

The FIRST

Attitude

# Part Two of Three

## a story of acceptance and

## love on a distant planet

## Geoff Schultz

ebook format edition - distributed by www.smashwords.com

Copyright 2020 by Geoff Schultz

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, and events in this book are products of this writer's imagination or, in the case of referenced historical persons, are used fictitiously. Any other similarity to actual persons, names, or events is purely coincidental.

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License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this writer.

WARNING:

Part Two of Three of The FIRST Attitude contains scenes of consenting adults sharing physical intimate affection which are inappropriate for children and may be offensive to some adults.

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An explanatory note:

Since the terms 'sentience' and 'sapience' have changed definitions and usage over time, this writer does not use either term to describe an intelligent self-aware being. Most humans are anthropocentric in that they consider humankind to be the most significant entity in the universe whether that's as a result of evolution or a creative deity or some other cause. Therefore, humans have and will probably continue to use humanity as their criteria by which to determine if another species consists of intelligent self-aware beings who are of equal value with humans.

Throughout history, some humans have been unwilling to acknowledge other humans as having equal value to themselves whether the differences between them had to do with ancestry, economics, gender, geography, language, religion, social status, or any of a multitude of other factors. Because of that, this writer will make the assumption that when humans use themselves as the criteria to judge another species, they will use the more positive attributes of humanity such as compassion, empathy, and respect.

Based on those factors and since this story is written from a human perspective, this writer will use the term 'anthro-equivalent' to refer to a non-human species which is considered to consist of intelligent self-aware beings who are acknowledged by humans as having equal value with humanity.

The FIRST Attitude -

# Part Two of Three

Chapter 57

It's the middle of the afternoon when Captain Stilson hears approaching footsteps. A moment later, his eyes open wide as he recognizes the sound of feminine heels. He stands up and steps towards the door of his cell then grins as his eyes look the woman up and down. A moment later, without taking his eyes off of her, he says, "Well, Constable, it's about time you brought me someone to make my stay more pleasant. Please, step into my humble abode and I can provide you with a very enjoyable experience."

When he notices her frown, he asks, "Are you going to be like those female deputies who won't even talk to me? And here I thought women liked a man in a uniform."

The Constable shakes his head as he says, "He's all yours, ma'am," and steps away.

Before she can think of what might be an appropriate response which doesn't express her immediate feeling of disgust, the Captain again rakes her body with his eyes and suggests, "Step inside and I'll gladly be all yours."

"Captain Stilson, shut up!"

"Why, good looking?"

"I'm officially here from the Supreme Commander's office . . ."

He interrupts, "It's about time somebody came to get me out of here. I guess the Colonel forgot all about me, but it's nice to know I have friends in high places. Tell the Constable to release me and we can go somewhere private and set off some fireworks."

She briefly stares at him then turns and walks off.

"Where are you going?"

She hollers back, "To make arrangements for your court-martial," then adds under her breath, "or more."

His only response is to laugh out loud as though she just told him the punch line to a great joke.

It takes Marlene a little while to calm down before she can ask the Constable, "Is Captain Stilson always like that?"

"That's how he was behaving when we first arrested him and he's responded to every female he's seen in a similar manner."

"I was initially skeptical when Chet first said he was arrested for attempted rape, but after I saw the recording you made and then endured him in person, I'm almost surprised that young woman didn't borrow one of your weapons and put him out of everyone's misery."

"I almost did it myself."

She nods her head in understanding then asks, "And the judicial review has convicted him of attempted rape?"

"Yes, ma'am. We've delayed completing the sentence in order to be courteous and allow a military judge to review the law and the evidence, but we haven't had any success in communicating with the unit's commanding officer or his staff."

"I understand that's been an ongoing problem and hopefully we'll be able to resolve the situation in a few days." She briefly hesitates before she asks, "I don't want to cause you extra problems, but is there someplace where I can interview the squad which was sent to 'rescue' the Captain without having to go near him again?"

The Constable grins in understanding and answers, "Of course. We're trying to make a point with the Captain by not letting him out of his cage, but he just isn't getting the message."

Marlene chuckles then says, "You must be too subtle for him to understand. By the way, what are your laws like in regards to old fashioned torture?"

The Constable briefly laughs then guides her to an interview room where she can privately talk to the squad members.

* * * * *

Chet and Ilena meet for dinner in the cafeteria then walk hand in hand to her quarters. When they're partway there, she says, "After lunch you said the next expansion of how you touch me is going to be a little different. I know you're trying to protect me and to help me feel more comfortable with all levels of sharing physical affection, but I want to assure you that the more you've touched me, the more I've enjoyed it and the more I trust you."

"Thank you. That's what I've been hoping you would experience and why I want to expand the sharing of affection in small steps."

"I guess part of what I'm trying to say is that I don't think you need to be so cautious about expanding how much you touch me when I'm sure I'll enjoy it."

"I don't mean to disagree with you because until you've been touched in all possible ways so you can truthfully say you enjoyed them all, there may be some ways I which I touch you that you don't enjoy. Not only that, but when the next step is somewhat different, I would prefer to have some extra time available to try to calm you down if you happen to have a negative reaction for whatever reason."

She asks with a hopeful or maybe even an excited tone to her voice, "Or to give me time to calm down if I have an excessively positive reaction?"

"Well, although I hadn't directly thought of that possibility, I suppose the reason could apply there also."

"When you caressed my inner thighs last night, you probably would have thought I had an excessively positive reaction to that if I hadn't made a strong effort to control my reaction."

He turns to look at her with wide eyes, but can't seem to think of a verbal response more eloquent than, "Oh?"

"Oh, yeah!" They step into her quarters, close and lock the door, and she immediately hugs and kisses him which makes it clear to even him that she does it because she really wants to. While they wait for their breathing to settle, they reluctantly separate to take turns in the bathroom then forego their usual cup of tea in order to go to the small sofa sooner where she settles on his upper legs, renews the kisses, and enjoys how his caresses expand to everywhere he's caressed her before through her clothes. Eventually, as he's done before, he reduces the extent of his caresses until he's just holding her.

A couple of minutes later, he begins to caress her again and slowly expands how much of her he caresses and this time he includes as much of her skin as he caressed her last night. She doesn't know why, but when his caresses reach the insides of her legs and cover her from her knees to about the middle of her thighs, it seems even more exciting than it did when he first caressed her there. Maybe it's her anticipation of how he's going to touch her next or maybe it's because he caresses her there longer than he did last night. In either case, it takes her a little while to realize that the extent of his caresses are slowly diminishing.

She gladly snuggles in his comforting embrace for awhile before they get up to use the bathroom and fix a cup of tea. Soon, they're back on the small sofa where she gladly tries to absorb and memorize the feelings she experiences as he kisses and caresses her. He's still caressing her through her clothes when she notices that his right hand is slowly moving higher up the front of her body. Her eyes open wide as she feels his hand slide up between her breasts to caress her upper chest, neck, and face.

A little later, his hand caresses down to her upper abdomen, but it goes down the left side of her body and barely bypasses her breast. She briefly wonders if he's going to caress her along her right side then realizes there's no room for his hand since her side is tightly pressed to his chest. Even as she enjoys every move his hands make, she tries to pay closer attention to how his hands actually touch her through her shirt and as his caresses move back and forth between her upper abdomen and her upper chest, it seems as though they move a little closer to her breasts.

Then his right hand seems to slide onto her right breast and she holds her breath to see what he's going to do and hopes it's not an accident on his part. A few moments later, his hand begins to move on her shirt covered breast and she expels her breath in a groan of a sigh as though she had been hoping for him to touch her there without really knowing that's what she was hoping for. A little later, his hand moves to caress her left breast and she breathes out, "Yes!" as though this is the touch she had been waiting for.

For a few minutes, he gently caresses her on and all around her breasts and when his hand moves away then slowly diminishes the extent of his caresses, she proclaims, "Thank you, thank you so much," and tries to thoroughly kiss him although she doesn't seem to have much energy. Too soon, she has to breathe then barely lets her breathing settle some before she kisses him more. Eventually, she just snuggles tighter to him and sighs with a feeling of so much comfort and contentedness, she almost falls asleep.

With obvious reluctance, he helps her to lay down on the sofa. He kneels on the floor beside her and gently caresses her face for a little while before he says, "Thank you for allowing me to touch you." She wants to tell him she would gladly enjoy it if he would touch her like that any time he wants, but nothing comes out. He briefly pauses then says, "You're a wonderful precious lady. Enjoy your rest." His words must have had an effect on her because she isn't aware when he stands up, walks to the door, looks back at her with longing, opens the door, steps out, closes the door, and makes sure it's locked before he walks to his quarters.

Chapter 58

In the morning while she's in the shower, Ilena briefly wonders if he really did touch her breasts through her shirt or if it was an exceptionally vivid dream. In an attempt to confirm whether or not he touched her, she hesitates until she's done with her shower but hasn't turned off the water before she cautiously touches her own breasts. Her eyes open wide then almost close and she has to lean back on the wall because her hands seem to imitate how he touched her through her shirt and indefinable wonderful feelings seem to fill her up.

Reluctantly, she stops touching herself, takes some deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, turns off the water, and moves the shower curtain out of the way to reach her towel. As she pulls the towel closer to her body, it slightly slides across her stimulated breasts and she almost moans at the feelings which surge into her. She has to continually remind herself that she needs to get dry and has to take extra care with how the towel moves over her body.

Once she's dried herself enough so the towel is below her breasts, she sighs in relief and relaxes. But when she starts to dry her pubic area, she's unprepared for the even stronger excited feelings which surge into her and she barely stops herself for either falling over or touching herself on purpose. She knows she really likes how Chet touches her, but if this is a preview of what his future touches might be like . . . she's not sure it's safe to finish that thought.

Somehow, she manages to finish drying herself then gets dressed and completes her morning routine. As she steps out of the door of her quarters, she has to make the effort to contain her excitement at how he has touched her and her anticipation of how he will touch her from being expressed in a way which others might notice. Then she remembers that just a few weeks ago she had been set on taking her vows to become a sister, and is very glad Mother Superior recognized something within her which isn't appropriate for that life style.

Since she didn't see Chet on her way to the cafeteria or inside, she gets her own breakfast then goes over to his office. Karina shakes her head and explains, "He's already in a meeting and has meetings scheduled for almost all morning. If you want, I can put you down as his lunch appointment."

"Yes, please. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I had already blocked the time out, but I wanted to check with you first to be sure an appointment then would work with your schedule."

Ilena hesitates then isn't sure if it's safe to ask her question, "Um . . ."

"Why did I already set that time aside?"

"Yeah."

Karina answers, "Because I'm going to do what I can to encourage the two of you to spend time together. At least without seriously impacting his ability to do his job. I'm sure you feel like he's done a lot for you . . ."

"There's no doubt about that."

". . . but I can clearly see how much of a positive effect you have on him and I want that to continue."

"Oh, thank you. I wish I knew what I was doing to help him so I could try to do it better."

"Just continue to sincerely want to spend time with him because you make him feel wanted and special and that makes him feel like he, as an individual instead of just a job title, is very important to someone."

"That's how he makes me feel."

"Good. Encourage those feelings in each other and I think you'll have an enjoyable future."

"Thank you, Karina, for your encouragement. I suppose I ought to go do something 'productive' before I'm tempted to interrupt his meetings to express how special I think he is."

She grins then says, "You're probably right about that. Well, have a good day and if he shows signs that he needs a dose of happiness, I'll let you know."

Ilena returns her grin as she responds, "Please do. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

* * * * *

Considering the number of meetings and teleconferences he's had to endure this morning in an effort to catch up with his work, Chet needs no persuading by Ilena to take a break for lunch. After they eat, they walk hand in hand back to his office where he has a little time left of his designated 'lunch appointment' and she more than willingly steps into his office. He pushes the door closed with his heel which allows her to step into his arms for a tight hug and a thorough kiss that much more quickly.

Her breathing has only partially settled when she proclaims into his ear, "Touch me . . . like you did . . . last night."

He briefly thinks about what she might mean and a moment after his eyebrows rise in surprise, he asks, "Are you sure?"

"Very sure." His right hand loosens its hug to caress her back and moves to her side then slowly moves towards her front. As his hand approaches the outside of her shirt covered left breast, she breaths out, "Yes!" and tries to kiss him more passionately. Sooner than she wants, she has to breathe because the excitement or pleasure or whatever it's called which she experiences from how he touches her takes her breath away. Moments later, she twists her body a little to press her right breast to his chest which makes more of her left breast available for him to touch.

Since he doesn't want to run the risk of her getting sore by touching her too much, his right hand caresses her shirt covered body as it returns to her back. Once it settles on her back to snugly hug her, his left hand begins to caress her and slowly moves around the side of her body. As her wonderful feelings slightly diminish, she recognizes how his hand is moving and twists her body in the other direction in order to press her left breast to his chest then quietly moans as the wonderful feelings surge back into her as his left hand arrives to caress her right breast.

Again, his caressing hand moves away and returns to her back to snugly hug her. Even as she never wants such a wonderful feeling to stop, a small part of her mind guesses they're running out of time. A few moments later, she leans back just enough to thoroughly kiss him then she begins to rub her breasts on his chest and the surge of her enjoyable feelings quickly takes her breath away.

It takes her a little while to realize he's briefly released his hug of her in order to step around behind her and snugly wraps his arms around her upper abdomen. He gently kisses her neck and ears and with soft words, he suggests that she relax. Slowly, her breathing settles and she's so tempted to pull his hands up to caress her some more that it feels like it's a real struggle for her to not give into what she really wants. A moment later, she guesses if she didn't feel a little tired from all the wonderful feelings she enjoyed, she would have lost the struggle.

Even as she thinks he probably has more inner strength than she does, she clearly hears his reluctant tone as he says, "I suppose I ought to make some effort to resist my interest in touching you more especially since we each have work to do." He kisses her neck and ears a little more before he continues, "Ilena, thank you so much for being willing to spend time with me and for allowing me to touch you. I don't recall ever receiving a more wonderful gift."

"Your safe and gentle touching is a wonderful gift. I had no idea that being touched could feel so good. Thank you."

"It was truly my pleasure."

"If I had more energy, I might be inclined to argue with you about which of us enjoyed the most pleasure and then require a further demonstration to prove my point."

"Ah, but there's no way to quantify who receives the 'most' pleasure. The whole point of the first attitude is that we both enjoy the experience by our own definition. So, if I say it's my pleasure to touch you and, at the same time, you say it's your pleasure to be touched, then we have succeeded at applying the first attitude because we both received pleasure."

"I guess that will teach me to try to argue with a professor."

He briefly chuckles, turns her head rather than her body, deeply kisses her but keeps it brief as though it's a preview of coming events, and gently pushes her towards the door as he says, "Go, before I do take advantage of you and forget all about my duties."

She steps to the door, opens it, turns, blows him a kiss, and quickly steps out of the door before the desire for her she sees in his eyes pulls her back into the room.

Chapter 59

Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, Colonel Martin, although the guards always refer to him as Criminal 143962, is again guided to a small almost bare room and his chains are locked to the prepared bolts while he sits on a hard and unbalanced chair which is unbalanced in a different direction than last time. The guards step out, the door slams shut with an echoing boom, and he waits. Thankfully, he doesn't have to wait long before the door opens, a guard steps in to set a comfortable chair on the other side of the table and steps out. A moment or two later, three people step into the room, but the Colonel only notices the attractive woman who sits down in the chair.

The Colonel again runs his eyes over her body before he says, "It's about time they improved the scenery around it. I'm sorry I can't be more hospitable, but I seem to be tied down at the moment." He rattles his chains and grins at his own joke. As she just looks at him with a neutral expression, he begins to be a little concerned and wonders who she is and why she's here.

Marlene lets the silence grow a little longer before she says, "Just to confirm, are you Colonel Stickle Martin who was the commanding officer of the military unit which was recently posted to this planet?"

"I still am the commanding officer . . ." he's so surprised she holds up her hand in a 'say no more' gesture, that he actually stops talking.

"I'm officially here from the Supreme Commander's office . . ."

He interrupts, "It's about time somebody got here. We've had a hell of a time with the local government since they've arrested our loyal officers, including myself. Now, call the guard in to release me and we can get out of here and have the fleet blow the miserable government here off of the planet."

She just sits there and he's about to tell her again what she needs to do when she asks, "Are you quite done?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's start at the beginning. When your unit was posted here, did you or did you not obey General Order 10?"

"Why should I obey an order which doesn't apply?"

"Are you suggesting that General Order 10 does not apply to this planet?"

He rolls his eyes in disbelief that he has to explain, "I'm not suggesting anything. General Order 10 does not apply to the current government of this planet."

"And what is the criteria you use to make that claim?"

"I have a much higher authority than the Planetary Administrator who is only a farmer's son. The only value he has from a military standpoint is to be cannon fodder."

"I saw the recording of you telling that to Captain Mayfair before you ran off in fear."

"Those deserting troops mutinied and I have instituted court-martial procedures against the whole lot of them."

Marlene pauses in thought then says, "I don't recall any other example in military history when a commanding officer court-martialled his entire command."

"I wouldn't have been forced to do it if they had shown me the respect I deserved and followed my orders to return to their posts."

"So, they were supposed to return to their posts where they had no running water, no electricity, and they were quickly running out of food."

"That's right. It's not my fault the local government shut off the utilities to the base."

"What did you do to get the utilities turned back on?"

"I demanded that the utilities be turned on and when the local government didn't obey, I was attempting to directly confront the Planetary Administrator with his illegal actions when I was captured and locked in here."

"Why do you believe that the quarantine of the base was an illegal action?"

"The military is the highest authority on this planet and as the commanding officer on this planet, I have the right to determine whether an action is legal or illegal. Are you really from the Supreme Commander's office? Your questions are making it sound like you're on the side of the local government."

"I can assure you that I am the representative from the Supreme Commander's office and you're in no position to question me. In regards to whether I'm taking sides, I'm not in a position to take sides since I'm still investigating the situation."

The Colonel's eyes open wide and he almost shouts, "Investigating? There's nothing to investigate. The local government captured one of my officers who was following orders. When they didn't release him, I ordered a squad to rescue him, but they were tricked and captured. Two more attempts were made to rescue my officer then the news media issued slanderous broadcasts about my officer and the military in general.

"Rather than control the news media, the local government encouraged and protected them. If that wasn't bad enough, the local government quarantined the base and coerced the soldiers to desert their posts. Any one of those actions, much less all of them taken together, is illegal as well as treasonous to humanity as represented locally by the military unit stationed here."

Marlene just looks at him for a little while then says, "Let's go back to one of your earlier statements. You said you deserved respect."

"That's right. If you are really from the Supreme Commander's office you would have reviewed my file and seen that I deserve respect."

"I've reviewed your file and found some interesting comments. My question to you is, what have you done to earn respect?"

"Earn respect? Respect is to be given to those who deserve it such as those who have a natural superiority."

"I assume by your statement that you believe you are naturally superior."

"Of course."

"And in what way are you naturally superior?"

He briefly stares at her then shakes his head as he says, "I thought you were an intelligent woman and had read my file. It should be obvious that I'm superior because I'm royal."

Marlene pauses in thought then summarizes, "So, because one of your ancestors managed to get himself crowned as royal in some manner and earned the respect of his contemporaries, you believe the respect he received is automatically transferred to you without you having to do a thing."

"That's right."

"If that's so, then if your ancestor was a murderer, you should be considered guilty of his action even if it happened centuries ago."

"No. How could I be guilty of a crime which happened before I was even born?"

"Then how can you be respected and honored for something you didn't do and which happened long before you were born?" She waits a little while but when he can't seem to answer the question, she stands up, and directs the people who were with her to step out in front of her. A moment later, she turns back and says, "Although my official investigation is not yet complete, I have to say that you and Captain Stilson are the sorriest examples of military officers I've even had the misfortune to meet."

She turns and walks away and he can only stare in disbelief that she or anyone could say such a thing to him. He doesn't notice the guard step in to pick up the chair, but when the door closes with a boom, it startles him. A moment later, he stands up as much as he can, takes a deep breath, and yells, "Traitor!! Traitorous bitch!! When the REAL representative of the Supreme Commander's office gets here, he'll hunt you down and skin you alive. And I'll be right there with him. Oh, yes! I'll be right with him and help him to skin you alive before we blow this miserable planet into dust." He takes a deep breath, blows it out, sits down, and wonders what is wrong with the idiot commoners he's forced to have to deal with.

Chapter 60

Chet and Ilena leave the cafeteria after they eat dinner and walk hand in hand to her quarters. They step in the door and lock it and somehow she's able to resist begging him to touch her immediately like he did after lunch so they can take turns in the bathroom then make some tea to drink. As they sit side by side to sip their tea at the table, she does appreciate that he cares about her as a whole person while he encourages her to talk about her college classes.

However, when their tea is done, she really looks forward to how he treats her body which causes her to experience so many wonderful feelings. She leads him to the small sofa and settles on his upper legs and almost sighs in both relief and anticipation as she feels him snugly hug her. A few moments later, he says, "I'm sorry I hadn't asked you during our previous evenings together, but is there some way in which you would like to be touched?"

Since she's surprised by the question, it takes her a little while to respond, "Yes and no. Actually, I like every way in which you've touched me so far and I really like how you keep expanding how much of me you touch. Since you've been doing it in small steps, I've never felt like you were pushing me or forcing me or anything like that. It's all been so wonderful, I can't begin to express how much I appreciate your method and how much I've enjoyed the results."

"I'm glad. If you ever think of something I can do to make the expansion of sharing physical affection more enjoyable for you, please don't hesitate to tell me."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." She hesitates to say what she really wants to say because she doesn't want to embarrass either one of them, but she also knows she needs to learn to communicate clearly whether it's embarrassing or not. Still, she pauses a little longer before she says, "Without diminishing how much I would enjoy you expanding how much of me you're willing to touch, . . . I have to say that . . ." then the words rush out, "how you touched my breasts felt really special," and she feels herself blush.

He gently caresses her face, says, "Thank you for speaking clearly," turns her head towards him and softly kisses her. She can't explain why, but his words and actions make her feel like she's melting into him even as she gladly responds to his kisses. Soon, he begins to caress her up to how much he's caressed her before through her clothes except for her breasts. Although he doesn't go as far as she had hoped, the extent of his touches help to comfort and relax her as well as builds her anticipation for more.

After he 'just' holds her for a little while, he starts to caress her again and this time he includes all of her skin which he has previously touched as he slips his hands under her loose shirt and under the legs of her loose pants. By the time his caresses begin to diminish, she's definitely feeling excited which feels wonderful by itself as well as builds on her anticipation. Although she hadn't noticed the progression of time while he was touching her, when he's snugly holding her again, she's surprised at how much time has passed since her bladder is demanding relief.

They enjoy another cup of tea and this time he encourages her to talk about her work on the farm and how she developed her relationship with Regit and any of the other native species who have either taken up residence on the farm or frequently visit. Once their tea is finished, he guides her back to the small sofa and she's surprised the distraction of talking about the farm hadn't diminished her anticipation of how he's going to touch her next.

As this new round of caresses expands, she's a little surprised that he limits his touching of her to through her clothes, except for her breasts. Then she realizes that he is expanding how much of her he touches as she feels his hand move past the middle of her thigh up the back of one of her legs. His hand moves down her leg, but as it again goes up the back of her leg with a different style of caress, she pays closer attention to how far up her leg he caresses her then her eyes open wider to realize he almost touched her buttocks. A few more times he caresses the same portion of her leg then he moves his hand to give her other leg the same treatment.

Apparently, this round of caresses is ending because he slowly diminishes how much of her he touches. She's a little surprised he hasn't yet caressed her breasts this evening and even though she would really like that extra excitement, she doesn't want to diminish how wonderful the feelings of enjoyment and excitement are which have already filled her mind and body. Once again, he pauses his caresses in order to snugly hold her.

She's about to ask him if he had forgotten about her request that he caress her breasts when she feels his hands begin to caress her. Since she can't recall when he's given her a fourth round of caresses in an evening, her anticipation soars. Instead of expanding his caresses as he usually does in a clear progression even while he typically varies the style of his caresses, this time, his caresses seem to move all over her body in a random manner while he doesn't go beyond where he's previously touched her before.

It seems to be a most exciting game for her to guess where and how he's going to caress her next. It takes her awhile to realize that his caresses are briefly near her breasts then, a little later, they're around her breasts. She has no idea how much longer it is before his hand directly caresses her breasts through her shirt, but when he does, she seems to moan out her encouragement, "Oh, yes!" Although it feels like an eternity of high enjoyment, when her mind is partially functioning again, she guesses he didn't touch her breasts for very many minutes and she can almost hear him explain that he didn't want her to become sore.

He cuddles her for awhile then helps her to lay down on the small sofa after he asked if she needs to use the bathroom. He soon returns after his own bathroom trip, kneels down beside her, and tells her, "Thank you, again, for letting me spend time with you and touch you."

"I can't express how much I enjoy being with you or having you touch me. I didn't think it was possible to feel so wonderful."

"I'm glad."

"I don't want to sound too selfish, but will you touch me a little more before you leave?"

He softly smiles then says, "It will be my great joy to do so." He leans over and begins to kiss her. Soon, his right hand caresses her face, then his left hand caresses her upper abdomen through her shirt. A little later, his left hand gently pulls up the bottom of her shirt to caress the skin of her upper abdomen as she gasps at the increase in excitement she feels and she quickly tries to increase the intensity of her kiss.

Too soon, she runs out of breath so his kisses move to the rest of her face for a little while. Moments later, his head moves away and when she recognizes the feel of him kissing the skin of her upper abdomen, she moves one of her hands to caress his head to encourage him to continue. His caressing right hand moves from her neck to her upper chest then slowly moves lower.

Her excitement grows then grows higher as his right hand caresses around then on her breasts. She doesn't know how to respond while her body squirms then she doesn't recognize the sound she hears even though it's her own voice. She feels like she's on the verge of exploding before she realizes her excitement is slowly diminishing as his caresses move away. A little later, she recognizes the sound of his voice, but his words of, "Sleep well, my lovely lady," don't register in her mind, but her body apparently responds because she's aware of nothing more.

Chapter 61

It's past the middle of the morning when Marlene contacts the Planetary Administrator's office. After a short pause, she hears, "This is the Assistant Administrator. How may I help you?"

She briefly pauses then asks, "Is Chet available?"

"He's at another station today. I can either put your call through or I can contact him and request that he return to the capital or I may be able to assist you without interrupting his other work."

"Well, I have a bit of a dilemma and thought I might discuss my options with him."

"Since he is often away at other stations, he has encouraged me to handle many of the details which have had to be dealt with in regards to the situation at the military base. I'll gladly do what I can to assist you and if I'm unable to assist you in finding an appropriate situation, I have no problem with bringing him into the discussion."

"Okay. Thank you. Before I can properly complete my investigation into the situation with Colonel Martin, I need to interview those officers who have remained on the base. However, they have refused to talk to me and have insisted that if I was from the Supreme Commander's office, I would have gone straight to the base regardless of it being under quarantine. I'll admit there is a certain logic to that. However, if I was locked on the base, I wouldn't have been able to conduct the other parts of my investigation. As I told the civil defense major who initially was escorting us, I was concerned that if I signed the request to leave the base, it would not be viewed in a positive manner by all parties."

"I understand and agree."

"I know it may sound rather drastic, but is there the possibility that the base can be 'invaded' and the officers there taken into custody?"

"We had considered that as a possible way to more quickly bring this situation to a conclusion, but we did not think it was appropriate for us to intrude on the independence of the military base. Although we felt that such an action was justifiable, we were just as sure that not all parties would agree with us. Not only that, but our reason for contacting your office was to give the military an opportunity to clean up their own affairs."

"I understand and appreciate your reasoning in spite of the difficulties it has caused the government and citizens of this planet. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, since some of the soldiers have voluntarily assisted us with information which has enabled us to be more aware of what has been happening on the base, if you have the authority, I don't see why you couldn't put together a team of soldiers to 'encourage' the remaining officers to leave the base. Once Colonel Martin's command staff is no longer in control of the base, there's no reason we couldn't remove the quarantine and restore the utilities. However, we would like some assurance that whoever is put in charge of the base won't recreate the current situation or cause some other sort of trouble."

"Thank you because that's an excellent idea. I can assure you that I will do my due diligence to make sure the new commander of the military base on this planet will cooperate with the planetary government."

"Thank you. If there is some way in which we can assist you, please let us know."

"For now, if you can provide me with some place to meet with the officers who have left the base, I think we can handle it from there. After I discuss the possibility with them, if we need some assistance, I'll be sure to contact you."

"That sounds like a plan. We have a large conference room here in the building you are welcome to use."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to review our plan with you so there are no issues, confusion, or crossed wires."

"We would certainly appreciate that and we look forward to a swift and peaceful conclusion to this situation. Do I dare say, 'have fun with your invasion'?"

Marlene laughs and disconnects the call.

* * * * *

As they walk from his office to the cafeteria for lunch, Ilena remarks, "You seem a little more relaxed than you have for awhile."

Chet nods his head before he verbally responds, "I wasn't sure how observable it might have been, but I do feel a little hope that the situation at the military base which started with Captain Stilson may potentially be resolved in the near future."

"Did something happen?"

"Not yet, but the representative from the Supreme Commander's office arrived on the planet a few days ago and has been investigating the situation. She and her team are unable to complete their investigation due to the lack of cooperation from the officers who are still on the base, but she has an idea which may encourage them to cooperate and which may provide sufficient justification for the government to release the quarantine on the base which will then allow the soldiers to return. We'll still have to wait for her to complete the investigation and issue a report before we can be sure we aren't going to have to respond to a different problem situation."

"It sounds like the government is still stuck in a kind of limbo of trying to be patient while the military takes it's time to straighten out their mess. Then you might be stuck in a situation where you have to react rather than make plans to do what's best for the people who live here."

"That's right."

"I think I'll stick with working on the farm."

He briefly chuckles then says, "That's a wise choice and one which I wish I had the freedom to make."

They talk about other things while they eat and when they go back to his office, he only has time for them to share a few thorough kisses before his next teleconference begins.

Chapter 62

All afternoon, it seems like every meeting and teleconference goes long because the other attendees want to know how long the situation with the military base is going to continue in general or interrupt other activities. Although Chet tries to tell them he doesn't know, he assures them that they remain in contact with the representative from the Supreme Commander's office. In response, a number of people think the planetary government ought to take control of the situation and dictate terms to the military.

He tries to make it clear that they don't want to escalate the situation or to provoke the military to a violent response especially since the military has much greater weapons available and could cause significant loss of life and damage to the capital. He notices that those who are the most vocally adamant about the government taking control of the situation are those who are posted to outlying stations which will much less likely be affected by a military reaction.

By the time the last teleconference is over, he's more than ready for a break. He steps out of his office and looks at Ilena in surprise then says, "I hope you haven't been waiting for me."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't want you to miss dinner just because I didn't succeed in stopping some meetings from going long."

"Well, I haven't missed dinner yet, but we probably ought to hurry to the cafeteria or I just might insist that you make dinner for me as a way to apologize."

He returns her grin and as they quickly walk to the cafeteria, he says, "I think I'm too tired to cook."

"Then I guess you're going to have to schedule some appointments with me so you have some time to teach me how to cook so I can help you when you're tired."

He looks at her in surprise then quietly says, "I would prefer to do other things with you when we have time to be together."

"You should be careful with your suggestions or I'll insist that we forget about dinner all together."

He takes a few more steps to get over his surprise at her statement then he guides her to turn towards their quarters then finishes turning them in a full circle before he explains, "As much as I like your insinuation, we probably ought to eat something so we have the energy for more private activities."

She briefly laughs and as he sees the look in her eyes, he almost does turn them back to her quarters. They make it to the cafeteria and barely get some food on their trays before the staff begins to clean up the serving line. They don't rush their meal, but they don't linger over it in order to not interfere with the cafeteria staff.

As they walk hand in hand to her quarters, they go at a more leisurely pace even as they look forward to their evening together. After they make bathroom trips, they fix some tea then take the time to sip it which gives him some time to further relax after the stressful day. Once their tea is finished and the cups are rinsed out, they move to her small sofa where she gladly settles on his upper legs. She happily snuggles close to him and as his arms go around her, he deeply sighs as though to push out the rest of his stress, then he almost buries his nose in her hair as though he tries to fill his senses with her scent and assure himself that she is real and really in his arms.

Although a part of her wants to enjoy the excitement of his touch, she also really enjoys just being with him especially when he hugs her so warmly. She doesn't have to wait much longer before he begins to softly kiss her then starts to caress her. As the extent of his caresses slowly expand then just as slowly diminish, she recognizes that he's caressing her in a very similar manner to how he caressed her during the first two rounds of caresses yesterday evening. At the same time, the order and styles of his caresses are different so the variation makes it feel new and wonderful.

They take a break to relieve bladders and re-hydrate with another cup of tea and as the third round of caresses begins, she wonders where he's going to touch her in order to expand how much of her he touches. Even as she feels immersed in his kisses, she tries to pay attention to what his caressing right hand is doing especially when it moves over her left knee to caress her through her pants legs in a circle around her leg before it moves about an inch further up her leg to caress all of the way around it. His caresses continue the same pattern as his hand slowly moves further up her leg in small increments.

Then her eyes widen in surprise as his caresses continue to circle her leg and include the inside of her leg above the middle of her thigh for the first time. As his caresses move higher up her leg and continue to include the inside of her thigh through her pants, she can no longer keep kissing him since her growing excitement interferes with her ability to breathe. She feels stunned as her excitement climbs even higher as his caresses nearly reach her pubic area and while she feels like she has to make some kind of response, she doesn't know how and is almost glad when she recognizes that his caresses are slowly moving down her leg.

When his right hand reaches her left knee, it moves over to her right knee and slowly begins to move up her right leg. Since part of the outside of her upper right leg is tightly pressed to his lower abdomen, he's unable to fully move in a circle all of the way around her leg, but his caresses still cover the inside of her right leg just like he did to her left leg. Since this new excitement seems to be added to the excitement she experienced as he caressed her left leg, her excitement is even higher and when his caresses remain a little longer on her inner leg just in front of her pubic area, she just has to do something.

Whether it's by thought or instinct, her left hand moves to between her legs and as it presses in on her pubic area, her body almost shudders at the intense excitement she experiences while she groans in response. Then her hand moves away, or is moved away, and she feels herself go limp at the release of her excitement while she pants for breath. She doesn't know how long it takes for her to partially sit up on her own, then it takes her longer to be able to say, "Thank you. That was . . . incredible."

"I'm so glad you enjoyed it."

"Wow. If that's what sharing intimate pleasure is like, I'm not sure I'm ready for you to make love to me."

"That's one of the reasons I want to slowly expand how much I touch you so you can find out what you enjoy without forcing you beyond what you're ready for."

"And you've just given me even more evidence that I really want you to be the one who touches me."

"I think it's time for you to rest and recover."

"As much as I don't want to be out of your arms, you're probably right. Otherwise, I might encourage you to touch me like that some more."

"Another time, my lovely lady." He helps her to lay down on the small sofa then gently kisses her before he steps away and makes sure the door is locked after he steps out.

Chapter 63

About the first thing Chet does after he wakes up in the morning is to check his communicator. Typically, people respect his nights unless there's an issue they're dealing with so he seldom finds anything on his communicator, but it's a habit he has maintained. This morning is an exception as he sees a written message from Ass who assures him it's not urgent, but he does want to update Chet as soon as he's available. Even though he accepts the assessment that the update isn't urgent, he still gets ready as quickly as possible and goes to his office.

Once he's there, he has to rest for a couple of minutes after his fast walk so his breathing can settle before he picks up his desk communicator and enters a number.

Ass answers, "Morning, boss. You're in the office already?"

"Yes. I saw your message on my personal communicator and thought I would check in with you."

"And I suppose you rushed to get ready and didn't even take the time to have breakfast."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. You shouldn't be married to your job. I didn't send the message early to rush you, but to give you a heads up before you got stuck in meetings."

"Oh. Well, thank you for your concern. So, what's up?"

"Ms. Marlene contacted the officers who requested permission to leave the base and was surprised some of them had already suggested infiltrating the base to capture the remaining officers. She appreciates it that you suggested they not do so because it could have easily been viewed as mutinous behavior. However, since she holds a higher technical rank than Colonel Martin, she's in a position to give such an order and that will change the perception of the soldiers' actions from mutiny to following orders from a higher ranking leader."

"I assume she did so."

Ass briefly chuckles before he explains, "She had barely begun to explain her idea when everyone she was meeting with volunteered to be a part of the 'invasion'. Your concern about the soldiers with young children and having them processed off of the base ahead of the single soldiers made a big impression on them. Especially since it's common knowledge the Colonel doesn't like to have families being posted with their soldier parents.

"Apparently, she had more difficulty in being able to pare down the size of the team which was planning to infiltrate the base to a manageable size instead of building up enough of a team to be effective. A part of the unit which is posted here has some special operations training which made it logical for them to be the core of the team. Captain Mayfair's team of technical experts provided some excellent intelligence information as well as the transponder codes of the officers who were still on the base.

"After the team was chosen to capture the officers, they were encouraged to rest. Since Ms. Marlene wanted to make the infiltration as much of a strictly military operation as possible, she didn't want to borrow what little equipment we have which might have been appropriate. Another team was chosen to infiltrate the base and gather the equipment and transportation the main team was going to need. It was helpful the equipment they needed wasn't stored anywhere near the command center which reduced how much that team needed to work quietly.

"The main team walked onto the base, picked up the equipment they needed and at zero two hundred hours, they slipped into the command center and the officer quarters and quickly captured the remaining officers. A few tried to resist, but were swiftly subdued. They were escorted to the main gate of the base where they were met by Ms. Marlene. She informed them that since they previously had the opportunity to request permission to leave the base and hadn't done so, she placed them under military arrest and asked that we temporarily put them in our detention center which we did.

"A thorough search of the base was made and a few soldiers were found who had been hiding and after the situation was explained to them, they were given the option to request permission to leave the base which most of them did. The others joined the officers in the detention center. Once we were satisfied that nobody was still on the base, I lifted the quarantine and had the utilities re-connected. The maintenance staff along with a number of volunteers went onto the base to make sure everything is functioning properly and Ms. Marlene insisted they start with the enlisted quarters and mess halls. We expect that some of the facilities will be available soon and as soon as they are, we'll start letting the soldiers who are assigned to those facilities know they can return to the base."

"That's excellent, Ass. Thank you so much for being there and taking care of it."

"It was my pleasure. Since Ms. Marlene oversaw the whole operation, I was happy to apply my multi-tasking capabilities to take care of the few details which we needed to address. Especially since I know that if you had been here you would have ignored all of your other work to pay attention to the whole situation."

Chet hesitates before he admits, "Yeah, you're right about that. . . . Now that the crisis appears to be over, do you have any guesses about how she's going to report this situation to her superiors?"

"Well, I certainly won't claim to read her mind, but from some of the things she's muttered when nobody was close enough to be able to hear her, I would guess we're going to look like saints compared to how Colonel Martin and his command staff are going to be portrayed. By the way, she apologized that some of her staff left some electronic snoopers in the conference room when we first met with her and she assured me that she did not authorize them to do so."

"That's good to know, although I would probably be somewhat hesitant to take that at face value."

"Now you're beginning to sound paranoid."

"It comes with the job, especially when I have to spend so much time listening to people say one thing when they really mean something else."

"I understand that in general, but my research into Ms. Marlene's background and previous investigations strongly suggests that she says what she means and means what she says and doesn't compromise her principles."

"That's good to know. Again, I want to thank you and say that I greatly appreciate you handling the details of the situation. Based on how well you've done, I'm quite willing to turn over my job to you and go do something less stressful."

Ass' hesitation is barely noticeable before he responds, "I know you mean that as a compliment, but there's no way I can do your job as well as you. For one example, I may not have the same attitude as Colonel Martin, but in some ways the results would have been similar in that it would have never occurred to me to have the soldiers with young families moved forward in the line to let them off of the base sooner. And that made a big positive impression on many of the soldiers."

"Well, I certainly didn't suggest it in order to make an impression."

"Of course you didn't, but that's an indication of how you're better suited to your job than I am. I know you don't like dealing with all the self-serving and arrogant people who can't see past the end of their noses, but they would rather deal with you than with somebody who acted just like them."

Chet sighs then says, "I suppose there's some truth to that. Well, if something else crops up or if I need to be there for a face to face, don't hesitate to contact me."

"Will do, boss. In the meantime, try to relax or, better yet, encourage Ilena to distract you. Bye."

He doesn't have a chance to begin a protesting comment before the communication is disconnected. After he shakes his head at how Ass seems to be trying to push him closer to Ilena, he looks over the pile of work on his desk, checks the clock, and decides that if he takes the time to have breakfast, maybe he can clear his mind to be more functional.

He's been working for less than an hour when Karina knocks on his open door and says, "Boss, in the last few minutes, you've had a large number of calls come in for you such that I couldn't even let you know about one before I had several more show up. Most of them want to know why you authorized the military base quarantine to end and how you're going to keep the pressure on the military to either get their act together or simply vacate the planet."

He briefly looks at her in surprise then says, "I guess that means the news media broadcasted something to that effect."

"Apparently. I don't normally catch the morning news and once the calls started coming in, I haven't had a chance to check out what they might have broadcast earlier."

"Well, I suppose we can tell them that we are reviewing the situation and want to make sure we have all of the necessary information in order to formulate an appropriate response."

"That's about what I and some of the other staff members have been saying while we log the calls so you can decide who needs to be called back or whether you want to release some kind of an official statement."

"Thank you, Karina. I really appreciate that. Between you and Ass doing so well, sometimes I wonder why I'm the one behind the desk."

"Because you're the one who encourages and guides us to make decent decisions. If we tried to do it on our own, this planet would be in much worse shape."

"I don't believe that."

"Okay, maybe not much worse, but it wouldn't be in as good of shape and I won't listen to you saying otherwise."

He sighs and after he briefly pauses, he says, "Yes, 'boss'."

Karina grins at him and says, "That's more like it. By the way, you have a lunch appointment with Ilena."

"Oh? Thank you. That's another reason for passing my job off onto somebody else, I don't like the idea of having to make an appointment in order to see a friend."

"You're looking at it backwards. The idea isn't for you to make the time, it's to keep others off of your back because you have an official meeting which they'll respect more than if you're known to be having a date with your girl-friend."

When he frowns at her description, she laughs, then he says, "I suppose that is a better way of looking at it."

