Chapter 6

The royal wedding was over. Ric and Vicky sat in a rail car that was slowly traveling North, the small electric motors in each wheel vibrating with inefficient annoyance through the floor and walls of the plain, unadorned boxcar.

"You know, I bet I could make a fortune building decent rail cars for passenger travel," Ric said, standing up yet one more time to give his backside a much needed break. "You'd think that, in all the time this place has been here, somebody would've invented something to help people get around more easily."

"Evidently, there's not much need for passenger travel by rail," Vicky quipped from her comfortable bed of fresh hay that took up the rear half of the car.

"Well, the first thing you learn in advertising is to 'Create a Need'," Ric grinned. "We could build an amusement park and advertise special transportation by paintin' up a bunch of rail cars and puttin' seats in them!"

"But, darling," Vicky countered, "there are parks all over New Eden, with talent contests, gaming booths, exotic food, and..." she grinned at him, "all the fucking anyone can handle!"

Ric sat back down again, frowning. "There aren't any rollercoasters."

Vicky raised her eyebrows at him. "You want to fuck on a rollercoaster?"

"Don't be silly, Vic," Ric grinned, despite himself. "You know what I mean."

"Ric, hon, there're already carnivals that travel from town to town," Vicky replied. "This is a society that's based on trade, not money. What kind of exchange are you thinking about for a ride on your rollercoaster? There are only a few towns that issue paper money – legal tender – in exchange for goods."

"I dunno, honey," Ric admitted, sighing. "I just miss rollercoasters."

"Take a rail car that's traveling toward the equator," Vicky smirked. "That'll change your mind..." and with that, she closed her eyes, feigning sleep.

In another rail car, Vanessa sat with her legs dangling out of the sliding door, watching the scenery go by. The early part of the journey, after the wedding, had all been uphill – away from the equator. She stretched, remembering the unpleasant vibration of those annoying electric motors as they powered the long rail car up into the pastures of the farming districts. Now, traveling parallel to the equator, the car used very little energy to maintain its motion, and felt much more sedate, especially to Vanessa's sore, nylon encased, travel worn rump.

Jessika watched her new acquisition, smiling as Beautiful Vanessa waved at someone who was out working the fields, her pert, nylon covered breasts swaying with the motion of her arm. Vanessa was different, now, than she'd been before. This Vanessa seemed ... happy; content. She wondered if, when BV had renounced her freedom and offered herself to Jessie, some part of her inner drive – her ambition ... no, more like ... her interest in things – had been compromised or, perhaps, lost. Contentment hadn't been part of BV's personality before.

"Someone you know?" Jessie asked.

Vanessa grinned and shook her head no, and watched her new master as she lay on a comfortable bed of hay that had been provided for passenger comfort. "Can we see your ranch from here?" she asked, looking out once again at the vast curvature of the horizon as it faded into the sky in all directions.

Wondering if it was actually possible, Jessie stood, not bothering to brush herself down, and carefully walked over to the wide open door of the swaying rail car. Bracing herself against the frame and the passing wind, she leaned out and looked forward. After a moment, during which Vanessa fell in love with Jessie all over again from just watching her flaming hair flying wildly behind her, Jessie straightened up and sat down with her.

"I can't tell," she admitted. "We've got a couple hours of travel time left, I think. That's about fifty miles or so. I don't know if I can see that far up the line. Usual visibility is about thirty miles, unless there's clouds to cover the landscape."

Vanessa watched as Jessika seemed to close her eyes and smile to herself for a moment. "You miss Earth?" she asked.

"What?" Jessika asked, surprised by the question. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you were obviously remembering something and, I thought it might be something from back home," Vanessa ventured.

"No, I don't miss Earth," Jessie admitted. "This place is amazing. The inverted sky, the gravity, the wild hills ... Besides, if I want to visit Earth, I can just go to the dinosaur lodge."

"Where you found me," Vanessa quipped with a smug grin, "again."

"Yes, beevee," Jessie laughed and hugged her practically naked slave girl. "Where I found you. Again."

Vanessa snuggled against Jessie's warm body, enjoying the contrast between the wind whipping against her barely clad, nylon-sheathed skin and the soft warmth of Jessie's arm and side and realized she'd never been happier. All the decisions, all the worry about making mistakes or hurting someone or simply not including them in her activities and hurting their feelings was gone, along with her cast-aside freedom to make choices. Only one person was important now, and that person was right here. Oh, she'd almost forgotten...

Emma.

Waiting at the ranch for Jessie to bring her errant lover back into the fold.

Jessie admitted that she and Emma had gotten together 'a few times'. Not certain what that meant, especially in relation to her current status as Jessika's Sex Slave, Vanessa wondered if Jessie considered herself free to choose other lovers.

Jessika felt the subtle shift in Vanessa's demeanor – a slight stiffening of her back muscles, perhaps. "What, darling?" she asked, leaning down and pressing her cheek against BV's hair as it whipped around in the brisk air flowing through the sliding door of the box car.

"Um? Oh, nothing." Vanessa snuggled down tighter against Jessie's side and pressed her cheek against the side of Jessie's breast, enjoying the soft form through her leather jacket. "You're a lot younger than you used to be," she said. "You could start over – have anyone you want."

Jessika laughed. She looked down, one hand on BV's chin to direct the girl's gaze back up at her. "Honey, you are the most lickable girl in the entire world! Why do you think I would toss you away for someone else?"

"That's why Emma wants to meet me?" she asked, unable to keep from grinning at the absurdity of Jessie's favorite description of her. "Because I'm lickable?"

Jessika sighed, gave up and nodded, "Pretty much, sweetie. Pretty much."

The rail car rattled noisily over a small bridge, silencing conversation for a moment. Then Jessie said, "So this is about Emma, is it?"

Vanessa sat, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. "No, not really. I admit I'm curious about her, but you don't seem worried at all, so I feel comfortable about meeting her. Will she be living with us?"

"Sometimes, I suppose," Jessie admitted. "Her work takes her all over New Eden."

"But she lives with you," Vanessa surmised.

"Sometimes," Jessika laughed, sounding a little forced. "She does maintain a home of her own – in Miller's Cove, on the Equator River."

"But right now, she's waiting at your ranch," Vanessa wanted to clarify, "specifically to meet me."