Chapter 4

I barely had a chance to greet her before she pressed herself against me and kept pushing until I tumbled backward onto one of the reclining command seats. Erl’ae’e had plenty of help getting my clothes off. I can’t imagine that all five of the women could physically be close enough at the same time to help, but it sure felt like it.

Erl’ae’e was gorgeous, although her body was slightly different from the other girls. She was thinner and her breasts were smaller, something Kasi’yah had already explained. Her fingernails and toenails were narrower and slightly V-shaped instead of more rounded like ours. The effect was that they looked a little more like claws, although Kasi’yah had introduced a change to her DNA so they would become more rounded as they grew out. The biggie, though, was her tongue. Longer and narrower than ours, she drove me wild using it as she sucked my cock, flicking her tongue around my cock like a snake. Gratefully, Banu-Sintäa women didn’t have a hymen, and full penetration was quick and painless. Once inside, though, it was a different story as her sheath tightened around me.

Once it was tight, it pulsed, and seemed to slip back and forth a centimeter or so on its own. Erl’ae’e reached her first peak while I was still contemplating the intriguing feeling of what her sheath was doing. When she came, her body relaxed as if someone had dosed her with a good tranquilizer. Her sheath also relaxed, releasing me from its tight grip.

“Take me,” she whispered dreamily, so I did, rolling us over and driving into her until I filled her with my seed. She came once more as we fucked, her orgasm producing no more than quiet moans of pleasure.

Then I had four more women to attend. Thank God for the anatomically correct androids who took over once I couldn’t be revived again.

In the morning, Kasi’yah recommended a location to establish the final mining pod I had aboard the Faraway. I had to smile at how well she had reviewed and understood the data she got from Lexi’s memory. Her holographic map of the area she had explored was dotted with colored markers showing thousands of rich deposits of each mineral I sought most often. A single, pulsing, orange point of light drew my attention. It made an eighth color on the map.

“Rhodium,” Kasi’yah said, grinning knowingly.

Okay, so sue me, I looked for more than seven metals. Only seven of them occurred in rich enough assays and large enough quantities to mine profitably with a mining pod. That Kasi’yah had found rhodium in a form pure enough to mine with a mining pod was stunning. Usually, it’s found in small quantities mixed in with platinum and nickel ore. It also occurred as a chemical compound with several different, uncommon minerals.

Until now, all rhodium was extracted from nickel and platinum ores or was mined by slave miners like the four pirates I had sold. That and its rarity caused it to be one of the pricier minerals. While our scanners had picked it up in every system we had already explored, I always passed it up because there wasn’t enough or it didn’t assay high enough, even at the exorbitant prices it brought.

“Someday, I may sell the locations to one of the consortiums,” I thought.

The trip to the location with the rhodium deposit would have taken the Faraway a month of jumping to the farthest point that I could scan. The Kra’afkikort completed it in two hours, even without using their “temporal drive.”

Similarly to my jump drive, the temporal drive formed a wormhole allowing a ship to traverse from the origin of the wormhole to the exit in seconds. I wanted to research their temporal drive. The problem with it was that it caused a disruption that lasted for nearly a day at each end when it closed. Any other ship passing through the area would be buffeted by something akin to storm waves that used to batter ships sailing the oceans of Earth. The pod setup that would have taken my androids four hours was finished in two hours with an assist from the Kra’afkikort’s androids.

Using the Kra’afkikort and her androids, the task of picking up ingots from my mining pods was completed in half the time. With the shuttles on the flight deck of the Kra’afkikort instead of inside the Faraway, I was even able to take back almost three times as many refined ingots as before. With the extra time I had spent in Ahnjuk completing work on the Faraway, I had far more ingots awaiting me. Usually, I had to balance what I took back to make sure the consortium got some of each. That meant there was usually a surplus I had to leave behind at each of the mines. This time, I took back everything. We even moved three of the mining pods to a better location, spots that Kasi’yah had found during her explorations.

Just before returning, Erl’ae’e suddenly became extremely clingy, insisting on physically being near me all day long. When I commented on it, she gasped and ran. Worried, I followed her to the medical section where she performed a brief scan on herself. “I’m pregnant,” she exclaimed excitedly when she finished.

In my head, I could already hear my mother harping at me, wondering why I hadn’t yet married the girl I made pregnant. “Kasi’yah, you said that a Banu-Sintäa woman had to give birth to a healthy child before she can marry. Does that still hold true here?” I asked.