"Of course it is and before I say more, I'll let you get back to work."

He frowns again then shakes his head and makes the effort to think about his work instead of his upcoming appointment.

Chapter 64

Chet frowns at seeing his door start to open then tries to minimize his smile when he sees that it's Ilena. He barely waits for the current speaker in the teleconference to take a breath before he speaks up, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but I need to end the meeting because I have another meeting which needs to start. We can continue the discussion at our next meeting. Thank you. Good-bye." He disconnects the call, leans back in his chair, and expels his breath.

She steps into his office and asks, "Rough meeting?"

"More like long-winded. They could have sent me the pertinent details in a written message and I could have read them and responded in one-tenth of the time they took to repeat themselves several times while they used a surplus of words which almost seem to hide what they really had to say. Although I should be upset with Karina for encouraging you to interrupt the meeting, I appreciate the opportunity to have a reason to end the meeting."

She steps closer and starts to rub his shoulders as she tells him, "Maybe you shouldn't encourage me like that or I'll be tempted to interrupt all of your meetings." A moment later, he gladly responds to her thorough kiss and either doesn't notice or care about the fact that the door is standing open.

When he has to break the kiss in order to breathe, he does notice the door, feels a flush of embarrassment, guides her to step back from his chair, stands up, takes her hand, and walks with her to the cafeteria. They return to his office after lunch and after he closes the door, he sets an alarm which should give them some recovery time before his next meeting then he gladly wraps his arms around her and they thoroughly kiss.

Soon, he begins to caress her back through her shirt and she thinks he's slowly caressed every square inch of her back from her waist to her head, several times, while she's been trying to caress his back through his shirt except that she keeps being distracted by the ongoing kisses. But when his hands slip under her loose shirt in back and start to directly caress her skin, she concentrates her response by intensifying the kisses. After he's slowly caressed her skin a number of times in a variety of ways, she feels his hands move down as though they're going to slip out of her shirt.

A moment later, her eyes open in surprise to feel his hands slide down the back of her pants to caress her buttocks through her pants. She doesn't take any time to determine to what degree she likes this new touching, but simply because he's expanded how much of her he's touching, she presses herself tightly to him and tries to escalate the kisses. They've just been forced to take a break to breathe when the alarm rings and he moves his hands up to her back to snugly hug her.

When she can, she tells him, "Thank you for hugging and kissing me and thank you for touching me more."

"It was truly my pleasure."

"When we have more time, I would like you to touch me like that some more so I can decide how much it's also my pleasure."

He briefly looks at her in surprise then grins and says, "It will be my privilege to give you such an opportunity."

"If you somehow forget, I'll make sure to remind you." She briefly kisses him then hurries to the door before she encourages him to not wait to make such an opportunity.

* * * * *

During the morning, Chet had taken the time to watch the archived news media broadcast from earlier in the morning then he prepared a formal statement which was very similar to what Karina was telling the callers When that was read during the mid-day news broadcast, it precipitated a number of calls which arrived in the early afternoon. Again, Karina and her staff logged the calls and tried to assure the callers that when more information is available, the planetary administrator's office will review the information and consider an appropriate response.

A little later, Chet's personal communicator activates and he answers, "This is Chet."

Ass asks, "Hey boss, am I interrupting anything?"

"Not yet, but I have a planned meeting starting in a few minutes."

"I see that on your calendar, but I still wanted to ask in case something unexpected popped up. I'll try to keep my update brief. A number of soldiers have been able to return to the base and as they've examined their quarters and related facilities and found everything in order, more of them have been volunteering to help put the rest of the base back together."

"That's good."

"Ms. Marlene has been able to delegate a lot of that which has enabled her to continue her investigation by interviewing the officers who had stayed on the base either because they supported Colonel Martin or were afraid to jeopardize their careers by disobeying him. Apparently, she's uncovering things that either Colonel Martin forgot about or Captain Stilson wasn't aware of when they were questioned after they were arrested. I don't know how they were able to keep some of those things hidden or which of their superior officers were willing to turn a blind eye, but I think she's going to dig until she gets some answers."

"I wish her luck with that."

"I agree. As more of the base becomes operational, those who had contracts with the military to provide goods and services are glad to be back in business. While some of them have said they understand the reasons for the quarantine, they're not happy about their lost revenue or how we interfered with them fulfilling their contracts. Ms. Marlene has assured me that the military will not make a claim that the contractors have violated their contracts and has asked that I coordinate with the contractors about documenting their lost revenue."

"Does that mean we're going to be liable for that?"

"I seriously doubt it. During one of our conversations, she hesitated then asked what kind of financial impact this whole situation has had upon us. I admitted that it's put quite a strain on us without giving any details and although I didn't have a final figure yet, we've been doing our best to clearly identify the costs which we've incurred. I'll be adding in the lost revenue from the contractors as we have their documents audited."

"Did she give any indication about whether the military was going to voluntarily reimburse us to some degree?"

"Not in so many words, but I suspect they'll want to avoid a potential court case because the local news media's broadcasts have been forwarded to their headquarters which has played the broadcasts on other planets and it's caused quite a backlash of opinion against the military."

"I can't say I like how that's going to affect the multitude of military personnel who are honorable and dedicated, but if their command structure had kept their own house clean, this would have never happened."

"I agree. I don't have any details yet, but I've been hearing more than simple rumor that there are some real rumbles of discontent among the higher ranking officers about how something like this could happen. I suspect some of them are making such statements to deflect attention away from themselves, especially those who are more directly in the chain of command above the Colonel."

"That doesn't surprise me. Well, I wish I had more time, but I've got another meeting to be bored during which I'll hear how I should have done things differently."

"I don't envy you and hopefully I'll have more details and maybe better news for you during the next update."

"Thank you, Ass, and I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but I really do appreciate you being there and taking care of things."

"I'm just doing my job, but I am glad that you appreciate it. Take care. Bye."

Chet hears the silence of the disconnected call and sets his communicator down then tries to redirect his thoughts to the supposed subject of the next teleconference.

* * * * *

More than once during the afternoon, Chet had to redirect the discussion back to the topic of the current teleconference because some of the attendees wanted to express their opinions about the situation with the military base and their opinions were frequently based on rumors. Too often, the rumors contradicted the new media's broadcast which was accurate although not very detailed. Despite his best efforts, it seemed like each meeting went longer than planned which interfered with the next meeting.

He's almost curt in ending the last planned meeting of the day then leans back in his chair and tries to relax some. A quick glance at the clock suggests that if tries to relax more now, he'll have to cook his own dinner and he's too tired to do that so he forces himself up and as he steps out the door of his office, he's not as surprised to see Ilena. Her warm smile and quick hug seems to do wonders for his attitude and it's almost as though the burden of his job falls off of his shoulders and thump onto the floor like a misshaped backpack.

They quickly walk to the cafeteria and they're able to take a little more time to eat their meal than they did yesterday evening before they saunter back towards her quarters. She asks, "Was it another rough day?"

"Yeah. It seemed like during every meeting somebody wanted to start talking about the situation with the military base and were expressing opinions based on rumor. I had to suggest they check out the news media's broadcasts and then try to guide them back to the actual subject of the meeting. Of course, every time that happened, it made the meeting go longer which interfered with the start of the next meeting."

"In that case, I'd better not ask about the rumor I heard. Can you show me again how to get to the archived broadcasts? I thought I remembered, but I must have missed a step or something."

"Of course. Why don't I do that while we let some tea brew?"

"And this time I'll write down the steps."

"Smart lady."

They watch the broadcasts from the last couple of days while they sip their tea then he answers the few questions she asks in order to understand something better.

Chapter 65

They rinse out their empty tea cups and Chet is about to lead her to the small sofa when Ilena tightly hugs him and quietly asks, "Will you touch me like you did after lunch?"

He briefly pauses to remember then says, "Gladly." The second syllable has barely passed his lips before she's thoroughly kissing him. Moments later, his hugging hands become caressing hands which seem to initially concentrate on her upper back, but as his caresses move down and up her back, they slowly move further down her back until he's including her pants covered buttocks and even down to the backs of her legs where he first touched her two days ago.

She's already pressing herself as tightly to him as she's able to and wants to intensify her kisses, but she doesn't have enough breath to either do that or to verbally encourage him. Whether she had a brief coherent thought or it's some sort of natural response, her hugging hands drift down his back and settle on his buttocks, but don't seem to be functional enough to do more than hold him. When he realizes where her hands have moved to, he freezes in surprise which borders on shock.

She almost has enough breath to say something, but something seems to startle him out of his surprise because he grips her buttocks with gentle firmness and pulls her even more tightly to him while his intense kiss soon runs her out of breath. As his kisses move to cover her face, his hands begin to move again and it seems as though they're trying to thoroughly explore and study her buttocks. She's not sure what signal he responds to, but she's glad his arms move up to her back to tightly hold her otherwise she might have just dissolved and slid down him to puddle on the floor.

He simply holds her for awhile then guides her to the small sofa where he holds her waist to help her remain upright until he can sit down then he guides her to sit on his legs with her back to his chest and wraps his arms snugly around her upper abdomen. She gladly soaks in the care, support, encouragement, and love she feels from him through his embrace which seems like it goes on for hours, but is probably only actually a small portion of that amount of time. Eventually, she feels able to express herself, "Thank you so much for being with me and touching me. It was incredibly wonderful."

"I'm very glad you enjoy it because I certainly enjoy the opportunity you've given me to be with you and to touch you. Nobody has previously given me a more wonderful gift and I can't begin to express how much that means to me."

"That's what I feel about you and how you've touched me. Even as I experience it, I can't believe how wonderful I feel when I'm with you and especially when you touch me. And then when I compare it to what I've heard or overheard other women say about their experiences, you make me feel like I must be in some kind of paradise."

He hesitates for quite a while before he verbally responds, "Thank you for that thought. Although I'm not inclined to claim I can do that for you, I very much feel as though you are my paradise." A moment later, he begins to kiss the side of her neck, ear, and face and she feels like she just wants to melt.

It takes her a little while to be able to tell him, "Maybe you can't claim it or brag about it, but would you be willing to touch me some more and demonstrate how well you send me to paradise?"

He pauses while he tries to think of an appropriate response then ignores all of her question except her middle phrase as he responds, "I'll gladly touch you more." His hands begin to move and start to caress all over her shirt covered upper abdomen then slowly expand to caress her through her clothes where he's touched her before and as far down her legs as he can reach. A little at a time, his caresses move closer to her breasts and inner thighs while her excitement seems to grow twice as fast as his caresses expand.

Her attempt to encourage him with a verbal, "Yes!" seems to come out as more of a groan when he begins to caress her shirt covered breasts. Sooner than she wants, his hands move down to caress her inner thighs through her pants and move a little further up her legs. She quickly realizes she wants him to touch her there and her hands reach out to pull his hands further up her legs, but she has no strength.

From her inner thighs to her breasts and back again, every touch, stroke, fondle, and caress of his hands seems to further increase her excitement. Her whole body seems to throb and as she again tries to pull one of his hand up the last inch of her inner thighs with seemingly desperate strength, his hand moves in the opposite direction which causes her hand to slip off of his hand and it impacts on her pants covered pubic area.

She gasps at the spike of excitement which surges into her and she automatically turns her hand to press on and rub her pubic area through her pants and that sends her excitement to a peak which seems to go on and on. She's unaware of her vocal response as well as doesn't notice that his body briefly stiffens under her. Then she's barely and briefly aware the peak is over when he pulls her hand away from touching herself and her body goes limp as though she's totally exhausted while she pants for breath.

When she becomes more fully aware, she's glad his arms are snugly encircling her body across her upper abdomen otherwise she would fall over. It takes her awhile longer to express herself and then she only has the strength to whisper, "Thank you so very much. . . . That was beyond incredible."

"It was truly my pleasure to help you enjoy being excited."

She hesitates then asks, "Is there a word or something to describe what I experienced?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you experienced. Can you try to describe what it felt like?"

"It was like the excitement grew and grew or became more intense until it couldn't go any higher and it stayed there until it seemed to suddenly be over and I think I fainted or something similar."

"I'm certainly no expert, but I would guess that you experienced what is called a climax or an orgasm."

"So that's what one feels like. I've heard the terms before, but there was no indication of what they meant."

"That often seems to be the case. People talk all around the subject of sexual activities or joke about them or brag about them or make insinuations, but very seldom do they seriously talk about sexual activities or even define what they mean when they use the terms."

"Like you were trying to point out when you explained about the attitudes people typically have in how they approach sexual activities."

"That's right."

She thinks for a little while, hesitates some more, then says, "The excitement was so intense or high or whatever term might be appropriate that I'm not sure of the details which led me to feel so excited. Um, did you actually touch me on my pubic area?"

"No, you did."

"I did?"

"Yes."

"Was that wrong?"

"Of course not. When the excitement gets high enough, you need to do something and touching yourself is a natural and appropriate response. It's better for you to touch yourself when you feel like you need to rather than have somebody else touch you before you're ready."

"I guess that makes sense. . . . But I thought I was trying to pull your hand up to touch me."

"You were."

"Then why didn't you touch me when it was obvious I wanted to be touched like that."

"I'm attempting to slowly expand how much I touch you so you can experience as many ways of being touched as I can think of in order for you to enjoy physical affection or intimate pleasure. It's a little early for me to touch your pubic area through your pants."

"Does that mean I messed up your expansion process?"

"Not at all. Just because you felt the need to touch yourself to enjoy the release of your built up sexual tension doesn't mean I can't continue to slowly expand how I touch you. If anything, it encourages me to know that how I'm touching you is exciting you and making you feel good which is what I want to do. If you were sitting here yawning while I was touching you, then I probably ought to just leave you alone."

"There's no doubt in my mind that how you touch me very much excites me. And if I did start to yawn it wouldn't be because you're boring me, but because I became so excited, it wore me out. I guess something I don't understand is why being so excited has a similar result to being involved in an intense physical exercise."

"That's something I can't answer. I assume a medical doctor or textbook might be able to explain it."

"I would hope they could. . . . I just realized you didn't touch me to a new level this evening. As much as I want you to, I don't think I have the energy to enjoy it."

"That's okay, we can do it another time. Remember, our goal is to share physical affection, so as long as we enjoy touching and being touched, then we've succeeded."

"I understand even though I want you to touch more of me."

"And I very much want to touch more of you, but there's no schedule or speed of progress we need to adhere to. We can have the freedom to enjoy sharing physical affection in whatever way we want and in whatever time we have available. Since I think you need to rest for awhile longer, let me help you to lay down."

She's soon settled on the sofa and after they gently kiss for a little while, he gets up but before he can step away, she grabs his hand and tells him, "Thank you so very much for caring about me and touching me."

"It was truly my pleasure." He briefly squeezes her hand then walks to the door, turns back to smile at her, steps out, makes sure her door is closed and locked, leans on the door, and struggles with his desire to step back in the door and never leave. Eventually, he gains some control over his desire and goes to his own quarters.

Chapter 66

His communicator activates late in the morning and he answers, "This is Chet."

Ass announces, "Hi, boss. I was just talking with Ms. Marlene and she says she has completed the basics of her investigation and holds Colonel Martin responsible for the whole situation. However, she won't be able to complete her report until she's able to say what happened as a result of her investigation which means she wants to discuss that with us. Especially in regards to how we're going to deal with those soldiers who are in our custody.

"As a clarification to that, the soldiers which she had placed under military arrest and were temporarily stored in our detention center have been transferred to the military detention center. That leaves Colonel Martin, Captain Stilson, and the squad which initially tried to 'rescue' the Captain under discussion. I'm also advising the Chief Justice of the situation."

"Thank you. Although I would prefer to have a final report in hand, I think I can understand the need to determine the results. However, before we can discuss anything further, we need to have an official copy of her investigation which clearly states that Colonel Martin is to be held responsible. As much as I think Marlene is trustworthy, I'm not going to take anybody's verbal assurance of what the investigation has revealed. It would be too easy for someone in her chain of command to reverse the results of the investigation before it goes into the final report. If the Chief Justice and his staff think I'm being overly paranoid, they can override me.

"Along those lines, do we have any idea as to how binding her decision is in regards to what her investigation revealed? In other words, are her superiors going to agree with her investigation or are they going to ignore the facts and give us problems for interfering in a 'military operation'? I'm not expecting you to have the answers to those questions, but I would like to have some assurance that once this situation is resolved based on whatever we agree to with Marlene, it stays resolved and doesn't come back to bite us at a later time."

"I understand, although I hadn't thought of those issues ahead of time. That's another example of why you're the boss."

"As though that's supposed to make me feel better about being paranoid and suspicious of other people's motives."

Ass briefly chuckles then asks, "When do you want to set up a meeting with her?"

"Did she give you any indication as to when she would prefer to discuss things or how much time she thinks it will take?"

"She would prefer to do it as soon as possible and was hoping you were in the office here in order to start it right after lunch."

"Did she tell you why she wants to rush things?"

"Apparently, her investigation uncovered a number of other things which happened before the unit was posted here and involved some of Colonel Martin's superiors and she would like to be able to confront them before anybody is able to send them a message and warn them."

"That makes sense. . . . Let's plan on meeting there at 1430 which will give me a chance to pack and get some lunch before I leave. If you can pass on my concerns to her that might speed things up a little."

"I can do that. Are you going to meet Ilena for lunch?"

Chet hesitates before he says, "Ass, I know you're asking that out of concern, but it's really none of your business. To be honest, I hope I can meet with her if for no other reason than to let her know I'll be gone probably at least through the evening."

"I know it's not my business, but she's been a very positive influence on you and I want to encourage your relationship as much as I can."

"Thank you for that and I'll try not to negatively react to your inquiries. I guess I'll see you in a few hours. Bye." He disconnects the call before Ass can add any more 'encouragement' otherwise he might be tempted to resign his position and spend that much more time with her. He steps out of his office, tells Karina what's happening, and requests that she reschedule his meetings which are planned after 1400 and will try to hold the ones planned earlier during his flight.

As he returns to his office with a hastily packed overnight bag, he's glad to see Ilena is already there. After he drops his bag in his office, he goes with her to the cafeteria and explains, "I was summoned a few minutes ago to go to the capital to discuss the final issues involving the military base. I'm assuming the meeting will last the rest of the afternoon and possibly go into the evening so I doubt if I'll be back before tomorrow. I'm really glad you were willing to meet me for lunch because I didn't want to forget about telling you or just leave you a written message."

"Thank you for telling me although my reason for wanting to meet you for lunch was to selfishly encourage you to touch me after lunch."

He briefly looks at her in surprise then slowly starts to grin before he quietly says, "I think I can selfishly take a few minutes to touch you after lunch."

Without further discussion, they each seem to choose a lighter lunch which can be eaten more quickly while he grabs a couple of extra items which can be used as a snack on the flight. Soon, they're back in his office with the door closed and are kissing even as their arms go around each other to tightly hug. It's not long after that before his hands begin to move and caress her through her clothes all over her back from her head to the bottom of her buttocks. She tries to press herself tighter to him especially when his hands seem to spend more time caressing her buttocks.

His communicator activates and he has to take several deep breaths before he can answer, "This is Chet."

"I'm sorry to disturb you, boss, but you apparently didn't hear me knock on the door. I really didn't want to interrupt you little time with Ilena, but you're going to piss off some important people if you don't get a move on."

"Thanks, Karina. On second thought, maybe if they're pissed off enough, they'll fire me, then I can increase my time with Ilena."

Karina laughs before she disconnects the call.

"I'm sorry, Ilena, but I really should be going."

"I understand. Maybe if there's more time to prepare, I can go with you to keep you company."

"I would like that even if other people wouldn't." He briefly kisses her then grabs his overnight bag and computer and quickly walks out the door and tells Karina, "Hold down the fort."

"Sure thing, boss." A moment later, she steps in his office and sees that Ilena is still standing there so she asks, "Is something the matter?"

"Well, sometimes I wonder why I became so interested in a busy man, yet, at the same time, I know I wouldn't want to spend my time with anyone else."

"I understand. Think about it from this perspective, most married couples only have their evenings or days off to be together because they have to sleep and do chores. Sometimes they have even less time together if they have children or have any social involvement. Seldom are they able to have lunch together like you and Chet have been able to arrange."

"I hadn't considered that. Thank you, Karina, for adding some reality to my situation and for reminding me that I can't live as much in my fantasy as I want to. . . . Um, I'm not sure that came out very well."

Karina briefly laughs then says, "No, it didn't, but that's okay because I understand what you meant." They quickly hug before they go their separate ways.

Chapter 67

Chet almost interrupts the person currently talking during the teleconference to end the call since the fixed wing vertical landing air vehicle is about to end its flight. He shakes his head at how some people feel it necessary to use a thousand words to convey a hundred words of meaning. After he grabs his belongings, he thanks the technician for preparing the vehicle for its next use and has only a few minutes to put his bag in his 'official' office while he talks with Ass before the meeting is scheduled to begin.

As Marlene and her team step into the conference room, Chet greets them then requests, "If you can please be seated in the same order in which you sat last time, it will help me to keep your names straight and properly address you." Although some of them think it's an unusual request, the explanation makes sense so they sit down where they sat before. "Thank you."

He takes a brief drink then nods his head. A moment later, civil defense volunteers step up behind three of the chairs where Marlene's team is seated. Their expressions of surprise quickly become looks of concern before Chet speaks up and says, "Please stay calm and let me explain."

They quickly look towards Marlene who hesitates then nods her head.

He responds, "Thank you. After our last meeting, electronic snoopers were found where you three were sitting. Marlene, I appreciate how open and straight forward you've been with us as well as thank you for your apology and assurance that you did not authorize such actions. At the same time, I want to ask these three why they felt they were justified in planting snoopers and how the military can explain why they violated our citizen's right to privacy when the military is sworn to protect and uphold that right."

Marlene looks at each of them then says, "I guess I should have investigated my own team better. Yes, I did apologize for all of you since I didn't know who was guilty. Now that it has been revealed without any of you being willing to step forward while I took the blame for your foolishness, are you going to answer Chet's question?"

After some hesitation, one of them quietly says, "I thought it was a part of the investigation to try to understand their reason for contacting the Supreme Commander's office in the first place."

"And who provided you with the electronic snoopers to begin with?"

"I would rather not say, ma'am."

She stares at him a little longer then turns and asks, "Chet, may I borrow your civil defense soldiers to escort these three to the military base and turn them over to the MP's to be put in the brig? I think we can encourage them to tell me what I want to know."

As the three visibly blanch, Chet says, "Sergeant, if you and your team would be willing to assist Marlene in this manner, I would appreciate it."

"It's our pleasure, sir. Come on, you three, let's enjoy a nice stroll over to the base and if you behave nicely, we'll refrain from putting handcuffs on you." The three hesitate to move, but when the soldiers grab their upper arms and start to bodily lift them out of their chairs, the three reluctantly cooperate.

Marlene speaks up, "Sergeant, I'll inform the temporary base commander to have the MP's meet you at the main gate. If these three cause you any problems, you're free to use whatever force is necessary to deliver them to the base."

"Thank you, ma'am."

They step out the door and Chet says, "I'm sorry, Marlene, I didn't mean to cause a scene."

"Please, there's nothing to apologize for. If I was in your shoes, I would have probably made a bigger scene. I'm sorry I didn't make more of an effort to find out who placed the snoopers. All I can suggest is that I was already becoming rather disturbed at what the investigation was revealing."

"I can totally understand that."

A moment later, she turns to the rest of her staff and asks, "Were any of you aware of or knew they were going to plant snoopers?" There are some hesitant shakes of their heads. "I wouldn't want to feel like it was necessary to interrogate my own team." Their heads are more vigorously shaken.

A moment later, one of them says, "I didn't hear what they were talking about, but I did overhear them wonder how you might react if something happened. I made the assumption that it was related to what you would find during the investigation."

"Thank you for relating that."

Marlene turns and asks, "What's next, Chet?"

"Now that the unpleasantness regarding the snoopers has been dealt with, I don't intend to put you on the spot or to offend you in any way, but I believe that Ass has passed on our interest in knowing how binding your conclusion will be to your superiors regarding the investigation into the situation which developed between our office and the recently posted military unit commander. In other words, I wouldn't want to feel comfortable with your conclusion and then have it overturned or ignored by your superiors and have a worse situation develop.

"Along those lines, we would appreciate some sort of official document which clearly states what your investigation has found and what your conclusion is in regards to what caused and/or made the situation here worse. Obviously, we would like to know what your conclusion is so we can make an appropriate response. Not only that, but if there is some disagreement with your superiors, we would like to be able to present documentation to a superior court if it becomes necessary."

"Let me assure you that your request is not offensive and if I was in your shoes, I would want as much as you've stated and probably more. In regards to the investigation, my staff is working on compiling the evidence into a more organized manner. In regards to the conclusion, I have prepared that and," she holds out her hand and one of her staff hands her some papers, "here is an official signed copy of my conclusion."

Chet accepts the papers as he says, "Thank you very much."

"To summarize my conclusion, Colonel Martin was totally in the wrong in not obeying General Order 10 when he was first posted here. He then exacerbated that error by ordering Captain Stilson to take advantage of a young woman. And when he did that for the sole purpose of embarrassing you, that was . . . well, I'm not sure I can express how wrong that was. And virtually every decision he made after that only compounded his guilt. Frankly, in all of my years in the legal field and especially while I've investigated disagreements between military personnel and citizens on the planets where the military was posted, I've never seen such despicable behavior, especially on the part of an officer, much less the commanding officer of a brigade sized unit."

"Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to share your conclusion and for what it's worth, I totally agree with your summary."

Marlene briefly smiles then says, "I thought you would agree. In regards to your concern about how my superiors will view my conclusion, when they first received your transmission that there was a problem here, their intention for sending me was to ascertain the truth of your allegations. When you sent another transmission with further evidence and that was added to what was broadcast by the news media which was forwarded from the local station, my superiors essentially gave me carte blanche authority to straighten out the military unit posted here. Give me a moment and I'll forward my revised orders to you."

"Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate what you've done to help resolve the situation."

"Chet, you and your people have been unbelievable patient, courteous, and tolerant throughout this whole situation. I've investigated situations where the civilians involved were much less provoked, yet they had much more extreme reactions and I often thought they were justified. I can't tell you how much I appreciate how you and your people have responded to such a difficult situation."

"Thank you and I will gladly pass on your expression to those who were involved but are not currently present in order to hear you directly."

"I wish I had the time to personally thank each one of them, but we uncovered some information which needs to be dealt with quickly before those who are guilty can be forewarned and either disappear or try to destroy any evidence they may have."

"I understand."

Chapter 68

Marlene hesitates then says, "I guess that brings us to what is going to happen to those soldiers who remain in your custody."

"In regards to Colonel Martin and Captain Stilson, they will remain in our custody until their sentences are carried out. Since the Colonel ordered and the Captain acted, by the laws of this planet they are guilty of attempted rape which is defined as a heinous crime. A panel of judges has reviewed the evidence and convicted them of the crime which has a previously determined sentence. We have delayed the completion of the sentence in order to give a military judge an opportunity to review our laws and the evidence so the military can have some assurance that the conviction and sentence are in accordance with our recorded laws and that the officers are not being unfairly treated."

"I have already requested that the judges on the base review the evidence and your laws. I would be greatly surprised as well as concerned if they can find some way to disagree with your judicial review."

"Thank you. In regards to the squad which attempted to break Captain Stilson out of lawful incarceration, four of the soldiers voluntarily disarmed and submitted themselves to the local authorities. Although they were initially charged with an attempted 'jail break,' they're quick and positive response has encouraged the judges who reviewed the evidence to allow the charges to be dropped. Since the base was under quarantine then has been undergoing repairs, we have delayed releasing them until they can be turned over to their unit to determine whether they will be held responsible for following illegal orders. The same applies to the pilot of the air vehicle who delivered the squad.

"In regards to the Sergeant who was leading the squad and the two soldiers who stayed with him, because they did not disarm and submit themselves to the authorities, they were charged as accessories after the fact to Captain Stilson's crimes since they tried to remove him from incarceration and because they continued to follow illegal orders even after they were advised of that fact as well as what they would be charged with. There is some disagreement as to whether they should be convicted as accessories after the fact or whether they can be shown a lot of leniency and turned over to the military to be punished for knowingly obeying illegal orders. One compromise which has been suggested is that if the civil charges are dropped, they will need to be removed from this planet and never allowed to return."

Marlene thinks about that before she responds, "Thank you for explaining as well as your decision regarding the four soldiers who gave themselves up and the pilot. I think I can understand the dilemma regarding the Sergeant and the two others. Let me think about that some and discuss it with my staff and maybe we can work out some sort of agreement."

"Thank you. If you do have some suggestions, please directly share them with our Chief Justice since the decision is a judicial matter rather than an administrative matter."

"I can do that."

Chet pauses then looks around the room as he asks, "Are there any other concerns or questions or comments which anyone feels needs to be addressed?"

One of Marlene's staff hesitantly says, "You mentioned that the sentence for Colonel Martin and Captain Stilson has been previously determined. What do you mean by that?"

"Some of the behaviors which people indulge in have been identified in our written laws as being criminal behavior and some of those have legally defined sentences. For example, if you are convicted of stealing your neighbor's bicycle, the law requires that you return the stolen item in the same condition as it was when it was stolen plus you have to pay your neighbor the equivalent value of the bicycle. If the stolen item is not returnable or is damaged, then you have to pay your neighbor twice the value of the bicycle."

"That explains the concept, but what is the previously determined sentence for Colonel Martin and Captain Stilson?"

"They will be recycled."

Marlene isn't surprised at his answer because she has reviewed the applicable planetary laws, but there is more than one expression of surprise from her team before somebody asks, "What does that mean."

Chet answers, "Assuming that their attitudes haven't poisoned the rest of their bodies," Marlene struggles to not chuckle at that, "they will be euthanized in such a way that their blood and transplantable organs can be harvested for somebody else's benefit and the remainder of their bodies will be turned over to the medical school for training and research. Any portion which is no longer useful for training and research will be delivered to the fish farm as feed then the bones will be ground up to add to fertilizer and provided to the plant farms."

"Oh my god!! How can you do that to people?"

"Why are you reacting so strongly? Many other planets require the death plenty in the case of rape."

"Yeah, but, to treat a person's body that way, it's . . . just not right!"

"Once a person is dead and their personality or soul or whatever has departed the body or just ceased to exist, why should their body be considered any more special than that of a domesticated animal on a farm. When a person dies a natural death on this planet, we recycle their body in the same way and a lot of them are glad they can continue to benefit their fellow humans even after their death. Not only that, but it doesn't add an expensive burden on their already stressed and grieving families like it would be if they were to be buried. And, besides, it's good for the environment."

Some of Marlene's team stare at those on Chet's team who chuckle at his last comment.

Again, Chet looks around the room and asks, "Are there any other concerns or questions or comments which anyone feels need to be addressed?"

He's about to end the meeting when another member of Marlene's staff says, "I'm a little concerned that Captain Stilson was convicted of a crime because the young woman was Chet's girlfriend when the Captain didn't even touch her." He gets stared at by all of Chet's team as well as by most of his own team mates.

Before anybody else can form a response, the Chief Justice begins to laugh which causes most of the attendees to stare at him. When he's mostly calmed down, the Chief Justice asks, "Young man, have you bothered to read the introduction to our legal process which provides the basis for how our laws are defined?"

"Um, no."

"You should have before you spouted such nonsense. According to our laws, the Captain's clear ATTITUDE was a crime. First of all, he broke into the young woman's quarters and made it very clear in front of witnesses that he wanted to use her body in a sexual manner and his attitude would have been demonstrated by his behavior of raping the young woman if the local Constable wasn't there to prevent him.

"If that isn't an indication of attempted rape, I don't know what else you could call it. Why should the young woman have been abused and scarred for life just to wait for the Captain's attitude to be expressed by his behavior? I think any woman who was in that situation would have believed that he fully intended to rape her." Several of the females in the room nod their head in agreement.

"If that young lady had been paying attention to me, I would have demanded that Captain Stilson's conviction and sentence were carried out immediately. In contrast, Chet has put no pressure on the judicial system or even hinted that we weren't functioning properly. In fact, he has left the entire situation take its course through the judicial process. As he mentioned earlier, he's even encouraged the delay of the process, certainly not for his own benefit, but to give the military an opportunity for one of their judges to review our laws and the evidence against both Colonel Martin and Captain Stilson."

Marlene speaks up, "Thank you, Judge, for that clarification."

"You're welcome, ma'am."

"I don't mean to take the initiative away from you, Chet, but I would like to adjourn this meeting before somebody else embarrasses themselves or the rest of us."

"As you wish. It's been a pleasure to work with you and I hope you have success in being able to tie up the loose ends of your investigation."

"Thank you. I've enjoyed working with you and your team. You've been very patience and courteous and it is greatly appreciated." They stand and bow to each other then she says, "Let's go, people," and leads them out the door.

Chapter 69

Again, the remaining attendees quietly wait until a technician scans the room and reports, "We're clean, boss. Either that or they have snoopers more sophisticated than we can detect."

Chet responds, "Thank you for checking. I understand that's a possibility, but I still appreciate your efforts to check. While I prefer to know who is listening, I don't think we'll be revealing any real secrets. So, is there anything to interfere with us being able to turn over the four soldiers from the 'rescue' squad and the pilot to the military base?"

Somebody speaks up, "As far as I know, it's just a matter of guarding and transporting them. I assume we can allow some of the deputies to go back to their local stations in which case a few of them could possibly delay their return in order to provide an escort."

Chet hesitates then asks, "Is there any reason we need to have them guarded? I was thinking it might be easier if we release them and have them return with the pilot in the air vehicle they originally arrived in. That would also be a way to return the vehicle without somebody having to make a special trip in order to pilot the vehicle back to the base."

There's a little more discussion then they agree to have the soldiers return in the military air vehicle while airspace control makes sure they don't deviate from a direct flight. They discuss a few other items then Chet thanks them for their time and contributions and concludes the meeting. Before he forgets, he calls the Constable and explains the decision regarding the four soldiers and the pilot and briefly highlights the concerns regarding the Sergeant and the other two soldiers of the rescue squad.

* * * * *

A few minutes later, the Constable and some armed deputies step into the hallway between the holding cells of the detention center and tell the affected individuals as they're released from their cells, "It's your lucky day. The civil charges against you have been dropped and you can go back to the base. Now, how the military is going to respond to your attempt to break Captain Stilson out of lawful incarceration and of following illegal orders, I don't know.

"You will be allowed to return in the air vehicle you arrived in and will be watched to make sure you do not deviate from a direct flight. Pilot, please make sure you have enough fuel for the trip because we don't want you to crash part of the way there. Are there any questions?"

"Is this for real?"

"Very definitely. I received the decision just a few minutes ago and it was the Planetary Administrator himself who told me. As long as you head straight back to the landing zone adjacent to the military base, you're free to go although we will escort you to your air vehicle to make sure you don't have any idea of causing further problems."

They quickly go with the deputies who escort them out of the building.

The Sergeant speaks up, "What about us?"

The Constable answers, "In accordance with our laws, you are charged as accomplices after the fact for Captain Stilson's crime because you attempted to release him from lawful incarceration and didn't accept our offer to disarm and submit to the local authorities."

"What's going to happen to us?"

"I don't know because that's still being discussed. You definitely broke our laws, but there are some who are maybe willing to overlook that because you were stupid enough to not recognize an illegal order and refuse to follow it."

"But we were assured that if something did happen, the Colonel would get us free."

"Well, don't hold your breath on that."

"Why not?"

"Because the Colonel has been arrested and is sitting in a cell very similar to yours."

The Sergeant struggles to hold his quickly rising fear at bay then asks, "How did that happen?"

"He tried to escape the quarantine of the base and after he was arrested for that, he was charged with being an accomplice before the fact of Captain Stilson's crime because he ordered the Captain to commit the crime."

The Captain speaks up, "Why do you keep calling it a crime? I was just going to show her a good time."

"It's a crime when you expressed an interest in forcing her against her will which was clearly evident not only in how you acted towards her but also because you broke into her quarters."

"I've done similar things before without any problems."

"Just because other places didn't obey their own laws doesn't mean we are going to act without honor or integrity and do the same."

"So, what are you going to do with me? Have me sit around here for a few years until I've 'served my time'?"

"Well, I thought it might be interesting to let you take your chances with the young woman's four legged friend I showed you."

"No. No way. You couldn't do something like that."

"No, I probably couldn't because I'm afraid you would make her sick. Not only that, but to do so would be to break the law and I'm not going to do that. I suspect that in a few days you'll be escorted to the capital to complete your sentence." The Constable starts to walk away.

"And what is my sentence?"

The Constable stops, turns back, and asks, "Have you ever heard of cancer?"

"Of course."

"According to our laws, criminals like you are the cancer on the body of society and are treated accordingly." The Constable walks away.

As the door to the holding cells booms shut, it finally dawns on the Captain what that means and he yells, "NO!! NO!! YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME!!!"

Chapter 70

Chet discusses a few other things with some people then eats dinner while he and Ass talk. When he can't think of any other business items which need to be dealt with right away he pulls out his communicator and enters a number.

"Hello? This is Ilena."

"Hello, Ilena."

"Chet! How are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you?"

"Wishing you were here."

"Me, too."

"How did your meeting go?"

"In some ways it went better than I expected and in some ways there were some difficult moments. Over all, I think things are going to settle down and, hopefully, get back to some sort of normal status."

"That's good. Are you going to be able to come back soon?"

"I'm hoping that a few loose ends can be dealt with so I can return tomorrow morning, but, at the same time, I'm not going to hold my breath."

"I can understand that."

He pauses before he says, "I wish I knew what to say to you about how I feel about you, but, I guess I'm not very good with words."

"Even if your words can't express yourself, how you treat me and touch me speaks volumes of how much you care about me."

"I'm glad you view it from that perspective because it would be so very easy for me to feel as though I'm being selfish in my interest in touching you."

"And I'm not being selfish in how much I keep encouraging you to touch me?"

He pauses then chuckles before he says, "In that case, I guess we can both have some freedom and act somewhat selfishly."

"For as long as you selfishly touch me, I'll selfishly enjoy it."

"Maybe you selfishly shouldn't encourage my selfishness or I'll forget all about my duty. On second thought, if I do forget my duty, maybe they'll fire me and then I can wallow in your selfish encouragement for me to selfishly touch you."

She briefly laughs then suggests, "But if you get fired, that might not look good on your record which may impact your ability to find another position in order to contribute to the community."

"Mmm. . . . Maybe I can pretend to be a native and join Regit and Silky in taking up residence on the farm."

"How do you come up with such crazy ideas?"

"I guess when I have to be overly serious so much of the time to do my job, my mind tends to swing the pendulum a little further than most people in order to find a balance."

"I suppose that could be an explanation. Of course, since I was raised in the Order which very much encouraged practical and useful thoughts and behavior, I guess I'm not used to thinking very far outside of the box."

"I don't know about that. For you to be as interested in touching and being touched as you are compared to virtually all of the other sisters, that's very outside of the box behavior."

"That's true, but it's not something I took into consideration and made a conscious decision to feel that way. For some reason, and I haven't got a clue why, I guess you could say I was wired or made differently than the average and just have to touch and be touched. Thankfully, the animals on the farm didn't object or I would have gone crazy or something. Even though I was able to touch and hug them, it was still barely enough, but when I finally talked you into hugging me, it felt like I finally found what I was looking for. And the more you touch me, the more wonderful it is."

"I'm certainly glad you like to be touched, because it's been an absolutely wonderful experience for me to be allowed to touch you which I hope can continue for a very long time."

"That's how I feel about you being willing to touch me."

He pauses then asks, "Do you know how old you were when you first started to live in the Order's dormitory?"

Since she hadn't expected such a drastic change in the subject, it takes her a little while to respond, "No. It was so long ago that I'm not sure I have any clear memories or even feelings of what might have happened before. Why do you ask?"

"If you had very affectionate parents who hugged and touched you a lot, it might have set your unconscious thought patterns to expect and desire that kind of affectionate behavior."

"I hadn't considered that as a possibility since I know nothing about my parents or even if I had any other than for the simple fact that I exist which means two people had to get together in order to produce me."

"Yeah, that could make it difficult to find a reason for your interest."

"Does it matter why I feel the need to touch and be touched? Especially since you're so willing to touch me?"

"No, but I guess it's a quirk of my nature that I want to find an explanation for why things happen."

Ilena briefly thinks then suggests, "Okay, how about this for an explanation, I didn't have normal parents but was manufactured in a test tube for the sole purpose of providing you with someone who wants you to touch them so you can experience some relief from the stress of your job and enjoy some pleasure in your life."

Chet stares at the wall in surprise then verbally responds, "And you accused me of having crazy ideas?"

He can almost see the smile in her voice as she says, "You're my inspiration."

"If you keep swelling my head with compliments, it will never fit through the door."

She just laughs and he's not sure if his heart fills with love for her or simply melts at being able to hear such a wonderful sound. When she calms down some, she tells him, "You can be rather silly."

"This time I can say that you're my inspiration and before I'm really inspired to ignore my duty and hurry up there, I had better pull my head out of the clouds and put my feet back on the ground and do something mundane and practical."

"I understand. Hurry home, Chet."

"As fast as I can. Bye." He quickly disconnects the call before he can say more or encourage himself to do something he knows he shouldn't do, but very much wants to do.

Chapter 71

Not long after Chet arrives in his 'official' office in the morning, he receives a call from the Chief Justice who explains that they are willing to turn the Sergeant and his two remaining soldiers from the 'rescue' squad over to the military after being assured by Marlene that they will be charged to the fullest extent possible for blatantly following a known illegal order. He thanks the Chief Justice for working out the compromise then coordinates with Marlene and the civil defense office about providing an escort to transfer the soldiers from their current incarceration into the custody of the Military Police. Once that is arranged, he contacts the Constable and fills him in on the compromise and provides him with the planned details of the transfer.

A few minutes later, the Constable walks over to the holding cells and says, "Well, Sergeant, I guess you and your two soldiers will soon no longer be able to enjoy the accommodations of our fine country resort."

There's a definite hopeful sound to his voice as he asks, "We're being released?"

"No. In a couple of hours, you'll be turned over to the MP's who will escort you back to the base. I assume you will then be able to enjoy the accommodations of their urban resort."

"In other words, we'll be thrown into the brig."

"You're probably right about that."

"I'm not sure I like that idea."

"Then you shouldn't have obeyed an illegal order."

The Sergeant thinks for a little while then asks, "What if we would prefer to stay here?"

