Captain Jette Jones, Star Ranger

Issue #7 – Pleasure Trap of the Catwomen

By Callidus and connie k

All rights reserved. “Captain Jette Jones: Star Ranger” © 2021 All characters and stories are not to be reproduced in any form without the expressed written permission of the authors.

Captain Jones and the crew of the Artemis III take shore leave on a pleasure planet and discover that what happens on Plutonia doesn’t always stay on Plutonia.

Part 3

Plutonia. A planet of excesses – of sex and secrets, fun and decadence. For the crew of the Artemis III, however, tonight is a night of boghn and robotgirls. And assassination! A night that may change their lives forever …

Epsilon’s matrix throbbed in sync with the sounds of sex that surrounded her. They, in turn, were in sync with the music. Club Dimonica was a vast circle with tables and small dance floors near the middle. There were all kinds of blatant sexual exhibitions on the stages and in the pits along the outer ring. In the very center was a large three-sided bar with a glowing red surface. The walls, floors and stairs also shimmered with lines of red.

K’wari led Epsilon down the steps. They weaved through dozens of gyrating alien bodies. “There are three rules in Club Dimonica,” K’wari called over her shoulder. “First, you cannot physically harm anyone without their consent. Second, if you accept a wager, you must honor the exact terms.”

“What do beings wager with?” Epsilon shouted.

“Everything. If you default on a wager, you belong to the club until they say you don’t.”

Epsilon blinked. Processing.

“Third, the house safe word is ‘bogehtta’. Anyone says it and whatever or whoever they’re doing stops. Unless they’re being punished for an infraction.”

“Who administers the punishment?”

“The club sentries.” K’wari nodded to two tall, glossy black robots across the room. They had an alien woman locked in their grips. She was begging for mercy.

K’wari steered them up a curving set of stairs to the upper ring. It was quieter here, and Epsilon’s exoskin became more sedate. There were dozens of games being played. Epsilon followed K’wari to a circular table with a half-dozen beings seated around it. There was something shaped like a large serving tray spinning rapidly at its center. “This is boghn. Have you ever played?”

“No.” Epsilon watched as the disc stopped, it held dozens of small rectangular bricks. The players all grabbed one and added it to their collections. A rotund alien covered in short feathers pumped his fists when the interactive table declared him winner. The ring of credit chits floating above the disc glided to him.

K’wari motioned Epsilon to follow as she approached an empty seat and addressed the table. “May we join?”

The rotund alien flashed a broad smile. “Always enjoy some fresh coin in the game!” All heads nodded in agreement.

K’wari took her seat. She dropped a 100-credit coin into a slot on the table and a stack of chits floated over for her to gamble with. “My friend is learning the game, may I explain while we play?”

The players all nodded as they sized up the newcomers.

“The three rounds of play are easy.” K’wari organized her chits. “But there are so many ways to match bricks … the best players are always the most knowledgeable.”

“That’s debatable.” All heads turned as a full-blooded Warvian wasp woman leaned forward from out of the shadows.

Iridescent colors reflected off the sharp, purple carapace of natural armor at her shoulders and waist. The flesh of her torso and limbs was softer and cool gray. The four ovipositors on her chest looked like pendulous breasts topped with thick magenta tips. She’d had her enormous “nipples” pierced with a thin white connecting chain, which danced when she folded her arms after sliding into the table’s last empty chair.

Her black eyes drank in Epsilon first, then settled on K’wari. “The best players are the ones who win. And there are many ways to win a game of boghn.”

K’wari took a moment before turning to face the woman. “You certainly speak from experience … Contessa Morova.”

The Warvian nodded. “I hear you have quite a bit of experience yourself. Everyone who plays boghn in Club Dimonica knows about the one they call Vicar.”

A few of the other players began whispering excitedly.

“And everyone who plays boghn anywhere knows your name.”

Morova smiled haughtily. “At last, we’re sitting at the same table. It feels like fate.”

