Chapter 5

Mark sighed as if things weren’t bad enough. Now, he had to contend with his mother and sister.

Stepping in front of Nissie, his mother looked her up and down, “who exactly are you?” she said as she intensely stared at Nissie.

“Mother, please don’t start this now. This is Nissie. She’s mine ... uh...” he hesitated a moment.

“I am his slave in lieu of payment from the King,” as Mark growled at her, she just looked back at him sweetly.

“Your WHAT!!!?” his mother shouted, “Mark, you know that we abolished that on earth centuries ago.”

Mark shook his head and started to open his mouth when Nissie interrupted him, “Ma’am, he had no choice as it was mine. By the binding imperial laws, he can’t back out of it, and neither can I.”

Mark’s mother’s face and body eased a moment as she thought, hmm, brains and beauty too.

“I was going to say she is my assistant, that’s all now; why are you here? You both know I cut ties with the family years ago. I worked hard to get where I am. I DO NOT want your or your father’s help, and you also know why I did it, so don’t tell me you’ve been trying to talk to me because you obviously haven’t. I gave you a chance and...”

“Gave us a chance? Like hell you did!” his sister screamed at him, “I have needed you all these years. You never took my calls, texts, or written notes. Hell, you refused to let anyone see you when you went to that school. I think you were hiding.”

Mark glared at his sister, “Why the hell not!?” he shouted back at her, “You and mother screamed at me, threw things at me. I felt I had no recourse but to leave the house, PERMANENTLY!!”

Nissie moved to try and head this off before trouble started, “Mr. Mark, we have to go to the central building to start the contract,” like she hoped it snapped Mark back to his old business self.

“You’re right, Nissie, we need to go. From the look of things here, nothing has worked for years.” He stepped around his mother and sister and got on the speeder.

“Well, I know your name,” Mark’s mother said as she extended her hand, “I am Trina Doraland, and this,” reaching for her daughter, “is my daughter Samantha.”

“Sam, mom, Sam, geez,” Sam said as she rolled her eyes.

“I am pleased to meet you, though, under the circumstances, I am afraid you have caught us at a bad time,” Nissie told Mark’s mother and sister all that she knew (except for the part about the sex that would come later) getting to the part about Mark’s father his mother smiled.

“So he and Arthur did meet after all good, so what has Mark done to stop this madman?” Trina said as she looked very closely at Nissie.

“From what I have been told and have heard, Mark destroyed one of his networks, but he was back up in only a few hours. This was evident when those bots tried to kill us by self-destructing. If it hadn’t been for Mark, I would have lost it by now.” Trina made note of this, and then, just as suddenly, she knew!

“Tell me, Nissie,” Trina started, “just how long have you been in love with Mark?”

Nissie sighed. God! Was she that easy to read? First her sister, then Mark’s mother. Sam’s mouth dropped open, “If you marry my brother, I’ll finally have a sister!” she said happily, a wide smile creeping onto her features.

“First off, I have loved him almost from the moment I met him, but I knew he was out of my league,” Nissie looked at the ground. She had embarrassed herself with the confession. “Second,” she almost whispered, “I don’t think he loves me. I am just a slave. I am not allowed to marry or really even love anyone til the time of my contract with Mark is finished.” A small tear fell from her eye as she thanked the two women and moved to the speeder that Mark had cleared.

Watching them leave, Trina looked over at Sam, “I’m not sure, but your brother has changed. He was more forceful like your father is.”

Sam thought a moment too, then, “Mom! I think Mark’s in love too! I just don’t think he knows it yet!” giggling, she leaned closer to her mother and whispered, “But that’s about to change.”

Nissie was afraid to say anything. The look and scowl on Mark’s face gave her the feeling that he’d bite her head off if she did. Arriving at the main capital building, they were escorted in to the planet leader. As he vigorously shook Mark’s hand, Nissie took note of everything in the room, including the amount of rust and disrepair of almost everything in the room.

Mark leaned over and whispered in Nissie’s ear, looking astonished. She looked at the leader, “Mr. Mark, thank you for the warm welcome, but please don’t do that again. He also wants to know if you have the payment that was promised him.”

The man nodded affirmatively, handing Nissie a sheet of paper. Mark looked at the paper, then up at the man shaking his head. He whispered again into Nissie’s ear.

“Mr. Mark says that the extras you want will increase the price by half. Also, if you can’t pay and are trying to bluff him, you will regret it,” she smiled menacingly. The leader shook a moment, then leaned over to his assistant, whispering. Looking up, he said that a few of the extras could go for now.

