Chapter 12: First Touch

I took a shower as well and used the autodresser, then I checked my messages as I saw Dawn was still in her part of the suite. There were twenty video messages waiting. The first was from Egill and Sif. Egill had changed a lot, he wasn’t as thin anymore and his hair and beard were clean, white and well trimmed. He wasn’t wearing braids and his clothing was all black leather with broad silver seams. Sif had also changed; she was much more a woman than a girl now. Her facial expression seemed even cooler than usual and she also wore her blonde hair open and had it cut to chin length. She wore black leather and a long matching mantle.

Egill spoke, “I just talked to the Governor of Twilight and he was full of praise for a certain Neo Viking who killed terrorists and saved lives. Earlier, the Assembly had been in an emergency session due to the Dai Than troubles and the Nogoll.”

It resulted, so he claimed, in the biggest space fleet battle in over five hundred years. Sif, hearing that, had made a joke that I was on my way into that region of space. “Sure enough, shortly thereafter I heard you’d been right in the middle of it, picking a fight with a Dai battleship,” she said.

Sif crossed her arms and shook her head with a smirk in her face. “There are centillions of beings in the Union but it’s you who always ends up right in the middle of things.” It was a recording so it was no use trying to answer.

Egill continued, “The reason I’m calling is actually to see how you’re doing and to tell you that Sif has been accepted at the University of Pluribus and starts her Political Science studies in a few weeks. I’m still learning all this Representative business myself but it’s a great experience and I’m getting the hang of it. If you can, call us in a few days. Sif and I are going to Sares Prime for a visit.”

The second call was from the Ancient and the Burg. Elkhart stood before a huge box - posters, high res images and a mountain of t-shirts and souvenirs piled all around him. “I’m supposed to be thankful ... but you didn’t have to buy every souvenir they had.

“Well, the funny part is your father is wearing a t-shirt for the first time in his life. It’s a foolish thing to wear a t-shirt during Longnight but you know how stubborn he can be. Everyone says hello and I hope you’re at Arsenal by now. Awful thing with all that war and space battle business. I hope you arrived safe.

Elena, little Exa and the others wanted me to say hello for them. Elena took Exa to the mall shopping. Your big white friend is still sleeping, of course. Sigfrida is going to marry Carl and Midril is actually going off planet for three weeks. She won a cooking competition and is going to New Sweden. She was so excited she cut herself and is at the clinic at the moment. I think that’s all from Nilfeheim. Talk to you soon.”

I deactivated the GalNet terminal and turned as I heard something behind me. It was Dawn. She wore a clingy black dress glittering and reflecting light from thousands of tiny dots. She had her red locks gathered into a similarly glittering snood that matched her dress and she wore long gloves and held a small purse. “I’m ready when you are,” she said.

The concierge in the lobby recommended the Bubble Top restaurant and managed to get us a table. After an elevator ride to the top of the floating city we were seated at a small table with a spectacular, somewhat disturbing view into the chaotic swirling storms outside. The restaurant had an upscale flair and was fully booked.

At first our conversation was just small talk. After we had eaten our appetizer, little fried morsels of some kind of delicious fungus, she asked, “Do you think killing should be a man’s job and not a woman’s, or do you oppose capital punishment in the first place?”

“To be honest I haven’t thought much about this subject. My world really isn’t big on keeping tabs on Union laws and events. When I was a kid I dreamed about the day when Union judges would convict my father and I could see him hang, but much has happened since then. Yes, I do believe there are crimes that deserve the offender to be put to death, but I’m much more careful to judge now. I learned that the hard way.”

She raised her shapely eyebrows. “That’s not at all the answer I expected to hear, especially not from a young man. Why is it you wanted your father hanged if I may ask?”

“He beat my mother to death.” I ended up telling her much of my story. I wasn’t hungry after I thought about my mother, but by the time I had finished the telling we had eaten. She ordered a brandy for desert so I had a cup of coffee.

