that I was 'the one'. Just like, now that Ben told his story, I also somehow know what the reason is why we were told about the Bundar as the 'big bad enemy'. While the 'big bad enemy' our people were normally told about before they ever came across the Bundar, never existed. They knew that the Bundar were coming. What better way to deal with them than to this time simply say that the Bundar are that 'big bad enemy' which we are preparing to fight?"
"Right," Ben agreed.
Joanne nodded her head. The story she could doubt, but Terry she would believe even if she was just going on a hunch. "Hmm, in that case. Max, you asked me to be an advisor; here's my first advice. We need to do two things now. First, we need to free the Bundar from those camps. Second, we need to find their leaders so that we can try and convince them to join us. You know, in hindsight I guess it's a good thing that I was in control of determining punishments for the people outside the ships, including the Bundar. Otherwise the original order of the Council would have been long since fulfilled; kill them all."
Pam chuckled. "I hate to burst your bubble, but the Council was never planning to kill the Bundar, at least not like that. They were playing you. They knew that you would change the standard sentence, otherwise they would never have given it."
"Oh really? And just why would the Council, which we now know are up to no good, leave the enemy alive?"
"Exactly because they are up to no good. The Bundar are about four times as strong as a human, and the council is planning to turn humans into slaves. Guess what they're planning to do with the Bundar? It's actually perfect for them. They can start with the Bundar and have them do the preparation work. That way the humans have no idea that the facilities needed to turn them all into slaves are being built while they think life is perfect now."
"I liked my version a lot better," Joanne grinned.
"But do you really think it's such a good idea to try and get the Bundar?" Max asked. "If we manage to free the Bundar, the Council will put a lot more effort into finding us. First of all because it will show that we're organized enough, and capable enough, to do more than just steal some weapons. Second, we'll be interfering with the council's plan to use the Bundar. I don't think the Council will appreciate that very much."
"I think they'll be severely pissed," Pam added. "But I can see Joanne's point. What we need to do is make sure that the Council doesn't get a reason to think it was the Resistance. As we know, at the moment the council vastly underestimates the Resistance. If we give them no evidence that points in our direction they won't even think about us. The best thing I can think of is making it look like the Bundar escaped by themselves, without any help from the outside. That means that all the guards at the places where Bundar are held will have to be either taken into custody, or simpler, killed."
Max lifted his eyebrows, which made Pam lift her hands in defense. "Hey, I'm telling the options there are, and which one is the simplest. That doesn't mean that I'm actually saying that we should do that or even suggesting it as the preferred option. But fact is; killing them 'is' the simplest way."
"So we would also have to find a way to keep those guards safely tucked away somewhere," Max said with a smirk, his words making clear that for the Resistance, there was only one option, and killing for simplicity did not fit into that. "Preferably somewhere where we're sure that they can't escape and tell their story to the Council. But still, I don't know if it's worth it. No disrespect to Ben here, but his people were actually quite easily beaten, even if you keep in mind that the only supplies they had were what they had taken with them."
"You said yourself that you don't have a big number of troops," Joanne reminded. "Most of the Resistance is people that do their normal thing and do some training on the weekends. Most of your troops exist out of people that are willing to act when needed. But if we have the Bundar we'll literally have an army of warriors, ready to go 'now'."
"Besides, the fact that we were so easily beaten in ground battles is because the off-worlders had more luck than brains," Ben added with a growl.
"What do you mean?" Max asked.
"Ever heard of a worst case scenario? Well, you saw one happening when we showed up here. We Bundar are all mentally connected. If one of us dies, we all feel it. If one of us is born, we all feel the new life enter our community. This created a unity we are usually proud of. The down side is that this unity didn't prevent us from fighting over food and territory back then. And if we are in a battle with each other, this mental connection prevents us from going all out. That's why we were able to survive our wars without totally eradicating ourselves. Sure we fought, sure we killed in our wars, but the fact is that we also felt it ourselves. If you use a bomb the only thing you might feel yourself is remorse. With us we actually feel all those lives ending. We can't say 'it's just war and people die in a war'. No, we personally feel every death. Not enough to paralyze us with sorrow or to stop us from being good warriors, but more than enough to feel that even if we win, we lose in some way. At least, as long as we are fighting each other. If we fight others, then it's not as extreme because at least we only feel the death of the ones killed by the others, and not also the death of the ones that just died at our own hands."