“Fate is a pretty name for good timing,” K’wari recited.

“Speaking of names, may I have yours at last?”

“I’m K’wari. This is Epsilon.”

“And this is Chakl.” The Warvian nodded at a short pixie standing just behind her. She had cropped black hair and pointed ears as tall as her head. She showed K’wari a twisted smile.

Morova nodded to the bricks. “Shall we teach Epsilon to play boghn?”

K’wari tapped the ready box before her. The table sprang into action, preparing a new game.

Epsilon watched as the antigrav field returned all bricks to the central disc, then spun them at a dizzying speed. When the disc stopped, the energy dome around it dropped and the player’s hands moved in.

“Everyone chooses three bricks to start,” K’wari explained, selecting her bricks. “Then we place our bets.”

“This bet’s yours.” Morova pointed.

K’wari examined her bricks. “Twenty-five.” The other players answered her wager and there was a small ring of chits floating above the disc.

“Now we see the rest of the pot.” Morova held her eyes on Epsilon, but the living computer’s eyes were on the disc. The antigrav field flipped all the bricks face up. Each rectangle had two glowing icons in cyan, magenta, yellow or green. After a moment, the table turned them all face down again.

K’wari breathed deeply. “Now, we try and keep track of the bricks we need. To go with the three we already have.” The disc began spinning rapidly, the bricks blurring as it accelerated.

Epsilon’s matrix pulsed. “Then, at its simplest level, it is a matching game.”

“Correct. We get three seconds to choose our next brick.” K’wari was focused on the spinning disc. The Contessa was focused on K’wari and Epsilon.

The bricks slowed and stopped. Hands shot forward and began turning over bricks. K’wari picked hers without peaking. The other players each selected one brick before the time expired and the energy dome rose and engaged.

The player to K’wari’s left flicked a 10-credit chit into the wager ring. The other players answered this bet and the disc began spinning again.

“Two more rounds to grab two more bricks,” K’wari explained. “Next round we get two seconds to choose and on the final round …”

“Only one.” Epsilon nodded with understanding.

The disc stopped and once again, hands raced to pluck out another brick.

“I do not understand my role,” Epsilon stated flatly. “You said we were joining the game.”

“You’re my Second,” K’wari said. “That means you should be trying to find out what bricks the other players have.”

Epsilon tilted her head. Processing. She turned to the player next to K’wari. “What bricks do you have?”

Everyone at the table laughed.

“You might have to be a tad more subtle,” the round, feathered alien guffawed as he wagered 20 credits.

K’wari smiled. “Sometimes a Second will spy from afar.”

“And sometimes not.” Morova traced a hand over Chakl’s leg. The pixie sighed lustfully.

K’wari nodded. “Sometimes they’ll try to distract a player. Use mind games to trip them up.”

“In what way?”

“Absolutely any way … that isn’t against the club’s rules. But you can’t physically prevent someone from drawing.”

Then it was the final draw. Fingers and eyes twitched eagerly as the bricks spun.

“Would now be a good time for a distraction?” Epsilon asked quietly.

“Just wait for the disc to stop.” K’wari’s whispered.

The disc slowed and the lights around the dome blinked indicating it was about to drop.

Epsilon turned to the alien beside K’wari and tapped him on the shoulder. “I recently had 27 orgasms while trapped in a Tarkarian Tentacle Snare.”

He coughed, eyes wide, and looked up at her just as the dome rose up again. His hand shot forward to snatch a final brick, but —

His hand bounced off the energy dome as it reactivated. He wailed and pounded the table. The other players laughed heartily at his misfortune.

The rotund alien glanced at K’wari’s chits. “Let’s make the final wager … 50.”

K’wari nodded solemnly. “Fifty it is.” She flicked the last of her chits into the wager ring.

“Vacate,” Morova said quietly.

There was an awkward pause as she forfeited her bricks. Then the other players answered the wager. There was now a sizable stream of chits floating above the table.

