Space Relations Pt. 16

Braxton and Mary were also finding themselves swarmed, by the hands of numerous older, and for the most part, handsome males. The older woman appeared as taken aback as Washington was. The younger blonde was enjoying the attention and giggling, and even reaching out her hands to touch some of the men back.

"People of Our World," Gar announced. "We are here to welcome these men and women of the planet Earth. We wish them to be happy and free among us. We will embrace them and give them of our love. It is our sincerest wish that they accept us as we are, and that they return their own embrace and love to us if they find us agreeable."

Sporadic clapping erupted throughout the hall. Washington noticed that the building seemed to be swelling with people now. They'd be in a tough spot if they had to leave in a hurry, he calculated, with the ship being so far away and up in space orbiting the planet.

"Will we show our guests of honor the best hospitality we have to offer them?" Gar asked the crowd, causing a bigger round of applause to be heard. "Then let our banquet begin! Will the musicians please take their places?"

A soft drumbeat started up. Through the crowd, Washington saw a man beating the tan canvas top of a drum. The canvas, he noted, was mounted over the half-shell of what appeared to be a giant coconut. A second man began plucking the strings of an instrument that reminded the captain of a misshapen harp, although it played like a heavenly one. Three men nearby started humming in cadence.

"If you wish, I will show you to your seats in one moment." Gar gave the group of travelers one of those deep nods. "It is our custom that visitors should have one of our people to escort them and to have conversation with them. It is a great honor to be chosen for this duty."

The crowd started pushing closer together, around Washington and the others. The captain felt as if he were some sort of celebrity, with paparazzi pressing tight against him and trying to get his attention for snapshots.

"We don't want to upset our guests." Gar noticed the slight frenzy starting to build up around the newcomers. "Let them have their breathing room, please."

"What are we expected to do here, Gar?" The captain asked, becoming impatient at all the hands still touching him.

"You simply look around at the people that encircle you, and select one to sit at your side during the banquet."

Again, it felt like another attempt to divide the four of them. Since Washington could very well imagine a riot ensuing if they didn't act, he turned and looked into the faces of those closest to him. Hands that had been at his back were now on his chest. Luckily, the hands were not clutching or clawing, not yet anyway, but merely placing open palms on him. They were all old women, he observed. At random, he reached up and grabbed at the first wrist he came to.

"I choose this one." Washington announced.

While the rest of the women made disheartened faces, lowered their arms and drew back, the woman attached to the wrist he held came forward. At once, Washington was struck by how beautiful the woman was. She had a trim, athletic body, but her face was her most intriguing feature. The woman had a pleasant, almond shaped face with well-defined cheekbones. Her chin jutted out prominently, but not enough to be seen as unattractive. Her green eyes had that unusual black eyeliner all around, and her head had long, silky hair streaked in silver, gray and white. As Washington watched, the woman drew her colorful veil away from her face, impressing him even further with her no longer encumbered countenance.

"I am Lora." The woman made a deep nod. She clasped her hands around the captain's wrist, as if to make sure he couldn't get away.

How could any previous Space Corps personnel, or at least the straight men among them, not want to have sex with an older beauty such as this one? Washington found himself not understanding that at all.

Following his lead, Mary selected a man from the throng around her. Cruz made a playful scene when he wanted to choose more than one woman, but wasn't allowed to.

Braxton observed the proceedings closely, but she resisted the many palms on her shoulders and side, and even a few daring ones that were pressed tight against her breasts.

"Gar, I choose you." Her voice was deliberate and demanding. "I will take no other man."

"You may choose me, if you so wish." Gar nodded back at her.

He too moved over to clasp her wrist. As soon as he'd done so, the rest of the crowd filtered away from the platform and headed out to their seats.

A crisis averted, Washington thought with growing relief.

The next few hours were spent in the sampling of the numerous dishes overflowing the banquet table. If a crewman, or a crewwoman, found the cuisine acceptable, a full serving was dished out by the selected Wrinkle and enjoyed. Drinks, laughter and good conversation were to be found in generous amounts.