“While there is no precedent like this, the Banu-Sintäa believe that, if they are visiting another race, the laws of that race are followed,” she replied.

“Good, because my mother will never let me hear the end of it if I show up at home with a pregnant woman I haven’t married,” I replied, setting the other women to laughing.

“Don’t laugh too hard,” I warned while shaking a finger at them. “You’ll each get your turn unless you decide that you want to stay with your parents.” I thought I was chiding them but was quickly surrounded by happily squealing women. Before I knew it, I was naked, they were naked, and I was balls deep in Erl’ae’e ... and then Calysta ... and then ... and, well, you get the idea!

Once we were back in the Hawnalt Sector, I had Kasi’yah reconfigure the shields so our electronic signature would look like the Faraway. We purposely avoided the back routes I normally used, ones with almost no traffic. Instead, we used common routes. I was disappointed when we arrived at Luboro without even a nibble from the pirates. I wondered if the Jump to It had cleared them out.

Leaving the Kra’afkikort cloaked in an orbit far enough out of the way that it should be safe, I docked the Faraway at the Tredax mining consortium.

Even though they were again getting regular deliveries, they were happy to see my large load of ingots, especially since I had some of each of the expensive metals.

“Any chance you could mine copper and silver?” the head guy asked.

“We’ve located numerous deposits of them. I just don’t pay attention to them, concentrating on the more valuable metals. I’ll see if I can start copper and silver mines this time,” I promised.

I held up a finger to stop him from thanking me and listened to what Lexi was telling me in my com unit. “One of my androids commed my ship and my AI just let me know that we have hundreds of locations available for both silver and copper just in the first cluster of systems that we searched,” I told him. I’ll take twenty mining pods with me. Do you want half silver and half copper?” I asked.

“How about twelve copper and eight silver?” he requested in return.

“Got it. My AI has already picked the locations,” I told him seconds later. “I’m going to start using two ships to deliver the ingots now,” I told him, trying to head off any questions about starting to bring more ingots back. “It will also let me take another twenty mining pods. Do you want them mining copper and silver, too?” I asked.

“If you’re taking requests, we could use any of the rare earth metals, especially palladium, columbite, tantalite, and neodymium,” he chuckled.

“Mining pods don’t work for those, do they?” I asked, remembering somewhere that rare earth minerals were usually mixed in compounds that had to be broken down into the individual components. Many of those compounds were radioactive. Although there were ways to deal with that, most deposits weren’t concentrated enough.

“Sometimes,” he replied. “They are sometimes found mixed in with other ores like gold, silver, zinc, lead, copper, iron, nickel, or others. In those cases, you’d set the mining pod to extract two, or even three different minerals.”

“Hmmm, I wasn’t aware the pods could extract more than one ore at each location,” I mused, mentally kicking myself for not knowing that.

“In other cases,” he continued, “they require a special mining pod to break down the various minerals in a deposit into the separate elements. For example, if you were mining a deposit of euxenite, you’d end up with mostly calcium, but you’d also have niobium, tantalum, cerium, titanium, yttrium, and possibly uranium and/or thorium. In the case of the latter two, you’d need to have a decontamination attachment that neutralizes the radioactivity in everything but the uranium and thorium. You’d need specially shielded containers to safely store and transport those two. Radioactive elements can only be sold to the government, so you’d need to make sure they needed them before transporting them.

“Do you have any of those mining pods?” I asked.

“I’ve got eleven, and I’ve only sold four in the last five years. Most guys do what you’re doing and go for one or two of the most expensive metals. A few tire of trying to find a lucrative deposit to mine and settle for something that pays, even if it doesn’t pay as much,” he explained.

“There’s what, twenty rare earth elements and four are radioactive?” I queried as I pictured in my mind the periodic table of known elements. The table continues to grow, although any elements added in the last two millennia were radioactive, as well as unstable enough that they only survive for nanoseconds.

“You studied geology,” he said.

“A little, but mainly physics with some chemistry thrown in for good measure,” I replied. “Could you list those elements for me in the order of your most urgent need? Also, it would help if you could list approximately how much of each you need a year.”

“How much I need is something I won’t know until there’s an adequate supply available. Most companies that want them have some sort of workaround they use when they can’t buy what they need. The problem is that the workaround doesn’t work as well, so the equipment doesn’t function as well, functions slower, or doesn’t last nearly as long,” he explained.

