Chapter 13: Porquenta

Sheila hugged Jason tightly as he walked into his suite at the Palace on Porquenta.

“Shiela, this is Valsam, my Azloc wife. I am her king. She is in the process of changing to a humanoid form and is most of the way along. She can change back very quickly.

“Valsam, Sheila is one of my two biological AI wives. Porquenta built her,” Jason explained.

“I am delighted to meet you Valsam.”

Valsam smiled and nodded.

Sheila turned back to Jason.

“We have been worried about you, Jason. Porquenta was beside himself with anxiety. Once more you surprise us; you arrive, with a new fleet of a different kind, and another very different woman! Porquenta is literally bursting with curiosity and can’t wait to see how these new ships work and what they can do. Valsam, we would love to see your ships as soon as we can,” said Sheila.

“Also Jason ship, Jason my King, see, welcome you, ships me love. Me, do build all ships!” Valsam answered telepathically.

“Chuck will be here tomorrow, along with Chloe, their friends Hazel, her brother Bird the nerd, and finally Harry and his sister Anita. They have a free day and then a three-day tournament. Porquenta has organized the first major inter-universe tournament that will involve every single civilization from the allies and friends. They are all sending their top people. Lauren said the tension is palpable and tempers are frayed at home.”

Shiela turned to Valsam, “Chuck and Chloe are Jason’s grandchildren. They have superb strategic and tactical skills and even though they are children they compete against great generals and admirals and often win. We have a major tournament coming up. Perhaps the Azloc would like to participate? Think about it.”

Shiela turned slightly to include Jason, “Porquenta guarantees a challenging experience for all the participants. He is secretly working with his Uzliumbax AI cronies. It is a public secret. Porquenta tells everyone who listens what he is doing and how he is plotting with his cronies to make the problems well nigh impossible. They are having a great time creating the experience of a lifetime. The participants will familiarize themselves with the newest generation of simulators on day one. On day two they will spend an hour in the simulator as they will on day three. It is longer than any previous tournaments simply because of the level of time condensation. They are the next generation of simulators past those on your ships. Porquenta says they are noticeably better.

“He wants everyone to have an equal chance to perform well.” Sheila reported.

“We Azloc also simulator can use?”

Valsam looked almost human. He also noticed she was wearing clothes and she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. She had black thin lips and a squarish head. She smiled broadly. Her hair was black and lustrous. Her eyes were almost black and were large and luminous. Her skin was a pale white with a faint pink on her cheeks, but she looked healthy and well.

“Valsam you look beautiful in your humanoid form.”

“You not like me look Azloc?” Valsam asked knitting her brows together and pursing her lips. She placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward looking at Jason intently.

Jason began to stutter as he looked for an answer. Valsam maintained her position and attitude. Jason could see an abyss forming in front of him.

“I ... Didn’t mean to... “ – Jason went red. Everyone else grinned.

Valsam laughed loudly telepathically. “You dig deep tunnel; stuck get.”

Everyone laughed uproariously.

“She was certainly right Jason you did dig a very deep hole for yourself,” said Razza.

Sheila turned to Valsam. “Of course, the Azloc can participate.”

“When is our baby due to come out of the pod, Sheila?” Jason asked. “It must almost be time!”

“She is due to come out tomorrow afternoon,” said Sheila laughing.

Jason went green.

“We expect you to be there,” said Sheila. “ ... Not! ... No, Jason when the baby is out and washed you will be notified. Nobody wants you to vomit and collapse when the baby comes out.”

Shiela grinned at Valsam then looked back at Jason.

“I must admit I am relieved to hear that. When you said you expected me to be there, I had a terrible sinking feeling. Maybe I need to see the doctors to see if I can be desensitized the birth process. When my children were born no men went anywhere near the birth. They waited in the waiting room and shared out cigars after the baby was born and had a drink before they saw the child. I think it was an eminently sensible way of going about things. There is no way in a million years I could’ve been a doctor.”

Valsam laughed again telepathically and then so did everyone else.

Jason smiled at Shiela raised his eyebrows and looked at both women, then walked into the bedroom with Shiela and Valsam behind him.

“Now, you, your queen make. Spiderlings very soon be born.” She moved agilely and swiftly to hold Jason, kissed him and held him tight. She loosened his clothing, pushed him backwards onto the bed, and threw off her own clothing. She kissed him passionately and followed everything she saw Philippa do to arouse him. It wasn’t difficult as she was so attractive and passionate. Shiela joined them.

Afterwards Jason felt exhausted and drained. Valsam smiled delightedly. “I feel eggs, many spiderlings.”

“Excellent,” said Jason, “I look forward to many babies with you!”

Jason selected appropriate clothes for the pool for both of them. She walked down with him holding on to him tightly.