"Then the planetary laws will apply and you'll share Captain Stilson's conviction and sentence."

"You mean . . . we'll be treated like a cancer?"

"Yes."

"But some cancers can be cured."

"That's not technically true because the cancer isn't cured. Instead, the person who had the cancer is considered cured and that only happens after all of the cancer cells are either removed or directly killed."

"Oh. . . . Maybe the brig won't be so bad after all."

The Constable nods his head as he responds, "That's one way to look at it," and walks back to his office.

* * * * *

Following some hasty preparations, it's about the middle of the morning when Chet and Marlene step up from opposite ends onto a flatbed trailer which is parked across the main gate of the military base. They walk over to the two podiums which are a few feet apart with a red ribbon between them which is tied to the gate posts. They nod to each other then turn to face the 'audience' for the joint press conference.

Chet begins, "Ladies, gentlemen, and other beings. Thank you for joining us here. As I'm sure you're all aware, we've had some trying times over the last number of days, but that is now over. A lot of the credit for the resolution to our crisis goes to Ms. Marlene who arrived from the Supreme Commander's office to investigate the situation and quickly uncovered the problems and dealt with them. Thank you very much." He leads the applause.

When the noise diminishes, she responds, "Thank you. But by the same token, if you and your team hadn't have gathered a lot of the evidence as well as been extremely patient and courteous throughout such a stressful and trying situation, it would have taken me and my team much longer to conduct the investigate and find a solution. I can't express how grateful we are for your cooperation. Thank you very much." This time, she leads the applause.

When she can be heard, Marlene continues, "Unfortunately, my investigation revealed that the former commander of the unit which is posted to this base, Colonel Martin, was not only negligent in his duties, but also broke a very serious civil law along with one of his officers and they will be dealt with by this planet's judicial system." Although she partially expected it, she's surprised at the volume and duration of the cheers.

"As a result, I have appointed newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Harrison as the temporary base commander until he can either be confirmed to the position or a full Colonel can be assigned." He steps up and she shakes his hand to renewed cheers then he turns and salutes Chet who surprises a number of people when he returns an almost picture perfect salute before he shakes the Lieutenant Colonel's hand. As they hold the shake a few moments longer for the benefit of the cameras, he tells Chet, "I look forward to working with you, sir."

"Thank you and I hope we can work well together." When they step back, Chet turns to his podium and says, "Again thank you all for sharing this moment with us and without further ado, . . ." he and Marlene step up to opposite sides of the ribbon and in unison, each of them grabs a handle of the large pruning shears which is sitting under the ribbon on a low table. He mutters under his breath, "I hate these kind of events."

She responds just as quietly, "And that's why we keep them as short and as sweet as possible."

"Amen." They lift the shears so the blades are on opposite sides of the ribbon, push the handles towards each other, and cut the ribbon while he speaks up, ". . . we hereby declare that the base is reopened." They set the shears back on the table and shake hands. A few moments after the cheers have diminished, they step back to the podiums and answer a few questions from the news media. They soon call the press conference to an end, shake hands again, and walk off the trailer.

* * * * *

Less than an hour later, Chet, Marlene, and Lieutenant Colonel Harrison meet with a few members of their respective staffs to take care of a few details. Once those are taken care of or agreed to, Lieutenant Colonel Harrison takes the opportunity to fulfill General Order 10 by pledging his unit to the defense of the planet and to obey the recognized civilian government unless he has received overriding orders from his superiors and provides a copy of those orders to the civilian government. The very few times overriding orders were ever issued was when some or all of the unit was removed from the planet to defend another planet.

Very shortly after Chet and Marlene have concluded their business and have expressed their warm regards for each other, Marlene and her staff are provided with transportation over to the landing zone where they board the orbital vehicle and are soon on their way to pursue those elements of her investigation which are up the chain of command from Colonel Martin.

Chapter 72

Before she goes to the cafeteria for lunch, Ilena stops in to ask Karina, "Has Chet made it back or do you know when he plans on being back?"

She answers, "I received a brief written message from him asking if he had received any urgent calls and that he hopes to return this afternoon. He didn't specifically say it, but I know him well enough that he wants to come back to you. That reminds me, somebody else let me know they had a press conference about reopening the base and I'm guessing the news media will include at least part of it during their noon broadcast which should be starting in a couple of minutes." She winks then asks, "Shall we take advantage of him being gone to use the larger monitor in his office?"

Ilena grins and answers, "Sure." Karina turns the monitor on and accesses the correct communications channel. As the press conference is about to begin, Ilena thinks the man in the suit looks familiar, but it isn't until she hears him start to speak that she recognizes his voice and reacts, "That's Chet!"

"That's right."

Then she stares as his title is displayed on the monitor and is so surprised, she doesn't hear what he says. Even when she can form a coherent thought and try to express it, she half stutters, "Chet . . . Chet . . . Chet is the . . . Planetary Administrator?"

Karina automatically answers, "Yes." Something about Ilena's tone of voice registers with her and she turns and asks, "You didn't know?"

She can only numbly shake her head.

"He didn't tell you?"

Now, she feels like she has to verbally respond and says, "No. . . . Whenever he did something unexpected and I asked him who he was, he simply said he was my friend."

"And that's who he wants to be with you. That," she points at the monitor, "is his job, but it's not what defines him as a person. His friendship with you is more important to who he is as a person than what his job title happens to be."

"Oh. Thank you for telling me."

In spite of that apparent acceptance, Karina suspects it's going to be awhile longer before Ilena fully gets over her surprise and accepts the new reality. She also suspects that if she tries to push Ilena, it won't help her get there any faster and may even delay her ability to accept the news.

Ilena somehow recognizes the press conference portion of the news broadcast is over and says, "Thank you for letting me watch it."

"You're welcome."

She turns and walks out of the office and towards the cafeteria while her mind seems to be in a heavy fog daze. She selects some food and seems to automatically eat it and somewhere in her mind, a coherent thought begins to form that she needs to talk to someone. While her initial thought is to talk to Chet, she doesn't think she can face him and isn't even sure why. A few moments later, another choice crosses her mind and when she's done eating, she puts action to her thought and walks away from the cafeteria.

She hesitates a seemingly long time before she knocks on the open door.

"Ilena? What's the matter, child?"

"Mother Superior, do you have some time for me to talk to you?"

"Of course. Come on in and close the door. Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

"Well, sit down while I fix some tea." After Ilena slowly takes several sips, Mother Superior again asks, "What's the matter?"

"I . . . I just found out that Chet is the Planetary Administrator. . . . Did you know that he was?"

"I know that's his job."

"Why didn't anybody tell me?"

"He didn't tell you."

"No. A few times when I heard him seem to talk to other people as though he was their leader or something, I asked him who he was and he said he was my friend."

"And has he been your friend?"

"I've always thought he was, but . . . how can he be my friend? He's the Planetary Administrator."

"Why does that prevent him from being your friend?"

Ilena briefly stares at her then says, "He's so important and I'm . . . nobody."

"Has he ever told you that you are nobody?"

"No."

"Has he ever even acted as though you are not important?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?"

"How can I be good enough to have a relationship with the Planetary Administrator?"

"It was my understanding that you had a relationship with Chet, not that your relationship was with the Planetary Administrator."

"But they're the same."

Mother Superior shakes her head as she responds, "No, they're not the same. Let me ask it this way, does Regit have a relationship with a worker on the farm? Or does she have a relationship with the person Ilena?"

"Um . . . ."

"If Chet was able to quit being the Planetary Administrator would you sever your relationship with him."

"Of course not."

"Then who is your relationship with? The person Chet or the Planetary Administrator?"

"With Chet."

"Then what does it matter what his job title is?"

"I . . . I don't know."

Mother Superior lets the silence grow for awhile before she asks, "Other than being surprised to find out what his job title is, how is your relationship with Chet?"

"If you had asked me that question a couple of hours ago, I would have said it's the most wonderful experience of my life."

"So what changed?"

Ilena is surprised at the question and she half stutters a response, "Huh? Oh. I don't know. . . . I guess I don't know how to live up to or be the right person for somebody so important."

"Has Chet asked you to change?"

"No."

"When you two last spoke, what was the last thing he said to you?"

She briefly thinks then says, I requested that he hurry home and he said, 'As fast as I can'."

"Do you think he's changed his mind about that?"

"I don't think so. When I spoke to Karina a little while ago, she said he hopes to return this afternoon and she thought he meant it to mean return to me."

"So, if he hasn't changed his mind about his relationship with you, then I guess you need to think about whether you're going to allow his job title to interfere with your relationship with him."

"Oh. I guess you're right. Thank you, Mother Superior, for talking to me and helping me to think more clearly."

"It was truly my pleasure. You may not have an appropriate personality to become a sister, but that doesn't mean you don't have a lot of potential within yourself to accomplish great things as well as to help many others. And you don't need to have your potential side tracked because of something as unimportant as a job title. Remember to respond to people for who they are as people and the Deity's blessing will remain with you."

"Thank you again, Mother Superior."

"You're very welcome."

Chapter 73

By the time he departs from the capital and returns to College Station, it's late in the afternoon and Chet is quite tired. He's able to set some of his tiredness to the side in his interest in seeing Ilena so he drops off his overnight bag in his quarters and goes to his office since he guesses that might be the best place to meet Ilena, . . . if she's interested in seeing him. Something about how Karina told him how Ilena reacted to the news media broadcast causes him concern.

Without intending to get distracted by his work, he's concentrating enough that he doesn't know somebody has stepped into his office until he hears the door close. He looks up, sees Ilena, quickly smiles, and gets up from his desk. As he steps around the side of his desk, he realizes she hasn't moved and is tightly hugging herself and he can't avoid frowning as he comes to a stop. He softly asks, "What's the matter?"

"Why didn't you tell me you're the Planetary Administrator?"

"Oh." He takes a step back to lean on his desk before he answers, "I didn't think it was important enough that it should affect our relationship."

She briefly stares at him then exclaims, "Not important enough?!? It means you're the most important person on the planet."

"I don't mean to disagree with you, but that's not true. Since my job is to help every being who lives on this planet to have a better life that means you and everybody else who lives here are all more important than I am."

"But you're the one who makes the important decisions."

"That's so everybody has somebody to blame while I try to balance or compromise between what some of the important people believe is best for them which may be the exact opposite of what other important people believe is best for them."

"How can you believe that everybody is more important than you?"

"I don't just 'believe' it, I consider it to be an established fact. And that is reinforced every time I have to make a decision and consider how it can benefit the most people or the planet as a whole. I can't make a decision based simply on what I think is right which means my opinion has no value and that it, as well as myself, are much less important than everybody else. . . . To be honest with you, since you first warmly and sincerely hugged me, you have made me feel very important and sometimes it's been a struggle for me to remind myself that every being on this planet is still more important than I am." He wishes he had some other way, or a more gentle way, to explain himself, especially since she seems to be struggling with the idea and he doesn't know how she's going to respond, or simply react.

She seems to hug herself tighter as though she's trying to hold herself together then quietly says, "Hold me."

He pushes himself away from his desk, steps closer, and softly asks, "Are you sure?"

When she simply nods her head while her lower lip seems to tremble, he wonders if she's on the verge of tears so he steps close enough in order to gently wrap his arms around her. Even while she continues to hug herself, she seems to lean closer so his arms slightly tighten around her to snugly hold her. He holds her for a long time then hears her whisper, "Who are you?"

"I hope to remain your friend."

"But that doesn't answer my question."

"I'm just a lonely old man who fumbles along at trying to make the world a better place. In spite of knowing I'm going to fail, I still feel the need to try. . . . And that's why your willingness to be my friend and to allow me to be your friend is so important to me. With you, I am no longer lonely, with you, I feel as though I'm accepted as a person instead of as a job title. Because of that, my job title has no value to me compared to your friendship. My biggest regret is that people will bother you in an attempt to get at me simply because of a stupid title."

"You really believe that?"

"I know I'm far from perfect, but I do try to mean what I say and say what I mean. I wish I could more clearly express how I feel about you."

Her hands slide out from between them and reach around him to hug him as she says, "Thank you."

He hugs her a little more snugly while he hopes his response of, "You're welcome," is appropriate. Especially since he's not sure what she's thanking him for.

They hug for quite a while longer before she suggests, "I suppose if we're going to have dinner, we ought to go to the cafeteria before they close. Or are you going to tell them to stay open for you?"

"I wouldn't want to do that because that would interfere with their important plans for the evening."

"But you did it once before."

"No. Neither I nor the Constable told them what to do. We just asked if they had started to clean up yet and they volunteered to delay a little until we could walk over there."

"Oh."

"Are you ready to go over there and eat?"

"I think so. Thank you for trying to explain yourself."

"You're welcome." They reluctantly release the hug and walk hand in hand to the cafeteria.

After a quiet dinner, they go to her quarters where they use the bathroom and make some tea. They sip their tea for awhile then Chet hesitates some more before he says, "I don't mean to pressure you or to make you feel uncomfortable, but do you know why it bothered you so much when you found out what my job title was?"

She thinks about it for a little while then answers, "I'm not sure I can clearly answer that, but as we've spent more time together and I've seen and heard your interaction with others, it seems as though you must be an important person and the more time we were together, the more important you seemed to be. At the same time, I seemed to become more aware of my own status as a lowly farm girl who was apparently either orphaned or disowned by her family such that nobody else wanted me and the Order charitably took pity on me. And then I couldn't behave properly in order to be a sister.

"When I found out you're the Planetary Administrator which means you're essentially the boss of the entire planet . . . well, I guess the contrast between our status was such that I couldn't accept it or I had no clue as to how to respond or I didn't understand how we could possibly have a relationship. If that was the case, they I guess I was angry at you for not telling me about your high status and for apparently leading me on. At the same time, I felt very hurt that I wouldn't be able to have a relationship with you because I really want to be with you for as long as I can."

"Thank you for trying to explain. I'm aware that a lot of people do concern themselves with what their status is compared to other people. If it helps you at all, I haven't had the so-called 'high status' of being the Planetary Administrator for all of my life."

"I know. You were a professor before which is still a very important position and I thought that was a high enough status position that it really surprised me when you were willing to accept me as a person and treat me with respect as though I was of equal value with you. And don't try to tell me you think I have more value than you do."

He slightly smiles then nods his head. After he takes another drink, he says, "And before that, I was a lowly farm boy who wasn't good enough to stay on the farm."

Her eyes open wide as she stares at him in surprise which borders on disbelief. It takes her quite awhile to simply say, "Chet," as though she's challenging the validity of his statement.

"It's true. I grew up on a farm and when I was older, there wasn't enough work on the farm for me and my siblings to make a positive contribution. Since I was the least suited to that life and would have made the smallest contribution, I was encouraged to look elsewhere for employment. So I went into the military for awhile, went to college and earned my degree, and after a few other positions, here I is. So from that perspective, you are more valuable than me and have a higher status because you are making a very positive contribution to the community with your work on the farm."

"You're serious?"

"Absolutely. In fact, one of reasons Colonel Martin was unwilling to respond to me in spite of my 'high status' job title is that he did some research and found out that I am the son of a farmer."

"Oh. . . . I'm not sure how to respond."

"Take your time because I want you to have things settled in your mind so you're comfortable with your situation and aren't feeling pressured or rushed or anything like that."

As she considers what he said and how he said it, she's encouraged to ask, "Do you always think about others first?"

"I make the attempt, but don't always succeed. Frankly, in this situation, I'm being somewhat selfish because if you feel pressured, you're liable to be upset with me and not want me to spend time with you. But if you are comfortable with your situation, then you're more likely to be willing to spend time with me or at least be willing to remain casual friends if you decide that's what you're comfortable with. (yawn) I'm sorry about that."

"I think I understand what you mean. . . . I'm guessing it was a rather rough day for you."

"Yeah. (yawn) I'm sorry. I suppose I'd better call it a day before I fall asleep. Thank you for being willing to talk to me about your feelings."

"Thank you for trying to explain. I'm not ready to think I have an equal status to that of a planet's boss."

"Good for you because you're more important than I am (yawn) and before I make a fool of myself," he stands up, yawns again, kisses her forehead, says, "I'll see you tomorrow if you're willing to visit with a failed lowly farm boy," and walks out the door.

Chapter 74

For the last couple of days, Chet has felt almost besieged by people who either questioned the reopening of the military base or congratulated him on doing so or berated him for not forcing stronger concessions from the military or complained that he let the Supreme Commander's representative off of the planet without some assurance that the military will reimburse the planetary treasury for the excessive expenditures they've endured. And those are the major things he's been told. It seems as if since the major crisis is over, everybody assumes he has time to deal with all of the other problems or something about the major crisis reminded them that they have some other complaints. In addition, some of them are more demanding since he wasn't able to return the calls which flooded in a couple of days ago.

He's barely been able to take a brief break for lunch and dinner and is glad Ilena has been willing to join him and even share hugs with him, but he's concerned that she still can't seem to be comfortable with his job title. Maybe it's a good thing that his meetings and attempts to calm the people wanting to complain have extended well into the evenings, otherwise, he might be tempted to push her a little in order to encourage her to accept him regardless of his job title. However, the extended hours of trying to calm people down and explain the reasoning behind some of the decisions which were made in the heat of the crisis hasn't had a positive effect on his stress level.

It's late in the morning after he's finished another teleconference when he has a few minutes to try to relax before his next meeting. He's only been able to take a couple of deep breaths before his communicator activates and without the energy to complain, he simply sighs before he answers, "This is Chet."

Ass cheerfully says, "Hey, boss. I know you're busy and didn't want to interrupt you, but I was recently informed that the Chief Justice has received the judicial review from the military judges who apparently grudgingly admit that Colonel Martin and Captain Stilson clearly broke the planetary law and based on the military code of justice, their civil crimes take precedence over their military crimes. That's the essence of their decision even though they took several pages of legalese to say that along with a plea for clemency."

"That last part doesn't surprise me."

"I know what you mean. Anyway, the Chief Justice is making arrangements to have transportation headed your way to pick up Captain Stilson and since all the paperwork has been taken care of, he suggests that Roilee and Junior can join the flight and get out of the Constable's hair."

"That's good news. I assume he's going to provide the Constable with the proper prisoner transfer and transportation documentation."

"We didn't directly discuss that, but he knows the law better than we do so I'm sure he's going to take care of it. I thought you might like to give the Constable a heads up that it's on the way."

"I can do that although by the time I can get away after the next meeting or two, he'll probably already know."

"I understand. As I look at your meeting schedule, it looks like things might be calming down a little for you."

"Somewhat. Rather than looking ahead to see that the requested meetings are diminishing, I think I'm more aware that the meetings I do have aren't going over their allotted time as often or as far."

"I don't mean to push you, but it doesn't look like you've had much time to spend with Ilena."

Chet hesitates then sighs before he responds, "No, I haven't. But by the same token, she hasn't seemed to be very interested in me making an effort to spend time with her."

"What's the matter?"

"She's isn't comfortable with my job title. We talked about it once. She related some guesses and some of her background thoughts but she wasn't really sure why it's a problem for her. I'm hoping that without me having a chance to bug her, maybe she will have some time to either figure out her reason or to decide to ignore my job title. . . . I'm sorry, Ass, but I didn't mean to bother you with my problems."

"That's quite alright, boss, since we all need someone to talk to."

"Yeah, well, I wish so many people didn't feel the need to talk to me. I don't mean to cut you off, but I've got another meeting in a couple of minutes and I would like to get a drink before it begins."

"I understand and I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Chet puts the communicator down and decides there just might be time to visit the restroom and get a drink before the next meeting starts. Maybe then he can spare a little attention to send the Constable a written message about the upcoming transfer of his prisoners.

Chapter 75

After another teleconference finally ends, Chet leans back in his chair, rubs his eyes, and automatically answers, "Come in," when he hears a knock on the door. He hears the door open but when the person doesn't say anything, he moves his hands away from his face and it takes him a moment to focus his eyes before he says, "Hello, Ilena."

Her voice is subdued as she responds, "Hello, Chet." A moment later, her body jerks forward a step or two then he notices that Regit bumped her further into the room before she steps around her and comes to stand next to Chet.

He's surprised to see her rest her head on his chair armrest while he automatically reaches up to scratch her head as he says, "Hello, Regit." She partially closes her eyes and he hears her deep rumble of what he thinks is her equivalent of a purr. He's about to ask Ilena how she's feeling when Regit suddenly moves and he stares at his arm which is between her jaws. It takes him quite awhile to realize that he doesn't feel any pain but he does feel her gently tug on his arm. Somehow, he manages to say, "Okay, Regit," and she immediately releases his arm and steps back while he briefly stares as he realizes that his hand is still attached to his arm. Although he still feels uncertain about the experience, he manages to push his chair back and stand up.

As he steps around the edge of the desk he notices that Ilena hasn't moved which makes him hesitate to step closer until Regit gently pushes on him. Even as he watches Ilena, he notices that Regit moves around him to behind her and again bumps Ilena closer. Then he's surprised to realize that Regit pushed harder on Ilena than she did on him. He takes another step closer and as Ilena gets bumped again, she briefly looks at Regit with an angry expression.

After he takes a couple of more steps and Ilena gets bumped a couple of more times, he slowly lifts his arms and very gently hugs her. Even as she seems to lean closer to him while her arms hang limply by her sides, she mutters, "I can't. I can't."

He waits a little while then softly asks, "What can't you do?"

She hesitates so long he's about to ask her again when she says, "I can't believe I'm good enough for an important person, but I can't live without you. . . . I don't know what to do." A couple of moments later, she begins to weep and tries to press herself tightly to him. As he holds her a little more snugly and gently caresses her upper back and head, her arms lift around him and she hangs onto him as though he's a life preserver thrown to a drowning person.

While he holds onto her in what he hopes is a comforting manner, his eyes open wide to see Regit push the office door closed. A little later, when Ilena seems to have calmed down some, Regit gently pushes them towards a chair where Chet releases his hug only long enough to guide Ilena to sit on his upper legs before he wraps his arms around her again. She clearly leans closer to him and almost seems to sigh as his arms snugly tighten around her.

It's awhile later before she softly says, "Thank you, Chet."

"You're very welcome."

"How come you want to spend time with me?"

Before she has a chance to say something negative about herself, he quickly answers, "Because you're a very special and wonderful person. And that makes me wonder why you want to spend time with me."

"But you're important."

"You want to spend time me with because you think I'm important?"

"No."

"Oh, you want to spend time with me because I'm not important?"

"No!"

"If you don't want to spend time with me because I am important or because I'm not important, then why do you want to spend time with me?"

"Chet!!"

"What?"

"Why don't you understand?"

"What don't I understand?"

"That I'm not good enough to be with someone important."

"Why do you want to believe something which isn't true?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're a wonderful person who is good enough to be with whoever you want to be with."

"No I'm not."

"Who told you you're not good enough?"

"Um, nobody."

"Then why do you think you're not good enough?"

"I just know it."

"I'm sorry young lady, but the evidence does not support that conclusion. You may feel it or you may think it, but you can't know it."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you good enough to spend time with Regit?"

"Um, yeah."

"If, in my important job as Planetary Administrator, I give Regit the title of Queen of the Forest are you suddenly not going to be good enough to spend time with her?"

"Um, no."

"Were you good enough to spend time with Chet when he was a professor?"

"I thought so."

"Did Chet ever tell you that you weren't good enough to spend time with him?"

"No."

"Didn't Chet frequently tell you that he appreciated you for being willing to spend time with him?"

"Yes."

He waits for awhile to see if she's going to say more, but apparently his underlying stress adds to his frustration which then surpasses his patience which causes him to blurt out, "Then why in blue blazes are you letting my damn job title get in the way?!?"

Her eyes open wide at his angry tone then she says, "I . . . I don't know."

He takes several deep breaths before he more calmly says, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." As the silence stretches, he struggles to calmly hold her, but his frustration or anger or stress or a combination of factors seems to build until he suggests, "I think you ladies need to leave. My 'important' job requires me to attend another meeting."

"Chet?"

"Please, just go," and he tries to be gentle with his firmness as he pushes her off of his upper legs towards the door then he stands up and leans on his desk with his back to her. He waits and is barely aware of when the door opens and closes while he struggles to neither burst into tears or to beat his fists on his desk or to break every object in his office.

Eventually, he thinks he's calmed down enough to participate in his next meeting, but he can't hide the bleakness in his tone of voice from those who are more perceptive.

Chapter 76

The next morning, Ilena tries to eat breakfast, but every bite seems to taste either like paste or dust. She barely notices when a few of her female classmates sit down at her table.

One of them says, "Gee, Ilena, you look like someone in your family died or something, but you said you didn't have any family."

She just shrugs her shoulders.

Another one asks, "Where's Chet, I didn't see him with you yesterday."

She shrugs her shoulders.

"What, did you have a falling out or something?"

One of the others says, "I don't know why you were interested in him in the first place, but, hey, it was your choice."

Ilena makes an effort to contain her tears.

"Oh, man. What did he do to you?"

Since she knows she can't answer that question with a shrug, she struggles to say, "I . . . I found out . . . he's the Planet Administrator."

Eyes open wide in surprise before one asks incredulously, "Chet?"

"THE Planet Administrator?"

Ilena barely nods her head.

"I didn't see that on Social Net."

"Wow! For real? The Planet Administrator?"

"And you let him go? Just think, he knows all of the important people."

"And goes to all the best parties."

"The nicest restaurants."

"What about all the gifts he could give a woman?"

"Yeah, the fancy clothes."

"And jewelry."

"So, why does he work here in this little outpost when he could be in the capital?"

"That is weird."

They barely notice Ilena stand up and carry her mostly full tray to be cleaned when one of them calls out, "Ilena, if you don't want him, I'm sure one of us could make him happy."

She barely sets the tray down without dropping it before she bursts into tears and runs out of the cafeteria. As she runs, she doesn't pay any attention to where she's going until she feels arms hug her and it takes her awhile to realize that the arms belong to Karina who waits a few moments then asks, "Ilena, what's the matter?"

"I . . . I can't face him . . . but I can't . . . live without him," which starts a flood of tears.

Karina guides her into a conference room, helps her to sit down, sets a tissue box in front of her, and tries to half hug her while she murmurs what she hopes are comforting words. When the tears have mostly diminished, she tries to gently ask, "Why can't you face him?"

"He was angry at me because I'm letting his job title get in the way of our relationship . . . and I don't even know why I'm doing it!" As her tears increase again, Karina stares at her with wide eyes.

After awhile, Karina mutters, "Well, that clears up some of the mystery."

It takes a seemingly long time for that statement to register fully enough in her conscious mind for her to be able to ask, "What mystery?"

"Where Chet is."

"What do you mean?"

"He's not here and didn't let anybody know where he was going."

"He's not here? . . . You mean I chased him away?" Ilena again bursts into tears.

Karina has to patiently wait for her to calm down enough before she can try to assure her, "You didn't chase him away. You may have been a factor, but you can't take all of the blame."

"Wh . . . what do you mean?"

"He's been very stressed for quite some time and the situation with Captain Stilson and Colonel Martin greatly increased his stress. In fact, if you hadn't started paying attention to him and distracting him, I was already afraid he was about to go off the deep end. As it is, you probably just delayed his reaction."

"Then I . . . I made it worse . . . by not listening to him."

"Ilena, you can't blame yourself for all of the stress he was under. Yes, it would have been better if you had been able to accept what he was saying about who he is as a person. By the same token, if he wasn't already so stressed, he would have been much more easily able to work with you and to help you understand that his job title means nothing to him, especially compared to you being willing to accept him as a person."

"That's what I want to do, but how come I think I'm not good enough to be with an important person like him? Especially when you and him and Mother Superior have all tried to make it clear I am good enough to be with him because he's just a person who wants to be accepted as a person regardless of what his job title might be."

"I can't answer that. Only you can answer that question."

"I know." Ilena quietly sits there for awhile before she asks as though to confirm what she thought she heard, "You don't know where he went?"

"No."

"He didn't just stay in his quarters?"

"No."

"How do you know? Did he leave a message or something?"

"No. When I arrived this morning, I saw that his schedule which I keep updated on my desk was scribbled out. That disturbed me so I checked with the Constable who checked the security tapes and he said Chet had done it before he walked out with a canteen, a small backpack, and a walking stick. He then reviewed the other security recordings and was able to see that Chet walked west into the forest until he was out of view of the cameras."

"He went into the forest?"

"Yes. The Constable has already sent a couple of deputies to try to follow his tracks and sent another couple up in a fixed wing vertical landing air vehicle with detection equipment, but none of them have been able to find him."

Ilena finally recognizes Karina's own worried tone of voice. She's not sure she can think clearly through her own worry, but she happens to think, "What about his personal communicator?"

"He left it in his quarters."

"Oh. . . . What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." A moment later, they turn to hug each other and both of them start to cry.

As they begin to calm down, Ilena proclaims, "Regit!"

"What?"

"Maybe Regit can find him."

Karina asks with a hopeful tone to her voice, "Do you think so?"

"I don't know, but I have to try."

"Be sure to take your personal communicator and something to drink because you don't know how far he might have walked before you can catch up to him."

"Thank you for reminding me." She quickly stands up then has to hold on to the table to steady herself.

"Did you have breakfast?"

She feels a little embarrassed to admit, "I couldn't eat more than a few bites."

"Let me get you some snack bars to give you some energy. Maybe you ought to check with the Constable about having a deputy go with you."

"Except that if I can encourage Regit to look for him, she might allow me to ride her and a deputy couldn't keep up."

"That's true. I don't want you to get lost while you try to find him."

"I won't get lost with Regit."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that. . . . I'm sorry I don't have a canteen or something similar."

"I think I have some containers I can put water in and use my school backpack to carry them."

"Okay. If you're not sure where you are or need any kind of help, don't hesitate to call me and I'll find somebody to go to you."

"Thank you, Karina. . . . I just have to find him." They hug again then with the snack bars Karina gave her, Ilena hurries to her quarters to look for water containers while she eats one of the snack bars. Even while she doesn't feel like she has a lot of energy, she quickly walks over to the farm and is surprised Regit isn't right there to greet her. Her initial hope that Regit has already gone to look for Chet is soon dashed when she sees Regit calmly eating.

While she's always felt like she needs to treat all of her friends with respect and allow them to eat in peace, her anxiety is such that she can't seem to stop herself from speaking up, "Regit?" When she sees Regit look over at her, she rushes on, "Chet is apparently very upset and walked into the forest alone and we need to go find him and make sure he doesn't get hurt or wants to hurt himself."

She stares in disbelief as Regit turns back and resumes her meal. "Regit!?!" This time she's ignored. She knows that Regit likes Chet, so she simply can't understand her apparent lack of concern. Even when Regit finishes her meal, she calmly washes herself as though she doesn't have a care in the world. Ilena loses her patience and proclaims, "Fine, then I'll go look for him myself."

She turns and starts to walk away but only gets a few steps before Regit knocks her down and lays across her legs so she can't move. It takes Ilena awhile to get over her shock then she pushes on her and asks, "What are you doing? Get up, Regit. We need to find Chet. . . . Regit! . . . We have to find Chet. We just have to. . . . Regit?" A moment later, her hands grab two fistfuls of fur while she buries her head onto Regit's side and bursts into tears all over again.

* * * * *

Chet walks through the forest with no goal in mind other than to get as far away from his problems as he can. In spite of his anger and frustration, he maintains enough awareness that when he occasionally slams his walking stick against the trunk of a tree, it's a mature tree which won't be damaged. This is one time when he really wishes he was back on the family farm so he could take an ax and reduce a stack of firewood into kindling in order to really wear himself out, even at the risk of slicing his leg wide open with an uncontrolled swing of the ax. As he slams his walking stick against another tree, he thinks he would welcome the opportunity to cut his leg half off and bleed to death before anyone found him then people would no longer be able to treat him as only someone who could do them a favor and benefit their selfish interests.

And then for Ilena to think his job title is more important than who he is as a person just like everybody else when he thought she cared about him! He stops in front of the next tree, takes up the walking stick in a two handed grip and sees the tree as a martial arts opponent upon whom he rapidly slams blows from both ends of the walking stick until he's panting for breath. He partially lets his breathing settle before he resumes walking then comes across another tree which seems to be another opponent who needs to be dealt with.

He has no idea of how far he's walked, but as the light begins to fade with the setting of the sun, he finds a place to sleep and prepares a small meal. Moments later, he's surprised to see several Floaters come near and settle on the ground very close to him then they seem to stretch out a part of themselves and sample his meal. When they retract that part of them which they had stretched out, he eats the meal and drinks a little.

While he hopes he doesn't step on any of them in the near darkness, he lays out a waterproof and heat reflecting ground sheet, takes off his boots, lays down, and covers himself with a blanket. He's surprised to see the Floaters 'levitate' or whatever they do and settle on top of him on the blanket. As a part of his mind ponders their unusual behavior, his frustration and earlier exercise combine to exhaust him and he soon drops off the sleep. He doesn't hear the fixed wing vertical landing air vehicle go by overhead in a search pattern and is unaware that the Floaters have masked his heat signature which would have been obvious to the searchers as the ambient temperature of the forest cools with the onset of night.

Chapter 77

Karina hasn't been in the office for very long in the morning when her communicator activates and she answers, "Planetary Administrator's office, Karina speaking."

"Karina, this is Ass. A little while ago, I received a delayed message from Chet saying he wants me to announce that elections are to be held to form a representative government in accordance with the original planetary charter. I tried to contact him, but not only did he not answer which is very unusual, his communicator is turned off which he's never done before. What's going on?"

"I wish I knew."

"Why do you say that? You know more of what's going on than just about anybody."

"Well, we're trying to keep things quiet, but . . . Chet walked away from the station and into the forest early yesterday morning without even leaving a message. The only reason we know that much is the Constable reviewed the recordings from the security cameras."

"I assume that means he hasn't returned."

"That's right and we've had people searching on foot and from the air."

"LIF! I knew he was really stressed and the situation at the military base only made it worse. I was probably pushing him more than I should have, but I kept encouraging him to have Ilena distract him and it seemed to be working."

"She was doing a wonderful job of it to such a degree that he seemed to become more alive . . . until . . . ."

"Until what?"

"Until she found out that he was the PA and suddenly she felt like she wasn't good enough to spend time with such an important person."

"Oh, dear."

"Yeah. I know Chet tried to gently convince her that she is good enough and both Mother Superior and I tried to add to that assurance, but it didn't get through to her and she didn't even understand why his job title affected her so strongly. When she found out he had walked off into the forest, I was concerned she was going to feel totally guilty. Instead, she became determined to go after him and was going to enlist Regit's help. When Regit wouldn't go with her, she started off on her own, but only walked a few steps before Regit knocked her down and wouldn't let her leave."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"No idea. Even Ilena doesn't know. Eventually, Regit did let her up after Ilena realized she wasn't going to be allowed to go after Chet. She came back to the office here and we talked some. I don't know what else we can do except hope he comes back on his own. The Constable had people searching all night, but even with the infrared scanner they didn't spot anything bigger than a small rodent or a bird."

"Are there any caves in the area which could have blocked the infrared scanner?"

"Not that any of the locals know about."

"A satellite couldn't do any better than an air vehicle doing an infrared scan. The optical cameras on the satellite could show a person, but without knowing which way he walked, it would take us hundreds of man hours to examine each photograph. . . . I hate to admit it, but I don't know what else we can do other than wait for him to return."

"I think you're right. . . . Are you going to make the announcement about the elections?"

"No. I think Chet was grasping at straws when he suggested that because he apparently didn't read far enough otherwise he would have realized we haven't been established long enough for that portion of the charter to be fully effective."

"Without me taking the time to read the entire charter and maybe not understand it, what do you mean by fully effective?"

"The defined executive branch of the representative government requires that most of those positions can only be filled by people who are second generation natives of the planet. That means their grandparents had to settle here. I haven't taken the time to do the necessary research, but I would be surprised if we even have a half dozen adults on the planet who meet that initial criteria. As for the Prime Minister position, that requires a third generation native."

"I see what you mean. So, Chet is stuck with the job."

"Unless he can convince the Oversight Committee that he's incapable of fulfilling his responsibilities and considering how well he helped to solve the situation at the base, that's about as likely as having a snow blizzard on the innermost planet of this system."

"In other words, impossible."

"Yeah. Unless his walking away was an attempt to prove he's seriously mentally or emotionally unstable which would most likely have him committed to an institution rather than just turn his job over to someone else."

"Which would not be good for him or anyone else."

"You got it. I'm sorry I don't have any other ideas for trying to locate him, but when he does return, please let me know as soon as possible."

"And if he happens to show up at one of the other stations, I hope you'll let us know."

"I will definitely do so. Thank you for filling me in on what you do know and I'll talk to you later. Bye."

As she puts her communicator down, Karina feels somewhat guilty about not letting Ass know right away, but she and the Constable had hoped Chet would return so they could make it seem like he just took some time off rather than abandoned his responsibilities.

Chapter 78

Chet slowly wakes up and is surprised it's well past dawn. Before he can consider why he slept so long, he realizes there's another priority. He tries to move carefully to not upset the Floaters who are still covering his blanket, but they move away which allows him to get his boots on so he can walk a few steps to behind a nearby tree and relieve his bladder.

He returns to his camp site and as he prepares a small meal and some tea, he watches as the Floaters gather around and sample both the ingredients and the finished products while some of them actually ride his arms as he prepares and eats the food. After he cleans up and puts his supplies back into his backpack while he's still sitting down, his eyes widen in surprise then widen further when he realizes it isn't Regit who is walking into his campsite, but a male of her species who is even bigger than she is.

Chet holds very still as the male steps up to him and sniffs him then lays down facing him with his head right next to his upper leg. Slowly, he lifts his nearer hand and cautiously scratches the male's head and behind his ears and isn't sure whether or not to be surprised when he hears a deep rumble of apparent enjoyment. He certainly doesn't understand what's happening, but there's a certain amount of comfort in knowing that some creatures, even if there's a substantial communication gap between them, accept him for who he is as a person. Since humans can't seem to do that, he briefly thinks about going native. Reluctantly, he admits that he doesn't know the flora or fauna of this planet well enough to live off of the land.

Some time later, the male lifts his head and his ears move as though he's listening then Chet hears the sound of the approaching air vehicle. Before Chet can move to get more completely under the cover of the trees, a huge paw settles on his leg. A couple of moments later, he stares as Floaters cover both him and the male and then his eyes open wide to see that he and the male seem to disappear.

He totally ignores the air vehicle as he tries to understand how the Floaters or the male can understand the need to be hidden from the air vehicle. And how can they make him seem to disappear? He can only guess that the Floaters are somehow able to bend the light waves so that what is right in front of him can't be seen. Then he wonders if that's part of why the planet has seemed so void of large animals or why the Chief Scientist said that Regit's species were seldom seen except through telephoto lens.

If the native animals can understand the concept of hiding in plain sight as well as have the means to accomplish that, it clearly implies they are much more intelligent than most humans would want to admit or even consider. Then that raises the question of how he might be able to intelligently communicate with them. And even if they can't find a means to communicate, then humans really need to start acting as though they're the guests on this planet. Unless humans are tolerated as unwelcome guests which raises the question of what happens when the guests violate an unknown restriction and can no longer be tolerated.

As he becomes more aware of the quiet of the forest, he doesn't know how long he's just sat there while he was thinking before he realizes he can no longer hear the sound of the air vehicle and his invisible hand is still scratching the male's head which seems to be relaxed and the paw is no longer resting on his leg. Chet's thoughts seem to go in two directions at once. He wonders what he can call the male to distinguish it from Regit and other members of the species. At the same time, he wonders if he can establish some rudimentary communication with the Floaters.

A little later, he and the male become visible although he thinks the Floaters are still covering them. Even as he continues to pet and scratch the male's head, he looks directly into his eyes and isn't surprised to see a return look. He pauses then says, "I don't mean to offend you, but I wish I could understand what I would be allowed to call you in order to distinguish you from the other members of your species." Apparently, his statement wasn't offensive because the male turns his head and lightly rests it on Chet's upper legs, but that doesn't give him a clue as to what name might be appropriate.

While he wonders how much of a fool he's going to make of himself, he hesitates then makes an attempt, "Floaters, I don't want to insult you with my feeble attempts to communicate or by calling you something inappropriate, but I would like to try to find some basis for communicating with you. . . . Since I think you are still covering me, could you please make my hand no longer visible?"

Almost before he finishes his question, his hand disappears, but his arm and the male's head are visible and he can feel the fur on the male's head. He quickly reminds himself and says, "Thank you." After a longer hesitation, he asks, "Can you please make my hand visible and my arm invisible?"

Instantly, or at least it seems so to him, his request is fulfilled. "Thank you very much. If you could return my arm to visibility, I would appreciate it." Again, he's not sure he actually finished his request before it happened. "Thank you very much for your cooperation." A few moments later, he stares at the invisible Floaters which are resting on his body as he realizes they understood what he was requesting without him having to define and explain every word he used.

That suggests either the Floaters can fully understand the spoken human language or they're telepathic to some degree and can understand his thoughts before he can express them or his mind provides enough of a picture so that when he does speak the words out loud, they can somehow tap into that telepathically. As he considers that idea for quite awhile, it has both frightening and exciting possibilities.

While a part of his mind continues to consider the possible implications of how the Floaters understood him, he directs his attention to the male's head which he continues to pet and scratch. A moment later, he says, "Without being able to better communicate with you, would it be okay for me to refer to you individually as 'Regal'?"

The large head lightly presses and rubs on his chest then Chet's eyes open wide as he receives the impression that 'Regal' is nodding his head in agreement. It takes several moments for him to get over that surprise before he says, "Thank you, Regal. I also want to thank you for visiting with me and sharing your valuable time with me, but I wouldn't want to be interfering with your normal activities."

Regal again seems to nod his head. A few minutes later, he stands up and lightly bumps Chet with his head as though he's saying, 'See you later,' then trots off into the forest. While Chet tries to contemplate all that has happened to him this morning, he gets up and again steps behind a tree to empty his bladder, but as he returns to his campsite, he briefly wonders if the Floaters have slipped away or had separated enough for him to take care of his business. He sits back down and after he hesitates for awhile, he experiments with communicating with the Floaters and while he hopes he doesn't insult them, he gets out some of his food to share with them since it's the only thing he has which might be considered as an attempt to reward them for putting up with his feeble attempts and inane requests.