"And why does this mean that the off-worlders where lucky?" Max asked.
"Because we didn't go through the ritual yet. As I said, this mental connection is very good if we are in war with each other. The thing is that we are the police force and protectors of the Union. If we need to fight to protect the Union, such a mental link is very inconvenient since it keeps us from going all out. That is why we have a ritual which can only be performed if the two tribes that our species exists out of are at peace. The two tribe leaders meet and hold a sacred ritual that blocks most of the mental connection between all Bundar for a certain time. We still feel each other, but the death of a brother or sister doesn't hit us anymore as if it was real family. This enables us to go all out in battle, to fight to the death, to be free of restricting emotions. One of the two tribe leaders is in the main camp where they keep most of us here in this part of the country. The second tribe leader was in the ship that crashed here in the lake."
"If the second tribe leader died here, why didn't they choose a new tribe leader?" Max asked. "After all, you just said that you feel every death, so they must know that he's dead."
"True, but the problem with that reasoning is that the second tribe leader isn't dead. The Bundar that died here was my aid, and good friend, but he wasn't the tribe leader; I am. You asked me my name, well, if you were to translate it, the first part of what I told you would be translated to Foremost; the title our tribe leaders have."
"What?" Max said in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell us that before? If we had known that, and the rest of what you told us, we would have freed your people a long time ago."
"As I said before; one can say a lot. I didn't know if you truly were the Resistance or if all of this was just some elaborate plan to get information from me."
"He has a point," Pam said. "Creating all of this as some scheme wouldn't be above the council. In fact; it would be more than likely something they would do if they actually cared for info from the Bundar. As it is, we were told to not even waste time trying to get info because Bundar don't break. They don't talk, not even when tortured. They don't give in to save friends or family from death or torture. So if you ever wanted info from them you would need such an elaborate plan. It's just that the Council thinks that the Bundar don't have info they can use. As Eric said; what are they going to tell us that we don't already know? I never really fully got that way of thinking until I heard the story Ben told about the previous conflict. Yeah, Eric was right alright, what can the Bundar tell them that they don't already know? That the Bundar are here to try and stop the Council? Old news to the Council."
Pam's words, and especially the mentioning of knowing things, had reminded Terry of the legend that she was supposed to be mentioned in and she asked Ben about it once again.
"It really started out as a prediction made by one of our oracles when we were trying to get into those ships for all those months. Over time it has grown into the legend it is now. If you take out all the window dressing, it comes down to this. There will one day be a descendent of the queen that will turn against her and join the queen's enemies so that eventually, with the help of those enemies, she will take the place of the queen and bring an end to her reign of tyranny."
"And how do you know that I'm not some kind of... agent I guess. A descendant of the queen that has been sent to the resistance to destroy the queen's enemies from the inside out?"
"Because a queen, or any of her descendants, can't place herself deliberately in harm's way. It's implanted in every single cell of her body and still stems back to the time when the first queen was created. When they created the first queen the Manraqi obviously wanted to make sure that the queen wouldn't go and get herself killed the very next day, so to speak. So they implanted an undeniable urge to keep herself safe. When you just very deliberately gave me a chance to kill you, you proved that you are the one. For the legend says that the one 'can' place herself deliberately in danger for the greater good."
"The greater good is a rather broad term. I could also consider helping the queen stay in power to be the greater good," Terry pointed out.
"True, but the fact remains that any other descendent than 'the one' can't place herself in danger deliberately; even if it is to help the queen. So you have to be the one. At worst, you can be a deluded person that truly thinks that the queen is doing the right thing, but then the queen would not have sent you. After all, the Queen thinks that we are beaten. To the queen, the Bundar threat is over; no need to risk losing one of her descendants now. Now enslaving the world is more important, and there too the loyal descendant is more important since a loyal descendant is needed to rule that world."
"Which leaves the question; how did I know what I had to do in the first place? And even more importantly, how did I know what I had to say?"
"That, I can't answer you for sure. All I can do is give you my guess."
"A guess is better than nothing at all," Terry pointed out.