K’wari turned her six bricks over and quickly arranged them. Morova’s eyes narrowed as K’wari revealed her work. Her bricks were positioned like two sets of block stairs leading to a central platform. The table drew a green flashing circle around them.

“Winner!” The table’s voice buzzed. “Four natural matches, one double. Mountain arrangement.”

The chits in the wager ring moved to her.

“Well done, K’wari.”

“Thank you, Contessa. And, may I say, it’s a pleasure to be playing against you.”

There was almost a twinkle in the Warvian’s black eyes. “I promise you, K’wari, that’s nothing next to the pleasure of losing to me.”

Meanwhile, Captain Jette Jones and spy-for-hire Elexa Dyn find themselves bound upright to bondage tables in a playroom in Club Shile at the mercy of the sinister catwomen and their leader, Kitka …

Rear Admiral Hartley’s body shook as a wave of orgasms assaulted her body. The vibrating plug in her ass made her hips twist and quake, but the empty smile on her face never faltered.

Lt. Kanivia Riesga stood next to her, rigid and blank.

“Catatonic really is a marvelous drug,” Kitka purred. “A cornucopia of excess on the senses. However …”

She snapped her fingers and the two bodyguards wheeled up two tall stands with peculiar glass half-moons on top – like rounded lampshades. They fixed the stands in place and lowered the “helmets” about six inches above Jette and Elexa’s heads.

“Nu Marr has her own methods. Perfect for suggestibility and obedience,” Kitka continued, slowing her pacing to look lustfully at the two Star Ranger Corps officers. “But the people of Algaria, like myself, have a much more precise and effective method of brainwashing.”

Brainwashing. Elexa looked over at Jette, but her eyes were locked on the governor of Plutonia.

“I prefer the direct approach. Electric charges fired directly into the brain.  Once saturated with hyper-charged neurons, all thoughts, all memories are cleansed.” She stopped in front of Elexa. “It’s a very clean process. The host body is never really damaged. But you’ll find that you may be left a little … blank.”

She turned on her heels to admire Hartley’s hips bucking slowly. Kitka toyed with a mini-remote, teasingly increasing the vibration in her sphincter.

Jette leaned her head toward Elexa and whispered: “You sure handing them that disc was the right thing to do?”

“It was all a set-up. This has been planned a long time. They have their hooks into someone big, someone close to the chancellor.”

In unison, they knew: “The vice chancellor!”

Kitka’s ears perked up. “The vice chancellor? You are very clever girls. Too bad there isn’t anything you can do about it now.”

The tall, thin man entered the room as Kitka resumed her taunting paces in front of the heroines.

“Oh, there is a side benefit to my little machines, ladies.  Once the cerebral cortex is, shall we say, numbed out, then all that remains are base, primal instincts. Which means, your minds may be turned off but your bodies will be very, very turned on.”

Dallin put his finger to the earpiece he was wearing. “The chancellor has arrived, Governor Kitka.”

She looked at the bound pair with mock sympathy. “Ah. A pity. The process shall only take an hour or so. I, unfortunately, won’t be here to enjoy seeing you freshly scrubbed. I have a meeting with the chancellor of the GSL. And I’m taking your two friends along to make sure everyone has a blast!” She cackled. “But fear not. When I return we’ll get you in more comfortable positions and do something about those clothes.

“It won’t take any time at all to re-create you both into my masochistic slaves.” She stared at Jette. “I do so love to see pain. Especially when it makes you orgasm at the same time.”

Dallin and one of the guards took Hartley and Riesga by an arm.

“Come along, dears. We have an appointment with destiny. Elexa. Captain. I do want your last memory to be of me.”

Kitka flicked the switch on each stand, and the treacherous machines came to life. Subtle at first, then Jette felt electric shocks on the top of her head, forcing her to blink rapidly.

