Planetbound by DM Arnold (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

“No, Illya. Senta was simply being ... Senta. I won't be pressing any charges. What about Tomyka? Have you interrogated her?”

“She signed a no-contest agreement, and has agreed to early retirement on Gamma-5.”

“It sounds like she's getting off light.”

“Not so light -- she'll be under house arrest for five years. She didn't fight the charges, Nyk -- though she professes to have done no wrong. Tomyka has made enemies -- many within these walls. She knows how eager are some to see how she fares under truth drug.” Kronta set down the vidisplay. “Your wife is apt to be under the weather for a while. I'll see you at the hearing.”

Nyk approached Senta. Andra stroked her cheek. “Senta?” She cracked her eyes open and gripped the sides of the pallet.

“The room's spinning so fast you need to hold on,” Nyk said. “I recall feeling that way.”

“I feel if I sit up, I'll be sick.”

“Then -- don't sit up.”

“I'm going to be sick, anyway...” She leaned over the side of the pallet. The attendant rushed to her and held a polymer tub under her face. Senta lay on her back. “False alarm.”

The attendant produced a tumbler and drinking tube. “Try to drink this, dear.” She slipped the tube between her lips and Senta sipped some. “This is a nutrient slurry. You haven't had anything to eat in a day, and you'll feel better with something in your stomach.”

Senta emptied the tumbler and lay on her back. Andra sat beside her and held her hand. “I don't think I've ever seen you that color,” Nyk said. “Your lips are white.”

“This time I AM going to be sick,” Senta gasped and leaned over the pallet. Andra held the basin under her face. “Don't watch!”

The attendant approached her. “Don't be shy, dear. Relax and let it up.”

Nyk caressed Senta's shoulder blades as she vomited into the tub. She lay on her back. “Now my stomach feels better,” she panted.

“Your color looks better, too.”

“My heart! It's skipping beats!”

It's another side effect,” the attendant replied. “We're watching it. We won't let you go into arrest. All these after-effects will fade as your body rids itself of the drug. You should try to sleep. Would you like a sedative?”

“No...”

“Take the sedative,” Andra advised. “Sleep will help you more than anything.”

“All right...”

“Roll onto your side,” the attendant instructed. She lifted the drape, jabbed an injector into Senta's buttock and pressed the trigger. Then she massaged the spot with her thumb to distribute the drug. “Are you feeling it?” she asked as she replaced the drape.

“Yes...”

“Now -- try to sleep,” Nyk said.

“Nyk...”

“Shh... sleep.”

“Where are you staying?”

“We have a room at the hostel by Government Center,” Andra replied.

“You can use the apartment.”

“We already have the room. You sleep.”

“Nyk... You can have the divorce ... I'll call my solicitor tomorrow and retract my objections.” Her eyelids drooped. “You're a ... free ... man...” She closed her eyes.

“They gave her so much drug -- we'll need to keep her overnight,” the attendant said.

Andra kissed Senta's forehead. “I'll check on her in the morning,” she replied. “Come on, Nyk -- we might as well go to our room.” She led him out of the building toward the tubecar platform.

“Look at the line!” Nyk exclaimed as they approached the platform.

“It's quitting time,” Andra replied. “It'll take forever to get a car.”

Nyk pointed down. “And, twice as long for a groundcar. This town needs something like the New York City subway. Every time I think New York's crowds are big, I think about the ones here.”

Andra pressed her palm against Nyk's and he laced fingers with her. “Have you really forgiven Senta?” she asked.

“Yes. Have you?”

“She hurt me deeply, Nyk. When we fought in Sudal, she called me the worst names -- accused me of the worst deeds.”

“You told me the past is a rock.” She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Senta helped me through difficult times right after my parents were killed. For that, I'm eternally grateful. I was a mess then, Andra -- as big a mess as Suki in her darkest days. I wouldn't have survived.”

“Then, I'll be grateful to her for that, too.”

“Senta and I were happy, once. We lost our virginities together. We had quite a lusty physical relationship in those days.”

“What happened?”

“She outgrew me. After the Ricin affair she became a celebrity for a while, and the Food Service courted her to start the sequencing labs. As her power grew, so did her promiscuity. It was like a drug and she became addicted.”

“She's an unhappy woman, Nyk. She doesn't know what true love is.”

“Neither did I.”

“You had to go to Earth to find it.”

“I found it here, too.” They approached the tubecar kiosk and Nyk reached to scan his wrist -- then stopped. “I won't have my privileges restored until after the hearing tomorrow.”

“I'll order the car,” Andra replied and scanned her wrist. She specified the hostel as their destination. Nyk stood with his arm around her waist and awaited their car.

Andra scanned her wrist and the hostel room door unlocked with a snap. They entered and before the door could latch were in an embrace. “What's that look for?” Nyk asked.

She pressed her hand against his abdomen and felt him through the fabric of his tunic. “I felt something come between us,” she said with a smile.

“Is it any wonder? I've been anticipating this moment since I stepped aboard the transport.”

“I've been anticipating it since Kronta called and told me you'd be onworld.”

“Anticipation is part of the excitement, don't you think?” Nyk slipped his hand under her silky white hair, held the back of her neck and kissed her.

“It certainly is,” she replied softly.