After a time, the all-male musical group was replaced. A new assemblage composed entirely of women took their spots. Washington was fascinated to see that of all things the musicians could have possibly chosen for their musical instruments, these women had selected to use vegetables. The Our World equivalents of eggplant clappers, pumpkin drums, carrot flutes, leek violins and celery guitars provided the sound. The lead vocalist sang into a microphone made up of a hollowed out cucumber topped off with what looked to be a red pepper.

Later, a sensuous dance was begun. This was a sort of courtship performance where the males and females were separated, and teased one another from across a distance. As the dance progressed, the women became the aggressors. They roamed freely through the twirling and pirouetting bodies of the men, before they withdrew back to their original lines. The men continued to woo and tantalize their counterparts. The dance ended just as the women had decidedly begun to drift across the divide and to roam among the males once again. Washington enjoyed the dance immensely. When the Wrinkles began to clap, he expressed his gratitude right along with them.

Once the clapping subsided, Washington leaned over toward where Gar was sitting. "I would like to send a message to the my ship, if that's at all possible."

"By all means." Gar replied. "You don't have to make such a request from me. Lora can help you out with anything you need just as well as I can."

The captain glanced over at his escort. "I'm sorry if I neglected you. I'm not used to your social customs yet."

Lora gave him a deep nod.

"Ensign Braxton, if you could please keep the group together until I get back."

"Yes, captain. I won't let our two love bugs stray too far away."

"Very well. Lora, please take me to your communications center."

Lora stood, graciously bowing toward everyone at the banquet table. Following this, she led him out of the leadership hall. Washington waved, grinned, and followed.

After a short ride in an air car, which Lora fortunately flew close to the ground, the two entered what looked to be one of the tallest structures in the city. A handful of bored Wrinkles were seen milling about the building's wide lobby. As soon as an apparent guard noticed their entry, he took an orange whistle hanging from a silver chain around his neck and blew it loud enough to catch everyone's attention.

A gang of Wrinkles rushed over to greet them. A similar whistle was soon sounding out from some unseen overhead speakers. The shrill calls soon caused other Wrinkles to appear from behind closed doors, or to pour out of what Washington took to be elevators. The people were all as attractive as the ones he'd seen in the rest of the city. After seeing so many of them, the captain began to doubt that there were any ugly Wrinkles anywhere on the planet.

Lora clasped Washington's wrist tightly as the crowd encroached upon them. The moment her peers saw this, some sort of unvoiced agreement seemed to take place between them. The other Wrinkles raised their hands, palm forward, in greeting and gave Washington warm salutations, but they no longer pressed against him. The captain passed on teaching them an Earthly handshake, simply because there were so many of them. He didn't want to shake hands with some and leave the rest ignored. That would not be good for public relations, the man figured, and as we all know, the name of his ship was the Space Relations.

"This must be a boring place to work, since you have so very few visitors." The captain said, trying to lighten the mood.

Some Wrinkles responded with genuine laughter, while others seemed to strain their chuckles out. One hundred percent of them, Washington observed, had their attention squarely focused on him.

"We are only assigned to work at this place for one month at a time." Lora explained. "Then we are cycled off to another place to work. This keeps us from getting too bored with our jobs."

"I see."

"Come this way." By the hand Lora led him through the crowd.

The Wrinkles, all wearing their colorful finery as if they were on holiday, stared at him intently. Quietly, they parted ranks and allowed them to pass.

Lora walked them to a bay of elevators. Washington watched the woman wave her hand before a large oval mirror, which he supposed was how the elevator was summoned.

"I'm curious." Washington stated. "Will that work for human beings as well, or only for your people?"

"To summon the elevator?" Lora asked. "The mirror recognizes motion. If you wave upward, as I did, an elevator will arrive and whisk you up. If you are on a higher level and wish to come down, you merely need to wave in a downward motion. I apologize, I should have asked if you wanted to summon it."

"No need to apologize." Washington said. "I'm just trying to pick things up as I go along."

"I'll be sure to ask you when you are ready to descend again."