The last thing she saw before slamming her eyes shut was Riesga and Hartley being led obediently through the door. One brawny guard stood and sneered just inside.

Jette gritted her teeth as the zig-zagging sparks fired into her brain.

The pleasure bot didn’t need to relubricate.

Its legs were locked across Flock’s back, squeezing tightly and forcing her forward into waiting kisses.

Flock wiggled the double-ended dildo in deeper. The pair had flipped over more than once, but Flock preferred it this way. She bathed the robotgirl’s trembling pussy with her cream as they rocked in sensual harmony.

Flock had lost count of the orgasms – big and small.

She slid one of her legs under its ass, scissoring and grinding.  Their hands clasped together. The bot’s placid hums turned into moans.

The night may have started out as a business arrangement, but five hours later it had transformed into something altogether different. The hands groped Flock’s ass without being told. The kisses were shared.

Flock bent forward, framing the robotgirl’s face with her fingers, kissing gently along its warmed cheeks and neck. Between licks and nibbles, she studied the bot’s smile. There was something in it that Flock hoped to see. Not the required reaction of an automated sex toy. The mouth was open. Leg musculature twitched. The Xeslon-glass eyes drifted off on their own at moments, as if the robot was allowing itself to “feel” the genuine emotion which accompanied the sensations.

The pleasure robot climaxed – there was a faint buzz — and Flock caressed it with her breasts and her hips and her toes.

“Flock …”

She ran her finger across the painted lips. “Johansen. Call me Johansen.”

“Johansen,” the robotgirl said breathlessly, “… why?”

Flock kissed it hard, possessively. Then arched her back to take in all of the robot’s face. “It’s just the two of us. Here. This night. Why not?”

The pleasure bot nodded, more as an agreeable reflex. Flock reached down and slid the two slick ends out, tossing the toy onto the floor.

“You will stay.”

There was no question in the words, but it was understood. The robot’s eyes almost looked wet.

“Yeah.”

Flock gently curled herself around the robot, tucking a shared pillow under their heads and ran her fingers lightly over the access plate on its belly.

“All night.”

The vice chancellor’s gray moustache looked like a foamy mop as Nu Marr orgasmed across his hungry lips.

“There will plenty of time for that later, Nu Marr.”

Kitka entered her office, Riesga and Hartley in tow. Nu Marr pulled up her pants – she was wearing a Star Ranger uniform.

“I just gave the vice chancellor his last injection of catatonic.  Then I reminded him who was in control. He’s ready for the big show. Aren’t you, toy boy?”

“Yesssss …”

“Is everything prepared? It’s time to go,” Kitka said.

“The cargo ship arrived late. They’re loading the catatonic now. They should be finished as soon as you’re ready. My catgirls are eager to find new hunting ground.”

Marissa stepped out from the shadows. “This isn’t so your little whores can make some credits, Nu Marr. We need the distribution that Plutonia offers.  We can deal catatonic to a quarter of the galaxy from here. I don’t care about your little planet’s problems.”

Nu Marr was about to speak, but Kitka stepped in front of her. “We can have both. Once the catatonic is disbursed, it will be more than just Plutonia that shall be at the mercy of the catwomen!”

K’wari quickly positioned her bricks and lifted her hands.

“Winner,” the table’s synth voice declared. “Natural chain of six. Line of Egoz configuration.”

Most of the players at the table looked on, dejected, as the last of their money joined K’wari’s stack of chits. Each, in turn, shuffling away. The rotund alien picked up his last 100-credit chit and tucked it into his feathers. He nodded at K’wari and walked off.

It was just K’wari and Morova at the table. Their stacks of chits were enormous and nearly even in size.

“Are you retiring as well?” Morova asked K’wari  as she idly twirled a chit between her talons.

“Just the opposite.”

“Perfect.” Morova addressed the table: “Gamekeeper, I’d like to remove the upper bet limit.”

“Accept?” the table asked K’wari.