"Well, the thing is, the Council member we apprehended told us that there is some kind of intelligence to those ships. Even he couldn't tell us much more than that, just that there is 'some' intelligence there. The 'something' that the queen interacts with to control the ships. My guess is that your knowledge comes from those ships. I think that the Manraqi foresaw that the ships could also get misused. Therefore, before they handed control over the ships to the humans, they programmed that... let me call it Artificial Intelligence... on the ships to act if they register misusage being done. My guess is that the problem is that the A.I. on those ships is programmed in a way that they have to make sure that the humans on the ships in general survive. So the A.I. can only act to stop misusage if there is a person that can actually take the place of the queen and interact with the ships, and therefore keep the humans on the ships alive that way."
Seeing that his guess was not dismissed as nonsense, Ben continued. "So the ships waited their time until the right person was born; you. I think that they have been influencing you for your entire life. They manipulated you; interacted with you on a subconscious level, plant information, so to speak. Information that you don't know normally but that is still there and ready for use when it is needed."
Ben grinned before adding, "Again, that is my total guess. It might just as well, and just as likely, be that it was pure chance that you happened to say the right things."
"Well," Joanne noted, "That's something we can figure out at a later time. Right now our main focus is to free the Bundar."
Max nodded his head in agreement and pointed to the door. "Why don't we move this to the conference building? That way we all can sit down."
After several hours of talking and planning it was decided that Pam should first get some time to train some of the troops before the Bundar would be freed. Despite the fact that none of them liked the idea of leaving the Bundar in the camps, they knew that once the Bundar had escaped, things would have to happen quickly. They might be able to fool the Council into not suspecting the Resistance, but the fact remained that the council would start hunting nevertheless. If not for the Resistance, then for the escaped Bundar they would want back. Ben and Pam both agreed that the Bundar would be relatively safe because the Council didn't just want the Bundar dead; they wanted the Bundar to work themselves to death. But the Council couldn't do that yet because they would need time to set their other plans in motion; preparing the world so that they could enslave the people.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"Again," Pam shouted annoyed. "Which part of low and shallow don't you people understand? The low part, or the shallow part?"
"Bitch."
The word had been nothing but a whisper, but moments later the man who had said it suddenly found his feet kicked from under him; landing himself flat on his ass. Before he could even comprehend the fact that he was no longer standing, a boot came to rest on his throat. Pressing down just enough to put the fear of suffocating into him.
"You bet your ass I'm a bitch. The thing is that I'm a tough bitch, and you're now dead. Just a tip, I don't give a fuck what you call me; but learn to keep your thoughts to yourself. One slip, just one word too much that is heard by the wrong person, it can be the difference between life and death."
Then the boot disappeared and a hand appeared in front of his face instead. He looked at it for a moment before accepting it with a grin and letting himself be hoisted to his feet again.
"Watch that tongue, Dave, next time I won't be as nice to you."
"Yes ma'am."
"Formation." Mere seconds later Pam was walking down the lines. "What is our motto again?"
"Above and beyond," came the choir of voices.
"That's right. Do you think I don't understand how much you're hurting right now? Sure I do. But you know what? The black troops won't care. Do you think that you can ask for a time out while you catch your breath when you're fighting them? You already were good when I picked you, but you don't need to be good; you need to be the best. You think I'm hard on you? Having you go at it for 12 hours? This is a walk in the park. Ten days, ladies and gentlemen."
She stopped in front of a woman that had complained earlier about needing a rest. "Ten days without sleep. Ten days of training every hour of the day. The only sleep being some micro-sleep where you fall asleep standing upright, and where you catch the half a minute or so that it takes the instructor to realize that you're asleep before waking you up. Doesn't sound too good, does it? Well, guess what? That's standard for every single black troop member. Once a year they go through training to make sure that their knowledge is up to date. And you... might just face one of those. You will never, ever, face a tired black troop member because they are all trained to put themselves above such an insignificant thing as sleep, when needed. I don't expect you to be able to go ten days without sleep and be as fresh as the first day. But I do expect you to be able to put yourself above your tiredness whenever needed. And just to make sure that you get used to it, once this session is over, my second-in-command will take you for a nice, long, ten mile stroll... at jogging speed... in full uniform. You have ten seconds to groan, starting... now."
Pam grinned when on cue the groans came. "Remember, don't like it? You're free to walk away at any moment."