Chapter 79

When he wakes up this morning, Chet deeply sighs as he realizes he's going to have to go back to the station. Although the Floaters seemed to enjoy tasting his food yesterday, they really consumed very little. Regardless, his food and drink will barely last him the rest of the day and he doesn't want to push it far enough to where he becomes sufficiently weak from hunger that he's unable to return to the station. At the same time, he's more than half tempted to stay in the forest and let the search parties eventually find his desiccated remains. That's assuming Regal and the other native species don't make use of his body for their own benefit.

As he mentally composes a letter of resignation, he packs up his belongings and triple checks the campsite to make sure he leaves nothing behind, well, except for his biological waste products which he hopes won't be toxic to the environment, at least in the quantities he's leaving behind. Reluctantly, he starts to walk east towards the station. Although he didn't walk out in a straight line, he generally has a fairly decent sense of direction and, if necessary, he does have an instrument which can receive his location from the satellites, but doesn't have a transmit function for anyone to be able to track him.

A couple of hours later, he thinks he hears movement so he stops with his back to a large tree and holds his walking stick in a defensive posture. Moments later, he sighs in relief as he recognizes Regal, and says, "Hello, Regal. I'm glad to see you." His eyes widen in surprise to feel Regal lightly bump him as though to say, 'Me, too.'

He briefly hesitates then tells him, "Thank you for visiting with me yesterday morning and again in the evening. I didn't explain it then, but I figured out this morning that I probably ought to go back to the station and face the consequences of abandoning my responsibilities. I don't know how people are going to respond, but if they are really upset with me, I may not see you again and I just want to clearly say that I've appreciated your company."

Regal lightly bumps him again and although he isn't sure how to interpret the action, he decides it probably has a positive meaning and reaches over to pet and scratch Regal or just rests his hand on Regal's shoulder which is higher than his waist. Sometime around noon, Regal lightly bumps him before he trots off into the forest then Chet stops to prepare a meal and shares it with the Floaters who are still riding him. During the meal, they seem to have fun showing off their capabilities as they become invisible or very colorful and make parts of him seem to disappear and reappear.

Several hours later, Chet slows down then stops and rests while he leans on his walking stick. He knows he's close to the station since there seems to be a large clearing ahead and the occasional noise he hears is indicative of human activity which is so different from the ambient noise he enjoyed hearing in the forest. Although he's very tempted to just turn around and walk back into the forest, he also can't deny that he feels a strong sense of duty to take responsibility for his actions.

He deeply sighs as though he's preparing himself to face his judgment, but before he can take a step, he's startled to be bumped and quickly turns to see Regal. This time his sigh is one of relief as he reaches over to pet Regal. A few moments later, Regal bumps him towards the station as though to say, 'I'm with you.'

"Thank you, Regal." He looks towards the station, shakes his head then a thought occurs to him. He hesitates then asks, "Well, my new friends, since I'm sure to be raked over the coals for walking away, would you care to help me play a joke on the other humans?" He's not sure whether or not he actually feels a slight rustling movement from the Floaters, but since he receives no other signal from them he assumes they're willing to go along with him then he feels Regal bump him. With a grin and a sense of purpose, Chet walks towards the station while he makes a couple of mental requests.

* * * * *

Late in the afternoon, the Constable shakes his head at another negative report from his deputies at being unable to find any indication of where Chet might be. Since there's nothing more he can think to do, he gets up from his desk and as he starts to walk through the lobby towards the outside door, the deputy on the duty desk speaks up, "Chief, I think you might want to go over to the cafeteria. I just received a call that a relative of Regit just walked in and that there's an . . . invisible being putting food on a tray."

The Constable turns and asks, "What did you say?"

"Somebody from the cafeteria just reported that an invisible something is putting food on a tray."

He mutters, "What next?" then says, "I'm on my way." He doesn't run, but he quickly walks to the cafeteria and just steps inside when somebody points him towards a table. He looks and immediately recognizes a creature who looks like Regit calmly sitting next to the table. As he walks closer, he stops and stares in disbelief as he sees the knife and fork move on their own then a piece of meat lifts off of the tray and seems to move into the air to be captured by Regit's relative.

After he nervously swallows, he slowly walks to the other side of the table from the tray then watches the fork lift into the air and the end disappears then reappears without any food. A moment or two later, he hears, "Have a seat, Charles," but he's so surprised he doesn't recognize the voice. Very slowly, he pulls out a chair and sits down while he watches another piece of meat lift from the tray and move through the air to Regit's relative. "Pretty neat trick, eh?"

Again, he swallows nervously, but can't seem to find his voice so he hesitantly nods his head.

"It's the Floaters. They can somehow bend the light waves so you can't see what's right in front of you."

The Constable hesitates then softly asks, "Who are you?"

"Your friend."

A moment later, his eyes open wide as he sees Chet's face suddenly appear to be floating in mid-air then asks in surprise, "Chet?"

"The one and only."

It takes him a little while to slightly recover from his surprise before he asks, "What happened to you?"

"I guess I was so stressed from the job and from feeling responsible for trying to do my best for everybody on the planet when they're only looking out for themselves and then the situation with Colonel Martin . . . I guess I couldn't take it anymore. The straw which sent me over the edge was that Ilena thought my job title was more important than who I am as a person."

"She's been real worried about you and upset with herself. She tried to go after you, but Regit wouldn't let her."

"I don't mean to blame her and I'm sorry she's upset, but that was just too much for me to deal with."

"I think some of us understand that. When I asked what happened to you, I meant more about what happened . . . to your body?"

"It's right here. I just have a few Floaters riding me. I don't have a scientific explanation for what they can do, but I think it's something like being able to bend the light waves so when you look at me, you actually see what's behind me which makes it seem like I'm not here. Watch the right side of my food tray."

Charles' eyes open wide as he watches Chet's hand appear and disappear or turn various colors.

"The Floaters have been willing to indulge my feeble attempts to communicate with them and since I know I'm going to be crucified for walking away, they were willing to help me have a little innocent fun before I'm locked away in the loony bin or simply fed to the fish."

"I seriously doubt that's going to happen."

"I'm not sure there's a bigger crime than the Planet Administrator being derelict in his duty. Since I don't have my communicator with me, you ought to get in touch with Ass so he can come up with the appropriate charges. And if being derelict isn't bad enough, nobody's going to want me to remain 'in power' and announce stringent rules to protect the natives of this planet who are a lot more aware than anybody wants to believe. I may not have the scientific 'proof' to claim they're anthro-equivalent, but even if they aren't, they're the next best thing."

"I . . . I don't know what to say."

"Charles, you've been as close to a friend to me as anybody has and I greatly appreciate it. At the same time, I'm really sorry for the trouble you and you're deputies went through in looking for me. I certainly didn't intend for that to happen. Since I don't want to put more of a burden on you than I already have, I'll finish my meal then go to my quarters. When Ass or the Chief Justice figure out what they're going to charge me with and want to incarcerate me, I'll completely cooperative. I don't know how long the Floaters or Regal here want to stay with me, but I'll try to impress upon them that I am not being coerced against my will and that I don't need to be defended."

"Chet, we were just worried about you and I can't imagine that anybody is going to press charges against you."

"Thank you for that, but any leader who deserts their post isn't worthy of being a leader. I don't mean to argue with you, so I'll just finish my meal and go to my quarters. Thank you again for all your support and encouragement over the years. I just wish I could have done half as much for you and your team."

Suddenly, Chet's face disappears and since he understands that he wants to be left alone, the Constable hesitates then gets up and walks away.

A few minutes later, as a number of people watch with wide eyes, the empty tray seems to levitate from the table and floats to where the dirty trays are placed then the door opens without Regit's relative touching it and remains open for it to step out before it closes.

When Chet arrives at the building where his quarters are, he stops and pets Regal as he says, "Thank you so much for being my friend for a couple of days. I'm sure you don't want to feel like you're caged inside of a building, so, . . . well, . . . I guess this is goodbye. Take care of yourself and thank you again for spending your precious time with me."

Regal hesitates, then lightly bumps him before he walks off. Chet sighs then says, "Floaters, thank you so much for your friendship and putting up with my feeble attempts to communicate with you. I also want to thank you for helping me to have a little fun in the cafeteria. I encourage you to return to your lives and wish you success in whatever you want to accomplish."

After a brief pause, the Floaters seem to start flashing a variety of colors then float up and away from him and put on a remarkable light display. When they've disappeared, Chet shakes his head and struggles to contain his tears as he steps into the building. A minute or so later, he steps into his quarters and locks the door behind him before he goes to the bathroom then to the kitchen to prepare some tea. Once his tea is brewed, he starts to fix a cup then his eyes open wide before he laughs as several Floaters who must have stayed with him seem to materialize on the counter and glow as they absorb small amounts of sugar.

Chapter 80

The Constable doesn't even make it to his office in the morning before Mykul, the local news media representative, corners him and asks, "What do you know about the 'invisible being' who ate dinner in the cafeteria yesterday evening? Rumor has it that you even spoke to it."

He sighs then says, "There did appear to be an invisible being who was with a member of Regit's species in the cafeteria yesterday evening and I did briefly speak with them."

"Are we being visited by aliens or something? This could be very big news."

"Nothing like that. The cafeteria visitor was a human who apparently discovered a way to appear invisible for a period of time. Since they took me into their confidence, I'm not at liberty to say who they were nor do I understand how they could achieve that so there's no sense in asking me questions along those lines. I'm just guessing at this, but my impression is they were playing a harmless joke on the people in the cafeteria while they were testing their process or product or whatever they had."

"Okay. But, still, to be able to appear invisible, that could have a lot of possibilities, both positive and negative."

"I'm sure the person will consider some of those possibilities before they reveal how they achieved it. Considering some of the negative possibilities, particularly if people who have a criminal or controlling orientation towards other people were to acquire the . . . whatever it is, the person may never reveal their secret."

"I imagine many people would be concerned about that. On another subject, some people reported that they saw a brief but dynamic light display near some of the living quarters buildings last night. Do you know anything about that?"

"This is the first I've heard about it. Did those people have any idea what caused it?"

"No. A few people recorded it, but it was as though different colored lights quickly turned on and off, but there didn't appear to be anything nearby which could have caused it."

"Well, humans are still relative newcomers to this planet so who knows what other kind of native creature might have briefly visited."

"I suppose that's a possibility. Thank you for your time, Constable."

"You're welcome."

"Oh, by the way, the rumor is that Chet hasn't been seen for a couple of days."

"It was my understanding that he took a couple of days off to try to relax after that whole mess with the military leaders at the base. I briefly spoke with him yesterday, but we didn't talk about whether he was going to take any more time off or whether he was going to be back in the office."

"Okay. Thank you again, Constable.

"You're welcome, Mykul." Before more questions can be asked, he quickly walks towards his office in the detention center.

* * * * *

When Chet wakes up, he almost panics at being late in going to the office then he remembers. His next thought is one of muted gratitude that he was able to sleep in his own bed without somebody breaking his door open and hauling him off to a holding cell. He takes his time to get up, get a shower, and get dressed before he goes to the kitchen to try to find something semi-appropriate for breakfast.

As he fixes his tea, he's briefly startled when the Floaters make their presence known then he chuckles at their antics as they seem to play at displaying themselves with different colors and then with different patterns. He's somewhat surprised they don't absorb any sugar this time, but they do minutely sample what he prepares for breakfast. He cleans up after he eats then stares in surprise as the Floaters take turns sliding through the running water as he washes his preparation and eating utensils.

After he prepares another cup of tea, he sits down at his table, hesitates, picks up his personal communicator, and just looks at it. Even as he knows he needs to take responsibility for his actions, it isn't easy for him to put it into practice. He deeply sighs then turns it on. While he intends to take a drink before he starts looking at the expected accumulation of message, it activates before he can put it down. He sighs again then answers, "This is Chet."

Ass quickly responds, "Hey, boss, I'm glad you're back in touch."

"So, have you and the Chief Justice decided on what to charge me with for my dereliction of duty?"

"We're not going to charge you with anything. We understand things have been rough on you and even as we've tried to deflect some of the pressure, we're surprised you didn't walk out quite awhile ago. None of the other Planetary Administrators have had near the number of problems you've had to deal with and a number of them bailed out earlier or had to be removed. I understand you can only see how you appear to have failed, but from my perspective, you've been a resounding success."

"Yeah, right. Somebody must have slipped a delusional pill into your drink when you weren't looking. Just like they did to me to make me think Ilena cared about me."

"Have you talked to her?"

Chet answers, "No. I doubt if I have anything to say to her, at least that she wants to hear."

"She was really upset with herself and very worried about you."

"Don't you mean worried about my title?"

"No. She's been worried about you as a person."

"They why did she make such a big deal about what my job title is?"

"She doesn't know why she did that and it bothers her."

"Well, I'll guess I'll give her some time to figure it out. Now, did you make the announcement that we're going to have elections to form a representative government?"

"No. I know you don't like your job, but I think it was wishful thinking on your part that we could have elections so you can get you out of job since the executive positions have to be at least second generation natives."

"I know and the prime minister has to be third generation."

"Since you know that, why did you request to have elections announced. I haven't taken the time to do the research because I seriously doubt if we can find a half dozen adults who are even second generation natives."

"I didn't do the research for all of those, but one person is a third generation native."

"Really? That surprises me. Who is it?"

"Ilena. Now she can have a fancy job title while I get put out to pasture and aren't good enough for her."

"Chet? Are you making that up just because you're upset with her?"

It takes him a moment or two to recover from his surprise because he doesn't recall if Ass has ever called him by his given name before he can answer, "No. I'm not making it up. And I didn't do the research for that purpose. When we talked one time, she said she didn't know anything about her parents, so I started to do the research to see if I could find out something about her parents and why they appeared to abandon her at the Order which was one of her guesses. Later, it was one of her excuses for thinking she wasn't good enough to spend time with me."

"She's really a third generation human native?"

"That's what the research showed. Her grandfather was the first known human to be born on the planet."

"Then he must have married very young and his child must have married very young in order for Ilena to be her age considering when the first station was set up on the planet."

"Except that her great-grandmother cheated and snuck down to the planet before the first station was set up so her child would be the first one born on the planet."

"Interesting. How come Ilena isn't aware of any of this?"

"All she knows is that she was found on the doorstep of the Order and, as she puts it, they took pity on her and raised her. I was able to find out when they took her in, but I need to check with Mother Superior about what their records show as to any details surrounding her arrival and how much of an effort was made to fully identify Ilena. Although the official records say she was assumed to have died with her parents, everything else lines up for when she ended up at the Order. In any case, I was able to quietly take a hair sample from Ilena over to the college science lab to have her DNA tested and it was a perfect match to the official record."

"Do you want me to see about having the official record corrected to show that her assumed death was not accurate?"

"Not yet. I want to see what the Order's records show in order to make a stronger case. There is still the question of how she arrived at the Order which will probably remain a mystery."

Ass hesitates then says, "It sounds like you still care about her."

Now it's Chet's turn to pause before he responds, "I suppose I do, but I would want to help anybody in a similar situation. Nobody should feel like they've been abandoned by their parents. Even if it's the basic truth, I would hope there were some extenuating circumstances."

"I guess you're right about that. Dare I ask if you're going to get back into the office?"

He sighs then answers, "I suppose if you and the Chief Justice aren't going to charge me with dereliction of duty, then I suppose I ought to see how much more of a mess I can make of the job. Before I do that, I ought to check with Mother Superior about their records so Ilena won't think she's not good enough to be the Prime Minister when people finally decide I've screwed things up enough."

"She doesn't deserve that."

"Maybe I am being somewhat harsh, but at the same time, she doesn't deserve to think she's not good enough for anyone."

"That's true."

"Thank you for listening and I suggest you put in your resume to the Oversight Committee to take my place in case there aren't enough second generation human natives to fill in the positions for a representative government. Bye." He disconnects the call then turns off his communicator before Ass or anyone else can falsely claim he's been doing a good job.

Chapter 81

Rather than use his personal communicator, Chet uses the standard communicator in his quarters to contact Mother Superior and requests access to any of their records they might have in regards to Ilena's arrival at the Order. Although she's surprised he's contacting her when she's heard rumors that he had disappeared for two days after he had a falling out with Ilena, she quickly agrees then wonders what's going on.

When Chet arrives and after they exchange mutual greetings, Mother Superior bluntly asks, "Have you reconciled your rumored differences with Ilena?"

He hesitates then admits, "No. I haven't even talked to her since she's allowed my job title to interfere with our relationship. If she can't accept me as a person, then there is no relationship. To be blunt in return, I didn't come here to be raked over the coals for how I am or am not responding to her.

"The reason for my request in regards to information about when she arrived here, is that one time when we were talking, she said she didn't know anything about her parents and one of her assumptions is that they abandoned her to the Order. Since I wouldn't want anybody to feel as though they were abandoned by their parents, I did some research and I think I've discovered who her parents were."

"Really? What did you find out?"

"Before I will feel comfortable with answering that question, I want to check with your records to either confirm or deny what I think the case may be."

"I can understand your concern and wouldn't want to give her a false hope until all of the information can be reviewed."

"Thank you."

"I requested that one of the sisters pull the applicable journal from the archives which covers the time frame of when Ilena showed up on our doorstep. It's been a number of years since I read it, so I don't remember many of the details."

"I understand."

"She should be returning very soon. In the meantime, would you join me in a cup of tea?"

"I would appreciate that. Thank you."

They fix their tea then take a few sips before there's a knock on the door and Mother Superior speaks up, "Come in."

The sister steps in, glances at Chet with raised eyebrows, then holds out the book as she says, "Here is the journal you requested."

"Thank you, Sister. You may return to your regular duties."

"Thank you, Mother Superior." She turns, steps out of the door, and closes it behind her.

Mother Superior turns a number of pages to the correct dated entry then hands it to Chet to read. He reads through it a couple of times then says, "It doesn't appear that much of an attempt was made to find out who her parents were."

"I can only guess that the senior sisters and the Mother Superior who was here at the time made the assumption that Ilena was purposely left on our doorstep because the parent or parents were unable to take care of her for whatever reason."

"I can understand why that assumption was made. It also mentions that a video recording was maintained from that day's security monitors and that the carrier she arrived in was also stored. Would it be possible to view those items as well as to have a copy made of this journal entry?"

"Of course. Or at least I'm assuming the recording and carrier haven't been moved in the intervening years."

"I'm curious, was there a reason the video recording was kept?"

"Normally, if nothing happens during the day which is of any significance, we erase the recording after a couple of weeks. In the case of Ilena, when the recording showed that she suddenly appeared on our doorstep, it was considered unusual enough to keep. I think the Mother Superior at the time hoped that at some future date, some advanced technology would be able to find something on the recording which wasn't observable by a human."

"That makes sense. Assuming that the carrier is still stored, do you know why it was kept?"

"Again, all I can do is assume that the reason it was kept was to give it to Ilena when she came of age if she decided she wasn't going to be a sister so she could possibly use it for her own child."

"That was thoughtful."

A few minutes later, she finds the carrier in a plastic bag and laying on the seat of the carrier is an envelope which states that inside is a copy of the applicable recording. As Chet carefully examines the carrier without opening the bag, he does his best to keep his expression neutral while he's sure this is most of the evidence he needs and hopes the recording will 'seal the deal'.

He hesitates some then says, "Mother Superior, without imposing too much on your generosity, would it be possible for me to take these items in order to examine them more carefully? I believe they support some of my research, but I can't be positive yet. If what I suspect is true, I would like to present this to Ilena and would appreciate it if you would be willing to be a witness."

"If you can provide some understanding of who her parents were which won't embarrass her, I would be happy to be a witness."

"Thank you. It will probably be at least a couple of days before I can connect all of the dots in my research."

"I understand and can be available with just a few hours warning."

"Thank you, again." After they return to her office, she gives him a copy of the journal entry which she had a sister make while they looked for the carrier. After they say their farewells, Chet returns to his quarters and feels like he's done at least one thing right for the week.

He forces himself to fix some lunch and takes his time to eat it while his 'resident' Floaters join him before he again examines the carrier. Since the plastic bag isn't sealed but was apparently used to keep dust off of the carrier, he carefully opens the bag and pulls out the envelope then closes the bag. The envelope isn't sealed, but when he looks inside, he frowns at seeing that the storage device which supposedly contains the recording has an older style computer interface.

He searches through one of his drawers and finds what he hopes is the correct kind of adapter then turns his computer on. A couple of moments later, he carefully plugs the adapter into his computer and the storage device into the other end of the adapter. There appears to be only a single file on the storage device, but when he accesses it, he soon realizes that the file contains the entire day of what was recorded by the security monitor at the front door of the Order.

He closes the file, makes a copy of it on his computer then removes the storage device and puts it back in the envelope and back into the plastic bag. After he takes a drink, he accesses the file then fast forwards it and when he sees a flicker, he backs the recording up at a slower pace and has to move it back and forth at slower paces until he can watch it at its normal pace. He reverses the recording to several minutes before the carrier appears on the doorstep and instructs the software to make a separate copy of the recording which shows the appearance of the carrier until several minutes after the sisters have picked up the carrier and taken it inside. To make sure he has the applicable portion, he watches the newly saved recording.

He takes another drink and carefully watches the recording a couple of times at normal speed and in slow motion. When he thinks he spots something, it watches it a couple of times at an even slowly speed. He leans back with a smile before he takes a drink and knows that even if someone else had spotted what he saw, they probably wouldn't have a clue as to what it really was unless they were aware of some of the Floaters' capabilities.

After a brief break, he again opens the plastic bag, carefully pulls the carrier out, and takes his time to thoroughly examine it. He notices the name Ilena on the handle which is how the sisters knew what her name was then he looks closer. He shakes his head and has to search some to find his magnifying glass, but before he can use it, the Floaters seem to be fascinated by it and he gives them a brief demonstration with a nearby book.

When they seem satisfied, he uses the magnifying glass to carefully look at the handle and thinks he recognizes some letters in very small print. A couple of moments later, he leans back in surprise as the letters become clear and much larger. Then he realizes that one or more of the Floaters had taken on the characteristics of a magnifying glass. As he recovers from his surprise, he realizes that the letters, which are in a different language, look familiar so he looks up some of his earlier research and after he makes a very careful comparison, he grins at the match.

He leans back and is about ready to return the carrier to the plastic bag in order to protect it when he frowns as he notices that the Floaters are making their own examination of the carrier. He doesn't want to upset them, but he also doesn't want them to potentially disturb any evidence such as possible DNA samples. A moment or so later, they 'levitate' off of the carrier, but before he can return it to the plastic bag, he stares as one or more of the Floaters display an image of Ilena on their 'body'.

When he thinks he can respond coherently, he says, "Yes, this was Ilena's when she was a baby." He can only guess they found traces of her DNA such as a hair or something and recognized it. If that's so, then these Floaters have already been in touch with Ilena before they found him a day's walk out in the forest. Either that or the Floaters are in telepathic communication with each other.

He shakes his head at what the ramifications of that might be then he returns the carrier to the plastic bag and closes it. As he looks up, his eyes open wide as he watches the Floaters join to form a sphere which then becomes a globe of the planet. Even though he's not sure he can comprehend it, he hesitates then asks, "You're in communication with all of the Floaters on the planet?"

He slumps down onto his chair while they flash multitudes of colors as though they're rewarding him for figuring it out. While he's not sure he can handle any more surprises, he manages to say, "Thank you for sharing your secrets with me." Before he can say more, the Floaters quickly move and seem to latch onto him as though they're hugging him and he belatedly tries to gently caress the ones he can reach while his mind seems to be overwhelmed.

It takes him several minutes to partially recover and when he thinks he can function to a small degree, he sends out a written message to a few people and requests that they meet with him tomorrow in his office conference room. Once that is accomplished, he sighs, takes another drink, and pets the Floaters for a little longer. Reluctantly, he picks up his personal communicator, hesitates, turns it on, and starts to wade through all of the messages which have come in over the last three days.

Chapter 82

Chet reluctantly goes to work this morning and isn't sure whether to be upset or surprised when Karina and the rest of the office staff warmly welcome him back since he knows he's guilty of abandoning them without even a message. During some of the meetings which had been rescheduled, he's able to give a generic answer to where he was over the last few days. Since most people are much more concerned about their situation instead of his, they don't question him except for some of those who thought their situation was of the utmost importance and shouldn't have had any delay in being addressed.

He manages to stay mostly calm for the morning then gladly takes a break for lunch. Thankfully, people allow him to eat without bugging him although he notices that a number of glances are directed towards him. He almost wishes Ilena was here to talk to, but he's also not sure he's ready to face her. Then he reminds himself that he'll be seeing her in a little while at the planned meeting, assuming she decides to join them.

When the requested attendees are gathered in the conference room, he starts, "Since you all know each other, I won't bother with introductions." He briefly hesitates then slightly turns and says, "Ilena, several days ago when we were talking, you said you didn't know anything about your parents which made you suspect they might have abandoned you. Since I wouldn't want anyone to feel as though they had been abandoned by their parents, I did some research."

He pauses then sets the carrier on the table and asks, "Does this look familiar to you?"

"No more than any other baby carrier."

"This is the carrier which you were found in on the doorstep at the Order."

Her eyes open wide and she turns to Mother Superior and asks, "Really?"

"Yes. That is correct. I'll admit we didn't make a lot of effort to find out who were parents were because the assumption was made that you were left with us because your parent or parents were no longer able to care for you for whatever reason. We kept it, first of all, in case somebody did come to us and claim to be your parents, and, secondly, that once you became an adult, if you decided you weren't interested in becoming a sister, you might like to have it available for your own child. Since it didn't take up much space and we have plenty of storage room, there was no problem for us to keep it although most of us forgot about it over the years."

"Oh, thank you for keeping it and telling me about it."

"You're entirely welcome. If Chet no longer needs it as evidence to prove your identity, then you are free to take it with you."

"Thank you again. Chet?"

"As long as you're willing to make it available in case the judges want to examine it before they make a ruling in regards to your identity, then you are free to take possession of it."

"Thank you. . . . I guess I don't understand something. How could a baby carrier be used to prove my identity?"

"Will you please look at the top of the handle and read what is written there?"

She stands up, pulls the carrier closer, looks at the handle, and says in surprise, "It's my name, Ilena. . . . Except that's not very specific to be able to identify someone."

"That's true. However, notice that the letters are all in upper case and that there are small black marks after each letter."

"I see them."

"When I looked at them even with a magnifying glass, most of them still looked like small black marks, but a few of them looked like letters. That encouraged me to take a high resolution photograph of the handle which I was then able to greatly enlarge. What I found is that Ilena isn't actually your name. It is an acronym of your full name."

She roughly sits down in her chair as she stares at him and is glad for Karina's warm hug. Before she can ask it herself, she hears Mother Superior ask, "An acronym?"

Chet answers, "That's right," then turns back to Ilena and says, "I suspect your parents planned on calling you Ilena and spelled it in the common language because your full name is spelled out in an old Earth language and I had to do a little research to be able to transliterate your full name."

"Wh . . . what's my full name?"

"If you will direct your attention to the monitor, you will see your full given and baptismal name displayed which is Ivanova Larissa Elianna Nikita Alexandria."

Ilena just stares at it for awhile before she asks, "Can you tell me what it is again?"

He repeats it then hands her a piece of paper as he explains, "Here is a copy of what is displayed and I've added the transliteration."

She reads it to herself several times then asks, "This is really my name?"

"Yes."

She shakes her head in disbelief or not understanding or some similar emotion before a thought occurs to her although she hesitates a little longer before she says, "I guess I can understand why they planned to call me Ilena since I don't think my parents would want to call me by my full name if they were trying to get my attention or something."

There are several chuckles in understanding.

"Thank you for finding out what my full name is, but . . . how does this identify me or my parents?"

"Because according to the official planetary records, Ivanova Larissa Elianna Nikita Alexandria was presumed to have died in the air vehicle wreck which killed her parents although her body was never recovered and was assumed to have been taken away from the wreck by some native animal." All eyes turn to look at him in surprise.

"I'm dead?"

"Of course you aren't. The same day that your parents died, in fact less than a couple of hours later, you were found on the doorstep of the Order."

"But . . ." she doesn't know how to ask the question.

Mother Superior asks, "If Ilena was in an air vehicle wreck, how did she end up on our doorstep?"

"I don't have any way to prove it, but while the authorities at the time assumed she had been killed in the wreck and then her body was devoured by a wild animal, I suspect what really happened is that the carrier here protected her enough so she wasn't killed and when the wrecked air vehicle landed on the ground, one of the native animals picked up her carrier while she was still inside of it and carried it to the Order's doorstep."

Charles's eyes widen as a thought occurs to him, then he hesitates to express it, "But that would mean . . ."

Chet nods his head as he responds, "The native species are more intelligent and aware then we give them credit for and may even be anthro-equivalent."

"Oh, my! That could change a lot of things."

"I agree and it's something which needs to be investigated further and very carefully. However, it's not the topic of this meeting."

Chapter 83

Chet briefly pauses then continues, "Assuming that my guess is correct, then that means, Ilena, you weren't abandoned by your parents. It also means you are very important to the natives of this planet for them to make the effort to rescue you from the wreck and carry you to the Order for them to take care of you. If you were not important to them, then there would have been no reason for them to rescue you. Not only that, but what I've been able to discover so far is that you were also very important to your parents and they were important people."

It takes her a few minutes to try to understand all that she's heard. She's sure she'll come up with many more questions, but the first one which occurs to her is, "My parents were important?"

"Yes, they were. Although they each had been awarded their doctoral degrees only a few months before you were born, their joint dissertation on the interaction between the flora and fauna on this planet was already causing quite a stir among scientists. I can provide you with a reference to their dissertation which was published with some of their preliminary reports under their titles of Doctor Jakobinski which is also your surname."

"Jakobinski?"

"That's right."

She thinks about everything for a little longer then asks, "But, if the official records say that I'm dead, then I don't officially exist or am a citizen or an adult or anything." She leans into Karina's embrace and struggles to not burst into tears.

Chet briefly closes his eyes then says, "Ilena, I don't mean to be harsh with you, but quit sounding like a fool."

Her eyes aren't the only ones which widen in surprise and stare at him.

"You obviously exist otherwise Karina wouldn't be able to hug you and in regards to official records, this isn't the first time they've been wrong. When the judges are satisfied with the evidence that you are Ivanova Larissa Elianna Nikita Alexandria Jakobinski then they can remove the erroneous entry and combine that record with your record as Ilena and instead of you being shown in the records as two people, you will be one complete person."

"But . . . but what if they don't accept the evidence?"

"Then they're not worthy of their positions especially since the official record is a presumption of your death as a baby instead of as an established fact. Not only that, but your DNA is a perfect match to the DNA which is recorded for Ivanova Larissa Elianna Nikita Alexandria Jakobinski when she was born."

Charles nods his head as he confirms, "Chet is correct. DNA evidence is considered scientifically irrefutable in identifying a person."

She thinks about that for a little while then looks at the paper Chet handed her and says, "That means I really am Ivanova Larissa Elianna Nikita Alexandria Jakobinski?"

Chet and Charles respond almost in unison, "That's right," and grin at each other.

"So, why do I have such a long name?"

"That must mean you're very very important."

"Chet!?!"

"What?"

"A long name doesn't have anything to do with somebody's importance."

"Neither does a job title." He quickly holds up his hand to stop her protest. "In regards to why you have a long given name, I can't answer that."

"I know. I suppose it's something I'll never know."

"That's not necessarily true."

"Well, I can't very well ask my parents."

"That's true, but you could ask your grandparents."

"My . . . grandparents? I have grandparents?"

"Everybody has grandparents. Fortunately for you, your maternal grandparents are still alive."

"They are?"

"Yes."

"What about my . . . paternal grandparents?"

"They left the planet a number of years ago and since I found out what their names are just a few days ago, there hasn't been time to get a response back as to their current location."

Her eyes widen then she asks, "Does that mean that my maternal grandparents are here?!?"

"They're not at this station, but they are on the planet."

"Oh my. . . . I . . . I'm not sure how to respond."

"That's okay. You can take your time to consider all of this because I know it's a lot of surprising information which I've dumped on you in a short period of time."

The others let her think for awhile then she says, "Chet, thank you for all of your research and for finding out who I am. . . . Is there a reason you went to such an effort?"

"First of all, I don't want you or anybody I know to think they were abandoned by their parents. Secondly, it was an attempt to try to convince you that you are not just a lowly farm girl who is not good enough to be with anyone you wish to spend time with. Although I didn't think of it ahead of time, another reason is to demonstrate to you that the native beings believe you are important enough to spend time with them and they thought you're important enough that they rescued you when you were still only a baby."

He briefly pauses then continues, "A totally unexpected result of my research is that I found out you are a unique individual, not just as a person, but in regards to your status on this planet."

"How can I be unique?"

"You are the only adult who is a third generation human native on this planet because one of your grandparents was the first recorded human to be born on this planet."

"That makes it sound more like my grandparent was unique instead of me."

"To some degree that's true. However, if the citizens of this planet decide it's time to form a representative government instead of having a planetary administrator, . . . then you are the only person who meets the initial qualification to be the Prime Minister."

She just stares at him for a long time before she incredulously asks, "Me?!?"

"Yes, you and only you. . . . You're free to take your time here in this room to talk things over with your friends. If you have any further questions which they are unable to answer, write them down and I'll try to answer them. In the meantime, I have to go to another meeting." Before more can be said, he steps through the door into his office.

Chapter 84

Over the last couple of days, people who attended his meetings were beginning to wonder if Chet was purposely trying to irritate or upset them. More than once when somebody asked him if he was paying attention, Chet responded, "When you have something worth hearing then I'll listen. In the meantime, prattle on and I'll take the opportunity to get some real work done."

When Karina or Ilena tried to get him to take a break for lunch or dinner, he claimed to have brought his meal with him and had too much work to do to take a break from his 'oh so important job'. Each of the ladies had winced at his sarcastic tone. Ass was astounded when he tried to politely ask Chet what was the matter and Chet rather bluntly told him to mind his own business then returned to the subject being discussed.

Last night, after he finally left the office and went to his quarters, he felt like he was going to explode with frustration. His guilt at how he has been treating those who have tried to be friendly towards him only added to his feelings. Then he really had to struggle to not be angry at the Floaters who have stayed with him when they tried to cheer him up with their light display then settled on him and moved their bodies as though they were attempting to give him something like a massage which he couldn't feel.

* * * * *

Now that it's halfway through the night, he knows he isn't going to be able to fall asleep so he again packs a few things, sets up a delayed written message from his personal communicator to say he's going back into the forest and to leave him alone, leaves his communicator in his quarters, grabs his walking stick, and leaves. This time, he requests that the Floaters block him from both optical and infrared sensors.

Since the light from the station penetrates a little ways into the forest, he hopes he's far enough away that the light from his flashlight won't be noticed when he finds it necessary to turn it on. He walks for an hour or so and when he's far enough into the forest that he's sure he won't be seen or heard, he requests that the Floaters move away from him so he won't possibly harm them.

After a brief pause, he releases his hold on his feelings and attacks the nearest mature tree with his walking stick and continues to slam the tree with rapid blows until he doesn't have the strength to hold it up. When his breathing has mostly settled, he screams out his frustration and again attacks the tree until he can no longer stand up and falls to the ground where he sobs in despair. Eventually, his exhausted body ignores the turmoil in his mind and he falls asleep.

* * * * *

In the morning, when they see the delayed message from Chet, Ass, Karina, and the Constable are alarmed and quickly get in touch with each other. None of them want to consider why he didn't include Ilena in the message. They also can't think of what they can do to help Chet, especially if they can't find him. Ass reluctantly suggests it might be time to contact the Oversight Committed about providing somebody to take over Chet's position, except that it can take months to work through the process. Karina wonders if Regit might be more willing to help them find him this time and decides to talk to Ilena about the possibility.

Later, after he's had a chance to review the security recordings, the Constable lets Ass and Karina know there's no record of Chet leaving and she says she's already confirmed he's not in his quarters. When Ass asks how it's possible for Chet to leave the station undetected, the Constable suggests that maybe Chet has mapped out the coverage of the sensors and found some blind spots. Ass briefly considers that then even as he wonders how it could be done, he suggests Chet may have been able to program the security system to 'look the other way' when he left.

After they disconnect the call, the Constable sighs in relief that he was able to avoid telling about Chet's secret. He doesn't even want to consider what the 'powers that be' might do to their planet, or more specifically, to the Floaters or other species in an attempt to exploit their abilities. While he wishes he didn't know about the secret, he also doesn't like to not be truthful to his co-workers, especially if Chet might be putting himself into danger, either intentionally or otherwise.

* * * * *

After he wakes up, Chet is quite content to just lay there and never move, except that he's not inclined to piss in his clothes. He takes care of that business then starts to walk deeper into the forest. As he walks, a part of his mind pays attention to the flora and he semi-consciously plucks leaves, berries, and nuts along his path to eat. Although he had spent some time over the last couple of days to carefully study which plants and animals were considered non-toxic or even nutritional to humans, he's not ready to try to trap or kill any of the animals, not only from his lack of interest in doing so, but he's concerned about which ones may be possibly anthro-equivalent or a part of the Floaters communication network.

As he continues to walk, he seems to become aware that he's mostly just feeling numb and wonders if he's worked out the anger of his frustration or whether it's just waiting for some other kind of spark to light the fuse. He doesn't know and he's not sure that he cares. While he continues to pluck things to eat, a part of his mind notices which items seem to be more tasty while another part of his mind wonders why he's making the effort to continue his existence.

Whether he was mentally following the map he had made of the local area or whether the Floaters had somehow guided him, as the sun begins to set, he finds himself next to a small stream of water. After he takes a long drink and refills his canteen, he lays down a little ways away from the stream and before his mind can put together another coherent thought, he falls asleep.

Chapter 85

Last night, which was the end of the fourth day after Chet disappeared, Ass, Karina, and the Constable have become quite worried. At the same time, Ilena is almost frantic, especially since Regit continues to refuse to leave the farm or to make any attempt to find Chet. As much as she's ready to just go, in any direction, she's realistic enough to know she'll only succeed in getting herself lost.

This morning, as she again pleads with Regit, Ilena just stares as Regit starts to walk towards the community. Regit actually has to stop and turn back to look at her before Ilena seems to understand and hurries to follow. Ilena starts to go to her quarters, but Regit blocks her and guides her to Chet's office.

While she hopes that means Chet has returned, Regit again blocks her and pushes her to Karina's desk who tries to smile at them. She's not sure whether she's going to make a fool of herself, but she says, "Karina, I think Regit is finally going to guide me to Chet."

Her eyes open wide then she suggests, "Let's go see the Constable who can maybe provide you with some appropriate supplies." They quickly walk over to the detention center and when they tell the Constable what they think is happening, his own eyebrows lift in surprise, then he quickly agrees to provide Ilena with some supplies and for those things she's not familiar with, he carefully explains their use. Even though she doesn't want to delay any longer, she responds to the Constable's questions because he wants to make sure she understands everything which goes into the backpack he provides her.

When the backpack is mostly stuffed and water containers are attached to the outside, he makes sure it's not too heavy or awkward for her to carry. A couple of minor adjustments makes it more comfortable. He hesitates some then says, "What I can't provide for you is clean clothes so you'll need to go to your quarters before you leave and cram in what you can."

She slightly blushes then says, "I understand and thank you so much for helping me."

"If you can find Chet and get him to return I'll be the one who is in your debt."

She quickly hugs both him and Karina then turns and starts to walk to the door before she notices that Regit hasn't moved. She steps back and almost cries in her frustration, "Aren't we going to go find Chet?"

Although she knows Regit can't verbally answer her, she's still surprised when Regit pushes her nose against one of her pockets. She's puzzled by Regit's action then empties her pocket onto the table and the three of them stare as Regit extends a single claw and pushes Ilena's personal communicator away. A few moments later, Karina slightly recovers and says, "I'll hold onto this for you."

"Thank you." She picks up the rest of the items and puts them back into her pocket. Before she can ask Regit if she's now ready to leave, Regit presses her nose to one of the side pockets of the backpack.

The Constable sighs then pulls out the small radio and tracking device he had placed there. Regit seems to briefly pause in thought then stands up and pushes Ilena towards the door. She quickly leads the way to her quarters where she gets clean underwear and a change of clothes and once she stuffs them in, she can barely close the zipper on the backpack.

As they step out of her quarters, she locks her door then stares in surprise as several Floaters drift towards her and Regit. One settles on her head which isn't unusual since she's experienced it frequently on the farm where the Floaters will absorb her sweat while she works. A moment later, she is startled when the Floater covers her eyes and becomes opaque.

While she struggles not to panic, it takes her a few moments to realize that Regit is bumping her. Hesitantly, without her vision to guide her, she carefully feels along Regit's back then cautiously gets herself settled on Regit's back while she asks, "Is this necessary?"

She hears a soft grunt which she interprets as a, 'yes', then holds on tightly as Regit starts to walk. A little later, she recognizes when they walk through the front door of the quarters building but before she can begin to tell which direction they're headed, Regit quickly turns around a couple of times which totally disorients Ilena then Regit takes off at a run. Even as she wonders at the need for secrecy, she's unaware that several Floaters have covered her and Regit to make them invisible to visual observation or that a couple of deputies had been quickly stationed outside the quarters building with darts containing transmitters which they had been instructed to shoot into her backpack.

When he thinks more than enough time has passed, the Constable activates his radio to contact his deputies and asks, "Has Ilena and Regit left yet?"

"No sir. The door to the building briefly opened then closed, but nobody came out."

He pauses to absorb that then says, "Okay. I'll be there shortly to check her quarters." A few minutes later, he tells the deputies, "Well, we might as well head back to the office because they're gone."

"How did they leave?"

"I don't know. I guess Regit is smarter than we give her credit."

"But the only way out of the building is through the front door. If they used the emergency exit or even broke through a window, the alarms would have sounded."

"Since I can't imagine how she might have been able to bypass the alarms, I'm willing to listen to any other theory you might have."

"Sorry, Chief, but there weren't handing out theories with breakfast this morning."

Chapter 86

Without any visual reference, Ilena has no idea how long she's been riding Regit or how far they might have traveled when Regit rather quickly slows down, takes a few walking steps, then sits down which causes Ilena to slide off of her. Suddenly the daylight is blinding as the Floater which was blocking her vision has either moved or become transparent. When her eyes have adjusted to the light but before she can begin to panic because Regit is no longer right in front her, Ilena sees that Regit is a few feet away and is drinking from a small stream.

Ilena cautiously stands up then steps over to the stream, hesitates a moment then scoops up some water in her hand, but most of it spills out before she can get it to her mouth. Since she doesn't remember ever drinking from anything other than a glass or a faucet, she makes several other attempts, but has little success. A moment later, she tries to drink like Regit is by leaning over and lapping up the water, but all that seems to get wet is her tongue and nose.

