The Great Escape Chapter 23, Part 5 of 13

The Great Escape
Chapter 23, Part 5 of 13

"I'll be warmer in bed," she said, walking past Gloria to the bedroom.

Amused, Gloria followed her. She had no objection to sharing her bed with Solange, as she had done not long ago when Brad Formast visited Cloner City. Gloria enjoyed the Samothean tradition of sleeping naked with other women, sharing their warmth on cold nights.

"You should wear nightclothes," Gloria told Solange in a motherly tone. "Especially now."

This was because Solange was pregnant. The purple and black tattoos that covered most of her thin brown body were surreally distended on her rounded belly and the two small mounds gracing her usually flat chest.

"I'm serious," Gloria said as she cleaned her teeth in the bathroom. "I don't want you to get ill."

She took off her nightgown and got into bed with Solange.

Gloria was a full-bodied, warm, curvy woman. She snuggled Solange close and tried to transfer some of her warmth to the athletic woman. Solange turned to face Gloria, and they linked arms and legs.

"All right, Madam Deputy Prefect," Gloria said. "Talk to me. I must have done something very stupid or shameful."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because otherwise, you would have told me off in public. Correcting me in private means you care about my dignity."

"What utter crap, Gloria! You've never done anything stupid or shameful in your life. It's time you did."

"I'll take that under advisement. So, what is it?"
Solange seemed to change the subject.

"What do you think of Andrew Claydon?"

"I like him. He seems competent and assured."

"Yes, but do you trust him?"

"I don't know. I know so few men to compare him with. I've never met a bad man. All the men I met on Celetaris were like Ezra."

"None like Brad, then?"

Gloria smiled at the memory.

"What do the women here who went so potty over Brad last year say about him?" she asked.

"Brad is for fun but not for keeps."

"Exactly. Andrew Claydon reminds me of Ezra."

"You mean, Mister Average?"

"No, I mean kind, considerate, and manly. Why do you think he's untrustworthy?"

"He seems too good to be true," Solange said. "I don't believe anyone is so thoughtful. I was strongly in favor of restarting the colonization of our planet, especially bringing men here, but now I'm not so sure. I think we're being buttered up for something bad."

"Normally, I trust your instincts, Solange, but what can we do anyway?"

"We can resist. If Outworld Ventures wants to open the whole planet to colonization, we can make their lives difficult. Danielle Goldrick will be on our side. So will the Petticoats."

"We might refuse to co-operate, but if they send men, especially men with weapons, we've lost anyway. Are you really that worried? What's causing your apprehension?"

"I don't know. Just a sense of foreboding."

"All right, I'll also take your sense of foreboding under advisement. What else is there?"

"I'm glad you approved Mirselene's request."

"It's reasonable for Mirselene to want more members for her tribe," Gloria said. "Thanks to you, Carlin has extended her stay with the Juniors beyond a year. Annela, Yael, Samothea, Hazel, and Ezra are all on Celetaris. The Woodlander tribe is short of non-disabled workers."

"So, you're happy if I ask for volunteers from the Cloner Tribe to live with the Woodlanders?"

"Yes, and when the Woodlanders' Petticoat ends her three-month tour, she should be replaced by two new Petticoats. Is that all?"

"One more question, Gloria. Why haven't you taken a bedmate? There are lots of women here who'd fight to be your lover. You also need to give man-sex a go. I tried to interest you in Brad, but you ignored him. Why? He was available and not off-limits to you, like Ezra."

Gloria ignored the comment about Brad, but she had a question about Ezra.

"I understood why Ezra was off-limits to us Cloners, but I don't understand why he kept his distance. It's not as if I'm a great temptation. It was the same, even on Celetaris."

"That was because of Megan's rule, of course.

"What's Megan's rule?"

"Don't tell me you didn't know!" Solange was astounding.

"Know what?"

"That Megan's rule forbids Ezra from being alone with you."

"Really? I had no idea."

"It was because Megan was jealous of you."

"Megan was jealous of me?" Gloria was astounded. "Megan Herder? The most beautiful of all the Herder braves. The mother of Ezra's twin girls. She was jealous of me! How is that possible?"

"It's not like you to underestimate yourself, Gloria."

"Oh, I know I'm plain and frumpy."

"Cut the crap, woman!" Solange said again. "Men don't judge female beauty the way silly women do. We like girls to be skinny, but men like curves."

"They do?"

"Ask Ezra. He's a breast-man himself, which is bad luck for me. Other men go for legs.

However, that's just a woman's appearance, which is lovely but fleeting. Ezra's really a brain-man."

"Which is good luck for you."

"Even more so for you, Gloria."

Gloria was silent for a minute.

"I don't want there to be any favorites," she explained, reverting to why she didn't have a bedmate. "I don't want any suspicion of a Favorite."

"So that rules out poor Madam Scientist," Solange said, "who's left to break her heart in silent loneliness."

"Sally Scientist is fine, and she's neither silent nor lonely."