Pam knew that nobody would take her up on the offer; they never did, even though she reminded them at least once every hour. Despite the complaining, they knew only too well that the redhead knew what she was doing. The fact alone that they knew that she was the former A1 meant that they knew for a fact that her training must have been ten times as hard as the one they were now getting. Besides, they also knew every night when they fell into bed close to being dead, that they had learned a lot more than they had expected to be able to learn, and done a lot more than they thought they were capable of.
"Ten seconds are over. Take your positions and do it again." The practice fight began again and soon Pam saw something she didn't like at all. "Zania, step back. Loose the tough bitch attitude already."
From her peripheral vision she saw Max coming closer and sit down on one of the boulders along the edge of the training field. "Zania, why do you even try? You know damn well that he's twice your size. You'll never be able to overpower him; physics 101. Everyone step back and line up."
Pam led Zania and her fighting partner to the front of the group. "Let's see if you all paid attention. Kim, I just told Zania that she won't be able to overpower Ken; why not?"
"Physics 101 ma'am."
Pam chuckled. "I'm glad to see that you were awake when I taught you all to listen to what's going on around you. Now, can you also tell me what I mean with that?"
"Ken is much heavier than she is. Newton's third law; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When she tries to use brute force, she will be fighting herself just as much as she is fighting him."
"Newton said that? Hmm, I have to read up on the guy... I assume it's a guy?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Well, you're correct." She looked at another man before asking, "Brian, if she can't overpower him, what does she need to do?"
"Outfight him," came the answer right away, then a grin. "Newton's Second law. An applied force on an object equals the time rate of change of its momentum."
"The guy said that too? Damn, how many laws did he make, and could you explain that in terms where I can understand it?"
"He made 3 laws, ma'am; known as Newton's laws of motion. And in common terms, it doesn't matter if Ken is 3 feet, or 30 feet tall, if Zania manages to reach his face and kick him in the face, her foot is exerting the force and therefore he will feel it just as much regardless of how big and heavy he is."
"That's right people. One of the most important rules in any martial arts is that it's not strength, but technique, that's the most important."
Looking back at Brian, Pam asked, "Alright, mister brains, since you knew that law, tell me what Newton's first law is."
"Ma'am, Newton's first law states that any object at rest tends to stay at rest while an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external force."
"If you say so," Pam said with a chuckle. She loved the interaction she had with the group. She could be the hard-ass drill inspector one second and interact normally with them the next. This was so much different than it had ever been with the black troops.
"But now we have a little problem. We just established that Zania has to outfight her opponent, not try to overpower him. But, we don't know how good a fighter her opponent is. He might be better than her, and considering that you're being trained to go up against black troops that chance is actually not that small. Or it might be a situation where we don't want a fight. Fights can be seen on security cameras for instance, and a building can be put in lockdown while we're fighting guards. So, what does she need to do? What weapons does she have left to use?"
Nobody reacted for a moment, but after a prompting 'well' one of the men finally braved to say, "Her boobs?"
Pam lifted her hand to stop Zania from speaking up before asking the man, "Care to elaborate a little on that?"
"Well, I mean, come on. Her boobs have to be at least a double D, and on top of that she has a damn hot ass. All of which is topped off by a beautiful, and not to forget sexy, face. Hell, she can easily give my Jenna Jameson poster a run for her money, and she's real instead of a piece of paper. Hell, if I would be on guard duty and she showed up in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt... I wouldn't even notice a damn army coming down the road... in tanks... because I would be too busy trying to get into her pants."
"Very colorfully said, and very true. Nobody can be everything. We all have certain things that set us apart from others; never hesitate to use it. Ken is big, he is strong, and he is a good fighter. If we run into some trouble he'll more than likely be one of the people that punches a hole for us. Zania can't do that. But she can do things Ken can't. What do you think, would Ken be able to walk up to some guards when they have the order to shoot first and then ask questions later?"
"No ma'am," came the united answer.
"Now, imagine Zania here in a set of hot pants, tight t-shirt, and no bra, coming down the road waving at the guards, jiggling a little to set her assets bouncing, and saying 'hey, could you help me?' What do you think, would she be able to get close to the guards? What do you think Zania?"
"I think that they would at least ask me what I want," the Jenna Jameson stand-in had to agree.
"Remember this people. We're teaching you endurance here, we're teaching you how to fight here. But your biggest asset, your biggest weapon... is your brains. The best fight, is the fight you don't have to fight. Fact is, Zania is damn hot. Fact is, she turns heads. Fact is, she would be stupid not to use that. Use all your weapons. A hot looking woman distracts even the most loyal of guards; regardless if the guard is a man or a woman. Here's another great trick to keep in mind if there happen to be two women in the team."
