Sentients in the Maze: Symbiont Wars Book II (Symbiont Wars Universe 2) Page 17

  Gently, she pulled her inner shaft out of him and began the slow stroking pump that would bring him to climax. After a few moments, he rose to full wakefulness and then participation with a rocking, plunging answer to her attentions.

  When he shot deep inside her, his seed bathed her pleasure node, starting another cycle of shared orgasm. And, though the sensation was strong, she skirted the edge of being overwhelmed.

  Tiana put her head back on his chest and held him, trying to work through what she’d just done. Should she feel guilt? She hadn’t intended for it to happen..., the first time. Her body and subconscious had made the decision without consulting her. Though she’d left the door open by letting herself fall asleep on the job. In spite of her confusing, mortifying situation, she smiled at the expression. These days, she thought in human languages as often as she thought in her own tongue. What was the 19th century human term?

  Going native.

  Was that what was happening?

  She’d been away from nii society for 215 years, an unheard of separation for her kind. Even if her people had come looking, there was no way to find her. Though they could have narrowed it to the planets in the sector capable of sustaining life, they wouldn’t have been able to find her without a beacon. And, a leopard seal had sunk that in the South Atlantic. Even if she made a new one, who would come? Her people or her enemies? In addition, she was under contract with Jonah, joined to his purpose, that meant she had obligations.

  Tiana tucked her face against his neck, listening to the blood pulsing through his jugular, savoring the way his aroma drifted into her nose. It would be so easy to stay in bed with him all day, taking and giving pleasure with their bodies.

  Reluctantly, she pushed herself upright, still sitting on his lap.

  “Good morning,” she said with a smile, touching his lips with her fingers. Tiana ran her fingers across his face, down his neck, working her way down, taking his hair into her system. “Today you’ll notice an increase in your strength. I’m changing your diet to help with the protein requirements for the muscle and support structure growth.” Tiana leaned back to reach his legs down to his feet.

  “I didn’t realize you were including more strength. Isn’t that an addition to our agreement?” Jonah scratched his head. “I also didn’t realize my head hair would return.”

  “I can take it baaaack,” she said, reaching for his head.

  No, no,” Jonah said, grinning and jerking his head back. “It’s good shade for my scalp. I’ve missed it.”

  Tiana pouted then continued. “Well, the hair is because I reset your bio-clock. This time though, you won't lose it later. The strength enhancement is because we are way past the temporary contract now, and I mean to keep you alive. You’ll need the strength for combat training.”

  “I’m not going to bulk up a lot am I? I don’t want to get too heavy to climb.”

  “You’ll be a bit heavier, but your strength-to-weight ratio will improve. Your hands will heal faster after a hard day of climbing, so you can climb every day if you want. But, I hope you’ll enjoy spending the time on more variety in your workouts.”

  “Right, like combat training.”

  “Among other things. After you eat, let’s do yoga and then we can work on some piano pieces for four hands. Debussy’s 6 Epigraphes Antiques would be a good place for us to start. It’ll be fun.”

  “Then why did my heart just stop when you said that? I’ve never attempted something that difficult.”

  “Little by little,” Tiana said, patting him on the arm. “Can you flip over so I can get your back?”

  Jonah jiggled his pelvis, arching an eyebrow, pointing out the connection still in place between them. Instead of disconnecting, Tiana grabbed his shoulders and rolled backwards, flipping him on top where she could reach his back and down to the upper part of his legs.

  “Men,” she muttered, “so quick to end the afterglow.”

  “Well, this is new,” Jonah said with a smile. “I’ve never been on the top with you. What do I do from here?”

  Tiana flexed the muscles surrounding his shaft, stroked his prostate with her tail and smiled as she felt him stiffening inside her. “You’re on top,” she said, “Dealer’s choice.”

  He shifted his hips slightly, pointing his sex at her pleasure node. “No restrictions?” he asked, caution coloring his voice.