She sits back up, thinks for a little while then tries to scoop the water up with both of her hands pressed together to form a cup. She's able to pick up more water, but when she tries to pour it into her mouth, most of it goes down the front of her shirt. Finally, she figures out that if she picks up the water in two hands then leans over, she can suck the water into her mouth as though she's using a straw.

A couple of moments later, she realizes it would have been a whole lot easier if she had taken a drink from one of water containers then refilled it from the stream. When the thought crosses her mind that the water might not be safe for her to drink, she decides it's too late to worry about that now. She turns her head and notices that Regit appears to be done drinking and is just looking at her.

Although her mind begins to fill with questions which would be difficult for Regit to answer, Ilena tries to think of something appropriate then asks, "Where's Chet?"

Regit looks across the stream into the forest, stands up, hops over the stream, and starts to walk away. Ilena quickly scrambles to her feet, hesitates, throws the backpack across the stream, and hopes nothing breaks because she's not sure she can jump that far with the extra weight. She takes a few steps back to have a running start, jumps, and lands on the other side of the stream, but stumbles to her knees. She stands back up, grabs the backpack, and as she tries to get the backpack settled while she starts to trot, she gasps out, "Wait for me," and wonders how many more things she's going to have to do which she's never done before.

Thankfully, Regit is going slow enough that Ilena is able to catch up to her. When her breathing has settled and while she's a little worried that she's putting a lot of trust into her interpretation of Regit's actions, Ilena says, "Thank you for being willing to lead me to Chet." Regit lightly bumps her head against Ilena's leg which she interprets as either simple acknowledgment or as 'You're welcome'. She hesitates some then wonders out loud, "I wish I knew why you wouldn't help me find Chet a few days ago. If he's been walking this whole time, I'm not sure we'll be able to catch up to him."

* * * * *

Since Chet had sat up late last night just thinking while he watched the stars slowly move overhead, by the time he wakes up, it's past the middle of the morning. After he steps back into the forest a little ways to empty his bladder, he walks to the edge of the small lake he camped at, hesitates, takes off his clothes, hesitates some more, then swiftly steps into the cool water and washes his body as quickly as he can before he steps back out and crawls onto a nearby boulder which is already beginning to warm up in the sun.

Although his skin may not be completely dry or warmed up, he doesn't want to risk getting a sunburn so he gets his clothes on and makes some tea to help him feel warmer. When his cup is empty, he's considering what to do next when he hears movement coming closer. He quickly gets up, grabs his walking stick, but before he can get into a proper defensive position, he recognizes Regal who has visited him off and on over the last few days and even walked with him part of the time.

"Hello, Regal." A moment later, he notices and asks, "What do you have there?"

Regal drops a dead rabbit like creature at his feet then leans on him to be petted and scratched.

Chet briefly grimaces then says, "Thank you for bringing me some lunch. I guess I'd better finish fixing it." A few moments later, Regal steps away to get a drink from the lake. Chet bends over, picks up the creature, grabs his pot and knife, steps closer to the lake, hesitates, then begins to cut up the animal enough to remove the meaty portions.

He quickly washes those portions in the lake and cuts them into smaller pieces to go into the pot. When he's done, he offers the bones and organs to Regal who declines this time, and tosses the rest of the creature into the lake where the 'fish' there quickly recycle the creature. Since he doesn't have a fat type substance and didn't want to search the dead creature for something similar in order to fry the meat, he adds some water to his pot, throws in some berries and nuts he's picked and starts to heat the pot to make a kind of soup.

He remembers when he was young, he put up with being called a coward by his siblings and schoolmates when he didn't want to butcher some of the farm animals. However, when his grandmother took him aside and agreed it wasn't a pleasant chore, but life wasn't just doing pleasant things, he learned how to take care of dead animals as efficiently and quickly as possible. He shakes his head as he wonders if his grandmother was prophetic when she said that one day he would be glad to know how to do it.

When the soup is boiling, he turns off the mini-stove, pours some of the 'broth' into his cup, and uses a twig he shaped to spear the pieces of meat. Although the nuts were softened by the boiling water, they're still too firm to spear so he uses a spoon to eat those and when the 'broth' has cooled enough, he drinks the berry and meat flavored water. After he's eaten enough and cleaned up his other utensils, he covers the pot and plans to have the leftovers for dinner.

Again, he considers what to do next, but without any real ambition, he leans on the warm boulder and lets his thoughts wonder. He supposes he probably ought to head back to the station at some point in time, but just not now. He's also half tempted to stay right here, but he's sure he would get tired of the limited diet as well as doesn't have either the knowledge or the resources to fully live off of the land. Nor does he want to rely on Regal to supply him with meat and he doesn't remember reading which fish like creatures were edible. Eventually, he drifts off to sleep.

* * * * *

They stop at another stream to drink then Ilena is surprised to see Regit step away from the stream and lay down. It takes her a little while to realize that the light is fading which means the sun is setting. Although she thought she had understood the Constable's instructions, it's still partially a trial and error effort for her to lay out the ground sheet then open up the sleeping bag before the light totally disappears. Since she doesn't feel confident enough to work the mini-stove, especially since it's becoming harder to read the directions, she settles for a dinner of a couple of energy bars and a drink of water.

She's very glad Regit is willing to stay with her otherwise she would be too afraid to even try to sleep. When she was younger, she thought she had been very brave to spend a night 'outdoors' even if it was in the barn while she was surrounded be her friends. She manages to stumble a little ways away to empty her bladder then has to use the flashlight to find the sleeping bag. That seems to remind her that she's again doing something for the first time and that she's out in the wild and by herself. Before her mind is able to find more to worry about, her tired body puts her to sleep.

Chapter 87

When Ilena wakes up this morning, she knows that everything is different before she even opens her eyes and that makes her hesitate to open them. Reluctantly, she opens her eyes and sees tree limbs above her, but before she can panic with the thought that they're falling towards her, her mind seems to realize they're simply moving in the breeze. She turns her head and takes a moment to recognize the backpack the Constable let her use. She moves her eyes further then sighs in relief as she recognizes Regit.

By then, her bladder seems to have woken up, so she starts to get up and feels stiff from walking so long. She manages to get her shoes on and after she takes care of her bladder, she realizes she feels somewhat uncomfortable from sleeping in her clothes. Because she has no idea how long it will be before she gets back to the station, she decides she had better get used to wearing the same clothes for more than one day at a time.

With the morning light, she's able to read the directions and starts the mini-stove to heat up some water then adds a mixture to make a sort of porridge. Since she doesn't have anything with her to flavor it, it's rather bland even if it has all the necessary nutritional requirements. She cleans up after her meal, refills her water bottles from the stream and is just finishing stuffing everything in the backpack when she more senses than hears something approaching.

She quickly looks at Regit who seems to be unperturbed, but is looking into the forest. As Ilena follows Regit's gaze, her eyes open wide to see another of Regit's species, only this one is even bigger. It takes her a little longer to realize it has something in its mouth which it sets in front of Regit before they briefly touch noses.

As Regit starts to eat, Ilena feels a flash of guilt that she never considered Regit needed to find food. That thought is soon set aside as the other creature steps closer, slowly looks her over, then steps still closer to sniff at her. A moment later, it bumps her side and after she hesitates some, she lifts her hand and scratches it behind the ears and it seems to lean a little more onto her and she can almost feel its rumble more than hear what she interprets as its purr.

A little later, it steps away and goes over to Regit where they seem to playfully swat at each other for a little while then Ilena realizes this new creature is a male. She can only seem to stare at their interaction then the male again approaches her, then bumps into her a couple of times. She's not sure how to interpret his action even though it's similar to how Regit encourages her to ride, but his back is higher than her waist which makes her doubt that she could even climb onto him.

Her eyes open wider as she watches him lay down then Regit bumps her closer to him. She hesitates some more then stretches a leg across his body before she cautiously leans over to place her hands on his shoulder. When he doesn't do anything, she slowly lays down on him. Since she's not sure she can reach around his thick neck to hold onto him especially without potentially chocking him, she hesitates then snugly grips some of the loose fur on the sides of his neck.

Apparently, he's not offended because a moment or so later, he surges to his feet while she tries to tighten her grip. He pauses then shakes his body a little as though to settle her more comfortably on his back before he starts to walk. When he begins to trot, she's not sure she'll survive such teeth smashing treatment for long, but he soon stretches out his stride into a kind of lope and she imagines this is what it feels like to ride a boat in gently rolling waves.

She has no idea how long he runs with her on his back while Regit keeps pace, but the rest of the forest seems to be simply a blur. Eventually, he slows down then sits and Ilena stiffly gets off of him and reminds herself to say, "Thank you, sir, for the ride." He lightly bumps her then steps over to the small stream and joins Regit in getting a drink.

After she gets her own drink, Ilena notices that it's about noon and since neither Regit nor her male friend seem to be in any hurry to move on, she gets out some food to eat. When she looks up again, she notices the male has disappeared then Regit lays down next to her and seems to doze off. Ilena finishes her meal then steps a little ways away to empty her bladder and is glad to be able to wash her hands in the stream. She sits back down next to Regit and rests while she briefly thinks about all of the new things she's experienced.

Soon, the male returns and she's surprised he lays down next to her on her other side. A moment later, he lays his massive head on her legs then Regit gets up and leaves. Ilena just stares then almost cries out at feeling like she's being abandoned. Then she's startled when the male lightly bumps his head onto her chest. As she stares at his head, one of her hands seems to naturally lift up to scratch him. Soon, she becomes aware of his deep rumble which she interprets as contentment and slowly calms down.

A moment later, her eyes open wider as she seems to hear Chet's words that she's important to the native beings then realizes she wasn't abandoned, but that her guardians are simply taking turns being with her while the other takes care of their own needs. As she considers that some more, she hopes she can remember to view their action with gratitude rather than to think that she somehow egotistically deserves to be treated by them as someone important. Then she seems to realize that she is important to them, not because she has some sort of status, but simply because she and they are beings who care about each other as friends.

It's not that much longer before Regit returns and as she and the male get another drink, Ilena gets up and moves around a little to loosen up her muscles. When the two stand up from the stream, she tells them, "Thank you both for staying with me and for helping me to find Chet. I wish I knew how to more clearly express my gratitude."

They walk over to each side of her and seem to gently squeeze her between them while she grins in delight and scratches their heads. Soon, he steps away then Regit lightly bumps her and it dawns on her that they're taking turns letting her ride so she gratefully gets on Regit's back. Moments later, the forest becomes another blur and she briefly forgets about her 'mission' and simply enjoys riding Regit like she used to do as a little girl.

They take another break next to a stream for a long drink then Ilena feels more confident when she gets on his back for another ride. She briefly wonders how far they've traveled then her eyes widen in surprise as she realizes that however far it's been, Chet walked this whole distance. She can't imagine how long it would have taken her to walk this far considering how much faster Regit and her male friend are moving. Nor would she have known in which direction to move to find streams to drink from or what might be edible so her meager supplies might last long enough.

Chapter 88

When they slow down to a walk then stop, Ilena stiffly gets off of his back and says, "Thank you, again, sir, for the ride. I can't imagine trying to walk so far." After he lightly bumps her, she looks around, but doesn't see a stream. As she looks some more, it appears there's a clearing ahead and after Regit lightly bumps her to start her moving, she follows the male as he walks forward.

Ilena briefly stares at the small lake, then turns as she hears, "Well, hello, Regal," and sees Chet turn away to set a pole of some sort to the side. "Have you been up to mischief?" Chet turns back, sees her and Regit, and asks, "Oh. Are you the advance scouts of the 'rescue' party?"

She flushes at his bitter tone then answers, "No. Regit wouldn't bring me until I turned over my communicator to Karina and the Constable removed the tracking device he put in my backpack."

He pauses then says, "Well, you might as well come on in and find a seat in my new palace." She hesitates then starts to walk closer. "Would you care for some 'native tea'?"

She looks at him in surprise then asks, "Native tea?"

"Well, it's not really tea, but I ran out of regular tea and found some leaves and berries which make a pleasant drink or I least I think so and it hasn't poisoned me yet."

"I'm willing to try it. Thank you."

He briefly looks at her then starts to prepare the drink.

When the drink is prepared and he pours some into her cup, she has to let it cool for a little while before she takes a couple of sips then says, "This is kind of nice. Thank you."

"You're welcome." A little later he says, "If you're not the advance scouts, then why did you talk Regit into looking for me?"

"Because I selfishly need and want to be with you."

His eyebrows lift in surprise then he says, "The last time we talked, you didn't want to spend time with me because I had an 'important' job."

"And I was being a complete fool." She notices his eyes open wider in surprise, but before he can verbally respond, she continues, "I still don't know why I ignored all that you were telling me which was reinforced by both Karina and Mother Superior and that bothers me. Chet, I know you have every reason to be upset and angry with me for how I treated you, but if can possibly forgive me, I really do want to be with you."

"I . . . I'm sorry I couldn't be more patient, but . . . well, . . . I guess I reached my limit and couldn't take any more rejection."

"I understand. You actually showed me a lot of patience especially while you repeated yourself multiple times to try to make me understand your feelings. And then you made such a big effort to find out who I really am in order to convince me that I am important enough to be with whoever I want to be with. And I want to be with you as a person regardless of whether you're the Planetary Administrator or a lowly farm boy."

She's glad to see a bare hint of a smile on his face before he says, "Thank you. . . . Do I dare ask what changed your mind?"

"I can't say any one thing did. Part of it was that my mind kept repeating the things you told me about how I was good enough to be with whoever I wanted to be with. Part of it was feeling like I was desperately missing your sincere and warm hugs and the wonderful affection you were sharing with me. Part of it was feeling as though Regit wouldn't take me out to look for you because she was punishing me for being a fool.

"Part of it was from hearing how some of my female classmates thought about paying attention to you, not because of who you are as a person, but because of how they thought you could benefit them by taking them to parties, by giving them fancy gifts, and by introducing them to other important people because you're an important person. That only reinforced to me the idea that you are special to me because of who you are as a person and how you treat me as a person which doesn't have anything to do with what your job is. I suppose there might be some other factors, but those are the larger things which seem to stick in my mind."

"Thank you for telling me."

While she's afraid she's going to push him too hard or too fast, yet she doesn't think she can wait a minute longer, she manages to hesitate a little more then asks, "Chet?"

"Yes, Ilena?"

"Will you hug me?"

His eyebrows lift in surprise then he seems to consider several things before he asks, "Are you sure?"

"I'm more sure of that than I am of anything else."

He seems to take his time to slowly stand up, but as soon as he opens his arms, she seems to fly to him and as his arms slowly encircle her, she tightens her grip on him and bursts into tears. A little later, one of his arms more snugly holds her while his other hand reaches up to caress her hair and face and she tries to press herself even closer to him.

Neither of them is aware of the passage of time. Eventually, her tears diminish and she tells him, "This is where I belong. . . . I know that sounds selfish and I don't want to dictate to you or to run your life, but . . . I don't want to be anywhere else then here in your arms."

He thinks of a lot of things then sighs and quietly admits, "Although I have to keep reminding myself that you need to look after your own self-interests and to secure your own future, . . . well, to be honest about my own selfish interests, . . . I don't want you to be anywhere else."

"Thank you, Chet. I know I don't deserve all of the patience and kindness you're shown me, but that you still want me in spite of how I treated you, . . . I'll never be able to express how much that means to me." One of her hands gently moves his head and she kisses him as long and as thoroughly as she can.

Their kisses go on around breathing breaks which are kept as short as possible until they're startled at feeling something bump into them. They quickly look and their eyes open in surprise as they realize that Regit and Regal are gently trying to press them closer to each other. They briefly chuckle then Chet braces himself on Regal and grunts out, "Oh."

"What's the matter?"

"I stood still for too long." He carefully moves his legs a little then lowers himself to sit on the ground with a relieved sigh.

"I'm sorry."

He gently pulls on her to sit down next to him and says, "Please don't feel sorry. To have you so warmly and sincerely in my arms again was worth more than forgetting about my limitations."

"But I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Stiff joints are much less painful than thinking you didn't want to be with me."

"Oh . . . ."

He quickly places a finger over her lips as he says, "No, 'sorry'," then replaces his finger with his lips and she quickly responds.

Chapter 89

When they take a longer breathing break, Ilena asks, "What do you call your large friend?" as she nods her head towards him since he's sitting next to Chet and appears to enjoy his petting and scratching.

"Regal."

"How did you come up with that name?"

"Well, I tried to think of something similar to Regit. I guess I thought of doing that to indicate they're the same species. And since he's so large, I guess I thought of him as kind of a king. Of course, since we know so little about their species, Regit and Regal could possibly be children although I doubt it."

"That makes sense."

"I never did ask, but how did you come up with Regit as a name for her."

She slightly blushes then admits, "Well, when I first met her when I was a little girl, I had no idea of what to call her and couldn't very well ask what her name already was. I guess I never really thought about her being a member of an entire species instead of as a unique individual. Since nobody seemed to know what she was and the closest picture I could find in a children's animal book which looked like her was a tiger, well, I spelled tiger backwards and she seemed to accept that."

Chet briefly stares at her then laughs before he says, "I've heard of a lot of worse explanations for how a name was chosen." He pauses to consider where to take the conversation when Regal bumps him and he looks at Regal's head then follows the direction of his gaze. His eyes open wider as he sees a dead animal which he automatically classifies as some sort of deer or antelope.

He briefly hesitates then says, "I wish we could communicate better because I certainly don't want to insult or offend you. . . . Did you bring that for our dinner?" He gets bumped. "Thank you very much, but I'm sure it has much more meat than Ilena and I can eat or even try to keep for a couple of days."

Regal just looks between him and the animal then a thought occurs to Chet and he asks, "Or is it dinner for all of us?" He gets bumped. "Thank you again, Regal. . . . In that case, I assume I should remove some meat from it for Ilena and I and then you and Regit will share the rest." He gets bumped. "Okay. . . . I certainly don't want to infringe on what you and Regit would like to eat so I'm not sure how much to remove for Ilena and I."

He's not surprised to get bumped again, but interprets this one as 'take what you want, if we want more, we can get another one'.

"Thank you, Regal. Well, I guess I had better get busy so we can all have dinner before it gets too dark to see what I'm doing." He pushes himself up, flexes his knees some since they were starting to get stiff then goes over to his backpack, thinks for a little while, looks back at the animal, thinks a little more than picks up his knife and the single plate he has. He walks over to the animal, looks at it a little longer, grimaces, then kneels down, hesitates a little longer, then starts to skin the animal near its hind quarters.

Ilena barely hesitates to walk over then asks, "How can I help?"

"Um, if you're not too bothered by what I'm doing, if you could hold onto the plate for when I'm ready for it, I would appreciate it."

"I'm not bothered. I've watched some of the other men butcher the animals on the farm. When I asked if they could teach me how, they looked at me as if I was crazy or something. One of them said I was a girl while another said I was too young then they said together, 'Both'. I never asked again."

"Well, then, you're less bothered about it than I am."

"It bothers you to butcher an animal?"

"Yes. And that's one of the reasons I was a failure as a farm boy."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"There's no need for you to feel sorry. It's just the way I was made or something."

"Were you forced to learn?"

"Not really. Some of my siblings and classmates thought I was a coward for not wanting to cut up animals, but they were more interesting in slashing it and thought it was fun to get all bloody. My grandmother sympathized with me and agreed it was an unpleasant chore then taught me how to butcher an animal as quickly and efficiently as possible. She told me that life is seldom pleasant and that someday I would need to know how to do it. I guess she was right."

A few minutes later, he has several strips of meat laying on the plate then says, "Thank you, Regal, and I hope I've left enough for you and Regit to enjoy." He gets lightly bumped then Regal picks up the animal and walks a little ways into the woods with Regit to share their meal.

Since he had been concerned about the limited fuel in his mini-stove, Chet had previously gathered some fallen branches to have an open fire. After he starts a new fire, he gets out some thin metal spikes from his backpack which have a number of uses and uses some of them to skewer the meat strips he cut. Because the spikes can screw together, he's able to push one end of the doubled spike into the ground near the fire while the other end holds the meat up to be cooked.

He keeps the fire fairly small to reduce how quickly he uses up the branches he's gathered as well as to reduce the risk of it spreading beyond control. As a result, the meat cooks more slowly which makes it less likely that one side will be charred while the other side is still raw, especially when he turns the spikes every few minutes. While the meat is cooking, he steps down to the lake and after he fills his pot with water, he prepares some 'native tea' then sets the pot right next to the fire to heat up.

For the most part, they quietly sit next to each other and turn the meat. When it appears as though some of the meat is done, he uses the plate to cut it into bite size pieces then apologizes for the limited meal and shows her how to use a metal spike to stab the meat to avoid getting greasy or burnt fingers. Neither of them is sure how to describe the taste of the meat nor are they able to compare it to something similar, but they aren't sure how much of that is due to the different type of animal or to cooking it outdoors over a wood fire.

Chapter 90

Once Chet and Ilena have eaten their fill, there's still a nice pile of bite sized pieces of meat which he puts into an airtight container to hopefully keep it from spoiling too soon. They clean up their cooking and eating utensils then take their time to sip the 'native tea'. As the fire diminishes to coals, they can more easily see the star studded sky which Ilena has seldom seen since there are always lights on around the station.

They take turns stepping a little further into the woods with their flashlights in order to empty their bladders. Although the hour isn't that late, it seems later than it is and after the stress of the day, they're more tired than they would normally be so they lay out their ground sheets next to each other. When she notices he only has a blanket, she almost offers to let him join her in the sleeping bag, but is sure he'll refuse. Besides, she's not sure two people could fit inside.

Since she feels unsure of what to do next, she watches him take off his boots before he lays on top of his blanket and turns on his side to watch her. After a brief hesitation, she takes off her shoes and lays down on top of her sleeping bag and turns towards him. She can barely see the expression on his face but suspects he's having some serious thoughts. A few moments later, he asks, "Ilena, do you really want to spend time with me?"

"Chet, more than just spend time with you, I want to be with you." She reaches out and places a finger on his lips before she continues, "I know I'm young and inexperienced and don't know what life will be like for me or what opportunities may come my way in the future, but for the last too many days, I felt like I was missing more than half of me. Even while I know I should think about what I want out of life and work towards a career and a future which is suited to who I am as a person and I know I shouldn't feel like I'm dependent on anyone, at the same time, I felt like I wasn't me without you. I know that doesn't sound very wise or intelligent and is very selfish on my part, but that's how I feel."

"Thank you for trying to express yourself. . . . I understand that feelings aren't always logical or sensible, but that doesn't mean they aren't real. It's always a balancing act in life as to when to rely on feelings or when to rely on logic and a person never knows which is the right choice until they're down the road some distance and then it's often too late to reverse your course."

She hesitates for awhile then softly asks, "How are you feeling or thinking in regards to us having a relationship?"

She's concerned when he rolls onto his back and looks at the stars, then his hand fumbles to find hers and she quickly grasps his hand. He seems to wait a long time before he answers, "To be blunt, my thoughts and feelings are contradictory. From my past experiences, seldom have my feelings led me to make a good choice. By the same token, my attempts to be logical didn't produce much better results.

"Since I'm old, or maybe just worn out before my time, and you're just starting out in life, then I should encourage you to look towards your own future and not get bogged down with me. . . . I'm also so bloody tired of trying to concern myself with everybody else's needs and wants and don't have any time to think about what I might want. But that's gone on for so long that sometimes I don't even know what I want other than to be left alone, especially since it's been so obvious over the course of most of life that nobody was really interested in spending time with me as a person.

"However, for you to say you want to spend time with me, well, I want to grab hold of that like a drowning man grabs onto a life line so I don't spend the rest of my life as a bitter lonely old man. At the same time, I know it's a reactionary feeling which is frequently the worst attitude to have in making an important decision. I certainly don't want to reject you because you're probably my last chance at happiness, but I also don't want to tie you down or cause you to regret being with me when I'm gone and you find yourself without a future."

She's not sure if she can feel his confusion or if his words brought her own doubts to the surface so it takes her a little while to respond, "Thank you for saying how you feel. I know I don't have your experiences, but from what you have said, I think I can understand how you arrived at your feelings."

"Thank you. . . . Well, since I'm beginning to feel tired and want to give you some more time to think about it . . . and I don't think I'm in any frame of mind to make a clear decision, I hope you sleep well." He releases her hand and moves just enough to get off of the blanket, spreads it over him, and closes his eyes.

"Before you fall asleep, can you help me sleep better?"

His eyes pop open, he turns his head towards her, then hesitates to ask, "How can I do that?"

"Roll towards me and kiss me good night."

Although he verbally hesitates, his body is already rolling onto his side then he says, "I can do that."

She scoots closer and as their lips meet and mesh, their upper arms seem to reach to pull the other closer and they each seem to sigh in relief as though this is right where they want to be. The kiss seems to continue a long time without escalating then they slightly lean away from each other and between one breath and the next, he falls asleep. She waits a little while then takes off her shirt and pants and slips into the sleeping back and pulls her clothes in with her to keep them warm. Moments later, she's asleep with a smile on her face.

* * * * *

Ass answers his communicator, "Is there anything to report?"

The technician responds, "I think I found where the Planetary Administrator is."

"Really? That's great. What was the clue or evidence?"

"I found the heat signature of a small open fire several miles west of College Station next to a small lake. Since there was no weather to cause a fire and it has remained contained and there are two human heat signatures near it and nobody else is reported to be anywhere near there, I'm making the assumption that it's him."

"Excellent. I think that's a very reasonable assumption. Please forward the coordinates to me and well done. I greatly appreciate your efforts."

"Actually, it was more a result of the computer spotting an unusual and unexpected heat source. All I did was confirm what the computers already detected and passed the information on to you."

"Okay, maybe you didn't hike out there and make a big effort to find him, but you were still alert enough to follow up on the unusual."

"Thanks, boss."

After he disconnects the call, Ass considers how to contact Chet without encouraging him to disappear back into the forest.

Chapter 91

As Chet wakes up in the morning, he smiles at the dream he had then frowns when he realizes that some elements of what he initially thought was a dream were more like a memory. He slowly opens his eyes and cautiously looks around and briefly smiles at recognizing Ilena then almost immediately groans in despair that his hiding place has been found. And if she could find him, admittedly with Regit's help, how much longer will it be before the 'authorities' find him and drag him back to work.

While he's more than half tempted to simply resign from his position, he doesn't want to dump his job on Ass even though he could handle it better than anyone else. And if he did submit a formal resignation to the Oversight Committee, it would take months before a replacement could arrive. He shakes his head as he realizes this is another 'damned if he does and damned if he doesn't' situation.

He deeply sighs, moves his blanket to the side, pulls his boots on, and walks a little way into the forest to relieve his bladder which has finally gotten his conscious attention. After he washes his hands in the lake, he grabs his pot, fills it with water, and breaks up some dead branches to start a small fire in order to heat the water to make some 'native tea'. Since he knows it will take some time for the water to heat, he folds up his blanket, and intends to sit on it to watch Ilena.

As soon as he sits down, he sees that her eyes are already open and he can't resist responding to her warm smile. A moment later, she says, "Good morning, Chet."

"Hello, Ilena. I hope you slept well."

"I slept very well after your kisses, but I think my bladder woke up faster than I did."

"I can understand that." His eyes widen to see her bare arm stretch out of the sleeping bag then he quickly turns around.

"I hope you didn't turn around because you think I'm unattractive."

"Of course not. I'm trying to treat you with respect and not take advantage of you."

She quickly gets her pants and shirt on and as she ties up her shoes, she tells him, "If my bladder wasn't being such a nuisance, I might be inclined to encourage you to take advantage of me."

His eyes open wide in surprise, but he can't think of a reasonable response before he hears her step away. He shakes his head in disbelief then moves over to add some wood to the fire and is glad to see the water is starting to get warm. He watches her walk to the lake to wash her hands, shakes them to knock off the excess water then hesitates to dry them on her pants.

"I guess I'm too much of a civilized girl, because I don't think I would want to bathe in the lake."

"It is rather chilly."

"You did?"

"Well, I waited until it was later in the morning then laid on the rock there for a little while after the sun had warmed it up. . . . I'm afraid I don't have much to offer in the way of breakfast."

"That's okay. I have a porridge type mix which I'm willing to share but it's rather bland."

"Well, I might be able to do something about that. If you can dig out your pot, I'll get some water to heat up and add some native flavoring.

"Native flavoring?"

"Nothing fancy, just some nuts and berries I picked while I was walking although I'm not sure how much I have left."

Her pot is soon full of water and sitting next to the fire to warm up. He pulls his pot away from the fire then carries it to the lake and cautiously lowers the pot to barely touch the lake which cools it down a little more quickly than the ambient air temperature will accomplish. After he pours the 'native tea' into their cups, he goes back to the lake to add water to the pot and starts another batch of 'native tea' and frowns as he realizes he's almost out of ingredients.

A few minutes later, the water in her pot is boiling and after she stirs in the porridge mix and it begins to solidify, she empties it onto his plate. She sits right next to him while they share the food and while she thoroughly enjoys their close proximity, she's not sure if he likes it or is nervous. Or maybe his feelings are jumping back and forth. When they're done eating, they clean up their utensils then sit down next to each other to slowly finish their tea.

He hesitates then says, "Thank you, Ilena for wanting to find me. I'm sorry I made things difficult for you."

"Chet, you have nothing to be sorry about in regards to how you treated me. Even when you were angry with me, I'm the one who pushed you there and if our roles had been reversed, I would have been a lot less patient with you."

"Thank you for that. I really don't want to go back, but I know I can't take care of either of us out here, nor do I want to put the burden on Regal or Regit to provide for us. Not only that, but I don't want you to suffer because I can't deal appropriately with my stress." He hesitates then sighs before he says, "I guess what I'm leading up to is that I think it's probably time to go back to the station . . ."

Chapter 92

A voice intrudes, "I totally agree."

Chet whips his head around then seems to slump in defeat before he says, "Hello, Charles."

"I'm on duty, sir."

"I've had more than enough of duty, thank you very much."

"I think I can understand that."

"Well, come on in and, if you're interested, I can share an attempt at making tea using local ingredients."

"Sure, why not. Thank you, Chet. Hello, Ilena."

"Good morning, Charles."

"I guess you were able to find him."

"I would have been lost without Regit."

"I would have also. If you don't mind my asking, how did you and Regit leave the quarters building?"

"It seemed like we went out the front door, but I can't be positive because one of the Floaters acted like a blindfold while I was on Regit's back and as soon as we stepped out of the building, Regit turned around a couple of times which totally disoriented me. I was lucky to hang onto her especially when she took off at a fast run almost before she stopped turning around."

Charles seems to briefly consider that before he nods his head then says, "Thank you for answering."

"Why did you ask?"

"I asked around after you left, but nobody claimed to have seen you. Of course, there's always the possibility that nobody was wondering around just then."

"I suppose that makes sense."

"You said a Floater blindfolded you?"

"Well, not directly, but the result was the same."

"Has anything like that happened before?"

"No. I'm used to them riding my head and absorbing my sweat when I'm working on the farm and sometimes they'll briefly cover my face, but that's the first time one of them turned opaque to where I couldn't see anything."

"Interesting. I guess there's more to them then we realize."

Chet pours the tea and offers some to Charles then asks, "So, how did you find us?"

"After I parked the air vehicle a little ways away, your large feline friends guided me here so I assumed that I was allowed to find you. Either that or they've made me a prisoner, but I'm not sure what kind of ransom they would require."

He very briefly grins at that then clarifies, "What I meant was, how did you even know where to look?"

"I'm tempted not to tell you so we can use the same trick again, but the computer program which reviews the satellite coverage spotted a controlled open fire."

"LIF!!"

"Sorry, Chet."

"No you're not."

Charles quickly responds, "You're right, I'm not sorry. Damn it, Chet, we were worried about you. None of us can understand how you've put up with all the crap that's been dumped on you for so long, but, at the same time, we were more than a little worried you might have gone off the deep end and you don't deserve to have your job destroy your life. Sometimes I wish you weren't so conscientious, but that's what makes you the best person for your job. Most of the rest of us would let our selfish interests take over or we'd tell the bozos where to shove their complaints. Actually, we'd probably do both."

"Well, I've actually been considering applying that second option."

"Good for you. I know you make an extreme effort to be polite and courteous, but sometimes people won't listen until they're smacked up alongside the head. And sometimes that doesn't even work."

"I know. Like Colonel Martin and Captain Stilson. Did they give any indication they understood they did something wrong?"

"Not at all. Up until the last moment, they kept hollering, 'you can't do this to me'."

"I guess that means their sentences were carried out."

"Yes. Since Roilee and Junior joined them, the medical school was delighted to have four reasonably healthy males especially since two of them were still rather young."

"Good. At least something positive come out of it."

"There was more than just that, but we can talk about that at another time. So, are you ready to go home?"

"Home? I'm not sure I can call it that any more. Damn. Why did I let them talk me into this stupid job?"

"I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but you were and still are the best qualified. You care about the people who live here and you care about the planet. No, you're not perfect, but nobody is. But considering that most of those who might be qualified for the position would ignore either the people or the planet, you're the best choice."

"Okay, Charles, that's more than enough praise since I have to live with myself and I know what kind of person I am."

"And I agree with Ass that you've eaten way more than your share of humble pie."

"Enough, Charles. I guess we ought to get packed up. I suppose I ought to be grateful you're here to give us a ride instead of having to walk the whole way back, but that just means I'm back in the rat race that much sooner." He reluctantly stands up and starts to gather his things then says, "Oh, if you can drop us off at our quarters, I think everyone would appreciate it if I can clean up some rather than look and smell like I've gone totally native."

They're soon ready and after Chet makes sure the fire is out and the ashes are well watered, he checks to make sure he's not leaving anything behind then follows Charles to the vertical landing air vehicle. Since neither Regit nor Regal are around, the humans assume they'll make their own way back to the station in their own time. After they're seated, Ilena says, "Thank you, Charles, for the use of the backpack."

"Go ahead and hang onto it. Who knows when 'his majesty' is going to want to visit his outdoor subjects again." He laughs at Chet's frown then shares a grin with Ilena as he tells her, "Stop by the office some time and we can restock the backpack and if there's something else you think might be helpful, let me know."

"Thank you, Charles."

A few minutes later, he lands the air vehicle in front of their quarters building and after he and Ilena get out, Chet says, "Charles, thank you for the ride and thank you for being a friend and I'm sorry I took my frustration out on you."

"Chet, no sorry's. Friendship isn't just during good times, it's more about helping each other through difficult times."

"That's true. Thank you again."

"You're welcome."

They turn and walk to the building then wave as Charles powers the air vehicle up and returns to his office.

"Chet, after you shower and take care of your backpack, will you join me for lunch?"

"I doubt if I'll have the time since there are probably more than a thousand messages on my communicator."

"Don't look at your communicator. You're off duty until after lunch and then you're only going to work a half of a day until dinner."

His eyes widen in surprise then he turns and notices her stern expression. He hesitates a little then bows his head and responds, "As you wish, my lady."

Her smile beams forth as she tells him, "That's better," then she thoroughly kisses him. Somehow, she restrains herself from insisting that he join her in the shower.

Chapter 93

They're sipping a cup of tea after they finished their lunch in the cafeteria when Ilena says, "Chet, I've been doing a lot of thinking. I would like you to train me in how to be the Prime Minister then you can quit your job and be my first advisor."

He barely avoids dropping his cup as he stares at her before he can exclaim, "Young lady, do you have any idea about what you're suggesting?"

"Not a clue. But I do know two things. One, I fully intend to be with you for the rest of your life and, two, if Charles is right about you being the best person for your job, then I don't want to learn from anyone else."

"I wouldn't want to wish my job or anything similar off onto you or anybody I care about."

"Are you going to allow me to be with you for the rest of your life?"

He eyes widen and he almost shakes his head before he realizes that would send the wrong message. He hesitates a little longer then says, "I . . . I . . . I don't dare to think about that either here or now."

As she sees him try to blink his tears away, she reaches out her hand to hold his as she tells him, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to push you. Shall we talk about it later?"

He just nods his head. A moment later, he picks up his tea cup then has to quickly grab it with his other hand in order to hold it steady enough to drink. After a few minutes, a few more sips of tea, and several deep breaths, he doesn't quite look at her as he says, "Well, I guess I'd better go to the office and see how many more people I can upset."

"Concentrate on those who deserve it."

His mouth quirks into a hint of a grin as he responds, "I'll try."

They turn their empty food trays in and walk hand in hand to his office where he's embarrassed at the warm reception he receives. After then step into his office and close the door, he asks, "Don't they understand how poorly I've treated them and abandoned them?"

"What they understand is that you're a good person and have functioned for far longer than they could have with the stress you've lived under."

He sighs then says, "Thank you for putting up with me."

"Thank you for caring about me," she thoroughly kisses him then reminds him, "your work day ends at dinner."

"Yes, my lady."

Ilena kisses him again then hurries out the door before she insists that his work day ends right now.

* * * * *

After his last scheduled meeting of the day, Chet slumps back in his chair, shakes his head, and deeply sighs. He doesn't know how many times he had to tell some of the other meeting attendees to get to the point and quit wasting everybody's time. Some people were quite upset with him for that while some of the other people agreed with Chet which only upset them more.

A few times when people were more pushy about where he's been the last few days and ignored his statements that it wasn't in their area of responsibility to be concerned about that, he finally took a clue from something Charles had said and responded, "I was attempting to establish some form of communication with the natives so I can take their concerns into consideration before I make decisions which may impact their livelihood."

More than one person proclaimed, "But they're just animals."

"Well, join the club, because according to the scientists who believe in evolution, you're just an animal."

After an extended pause, the typical response was, "But they're not anthro-equivalent animals."

"And what is your basis for expressing that opinion?"

"Everyone knows they aren't anthro-equivalent."

"Many people may think or even hope the natives are not anthro-equivalent, but they don't KNOW that. No human knows for sure which of the native species may be anthro-equivalent or to what degree and until humans at least make an extended and honest effort to spend time with the native species and attempts to communicate with them, we will never know. Until we can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that none of the native species is anywhere near anthro-equivalent, then we need to conduct ourselves as though we are guests on this planet and minimize our impact to the native species and to the environment in which they live."

There were a number of stunned expressions to that statement and after Chet reminded them to return to the subject which was supposed to be discussed, he wondered how quickly his statement would be spread. As he returns his thoughts to the present, he shuts down his computer, pushes his chair back, stands up, walks to the door, and just as he's about to open it, he hears a knock on the other side.

"Oh!" Ilena looks at him with a startled expression as the door opens then asks, "Did you know I was about to knock?"

"I suppose I could claim to be psychic and say, 'Yes,' but the truth is I just happened to open the door then. So, shall we go to dinner so I can claim I'm officially off duty?"

"Probably. Otherwise someone may figure out you're done with your last meeting and want to bug you for something else. However, I had hoped to spend a few minutes to privately hug and kiss you in order to whet my other appetite."

His eyebrows lift in surprise then he quickly looks around, doesn't see anyone else in the outer office and thoroughly kisses her breathless.

"If you kiss me like that again, I may forget about the need to eat."

He grins, takes her hand to lead her out of the office, then 'explains', "I was just following some anonymous person's advice."

"And what was their advice?"

"Life is short, have dessert first."

She looks at him in surprise then laughs. As she leans closer to him, she's surprised when he releases her hand, but when his arm goes around her waist to hold her closer, she quickly reciprocates.

Partway through their quiet meal, Chet softly says, "Well, hello, my friends. I've wondered where you've been."

Ilena looks at him in surprise then follows his gaze to his meal tray and wonders if he has really gone crazy and is starting to talk to his food. A moment later, she notices a slight difference in color which appears to be next to his food. She hesitates then quietly asks, "What?"

"Some Floaters are trying some of my food."

Her eyes briefly widen in surprise before she says, "I didn't see any of them come in."

"The first time I spend a few days in the forest and met Regal, some of the Floaters decided to stay with me. Although I have no way to be sure, I suspect they've been quietly riding me ever since then."

"You mean they can be . . . invisible?"

"I believe their method is more scientifically based, but from a practical aspect, yes, they can become invisible. Didn't you say one of them essentially blindfolded you when Regit led you to find me?"

"Yes, but that was the first time something like that happened. I'm used to them being partially translucent. . . . I suppose if they did appear to the invisible, then it would be hard to know whether they were riding you or not since they don't seem to weigh anything." She thinks about it some more, but isn't sure what kind of questions to ask so they finish their meal and walk to her quarters.

Chapter 94

By the time the door to her quarters is closed and locked, her thoughts are more centered on enjoying his hugs and kisses and wondering how she can encourage him to touch her. Her eyes open wide as he lays a finger on his lips and she can't stop herself from feeling disappointed when he steps away and closes the curtains on the outside windows to her quarters. He takes a few steps towards her then says, "Floaters, I think you know Ilena."

Her eyes open wide to see several Floaters appear on Chet and seem to float up then her eyes open even wider to realize that several Floaters appear on her then levitate off of her. A couple of moments later, the Floaters drift closer together and suddenly, she's watching a multi-colored light display. She stares at them for awhile then breathes out, "They're beautiful." Soon, they seem to surround her and she hardly knows where to look and is sure she can't begin to describe the variety of colors they display.

A little later, some of them seem to move partially behind Chet as though they're trying to push him forward while others form a rectangle around Ilena's entertainment monitor. While she's trying to guess at what their behavior might mean, Chet seems to grasp the idea, steps over, and picks up the remote control while he says, "I wonder what has attracted their attention."

He turns the monitor on and turns it to the news channel while the Floaters greatly mute their color display and settle on both of them. A few moments later, the news anchor states that they've been informed of a startling statement made by the Planetary Administrator and soon Chet hears his own words.

Then one of the senior scientists is interviewed and although he speaks for several minutes, he can neither confirm nor deny what Chet said. However, he tries to suggest that without manipulative digits to make and use tools then it's less likely that a species can be considered anthro-equivalent. He then blushes with embarrassment when the interviewer mentions the dolphins of old Earth.

When the news broadcast is over, Chet turns off the monitor, sets the remote control down, steps back, slumps onto the small sofa, sighs, then says, "Well, I guess I just went and opened up another can of worms."

"But what you said is right."

"Most people, especially those who claim to have specialized knowledge, aren't interested in what may actually be the truth unless it happens to agree with their previously formed opinion."

"Really? I would have thought they approached their subject with more logic."

