Chapter 10

Vilgra sat in front of a screen that was acting as a mirror for her as she brushed her hair after a sonic shower. She was the most junior of the monitors in the ImpSec branch of Medical Resource and naively unaware of the point scoring and jockeying for position in that department. Only rumours of the interaction they’d had with other Cures had come to her attention and that often enough was confusing. The order to be the point of contact with Cure David had come directly from her Head of Department and had thrilled her. Initially she’d seen it as an opportunity to shine and prove her worth. It had not occurred to her even once that she had been set up to fail in order to get her Head of Department’s favourite cousin the position he’d been refused by the oversight bureaucrat.

What information she’d been given on David had been classified to her security status and she had not realised she needed a higher one ... at least not until, dressed in her formal attire and expecting to be dealing with an Imperial slave, she’d met the man. Only to discover he was anything but. She could have kicked herself when Senior Trouble-shooter Herrick had confirmed this after her initial confrontation with David. After all, and it made her blush to think about it, it was simply not possible for a Cure to actually be a slave and she had not thought to even cross reference the data she had to see what was actually happening.

It was fortunate that David had taken a liking to her and was co-operative, rather than just demanding she be replaced ... or worse, having to sexually service him as she’d heard about from other irritated females who were liaising with Cures. Not that she’d been unwilling to, just that the tales rarely were of anything but sating the demands of a selfish male often resulting in injury and humiliation.

Yet David had treated her with respect ... sort of. His weird custom of lunch had left her feeling like a fish out of water in the lower levels. She’d nearly fainted when that huge man had laid his hand on her. And now, she realised, she had a case of hero worship going on as David had not only dealt with her ... attacker, but had introduced her to his group and other people in the market area and ensured they knew she was strictly ‘hands off’, though she was pretty sure the AIs would have acted if she had sounded an alarm ... assuming she could.

That hero worship though would have to remain strictly platonic. David’s wife, Kirim, was simply gorgeous and Vilgra knew when she was out of her league. Still, she gave out a little sigh, perhaps she could be cured by him one day; it was possible, surely?

“So, you have a new mistress?” Kirim giggled as we snuggled, naked, floating on our grav bed.

“Yes, sweet little thing. Clearly out of her depth and looking like a sacrificial lamb in order to promote someone else when she failed,” I replied as I caressed a firm breast, making Kirim sigh in pleasure.

“So you decided to thumb your nose at those in charge of you ... again,” she moaned as I moved a hand to cup her mound and move a finger onto her slit, feeling heat and wetness.

“Herrick seemed to tolerate her and I trust his judgement,” I replied, before giving her a lingering kiss.

“She’s sweet on you, you realise that?” Kirim informed me as our lips eventually parted.

“She is?”

“Yes, she is. Do you really not notice these things?”

“Er...”

“Never mind,” she giggled as she reached down to grasp my cock and slowly pump it.

“I won’t touch her, my love, you know that,” I groaned at Kirim’s exquisite touch. “You’re my one and only.”

“So what does that make Hiqua, Cassire and Taisha?” she replied before her head descended and she took me into her mouth, rendering me speechless for the moment.

Amantil lay sprawled naked on her bed, one arm draped onto the chest of Herrick as she came down from an orgasmic high.

“You’re so good to me,” she almost purred in satisfaction.

“It’s mutual, my love,” he replied, kissing her forehead.

“I’ve been thinking...” she began.

“Didn’t sound like it,” he chuckled.

“Hush, this was before,” she giggled.

“Go on, Manny.”

“Governor Tarsil needs to be dealt with, along with his odious spawn, what was his name? Oh, that’s right, Shleck.”

“It’s Shink, as you well know,” Herrick laughed.

“I prefer my version,” she grinned.

“As do I, my love.”

“To that end, I’m going to quash the investigation, but send in some trouble-shooters to investigate him and his spawn thoroughly, including a financial audit,” she spoke thoughtfully.

“You’ll need to distract him,” Herrick shrugged.

“Yes, it’s my intention to send out a Cure to fix all those women who were infected, but not Shleck.”

“Oh, that will rile him alright and all terribly legal too. It will also inform the planetary nobles and newsies just what you think as well. That and sending a Cure off Vreekoos to do it – it’s unheard of.”

“I was thinking of Dave, accompanied by Kirim and his new Monitor, Vilgra,” Amantil stated thoughtfully.

“Vilgra is extremely inexperienced, Manny. But Dave has taken a liking to her and caused her Department Head to issue an embarrassing apology for ‘forgetting’ the security upgrade necessary to deal with a Cure.”