“Well, if you could give me an idea of what you can use right now it would help. It’s silly for me to bring back a thousand kilograms of something when you only sell five hundred kilograms a year. I can adjust my choice of mining sites based on the percentage of different rare earth elements available to better match what you need. I can always get more if you sell what I bring back,” I explained.

“I don’t think anyone has ever worried about that before,” he chuckled. “Most of them just look for the first rich deposit to start mining.”

“Yes, but I have more than a thousand systems to choose from that nobody else has ever explored,” I reminded him.

“A thousand?” he gasped.

“But I only have mines in about twenty of them ... well, twenty-one now that I have a Rhodium mine in one of them,” I corrected.

“You have that many slaves?” he asked.

“No, I found a rich enough deposit to use a mining pod,” I explained, causing his eyes to bug out.

“No wonder you aren’t worried about mining only the most expensive ores,” he chuckled.

“That, and those diamonds I showed you. What I was paid for two of them would buy a destroyer,” I said, making his eyes bug out even more. I bought the eleven special mining pods, as well as the five decontamination attachments he had available that would remove any radioactivity from the elements that weren’t naturally radioactive. I also bought containment vessels to safely carry radioactive elements.

Captain D’Anzico was happy to hear from me when I commed him and was happy to arrange for me to fly my shuttle to the base. He met me where the captured pirate shuttles were being kept. “I heard that you had helpers aboard,” he chuckled as five gorgeous women followed me off the ship. He greeted each of the ladies as if they were VIPs touring the base.

The Navy had followed my instructions and sold all but two of the ships like I had instructed Ensign Ashby, although there were an additional four newly acquired pirate ships there now. I thanked him for storing them for me.

“Hell, I’d much rather be storing them than chasing them,” he explained, laughing.

Evidently, the last two trips had only collected two pirate ships each. “Either we’re finally putting a dent in the number of pirate ships, or they’re getting wise to us,” the Captain said.

“Give them a different transponder for my androids to install. They can toggle off the first one before entering the sector so it looks like a different ship,” I suggested. He liked the idea and commed somebody to make it happen. He also let me know that the AI and the androids had been upgraded like I wanted, and the other upgrades had been made to the ship.

He especially liked my offer to upgrade another ship. However, if the number of pirate ships was dropping, they might not need a second ship and wondered if he could transfer it to another sector like the admiral in charge of this sector had suggested doing.

“As long as they follow the ground rules I set, and understand what happens if they fail to comply. To make my conditions more tolerable, you can let him know that I intend to release the design of the new laser to the Navy in thirty to sixty days. I just have to finish upgrading my lasers to the new-newest ones I’ve designed.”

“So soon?” he replied, surprised. “It’s been less than a year since you designed the ones you’re using now.”

“The AI and androids run everything aboard ship for me. That leaves me with lots of time to work on designs, and lots of quiet so I’m not disturbed. Out there,” I said as I waved towards the atmosphere, indicating the vastness of space beyond it, “I’m not constrained by a time clock. When an idea hits me, I work on it until I finish, until I get tired, or until the girls drag me to bed. My body clock dictates when I work, not a boss or a time clock.”

We took all six ships for now since there was plenty of room aboard the Kra’afkikort. The girls were all excited when each of them was allowed to be the official captain aboard one of the ships as it left the base. I bought more androids to actually operate the ships and bought a blank Class 5 AI for each ship. Once they were installed, I loaded a copy of Lexi’s programming into them. While the AI had a chance to reboot and then familiarize itself with the ship, I made shuttle trips to add four androids from the Faraway to each ship. That way, there were androids aboard that knew how I operated so they could train the new androids.

I figured that we could perform any necessary repairs and upgrades aboard the Kra’afkikort. Once there, I loaded the best one of the six ships with the remaining ingots and took them to Tredax. The girls took the second-best ship and docked it at the spaceport, and then called the company that did upgrades to the androids. While they waited for the upgrade company to arrive, they started ordering the list of parts and equipment that I wanted.

Two of the girls headed for the marketplace with an eight-android guard. The androids were imposing enough that nobody gave the girls any grief. Normally, two attractive women alone in the marketplace here would be an invitation for trouble. The Hawnalt Sector is young enough that it is still plagued by the Wild West Syndrome.

While Confederation laws apply in new sectors, it takes decades before the tax base is broad enough to pay for the necessary law enforcement infrastructure to completely enforce those laws. It’s only been in the last couple of years that this sector has had enough ships to warrant an admiral.