"A few do and will change their minds when the facts contradict their opinions, but many will hold to their beliefs and try to make their opinion sound logical while they hang onto their idea with more tenacity than a highly religious person will hold onto their faith."

"I guess I haven't been out in the world enough to have seen that." She sits on his upper legs and is very glad his arms go around her and snugly hold her close.

Since she thought her action was very obvious, it surprises her when he asks, "Are you sure you want to be here with me?"

"I'm more sure I want to be with you than I'm sure of my own name."

He looks at her in surprise then asks, "Really?"

"Well, since I've known and trusted and enjoyed how you touch me much longer than I've known my actual name, then yes, I'm sure."

He briefly stares at her, chuckles for a few moments, then gently turns her head and softly kisses her. Even as she wants to simply melt as though she's waited for this moment for a long time, she also wants to further convince him that she does want to be in his arms so she slightly increases the intensity of the kiss then starts to unbutton his shirt. When he becomes aware of what she's doing, he breaks the kiss to look down as though to confirm what she's doing, but she simply lifts his head back up to kiss him and increases the intensity of the kiss a little more while she slips her hand into his partially opened shirt and begins to caress his chest.

His kisses briefly falter then he appears to accept what is happening and begins to caress her. Slowly, he expands his caresses to include all of her that he's caressed before except for her breasts then he just as slowly diminishes his caresses until he's just holding her. She's almost surprised she isn't melted or asleep this time, but she also wants to make sure he doesn't get the idea that she takes him for granted so she softly says, "Thank you so much for touching me. Thank you for forgiving me for acting like a fool because you've just confirmed that I want to be with you always."

He was about to say, "You're welcome," but he doesn't know quite how to respond to her second sentence and before he can think of something, she starts to kiss him again. After a moment, he mentally shrugs his shoulders and begins to slowly caress her in different ways to the same extent except this time he includes her breasts through her shirt. As her excitement grows, she's almost ready to reach down and touch herself when his caressing hand moves away from her breasts. While she slowly calms down, she's unaware that her hand which had been caressing his chest was actually directly caressing his 'breasts'.

Their bodies require a break to reduce the moisture in their bladders and to do something about the lack of moisture in their mouths. While they sip their tea, they talk a little about the Floaters and about Regit and Regal and some of the things they've seen which suggests the native beings are more aware than anybody else is willing to give them credit. After they rinse out their tea cups, they return to the small sofa where she quickly sits on his upper legs and snuggles into his embrace.

She warmly smiles at him then says, "I don't want to push you to answer whether you'll allow me to be with you for the rest of your life, but while you think about it, would you be willing to touch me more than you have touched me before?"

It takes him a few moments to respond, "Are you sure?"

"More sure than I am of my own name."

He briefly looks at her in surprise then slightly grins before he says, "In that case, . . ." and kisses her. As his caresses slowly expand, he again caresses her in different ways so that even though his hand moves over the same portions of her body, the different methods he uses makes the caresses seem new and fresh and as they expand further, more exciting. This time, his caresses of her breasts through her shirt are kept fairly brief except that he returns to them several times in between caressing her legs which causes her excitement to grow a little more slowly.

The next time his caressing right hand comes up the front of her left leg and over the front of her hip, it slips under the bottom hem of her loose shirt to directly caress the skin of her upper abdomen. In a little while, his hands are caressing all of her under her shirt except that his right hand lifts over her bra to caress her upper chest. She's almost ready to catch his hand and move it there herself when she gasps and groans with the increased excitement she feels as his hand begin to gently caress her breasts through her bra.

Although he continues to caress her from her waist to her neck, his hand increases the amount of time it spends exciting her breasts and then she feels like she has to move one of her hands to between her legs for that little bit more excitement to take her over the peak and she almost slumps on him with the release of her tension. Even though his caresses are diminishing, her excitement had begun to grow again then slowly dissipates while it seems like her feelings for him have been confirmed and even increased. When she can, she tells him, "Thank you so very much."

"It was truly my pleasure."

She's almost tempted to argue about who received the most pleasure, but decides not to spoil the mood of the moment. A little later, she tries to limply cooperate as he helps her to lay down on the small sofa.

He gently caresses her face, softly kisses her lips, and says, "Rest well, my lady." Before she can respond, he steps away, glances back, steps out the door, and makes sure it locks behind him.

Chapter 95

When Chet wakes up in the morning and finds himself in his quarters instead of in the forest, he deeply sighs as he remembers that he willingly came back to subject himself to the stress of his job. Reluctantly, he gets ready to go to work then decides to take time for breakfast. Since virtually everybody he has to deal with works a regular shift and would object to do otherwise then they shouldn't expect him to do more.

Once he's in the office, he starts to work through the mass of messages he's received and sometimes even reviews some during the frequent teleconferences he has to endure. Most of the time the other attendees are so wrapped up in their own concerns, they don't notice his attention is sometimes to the side of his monitor. At the same time, he wishes he had more of Ass's multi-tasking capabilities, especially since so many of the issues and concerns which are brought up to him should have been handled at the local level.

It's about the middle of morning and there's a gap between meetings when Karina advises him that the Chief Scientist is calling, so Chet activates the applicable circuit and asks, "Yes, Albert, what can I do for you?"

"What's this I hear about you going to the news media and making a statement about the natives of this planet not being animals?"

"First of all, I didn't go to the news media. I was in a meeting and when some of the attendees wouldn't stick to the topic and became rather belligerent about where I was so I couldn't solve their problems for them, I said I was out trying to communicate with the natives in an attempt to understand their concerns. Why somebody decided to forward what I said to the news media, I don't know unless they were trying to make me look bad. If that's the case, then I'll gladly retire and let somebody else have the job."

"I hope that's not what they intended to do because we don't need to have the government in limbo while we try to find somebody qualified to take your place."

"You mean to find somebody who's willing to be a sacrificial lamb so everybody can blame their problems on him."

"I wouldn't put it that harshly although I'm sure it seems that way to you."

Chet briefly pauses then asks, "So, are you going to rake me over the coals for suggesting the natives might be anthro-equivalent?"

"Well, again, I wouldn't put it that harshly, but I wish you hadn't have suggested it since some people will assume that since you said it, there must be some truth to it. Since me and my staff can neither confirm nor deny the possibility, it makes us look like we've been twiddling our thumbs instead of researching the situation."

"And how long did it take for the scientists on old Earth to even suspect much less investigate whether any of the other species on the planet could potentially be anthro-equivalent?"

Albert hesitates then admits, "Centuries, but that's not the point. We should have been the ones to be able to even suggest the possibility. I don't mean to insult you, but it's not a layperson's position to consider such an involved scientific issue, regardless of their position."

"Thanks a bunch," he responds with a rather sarcastic tone. "Just because I don't have a science degree doesn't mean I'm an idiot or totally without curiosity. People with science degrees aren't the only ones who can discover something of a scientific nature. From some of my readings in the past, I learned that the mating actions of the common fruit fly were a puzzle to scientists for many years. The puzzle was eventually solved by a high school student because he didn't keep regular office hours during which he observed the subject of his study.

"That's something else to consider for those scientists who are willing to go out into the field where science happens. Do they go out to study specimens of inferior creatures or to become acquainted with their new neighbors? Years ago, scientists claimed that the so-called Floaters were not dangerous yet they couldn't say much of anything else about them which makes me wonder how true their claim was or how closely the Floaters had been observed in their environment.

"My first encounter with a Floater out in the forest was when it was curious about the sugar I was going to put in the tea I was brewing. I didn't chase it away or try to measure it or try to capture it in order to dissect and see what made it tick. Instead, I allowed it to satisfy its curiosity and made no threatening moves or even threatening thoughts. I'm aware that some terrestrial animals which are not considered anthro-equivalent can sense a human's intent towards them and if the natives of this planet can do even that much, they're going to do their best to remain hidden."

Albert hesitates for a while before he responds, "To be blunt, what in tarnation has gotten into you? You're usually the most courteous and patient person around."

"Maybe I'm getting tired of being courteous and patient with those who are unwilling to give me the same consideration. Maybe I'm getting tired of taking the blame for not solving problems which should have been dealt with by those directly involved and never elevated to this office. Maybe I'm getting tired of feeling guilty if I take a break, much less an actual day off or even, deity forbid, a real vacation. Or maybe I'm subconsciously trying to upset enough people so they'll fire me and I can maybe have a chance to find out what it's like to live a life instead of be a job."

"Yeah, I think I can understand that. . . . So, to go back to the subject, do you think some of the natives could be anthro-equivalent?"

"That depends on how you define anthro-equivalence. If you pre-define anthro-equivalence as one of your senior scientists did which requires manipulative digits in order can make and handle tools, then I would have to admit, 'no', at least for those natives who I've become aware of. However, if you define anthro-equivalence as being able to think and plan and execute the plan and for the being to be aware of themselves as an individual, then I would lean towards an answer of, 'yes'.

"At the same time, even if none of the natives are determined to be anthro-equivalent, we still need to respect their right to live their lives on this planet instead of treating them as pests or slaves like has happened to too many of the species on Earth including many fellow humans. It's way past time for humans to start acting like mature beings who treat other beings with respect and as having equal rights instead acting as conquerors who are out to rape, pillage, and burn anything which gets in the way of our selfish and greedy interests."

"I'm sure nobody will appreciate hearing that."

"That's tough. If we as humans are unwilling to look at the past or are unwilling to recognize our mistakes and learn from them, then we're doomed to repeat those same mistakes or similar ones over and over again."

"Well, you're right about that."

"I guess I'd better get off of my soapbox because I have another meeting in a couple of minutes."

"I understand. When can we talk more about why you think some of the natives might be anthro-equivalent?"

"I may need to be in the capital in the next week or so and maybe we can work something out then. In the meantime, encourage some of your staff to go out and visit with their new neighbors instead of looking for specimens to dissect. Bye." He disconnects the call before he's told to mind his own business.

Chapter 96

Even while Chet tries to encourage people to stick to the subject of the meeting, it seems like at least one of the attendees in each meeting after he spoke with the Chief Scientist has to say something about him suggesting the natives could be more than animals. When the last meeting of the morning is finally over, Chet leans back in his chair, rubs his tired eyes, and absentmindedly calls out, "Come in," when he hears a knock on the door.

"Has it been a rough morning?"

He drops his hands and although his vision is slightly blurring, he recognizes Ilena's voice, tries to smile, and says, "Yeah, that would be one description."

She steps closer and he gladly responds to her thorough kiss. When they break the kiss in order to breathe, they smile as the Floaters which appear to be riding them put on a muted light display. They lightly caress the Floaters on each other's arms for a little while and share grins. A few moments later, on a whim, he opens one of his drawers, pulls out a sugar cube, tosses it into the air, and they watch in amazement as several of the Floaters lift off of them and seem to bat the sugar cube around until it's apparently been totally absorbed.

After he shakes his head, he takes her hand and leads her to the cafeteria for lunch. They find a quieter corner to eat then chuckle when some of the Floaters become just visible enough so they don't try to eat the same bite of food which the Floaters are sampling. When they're mostly done eating, she asks, "So, did something happen this morning?"

"Besides the usual groups of people who expect me to solve the problems they ought to be able to solve, a number of people felt like they had to straighten me out because according to them, if it looks like an animal then it must be an animal, period. They seem to be unwilling to accept the idea that because we're on a different planet, different rules might apply. Just because something looks similar, that doesn't mean it came from the same source or has the same capabilities."

"I overheard some rumors at college that people were wondering if you found a native hallucinogenic plant which encouraged you to suggest the natives could be anthro-equivalent. I even found an anonymous note stuck in one of my books to ask you about which plant you found which gave you such visions."

He briefly stares at her then laughs. When he calms down, he suggests, "I suppose that even if Regit had the proper vocal cords to tell somebody, 'good morning,' the person they addressed would be looking around for the ventriloquist."

She grins as she responds, "That's probably very true."

They finish their meal, turn their trays in, and walk back to his office where they have a few minutes to hug and kiss. She's especially glad that while one of his arms hugs her, his other hand caresses her all over her back from her head to her buttocks before his hands switch roles. Too soon, he has to get ready for his next meeting so after she kisses him with as much passion as she knows how while she grips his buttocks, she gasps out, "Tonight," then half stumbles out the door.

* * * * *

Chet cuts the last meeting of his day short because several of the earlier meetings went a little long. After he takes several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, he steps out of his office door just as Ilena is walking into the outer office. Following a quiet meal, they go to her quarters and rest with a cup of tea which gives him an opportunity to ask about how her day went.

It soon becomes clear that her interest is not on the past, but on the future, more specifically, in regards to how he'll touch her this evening. They rinse out their tea cups and are soon settled as they usually do on the small sofa where his kisses begin soft before his hands start to caress her. He caresses her everywhere he has previously through her clothes except for her breasts, but, again, he does it with a variety of styles and in different sequences so she can never guess how or where he's going to touch her next.

After he diminishes the extent of his caresses and the intensity of his kisses, he simply holds her. A couple of minutes later, he begins to kiss and caress her and as he builds her excitement this time, his caressing hands slip into her loose shirt and pants to caress her skin as far as he has previously. When she recognizes that his caresses aren't going as far, she's a little disappointed he didn't push her excitement up to the peak where her tension would need to be released, but it does add to her excited anticipation of how he's going to touch her next.

Unfortunately, full bladders interfere which helps them to become aware they could use another drink. She finishes before him then struggles to be patient and let him finish his drink before she leads him to the small sofa. Now she is surprised because he doesn't sit down. Instead he encourages her to lay down then he sits on the edge of the sofa near her, leans over and begins to kiss her.

Soon, his hand slips under her shirt to caress her skin for awhile as he continues to kiss her then her eyes open wide when he scoots down the sofa, pulls her shirt up to reveal her upper abdomen and continues to caress it while he seems to admire the shape, color, and texture of her skin. A little later, he leans over and begins to kiss her upper abdomen which increases her excitement and her hands move to caress his head and hair which she hopes will encourage him to continue. Then one of his hands moves up and begins to caress her around then on her breasts through her shirt.

Before her excitement gets close to the peak, he moves away while she tries to catch her breath. Then her breathing stops as she sees him pull up her pants legs to reveal her lower legs, but when he only reveals her knees and starts to caress her lower legs, her body reminds her that she needs to breath. She enjoys his caresses for awhile then her eyes open wide to see him kneel next to the sofa, lean over, and start to kiss her lower legs while he continues to caress them where he can't easily kiss her.

A little later, he gets up, briefly rubs his knees then encourages her to sit on the small sofa near the front of the cushion. Although she's rather puzzled by his action, she knows she can trust him then her eyes open wide when he gently pulls her legs apart and . . . sits down on the floor between them! He slowly pulls her pants legs back up only this time he reveals her legs up to about the middle of her thighs which is as far as he's previously caressed her.

Now, his caresses are definitely exciting as they seem to cover every little bit of her from her knees to the middle of her thighs. But when he leans over and begins to kiss the fronts and insides of her legs, her excitement soars, especially when his kisses reach the middle of her thighs. Then one of his hands slips under her bottom shirt hem and as it caresses higher, her breath comes in short pants, until his hand caress her breasts through her bra while his kisses cover the middle of her inner thighs and her excitement reaches the peak and stays there.

Suddenly, he moves a little ways away and with the release of her high tension, her body goes limp. She feels like she's in some wonderful dream state and can barely cooperate as he turns her to lay down on the small sofa. His hands return to caressing her legs then he kisses her upper abdomen some more. A little later, he scoots up enough in order to kiss her lips while his hands caress her upper abdomen.

Too soon, she can no longer return his kisses as his hands caress higher and her excitement surges inside of her to another peak as his hands caress her breasts through her bra. Moments later, her panting breath is louder than his soft, "Sleep well, my lady," or of the sound of the door as it closes and locks behind him.

Chapter 97

After about the third meeting this morning when somebody brings up a minor issue which they want Chet to solve, he finally loses his patience and tells them, "Solve your own damn problem!"

After a long stunned silence, the person says, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I need more resources."

"How come you need more resources when half of your resources are sitting idle and the rest aren't being used half of the time?"

"Well, . . . we don't want to wear them out too quickly because we don't know how long it will take to replace them."

"If your resources are so poor of a quality then why did you order them?"

"We ordered the best . . ."

"Then use them more efficiently and quit trying to steal the resources which somebody else needs." He disconnects the call then shakes his head in dismay at how many so-called group leaders are trying to pad what they have available and seem to think that no other group has any value or can get by on minimal resources while they claim to need a plethora of the most expensive resources.

After some thought, Chet sends out a notice to the department heads that they need to more fully audit the resource use and allocation in each of the groups for which they are responsible. He's sure his request will be mostly ignored, but it will set the stage for later enforcing the audits which should be a part of each group and department's reporting process. Although he regrets that he has somewhat followed the policies of the previous Planetary Administrator who let such things slide, he figures it's better to straighten things out now then to let them continue to be ignored.

A couple of minutes later, his communicator activates and he hesitates some before he answers, "This is Chet."

"Way to go, boss."

"Was that said with an encouraging or a sarcastic tone?"

Ass briefly pauses then says, "I meant it to be encouraging, but I guess I need to practice some more on my tone of voice. Anyway, without intended to insult you, I'm glad you're toughening up your position and not trying to be Mr. Nice Guy all of the time."

"Thank you. I appreciate that. I guess my patience is a lot more than a quart low and there isn't enough time for the frustration to diminish in order for the patience to be replenished."

"That's a good way to put it. Since the usage of most of the issued resources is tracked electronically, I can put together another report which will compare the actual usage to what the groups or departments report and that will give you the data to keep them honest."

"That would be helpful."

"While I'm at it, let me see if I can put together a program which will be able to distinguish how a resource is being used. For example, if a group has a wheeled vehicle and the usage suddenly increases, are they joy-riding or just running it in circles in order to make the usage look like it's higher than they really need it for legitimate purposes."

Chet briefly hesitates in thought then says, "I'm not sure how you would be able to confirm that, but if you can, more power to you."

"Thanks, boss. Well, I didn't want to take up a lot of your time, but with the intent of encouraging you, if you can continue to maintain your tougher stance and push on the local people to solve their own problems, that should free up more of your time to address the issues which really need your input such as taking time off."

"That thought occurred to me, but I'm not sure how well I can keep up such a tougher stance."

"Then think in terms of being a professor who gives the student the grade their work earns regardless of how much they plead with you."

"That's a good point. I guess I've been thinking I'm dealing with adults who willingly accept the responsibility they've been given and, supposedly, wholeheartedly accepted, as well as have the sense of duty to fulfill their responsibilities to the best of their abilities."

"If you keep up that kind of wishful thinking, I will call you a dreamer."

He briefly chuckles then says, "Yeah, I guess I have been somewhat idealistic and allowed it to interfere with what is realistic."

"I'm glad I don't have to find the right balance between the two, but I think if you give it some thought, you'll manage better than the rest of us."

"Thank you for your encouragement even if I can't accept your conclusion and before you decide to argue with me about that, I'll say, 'good bye'." Even as he disconnects the call, he hears Ass start to laugh.

* * * * *

In the midst of more teleconference meetings, a thought begins to build in Chet's mind and as he gets ready to go to lunch with Ilena, he asks, "Karina, can you have one of the staff dig into the archives and pull together some electronic copies of the reports the previous PA's received from the field stations as well as what they forwarded to the Oversight Committee?"

"Sure. Is there any time frame on this?"

"Not really. I don't want to interrupt whatever they're doing which might be more important or urgent. I was just thinking I'd like to get an idea of what was required to be reported by a newly settled colony and whether we've kind of maintained those standards or have become somewhat lax."

"I can almost guarantee that the reports have become more lax, but it would be interesting to see if there is a clear indication of when the standards were relaxed and, if so, by whom."

"I suspect you're right. I guess I'll need to more carefully review the planetary charter and see if there were any clear rules or even guidelines about what was required to be reported instead of rely on what my predecessor claimed."

"Or have Ass request that one of the lawyers review the charter rather than for you to take your time to do it."

"That makes sense. Well, I guess we'll see you this afternoon." He briefly wonders how she's set up the lunch break rotation for this week in order to keep the office at least partially staffed throughout the day.

"Have fun," and she winks at Ilena who returns her grin while Chet frowns at her.

Partway through their lunch and after some hesitation, Ilena asks, "I know you've been very busy and I'm not trying to push you, but I happened to remember that I haven't heard what my current status is in regards to my work on the farm. I've still been going over there to work in the afternoons, except when I convinced Regit to find you, but I don't know if I should be or whether I should be doing something else."

"I'm sorry, I guess I forgot all about that. Thank you for reminding me. That raises the question, do you want to continue to work on the farm or have thought of some other way in which you would like to contribute to the community?"

"That's a good question. I like my work on the farm, but I also think that maybe my capabilities aren't being fully put to use. At the same time, I'm not sure what else I can do."

"Maybe you ought to have somebody review your aptitude profile or have you take it again in case it's been a few years since you last took it."

"I forgot about that. Although I'm not sure I have an appropriate personality to be the Prime Minister, I still think I would like to consider that as a possible future career to train for."

He looks at her for several moments with wide eyes then asks, "Is your interest in that simply as a way to help me get out of my job?"

"I can't honestly answer that. I know it's definitely a factor, but I'm not sure how much of a factor it is or what else might be encouraging me to be interested. . . . One concern which has cropped up in my mind from time to time is that if the 'powers that be' decide to replace you, they may assign somebody to the planet who will purposely ignore the native beings or simply not even consider them. To be blunt, if something like that happens and I hadn't done whatever I could to prevent it, I would have a very hard time living with myself."

"I can understand that. As much as there is about the job I don't like, that is one of the major factors which keeps me from permanently and immediately resigning. I know there's no guarantee a representative government will do any better, but if someone from a highly populated or heavily industrialized planet were assigned here as the planetary administrator, which is very probable, they would most likely view this planet as simply resources to be exploited."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Well, let me see if I can take some time to review what all of the qualifications are which a prospective prime minister needs to have since I only remember the initial qualification of being a third generation native."

"Other than that, wouldn't it be similar to the qualifications required of a planetary administrator?"

"Well, there is the popularity contest of winning the vote of the majority of citizens. One would expect the two positions to have similar requirements, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Why do you say that?"

"From what I've read in history, in some of the countries on old Earth, the head of the country was chosen almost exclusively based on a popular vote. The only other qualifications were that the person was a native of the country and wasn't a convicted criminal."

"There wasn't any educational or other type of training requirements?"

"None whatsoever."

"Oh my. . . . Did those people have complete control over the country?"

"Not technically since in a representative type of government there are usually two or more branches to the government which is intended to provide checks and balances to each other in order to prevent excessive abuses of power or avoidance of established laws, but people often found ways to work around such restrictions."

"I guess I can't imagine why people would want to do something like that."

"I don't know how they can think or act that way either, but I know it happens a lot. Think about how Captain Stilson probably would have acted if he had gone into politics."

She shudders then says, "I would rather not think about that."

Chapter 98

Chet is more than ready to call his work day done when Ilena arrives and encourages him to go to dinner with her. As they step into her quarters afterwards, she suspects that he needs more time to unwind from the day so she makes some tea and tries to keep their conversation to light subjects and away from his job. Once they're settled on the small sofa, he can't objectively say which factor was most helpful in encouraging him to relax, but he's sure her warm presence, lovely smiles, tight hugs, and variety of wonderful kisses were the major factors.

At the same time, she's not sure how well she's distracted him from thinking about his job, but as he begins to caress her, she's distracted from thinking about anything other than the pleasure of how he touches her which slowly leads her towards excitement. She thoroughly enjoys how his typical first round of touching her in an evening seems to set the stage as though he's 'warming her up' or doing the stretching before beginning more vigorous physical exercises. Although she's often ready for his more extensive touches right away, the 'warm up' provides her with another piece of evidence of how much he cares about her as well as feels very wonderful.

After he slowly diminishes the extent of his caresses and snugly holds her for awhile, he begins the second round of caresses which seems to take a glorious eternity to build her excitement almost to the peak when he caresses her breasts through her shirt. As she catches her breath, she's very much looking forward to the next round. Unfortunately, bladders interfere and she's again amazed at how much time has passed while he kissed and caressed her.

She tries not to hurry him to drink a cup of tea and doesn't realize he was making an effort to take his time in an attempt to control his own desire to touch her. It's not long before they're back on the small sofa and he begins the next round of caresses and while his left hand slips under her shirt to touch her back directly, the caresses of his right hand includes the skin of her upper abdomen and lower legs. When he pulls her loose pants legs up over her knees, she's almost tempted to lift her legs for him to kiss them, but realizes it might not be a comfortable position for either of them.

Then his caressing right hand moves up over her left knee to caress all over her skin up to about the middle of her thigh. After his hand slowly caresses down to her lower leg, it moves to her right leg and gives it the same treatment. While she's snuggled close to him and almost feels like she's ready to purr with contentment after his caresses took her excitement close to the peak, she expects him to reduce his caresses until he's 'just' holding her.

Instead, his caressing hand returns to her left leg and again caresses it all over up to about the middle of her thigh. Then his hand seems to briefly rest on the outside of her leg before it moves in a slow narrow oval. As he continues that movement, it takes her a little while to realize that the oval is moving up the outside of her leg a fraction of an inch higher with every repetition.

Although her nerves may not be as sensitive on the outside of her leg, the 'mere' fact that he's touching her more than he has before encourages her excitement to build. When his caressing ovals seem to reach no higher but remains in place for a little while, she's not sure if she felt it, imagined it, or simply hoped that he had actually touched the bottom side seam of her panty. As his hand slowly moves down the outside of her leg, then includes the rest of her leg below the middle of her thigh, something crosses her mind, but it takes some time for her thought to become coherent.

Just before his hands stop caressing her to snugly wrap around her, she pushes away from him and as he watches her with some concern, she turns around on his upper legs to lean her left side onto his chest. A moment later, she explains, "I don't want my right leg to miss out on the fun of your extended caresses."

His eyes briefly widen in surprise then he grins, says, "Neither do I." His thorough kiss begins her next round of caresses which seems to give her right leg the same extended treatment which her left leg enjoyed. When his caresses move down to her knee, she wonders why he pulls her loose pants legs down past her knees then his left hand begins to caress the insides of her left thigh through her pants. As she remembers how far he's touched her like that, her excitement seems to race ahead of his slowly moving hand.

Shortly before she's ready to move her hand down to touch herself in order to take her excitement that little bit more to over the peak, his hand moves away from right in front of her pubic area to go down her leg. After his hand moves over to her right leg to begin caressing up the inside of her thigh, she decides she's going to try to let his caresses take her to the peak. Then he spends just as much time, or maybe more! to caress her right leg just in front of her pubic area and she's feels like she's a single caress away from touching herself when his hand begins to descend her leg.

She's prepared for him to slowly diminish the extent of his caresses, so she's surprised when he gently pulls her legs closer together. Moments later, his left hand slips between her knees and begins to caress the insides of both of her thighs at the same time! As his hand moves further up between her legs, she struggles to not let her legs fly apart as they seem to want to do while she thrills at how her excitement grows even faster than before.

Her high enjoyment of the feelings which the nerves along her inner thighs are giving her seems to distract her from other nerves which are being excited as his right hand caresses her from her back and past her side. Suddenly, she's aware that his right hand is caressing her right breast through her bra. Moments later, his left hand arrives just in front of her pubic area while it caresses both of her inner thighs at the same time. Her excitement surges over the peak and stays there and stays there longer until his hands move away to catch her just as her body seems to dissolve into pure pleasure.

She's feels like she's barely conscious, yet she seems to be aware that he gently moves her to lay down on the small sofa. She tries to at least tell him 'thank you', but nothing comes out, and certainly nothing close to the gratitude she feels. He softly caresses her face for a little while, whispers, "Rest well, my lady," kisses her forehead, and hurries to the door before he gives into his temptation to take advantage of her.

Chapter 99

In between the seemingly innumerable meetings and messages he has to deal with, Chet manages to locate the passages in the planetary charter which deals with setting up the initial representative government. He saves those portions as a separate document to study later and prints out a copy for Ilena. He still doesn't like the idea that she might be interested in the position, but he guesses it would be better for her to understand more fully what's involved in the position so she can make her own decision against it rather than have him simply tell her to forget about the idea.

Shortly before another teleconference is scheduled to begin, he remembers that he was going to talk with Mother Superior so he contacts her office about setting up a time to discuss Ilena's work status with her. Even as he seems to partially succeed in keeping the meetings somewhat shorter and more on track, he's sure there are more of them even though he doesn't take the time to count them. In any case, he's more than ready to join her when Ilena insists he needs to take a break for lunch.

As they eat and quietly talk, a thought begins to form in his mind, but nothing is quite clear yet so he allows his subconscious to work on it. After they eat, they go to his office where they take advantage of his few available minutes to hug and kiss and she's thrilled he also caresses her from her head to her buttocks, although his hands remain on the outside of her clothing. Just before she leaves, he gives her the copy he had printed out for her and very briefly explains what it is.

Ilena begins to walk towards the farm then receives a message so she changes her direction to the Order. She doesn't have to wait long before she's called into Mother Superior's office and asks, "Did you want to see me?"

"Yes. Please have a seat and would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

She accepts the tea then waits while her mind quickly considers several different reasons for her requested presence.

"First of all, I don't want to sound like I'm intruding into your personal life, but were you able to resolve your issues with Chet and his job."

"Yes, Mother Superior. I realized I had been acting like a fool because I really did want to spend time with him as a person. I'm ashamed of how long it took me to wake up to that basic fact and I really regret how hurt he was because of my foolishness. He seems to have forgiven me which only makes me feel more embarrassed as well as more grateful for who he is as a person."

"I'm glad you've been able to settle the issue. Yes, it's not pleasant to realize you made a mistake and have to work through the consequences, but that you were willing to do so makes you into a stronger person. Hopefully, it also makes you more aware of your areas of vulnerability so you can carefully consider the situation more fully and potentially avoid making a similar mistake in the future."

"That would be my hope and I appreciate your concern for me."

"Although you may no longer be living at the Order, I still care about you and want to help you succeed."

"Thank you, Mother Superior. That means a lot to me."

"What I wanted to talk to you about is, what you are looking forward to for your future. I received a message from Chet which reminded me that we still haven't resolved your work status yet and considering the things he's had to deal with recently, it doesn't surprise me he forgot about it and I wasn't inclined to interrupt him."

Ilena briefly hesitates then 'admits', "Well, to be blunt, I happened to remember it and while I didn't want to put any pressure on him, I also didn't want to forget about it again so I briefly mentioned it."

"And I'm sure he thanked you for reminding him."

"Yes, he did although I didn't expect him to do something about it so quickly."

Mother Superior clarifies, "All he did was ask me to request a meeting which, I suppose, is one way to help him remember when he's so busy with many other people. Before I do request a meeting with him, I wanted to talk to you and find out what you were thinking about your future and what kind of career you're interested in. I know you enjoy your work on the farm, but I don't know if that will keep you happy or if you want to move on from there.

"I know you're young enough that you may not be sure of what you want or even what you might have the potential to accomplish. I also know that as a person grows and gains experience in life, their ideas and thoughts of the future can and often do change. So, without making you feel like what you say is set in stone, what are your thoughts about your future?"

"You're right that I'm not sure what kind of career I might be interested in or even what kind of potential I might have. . . . I'm not sure how this is going to sound, but I have come to one conclusion about my future which is that I want to be with Chet for the rest of his life. I would like to say for the rest of my life, but unless something unusual happens, I'll outlive him."

"Oh, my. Since I assume you told him that, how did he respond?"

"When I first told him, he was quite surprised and seemed like he was on the verge of tears. When I repeated myself later, he gently questioned me then seemed to accept that I meant what I said. I haven't pushed him for a more clear response about how he feels. Before I foolishly let his job interfere with our relationship, we had talked in general terms along those lines and each time he insisted that I need to concern myself with my own future and not tie myself to his future."

"Yes, I'm sure he would insist on that. So, other than wanting to be with Chet, have you had any other thoughts about your future?"

"Do you remember when we met with him and he told me what my real name was?"

"Yes."

"And then he said I was the only person on the planet who met the initial qualification to be the Prime Minister of a representative government if it is formed."

"I remember."

"Well, I have no clue if my personality is appropriate to such a position, but I asked him to train me to prepare for the position so I could allow him to quit his job."

Mother Superior's eyes open wide in surprise and it takes her a little while to say, "How did he respond to that?"

"He said he wouldn't wish his job or anything similar off on anyone he cared about. Later, when I brought the subject up again, I expressed the concern that if he's replaced as either the Planetary Administrator or by a representative government, his replacement would probably ignore the native beings of this planet and that would greatly bother me if I didn't do something to prevent that from happening. He understood that and said it was one of the reasons he kept his job and didn't just permanently and immediately resign."

"Interesting."

Ilena pauses for awhile then hesitantly asks, "Mother Superior, what do you mean by 'interesting'?"

"I'm not sure my thoughts are clearly formed enough to express, but it's along the lines that you and Chet seem to have more of a rapport with the native beings than anyone else I've heard of."

"Really?"

"I can't answer that clearly because it's more like an impression rather than being aware of documented facts or even expressed beliefs."

"If I can remember, maybe I'll have to ask him if he's heard anything."

"Didn't he publicly say he thought some of the native beings might be anthro-equivalent?"

"Actually, his statement was made during a meeting which somebody recorded and they 'leaked' it, I guess that's the term, to the news media."

"That makes more sense."

"Why do you say that?"

"Considering how careful Chet usually is, if he had intended his comments to be shared with everyone, he most likely would have provided some sort of evidence which encouraged him to make such a suggestion."

"I think you're right about that." Ilena briefly hesitates then asks, "Mother Superior, do you have any thoughts or ideas to share with me which would help me to take a more intelligent or realistic look at what I can do with my future?"

"Without trying to make it sound like I doubt your interest in being with Chet, I think he would agree with me that you should try to consider what you want out of your future as something separate from your feelings for him which, I'm sure, won't be easy to do. Even if you do manage to find a way to stay with him, like you said, you'll probably outlive him so you might want to consider what you might do with your life then."

"I guess I hadn't thought about it from that perspective."

Mother Superior nods her head in understanding then suggests, "You might check with the college about having both your aptitude and personality profiles redone. Keep in mind they are meant to be a guideline rather than provide you with a clear cut path to your best future. There are a lot of careers and societal contributions which can be successfully accomplished by people with diverse aptitudes simply because many careers are multifaceted to where no one aptitude is perfect for all of the elements of a career."

"I think I can understand that. Like on the farm where some people don't like to clean out the stalls while other people don't want to take the time to groom the animals yet both tasks would be considered the responsibility of an animal farmer."

"That's a good example."

"Thank you, Mother Superior both for you time and your thoughts. I don't know where my own thoughts will lead me, but with your guidance and suggestions, I'll have more information to consider which may either guide me positively or, at least, help me to avoid making some mistakes."

"You're very welcome and I'm more than happy to encourage you, however I can, to have a positive and rewarding future. And anytime you want to talk more or even just think out loud with me, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, again. I can't express how much I appreciate your willingness to talk with me and advise me."

"Just because you're out in the world instead of inside of these walls, doesn't make you any less a child of my heart or a child of the Deity."

Ilena stands up and bows with tears in her eyes, then rushes around the desk when Mother Superior stands up and opens her arms to hug her. It takes her awhile to verbally respond, "Thank you, Mother Superior."

"Go with the Deity's grace, my child."

Ilena hesitantly steps back, bows again, then turns and steps out the door. As she walks to the farm, she doesn't want to disparage the parents she never knew, but she wonders if they could have cared about her more thoroughly than Mother Superior, Chet, and Regit do.

Chapter 100

During dinner, Ilena tells Chet about her conversation with Mother Superior. His responses aren't much more than a nod of his head in understanding or an occasional brief question to make sure he understands. As the silence grows while they finish eating, she's tempted to talk about their relationship then realizes it would be better to bring that up in a more private setting.

When they arrive at her quarters, he's surprised she asks him to start the tea kettle while she makes a trip to the bathroom. They soon trade places. As he steps back into the kitchen, she tightly hugs him for a little while then asks, "Chet, I don't want to push you, but I would like to know what your thoughts are in regards to my interest in being with you for the rest of your life."

He seems to slightly stiffen in surprise then hugs her a little more snugly and begins to lightly caress her back. He still hesitates somewhat longer before he verbally responds, "I'm afraid my thoughts are somewhat contradictory which makes it difficult for me to provide you with a clear and coherent response."

Since that puzzles her, she asks, "Contradictory?"

"Yes. First of all, I very much treasure the thought that you are interested in spending your life with me. At the same time, I'm greatly concerned that you don't have sufficient facts or life experience to make such a commitment. Actually, I'm not sure anyone who makes such a commitment really understands enough about either themselves or the other person to be able to make that kind of a commitment with a completely clear conscious or without unspoken expectations.

"Another major factor is that I don't believe I'm good enough for you to spend your time with me. You're an intelligent, caring, and lovely young lady who deserves someone much better than me. And I certainly don't want you to feel obligated to stay with me when you meet someone who is more appropriate for you and who will help you to be all you can or want to be.

"I know I'm not being very logical and probably not even very clear, but . . . while I don't want to push you away, I also don't want to get in your way of doing what is best for you now and in the future. . . . I guess that means I'm straddling a fence and while I know that sitting on a fence isn't comfortable, I guess I'm afraid of the probable consequences if I lean in either direction."

Before she can respond, the tea kettle whistles so they fix their tea then go to the table to sit and sip their tea.

She takes a few moments to gather her thoughts then says, "From some of your past statements and from what you just said, although somewhat indirectly, you do want to selfishly spend time with me and that thrills me. At the same time, you're making the effort to set aside your selfish interests in the attempt to be more concerned about my interests and my future and I interpret that to mean you greatly care about me which makes me feel very grateful to you.

"In regards to your statement that you don't believe you're good enough for me, well, I don't want to say your feelings are of no value, but I also have to disagree with you. I couldn't ask for a better human friend than you. You've always treated me gently and with great respect which is very clearly demonstrated every time you touch me without taking advantage of me. I've overheard enough of the other females in the community talk about their male friends and they seldom receive the level of respect or concern which you always give me."

He drinks a little tea before he responds, "Thank you for believing that I treat you with respect. I certainly don't mean to make it sound like I'm trying to reduce what that may mean to you, but from my perspective, I'm treating you how I think any lady needs to be treated, or even any person."

"I know that's what you believe and I've seen you demonstrate that with everyone around you, at least until they push you beyond anyone's endurance. You even treat the Floaters with that level of respect when most people would probably have a hard time even considering them to be animals, much less possibly anthro-equivalent beings." Her eyes quickly widen in surprise as she suddenly sees Floaters become colorfully visible on him at the same time as Floaters become visible on her and move over as though they're all trying to hug Chet.

After she partially recovers from her surprise, she laughs and says, "See, they appreciate how wonderfully you treat them just like I do."

While he recovers from his own surprise, he tries to gently slide his hands over the Floaters he can easily reach as though he's petting or caressing them while he's careful to not touch them more firmly because he's really not sure how fragile they are. "Thank you, my friends and my lady. As much as I don't believe I deserve your affection or attention, I still greatly appreciate it."

After a few minutes, some of the Floaters 'levitate' off of Chet and settle onto Ilena and she gently touches them. A little later, the colors of the Floaters seem to slowly diminish until they are again invisible, at least to human eyes. She thinks for a little while then asks, "Chet, how do the Floaters understand us?"

"That's a good question. I suppose the two main possibilities is: one, they have some sort of auditory receptors which can hear what we say or two, they are somewhat telepathic and can understand what we say from the thoughts we have as we express ourselves verbally. In either case, it seems like they are more intelligent than anyone wants to believe for them to be able to learn a language without anything to compare it to. Especially since they don't appear to have a verbal language of their own or were aware of one before humans arrived on this planet."

"That reminds me of something Mother Superior said which I forgot to mention earlier. I said something about you being concerned about how your replacement might treat the native beings of this world and she responded, 'Interesting'. When I asked her why she said that, she thought that you and I had more of a rapport with them than anyone else she's heard of. Have you heard anything along those lines?"

"The time I had to go to the capital for a meeting to discuss the situation on the military base, after the main discussion, Ass suggested that I take you along on one of my trips. When I pointed out I didn't want you to be subjected to people who might try to use you to get at me, he thought I ought to encourage Regit to travel with you. Somebody asked who Regit was and after I explained, the Chief Scientist was surprised and said the closest he heard anyone had been to one of Regit's species who was alive was through a telephoto lens."

"Really?"

"That's what he said and I don't have any reason to doubt him. That reminds me, he said he was going to check with the science department at the college to see if any of them are aware of or have attempted to study Regit, Silky, or any of the other native beings who visit the farm, but I haven't heard if they are doing anything."

Chapter 101

Ilena hesitates then cautiously asks, "Um, what do you or they mean by 'study' Regit?"

"I'm sure the scientists would want to test them in any way they can think of in a laboratory setting and then dissect them to understand their physiology. However, I made it as clear as I could that humans and our non-human allies are the guests here and that the natives are to be allowed their freedom and not be subjected to invasive studies. During a later conversation, I suggested that the scientists should go out and attempt to visit with their new neighbors instead of looking for specimens to dissect. Now, whether they'll remember either of those ideas or 'conveniently' forget about them at some point in the future, I can't predict. I suppose I ought to re-emphasize it so there is no misunderstanding."

"Oh, thank you. I was somewhat concerned when you said 'study' Regit."

"I know most scientists prefer to examine what they are interested in with as much detail as possible and preferably in a controlled setting. Not only do I understand that, but I agree with it to some degree. However, we first need to determine as gently and respectfully as possible whether or not the 'thing' we want to study is anthro-equivalent or not. I know it can be very difficult to determine that, but I think it's much more prudent to error on the side of caution rather than assume that what we want to study is not anthro-equivalent and end up in a conflict because the 'natives' are upset with how we callously treated them."

"I agree with you, especially since it would so personally affect me if people wanted to mistreat Regit or the Floaters. Yet, I know from my limited reading in history, how often it happened on a newly discovered planet, that an unknown species was initially assumed to not be anthro-equivalent and how many problems that caused before it was 'discovered' that the assumption was wrong and then how much effort it took to attempt to right the wrongs which had been committed."

"Actually, such behavior goes back to old Earth where some humans treated other obvious humans as savages or even as animals simply because they had a different religion, a different skin color, a different language, or even lived in a different political entity."

"Really?"

"That's right."