  Tiana touched his cheek. “No, Jonah, no restrictions. We are safe enough here, and your arguments for reciprocity were persuasive. Let’s just try to stay conscious.”

  An hour later, Tiana wasn’t sure she hadn’t passed out for a few seconds a few times, but perhaps her capacity to experience pleasure was improving. She savored the sparking inside her as her bagua subsumed his seed.

  The satisfaction on Jonah’s face from giving her pleasure was the final piece of the puzzle for her. After all, both of them were sentients, people, menschen, nii.

  It was time to put away segregation. If humans could manage it, then she’d follow that example and not be diminished. Besides, barring violent death, this relationship should last a long time. It would be nice to have something to look forward to besides having a wonderful piano.

  With a twinge of reluctance, Tiana disengaged the connection, stepped off the bed and pulled Jonah to his feet. He was a bit limp at the moment. . . . Everywhere.

  “My people rarely form bonds for life, but exclusive relationships aren’t unusual,” she said. “I suppose we'll have to figure out what you and I will become together. I expect I’ll be working through the . . . baggage of my cultural conditioning, so I’ll need you to be patient with me. Right now though, coffee is outside the door.”

  Tiana raised her eyebrow. “I smell a breakfast tray too, and, unlike with me, no one might have to alter their paradigms if you step out to get it.” She swished her tail over his bottom by way of punctuation and jerked her head at the door. “C’mon! You can do it. You aren’t that tired. I don’t know about you, but good sex makes me thirsty.”

  “Good sex, eh?” Jonah said with a grin. “We’ll need to keep water bottles in here.”

  “Ha! I was thinking more like a supply tube hooked into the bed. I don’t think you understand; I haven’t had sex for a very long time and this new body likes it. A lot! I… will be in the shower,” she said as she turned and danced into the bathroom.

  “That sounds like a challenge,” Jonah said as he opened the door to the hall.

  Tiana knew what he would see. The breakfast tray, and coffee thermos on a cart by the door—right across from Amber, sitting in the hall chair with a steaming coffee cup in her hand. Tiana looked over her shoulder.

  Jonah paused then took the cart by its handle. “Good morning, Amber. Sorry about the full frontal,” he said, wheeling the cart backwards into the room.

  “Don’t get dressed on my account.”

  Tiana grinned at the laughter in Amber’s voice.

  Jonah closed the door, and Tiana ducked into the shower.

  Jonah stuck his head in the door. “Look at you, acting like you didn’t know that was coming,” he said. “Did you forget how thirsty you were pretending to be?”

  Tiana giggled. “Oh, I’m thirsty enough,” she said. “I just got tired of waiting for you and decided to drink straight from the shower.”

  Jonah sighed. “Okay, so what’s your policy on sharing the shower?”

  Tiana slid the shower door aside. She took Jonah’s hand and pulled him in with her. “Sharing is good,” she said as he gasped at the icy torrent. “What, still here?” she remarked as he reached for the soap.

  “You may not have noticed, but I’m pretty determined about some things,” he said.

  Tiana smiled.

  In fact, she had.

  Chapter 15 (Memories)

  The frantic notes of Debussy’s Epigraph Antiques VI - Pour Remercier Pluie au Matin (Thanking the Morning Rains) tumbled out of the piano. Jonah focused on keeping the driving rhythm of the raindrops par
t moving as Tiana’s hands crossed over his, blending in the lower part. Hers was the more difficult piece in the duet, but a player of her galaxy-class caliber—he grinned—played it with ease, in spite of his unpolished performance. Tiana made his irregularities sound like artistic choice.

  A fast run was approaching. Jonah dove into it, sighing thankfully at the end. With the score's final note, he felt like he’d just run his fastest mile ever, though the piece was only two and a half minutes long.

  “Not bad,” Tiana said. “We’d have gotten away with that at a social recital. It took two weeks to learn the six easier parts of the Epigraphs. Let’s see if you can learn the harder ones in the same amount of time. You’ve seen me do them often enough. That should help.”