If I had to guess, I’d guess that the admiral was here as punishment for his handling of my research and for pissing me off enough that I walked away from further research. When top officers are posted to a relatively new sector, it is definitely a demotion, even if their official rank remains the same. The prestige of being an admiral in a new sector is very low compared to the prestige of being an admiral in a well-established sector. Unless the admiral of the new sector was just promoted to the position, it’s basically a slap in the face.

For the captains in charge of operations on both Ahnjuk and Luboro, their position was probably in preparation for a promotion to Commodore. They had probably distinguished themselves as a captain aboard a ship and were being given an opportunity to show that they were ready for the next promotion. If so, their sudden successes against the pirates in the sector bode well for both men, even if it was mainly my doing. That they were able to convince me to work with them in any capacity would earn them lots of kudos from their superiors. I know how hard those superiors have tried to get me to return to doing research.

Anyway, with eight fully armed androids guarding them, nobody messed with the girls while they shopped for food as well as anything else that struck their fancy. However, before they got too involved, we headed for the government building where Princess Erl’ae’e and I were married. Kasi’yah had made identification documents for her that were probably better than real ones. No, the wedding wasn’t fancy, but few are nowadays. Only weddings for socialites, politicians, and famous people were made into big productions.

At Tredax, I explained that the second ship wasn’t as fast as the Faraway and had just arrived while I was at the Navy yard. “This used to be one of the pirate ships attacking cargo ships in this sector,” I told him quietly. “The Navy is using my old ship to lure pirate ships. They’ve captured seventeen ships so far. That’s why the cargo ships are getting through to you again.

“Seventeen?” he gasped in surprise.

“Yeah, they’re down to capturing only two pirate ships each trip now. My first two encounters, I captured five each time,” I told him. Normally, I would have been reluctant to talk about most of what I’d just told him, but I sensed that he was no danger to me.

I didn’t mind preparing another ship for the Navy to use for pirate hunting, especially since I got half of the reward and the captured pirate ships. Then again, with the pending sale of the diamonds and what I was earning from each load of ingots, I didn’t really need the money. Still, there was something exciting about getting half of the reward for capturing pirates, as well as the sense of satisfaction, knowing that there were fewer pirate ships left out there.

What I didn’t want to do was reach a point where the Navy thought they could order me around. If it got to that point, I was outta here, and would take my ships with me. The androids aboard the ship could put the Navy’s person aboard a shuttle and kick them to the curb.

Watching the androids unloading my second ship, I noticed the ship’s name and laughed. She Made Me Do It seemed to indicate that the original owner’s wife had driven him to leave to find some peace of mind. I wondered if the original captain was one of the lucky ones that the pirates jettisoned in an escape pod. I realized that it was a lot like ancient pirates who cast the captain and crew adrift in a lifeboat if they didn’t kill them outright.

Two more ships arrived while I was there. I had the androids move the Faraway, which they had just finished unloading, to make room for the first one. I watched the consortium’s androids getting ready as the ship landed, and then watched while they started unloading the ship. Since my second ship wasn’t completely full, it didn’t take as long to unload it as it had taken to unload the Faraway. With everything unloaded and the assays done, we loaded eight more mining pods to finish filling the Faraway, leaving one hold for our shuttle. I was originally surprised that the five decontamination attachments fit into the same cargo hold as the special mining pods. Then I added twenty regular mining pods to fill the She Made Me Do It.

Once the androids had been upgraded, I had the girls stop by the consortium to fill their ship with sixteen more mining pods that we took aboard the Kra’afkikort. I’d use her to resupply the Faraway as I chose mining sites. With the list showing how much of each rare earth metal they wanted at first, we left Tredax, headed to the spaceport to refuel. When we were done, we docked with the Kra’afkikort and then headed out to set up mining pods.

I was surprised that Lexi and Kasi’yah had worked together to determine the best locations to establish mines for the rare earth elements. They chose locations where the percentages of the rare earth elements would work out to give us the amounts the consortium wanted. We’d need to reset several of the original pods that I had established so they could extract rare earth elements in addition to the precious metals they were already extracting.

I realized too late that I should have asked sooner so I could receive a reply before I left, but I sent Dad a message asking if he could find out if the government wanted or needed any radioactive elements. If so, which ones, how much of each did they want, and who should I check with in the future? He should explain to them that I intended to start mining rare earth elements, some of which were frequently mixed with radioactive elements that could only be sold to the government.