“Yes.” The Vicar eyed the wasp woman. “Feeling adventurous, Contessa?”

Morova shrugged. “Impatient. I have some wicked plans later this evening.”

“Don’t deny yourself on our account.”

The Contessa leaned forward. “No. And what are your plans?”

K’wari chuckled. “I promised myself to a Hajick.”

“Mmmmm. I have one of those. Very fun but … I’m in the mood for something new.” Her eyes were on Epsilon, following the lines of her matrix as it danced over the curves of her breasts and hips.

K’wari put a 1,000-credit chit into the wager ring. “Shall we continue?”

“Not yet.” Morova stroked her chin. “First, I’d like to have a drink with you.” She bowed her head. “You’re one of the most sophisticated players I’ve encountered. Whatever else happens tonight let’s toast our meeting, first.”

“Certainly,” K’wari returned the bow. A server bot took their orders and floated away.

“Why don’t we make things more interesting?” Morova casually proposed.

K’wari smiled as her eyes narrowed. “A side wager?”

“What are the terms?” Epsilon added flatly.

“For K’wari, a three-game challenge. The player with the most chits after three games wins. Winner take all. That should send Plutonia buzzing.”

K’wari’s eyes lit up. “That was inevitable. What’s the side bet?”

Morova was eerily calm. “As a bonus, if K’wari wins, I’ll lend you Chakl for the evening. She’s terrific fun and she’s familiar with Hajicks.” The pixie shifted on her feet, presenting her shapely legs and short skirt.

“And if you win?” Epsilon watched the Contessa closely.

“You spend the next week as my sex slave, Epsilon.”

K’wari barely flinched. “Six day moons,” K’wari said. “We need to get back to our ship.”

“Six days then. But certainly you don’t expect to lose, do you, K’wari?”

“That doesn’t seem quite fair,” Epsilon responded. “Your –”

K’wari cut in. “Accepted!”

“Wait.” Epsilon’s eyes were fixed on Morova. “A moment please.”

The Contessa nodded gracefully.

Epsilon moved to the back of the room.  After a beat, K’wari joined her.

“K’wari, I do not understand what you are doing. I do not wish to be a sex slave for six day moons.”

“Relax. I can beat her. And I’ll be known as the best boghn player across half the galaxy. It would be a great achievement. It’s about time someone put the Contessa in her place.”

Epsilon looked at her with confusion. “Isn’t this supposed to be a game?”

K’wari leaned in. “Wouldn’t you like to wipe that smile off Morova’s face?”

Epsilon sighed. Processing. “Chakl is attractive.”

“She is. We could have a lot of fun. What do you say?”

Epsilon straightened. “I came here to get nuts.”

K’wari led them back to the table. The drinks were waiting when they returned.

“I accept your wager, Contessa Morova.”

The Warvian’s dark eyes glittered excitedly. “Delightful! And you, Epsilon?”

“I’ve heard stories about Warvian honey.” Epsilon eyed the Contessa’s glistening ovipositors.

“They’re all true,” the pixie spoke up eagerly. She was fiddling with a small silver cylinder. It looked like a musical instrument.

“Wager accepted,” said the automated Gamekeeper.

K’wari and Morova lifted their glasses to the other and downed the drinks.  K’wari set down the empty vessel and noticed the pixie’s strange whistle. “What’s that? A Neth flute?”

Morova and the pixie laughed.

“Did I miss something?” K’wari looked at them puzzled as she rubbed the back of her neck.

Morova nodded to Chakl. “Show her.”

The pixie lifted the cylinder to her lips and puffed. A small capsule flew out of the tip and landed in K’wari’s empty glass.

K’wari picked it up and examined it. She felt a strange heat building in her stomach … and lower. “What’s this?”

“A Plutonian pleasure pill,” Morova said. “Like the one you just drank.”

Jette tried to keep it together. “I’ve been in worse situations, I think. I think. Hard to think.”