Mark just smiled. He didn’t have the heart or the patience to tell the man that a few of the ‘extras” would get done by the repair bots. They were led to their room. Mark pulled 3 or 4 scanners out of his pack. After the third scan and not finding anything, Mark became extremely suspicious. Pulling out another device he had constructed last night, he went around the room again. Sighing, he began to find toxic charges. That little ass was trying something new; Mark was surprised; this was going a little outside the realm that the little ass always seemed to cling to.

After the room was finally cleared, Nissie tentatively stuck her head in, asking Mark if it was now safe; he said that it would be as soon as he disarmed the last charge.

Nissie made a quick exit, standing near the doorway; Trina and Sam were walking down the hall and approached her.

“Why are you out here?” Trina asked, a little apprehensive.

“Mark is clearing our room AGAIN; he has to do it almost every time we are on a new planet.” Nissie grimaced and shook a little as she waited for Mark to finish.

“Would you like to go to our room?” Sam inquired, “You could tell Mark and wait there with us.”

Nissie thought about it for just a moment, then shook her head. “I have to wait for Mark,” she breathed out, “I am his slave, and I have to be here if he needs me.” Sam shook her head.

“I know for a fact that he doesn’t like owning another being; he was an opponent of the slave trade when he was still at home; as a very young man, father told me that he had been arrested a few times for protests.”

Nissie’s mouth opened wide, and she couldn’t believe her ears! He really was that way! Trina was glad that Mark had someone in his life, even if it was being forced by the law.

Mark stepped to the door to let Nissie know it was all clear; his mother and sister were out there, sighing; he didn’t want another repeat of this afternoon at the spaceport. Walking across the room, he yelled out that it was all clear, placing shield emitters at various points around the room. Nissie thanked Trina and Sam for their kindness and turned to go in the doorway. Watching Nissie just walking was getting him hard; damn, he missed the days when this didn’t happen, but he had to admit, the sex had been completely beyond anything he had ever experienced.

Walking to Nissie, he held her til she stopped shaking, knowing that they had to venture forth soon, leaving the safety of the room. Telling Nissie that she could stay and rest if she wanted, he began to gather the machines he would need, placing each thing in a specific place in his pack. Nissie told him that she was going to stay there. Was there anything that she could do while she was there?

“Here, if you see mother and sis, give them these wrist comps; they have been downloaded with the programs I had in fathers. These are equipped with shields that can take a big blast, a toxin filter in connection with the shields, and an alarm system to let them know if there is any present danger nearby, so they have time to evacuate if there is time.

Walking out into the hallway, he was prepared for almost anything, except the rush of his sister grabbing him around his chest and hugging the breath out of him.

“I’ve been trying to get you alone all day. I will have to apologize to you. I have missed you so much, Mark; life has been horrible since you left; there was no one intelligent to talk to, and when you didn’t answer any of my correspondences, I thought I would never see you again.” Sam was in tears, sobbing on his chest; Mark was at a loss; he had never had this happen, and even Nissie didn’t sob like this; putting his arms around her, he tried to comfort her.

“Sam, I had to leave; when you and Mom were yelling at me, the things you said, I felt that Mom had thrown me out of the house, so I just left. I loved you so much; you were the one who helped me through everything. I felt after that you had sided with Mom and that you hated me also.”

“No, Mark, I have never hated you; I love you more than you will ever know; I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” Sam began to sob again, falling at his feet, unable to move, “please don’t ever leave me again. I didn’t think we would ever catch up with you; we were always a day or two behind you. We saw the work you had done on the last three worlds; it was as if the whole planet had been off, and you came, just flipped a switch on, and they were starting to be alive again.”

Mark was amazed at her description of the planets that they had visited.

“Sam, I have to get to work; I am sure you don’t like not having all the things you are used to not working.” Mark rubbed her back as she finally started to calm down.

“Mark, I don’t want to leave you again; I don’t want you gone out of my life; I need you near, do you understand? I HAVE to have you near me; I can’t go through that again.”

At a loss for words, he just held her; no one in his life had ever said anything as deep and meaningful to him.

Releasing her, “I have to get to work. We’ll talk later, ok?” he spoke into her hair, her arms locked around him in an ever-increasing death grip.

“I want to go with you; I have studied a little when momma wasn’t home, and I have a basic understanding of the maintenance that you perform.”

“We’ll see,” Mark wasn’t sure that this was a good idea, but he had gotten used to having an assistant nearby, keeping notes so that if he couldn’t remember (fat chance of that with his memory), he had the notes to help and refresh everything. “You stay out of my way, you keep detailed notes, and if you see anything, DON’T touch it. You call me. Do you have that? I don’t want to be responsible for getting you killed. It would kill me.”