"That makes me think I might prefer to associate with the native beings instead of my 'fellow' humans."

"I fully agree."

She briefly looks at him then says, "I'm sure you do."

They finish the last of their tea, rinse out their cups, and go to the small sofa where she sits on his upper legs and starts to kiss him even before his arms get all of the way around him. Although he's briefly surprised at her action, he quickly responds then begins to slowly caress her through her clothes as he's done before although he avoids her breasts and stays a few inches away from her pubic area along her inner thighs. As the extent of his caress gradually diminishes, she seems to have forgotten all about their serious discussion and looks forward to how he's going to build her excitement.

After a quick bathroom break, they return to the small sofa where the second round of caresses begins. His hands remain on the outside of her clothes, but when his caresses of her inner thighs right in front of her pubic area with his right hand are combined with his left hand reaching around her back to caress her left breast, her excitement goes over the peak. A few moments later, his hands move a little ways away which gives her a chance to take some deep breaths, then his hands move closer and she enjoys another surge of excitement which goes over the peak and that is followed by another before his caresses reverse their direction until he's snugly holding her.

They quietly rest for a little while then he begins another round of kisses and caresses with her clear cooperation and enjoyment. This time, his right hand takes turns to slip into each of her loose pants legs and slowly moves up and down her legs as far as about the middle of her thighs. She's enjoys those caresses several times then his hand briefly rests on her left knee before his hand moves from the front of her leg to the outside, moves up her leg a fraction of an inch and reverses direction.

Slowly, his hand continues to move up her skin along the front and outside of her leg and as his caresses go past about the middle of her thigh, she feels a surge of excitement as she realizes that he's again touching her where he's never touched her before. Her excitement grows and when his fingertips almost brush across her panty which covers the front of her hip as his hand caresses as high it can go along the front of her leg, she's right at the cusp of the peak. While she seems to be aware that his hand is moving back down the front and outside of her leg, she guesses that if he had stroked her just once more so high along her leg, she would have hit the peak.

After his right hand slowly caresses her all of the way down her left leg to her ankle, it 'hops' over to her right leg to give it much the same treatment. However, since her right hip and upper thigh is snugly pressed to his lower abdomen, he isn't able to caress the outside of her right thigh in conjunction with caressing the front of her thigh so from about the middle of her thigh, his caresses transition into small circles which ascend the front of her thigh and, again, he barely avoids touching the front of her hip while her excitement is just a caress away from the peak.

Twice more, he caresses the skin along the fronts of each of her legs and she doesn't know how he can take her right to the edge of the peak without her excitement slipping over. However, by the time he's caressing the front of her right leg for the third time, she feels like she has to reach the peak. Just before his hand can start to move away, she grips his wrist and is glad he seems to understand and continues to caress her. A moment later, his left hand which has been caressing her under her shirt slips around her side to caress her breast through only her bra which causes her excitement to leap over the peak and remain there until he moves his hands away and her body slumps in reaction to the release of her tension.

When her breathing has settled enough and she thinks she's recovered enough energy in order to verbally express herself, she tells him, "Thank you so much for touching me. It was incredibly wonderful. . . . Sometimes I think you can read my mind for you to be able to take me right to the edge of the peak, not just once, but several times. And that seems to build the excitement even higher so that when I do go over the peak, it's like a jump instead of a step."

"I know I can't read your mind, but I do try to pay attention to how you're responding, not that I can say exactly which clues I'm aware of or am responding to. The only thing which matters is that you enjoy how I touch you. And if I ever touch you or even start to touch you in any way which you don't think is enjoyable, please stop me immediately because I don't want to hurt you or upset you in any way."

"I know that's how you feel towards me and I can't express how much I appreciate it. . . . I know it's getting late, but will you selfishly touch me so I can selfishly enjoy going over the peak of excitement once more?"

His grin is brief before he passionately kisses her lips. Moments later, excitement surges into her as his right hand caresses up the insides of both of her thighs through her pants. Then his left hand moves closer and begins to fondle her left breast through her bra and as his right hand caresses her just in front of her pubic area her excitement goes over the peak and seems to grow in intensity before his hands move away from her sensitive nerves to catch and hold her limp body. He carefully moves her to lay on the sofa, softly kisses her forehead, hesitates, and leaves.

Chapter 102

They're partway through eating lunch when Ilena asks, "Chet?"

"Yes?"

"Did the copy of the planetary charter you gave me cover all of the requirements for the beginning of a representative government?"

"I didn't take the time to read the whole charter again, but those were the portions which were indexed as applicable."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?"

"Other than how much of a 'native' the person needs to be, there really aren't any requirements which a person is supposed to fulfill in order to be authorized to fill most of the positions except for the judicial positions. I mean there wasn't any experience required or courses to take or training they had to complete. That raised my curiosity so I looked at the charter and there were more requirements for a person to be qualified to be in your position than for all of the positions of a representative government combined."

"That's what I thought I remembered and it's consistent with the representative governments on many planets as well as throughout history. I guess the idea is that the voters should be able to choose who they want to represent them without any outside entity being able to automatically disqualify their representative."

"But that means it's simply a popularity contest of who can sound the best or who can lie with a smile."

"Too often that's true."

"So, planetary governments aren't any better run than the student body of a school." When he doesn't verbally respond, she notices that he's looking at her with an expression which she interprets as encouraging her to explain. "In school elections, I've noticed the candidates were often more interested in the title than in doing whatever the position was supposed to accomplish.

"Not only that, but many of them couldn't think logically or explain themselves, but they could use a lot of words which sounded good yet didn't really mean anything. Or they would make promises which their position had no authority to accomplish. And if they did actually promise something which they had the ability to do, they either forgot about it or claimed somebody or something prevented them from fulfilling their promise."

"Welcome to the world of representative government."

"Why do people put up with that or even embrace it?"

"Because too often a non-representative government ends up being a dictatorship which most people believe is worse than the inefficiencies of a representative government."

"Oh. . . . I guess you're right about that."

"One of the problems with any kind of government is that since the leaders often disagree with each other or can't think or express themselves logically or frequently change their minds or are trying to do their best only for the people they represent rather than what's best for the political entity as a whole, too often the rules which most affect the citizens are made by the entrenched bureaucrats. While they can often rightly claim they're trying to enforce the contradictory rules of the leader or leaders, they also don't have to worry about being re-elected so they can adjust the rules to make it easier for them."

"In other words, as long as humans are involved in a government, the individuals who are participating are going to do what they can to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit."

"That's very true and is also often the case with businesses and any other organizations which humans or any of our non-human allies form. And if we ever do meet another anthro-equivalent species which has some form of organized government, it wouldn't surprise me if they have a similar situation."

"What about the natives of this planet?"

"Well, until we can more completely communicate with them, there's no way for us to know for sure, but I suspect they do not have a centralized government. From what little I've observed, it appears as though individuals are free to act as they choose as long as it doesn't infringe on somebody else's freedom. At least that's assuming some of the species are not anthro-equivalent such as the rabbit or deer like creatures which Regit and Regal shared with us. Of course that means I have to make the assumption that an anthro-equivalent creature would not willingly offer themselves to be food for another creature and, like any other assumption, I could very well be totally wrong."

"I understand what you're saying although I would be inclined to make the same assumptions."

"Well, I suppose I ought to get back to the office so I can upset more people directly rather than have them be upset with me because they think I ignored them or rejected meeting with them."

After they turn in their empty trays and are walking towards his office, she suggests, "Somehow I think you're exaggerating about how many people you upset or how frequently you do so."

"Without intending to disagree with your positive opinion of me, you don't want to know how many people seem to argue with me or second guess me or misinterpret almost anything I say."

"You're right, I probably don't want to know otherwise I might feel like I need to encourage Regit to knock some sense into them."

He briefly looks at her in surprise then laughs. In his office, they're able to share hugs, kisses, and caresses for a few minutes before he needs to get ready for the next teleconference.

* * * * *

Chet isn't able to finish his last meeting on time, but rather than just cut off the current speaker and declare the meeting is over as he's done with a few other meetings, he lets this one continue because they're actually seriously discussing the topic instead of going off on frequent tangents. Not only that, but it's a topic which actually needs to be discussed. Still, he's glad when the others agree to the proposed solution and end the meeting.

As he steps out of his office, he's glad to see Ilena is waiting for him even as he says, "I'm sorry I'm late, but I certainly didn't intend for you to wait for me, especially since you had no way of knowing how long I would be."

"And did you know how long you were going to be in order to send me a message?"

"No."

"Well, since I'm going to believe you were honestly busy with your job, then I'm not going to hold your delay against you. . . . However, if I find out that you were just goofing off with the intent of making me hungry then I'll insist that you cook dinner for me."

He briefly looks at her with raised eyebrows then laughs as he takes her hand and leads her to the cafeteria. They have a quiet meal then walk to her quarters.

Chapter 103

As soon as the door to Ilena's quarters is closed and locked, she turns to Chet and thoroughly kisses him and other than a very brief pause of surprise at her action, he quickly and equally responds. Soon, their hands are caressing each other's backs and when her hands drift down to hold his pants covered buttocks, he has a longer pause of surprise then his hands return the favor which seems to affect her more than he was affected.

While their kisses continue around brief breathing breaks which don't interrupt the ongoing caresses, it's hard to say who makes the first nudge or whether they read each other's minds, but they begin to drift towards the small sofa. Reluctantly, they separate barely long enough for him to sit down before she almost falls onto his upper legs to renew the kisses and caresses.

Slowly, his caresses expand to touch her everywhere he's touched her through her clothes before except for her breasts or near her pubic area. Although the extent of his caresses is wonderfully familiar, the manner in which his hands move to caress her seems different. Either that or her enjoyment of how he touches her interferes with her memory of exactly how he has previously touched her.

As the extent of his caresses very gradually diminishes, she's not sure whether she's floating in a sea of . . . pleasure, she finally decides to call it, or has simply melted. She's glad he snugly holds her otherwise her body might feel like it really is melted. In a little while, he starts another round of caressing her and while he again stays on the outside of her clothes, this time he does include her breasts and her inner thighs just in front of her pubic area while her excitement builds then slips over the peak before he reverses his caresses while she pants for breath.

Her breathing begins to settle and when he's snugly holding her, she's again surprised he spent so much time caressing and kissing her that her bladder is making demands. Once that problem is resolved, she's definitely looking forward to how he's going to touch her next and wonders if and how he's going to expand how much he touches her. Shortly after he begins his third round of caressing her, he gently pulls her feet closer so she sits partially cross-legged and he pulls her loose pants legs up past her knees.

As a result of his action, her anticipation is excited and soon becomes reality as he caresses her skin under her loose pants legs and under her loose shirt. Even though he doesn't caress more of her skin than he previously had, her excitement has grown so close to the peak, she's very tempted to move one of her hands down to between her legs to send her pleasure over the top. Just before her hand moves, his left hand slips around her side and gently fondles her left breast through her bra and that extra excitement does send her pleasure over the peak.

Her excitement seems to dissipate much more slowly than the extent of his caresses diminish so that even as he snugly holds her, she's not sure if she feels the need to reach the peak again or if she's excitedly anticipating how he might touch her next and maybe even . . . more? Before her anxiousness can express itself in either words or actions, she hears him softly ask, "May I take your shirt off?"

She's so stunned by his unexpected question that it takes her a seemingly long time to respond then she simply reaches down to her shirt hem in order to pull it off, but he gently stops her and repeats his question, "May I take your shirt off?"

She's so excited by this new development as well as by the way he asked the question which seemed full of promised excitement, she can barely croak out, "Please!"

He gently caresses her face with his right hand, softly kisses her lips, and says, "Thank you." His right hand caresses her from side to side and slowly moves down her body then she groans with her excitement as his hand takes it's time to move from one side of her to her other side right over her shirt covered breasts. As his caresses move lower to her upper abdomen, she belatedly becomes aware that his left hand is caressing her down her back in 'rhythm' with his right hand.

While his left hand caresses down onto the top of her pants covered buttocks, his right hand moves a little ways away from her body. Moments later, his hands reverse direction and begin to move up her body and as she looks down, she sees that most of his right hand is under her loose shirt while her shirt hem is 'caught' between his thumb and index finger and is slowly being pulled up. She suspects that his left hand is similarly pulling up the back of her shirt then she gasps as his right hand begins to caress her skin just above her waist. Since she doesn't want him to misinterpret her gasp, she proclaims, "Yes!!"

His caresses slowly move up across her upper abdomen and when his hand caresses over her bra covered breasts, her excitement is so high, she's not sure if she imagines it or only hopes that his hand took longer to caress her there as he continues to pull up the bottom hem of her shirt. Her loose shirt is now bunched up almost in her arm pits which encourages her to lift her arms.

She's surprised his hands stop moving then she lifts her seemingly heavy eyelids and notices that he appears to be staring at her bra covered breasts with what she interprets as intense interest. A couple of moments later, he shakes his head then pushes her shirt up and off of her arms and sets it aside. Her arms almost drop and just as quickly, his right hand moves then hesitates before he uses a single fingertip to very lightly caresses her skin along the edges of her bra.

As she moves her eyes from his finger to his face, she thinks his eyes are caressing her more firmly than his finger. In a little while, he increases the number of fingers he's using to caress her until his whole hand is caressing her all around her bra covered breasts. Soon, his hand briefly includes each of her breasts in his caresses which takes her excitement up to near the peak. Then his right hand settles on her right breast while his left hand comes around her side to settle on her left breast and as his hands gently fondle her breasts through her bra, her excitement is pushed over the peak.

His hands move away from her breasts and as the extent of his caresses diminish, her breathing begins to settle some and when her eyes can open, her excitement seems to increase some then only slightly dissipates since his eyes seem to continue to caress her breasts through her plain bra. When she can, she tells him, "Thank you so very much," which seems to startle him and causes him to look up to her face where he belatedly responds to her thorough kiss which ends up being much shorter than she wants because she runs out of breath.

He snugly holds her for only a little while before his hands begin to caress her again. His left hand covers her back multiple times and even slips under her back bra strap to caress her there while his right hand reaches down to caress the skin of her legs like he's done before. After her legs have been thoroughly caressed, his hand moves to her upper abdomen and seems to caress every bit of her from her waist to her face except for her bra covered breasts.

Then her breasts are briefly included in his caresses which increases her excitement but doesn't send her over the peak. When his caresses pause, her eyes feels too heavy to open so she tries to pay closer attention to what her nerves are feeling. She thinks she feels just one of his fingers slowly move back and forth along the bottom edge of her bra, then . . . she's not sure she's interpreting her sense of touch correctly, but . . . she thinks his finger slid under her bottom bra seam to directly touch her breast!

Moments later, his finger moves to just below her other breast then slips under the bottom seam of her bra and now she's sure he did directly touch her breast!! Her excitement surges, but his finger moves away shortly before her peak is reached. As his finger becomes his whole hand and moves to caress all around her right breast, it takes her a little while to realize that his left hand is caressing her under her back bra strap and slowly moves across her side.

She tries to pay more attention to what his left hand is doing without reducing her interest in what his right hand is doing. Then his left hand gently slides under the side of her left bra cup while his right hand slips under the bottom of her right bra cup and as his fingers softly caress the sides of her breasts, her excitement surges over the peak and his caresses seem to keep her there for a long time before his hands move away to hold her limp body and keep her from falling over. She's barely aware when he gently moves her to lay on the small sofa, lays her shirt over her mostly bare upper torso, briefly caresses her face while he whispers, "Thank you for letting me see and touch you," kisses her forehead, and leaves.

Chapter 104

Today, Chet didn't have a late teleconference, so after the last one, he opens his office door and gets some other work done before Ilena arrives. He looks up at her knock on his open door and requests, "Give me a couple of minutes to finish what I'm doing and I'll be with you."

"Okay." Instead of waiting outside, she steps in and sits on one of his office chairs and is somewhat surprised that he does quickly finish what he was doing and makes no move to start working on something else. As he stands up, she quickly steps around his desk and thoroughly kisses him, waits for her breathing to settle a little, says, "Thank you for all of the wonderful pleasure you gave me last night and so many other times," and kisses him again.

"It was truly my pleasure. I suppose we ought to get something to eat before I'm more fully tempted to selfishly touch you more."

"I would selfishly enjoy that except I think I would prefer a more private setting."

"That's a good point. In that case, I'll just close and lock the door."

Her eyes widen in surprise as he guides her to the door, but he steps out of the door, takes her hand, and leads her to the cafeteria. A few moments later, she asks, "I thought you were going to just close and lock the door?"

"I guess 'responsibility' caught my attention at the last moment and reminded me that other people have a key to my office."

She's not sure how much he's teasing her, but as she looks at him and he smiles back, she almost wishes 'responsibility' had stayed away then wonders if she can wait through a meal to encourage him to express what she thought she saw in his eyes. As they walk to her quarters after their meal, she quickly glances around to make sure nobody is near enough to hear then quietly says, "Chet, I love all of the pleasure you give me, but I kind of wonder why you frequently leave right after my excitement goes over the peak."

He makes his own quick look around and briefly hesitates before he answers, "Your excitement excites me and I don't want to run the risk of being more tempted to take advantage of your condition."

"Thank you for caring more about me than about your own interest. However, even if you thought you were taking advantage of me, I would most likely interpret it as you being willing to give me more pleasure which I would gladly enjoy."

"While I guessed that might be your response, your weakened condition probably wouldn't allow you to enjoy much more pleasure. In that case, attempting to give you more pleasure might actually be harmful to you and I have no interest in running that risk."

They step into the building and quietly walk to her quarters. As soon as the door is closed and locked behind them, she turns into his arms, says, "Thank you," and kisses him as long and as thoroughly as she can. When they're forced to take a breathing break, she tries to remember something through her ongoing enjoyment of his caresses then says, "Before I request that you touch me more and become distracted by how much I enjoy you touching me, I want to ask you something."

He responds, "Okay," while he continues to caress her.

"Maybe we should make some tea so I can more clearly think of what I want to ask you."

"Does that mean you want me to quit selfishly touching you?"

Since she's surprised not only at his question but how he worded it, it takes her a few moments to respond, "I selfishly don't want you to stop touching me, but I also selfishly want to ask you something. Because I have two selfish interests right now compared to your one selfish interest, then mine takes precedence."

He surprised enough at her answer that he stops caressing her to lean back a little in order to look at her face then he briefly laughs and kisses her so thoroughly she's glad he holds onto her or she might simply melt down onto the floor. A few moments later, he guides to sit at the table to rest then goes to the kitchen to start warming up the tea kettle. After they make bathroom trips and have their tea prepared, they return to the table.

The sip their tea for a little while but when she doesn't say anything, he asks, "So, what did you want to ask me?"

She looks momentarily startled then says, "Oh, yeah. I guess your kiss briefly blew my question right out of my head." He looks at her with a doubtful expression. "Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little, but it was only a little. Anyway, I've been wondering how to contact my grandparents even as I'm concerned about whether they would want to meet me."

"They definitely want to meet you even though they feel somewhat guilty they didn't make more of an effort to force someone to conduct a more thoroughly search for you." As he notices her raised eyebrows, he says, "I think that's something they thought about long after the fact because, from what I understand, they were quite devastated by the loss of their daughter and son-in-law and never considered questioning the official results of the investigation."

"I can't imagine blaming them for that. I never thought about blaming somebody for what happened although I've occasionally wondered what my life would be like if I had grown up with parents instead of at the Order."

"Good for you. Since it happened so long ago, if you were to try to blame someone, it wouldn't change the situation other than to encourage you to be upset and bitter."

"I think you're right about that. So, how do I contact them or maybe even meet them?"

"I suppose that depends on how you want to contact them and whether you want to start a slow dialogue with them through either a written or verbal message or want to directly meet them."

"I . . . I don't know. . . . Do you know which way might work out the best?"

"I really can't answer that, because I have no idea how either you or they might respond to or interpret either a slow approach or a direct meeting."

"I guess you can't know that. Before I decide, can you tell me how I could accomplish either approach?"

"If you want to take a slower approach, I can provide you with their communicator or mailing addresses. If you want to directly meet them, that's a little more involved because you or they will need to decide whether to do it at their station, here, or somewhere in between. Then travel arrangements will need to be made and if you're the one who is going to do the traveling, then one of Karina's staff members can show you how to do that."

She hesitates to respond, "Oh. . . . I guess I can do that."

"Is something the matter?"

"Well, . . . I wouldn't want to impose on you, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to travel on my own in order to meet strangers."

"I can understand that. Why don't you think about it some. . . . Without intending to influence your decision, if you decide to meet them, then maybe I can help you with some of the travel since I probably need to go to the capital sometime in the near future."

"Okay. . . . Um, if you know they want to meet with me then I guess that means you talked to them."

"Only briefly. I provided the basic information to somebody who works more closely with them and would have a better idea of how to approach them and how they might react. After they had a little time to try to partially assimilate such shocking news, I spoke with them and confirmed the truth of what they had been told."

"I suppose that would be the best way to do it."

He's tempted to tease her about approving of his approach, but decides that would be more an expression of his own self-doubt. He waits a little while then asks, "Do you have any other questions I might be able to answer?"

She thinks for a little while then says, "I can't think of any other questions right now. . . . But I do have a request."

Chapter 105

Chet briefly hesitates then asks, "What's that?"

Ilena answers, "Distract me with pleasure," as she turns and kisses him. After a multitude of kisses, during a breathing break, he gets up, helps her to her feet, and guides her to her small sofa where he sits down. He starts to lift his hands to her, barely pauses, and wraps his arms around her because she almost fell down in her hurry to sit on his upper legs.

As they resume their kiss which is barely interrupted by necessary breathing breaks, he starts to caress her and he again varies the ways he caresses her which keeps her excitedly guessing as to how he's going to do it next. She has no idea how much time passes for him to caress her as far as he usually does during their first round of touching, but, this time, he slowly caresses more of her through her clothes. When she realizes that, her excitement surges ahead so that as his left hand fondles her left breast while his right hand caresses her inner thighs right in front of her pubic area, her excited pleasure seems to leap over the peak for a wonderfully long time.

The extent of his caresses gradually diminishes and when she's able to, she says, "Thank you for exciting me over the peak. . . . I'm certainly not complaining, but can you explain why you touched me more than you usually do during your first round of caresses?"

"Well, I guess I realized I was starting to develop a pattern and I didn't want to you to get bored with how I touch you."

"Let me assure you, I've never been bored with how you touch me. I've enjoyed every way you touch me because even within the basic pattern, you still vary how you touch me which keeps it fresh and exciting. And even if you did settle into more of a pattern in how you touch me, I would enjoy it because I really want to be touched and I've never met anyone who I trust to touch me more than you." In an attempt to add conviction to her words, she thoroughly kisses him.

Before they have to take a breathing break, he's caressing her to her delight and as his caresses expand, he includes the skin of her back and upper abdomen under her loose shirt although his right hand stays below her bra, barely. When his right hand moves away, she wishes he had taken her to another peak of excitement, but that doesn't stop her from enjoying how his hand moves down to caress the skin of her legs all over up to about the middle of her thighs. Then she realizes that his left hand seems to spend more time under her back bra strap and caresses her from side to side and almost slips under her bra cups to touch each of her breasts directly.

Again, he diminishes the extent of his caresses until he's snugly holding her and when something other than the enjoyment of pleasure can register in her conscious mind, she reluctantly takes care of her noisy bladder. When they're done in the bathroom, they return to the table and finish their tea. They rinse out their cups and go to the small sofa where he sits but stops her from sitting on his upper legs.

"Would you be willing to try something a little different?"

She briefly hesitates then says, "I'm tempted to say I'll try anything if it means you'll touch me."

"If you would be willing to kneel on the sofa while you face me and sit on my knees, I would selfishly enjoy touching you more."

Without verbally responding, she briefly thinks about how to arrive in such a position since she's never done anything like it before. She reaches out her right hand to hold his left shoulder and is glad one of his hands snugly holds her waist while she lifts her right leg. Before she can set her shin next to the outside of his left thigh, he pulls up her loose pants leg to above her knee then guides her shin to the sofa.

A couple of moments later, she holds onto his right shoulder then they make the same moves with her left leg. After she lowers her buttocks to sit on his knees, she looks at their relative positions and says, "I think I like being like this."

"Me too, but if your knees start to become sore, please let me know and we'll adjust your position to be more comfortable."

"I think that will take awhile since I had a lot of practice kneeling while I lived at the Order and I never knelt on something as soft as this sofa."

Rather than think of some verbal response, his hands lift up and gently pull her head forward to meet his head halfway between them in order to thoroughly kiss her. She immediately responds especially as she notices that he's beginning to caress her. His hands seem to cover her upper torso through her shirt and even briefly caress her breasts. Some time later, his hands move down then slip under her loose pants legs to caress the skin of both of her legs as far as he's caressed her before except along the backs of her legs which her position doesn't allow him to reach.

While one of his hands continues to caress her leg, his other hand moves to caress her upper torso. As his one hand spends more time along the front and outside of her leg right in front of her hip, his other hand spends more time around her breasts until her excitement slips over the peak. Rather than keep her there, his hands caress away then switch roles to take her briefly back over the peak of pleasure.

As her breathing begins to settle, she recognizes that his hands are moving then settle at her hips. A few moments later, she becomes aware that he's watching her and as she feels his hands move up the outsides of her hips, she looks down and sees that he's slowly pulling the bottom of her loose shirt up. She quickly proclaims, "Yes!" and leans forward to thoroughly kiss him.

Too soon, she runs out of breath especially as her excitement grows while his hands start to caress her skin above her waist while they continue to gradually lift her shirt. Before her breathing has settled enough to kiss again, she realizes she can now much more easily reach his shirt buttons and begins to unbutton them and is glad that his surprised reaction only briefly interrupts his ongoing caresses. Since his shirt is still tucked into his pants, it doesn't open very far, but she can still reach in to caress some of his chest while she leans forward to renew the kiss.

Soon, her excitement is growing higher and interferes with her ability to kiss because his hands are now caressing her around her bra covered breasts. Then her pleasure briefly goes over the peak as he fondles her breasts before he pushes her shirt higher then over her head and down her arms which are still braced on his shoulder and chest. He helps to support her so she can drop her hands which allows her shirt to fall down between them.

Even though he's simply holding her at her waist, it seems like her excitement takes longer to diminish then she realizes that it feels like his eyes are physically caressing her while they intently look at all of her bare skin . . . and her bra. She's so tempted to open her bra to enable his eyes to caress her skin there, but before she can do that, he's leaning forward to kiss her. She's surprised when he breaks the kiss before they're out of breath then she's more surprised when he kisses her over her chin and down her throat.

Suddenly, she realizes that his action produces its own excitement within her then she feels him slowly push her body up from her sitting position while his kisses move to her upper chest. The surge in her level of excitement briefly startles her when his chin brushes over her breasts then her excitement leaps higher as does her surprise to realize that he's kissing her right above her breasts. But, moments later, when he kisses her right across her bra covered breasts, her pleasure goes over the peak.

He quickly tightens his grip of her sides to push her a little ways back while his head leans back. As her breathing settles some, he guides her hands to hold onto his shoulders then he pushes her body up a little higher before he leans forward and kisses her upper abdomen right under her bra. That sends her excitement close to the peak, but as his kisses move from side to side as they slowly descend her upper abdomen, he pushes her body up a little higher so he doesn't have to awkwardly bend his neck.

Now that she's 'standing' on her knees and seems to be more steady, his hands move down the outsides of her hips and thighs then slip under her loose pants legs and gradually move up the skin of her legs above her knees. When his caresses reach up to about the middle of her thighs, he keeps his caresses there for a little longer. Then his caresses move a little higher and as they slowly continue to go even higher, she realizes that he's including the backs of her legs above the middle of her thighs for the first time.

While her excitement quickly grows as his hands near the tops of her legs, it's harder for her to remain totally upright. She tries to hold onto him more firmly, but her knees partially relax and his caressing hands partially support her even as they caress her just below her buttocks along the backs of her legs. An unexpected result is that his kisses move higher along her upper torso then his forehead gently rubs her bra covered breasts. Even as the surge of excitement sends her pleasure over the peak, she tries to press her breasts tighter to him to stay above the peak for as long as she can.

Quickly, his hands move from the backs of her legs to the outsides to avoid being trapped under her as her body goes limp and her buttocks drop down onto his knees. Almost immediately after that, he pulls his hands out from under her loose pants legs and moves them to grip her sides above her waist to keep her body from tilting. He thinks for a little while then carefully moves and guides her fall to the small sofa, slips off of the sofa, and straightens out her limbs.

Before he gives into his selfish desire to touch her more, he forces himself to leave and after he makes sure her door is locked behind him, he leans back on the door while he takes several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down before he walks to his quarters.

Chapter 106

It's late in the afternoon before Chet has an opportunity to review it then he shakes his head at the dismal figures Ass's report shows about how little some groups use their allocated resources. What's even more ridiculous is how many of the leaders of those same groups insist they don't have the necessary resources to accomplish their assigned responsibilities. While he admits to himself that he doesn't know all of the details of how each group functions, he's sure that most of them could operate perfectly well with less than one half of their resources or at least considering how much they appear to actually accomplish based on their reports.

He encourages Ass to continue monitoring the resource usage and, if possible, to verify how the resources are really being used. In the meantime, he decides that any requests by a group leader for additional resources will need to have a more solid justification. Not only should that improve resource usage, but it should also delay the expenditure of additional funds which can be put to better use to cover the high costs the planetary government incurred during the situation on the military base. Although he's been assured that the planet will be reimbursed, the 'powers that be' are taking their sweet time to go through the convoluted bureaucratic process before they're 'able' to forward the funds.

He shakes his head again only this time it's to try to put those issues to the side so he can think about what needs to be done next. Before he can sort through the list of tasks in front of him to determine the next highest priority, he hears a knock on his open door and looks up to see Ilena's smile. He quickly makes the decision that she's the highest priority and the rest of his list can smolder until tomorrow morning. And if his list should happen to spontaneously combust during the night, then he can legitimately say he couldn't remember everything.

That thought can barely be completed before he's standing up and welcoming her into his arms with a thorough kiss which is soon accompanied by caresses all over her back. Before he becomes totally distracted by her, he gently steps back, takes her hand, and they walk to the cafeteria for dinner.

Partway through their meal, he says, "I've finally been able to make some time to coordinate with Mother Superior's office in regards to your work on the farm."

"Oh, thank you."

"Well, actually, it wasn't so much what your work would involve as it was in making some adjustments to the budgetary allocations. Since the farm is under the auspices of the Order, you can continue to do your work just like you have and report to Mother Superior or whoever is overseeing the workloads. The only difference is that instead of you being considered as a member of the Order, you'll be identified as a contract worker like some of the other people who work there."

"That makes sense. So I can continue to go to college in the mornings and work on the farm in the afternoon?"

"That's right."

"Once I finish the last classes I need to receive my degree, what happens then?"

"That depends on how you want to use your time whether you want to work on the farm full time or continue on a part time basis. Part of that may depend on whether there are positions available which may enable you to make better use of your education."

"Could I continue my education?"

"I don't see why not. Have you thought of something else you would like to learn which you think might be a more fulfilling way to contribute to the community?"

"I'm not sure what courses would be most appropriate, but I have been thinking more about being a PMIT."

He looks at her with a puzzled expression then asks, "A PMIT? What's that?"

"Prime Minister In Training."

His eyes open wide in surprise then he's not sure whether to laugh or to weep. It takes him several moments to respond, "Although I don't want to tell you want to do with your life, I would not recommend that you go in that direction."

"Why not?"

"As frustrating as my job is, it does have the advantage that if something needs to be done in a timely manner, I can make the decision and move forward. I may be condemned afterwards, but I don't have to wait and let the issue get bounced around by various committees who each have their own agendas before a decision can be made which will probably be so compromised that nobody is happy about the result. Then the committees will all be upset at each other and plan to make a bigger effort to force the next decision to go their way."

"Is it always that bad?"

"Maybe not always, but from what I've heard and read, that's more the normal situation in a representative government than it is an anomaly. However, to be honest, I haven't recently read the applicable portion of the planetary charter in detail to be sure how much authority is given to each of the various positions."

"Although I probably wouldn't like to do what is considered necessary to be a typical politician, I'm still willing to consider the position in order to continue your policy of being concerned about how the decision may affect my native friends."

He hesitates some then says, "I know what you mean. Unfortunately, that usually means being politically involved."

"That was my assumption."

"Probably, the only way to get around that would be for you to take over my position, which I wouldn't want you to do for your own sake. Not only that, but it would require you to take a number of other classes, some of which would require you to go off planet. And then you would need to be certified by the proper authorities who have some rather entrenched ideas about who qualifies to be a Planetary Administrator. Frankly, the only reason they qualified me is because everybody else said 'no' to the position more strongly than I did."

"That surprises me considering the rumors I've heard about how many people wish they had your position with the assumption that they can do a better job."

"That's true, but they haven't taken the 'proper' classes. While I may have ended up with a number of the 'right' classes to my credit, I certainly wasn't attempting to become a Planetary Administrator. And many of the others who do have the required education, they weren't interested in having such a position on a lightly populated planet out on what they consider the frontier."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that as a possible reason. Are we really on the frontier?"

"Since there are no human settled planets beyond here, most people would define this as the frontier."

"I guess you're right. Since we're done, shall we leave? I have a question I would like to ask you in a more private setting."

"Okay."

Chapter 107

A few minutes later, they step into Ilena's quarters and as soon as the door is closed and locked, she thoroughly kisses him. Chet's surprise is quite brief before he just as thoroughly responds then begins to caress her back through her clothes as far as his hands can reach. Reluctantly, they have to take a break to catch their breath.

When he can, Chet says, "That was quite a question and I'm not sure how I would translate it into language unless the question was, 'will you kiss me?'."

"Yes," and she again thoroughly kisses him. Eventually, she allows them to settle their breathing without renewing the kiss as soon as she thinks they can. "I guess I didn't want to wait for your first kiss until after I asked my question."

"I think I can understand that. So, what's your question?"

"I think I might have asked something like this before, but when you touch me and get me very excited until my excitement reaches a peak, is there a 'proper' term to identify that experience?"

He hesitates a little then answers, "There are a number of terms, but the more publicly acceptable terms would be that you either reach a climax or experience an orgasm. To the best of my knowledge, many people consider those terms to be basically equivalent and I'm not aware that a dictionary would define them such that there was a clear distinction between them. In my own mind, I tend to think of a 'climax' as reaching the peak while an 'orgasm' is remaining at that peak for a period of time. Not that I'm going to try to define amounts of time applicable to each term."

"As though somebody would be interested in watching a clock at such a time."

"True, although some people might try to do so in order to claim some sort of bragging rights."

"Oh. . . . Considering some of what I've overheard, there probably are some people who would attempt that. . . . Although I have no interest in telling anybody about my activities with you, much less to brag about it, would you be willing to touch me until I climax or have an orgasm?"

His eyes briefly open in surprise at her direct question before he starts to grin and says, "It will be my distinct joy to touch you in an attempt to help you enjoy pleasure to such a degree. However, I would prefer to make the attempt while sitting on the sofa rather than continue to stand and allow my knees to lock into place."

"I can agree with that." They start to move towards her small sofa when she says, "Or we can go to the bed."

He stops in surprise and stares at her for a little while before he responds, "Not yet, lovely lady," and he kisses her as though that 'not yet' will encompass only a very short period of time. Apparently, their brief interchange of words excited both of them because as soon as they're settled on the small sofa, their kisses continue at that higher intensity. While his caresses of her begin almost immediately, they stay on the outside of her clothes and soon include both her breasts and her high inner thighs which takes her excitement to a few short climaxes.

Since he hasn't excited her so thoroughly before during their first round of caresses in an evening, as his caresses gradually diminish and she catches her breath, she's very much looking forward to how he'll touch her in the next round. She doesn't even allow the thought to form that he'll consider he's given her enough excitement for one evening. After he snugly holds her for a little while, he again begins to caress her only this time it's in a gently relaxing way before he starts to add soft kisses. The combination after the high excitement of earlier makes her feel like she's half melted.

As his caresses slowly expand, they begin to slip under her loose pants legs and shirt to touch her skin everywhere he's touched her before, at least as far as their positions allow him to reach. Her excitement grows as his caresses cover more of her skin then he excites her to a few more just over the peak climaxes as he briefly fondles her breasts either through her bra or slips fingertips under the edges of her bra while he also caresses her legs just in front of her hips.

By the time his caresses have gently brought her excitement down to a relaxed state, she reluctantly realizes that a break is necessary then needs his steadying hand to help her to the bathroom door then to the table before he fixes some tea. While they quietly drink their tea, he enjoys sitting next to her and feels like he's just soaking in her acceptance of him being allowed to be in her presence. At the same time, while she greatly appreciates how much he cares about her and treats her with so much respect, her thoughts seem to be more interested in how he's going to touch her when they're done with their tea.

As they rinse out their tea cups, she struggles to not reveal her excitement which is already growing in anticipation. Soon, he sits on the small sofa, but before she can fall onto his upper legs in her hurry to have him kiss and caress her, he gently stops her. While his hands hold onto her waist, he seems to hesitate then looks up into her eyes and softly asks, "May I take your pants off?"

She's briefly startled at the question, momentarily hesitates at the idea of having someone see so much of her, quickly reminds herself that he is totally trustworthy and her best human friend who probably asked the question in order to touch more of her, so she swiftly and decisively answers, "Yes!" She almost throws herself down onto him, but his hands still hold her up so she leans over and kisses him as thoroughly as she can. Too soon, she has to break the kiss to breathe.

She needs his help to stand up then he snugly grips the waistband of her loose pants and slowly pulls it down. He seems to briefly stare at her when her panty is totally revealed then his hands begin to caress the skin of her legs just below her panty from the front to the backs of her legs which causes her to grip his shoulders for support and close her eyes to concentrate on every tingling nerve which is being excited. Gradually, he lowers her pants to the floor where he helps her to step out of them then he guides her to sit on his upper legs.

She feels like she's more than ready for him to touch her to nearly immediate climaxes, but, somehow, he still slowly expands his caress even as he seems to excitedly stare at her revealed legs and panty. Although it's not easy for her to keep her eyes open through her growing pleasure, it seems to be even more exciting for her to watch him touch her skin as far as he has before. He even manages to gradually reduce the extent of his caresses after he excited her almost right to the peak and she nearly touched herself to get there.

When he begins to expand his caresses after barely a pause of snugly holding her, she suspects that he's rather excited which only seems to excite her more. His right hand pauses at about the middle of her right thigh to caress her there a little longer, but when it begins to move up her leg and includes the skin along the inside of her leg for the first time, her excitement soars. As soon as her excitement slips over the peak and he recognizes the verbal expression of her climax, his hand caresses back down her leg.

Then his hand moves to give her left inner thigh the same treatment with a very similar result. Back and forth, his hand caresses up the insides of her thighs and each time it excites her to a short climax. In between, she can barely generate a curious thought about why he seems to limit the length of her climaxes or to wonder how close his hand actually comes to her panty.

His hand is a little above the middle of her thigh when she realizes that this time his hand is caressing the insides of both of her legs at the same time. As her excitement grows, her legs seem to want to naturally spread but that would interfere with him being able to caress both of her legs. While she concentrates her attention on trying to keep her legs from spreading, it seems to increase her awareness of how each one of her nerves is being excited.

When she thinks his hand is within a couple of inches of her panty along the insides of her legs, her climax begins. Rather than move away, his caresses move a little further up her legs which increases the intensity of her climax and that is enhanced as his left hand reaches around her side to directly caress her breast under her bra. Suddenly, the vocal expression of her orgasm falls silent while her body goes limp which forces him to moves his hands from exciting her to just hold her mostly upright.

Carefully, he moves her to lay down on the small sofa and before he allows himself to look at her for long, he lays her pants on top of her and is glad that the legs are loose enough to totally drape over each of her legs which he hopes will reduce her chance of waking up cold. He limits himself to a brief soft caress of her face and a kiss to her forehead before he pushes himself up and away and steps out of her quarters.

Chapter 108

"Boss?"

Chet answers, "Yes, Karina?"

"The Chief Scientist would like to speak with you. He's on line three."

"I'll take it. Thank you, Karina. . . . Yes, Albert, what can I do for you?"

"Right to the point, aren't you?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to be accused of taking up your valuable time."

"I'm sure you're busier than I am. Anyway, I checked with the college science department and although they are aware of Ilena's relationship with Regit, I believe you called her, for some unfathomable reason, none of them considered it unusual. As a result, none of them bothered to investigate the situation.

"While I can't believe they ignored such a scientifically significant situation, I'm also sure they aren't lying to cover up their lack of interest. I've also had all of the other stations contacted and few of them have even seen one of Regit's species other than from a photograph or through a telescope. If I was more of a suspicious person, I would think there was some sort of mental conspiracy against us which was encouraging us to avoid noticing some of the native species."

"If that's the case, then it could possibly be indicative that one or more of the native species are not only anthro-equivalent, but telepathic to some degree."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not suggesting anything because I have no basis upon which to make a suggestion. However, I haven't heard of any other theory which might explain the situation, but just considered what the possible logical reason might be which would account for your idea."

"Oh, I suppose you have a point there. . . . The problem is, something like that can't be scientifically validated."

"I don't mean to be offensive to your position, but there are a lot of things in life which can't be scientifically validated."

Albert clearly hesitates before he responds, "I suppose you're right about that. . . . Rather than dwell on such an imponderable, I was wondering if I and some of my staff could meet with Ilena and try to understand more about how she developed a relationship with Regit or any of the other native species I've heard which spend time there on the farm."

"I'll have to talk with her to see if she's interested, but any information which you or your staff are attempting to acquire needs to be along the lines of a gentle discussion rather than an interrogation."

"I . . . I guess I can understand that."

"Think about it from this perspective. Are you able to scientifically validate or even describe your relationship with your pet or your spouse?"

"Oh. . . . I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Thank you. If Ilena agrees to meet with you or your staff, I would suggest the meeting be delayed for several days."

"Why?"

"She's expressed an interest in meeting her grandparents and I would prefer to give her some time to assimilate the idea that she really is a part of a family. Hopefully, they will get along so she doesn't have some sort of negative reaction."

"She hasn't met her grandparents?"

"No. She was raised by the local chapter of the Order and until a few days ago, she thought she had been abandoned on their doorstep and had no idea she had any biological family."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Does anybody have an idea of what happened?"

"Did you remember the Doctors Jakobinski?"

"Jakobinski? . . . The name rings a bell. . . . Now I remember. They were very promising young scientists who were killed when their air vehicle malfunctioned. What was it? I think it was over twenty years ago. . . . Is there a reason you brought them up?"