  Jonah smiled, this time, though the next parts would be more difficult, he didn’t have the anxiety he'd had when she proposed they work on the Debussy pieces. In two weeks—practicing two hours a day—he’d surprised himself. Now he wanted to do it again.

  Improved recall and body memory was a huge help with the piano. Jonah had started playing late in life, not till after his divorce; now the music was flowing rather than dragging.

  Tiana leaned over to kiss him. Jonah no longer wondered why. He was almost certain he’d mastered the secret decoder ring. This kiss was affection, desire and a little territoriality—no supplements included.

  “I know you wanted to spend time with your other girlfriend,” she said, “but let’s meet at two for combat training. If you like, we can go climbing tonight.”

  “Love to,” Jonah said. “I wonder what Minerva would make of your jealousy.”

  “I just might drop in to make sure you both behave yourselves. Major left smoked salmon and the horseradish sauce you like in the fridge. You’ll notice I added new supplements. Chew them up and take them with a big glass of water.”

  “Got it. Chew, water,” Jonah said, rising from the piano and heading to the kitchen.

  He downed the supplements. With the platter of smoked salmon and horseradish sauce in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, he took the stairs to the third floor. To build his leg muscles as they grew longer, he took three steps at a time, slow and balanced.

  The door to his office opened as he approached. “Thank you, Minerva,” he said as he entered. He placed the salmon plate on the table he’d added to the room. It moved, like the other furniture, but—except for holding things—that was all it did. Jonah didn’t like putting snacks on a computer screen even if it looked like a table.

  “You are welcome, Jonah,” replied Minerva. She—Jonah couldn’t help calling it she—was an AI with advanced learning capabilities and not much to use them on at the moment. To help her learning, Jonah set her different problems optimizing his work environment. One problem she’d solved was opening the door when he approached by using the utility table to hook the door handle.

  The work with Minerva helped Jonah achieve a better grasp on machine learning, which would be helpful in his. . . cause? project? He wasn’t sure what to call it. Maybe revolution was the right word, but you couldn’t go around saying that if you wanted to avoid the notice of Homeland Security.

  Jonah looked at his calendar for the day. First came video interviewing and networking with people from different parts of XYMBI: economists, political scientists, computer scientists, statistics experts, systems modeling specialists. Max had sent a dossier on all the people in the organization that fit Jonah’s descriptions. Jonah eliminated most of them. Either their political party loyalties were too extreme . . . , or they showed other characteristics of mental inflexibility. The rest he’d chatted with were forthcoming so far; Max had pre-called them and asked them to cooperate and keep the matter confidential.

  Jonah selected twenty to meet in person. Seven were women, but Tiana was working on a counter-agent for the pheromone problems. Tiana had talked to Amber about testing it, but Amber said she barely noticed the effect anymore, as long as Jonah took showers after working out. Jonah took that as a hopeful sign that he might soon be able to work with women in the same room. This brought him to his next call. . .

  “Minerva, can you please place a call to Hope Konawa for me?”

  “Placing call now,” Majel Barret’s voice assured him.

  After a few rings, the call connected.

  “Hello, this is Hope, who’s calling please?”

  “Hi, Hope. It’s Jonah.”

  “Hey, Jonah! Caller ID blocked, eh?”

  “Yeah, calling from a company phone. It’s company policy.”

  “You got work! Cool, congratulations.”

  “Thanks. Listen, I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch, life got busy, but I heard you got the ax too. I didn’t even have time to congratulate you.”

  “Yes, I have successfully de-stressed my life by ninety percent,” Hope said.

  Jonah smiled. “I’ve been thinking about you and everyone in the Down and Out club. How are you?”

  “I still haven’t found a new opportunity, but I have another week of severance pay coming,” said Hope.

  Most people wouldn’t hear it, but Jonah recognized the frustration and pain in her voice. Hope showed amazing skill at understanding what data meant. Her strength in that area put her at odds with the managers who preferred data interpreted in a way that made them look good instead of from an objective viewpoint.