“Hang in there!” Elexa’s whisper was urgent. She looked over at the guard who was dabbing his nose in front of a decorative mirror across the room. “Your ears. One is a recording device. The other is a laser. But we have to engage it.

“Oh, shit!”

Elexa convulsed from the suddenness of the sensory overload that ran through her body. They heard the guard laugh.

Jette forced her eyes open. While Kitka’s fiendish contraption primarily attacked Jette’s thought centers, it attacked Elexa more viscerally. Between her legs. Jette struggled as the current of electrical shockwaves surged through her head and her body, bombarding them with numbing energy strikes. The ends of her fingers and toes tingled. Her elongated nipples felt like lightning rods in a storm.

She knew Elexa was feeling them too, but her head felt weighted and it slumped back, forcing her eyes upward as her back arched into another jolt.

Her mental discipline was abandoning her. Unable to focus on a way to escape.  What did Elexa say about my ears? The electric charges that speared her brain made it impossible to concentrate on a single thought. It was there. Fleeting. Before another surge wiped it clean from her mind.

She was Captain Jette Jones! She had to fight! But each wave of energy made the fight seem less important. She was weakening. She felt a muted orgasm dissolve between her hips.

Jette moaned.

The burly guard leered at Jette, helplessly bound. He stalked across the room to grope her breasts, then pawed between her legs. He pressed his thick thumb along the seam of her catsuit, digging into the indentation between her wide, swollen lips.

“Hey! Fatso! What about me?”

The guard’s head rotated toward Elexa. Jette forced her eyes down to see his face – the two trails of blood from his nostrils below the purplish, broken nose. He hulked around the upright tables and leaned into Elexa. He slapped her hard across the face.

Her upper body was firmly tied, but her hands and legs were free. The man crudely licked Elexa’s face – he leaned too far – and her hand sprang out as far as it could go and grabbed him between the legs.

And squeezed.

“Ahhhhhh!”

He tried to pull away, but her right knee flew up, catching him under the chin. She quickly curled her knee behind the back of his head and slammed it back down as violently as she could.  His face crashed against the side of the table. He collapsed.

The devilish machine perverted Elexa’s satisfaction. She squirted into her panties.

Jette heard a groan, then a voice: “We bought some time. You with me, Jette?”

“Barely.”

“Lean your head over to me as far as you can. Quickly.”

It was a struggle, both women fought to close the distance between them. The pulses from the machine made Elexa’s eyes water. She craned her neck and bit the closest cat’s ear on top of Jette’s head. The cover came off in her teeth, revealing a triangle-shaped device. She spat out the covering. Then there was a shuddddddering groan.

“Fuck!”

The orgasm ripped though Elexa’s body, unlike anything she had ever felt – an electrified climax. Her body spasmed out of control.

“Elexa!”

There was silence. Another wave of current drew down Jette’s thoughts like a shade.

“I’m good! I’m all right,” Elexa panted. “Now, you’ve engaged a laser. But you have to wiggle your real ears to make it work. Point your head down at the ropes around my arms.”

Elexa screamed the last part: “Just try not to fry my face off!”

It was so hard to process the words. Jette tried to replay the instructions in her mind. Her head flopped forward, but the streams of energy shooting out of the helmet into her head were striking at different parts of her brain now, setting off a wave of new sensations that made her body twitch.  Another empty orgasm followed and Jette moaned deeply in desperation.

She no longer knew where she was. Her splintered thoughts began to drift as the wisping bolts of lightning fired into her mind.

“Wiggle your damn ears, Captain!”

A simple instruction. Jette obediently complied. She wiggled her ears.

Two short bursts from the laser – one hitting the floor, the other burning into the table by Elexa’s hip.

“Come on, Jette! I’m losing it!”

Captain Jette Jones fought her own mind. She turned her head and wiggled her ears.

A solid beam shot out, slicing along the side of the table. Elexa screamed in pain as the laser burned across the edge of her forearm. The red beam of energy continued upward, searing through the ropes like a Turulian’s tongue through slug hash.