"Ilena is their daughter."

"Their daughter? I thought the child was killed also."

"No. The investigators assumed she was killed even though they found no evidence and no body and she was too young to have walked or even crawled away."

"Oh, my. . . . So how did she end up at the Order?"

"I can't answer that. Even the recording from their security camera shows Ilena's baby carrier suddenly appear on the Order's doorstep. I can only guess there was a glitch in the recording, even though the technicians who reviewed the recording were unable to detect any problems with it."

"More mysteries."

"I'm afraid so."

"And you're really sure Ilena is the Jakobinski's daughter?"

"DNA tests have confirmed it."

"Can't refute that. . . . Considering all of that, yeah, we can wait a little longer."

"Thank you."

"Um, I don't want to impose, but do have any idea of what her academics are like?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Since she's the Jakobinski's daughter, I was wondering if she had any scientific leanings."

"I can't say for sure. I know that when she was in a couple of my classes several years ago, before I got stuck with this job, she was a curious and conscientious student who received good grades in all of her classes. Up until a few weeks ago, she had been preparing to enter the Order as a sister which guided her educational goals. We haven't talked specifically about her educational interests, so I don't know if they include any of the sciences."

"I understand. Thank you for your time and I'll be happy to meet with Ilena whenever she's interested in talking about her relationship with the native species."

"Thank you for your understanding and when she decides, I'll let you know or have her directly contact you."

"I would appreciate that. Bye."

Chet sets his communicator down then wonders how Ilena might respond to being 'interviewed' by the scientists. He grins as he wonders if Regit would be willing to go with her to keep her from feeling overwhelmed. As much as the scientists might intend to be gentle with their questions, it would be too easy for them to revert to seeing Ilena as a research subject rather than as a person or even as a colleague in search of understanding.

Chapter 109

After dinner as they walk to Ilena's quarters, Chet tells her, "The Chief Scientist called me earlier today and renewed his interest in talking to you about your relationship with Regit and your other native friends."

"Why would he be interested in that?"

"He says none of the scientists or anybody at any of the other stations have been near one of Regit's species and that makes him very curious as to why you have such a close relationship with Regit when most people have only seen photographs of her species."

"Oh. I suppose that would make me look like an oddball or something, but I can't give any explanation because Regit approached me and offered me friendship when I didn't feel as though I had any kind of a real friend."

"I understand. I'm guessing that once you or I can convince him of that, he'll want to use your relationship with Regit in an effort to try to study Regit and her species."

"I'm not sure I like that idea."

"I agree. Rather than outright refuse the scientists which may encourage them to take matters into their own hands, I'm inclined to approach the situation carefully and cautiously and, as much as possible, allow Regit to decide how much she's willing to have her life interfered with."

"That probably makes the most sense."

"I'm glad somebody thinks I make some sense."

She barely restrains herself from responding until they're in her quarters behind a locked door and she can tightly hug him as she asks, "Chet, why do you always seem to have a negative opinion of yourself?"

"I have a lot of experience over many years of having people respond negatively to me, especially since I've been in this job and if anybody is willing to verbally respond to my decisions or even suggestions, it's most frequently negative. Even some of the positive responses are usually made with some hesitation as though they're giving me just enough room to move so they can then say how wrong I was. As a result, it seems to be less painful to start out with the belief that I can't do anything right then I won't be so hurt when that's how others respond to me. That's another reason I really appreciate your willingness to spend time with me and to accept me for who I am rather than try to get me to change."

"I think I can somewhat understand that. Although I can't say that how people responded to me when I was growing up was frequently negative, actually, it was usually rather positive and encouraging. However, it always seemed as though there was some distance or a barrier maintained by the other person towards me. I suppose I felt that way because I wanted the positive responses to be more personal or more . . . complete, I guess you could say. . . . What I mean by that is that while the words were nice, a hug to go with the words would have made them seem more real or sincere or something. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes."

"Just to let you know, I really like how you so nicely hug me while you verbally express how you appreciate me spending time with you."

"I'm glad."

"Even though I think I gain more of a benefit from spending time with you because you're so willing to give me the hugs I've so strongly wanted for as long as I can remember."

"I suppose you're entitled to your opinion."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because if the basis of determining the level of benefit is the length of time one has gone without the hugs they wanted, then I have gained more of a benefit from your sincere hugs, since I've gone without for longer than you've been alive."

She briefly looks at him in surprise before she chuckles and says, "Since I can't succeed in debating with a professor, maybe I'll just be selfish and request, touch me." She doesn't give him a chance to verbally respond before she thoroughly kisses him and is glad for his immediate non-verbal response.

When they need to take a breathing break, he guides her to the small sofa and is barely sitting before she's settled on his upper legs. His arms wrap around her and snugly hold her and shortly after they start to kiss again, his hands begin to caress her. As his caresses slowly expand to cover her everywhere he's touched her before through her clothes, she's reminded again of how he can make her feel so special. Not only because he devotes so much time to making her feel good, and even excites her to a couple of brief climaxes this time, but because he's always gentle and never coercive.

Although she feels like she wants him to touch her always and all over, she knows he respects her so much that if she requested he stop touching her, he would honor that. As that awareness blossoms in her mind, she encourages him to start his second round of caresses after a shorter break than usual. Before she's totally captured by her enjoyment of her growing pleasure, she manages to unbutton his shirt and even partially pulls it out of his pants which enables her to caress the skin of his chest.

While she's sure he had already thought about it, she likes to think that her action encourages him to take her shirt off which he accomplishes with many exciting caresses which seems to take her right to the edge of climax several times before she weakly sits up straight so he can push her shirt off of her arms. Then his caresses around and on her bra covered breasts do excite her to a couple of brief climaxes before the extent of his caresses gradually diminish.

By now, bladders have announced their presence so they extend their break to make some tea. Although she's never been particularly interested in attracting male attention in the past, for some unknown reason, she's thrilled at how frequently he turns to look at her while she's sipping her tea and wearing only a bra above her waist. Since there's nothing fancy or revealing about her bra, she's not sure if he's more interested in how much bare skin she's showing or in the shape of her breasts, as small as they are. In either case, her excitement is strongly suggesting they've had a long enough break before their tea is half finished.

Once their tea cups are rinsed out, she barely has to encourage him to take his shirt all of the way off. As soon as it's out of the way, she hugs him and is thrilled at the sensation of their skin to skin touching. While she tries not to put her current feelings onto her past thoughts, she still thinks this is what she's wanted for a very long time. They both seem to revel in this new experience which encourages them to include thorough kisses and that delays their return to the small sofa.

A necessary breathing break along with his stiffening knees encourage them to settle on the sofa. As she snuggles into his enveloping arms, she wants this moment to go on forever even as she also wants him to excite her. Since she guesses that he will excite her when he's ready to do so, she does her best to enjoy the pleasure of now even as her anticipation of the pleasure to come seems to grow in the background.

He quietly asks, "May I remove your bra?"

She's quite surprised at his question, then has a brief feeling of concern about revealing herself that much to anyone. Excitement soon replaces her other feelings, but in an attempt to not reveal her new feeling, she pauses then says, "Yes, on one condition."

He hesitates in surprise then asks, "What is your condition?"

"That you touch all of my skin which my bra is currently covering."

"It shall be my complete joy and pleasure to meet your condition."

Because she's sure he fully means what he said, she starts to kiss him with all of her enthusiasm which is no longer constrained. Moments later, her excitement surges to a brief climax when his right hand fondles her left breast then gently rubs her . . . she struggles to remember the correct term . . . nipple through her bra. As she pants for breath, he unhooks her bra in front, takes it off, and thoroughly examines her now bared breasts with his eyes.

Her excitement seems so intense, it feels as though the caresses of his eyes over her beasts almost send her over the peak. Even as he continues to look at her breasts, his right hand begins to caress her all over above her waist and barely avoids her breasts. Soon, he's caressing her right around her breasts then along the sides of her breasts and as his fingers caress around and on her nipples, her climaxes begin with barely a chance to gulp a quick breath or two when his hand moves to her other breast.

When his right hand moves away from her breasts, she's glad the firm caresses of his left hand on her back help to hold her up. Although she wishes his right hand would return to caressing her breasts, she's quite sure she wouldn't be able to stay awake to enjoy it for long. A little later, she clumsily cooperates as he guides her to lay down on the sofa then he kneels on the floor next to her.

Before she can express her gratitude, he whispers in her ear, "Thank you for letting me see and touch your lovely breasts." She's even clumsier in trying to respond to his thorough kiss then her excitement surges into an ongoing orgasm as both of his hands caresses her breasts until her pleasure overwhelms her consciousness. He stops touching her, looks at her breasts longer as though he's trying to memorize them, forces himself to drape her shirt over her bare torso, and leaves before he allows his desire to tempt him more.

Chapter 110

As they walk from his office to the cafeteria for lunch, Ilena hesitates then quietly says, "Chet, thank you so very much for touching my breasts so wonderfully last night."

"It was truly my pleasure."

"Um, . . . what did you think of them?"

"Although my opinion of them doesn't matter, I thought they were quite lovely and fit very well with the rest of your lovely body which is made even more lovely by your lovely personality."

She looks at him for a little while then asks, "Are you teasing me?"

"Only in the sense of repeating the word 'lovely'. In my opinion, you are quite lovely in all of your aspects which I greatly appreciate even as I wonder why you're so willing to share your loveliness with me."

"Oh. Thank you. While I don't think I'm all that lovely or pretty or some other descriptive term, I greatly appreciate it that you do have such an opinion of me. And as I've said before, I trust you and you continue to prove how trustworthy you are which encourages me to trust you more and to take advantage of your willingness to touch me and make my body feel so very good. I'm very glad I requested that you to be the one to touch me because I've heard about the experiences of others and none of them enjoyed the gentle and extensive approach which you've so generously given to me." She's tempted to express her gratitude non-verbally, but there are too many other people around at the moment.

"I'm very glad you enjoy how I touch you, but from my perspective, I'm just trying to treat you with gentle respect which I would hope to do with any person. Since you have clearly requested that I touch you, then how I touch you needs to remain in that framework of gentle respect."

"I still greatly appreciate it."

"Thank you. I suppose another way to look at it is that I'm treating you in a way which is consistent with how I would want to be treated if our roles were reversed."

She stops walking which causes him to stop and turn. As he looks at her and wonders why she stopped, she asks, "You really mean that?"

Since he's surprised that she seems to be surprised at what he thought would be a reasonable and logical consideration, he simply answers, "Yes."

"Most people wouldn't even give a thought to think about something like that. Or that such an idea was even worth considering."

"Too often that's true. I guess that makes me something of an oddball or a weirdo or some other derogatory term."

"I think it makes you a very special person," and regardless of the people who are walking past them, she briefly kisses him.

When they're mostly done with their meal, Ilena hesitates then says, "I've been thinking more about communicating with my grandparents. It feels kind of strange to think I have some family while at the same time, they're total strangers who know nothing about me other than my genetic background and I know even less about them. . . . I was thinking that instead of meeting them as unknown strangers, I'm inclined to send them a written message to tell them a little about my life. At the same time, I'm not sure how to ask them for similar information."

"In order for you to be sure there's no misunderstanding, simply ask for what you want to know. If you do it in a gentle and direct manner, they shouldn't be offended. But if they are, will give you some information to consider about whether you do want to meet them."

"That makes sense. So, how do I contact them?"

He pulls out his communicator as he says, "Give me a moment and I'll forward the information to your communicator then you have the freedom to choose which method you want to use to contact them. . . . There you go."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Um, have you ever met them?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I've briefly met a lot of people, especially since I've had this job, but I don't always remember them unless there was something unusual about them or unless I have to deal with them on a semi-regular basis."

"I understand."

"That reminds me, let me send you a link to the public information database along with their full names so you can look up some general information about them. It won't necessarily give you an indication of what their personalities are like, but it can give you some background information into their education and careers which may give you some ideas of what you might be interested in asking them."

"I appreciate that."

"I'm just doing what I can to help my favorite lovely young lady."

She returns his grin.

* * * * *

In the evening, after they enjoy a quiet dinner in each other's company while they do their best to ignore the presence of the other people in the cafeteria, Chet and Ilena walk hand in hand to her quarters. When they're partway there, she almost blurts out, "I sent my grandparents a written message."

"Good for you."

She briefly looks at him then says, "Thank you. . . . Now I'm not sure if I can wait for a response or fear what kind of response I'm going to receive."

"I know it's easier said than done, but you have no control over how they might respond so there's no reason for you to worry. I'm sure you made your best effort to be polite and courteous."

"I hope that's how they'll view it."

"If they don't, then they have a problem."

"But what if I said something offensive?"

"You didn't, at least not intentionally and if they can't understand that this situation is difficult for you, then, again, they have a problem."

"How can you be so sure I'm not the problem?"

"Because I know you well enough that you wouldn't want to hurt somebody else unless they really deserved it and even that would be difficult for you."

"Yeah. . . . I wonder if that's because of how I was raised or if it was a part of my basic personality."

"That's something which is most likely unable to be determined. Unless it's an element in your life which you want to try to change, it doesn't matter what the source is."

"I suppose that's true. . . . Since my grandparents live several time zones away such that I can't expect an answer any earlier than in the morning, would you be willing to distract me from worrying about how they might respond?"

"I suppose that depends on what kind of distraction you are interested in experiencing. If you want me to distract you by trying to wrestle with Regit or run a marathon, then I would have to answer, 'no'."

Chapter 111

Even as her eyebrows rise in surprise at his answer, Ilena hurries Chet the last few steps into her quarters, closes and locks the door, tightly hugs him, requests, "Touch me!" and thoroughly kisses him. He quickly responds to her kiss and his arms have barely reached around her in order to hug her before his hands start to caress her through her clothes as far as he can reach. During the breathing breaks which are kept as short as possible, she doesn't seem to want to move away which encourages him to slip his hands under her loose shirt in back to caress her skin.

A little later, she seems to feel something a little different and it takes her several moments to figure out that his caressing hands have slipped under the elastic waistband of her pants in back and are caressing her buttocks through her panty. She feels partially stunned to realize that then feels wholly excited at knowing he has again expanded how much of her he's touching. Since she can't directly reciprocate, her hands slide down to grip his buttocks through his pants and she tries to pull them more tightly together. He has his own moment of surprise at her action then he more firmly caresses her buttocks and their attempt to intensely kiss each other is interrupted by the need to breathe.

Neither of them seems to want to release the other and as soon as they can, they renew their kiss while they wish their clothes would simply dissolve from between them. Eventually, they realize that if they want their clothes out of the way, and to gain some breath before they unintentionally suffocate each other, they need to put a little distance between them. By this time, his stiffening joints are making themselves known which encourages them to move to the small sofa where she struggles to take the time to undo the buttons on his shirt rather than rip it open.

He cooperates with her to take his shirt off and it's barely set aside before his hands caress up her sides to push her shirt up and off of her after a brief pause to caress her bra covered breasts. She soon realizes that for her to sit perpendicular to him on his upper legs won't allow her to be breast to chest with him. She's about to kneel on the sofa and straddle his legs when he stops her, scoots forward on the sofa then guides her to sit on his knees so her feet can rest behind him.

Before she can pull herself tightly to him, pleasure surges into her as his hands begin to caress all around and on her bra covered breasts. Her hands move up to his shoulders to help support her in an upright position while she seems to naturally thrust her chest out to encourage him to continue touching her. Whether it's her soaring anticipation or her memory of how he touched her last night or the direct feelings of pleasure she's experiencing from his current touching, her excitement soon becomes a climax then barely slips below the peak before it surges into another.

He moves his caresses a little ways away to give her a chance to catch some of her breath. Somehow, a coherent thought comes together in her mind which reminds her that she doesn't want him to feel like she's taking him for granted so she gasps out, "Wow . . . wonderful!"

He gently smiles, says, "I'm so glad, . . ." but whatever else he was going to say doesn't make it past her ears because her pleasure intensifies as he takes her bra off. Soon, his caresses around and on her bared breasts has her excitement popping over the peak to several brief climaxes until he has to move his hands to her sides in order to help hold her up. She's partially settled her breathing when her eyes widen in surprise to feel his hands settle on the tops of buttocks and slowly pull her up along his legs.

As he presses her more tightly to him and begins to thoroughly kiss her, she belatedly wraps her arms and legs around him. Before she's totally distracted by the surge of pleasure which seems to fill her entire body, she realizes that she's right where she wants to be. Then her kisses devolve into panted breaths in between verbal expressions of her excitement as he rocks their torsos in order to rub her breasts on his chest while his hands caress her almost everywhere they can reach.

Eventually, she realizes he's just gently holding her while her head is resting on one of his shoulders in such a way that their torsos are no longer touching. It takes her a little longer to quietly tell him, "Thank you so very much," which makes her aware that she needs a drink.

"It was truly my pleasure."

"One of these days I'm going to figure out how to give you some pleasure."

"You already do. First of all, by allowing me to be with you; secondly, by allowing me to touch you; and thirdly, by allowing me to touch you enough that you experience pleasure. Believe me, since you've been willing to spend time with me, I've experienced more pleasure than I have during more years than I want to remember."

Since she can't think of how to respond to that, she says, "I don't want to move, but I'm becoming aware that the moisture which should be in my mouth for kissing has drifted down and filled up another part of my body."

"Yeah, gravity can do that to a person."

She looks at him in surprise then asks, "Gravity?"

"You mean there's some other explanation?"

She shakes her head with a grin and is glad for his help to get up and support her to the bathroom where they take turns before he encourages her to sit and rest at the table while he prepares some tea for them. They quietly sit next to each other and drink their tea although their glances at each other are almost non-verbal shouts of desire, especially when his eyes linger on her bare breasts. Soon, she encourages his lingering looks by slowly rocking her torso or pushing her chest out. Somehow, they manage to finish their tea and rinse out their cups, but as soon as they're settled on her small sofa, they're intensely kissing.

Before she runs out of breath from the kiss, she needs to verbally respond to the climax which rushes through her due to his right hand which fondles her left breast while her right breast is tightly pressed to his chest. A thought barely coalesces in her mind to wonder if he has a map of all of her pleasure nerves then that thought disappears when he excites her to a couple of more brief climaxes. An unknown amount of time later, she tries to cooperate as he turns her body ninety degrees to her left so her back is resting on his chest and her lower legs are draped on the outside of his while he snugly hugs her across her upper abdomen.

Even as she would like him to touch her more, she seems to feel rather content at the moment to rest in his arms. A little later, she says, "I was about to ask you if you have any more wonderful tricks up your sleeves when I realized you're not wearing your shirt."

"Well, I suppose you could check my shirt and see if there are any tricks left in there. At least that's assuming they weren't all washed out in the laundry."

She chuckles then suggests, "Or maybe they stuck to your arms instead of your shirt so you still have them available."

"I suppose that's a possibility. Why? Were you interested in some specific kind of trick?"

"Without meaning to sound entirely selfish, I would really enjoy it if you would touch me some more."

"Then maybe I shouldn't say how entirely selfishly I would like to touch you some more."

She reaches her right hand up to pull his head forward over her right shoulder, turns her head, briefly nibbles on his left ear, and huskily whispers, "Be selfish."

He turns his head to thoroughly kiss her while his hands begin to caress her upper abdomen then expand their touch to the fronts and outsides of her upper legs. Soon, it feels like his hands have multiplied as they caress her from her face to the middle of her thighs while they detour around her breasts and don't slip down to the insides of her thighs. A little later, his hands do begin to include the insides of her thighs and gradually expand the extent of their caresses up to about an inch from her pubic area.

Her pleasure has grown to such an extent that her entire body seems to be flooded and somehow he seems to keep her right at the cusp of the peak for an unbelievably long time. If she had the energy, she would have touched herself several times already. Then he touches her just a little more along the insides of her legs and her excitement seems to just pop over the peak of climax.

Rather than release her tension, that seems to build her anticipation for more, and as though he had read her mind, his hands touch her breasts or her inner thighs with no discernible pattern to give her a number of 'mini' climaxes. She's barely aware when he seems to briefly pause his caresses then his hands move to concentrate their touches all over her breasts and along her inner thighs right in front of her pubic area and that sends her pleasure rocketing into an orgasm so intense she doesn't notice his body thrust up and briefly stiffen under her. Suddenly, her body goes limp as her pleasure overwhelms her consciousness.

He has to rest for awhile before he can slowly and carefully move her to rest on the small sofa. After he caresses her with his eyes, he lays her shirt over her torso, puts his shirt back on, looks at her a little longer, and forces himself to leave.

Chapter 112

They quietly eat most of their lunch before Ilena says, "Chet, I received a response back from my grandparents."

"Your tone of voice suggests you're not sure if that's something positive."

"Well, I think I would like to meet them and they did respond positively and seemed to fully answer my questions, but . . . I guess all of the recent changes in my life have made me a little hesitant to add another uncertain factor."

"I can understand that."

"Thank you. Anyway, they expressed an interest in meeting me and rather than have me be in the unfamiliar territory of their station, they said they would be willing to travel here. That would make it easier for me, but I wouldn't know how to provide them with a place to stay. I'm sure you could help me figure that out, but, at the same time, I'm not sure how I could 'entertain' them. And based on what the Chief Scientist told you, I'm not sure I'm ready to introduce them to Regit which I would naturally want to do if they came here.

"I guess the alternative is to meet them at a 'neutral' place such as the capital although it will be more familiar to them than to me. Of course, that brings up all the issues with travel arrangements and some place to stay. I'm sure Karina would be more than happy to help me, but the whole subject scares me because I've never been away from the station here, at least that I can remember. In a way, I want to delay the whole thing, but I'm concerned that if I do that, I'll keep finding excuses to delay it even more."

He nods his head in understanding but doesn't say anything in order to encourage her to express her thoughts.

"I know this is a good opportunity for me to attempt to be bold and to do something I've never done before, but I'm afraid this is too many new things to try to do all at once. Unless I can find some more self-confidence which might be hidden somewhere, I'm very sure I'll get only partway through and then fall apart which will destroy some or all of the self-confidence I have built up. And my doubts will only make it easier for me to fail. Does that make any sense?"

"It makes a lot of sense. As they say, 'been there, done that'."

"How did you deal with it?"

"Keep in mind that everybody responds to new things in life in different ways, but what I would usually try to do would be to think of a way in which the new activity could be somewhat similar to a familiar activity. If that didn't work, I would try to spread out the new activities as much as I can so it seemed less overwhelming. I'll freely admit that I don't always succeed and that it will probably be difficult for you to do something similar. If I had been thinking ahead, I probably should have taken you with me to the capital the last time I went there which would have reduced some of the new things you're facing now."

"Except that you had your own overwhelming issues to deal with and I would have felt guilty to intrude on your attention in order for you to play tour guide to a country bumpkin. I've reviewed the news media's broadcasts about that situation on the military base and I don't know how you stayed as calm as you did for so long and I'm sure they didn't report on all of the details."

"There have been times I've wondered about that myself."

She nods her head then quietly finishes her meal. They turn their meal trays in to be washed and as they walk towards his office, she says, "I know I should do it on my own and I don't want to impose on your time and generosity, but . . . would you be willing to take me to the capital to meet my grandparents. I think that would reduce the new things I'm experiencing to a more manageable level."

"I think I can help you in that way."

She looks at him in surprise then realizes, "You've already been thinking about it!"

"Yes. But I thought it was important for you to consider the situation and to understand your feelings and to be aware of what you think your limitations are. I want to encourage you to push the limits of what you think you can do in order to build your self-confidence, but I don't want you to over push your limits. Of course, that can be a fine line between the two which can vary based on different situations."

She stops walking in order to briefly kiss him then says, "That's just a small token of how much I appreciate all you have and continue to do for me."

He slightly grins before he verbally responds, "I'm just trying to do a little to help my favorite lovely young woman."

"If you keep talking like that, I'll ignore the fact that we're in public and really express my gratitude." When he doesn't respond with more than another grin, she returns to the subject, "Um, when do you think it would be a good time for you to take me to the capital?"

"Probably almost any time which will work for you and your grandparents as long as I have a day or two to plan my work appropriately".

"Is there anything I can or should do to make travel arrangements?"

"Nothing other than pack some clothes and whatever else you might need for a couple of days or however long you might want to visit with your grandparents without interfering with your education."

"Oh. But how will I learn to make my own travel arrangements?"

"Don't worry about that this time. I think you have enough to deal with in meeting your grandparents for the first time. Later, if you need to go to the capital for something potentially less stressful, either Karina or I can help you make your own travel arrangements."

"Okay. How can I ever thank you for all you do for me?"

"Whatever I may do for you is an attempt on my part to thank you for being willing to spend time with me. And before you try to claim that you receive the greatest benefit from our relationship, can you quantify how much it means to me for you to be with me?"

She has a slightly sheepish grin as she responds, "No. . . . But neither can you quantify how much I appreciate how you treat me and all that you do for me."

He looks at her in surprise then says, "The lovely young lady is plagiarizing my words and using them against me." They share a grin as they step in the door to the outer office.

Karina sees them and speaks up, "Boss, I don't want to intrude on your time before your next meeting, but you have a call on line two who insists on talking to you."

"Okay. Thanks, Karina." He quickly hugs Ilena as he whispers, "I guess I'll have to delay our next kiss."

"If you double it, I might be willing to accept a delay."

His eyes widen in surprise then he briefly caresses her face as he chuckles before he turns to step into his office.

Karina hesitates then asks, "What was so funny?"

Ilena answers, "He said he would have to delay our next kiss and I told him that if he doubled it, I might accept the delay."

"Good for you."

Chapter 113

As they walk to her quarters after dinner, Ilena tells Chet, "Well, I sent a written message to my grandparents and suggested that we meet in the capital."

"Good for you."

"I admitted I had never been there before and was having to rely on a friend to help make travel arrangements and to find someplace to stay. I also said that since they had been there before, I guessed they could make their own arrangements, but that my friend might be able to help if they wanted it. At least I hope that's okay with you."

"That won't be a problem. Of course, I could just dump it onto Karina's desk to handle."

She returns his grin then hesitates some before she asks, "Um, I'm curious, where do you plan on making arrangements for me to stay in case they want to make similar arrangements?"

"Unless they have some friends they plan on staying with, there are really only a few places for people to stay when they visit the capital and they're all fairly close to each other. The majority of businesses and government facilities are all within a reasonable walking distance or there are places to rent bicycles. For those who need to or prefer to avoid the physical activity, there are shuttles they can ride."

"Do you have a preferred place that you usually stay when you have to go to the capital?"

"Because of my job, I have assigned quarters in the capital. Since I had previously been assigned quarters here while I was a professor, I prefer to maintain these quarters and do the majority of my work from the office here."

"Is there a reason you prefer to work from here?"

He slightly grins before he says, "I could say it was to be closer to you, but I decided to work from here before you expressed an interest in spending time with me. To tell you the truth, the reason I work from here is that it greatly reduces the number of 'drop-in' visitors I receive. Although some people try to abuse the allotted time for a teleconference, it's easier to schedule those meetings and, if necessary, cut them off to go to the next meeting. It would be a lot more difficult to physically escort them out of the office in order to meet with the next person."

"That makes sense. So, if you're going to stay in your quarters there, where are you going to have me stay?"

"Shall we step into your quarters before I answer that?"

While she's puzzled by why he would ask his question in response to hers, she agrees, "Okay."

It's only another minute or so before they close and lock the door behind them. She gladly steps into his open arms and as they tightly hug, he briefly nibbles on her ear then whispers, "Since I have two bedrooms in my quarters there, I thought I would offer to let you stay there. If you would prefer other . . ."

As what he said fully sinks into her understanding, she interrupts him with a through kiss. Although it's a number of minimal breathing breaks later, she wants to avoid any possibility of him misunderstanding her answer so she finally takes enough of a break to verbally respond, "I'll gladly stay with you," before she resumes the thorough kisses.

His grin has to remain on the inside as he responds to her kiss. Although he suspected that was going to be her answer, for her to verbalize it removes some of his concern that he might be taking advantage of her. Now that that's settled, he expands his caresses to as far as he can reach along her back and sides and as she presses herself tighter to him, he interprets that as her approval of his actions.

A little later when his hands slip under the back of her loose shirt to caress her skin, she tries to intensify her kiss. Several minutes later when his hands slip under her elastic waistband at the back of her pants to caress her buttocks through her panty, she almost pushes him over in her attempt to be closer to him. Eventually, they have to take a longer breathing break and he's able to guide her to the small sofa.

Before she gives into her desire to encourage him to excite her more, her curiosity manages to ask, "You'll really let me stay with you?"

"Yes, because I have a second bedroom you can use. I really don't want you or anyone else to have a concern that I'm taking advantage of you."

"I'm not sure I care about what other people think because I know for a fact that you have never taken advantage of me. If anything, I'm taking advantage of your care and generosity towards me and before I want to express my gratitude to you, I guess I'm curious about where I'll meet my grandparents because I'm not sure I want to impose on you to have them in your quarters."

"I was going to take advantage of my position and offer a conference room in the government offices for you to initially meet with your grandparents. After that, you and they can decide if you want to continue to meet there or if you want to meet in a restaurant or a museum or a park or some other place."

"Oh."

"What's the matter?"

"Um, I've never been to a restaurant nor do I have any money to do something like that. I understand the concept of money, but I've never had to use any or had any of my own to use. When I had to deal with any business here, it was always on behalf of the Order and the business billed the Order."

"Although I'm surprised you weren't told about your personal stipend, we can talk about that in more detail in the next day or so or I can have Karina or one of her staff go over the details with you. For now, don't worry about it. I think you already have enough on your mind with meeting strangers who are really your family."

"I think you're right about that. Will you distract me from even thinking about that for now?"

He almost asks, "How?" then either understands or correctly interprets her expression and begins to kiss and caress her to her immediate response of delight. Gradually, his caresses expand to touch her all over through her clothes except for her inner legs above about the middle of her thighs before he slowly diminishes the extent of his caresses until he's snugly holding her. Before a second round of caresses can begin, bladders interfere which encourages them to extend the break to get something to drink.

They manage to take some time to sip their tea rather than to gulp it down, but their movements to rinse out their tea cups and move back to the small sofa seem to be a little quicker than normal. Somewhere in the midst of this round of caresses, she manages to encourage him to get his shirt off while her shirt and bra seem to simply dissolve off of her body in the midst of her pleasure. And as he expands his caresses to include every part of her legs to within a finger's width of her pubic area, her excitement is high enough that she experiences a number of mini-climaxes as his caressing right hand touches her breasts and inner thighs in no discernible order.

While his caresses begin to touch less of her, her pleasure doesn't seem to dissipate at a corresponding pace. Even as he's again 'just' snugly holding her, she feels like her excitement is still so high that he would barely have to fondle her breasts in order to take her to another climax. He expands his caresses and while both her anticipation and excitement seem to grow by leaps and bounds, the peak seems to be just a little further away.

Her body feels like it's trembling on the verge of exploding especially as his right hand very slowly caresses up and down her inner thighs while his left hard reaches around her back to caress the sides of her left breast. Suddenly, she stops breathing because she's not sure she felt what she thought she did. A few moments later, she thinks his hand moved from one of her inner thighs to the other and actually slid over her pubic area!

When his hand starts to make the same move again, her hand stops his hand from moving away, but she can do nothing more as his hand caresses her pubic area through her pants which causes her excitement to rocket into an orgasm which continues until her body can no longer absorb the pleasure. He has to force his hand to quit moving on her then he has to find some extra will power in order to force his hand to move away from her sensitive nerves. Eventually, he calms down to where he thinks he can more easily control himself then he carefully moves her to lay on the sofa and lays her shirt over her bare torso before he reluctantly steps away and makes sure her door locks behind him.

Chapter 114

Ilena is about to interrupt his meeting which is going long when Chet steps out of his office and exclaims, "Some people have no courtesy. I'm sorry, I don't mean any of you," as he looks around the office. "Karina, in that vast list of references which you have, do you have any listings for hit men?"

"Sorry, boss, but none have been willing to identify themselves as such. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the new commander at the military base would be willing to let you borrow some of his special forces people for a 'training exercise'."

After an initial rising of his eyebrows in surprise, he chuckles then says, "Yeah, he probably would although I'll try to restrain myself from making such a request." A moment later, he turns and says, "Hello, lovely lady."

Ilena quickly steps into his arms then asks, "Was somebody giving you a hard time?"

He releases the brief hug and takes her hand to walk to the cafeteria for lunch before he answers, "Just somebody who refuses to understand the concepts of budgets or limited resources or that anybody else's work has any value. Thankfully, I'm not the only one he annoys because his direct supervisor is about ready to fire him and ship him back to where he came from. Anyway, rather than continue to think about unpleasant people, how is the lovely young lady doing?"

"YOUR lovely young lady is doing much better now that I'm with you." As she notices his eyebrows rise in surprise, she assures him, "I wouldn't want you to forget that I firmly believe we belong together even if you have a hard time accepting or understanding that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to make things difficult for you."

"You haven't. Actually, I'm enjoying all of the opportunities I have to further convince you that I really do want to be with you, especially since that often involves you making me and my body feel very wonderful and special."

He hesitates a little then says, "Maybe you shouldn't swell my head with so much praise or I might be inclined to forget about letting you eat."

She briefly chuckles, quickly kisses his cheek, and whispers, "You shouldn't tempt me like that."

His eyes briefly open wider in surprise before he grins, but he doesn't verbally respond as they step into line to get some food.

When they're done eating and are sipping their tea, Ilena tells him, "My grandparents responded to my message about meeting them in the capital. Apparently, they already had plans to go there today to conduct some business which is why they would have been willing to come here. Since I suggested meeting them there, they can extend their stay to either visit with me or to delay some of their business depending on when I can be there."

"That makes sense. Will you being gone for a few days impact your college classes?"

"Not really. I'm ahead of the schedule with my independent study classes and I've already talked about the possibility with my other professors and they're willing to give me my assignments ahead of time. As long as I set aside a couple of hours each day to work on my assignments, I should be able to keep up."

"Good." He hesitates then slightly grins before he softly says, "In that case, I'll have to make sure you have your homework done before I allow myself to selfishly touch you."

Her eyes widen in surprise then she responds, "Whoa, you are tough."

A moment later, they laugh which causes nearby heads to turn and wonder what the joke is. They're still grinning as they turn in their empty trays. While they walk back to his office he suggests, "If it will work for you, let's plan on going to the capital after dinner tomorrow. Then if your grandparents don't have plans or can make other arrangements for their business, you'll have all of the next day available to meet with them."

"Will you have any problems with adjusting your work schedule to accommodate me?"

"No."

"Okay. I really appreciate all you do for me and please don't say you're just trying to thank me for being willing to spend time with you, especially since I initiated the action of wanting to spend time with you for my own selfish reasons."

He briefly looks at her then says, "I guess I hadn't clearly considered the chronology of events before. However, I can attempt to express my gratitude to you for being willing to continue to spend time with me and for allowing me to touch you."

"Chet, I selfishly want to spend time with you and I encouraged you to touch me because I selfishly wanted you to touch me and the more time I spend with you and the more you do touch me, the more I selfishly want to be with you and be touched by you."

"Oh. . . . Well, maybe you have been selfish about your motives, but that doesn't negate how much I appreciate you spending time with me and allowing me to touch you."

"I guess I can accept that as long as you don't think your feelings of appreciation are greater than mine."

He briefly stares at her as he opens the door to the outer office and holds it open for her. He hesitates a little longer then responds, "I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Karina, how much time do I have to try to convince this stubborn old goat that he's one of the good guys before he has to waste his time in a meeting?"

While some of the other office staff stare at Ilena in near shock that she could call Chet that, Karina grins and answers, "A little less than a half hour. Of course if you happen to need more time, I can delay the meeting and say he's being lectured."

Ilena returns her grin, says, "Thanks, Karina," and pushes Chet into his office where she closes the door and thoroughly kisses him.

Chapter 115

As they eat dinner, Chet asks, "So, I'm a stubborn old goat?"

Ilena briefly chuckles then answers, "Sometimes, especially when you listen to your low self-esteem more than to those who appreciate how you treat them."

"Now you're beginning to sound like Ass."

"Why, what does he say?"

"That I ate too much humble pie when I was younger which interferes with my ability to think I do anything positive."

"Well, he's right, at least about the results. . . . I guess I don't understand how you could end up being the Planetary Administrator and still be convinced you can't do anything positive."

"Since nobody who was even partially qualified wanted the position and I was a fool to take the position and many of the people I have to deal with on a frequent basis complain about what I do, well, it only adds to the awareness I grew up with that I wasn't even good enough to be a farm boy. I suppose it could be justifiably stated that I'm overly sensitive to criticism, but when the number and quality of the complaints greatly exceed the number of compliments, I guess I don't have enough arrogant self-confidence to ignore the complaints."

"I think I can understand that. . . . Shall we finish our meal so I can take you to my quarters and compliment you on how you very much have the right attitude and actions in how you treat me and how much I greatly appreciate it?"

His eyes widen in surprise and it takes him a little while to think of a response which is accompanied by a growing grin, "I suppose I could use another lesson in the idea that it's a positive action on my part to enable a lovely young lady to express her selfish interests."

She lowers her voice as she responds, "I suggest you quickly finish eating or my selfish interests won't want to wait to be expressed."

Without another verbal expression, they finish eating and turn in their meal trays while their flashing eyes clearly communicate. Somehow, they manage to control themselves so they don't run to her quarters, but as soon as the door is closed and locked, they're passionately kissing each other. Moments later, his caressing hands seem to spend more time fondling her pants covered buttocks which encourages her to press herself tighter to him.

Too soon, they have to breathe and when the kisses resume, his hands slip under the back of her loose shirt to caress her skin. Soon, his hands take turns to slip under her pants waistband to include her panty covered buttocks in his caresses. That seems to add to her excitement and encourages her to tightly grip his buttocks and attempt to pull them even more tightly together.

As the pleasure spirals up higher between them, a thought slips into his mind that they're going to wear themselves out while they stand there. He tries to consider some options then his right hand moves, crosses her hip, burrows between their bodies, and can barely reach her pants covered pubic area where it presses in. Suddenly, her climax arrives and as it stands her on her toes, his hand is able to more easily caress her to keep her orgasm going. Then he has to quickly move his hand to around her back in order to support his left arm in keeping her upright.

He half carries her to her small sofa and after he helps her to sit on his upper legs, he tries to keep his caresses and kisses at a comfort level to give her a chance to more fully catch her breath. When she can, she proclaims, "I greatly compliment you on your positive action which was exceedingly wonderful."

"You don't have to pour on the adjectives so thickly."

"Actually, those weren't enough adjectives compared to what I'm feeling. But with all of the glorious pleasure you gave me still echoing through my mind and tingling all over my body, words are inadequate," so she thoroughly kisses him. Moments later, she begins to unbutton his shirt which encourages him to begin another round of caresses which stays on the outside of her clothes yet includes her breasts and pubic area which excites her to several mini-climaxes.

He slowly diminishes the extent of his caresses until he's snugly holding her while she leans on him and uses her left hand to caress as much of his chest as she can reach in his mostly open shirt. A little later, she wonders if he was able to read her mind when she feels his caresses begin again. This time, he slowly pushes her loose shirt up and off of her with almost continuous caresses which sends her pleasure soaring, but not quite to the peak of climax.

After her shirt is set aside, he resumes caressing her but it's as though he took a few steps back in the extent of his caresses in order to slowly expand his caresses and rebuild her excitement. As his caresses include her high inner thighs through her pants and all around her bra covered breasts, her pleasure is again high enough that it seems to her as though it's a mere stroke away from climax. Then that 'next' brief stroke arrives and a few more mini-climaxes pulse through her before he takes her bra off and directly fondles her breasts which sends her pleasure into an ongoing orgasm.

Even though he slowly diminishes the extent of his caresses, it still takes her awhile to begin to catch her breath and even longer for her to try to express her gratitude with either words or kisses. However, before she can encourage him to start another round of exciting caresses, bladders make their presence known. They take care of that need then realize a snack and drink would be beneficial.

Although the break reduced the amount of actual pleasure which is flowing into her, it doesn't seem to diminish her anticipation for more. She gladly cooperates as he guides her to kneel on the sofa while she straddles his legs and sits on his thighs then remembers how excited she was the last time they were in a similar position. While she would like to be breast to chest with him, as he starts to thoroughly kiss her and soon adds caresses which cause her nerves to tingle with excitement, she quickly becomes aware that his hands can more easily touch both of her breasts at the same time as they teasingly move closer than a little ways away.

She doesn't know how he does it, but his caresses near, around, and even briefly on her breasts keeps her excitement just under the peak. As a result, she's unable to kiss him while she pants for breath in between verbal expressions of almost climactic pleasure. In a little while, she becomes aware that he's slowly lifting her body from a sitting position while his kisses cover her neck from one side to the other before they slowly move down across her upper chest.

Almost as though it's an automatic response, her hands move up to his shoulders to steady her rising body then she almost slumps back down as she realizes that he's actually kissing her around her breasts. When she feels something different, it's a struggle for her to open her eyes and look down to see how he's touching her. Her eyes open wider when she sees what he's doing and she rejects her initial description then decides that he's caressing her with his lips and tongue.

Moments later, her eyes close because her pleasure surges higher and goes over the peak of climax as his kisses and tongue caresses seem to cover her breasts then concentrate on her nipples. Then one of his hands slides down over her buttocks and as it moves between her legs and presses up on her pants covered pubic area, her excitement intensifies to become an orgasm which continues until she can no longer absorb the pleasure. It takes him a moment or two to realize that her body has gone limp then he has to quickly move his hands to hold her up before she falls.

He has to make the effort to not keep touching her, especially since the easiest way to support her is to hold her body snugly close to his which causes his head to be pressed between her small breasts. As soon as he thinks he's able to, he moves his hands to her ribs in order to push her body a little ways away from his then he guides her into a controlled fall onto the other side of the small sofa. After he rests for a little while, he carefully moves until he's off of the sofa and can straighten out her limbs before he covers her bare torso with her shirt, pauses a little longer to look at her, and leaves her quarters.

About the writer:

After decades of doing office work from which he escaped to read books and occasionally write something in the evenings or on the weekends, this writer was finally able to retire and move back to the dry heat land of saguaros, Gila monsters, and bark scorpions (while they can be a low maintenance pet, they are not amenable to leash training).

If you liked this story, please tell your friends about it and leave a review. You can also contact this writer at geoff_schultz_01@yahoo.com.