  Jonah shook his head, he understood that frustration from his own experience. “Well, Hope, that’s why I’m calling. I’ve been singing your praises to the people where I’m working now and they want to talk to you.”

  “Cool! What’s the name of the company where you landed?”

  “They’re a private consulting resource provider. You’ll be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement before you can be interviewed or even hear the name, and you won’t find them on GlassDoor. Can you agree to that? They do security work, along with other things, and it’s for your privacy and protection.”

  “Well, Jonah, since you are recommending them, I won’t kick at that.”

  “Great. I’ll be meeting you at the airport to introduce you to the interview team so you’ll have a friendly face in the crowd till you’re comfortable. The position they want to interview you for is for a two-year leadership development rotation. You’d be making a lot more than you were. You might have occasional travel, but the company has several locations. Do you have a preference?”

  “I’d like to stay on the East Coast, but where are you based?” Hope’s voice was picking up excitement. In spite of her name, she typically kept a wait-and-see attitude. So, for her, anything more was like a cheer and a cartwheel.

  “Well, my position is a little different. I’m still floating and haven’t settled on a home base yet. But do you think you’d be interested?”

  “Well, hell yeah.”

  “Okay, great. The company will pay for your travel and expenses for the interviews. There will be one day for travel, one day of interviews and if you’re hired, they’ll tell you on the spot. Then you’ll have two days of orientation, job tailoring and touring and meeting people. So four days total. You’ll be paid $500 for each day you are in that process. When can you be available?”

  “Monday works for me. I can rearrange my schedule for the week.”

  “Cool! I’ll let HR know. They'll contact you later today and arrange picking you up at your place and taking you to the airport. Your interviews will be in Savannah or Atlanta, but you may go somewhere else for orientation.”

  “Great! I hope it works out. I’d love to work with you again. But, Jonah, I’m curious. What is the company like?”

  “All I can tell you, is that it’s better than where we were… by about a million miles.”

  “Okay, I can believe that.”

  Jonah smiled. “That’s an easy one, right? Listen, I gotta go. I’ll call you when you get to your hotel on Monday evening. So until then.”

  “Okay, bye then. And Jonah?”

  “Yes
?”

  “Thank you.”

  Jonah paused for a moment, hearing the quiet pain in her voice. “Hope, you are welcome, and don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Don’t bother practicing the stupid, How much does a jumbo jet weigh? questions, all right?”

  Hope laughed and to Jonah it sounded like music.

  “Gotcha,” she said.

  "Bye now, Hope."

  "We'll talk again soon, I guess. Bye."

  Jonah went back to work.

  “I infer from your voice patterns that you are in an elevated frame of mind, can you confirm?” said Minerva.

  “You nailed it, Minerva.”

  “Thank you. Do not forget to eat your snack this time, please. I can’t clean things off the table.”

  “Okay, mom,” Jonah said, picking up his fork, one more call to make. Stan still had his job, but he was a friend, and he was looking for better. Jonah had refused to sign the severance agreement because of its no poaching clause. There was little enough good fortune; he could at least spread it around a little.

  Jonah was deep into evaluating the qualifications of more potential project members when Minerva flashed a text message across his screen.

  Tiana approaching in stealth mode.

  Jonah glanced at the time readout in the corner of his screen. It was 2:10. Late for weapons practice again! He’d forgotten to tell Minerva to set an alarm for him. Damn! He crept to the balcony door and slid outside then ran down the balcony to the security team’s tactical room. Amber opened the door, cocking an eyebrow; Jonah held a finger to his lips and passed through the room. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and waited.

  A moment later, his phone received the silent text,

  NOW.

  Jonah crept down the hall to the stairway and descended the five flights to the terrace level dojo, skipping the squeaky treads along the way. Above the open floorplan, long steel beams crossed the ceilings, replacing the pillars and posts that had dotted the previous layout.