Washington was about to reply, when he noticed that all the other Wrinkles were standing around them in a wide half circle, about ten or twelve feet back. They looked like children waiting for a piñata to break or, he thought morbidly, like hungry dogs waiting for a morsel to be tossed their way. Perhaps, he wondered, he was that morsel. Hoping to dispel some of his anxiety, he raised his arm up and said, "Hello, again."

Several Wrinkles mimicked his action. They seemed very eager to please him, he thought.

The elevator made a short whistling sound, before its wide door slid open. Lora stepped inside and out of the way. She kept her head slightly bowed until Washington had joined her. Only then did she move forward to a side panel, which had its own little mirror on it.

"To close the door, you simply wave your hand across. Would you try it?"

Washington did. The elevator door closed. A moment later, the dull silver door of the elevator replaced all those gawking and pensive faces.

The captain studied the control panel below the small mirror. "There aren't too many buttons here. How do you choose which level you want to go up to?"

"You push here." Lora showed him. "This will call the elevator guide. He or she will ask you where you wish to go. You may press the button now."

Washington did.

"Hello." A pleasant male voice asked. "Where would you like to go?"

"Up to the communications tower." Lora said. The captain got the feeling that she was boasting when she said; "I have a man from Earth with me."

"Oh? Which one?"

"He is their captain."

"Most excellent." The voice replied. "May I say hello to him?"

"You may."

"Hello, captain of Earth."

"Hello, sir." Washington answered.

"Thank you for visiting us. I hope you will find your visit here agreeable."

"It has been so far. You have a very beautiful city here."

Washington expected their conversation to continue, but the man simply said. "You will be arriving in the communications tower shortly."

"Uh, thank you." Washington said. He turned to Lora. "I didn't say something wrong, did I?"

"No, Captain." Lora answered. "Before, when Our World received visitors from Space Corps, too many of us were asking questions and trying to step in front of others. We have decided that only one of us should speak with each of you. This is why I am your escort."

"So, other people are not allowed to speak with me?"

"They can, if you ask them a question or speak to them directly. You may speak with anyone you wish, at any time. We have only resorted to this measure because we may have caused other humans discomfort in the past."

The captain recalled some of the footnotes other landing parties had written about the planet's residents. "I see."

Lora smiled at him. While she'd kept her hands on his wrist before, he noticed that now her hands had crept up to his bicep. She was caressing his arm, now, and smiling directly at him with those big, green, beautiful eyes. Old woman or not, Lora was still very attractive. And from Washington's point of view, she was totally doable.

There was a slight shift from the elevator, before Lora released one hand and waved the door open. Once the door was out of the way, Washington had expected some sort of hallway lined with more doors. Instead, the captain found himself in the heart of the communications room. Washington recognized the man that sent the coordinates to the ship earlier, seated in some sort of flying chair.

The man and his chair turned to face the captain. The occupant had a happy look on his face. "Hello, Lora, and captain of Earth. I'm so glad you've come to visit me."

"Hello, Dur." Lora nodded in that peculiar custom Washington had seen before. "The captain's name is Washington."

Dur looked astounded. "He has three names? He must be a very important person on Earth. Wah-Shing-Ton."

"It's only one name, but it has three syllables to it." The captain corrected. "Do all the residents of Our World only have short names? Don't tell me that long names somehow imply ownership."

Lora explained. "Not ownership, captain. Arrogance. Long names draw unneeded attention to their owners on Our World. Of course, we understand that this may not be the same on other planets. We forgive you for having a long name."

Washington glanced over at the woman, finding that she was smiling warmly at him. She'd made a joke, he realized. He smiled back and wondered if this is how Braxton had figured out that Gar liked her. If the captain had to place a bet, he would have bet a hundred credits that Lora was flirting with him.

"And I forgive you too, for having a short name." He said, coyly.

Lora chuckled, emitting a cute little laugh that made her look so cute and kissable. The captain was nearly smitten by her and had forgotten the whole purpose for him having come there. He found it very difficult to turn away from her, as he looked at the equally pleasant face of Dur, sitting there in his little floating chair.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to communicate with my starship."

