needed to do one VSI and decided to save that for 03:00. It would give me something to do on the back side of the watch. Sitting there at 18:30, twelve stans looked like a long, long time.
There was nothing to be done about it, so I put my feet up on the console, made sure my coffee was in easy reach, and settled into my studies. I had a long time to sit, nothing else to do, and nobody was likely to interrupt me. I pulled up the section on liquid thermodynamics and started from the beginning.
Chapter 16
DUNSANY ROADS ORBITAL
2352-APRIL-15
Eventually the long night ended. Francis showed up right on time at 05:45 and smiled in sympathy when he saw me. “You holding up?”
“Kinda. Not as bad as I thought it would be. I got a lot of studying in.”
He looked uncomfortable at the mention of studying, so I added, “You did me a favor with the bookmark thing, you know?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“If you hadn’t set it to spec one, I’d still be slogging through spec three and wouldn’t have even thought about leapfrogging a rating.”
“Well, I still feel bad. I thought sure you’d have caught the file setting as soon as you brought up the lesson.”
“Hindsight, eh? I should have. I’ll never make that mistake again, but you were also right about me being distracted. There was a lot going on then. Are you ready to take this on?” I jerked my head at the console.
“No, but it’s my turn.”
“All ops normal, Mr. Gartner. No maintenance scheduled or performed. You have the watch.”
“I relieve you, Mr. Wang. I have the watch. And keep an eye out for the girls this afternoon. They’ve got something up their sleeves.”
Laughing I headed for my bunk and a few stan’s sleep before I found out what it might be.
I had set my tablet to bip me at 12:30 so I had time for a shower before leaving for Roubaille. I woke a lot more refreshed than I thought I might be. My body had adapted to the watch cycle pretty well. Something about teaching it to sleep when I needed to and to stay awake when that was required. The old ideas of morning and night seemed a trifle artificial in the twenty-four stan world of watch standing.
When I came out of the san, Bev, Brill, and Diane were all waiting for me. Normally, that would have been scary enough but under the circumstances, I almost turned around and walked right back in. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was met with.
Beverly, of course, was in her black leathers, but instead of the usual armor plating under it, she wore a kind of silky chemise in a pale color that looked white next to the midnight black of the leathers. The material glowed against her darker skin. She was not wearing the jacket buckled at the waist the way she usually did, but instead she left it open all the way down the front so that the tails swung free. With her buzz cut hair, tattoos, and piercings she looked both fascinating and terrifyingly fierce.
Diane wore heels and a black suit with an absolutely stunning green silk blouse unbuttoned so far she risked imminent danger of indecent exposure. The collars of both the blouse and the jacket were turned up to frame her face but also accentuated the plunge by extending the V even farther. Before I managed to track up to her face, I could not help but be aware of the softness swelling under that silky, silky blouse.
When I finally got a look at Brill, the urge to retreat to the san became almost too much to bear. She looked awe inspiring, wearing a pair of straight legged slacks and very pointy shoes. Her legs seemed to go half way to the overhead before disappearing into a dark-red tailored jacket with offset black buttons. This was not the scarlet red of blood but a richer almost burgundy color without the purple overtones. The tailoring on the jacket was impeccable. The fabric hugged every curve—and there were some fascinating curves. Her jacket had a standup collar—it was almost military and oriental all at once, but really neither. She wore no blouse under the jacket, or at least none that I could see. This left her long neck, throat, and upper chest exposed in a way that shipsuit and tee never would. She did not have Diane’s cleavage, but she did not suffer one iota from the lack. She had done something with her hair, too. It had a kind of wild, spiky appearance that was totally at odds with the collected and cool Brill I was used to. She was smiling in a way that was very disturbing because of the way my body was reacting.
“Wow.” It was all I could get out past the blood pounding in my ears.
The three of them looked at each other and passed some primal communication that I could not interpret. “Don’t forget the chip from Bresheu,” Brill reminded me.
“We’ll see you at the lock in five ticks,” Diane added.
“We know where you sleep,” Bev warned me as they left.
I sighed and put on my civvies. Straightening my jacket in the mirror, I grimaced at the guy looking back at me. He did not seem too pleased with what he saw either. With any luck, he would be wearing something a bit more presentable to wear when I got back.
When I got to the lock, Sean had the duty. “Good luck, Ish.” His face twisted into a mischievous grin as I signed out.
“Are you coming?” Bev asked.
Sean shrugged helplessly and I waved to him as they escorted me out of the ship.
Brill asked, “Do you have the chip?”
I pulled it out and held it up. “Right here.” As I slipped it back into my pocket, I saw their eyes following it the whole time with a kind of hungry reverence.
Seeing them again, I almost turned and retreated into the ship. If the lock had not already started to cycle closed, I might have bolted. There did not seem to be quite enough oxygen in the docking bay and the stinging cold was not helping my feeling of sudden overload as Bev’s body responded to the temperature under that silky chemise.
“Now that we have your attention,” Brill said, arching an eyebrow, “shall we go?” She turned and led the way, while Bev and Diane waited to block my retreat. I took a deep breath and followed her to the lift. I was very aware of how nicely tailored the slacks were and wished, just a little, that her jacket were a bit shorter. I could hear Beverly and Diane striding along side by side just behind me, not quite in step, but very close to it.
At the lift, Brill stopped and held the door while Diane and Bev ushered me into the car. As I turned I could see a half dozen people staring after us before the metal doors cut off the view. We had walked right through the group of them, and I had not even noticed. Judging from the looks, they had noticed us.
The lift stopped at level eleven and the doors slid apart revealing the posh opulence of the upper deck. Brill strode out over the lush carpeting without looking back. She did not need to. The possibility of me not following her was as remote as a planet suddenly breaking from its orbit. At that moment, I understood the concept of
As we walked down the nicely appointed corridor, the feeling of being completely at the mercy of these three powerful, brilliant, gorgeous, sexy women almost overpowered me. I could barely breathe. It scared the hell out of