He stooped, untied the laces to her sandals and slid them down her slim calves. She returned the favor and he slipped his feet out of his.

Nyk unfastened the knot of her lifxarpa, unwound the sash and laid it on a bench. Andra unclasped the Kyhana crest pin holding his sash. He pulled it from his shoulder and let it fall to the floor. Then, gazing into her eyes he grasped the hem of her tunic. She raised her arms and he lifted it from her.

He hiked up his own tunic and Andra helped him slide it over his head. They embraced and Nyk felt the warmth of her skin against his. He kissed her again, pressing his mouth against hers.

Andra pulled back and gasped. “I needed some fresh air,” she panted. “We were passing the same air back and forth.”

“I wanted to fill my lungs with air from yours,” he replied.

“I do believe you're a hopeless romantic.”

Nyk kissed her lips, her chin and her neck. She caressed his shoulder blades and he smoothed his hands along the small of her back and her buttocks.

Andra placed her palm against a panel and the bed folded down from the wall. Nyk slipped one forearm under her knees, grasped her around her shoulder blades with his other, scooped her up and placed her on the mattress.

He sat beside her, regarding her and stroking her abdomen. “I've never paid close attention to your body,” he said.

“Is that because you find ax'amfinen to be such loathsome creatures?” she asked.

“Not true -- I do not ... not any more, at least...” He caressed her beneath her ribcage. “I told you that, in time, your scar from being shot would be barely noticeable. I can hardly find it. Does the wound ever bother you?”

“Never,” she replied. “I had forgotten about it.”

He touched her low on her belly, near her hip. “You have a blue trace of a vein here. Otherwise I can't find a blemish.”

“I know. If that vein had been where it shows -- I'd have been excluded from Vebinad.”

“So, Vebinad demands perfection.”

“They demand nothing less -- that's what the slogan says, at least.”

“Well, they found it in you, Andra.” He lay beside her, smoothing his hand along her porcelain skin. She guided his face to her chest. He covered her compact breasts with kisses and she held his head, stroked his hair and squeezed his knee between her legs.

“Shall we go fast or slow?” he asked.

“I can't decide.”

Nyk caressed her thigh. Andra guided his hand and he began stroking her. He watched her eyes relax and her gaze fall distant. Her lips parted and her breathing grew heavy. He could feel her legs tense against his.

Andra grasped his wrist and lifted his hand. “Stop ... not yet,” she panted.

“You were close...”

“It's too soon,” she gasped.

She coaxed Nyk onto his back on the narrow mattress and began caressing him and covering his body with kisses. “I was so afraid we'd never have this again,” she said.

“Not nearly as afraid as I was. I was sure I had lost both of you.”

Andra knelt, straddling his hips and rocking hers. She ran her hands across his skin. He gripped her thighs and watched her ribs and abdomen heave with her breathing.

“Release now?” he asked.

She shook her head. “It's still too soon... Can you maintain?” He nodded. She took his hand and held it against her chest. “Like this ... that's good...”

He could feel her heart throbbing. “Suki wanted me to tell you,” he panted. “Some of this ... is from her.”

She smiled. “I know,” she gasped. “I can feel it.”

“How?”

“No guilt,” she replied. “I told you -- one day ... she would understand our ways ... with her heart.”

“She told me ... you and she ... sister lovers ... and we three a ... family in love.”

“I'm so happy... I do love her, Nyk.”

“She wanted me to ... tell you something else ... Andra, I love you.”

“I know you do.”

“I love you deeply ... you and Suki -- together ... the ones I love most ... in the whole universe.”

“I know,” she panted. “Hearing it means so much.”

Nyk read the cues in her body. Her skin glistened and a pink flush formed on her cheeks and upper chest. He could see her pulse pounding in her neck. “Release, now?” he asked. She nodded, closed her eyes and lifted her face. Her lips parted and she drew in a deep breath, then released it as a long, low moan.

Nyk held his release for a moment, then smashed the barrier he had built in his mind. Sensations surged into his awareness. “Oh, Andra!” he grunted, grasped her hips and pressed himself against her.

He lay beside her. She pulled herself against him. “Nyk -- I don't think I've ever felt so loved,” she said and kissed his cheek. “I've been reluctant to let myself feel the depth of your love. I've distanced myself.”

“I've been denying my own feelings for you. I'm sorry for that, Andra.”

“I understand.”

“I'm denying them no longer. Andra, I love you as deeply as I love Suki. Leaving you behind was the hardest thing I've had to do. I hope I never again have to choose between the two of you. You truly are a sister in our love-family.”

“I know -- I felt it. I love you just as deeply. You've changed my life, Nyk.”

“One person can make the difference.” Nyk took her hand and held it to his chest. “You're a hero, Andra. The entire hegemony owes its existence to you.”

“How could that be?”

“You engineered my escape.”

“I? How?”

“You'll know the details soon enough. You did, so I could be with Suki and Nicky. She has just emerged from some dark days. But, I was there to help her through them. She told me she'd be dead, otherwise -- perhaps Nicky, too. I believe her. I was there for her. Your sacrifice -- your love made it possible. I owe it to you -- we owe it to you.”

Nyk sat beside Kronta in the committee hearing room. He looked around. “Who's the new chair with Tomyka out of the way?” he whispered to