"I'll hail them, Captain Wah." Dur said.

The older man pressed some control on the floating chair that caused it to revolve away and approach the control panel he'd been next to when the elevator had opened.

While they waited, Washington stepped over to one of the wide windows, of which there were several visible. It looked to be made of thick glass. He reached out to touch it, finding that it did indeed feel like glass. Past the clear barrier, the captain could see miles and miles of the city's buildings. He stood there and took it all in until his fear of heights started scratching at his composure.

Washington didn't mind that Lora had her hands on his arm this entire time. She was starting to feel like a sort of warm anchor that prevented the captain from abandoning a planet full of wild suspicions and doubts. What could possibly be so wrong with the old Wrinkles that nobody from Space Corps wanted to come out to that planet? Other than the fact that he had seen no young people and no children, planet GB 1 seemed like a perfect paradise.

A chirp from the control panel drew his attention.

"Your ship has answered my call." Dur said, pointing to one of several dark screens nearby. "I'll transfer their signal to that screen. You can use the terminal right in front of it, Captain Wah."

Washington was about to ask for privacy, but thinking back, there didn't seem to be much privacy on the entire planet. Everything, as far as he could tell, was out in the open. Allowing for just such a circumstance, the captain recalled the code words he had agreed upon with his crew earlier. "Thank you, Dur."

"You're welcome, Captain Wah."

With Lora clinging to his arm, Washington went over and looked down at the terminal's controls. The captain frowned when he couldn't make heads or tails of the configuration. Fortunately, the graceful Lora reached out and pressed the right one. The screen flickered for a moment, and the first thing the captain saw was Margo's big and brooding form.

"Margo, are you sitting in my command chair?"

"I sure am, Cappy." The big lesbian answered. "And I'm going to stay right here until either you or Braxton come back on board and shove me out of it. I was going to lie on your bunk until you came back, but Barbie kicked me out before I could."

"Would you mind calling all hands to the bridge?" Washington asked. "I'd like to address everyone."

"Thor and Willow are already here." Margo said.

A moment later, the view zoomed out and both of his ensigns came into view.

"Hey, captain!" Willow waved.

"Captain." Thor nodded. "I just paged Barbie. She should be here shortly."

As soon as Barbie came in and saw him, and saw how Lora was clinging to his side, she set her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look. "I see that you've found yourself another girlfriend."

"It's not what you think." Washington explained. "This is Lora. She's my escort while I'm on the planet. Each of us has their own personal escort to show them around."

"Hello, woman of Earth." Lora politely nodded.

"Well, hello to you, too." Barbie said. "I think."

Before his woman could say anything else, Washington addressed his two ensigns. "Thor, Willow, how goes the scan of the planet?"

"We've flown over three other cities so far, captain." Thor spoke next. "They all look to be empty."

"The only heat signatures and electrical impulses we've been getting is from the city you're in now." Willow added.

Washington turned to his escort and tactfully explained. "This is what I asked them to do earlier. I wanted to leave my crew on their own to test them, in a way where I'm not always looking over their shoulders."

He looked back at the screen.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" Barbie asked.

"We were invited to a royal banquet." The captain replied. "I was hoping that the rest of you would be able to join us, once your exercises are complete."

This was code for; do not return to the planet's surface just yet.

"Have they been treating you well?" Barbie questioned.

"They've been treating us splendidly." Washington nodded. "Very well." If he'd said very nicely, that would have been a sign that something was wrong. "We can't wait to see what we're going to have for dessert." Translation: we're still checking things out. "All in all, I'm really liking this place, but there are still so many things we haven't looked at yet." Translation; things seem on the up and up, and a confirmation that the investigation is ongoing. "I guess I'll be calling you early next day cycle. We'll figure out when we can get the ship down here." Simply stated; sit tight and wait for news.

"Well, we've got a warm pot of coffee waiting you for when you get back." Willow said. This meant that the nearest Space Corps starships had been informed of the Space Relation's current location and their pit stop on GB 1. Armed personnel were ready to come to their assistance if need be.