Chapter 11: Aragonda-Con

“Are you ready yet?” Korona asked.

Jonathan looked at his wife and answered, “Just what do I have to pack? Let’s face it. Living on this planet does not require a vast male wardrobe. A bunch of short wraps and some slip-on shoes has me covered.” He picked up a small rolling bag and said, “I even threw some stuff in for you for the days we might be away from the convention.”

“Good idea! Thanks!” Then she turned back to her dresser and her much larger rolling bag.

“Why do I suspect that back on Old Earth, when humans really were running around with swords and sandals, that women had larger suitcases than men. Nothing has changed in ten thousand years.”

Korona gave her husband a dry look. Then she lifted a very brief pair of black synthileather shorts and asked, “Would you prefer to wear these on the speed-pod trip? Or would you rather wear these after we get to the hotel?”

Jonathan rolled his eyes but didn’t answer. The Aragonda-Con convention was being held at the Lupina Metropolitan Convention Center in downtown Lupina City, and the Lupina City Marriott Hilton next door offered a discount on rooms during the convention. Korona had reserved three nights in the middle of the week of the convention. They would travel to Lupina City at 1200 Tuesday, check in, and then head to the convention. They would stay through Thursday night and then head home after checking out Friday morning.

Korona promised Jonathan that she would do everything in a slave girl’s power to make sure he enjoyed the convention. Then she proceeded to give him a very explicit description of what that might be, and even demonstrated a few possibilities, and he had agreed to do what she wanted. She even promised a very naughty birthday party for Jonathan’s forty-seventh birthday in a few weeks, a party involving lots of alcohol, aphrodisiacs, and more than a few of their neighbors’ sexy wives.

Jonathan left their bedroom rolling his bag and summoned an autocab, scheduling it to arrive in twenty minutes. Then he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and put it in his bag, cushioned by some wraps. Liquor from the mini-bar in the hotel room would be a lot more expensive than a bottle of booze brought from home. Then he yelled to Korona that the autocab would be coming in fifteen minutes. She might be ready by the time the autocab arrived.

In twenty minutes the autocab arrived, and Jonathan went outside carrying two bags, his small bag with clothing and a special long, narrow bag. Korona came scurrying out a minute later pulling her much larger case. “Did you comm the kids and tell them we were going?”

“Already done.”

“Did they even notice we were leaving them for four days?”

“Questionable at best.”

Korona sighed and let Jonathan load her bag into the autocab. The boys were almost eighteen and could certainly take care of themselves and Karina. She had broken up with Billy Dorloo but had already started dating one of his teammates on the swim team, Charlie Baxter. Korona had met Charlie when her daughter had brought him over, and he looked even better climbing out of their pool naked than Billy had. Maybe she could borrow the team from her daughter for her next birthday.

Their bags loaded, Jonathan and Korona got into the autocab and Jonathan tapped his macrolink and ordered it to take them to the speed-pod station. He wasn’t overly worried about missing the speed-pod to Lupina City, since they had a shuttle every half hour. When they got to the station, they discovered they had missed the shuttle by ten minutes, so they bought tickets and waited fifteen minutes before the next shuttle pulled up and they had to load their luggage and take their seats. Two hours later they were in downtown Lupina City and Jonathan summoned another autocab. The convention center and hotel were only a kilometer away, but they didn’t need to haul luggage that far.

Check-in was fast and totally digital, and they went to their room and dropped off their luggage before heading back down to the restaurant for a quick lunch. Then they went back upstairs and Korona put her bag on their bed and opened it. “Showtime!” She handed her husband the black shorts and a matching pair of black sandals.

“This is insane,” commented Jonathan.

“I know! It’s great!” his wife replied. She stripped off her wrap and sat on the bed. She pulled a pair of high-heeled sandals from her bag and put them on, before pulling out her collar and leash. “Can you get this for me?”

Jonathan took the collar and put it around her neck and then used the leash to lock it in place. “Handcuffs?”

“Not today. Let’s start by looking around.” Then Korona took two small bags out and went into the bathroom. She looked at him and said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Change!”

Jonathan shook his head and stripped off his wrap and pulled on the black shorts and sandals. In a society where nudity wasn’t all that big a deal, he still felt ridiculous. Then he waited for his wife to come out of the bathroom.

One of the bags Korona had taken into the bathroom had been her toilet and makeup kit. Monday, after school, she had gone to Salon Karvolo and touched up her body makeup. While she didn’t like tattoos, she had let them do a makeover of her hair and heightened her even tan skin tone, adding a few subtle shadows that highlighted her already large tits, and darkened her lips and nipples to make them more prominent. Then she tried on her new jewelry while they assisted her. Now she repeated the process.

