Harem Assassins : King Sekton's Harem Planet, Book 2: A Space Opera Harem Adventure by Baron Sord (mobi ebook reader .TXT) 📕

I smiled in reply.

KRONK! Titano snorted where he lay napping.

“I better focus on the big guy,” I said. “Don’t want him waking up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“There’s a wrong side?” Kane mused with a snort.

Not wanting to explain the English saying, I said, “For him there is.” I tipped a nod at Titano.

“We’ll keep it real quiet,” Kane said. “Kane to squad, keep your mouths shut. No shooting, shouting, or chatter. That’s an order. The king is working.”

Kane may have been the woman who’d beaten the Bombshells, but at least she was doing her job and backing me up every step of the way. That I could appreciate. If she continued doing the right thing long enough, I’d eventually have to forgive her. But she had a ways to go before that happened.

One issue at a time.

I had Titano to worry about first.

—: Chapter 23 :—

KROOOONG, Titano growled in his half-sleeping state.

I noticed in my HUD that PATTERN had gone dark.

Apparently, once I stopped thinking about maintaining it, it stopped. Was there a way to automate it so it didn’t stop on its own? There had to be.

KRONK!

But first, I needed to focus on keeping Titano sedated. There was no telling what a 10,000,000 kg dinosaur would do when he woke up surrounded by this Lilliputian army of guardswomen. Gulliver hadn’t exactly been pleased, and I doubted Titano would be any happier.

I concentrated on PATTERN in my HUD until it flickered. Breathed deeply to calm myself and clear my head. I wanted to sweep away the last vestiges of rage generated by the emotional agitator. Didn’t want any of it transferring to Titano.

Once I was ready, I muttered aloud inside my helmet as always, “Easy, big guy. Keep on sleeping. Saw those logs. Count those sheep. Or whatever you eat. Elephants? Count elephants.” I suddenly realized that actual elephants were practically the size of animal crackers compared to Titano, but I didn’t know what else to tell him.

While I did that, I thought about the specifics of automation.

First step would be saving my current mental state of calmness into the ring. Could I do that? Record my emotional state like an EEG or MRI recorded brain activity patterns?

I knew my ring had a COPY function.

Try that.

I focused on COPY in my HUD until it flickered.

Ring, record my emotional state. My calmness. Whatever emotional pattern I’m projecting to Titano to make him calm too. Isolate that sent pattern. And record it for future reference.

I continued muttering soothing words to Titano.

After a minute, I ended the copying process. Then I focused on PATTERN and thought, Ring, play back my soothing emotional pattern on repeat until I say otherwise.

My eyes darted over to SAVE.

Ring, name this process SLEEPY TIME and put it in a Process Library somewhere I can find later.

SLEEPY TIME appeared in a submenu and blinked continuously, presumably signaling it was running successfully. Titano was laying there like a sleeping dog with his chin resting on the red dirt while his ribs expanded and contracted like giant bellows.

Kruff, kroff.

Kruff, kroff.

Kruff, kroff.

“Sleep tight, buddy.”

My eyes landed on my HUD’s fuel doughnut. It was very low. That gave me another idea. I set up an automated MASS extraction and started siphoning off mass from Titano and storing it in my ring as it flowed into me. I saved that process as MASS EXTRACT STORAGE.

With nothing to do but wait, I decided to deal with the emotional agitator I’d removed from Titano. It was lying in the red dirt where I’d left it. It could wreak havoc if it got into the wrong hands.

I hovered to within 30 meters of the agitator. Didn’t feel any angrier. I hovered down to the ground and walked closer. At 20 meters, I still felt fine. I walked up to 10 meters distant and waited.

Sudden annoyance set in. It wasn’t full blown rage, but I backed up 15 meters to be safe. My annoyance faded fairly quickly. Once it had, I activated ENERGY in my HUD and started drawing power from the device. It took maybe two minutes until the agitator’s external indicator lights faded to dark. It might have gone faster if I’d been closer, but it was done.

I walked slowly toward it.

Not feeling angry.

“Be careful, my king,” Captain Theia said over comms.

As before, she and the Shock Knights hovered around me wherever I went. They were my golden-armored eyes in the sky. Without the emotional agitator corroding my thoughts and feelings, I was very grateful to have a constant bodyguard watching my back every step of the way. I didn’t resent Captain Theia. Not one bit. I’d been through enough danger in the past several weeks to deeply appreciate her dedication and focus.

I took another step. Still not angry, and I was right on top of the agitator. I stooped to pick it up and turn it over in my hands. Shrugged. Looked over at the regular guardswomen who stood on the ground in the red dirt clearing near Titano like a bunch of beach-goers gawking at this beached whale.

“Sergeant Kane? Can we get this to the technicians?” I held the agitator up. “Have them reverse engineer it?”

Kane strolled across the red dirt, carrying her bolt rifle in ready position but with the barrel angled down to the dirt.

The Shock Knights leveled their wrist blasters at Kane.

“Easy, ladies,” I said over comms. “Hey, Kane. You getting any angrier?”

“Doesn’t feel like it. My king.”

“Good. Do me a favor and point your rifle straight in the dirt. It might make Captain Theia feel better.”

“Sure,” Kane said, lowering her rifle and holding it with only one hand by the pistol grip, her trigger finger flat on the frame. She stopped a few paces away.

“Angry yet?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Here.” I offered her the agitator. “Hand it over to whoever knows how to take it apart. Maybe a bomb squad first? Check for explosives?”

“Is it live?” Kane sounded concerned.

“The detonator isn’t. Assuming it’s electronic. I drained all the