It was her turn for confession and she started, “I wanted to be a lawyer when I was a kid. My mother was a federal judge and my father also worked for the Justice Department. I didn’t know what he did for the longest time, but then life happened and I became involved with a medical student and changed my career. I became a forensic pathologist and was working as medical examiner for the Union Police on Pluribus. I saw the victims of violent crime on my examination table every day and one day my fiancé was the victim of a violent mugging and I wanted revenge. I told my father about that and he told me that he was a federal executioner. It’s not a job that’s advertised and even though people apply for this job every year most are rejected after their psychological examination. Anyway, after my fiancé’s murderer was caught and sentenced, the Justice Department was short of an executioner to fulfill the sentence.

“You must know by Union law a death sentence has to be executed within one month or it’s commuted, so I volunteered and I’ve been an executioner ever since. It’s not a nice job or something I dreamed about doing, but the law prohibits using machines to do it, so someone has to. So we, the Justice Department executioners, travel from Union court to Union court and fulfill the sentences.

“I’m sure you understand why we officially keep our identities secret and usually don’t tell anyone what we do. While almost everyone wants the death penalty, no one wants to be friends with the hangman, or in my case the hangwoman.

“I don’t select my friends by their occupation, and one of my teachers tried to make me understand there are always two or more sides to any story. I’m not sure what life holds for me, but I’m trying to become an officer in the Union Fleet, So far, during my short time off-planet, I’ve made some unusual friends. I don’t mind counting a Union executioner among them.”

“I think you had a very good teacher. Seeing such insights in one as young as you is surprisingly refreshing.”

Part of me was attracted to this older woman, and her dark occupation did little to distract me from this attraction, but as much as I tried to ignore it I also felt a little envy at not being able to wear a dress like that or those sexy gloves. I was at the point where I was even considering psycho-surgery, despite the warning of my doctor.

There were several couples dancing. It was the first time I had actually seen dancing like this outside a virtu-adventure. No one on Nilfeheim danced like this. I also saw her face as she watched them and I could see her longing.

I said, “I’m sorry that I’m not more of an adult and an appropriate companion. I would otherwise ask you to dance, but I don’t know how.”

Her green eyes were her most beautiful feature. They sparkled like only the eyes of a woman could, and her red lips parted to a sad smile. “You are very appropriate, Eric. I’m greatly enjoying your company. You are tall and handsome. I would love to dance with you.”

The restaurant’s host, who had just approached our table to see if we needed something else, said, “Please let me apologize for listening to your last words, but I’m a Pelogian.” He touched his large ears. “We offer cerebral uploads of dancing skills and it takes only ten minutes, after which you should be able to ballroom dance.”

“I’m glad you listened in,” I said. “I’d like to take you up on that offer.”

So I went over to the upload couch and twelve minutes later I asked Dawn for a dance. At first I had to concentrate and follow the instructions in my head, but after a while I had it memorized and it became easy.

Holding a woman was something wonderful. I could feel her warm body under the thin fabric, smell her perfume and see the joy she felt mirrored in her face. I felt like a man at that point and enjoyed the moment, but even then I was also jealous of her and other women. As much as I felt confident and certain that I was a man attracted to women, I also felt confused and angry about my own strange desires.

It was late when we returned to the suite, and after the door closed she said, “Thank you for a lovely and most memorable evening.” Then she stepped forward, snaked her arms around me and after a moment simply looking in my eyes she kissed me. It wasn’t the way Elena or Sif had kissed me before. It was completely different. I could feel her tongue inside my mouth and I did the same and somehow knew exactly what to do. It was like nothing I had ever done or felt before.

Finally she released me, looked a little embarrassed and whispered, “Thank you.” Then she rushed into her room.

I couldn’t go to sleep now. I was excited in a strange new way. It somehow reminded me of the way I felt when Sif was sitting on my lap. I wished I could talk to someone about it.

I decided to take a cold bath, submerge myself and clear my head. The suite had a private little pool and I spent a good hour under water, but it didn’t help. Freya wanted to get out more than ever.