"If you say so, Gloria. I know you think it would be abusing your power to take a Junior to bed, although the girls all worship you."

Gloria didn't reply to that statement. Instead, she said:

"All right, Solange, question for question. How did you avoid favoritism when you were chief of the Herders? Did you sleep indiscriminately with all your braves?"

"That would seem a fun and democratic solution, but no, I have Ash."

"Ash isn't exclusive."

"No, but I am. And Ash has to ask my permission to sleep with anyone else."

"So, just Ash and Ezra for you?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

"Believe it or not, Gloria, I prefer cock to pussy. Of course, I didn't know it until Ezra arrived, but
Ash and I usually fuck using artificial cocks, ones that Belena Mariner gave us. A cock with an actual man attached to it is like heaven. I keep Ash because she makes the bed and looks after Tahnee."

"You love the girl," Gloria insisted.

"And I love the girl, but I don't lust after any other woman. I'm strange like that."

"You're not so strange," Gloria whispered.

"I know, darling," Solange whispered back. "I know."

When Eva Welwyn returned to Earth for work commitments and to interview more recruits for the expanded Petticoat Team, Danielle and Roger went to the Ocean City Astroport to see her off.

In tribute to her friend, Danielle wore a professional feminist uniform of a dark blue, conservative business suit with pinstripes and a knee-length pencil skirt, paired with a pink blouse, high heels, and platinum hair tied in a ponytail. With Eva in her grey suit, high heels, and brown hair tied in a ponytail, they looked like a classy pair as they hugged on the platform.

"I'll miss you, Eva," Danielle said. "Who else am I going to tease about her feminist nonsense?"

"I'll be back before you realize it, Danielle. And I'll bring new members of the Women's Support Group to make you corrupt with your internalized misogyny."

Having waved Eva off, Danielle took Roger's arm to promenade elegantly along the platform to a jetcar. As they walked, a great booming voice called out above the hubbub of the crowd and the whoosh of a departing hovertrain.

"Princess!"

It was a familiar voice that acted directly on Danielle's nervous system. She turned with a great smile and spied on the owner of the voice, fifty feet behind her. A dozen space-riggers, dressed in blue overalls with yellow safety harnesses, were disembarking from passenger transport.

Among them was a giant man, more than seven feet tall, with a big red face and a huge red beard like a spade.

"Geraint!" Danielle cried and ran toward the giant, leaving Roger behind on the platform, nonplussed.

"Geraint!" Danielle repeated as she flung herself at the man, who scooped her up and threw her into the air, catching her as if she were no heavier than a child. He hugged her to him, and she kissed his cheeks with joy.

"Look at you, Princess Bach," Geraint said admiringly, holding her at arm's length. "Proper tidy you are, too."

Geraint was a Welshman whose bass voice had the singsong lilt of the valleys.

"Oh, Geraint!" Danielle exclaimed. "I knew a rigging team was coming, but I had no idea you were in it. I've missed you so much! Are the other lads here?"

"No, Princess Bach, just me. It's a small job, look at you. Right easy."

She gave him another kiss, and he put her down.

"I want to show you my home at the Science Institute," she said. "Promise me you'll come for a visit when your job's done?"

By this time, Roger had sauntered up.

"This is my husband. Roger met Geraint, one of my friends from Oakeshott Industries. He's a space-rigger. He's come to work on the new beacon."

"Pleased to meet you, Geraint."

"How are you, Roger Bach? It looks like the lads were joking, Princess. They said you married a pygmy."

Roger pulled himself up to six feet four inches but smiled at the joke.

"I guess anyone would look like a pygmy next to you, Geraint," he said.

"I warrant that's so," the giant agreed.

"Tell me, how's Seren?" Danielle asked.

"Painful, sad it is, Princess, but Seren left me."

"Oh, no! What happened?"

"We drifted apart, you know. Not every woman wants a husband who's away for months on other worlds."

"I'm so sorry."

"The oddest thing, look at you, was that it happened when I came home to settle down. I worked twenty years on the rigs, so it was time to go home, buy a farm, and raise sheep and children. That's when Seren chucked it in."

"I'm sorry, Geraint," Danielle said again.

"Don't be, Princess, it's probably for the best. That's why I came back to work on the rigs. First to quit and first back. But I haven't given up the dream of a farm, look you."

The sentimental moment was interrupted by some of the younger riggers pushing each other and swearing.

"Knock it off, boys," Geraint ordered.

Danielle frowned at the gang of riggers. They were a tough-looking bunch who slouched around in worn overalls, safety belts nonchalantly undone, and a day or more of truculent beard growth.

"These aren't Oakeshott men, are they?" Danielle asked Geraint.

"Agency blokes, they are. Our lads are at bigger jobs. These boys know their stuff, but they're not disciplined like our lads. Look, Princess Bach, could you talk to our Princess? She's new and these boys are already taking the mick. I can keep them in line, but can't be everywhere."

"Sure, I will. What's her name?"


To be continued