Suddenly Pam took hold of Zania and treated her to a hot kiss, even demanding entrance into her mouth with her tongue. After a shocked moment the Jenna look-alike decided that she could give as good as she got and it took over a minute before they broke apart.
"Nice," Pam said with a wink before looking back at the group. "Another fact, ninety percent of the men on this world, regardless of whether they were born on Earth, find the image of two women together one of the most erotic things that exist. And believe me, most women also won't be looking away."
She chuckled before adding, "Though a big part of those men and women would rather be caught dead than admitting that. They would look, act disgusted, and still keep looking. With just one kiss and maybe some petting, you can destroy a whole guard station. For instance, while you were all watching me and Zania, did any of you see Max move from where he was sitting to where he is now; standing right behind you?"
Every single one of the group looked behind them to see that Pam was indeed telling the truth. In that same movement telling Pam, and each other, that no, not a single one of them had noticed because they were too busy with looking at the image in front of them.
"Use 'all' your weapons. Zania, don't curse the fact that you're weaker than Ken. It's a fact you can do nothing about. Instead be thankful for the fact that you're a knockout that will be able to walk right up to the most heavily guarded place, and draw attention away from where those guards should have their attention. And now, enough for today... with me at least. Prepare for your nice stroll around the lake."
As the group started to move, Pam had to chuckle when Zania walked up to the man that had given the colorful description of her body and asked him, "You really think I have a hot ass?"
The man was in sooo much trouble; and he didn't even know it. Now, what kind of trouble he was in, that all depended on how much Zania actually liked him.
"Anything I can help you with?" Pam asked as she joined Max.
"Not really. I just made a little stop to have a look at the training before continuing on my daily stroll around the lake."
"Ah, that 'it helps me think and I come up with the best ideas then' walk of yours. In that case you probably don't want any company."
Max chuckled. "Yes, that one. But I don't feel like a lot of thinking now so I wouldn't mind some company."
They started down the road and after a moment of silence, Max said, "You have an interesting teaching style." This last was said with a head movement in the general direction of the training field.
"In the normal army you might be facing sexual harassment charges right about now."
Pam shrugged. "She can walk at any moment. And if the way I teach isn't condoned, 'I' can walk at any moment. The problem is that for most people training seems to focus on getting good at fighting, and they seem to forget that the best fight is the one you don't need to fight. I have to get these people off the arms and legs idea. There's so much more to fight with. The most powerful weapon is the brain. But just as important, but often ignored in training because your people place such a taboo on it, is the fact that my breasts are a weapon to. My vagina is a powerful weapon as well. If I have to screw someone senseless to get information that prevents me from getting killed or my people from getting killed, you better believe I'll fuck the person's brains out, and after that even beg for more. They still have to learn that. They have to learn that taking a bath to clean yourself is a lot easier than lying in a hospital recovering from a gunshot wound, if you're lucky."
"Screw someone senseless and fuck their brains out as well? Are you that good?" Max asked amused.
"Oh, but I thought I told you; I'm the best," came the answer right away in a sexy purr.
"If you say so. So, are you thinking of doing the 'my vagina is a weapon as well' lesson just as graphic as you did the kissing?"
"Why? Are you thinking of signing up for some private lessons? I'm sure I could... fit you in."
Max opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly closed it again before shaking his head a little. "I think that I was just totally outmaneuvered on the smart answers front, wasn't I?"
"Oh yes. You so lost, and I haven't even warmed up yet. Tell you what, I'll go easy on you if you give me an honest answer."
"Um, alright."
"Are you one of the 90 percent or one of the 10 percent?"
Max had to think for a moment what Pam meant, but then he chuckled. "Oh, I'll honestly admit that I'm one of the 90 percent. Why do you think I moved? I wanted to get a better view."
They both laughed for a moment and then continued to walk in silence for a few minutes.
Finally Pam spoke up again, asking something she had been wondering about for some time now. "Max, I'm curious. Tell me, I get the feeling that you like me a lot, but why don't you ever act on it?"
"Honestly?"
"Please."
"Because sometimes you scare the living crap out of me. All in all I do really like you. But sometimes... like last week, when you told me about your sister."