Jonathan was amazed when she came out of the bathroom. Korona had replaced her invisible placeholder piercings with large gold rings, and then threaded tiny gold chains through them, linking her collar, the rings, and bracelets around her upper arms, wrists, and ankles. Otherwise she was completely naked. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed. He was suddenly glad he was wearing shorts, since his cock would be pushing out a wrap.

“You like?”

“Absolutely! Want to stay here and get room service?”

“For that, I didn’t need to put this stuff on. Let’s go. Grab your weapons.”

Jonathan sighed quietly. As an Aragondan warrior, it was expected that he would carry weapons. In his case, he took a black leather belt and put it around his waist and clipped a sheathed knife to it. Then he opened the long bag he had brought and unzipped it. Inside was two-meter-long stick four centimeters wide. It was cut from an ironwood sapling, with rounded ends but still had the bark on it.

“Ummm ... I am loving this look, Jon. I think you need to wear this at home, too!”

“Not happening! Let’s go before I regain my sanity.”

“Not finished yet.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of cloth that looked like it was camouflage pattern. When he looked at it, he noticed it was in a fake fur pattern and incredibly thin and lightweight. “You need your cloak!”

“This is nuts.”

Korona laughed and led the way out of their room and back to the lift beams. They got on and dropped to the lobby a few seconds later. People stared as the warrior and slave girl walked through the lobby and out to the street. A block later they were at the main entrance to the Civic Center and their macrolinks passed along that they had purchased tickets and could be allowed in.

Another warrior intercepted them as they entered. He came up to Jonathan, who noticed he had a discreet badge on his weapons belt specifying ‘SECURITY’ and a modern looking stun gun in a holster. “Excuse me, sir, can I see your weapons?”

“I am guessing you don’t just let idiots wander around with weaponry,” said a smiling Jonathan.

“Nothing personal, sir. Just being careful.”

Jonathan passed over his sheathed knife. It was examined and passed back, but the security guard then took a small wire and wrapped it around the hilt of the knife and the sheath; Jonathan couldn’t remove the knife without undoing the wire.

“Now the stick.”

“It’s a Devonic fighting staff.” He passed it over.

The guard looked it over, but it didn’t have a blade or sharp edges. It was passed back and the guard smiled as he ushered them past. “Have fun.”

“Thank you.”

Korona looked at her husband and asked, “What was that all about?”

Jonathan smiled and said, “I would bet that there’s some asshole warrior wannabe who drinks one too many beers and decides to settle an argument with armed combat. Think that might be a problem?”

“Oh.”

Jonathan and Korona entered the convention hall with Jonathan holding his wife’s leash and they looked around. It was like the one they had been to in Caradoc only much, much larger. Since they were already dressed in Aragondan attire nobody was staring at them as if they were outsiders. On the other hand, since they were in Aragondan clothing, such as it was, they were staring at the beautiful blonde and her muscular warrior.

There were some big differences, though. The Convention Center was much larger than the Caradoc Civic Center and had two stories. The second story was a mezzanine level that overlooked the main floor. All the booths that sold Aragonda-related items were on the mezzanine level, and there were even more than their first convention. What really fascinated them was that the main floor, which they looked down on, had been totally transformed. It was now a combat zone!

“What in the world?” said Jonathan.

“I don’t know. The information site on the convention offered demonstrations of Aragonda-style combat and offered participation, but it was sort of vague. What’s going on?” Korona replied.

It took them a few minutes to work through to the railing overlooking the main floor. What they saw was that the main floor, a huge space, had been covered with a thick layer of sand, and had been subdivided into a dozen small arenas. Jonathan activated his macrolink and connected to the Civic Center’s internal cameras and focused on one of the arenas; his holo screen showed an enlarged image of what was happening. He connected his link to Korona’s, and they watched. There wasn’t any sound, but they understood what was happening.

Two warriors were in the arena, accompanied by naked women, probably their personal slave girls, either wives or girlfriends. They were gesticulating at each other but were kept separate by a person in a blue breechcloth and blue tunic. He quieted the two warriors, spoke to them briefly, and examined their swords. Then he stepped back and waved the warriors towards each other. They drew their swords and began a duel, slashing at each other without any kind of skill. Eventually one of them dropped his sword and the guy in blue declared the other one the victor. He waved the loser’s slave girl over and the victor took her and his slave girl into a tent to the side. Meanwhile, a second man in a white breechcloth and white tunic examined the loser and sat him down on a bench. After twenty minutes, the victor and the two women left the tent, and a new set of combatants entered the arena.