Chapter 15: Esky

~~ November - Week 47~~

The phones were ringing hot.

Duke Henry Lindsey had posted the charter for claiming a piece of the action on Harmony, straight after the meeting with Lee and Vanesa had added the definition. He had personally sent one to each government, each ambassador and then posted it on the internet for everyone to read.

The stock market was going up and down like a bloody yo-yo. Most of the governments were really pissed with him about posting it on the net. But they couldn’t do much about it as it went viral. It even managed to find its way into countries that tried to censor the internet.

Copies were in every newspaper, and it was being widely discussed on all the new networks around the world. Lee had managed to stir up a bloody hornet’s nest of major proportions.

Tahoora had to laugh when she told Esky that she had submitted her papers for her doctorate while they were on the ship and coming into the moon. She had already received her certificate.

She had also submitted the rest of the papers for the other scientists. Somehow, they had been leaked to the news and the internet. She had to shut her email down because she had been bombarded with invites for lecture tours and interviews, and God knew what else. She had also had about twenty marriage proposals so far.

Esky had looked at her worried when she told him this last fact, “I hope you told them you’re taken,” he said seriously.

Tahoora looked at him and waved her very bare left hand at him. “Not to my knowledge,” she said.

Esky drew her into his arms and kissed her until she melted into him, “Honey, the minute we get off this boat I’m going to buy you the biggest bloody diamond you can carry on that finger.”

“Oh, Esky I was only joking with you. You have only known me for two weeks.”

Esky hadn’t really thought about marriage as he had been too busy screwing her in any position she wanted. But the thought of anyone else touching her or her not being with him was too horrendous to contemplate.

“Look I’m not sure how we are going to work this out, but I’m not going back without you. I would prefer you came back with me as my wife, Tahoora. I really do love you, sweetheart, will you marry me?”

Tahoora looked at his earnest face. “I can’t,” she said quietly as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Why the hell not?” Esky asked in disbelief, he was bloody sure she loved him too.

“My father, he wouldn’t approve, and he wants me to marry his cousin,” she said and shook when she said the word ‘cousin’.

“Like hell, you’re marrying that bastard. I’ll kill him if he ever comes near you again. Actually, it’s probably not a good idea if you ever introduce me to your dad either. I’ll give him a thrashing for letting your cousin do to you what he did,” He said really pissed-off.

Tahoora looked at him in horror, “You know?”

Esky hugged her gently and kissed her softly and then said, “You don’t have the sweetest nightmares my daring. Every time I come in from afternoon shift, I’ll find you thrashing around until I call your name and softly kiss you here,” he said and softly kissed her on the right temple.

“If I roll away from you in the night, I’ll wake to find you tucked behind me holding me real tight. Then you make the sweetest love to me, honey, and you wonder why I love you. It’s not hard to love you, Tahoora,” he told her.

“But you don’t understand they will kill you if you marry me. Then I’ll be given to my cousins as their whore.”

“Tahoora, how did you get on the ship in the first place?” he asked.

“I won a scholarship, and it was very prestigious. My father was reluctant to let me go, but the prestige was too great for him to ignore. He told me if I didn’t come back, he would send my cousin to get me. They will probably be waiting on the Station for me,” she told him and shuddered at the thought.

“Hmm, I think we have a way to convince your father it would be better to leave you alone and married to me,” Esky grinned at her.

“How?” Tahoora asked.

“Well you have to agree to marry me first,” Esky said.

Tahoora laughed. “You are a bad man. If I knew you would be safe being married to me, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight or my bed,” she said and rubbed herself against him.

“Deal,” said Esky, and he kissed her very soundly. “Let’s go get the Captain to marry us. Can you handle wearing a replicated ring until I can buy you a new one?”

“Who’s ring?” she asked.

“Mine,” he said, and went and got a ring out of a box in the cupboard and showed it to her. He then explained about the crest on the ring. “I’m only a son of a Prince, who is a second son, but my dad’s family does acknowledge me as being in the Royal line up somewhere.”

“He married my mum, who was from Cairns, and when they split, she went back to Australia, and I use her name. Dad’s currently the Dutch representative for UNSEC. Hey, I just thought of something. Come with me my love,” Esky said.

He hurried her out of the room and went to found Robert, “Hi Mr Watson, do you know my dad Prince Ralph Van Vollenhoven?”

Robert looked at the young man and grinned, “Yes, I do son, but I wasn’t aware he had a son on this ship.”

“That probably because I’m supposed to be on the Ulysses, Sir. Um, I was wondering if you could help me with a small problem Tahoora is having with her dad and his cousin.”

“I’d be delighted to help son, what do you want me to do?” Robert said.

Esky explained the situation. “Not a problem, my boy. Go find the Captain and marry your pretty lady. I’ll look after the rest and tell your dad the good news.”

Esky found the Captain, and he got the ring scanned, resized and replicated to fit Tahoora’s little hand. The Captain suggested they have the wedding in the morning, as it was getting very late and they agreed.

Robert, meanwhile, called Esky’s dad. The Prince was very appreciative of the news. Esky was a son from his first ill-fated marriage, but he was still his son. Actually, he was his only son, and Ralph liked him, even if he didn’t get to see him often.

The two men also discussed the charter, and the new planet and Robert hung up a happy man. The Ralph had a large following in Europe, and it was nice to know he was in their court.

Robert knew it would probably take most of the year to sort out the mess Lee and Sean had dumped in his lap. But he was happy to do it. He hadn’t had this much fun in ages.

Robert looked at the distributions again and wondered why Lee had set the blocks out as she did. The chunk of land Lee had assigned Australasia was to the north-west and of Clarksville. Western Europe, which was then on the north-east side of Clarksville.

The next continent to the west was split between Africa and the North Americans. Next was shared by the South Americans and the Asians. The last continent was divided between Northern and Southern Europe.

She had also left the top fifteen degrees covering the ice cap as hers. A dotted line for the most part up to one hundred klicks off the coasts was indicated as part of the block unless they ran into the equator or a large block of islands. Small islands close to shore were included in the block allocated.