"That I killed her," Pam clarified.
"Right. Don't get me wrong, I don't fear you physically. I know you can kill me, but so can the next person with a gun, or even a kitchen knife would do. What I fear is the fact that you can emotionally kill so easily. You kill someone and just shrug it off."
"Not all of them," Pam reminded. "Because if I did, then I wouldn't be walking here. Instead I would be on the ship, working my ass off to make sure that we can enslave humanity."
"Alright, there are some exceptions. But, well take Zania, the woman you just kissed with so much passion that one had to be over 21 just to be allowed to see it. Could you kill her without it bothering you?"
"It would bother me, but not in the way you mean. It would bother me because I would lose a very good person in my group, but not because I did the killing. So the answer would have to be; yes, I could."
"And that scares me shitless sometimes."
"So in other words you like me and trust me enough to be your friend, but you don't trust me enough to have me beside you at night when you sleep?"
Max closed his eyes for a moment in defeat before admitting, "Yes."
"I thank you for the honest answer, as little as I like it. Now, how about we move on to a different topic? How much do you train every day?"
"Three hours, over in the gym, why do you ask?" Max wondered, glad to see that apparently Pam was so capable of accepting what he had just told her.
"Because I was thinking of doing some weight training. Nothing too extreme; mostly just to use my muscles differently. Add a bit of strength without changing the looks too much."
Max looked at Pam for a moment before honestly admitting, "I think that more muscles would look wrong on you anyway. You have a build for slim and powerful. More the endurance muscles you have, and not the brute strength muscles I have."
"Right," Pam agreed. "That's why I wanted to ask you if you wouldn't mind some company for one hour out of those three hours every day? Maybe help me out a bit."
Max pretended to be thoughtful for a moment. "Well, if I did that it would cut into my own training time. Let me come back to that in a moment. But first tell me, how much time do you spend on your training every day, your own training I mean?"
"It depends on how much I did during the day, but always one hour in the morning and then between three and four hours in the evening."
Max knew that Pam trained in the evening, but the morning sessions were news to him. He also knew that Pam had seen him several times observing her in those evening trainings, though she had no idea why. She thought that he was interested in the martial arts, and partially that was true. But the real truth was that he found it incredibly sexy to see her going through her movements in slow and precise motions. He hadn't been lying. The fact that Pam was so lethal scared him shitless at times. But at other times that same lethalness drew him closer. Just like a moth to the flame... where it gets burned if it comes too close.
"How about a deal?" Max asked. "I'll help you with the weights for one hour, where I'll do my own training if you need no help, and for one hour you help me. What you said to those people made a lot of sense to me. Until now, I could rely on my build to stop most from trying to start any trouble, and the few that did start I could easily handle. But what if I were to face someone like Zania? She has less muscles than you, let alone me, and as was rightfully pointed out, looks like she could be a body double for the most well-known porn star this world has ever seen. I would underestimate her, I honestly admit, and by the time she's finished wiping the floor with me it would be too late for me to act. I need something to fall back on in a fight, besides brute strength."
Pam nodded her agreement. "Doesn't sound like a bad deal at all. How about, those three hours a day in the afternoon, we spend them together, if we have the time. And for two hours we both do our own thing, but for one hour we help. You help me one day, I help you the other. That is, unless you would like to be alone during your training."
"Not at all," Max assured, slightly surprised when he realized how much he really wanted Pam to be around that much. "It's just that until now I never found someone that's as crazy as me and is willing to spend so much of their free time just training. So I trained alone with the exception of some people that happen to be in the gym and might spot for me. But I'm a little surprised that you offer. I always see you training alone, I thought you liked it that way."
Pam chuckled. "Max, I just spent the day running them ragged. The last thing they want to do after a day of training is... training. I would love some company. On the ship, I was always alone when I did my exercises. I would love to have a person around. Just to feel the presence; to remind me that I'm not alone."
"In that case, we have a deal. Starting today?"
"Starting today," Pam agreed.
And so they did. But Max soon found that he would like more training than just one hour every two days. So soon he also started to spend that fourth hour every day with Pam. They would both do their own thing for two hours. Then Max would help Pam with the weights training for one hour, which still left him to do a lot of his own training in between the teaching and helping. And then the fourth hour was spent with Pam training him in martial arts.
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Continued...