They found everyone on deck chairs next to the pool. The empresses looked at Jason, Shiela and Valsam and looked at each other knowingly. Ooryphyon grinned broadly and then announced loudly. “Me next, I am not waiting any longer!”

Valsam looked at the water warily. “Me, water fear. No go!”

“Our doctors can help you easily. We will teach you to swim,” said Philippa reassuringly.

Valsam held onto Jason tightly, “Me very scared. Doctor see soon.”

Jason noticed her guards stood well back from the water.

“Grandpa, we couldn’t wait to see you, “ said Chuck running across the courtyard to the pool and his grandfather. They hugged each other tightly. Chloe and the rest of the party followed more sedately behind until Chloe was close to Jason and then ran to him jumped and hugged him tightly around the neck and scissored his waist with her rapidly lengthening legs.

“Grandpa we were so worried when we heard you were sick,” said Chloe. “We heard it was a plague. We wanted to see you as soon as we could.”

“I love seeing you guys, I am happy you came a day early. Meet Queen Valsam my newest Empress, she is an Azloc. Welcome Bird, Hazel, Harry and Anita. Valsam they are the friends of Chuck and Chloe and compete at the top levels. Help yourselves to a drink or something to eat on the table. Please speak telepathically on channel 2 as it makes communication easier for Valsam as she learns our way of talking. She can hear but her translator is not great. It is a bit better telepathically.”

Chuck went to her to shake her hand. “Happy to meet you Queen Valsam. Are you a spider or an ant?”

“Not question understand?”

“How can you ask her that just like that nob-head? You just met her, where are your manners?” Chloe asked.

“Happy question answer, “ said Valsam looking at Chuck then smiled at Chloe.

Chloe and her friends looked at Valsam intently. Chuck took out his octagon and produced a picture of an ant showing its anatomy. He then showed them in tunnels and carrying food. Valsam looked intently. He showed her spiders, their anatomy, webs, trapdoor and vegetarian varieties.

“Close spider we are. Mouth Azloc not chew good. We fangs, big, poison. Suck most food. No web. Silk make. Behave ant live tunnels. Eat little insect, eat leaf, vegetable lot.”

“Valsam why do you speak missing out so many words.”

“I not speak complete?”

“Chuck don’t be so rude and insult her talking!” Chloe reprimanded him.

“Chuck, question good.”

“Can you talk chemically?”

“If I talk to the Shlogg, we hold hands. I understand them better. We talk through our hands. How do you talk to your guards?”

She went to her guard and put her arm on its lower neck partly on the back and it fetched her a drink.

“So, you send information from your hand to his neck or upper back. Let’s try that with me.”

Valsam placed her hand on Chuck’s neck and kept it there.

“Nope, it not working for me. I just feel a tingle. Let us try it with my hand.”

Valsam looked a little disappointed, then she smiled and held Chuck’s hand. He scrunched up his face.

“I am getting something, yes but gibberish. Valsam, teach me the language.”

Valsam looked delighted. She kept hold of Chuck’s hand.

“Flibbeting giblets, this is amazing. She has a ginormous brain. I can feel her thinking and what she feels. Valsam we need to teach you to speak properly.”

“No, you don’t nob-head. I want to learn the language of hers first and then I will teach her to speak properly. You use redundant filler language and you don’t use the simplest of language as you should. You use like and umm and incomplete words. She needs an excellent grasp of our languages.”

“I speak proper.”

“That is a perfect example. I speak properly dill-blat.”

Valsam laughed uproariously. “Come Chloe I teach, and you teach. We talk Azloc. Hold my hand.”

Chloe moved over and held her other hand.

“She is talking to me while she is teaching Chloe. How neat is this amazing language? The Azloc language is very much like machine language now that I think about it, but it is much fatter and has lots of side bits of juicy stuff and feelings and pictures.

“Chloe is giving her Empire standard, now Uzliumbax and finally the language of the Collective through her hands. This talking is faster even than machine language. It is awesomely great!!“

Valsam’s eyes glazed over for a minute. She laughed. “We sure screwed up translating communications from other civilizations. We had no idea. No wonder all the civilizations we conquered had so much difficulty with us. Can you all speak through your hands chemically?”

There was a chorus of yes.

“We can enable it in any of us. Chuck may I learn the chemical language from Valsam?” asked Jason.

“Sure grandpa, Valsam that was great. You have a ginormous brain and you know a boatload of stuff. I really want to speak to you some more like that. It is awesome.”

Valsam nodded and looked at Jason who moved over and held her hand and closed his eyes. Moments later he smiled. They sat together for five minutes with Jason grinning like a Cheshire cat and Valsam smiling broadly.

“Jason there is so much more to you than I realized. I enjoyed experiencing your mind,” said Valsam.