So I stepped into the autodresser, dialed up the female selection and became Freya once again. The machine added length to my hair, removed the spotty beard whiskers and expertly applied make up, with the right padded foundation and finally, a nice evening dress with long gloves. After the transformation was complete I once more felt as if I had moved out of a shack and into a palace.

Completely made up like I was, I sat on the bed in the darkened room and looked out the big view port at the wild atmosphere. I watched a flock of those strange local life forms dancing in the storm, but I was thinking about myself and my future. I was still sure that I wanted to join the Union Fleet. That hadn’t changed, and had only increased after my experience aboard the American Dream. I had a male body and I was more than attracted to Dawn. I loved holding her while we danced and when we kissed it was exciting in a way I never thought possible. Yet I felt incomplete, somehow trapped. Only when I shed this outer expression of my gender and appeared female did I feel free and right. As much as I trusted Dr. Dwyer, I decided to get a second opinion. I needed to come to some decision and find an answer. Why was it so easy for Uncle Hogun to be a man, why did father, the Ancient and Egill have no problem? Elena, Sif and Astrid had no desire to be male and yet I couldn’t find an answer.

Suddenly, I knew I was no longer alone. I turned and saw Dawn standing by the door. Wearing only a skimpy negligee, she walked over and sat next to me on the bed. Her voice was barely audible as she said, “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

It wasn’t dark enough in the room that she couldn’t see how I looked and was dressed, yet she didn’t say a word about it. Instead, she moved close to me and then she nestled her head next to mine. Her hands caressed my body. “You look lovely. Tomorrow we’ll go our separate ways and it’s likely we’ll never meet again, but tonight let’s be together.”

GalNet Entry: Archa

>>> On the outmost reach of Union influence, past the Klack Empire in the Perseus Arm, lies a sphere 18,000 light years past the Upward-Coreward divide - the region of the Archa, a small spacefaring nation spread over twelve star systems. The Archa joined the Union in 4995. Even though they’re a small power on a galactic scale they’ve reached Tech Level 7 on their own.

The immensely powerful and relentless Klack fear the Archa, which surprises many, as the Klack are generally known as a species having few emotions, and fear was not known to be among them.

The Klack spoke about an unimaginable evil lurking in a region just galactically south of them. The Queen herself warned Union survey ships not to go near that region and spoke of eight-legged nightmare monsters, known in Klack legends as K’Nnktyensh (Darkness of Certain Death), roaming that section of space. The USE David Kirk under Captain E. White, on 2 June 4991, made first contact with a sentient Arachnid species that resembled Terran tarantula spiders, except that Archa can grow up to seven meters from leg to leg. While the Archa share similarities with many spider life forms, especially those found on Terra, they aren’t related and don’t share any DNA similarities. The Archa are a distinctly different species.

While many Klack still get panic attacks and feelings of terror at seeing an Archa, intellectually they too have accepted the Archa as Union members. (The historic meeting of the Klack Queen and the Sac Mother of Archa was transmitted on all GalNet Channels and caused much less panic and fewer deaths than anticipated on Klack worlds, which was seen as a good sign. Still Union hospitals were overwhelmed for a month.)

Archa have developed hand-like manipulators on all their legs and are able to digest solid food in small morsels, but still prefer nutrition in liquid form. They have an endo- and exo-skeleton and an adult Archa can produce over 400 different types of silks at will. Many types of woven silks are marketed with great commercial success and Archa silk is the most expensive fabric, exceeding even Saresii silk in quality. A meter of grade A Archa Silk can easily fetch between 12,000 and 14,000 credits on Union markets.

Interlude 13: Krabbel

Krabbel was more than a little nervous. The shuttle carrying the exchange student from Guayas was about to arrive. Since the Archa had been admitted to the Union four standard years ago so much had changed. Krabbel was still young and would be in the first class of Archa to finish Union school. The main spaceport wasn’t on the planet itself but had been constructed on the larger of the two moons orbiting Archa.

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