“Yes, I suspect those two will more be looking after Vilgra than she will after them. But Vilgra will have the clout of rank and won’t be under the control of the Governor.”

“True. But she’s not a noble and can be placed under strictures. She won’t be able to go to a noble to seek clarification on any attempts to stop her doing her job,” Herrick warned.

“Hmmm, yes, a problem. Could we send Healer Cassire along too? I can temporarily bump her up a couple of ranks as an Imperial Liaison reporting directly to me and that’s a rank higher than a governor.”

“That would work, yes.”

“I’ll summon them tomorrow to go over this and explain the situation. I suspect they’ll be in for some attention, though hopefully nothing dangerous.”

“Yes. Hopefully Tarsil will be so busy attempting damage limitation he won’t notice what’s really going on ... I believe.”

“Yes, always a risk. But now I feel something is ready to make me feel happy again,” she giggled as she pulled Herrick up to kiss him passionately.

“David, Kirim, you are summoned to a meeting with the Empress this morning,” the AI informed us when we struggled out of bed.

“I have work to do,” Kirim objected, more out of habit than anything else as there was no getting out of an Imperial summons.

“You have been freed from your obligations to the Guardians until further notice,” the AI replied.

“What!”

“When does she want to see us?” I asked, forestalling an outburst from Kirim that she’d lose as she always did when confronting an AI.

“One hundred turns. A lift will be sent,” the AI replied.

“Thank you; inform her Serenissima that we’ll be there.”

“I will, David.”

“Dave, she can’t suspend me from my job!” Kirim objected.

“She hasn’t. You’re freed from your obligations, which suggests she’s got another task for us,” I replied as I got into the shower ahead of her and felt the sonic emanations stripping the dead cells and other detritus from my body and using a static field to draw them into a waste dispenser. It was quick and efficient, but lacked the fun of a real shower and I was still trying to figure out how to get one so I could introduce Kirim to a few of the delights to be had in sharing one.

“Oh, yes, I never thought of that. I just thought it was Manny trying to force me to become a proper Lady,” she giggled as I stepped out and she stepped in.

“You are a proper Lady to me,” I replied.

“Aw, you say the nicest things,” she answered as I put on a slightly smarter than normal set of clothing.

“Is breakfast being served there?” I asked the AI.

“Yes, David.”

“OK, two tuchs then to tide us over,” I ordered. Seconds later two hot glasses of the vaguely tea-like liquid were delivered through an opening port in the wall.

I then enjoyed myself immensely watching a naked Kirim go through her entire wardrobe looking for something to wear before deciding on the first item she’d looked at. She just had time to down her lukewarm glass of tuch before the lift arrived and took us to where the Empress was.

Once again I was somewhere new as this was actually a small meeting room, rather than an office or Manny’s private eating room where she let her hair down with guests. Herrick had informed me that those rooms were set up just for that and no, she didn’t live anywhere near them ... wherever they were. The surprise though was seeing Cassire there as well as Vilgra.

“Good to see you, Cass. You too, Vilgra,” I greeted them. “Any idea what this is about?”

“Hi Dave. Hi Kirim,” Cass greeted us in return with Vilgra just giving us a nod. “Sorry, no idea, just my duties have been taken over by another healer.”

“Oh, same with me,” Kirim replied.

At this point another lift opened and a confused looking Hiqua emerged before giving us all an excited greeting.

“Where are we?” she finally asked.

“Don’t know, the AIs aren’t saying,” Cass replied. “Means we’re in the one of the Imperial complexes somewhere.”

“Correct,” came the voice of Herrick as he escorted Amantil into the room.

“Serenissima,” we all greeted her with the full bow.

“Please, my friends, there’s no need for that. If anyone asks just tell them we all followed protocol to the letter and I’ll do the same,” Amantil chided us in good humour.

“No problem, Manny,” I chuckled.

“Good. Now down to business. I need a favour off you all in order to cover for a more serious Imperial investigation,” she requested politely, though no one turned down a request like this.

“Er, sure. What kind of favour?” Kirim asked as some large breakfast trays were brought in and we started to help ourselves.

“I’m investigating Governor Tarsil of Actilonia. He appears to have been covering up the activities of his son, Shink, and intervening in the justice of the Empire at all levels, including the rape of a High Bureaucrat whom we had to mind-wipe due to her distress at her degradation in being drugged and savagely used as well as infected with a mutagenic sexually transmitted viroid by Shink,” Amantil explained.