Chapter 13

When everything was accounted for, all that Qi owned fit into a small pack that he slung over his shoulder, a couple of changes of clothes and an extra pair of boots. His new hand comp was clipped to his belt and his fuck bunny was standing next to him. She had a nasty looking weapon slung over her shoulder. Nonetheless, he felt as if he had more than when he left Earth.

Qi was the odd man out in the group walking down the corridor. Quiyo's four sisters led by Ferro's fuck bunny Riata formed a cordon around Benni as they escorted him down to the maintenance bay. Volentin was on the move and Qi learned that he had to hustle to keep up. The task was not easy because the artificial gravity generators were straining as the station tilted to realign itself into a firing position. After every few degrees of change everyone stumbled in one direction or another.

Those who were staying behind were committing suicide. Nonetheless, there were volunteers and not just from Family Volentin. Benni chose the oldest from among them, the veterans who still remembered the Temperdis. As Benni explained it, "they saw with their own eyes what it means to fight for family. This is the burial they want."

Qi was surprised by the wistful look on Benni's face. Confused but careful, Qi did not ask further.

They stepped into the lower maintenance bay and made straight for the last vehicle in the bay. The FAD reminded Qi of a deluxe sized golf cart with doors and a windshield. The vehicle sat four comfortably and six hardly at all. The two extra thrusters mounted on the roof and bottom carriage did not allay Qi's fears a bit. Even if Faytn was renowned as a pilot of these small vehicles, Qi was nervous. They stripped off their clothes and crawled into their black vacuum suits.

"Who would have thought we would get a joy ride on such a terrible day," Benni said to Qi. "Do you know how long it has been since I've been squeezed between four nubile babes?"

"The day has long passed when you could service four 'nubile babes' at one time, Benni," Riata said. "All bark and no bite."

"Ouch," Qi said.

"Ignore the uninformed child," Benni said to Qi. "I'm teaching you to appreciate the gifts when they fall into your lap. 'Carpe Diem!' the ancients would cry. 'Seize the Day!'"

"I live with all four of them, partriarch," Qi said for all to hear. "I know what I have and what I don't have. It would be folly to seize any one of them without their permission."

"Ah, the student learns," Benni said with a chuckle, which was cut off in an instant as Faytn engaged the thrusters first and ignored the stabilizers.

The vehicle turned in another direction without warning and five of the six slammed into the roof. The vehicle turned again and they slammed into the near side.

"This is how you treat your patriarch?" Benni moaned as the zero gravity caused their bodies to float with some relief. "To die crushed between four naked nubile babes sounds like a dream come true but only if everyone was naked. I'm trapped in a body length condom here and can't feel a thing."

"Who knew Benni was such a dirty old man?" Quiyo said.

"I knew," Riata said. "Don't encourage him either. He doesn't stop."

Silence filled the cabin as the Faytn steered the vehicle against a backdrop of a billion stars. All communication equipment was silent and the computer board was off. Faytn consulted the dials attached to her suit and released small blasts of compressed air to change direction. The suppressed rasp of his internal respirator was the only noise that Qi could detect in the eerie inkiness of the vehicle. The bodies piled on and around him made the unfolding event surreal.

Riata's comp lit up, illuminating the cabin. The utter nothingness of space vanished to be replaced by a hundred shadows bouncing off of strips of human-made materials.

"Incoming!" Riata yelled. "Faytn, set full thruster burn on 3 second delay. Detach thrusters on my signal. Same signal and all of us bail. 3... 2... 1 ... release."

They scrambled out with the doors flying in different directions with the thrusters firing on their heels. Quiyo had them latched together and guided them in one direction before Qi had time to catch his breath.

In his periphery, Qi saw a series of small explosions, more than just two thrusters exploding. They had been ambushed. Someone had been lying in wait for their vehicle to emerge from the station. Was it a failure of intelligence or random chance? A dozen scenarios filled Qi's brain as he sailed through the vacuum.

Time passed in silence. Qi had no idea how much time until he thought to bring up his chrono display in his helmet – twenty-five minutes. Quiyo was ahead of him. She gave the signal to stop and all of them let out a short burst of reverse thrust from the back of their suits before orienting themselves with their feet "forward".

Qi's felt his feet touch something hard. Whatever it was, the object was as black as the vacuum and oddly shaped. An open airlock appeared out of nothingness with faint blue light emanating from it. They piled in and the door sealed behind them. The light turned white and they piled out into a changing area.

"Playtime is over; we have to go back to work," Benni said as he peeled off his suit. "It was fun while it lasted."

Qi watched the patriarch leave the room still pulling his shirt over his head. Turning to Quiyo, he asked, "Was Benni serious?"

"Legend has it that he had two fuck bunnies at the same time and was a favorite of the fight master when they came out of the hole," Quiyo said. "He proved he could go the distance. Now he is locked in meetings or tied to his comp, which is a long way from the fighting ring and fuck bunny mats. Makes you wonder why so many want to be patriarch."

"Others besides Kay and Chemung?" Qi said aloud before realizing his mistake of stepping into Family politics. "Sorry, it's not my business to ask. Forget I made the comment. I've got to catch up to Benni anyway, which means I'll see you cycles from now."

Qi could not help himself. He kissed her on the cheek before he ran out the door, also throwing his shirt over his head. They were fuck bunnies after all and the others in the room were her sisters. They had all been naked and together in one form or another. Even so, Quiyo got embarrassed at public displays of affection despite all the teasing she promoted. Affection was not allowed to be public.

Qi turned down the hallway and made it through one doorway before he was stopped by the muzzle of a burst rifle. Qi whipped out his necklace with its Volentin security tags including the last one he got when Benni put him on the personal staff. The woman lowered the muzzle from his midriff.