“Stop!”

Elexa threw off the ropes, then grabbed the helmet over her head and pushed it off her. She wiggled her hips free, then slammed her fist against Jette’s helmet. The connection was broken.

Jette was limp as she slid her body off the table. She was shaken and stirred.

“We can’t go that way,” Elexa said, trying to catch her breath as she pointed at the main door. “There’s a back way. I think it leads to the warehouse. C’mon.”

Jette was still putting the pieces of her shattered mind together. Elexa took her hand and pushed through the back door leading to an access hallway.  Once the door closed, both women spasmed from the final echoes of the diabolical machines.

“Sorry about your arm.”

“Forget it.”

The two woman jogged down the corridor, which opened into a storage area at the back of the building. The outside door opened and two men entered, carrying a large box. Elexa pressed Jette against a column. They slowly walked around it out of view as the men passed by.

Jette shook her head, trying to cast off the remnants of numbness in her brain. Elexa headed toward a ladder, leading to an overhead gangway.

“This way out!” Jette called.

“I’m not going that way, Captain.”

Jette stopped cold. Elexa took two steps up the ladder.

“We need to get to the capital. The chancellor will be there soon.”

Elexa didn’t look at her. “I’m going after the catatonic.”

“We had a deal!”

Elexa’s feet stopped. She reluctantly looked at Jette.

“The GSL is just as concerned about that drug spreading across the galaxy as it is about security breaches, Captain. The two are connected anyway, you know that.”

“Weren’t you paying attention back there? We have an assassination to stop.”

“I’m not an officer nor a gentlewoman, Captain. I don’t concern myself with politics. I’m here to make sure that drug doesn’t infect 50 solar systems. I’m after the catwomen.”

“The same catwomen who are going to murder the chancellor of the GSL.”

Elexa hopped off the ladder. “Who cares? They’ll just replace him with someone else. Plutonia isn’t going to change, Captain. It’s a sleazy, corrupt planet now and will be a sleazy, corrupt planet 10 years from now. He’s one person. I’m trying to save thousands from the effects of that drug.”

Jette couldn’t prevent a disapproving head shake.

Elexa was firm. “I’m going to destroy that shipment, because –“

“Because someone is paying you to.”

The words cut Elexa more than she expected. “My mission changed. The catatonic must be destroyed. Those are my instructions, Captain.”

She knew that wasn’t what Jette wanted to hear. She pointed at Jette’s ears. “That has a recording device that feeds directly to my employer.  The GSL will stop it. You don’t have to go!”

“I’m not doing it just for the chancellor, Elexa! My first officer might get killed because of all this. I have to go.”

“Listen …” There was something about this Star Ranger, this famous captain, that Elexa dared not disappoint. As surely as she knew she was right, she knew Jette was right too.

“Maybe …” She stepped close to Jette. The super spy, the woman of a thousand faces, wanted Jette to only see Elexa. “Maybe this is the only way to stop them. Completely. You and me. Maybe the only two people who can pull it off. You hit them from the left, I hit them from the right.

“And we end this. Captain Jette Fucking Jones.”

Jette’s sigh was contained, like she needed a reset. Her eyes stayed on Elexa.  “Okay,” she said. “What have we got to lose?”

Elexa smiled. She drew her lips forward, waited, then they kissed — less passionate, it was more like a promise. Whatever else happens, we have each other’s back.

Elexa gave Jette another quick kiss before hurrying up the ladder.

Elexa Dyn was high above the city as she hopped two buildings and reached the main loading dock of Plutonia. There was one ship on the ground, the workers buzzing around it like bees. Then her eyes drifted upward.  Perhaps a quarter of a mile in the air … a large cargo transport ship. It was about 100 meters long and 50 meters wide.  The only activity around it were drones.

Drones loading it full of catatonic. She wasn’t too late.

She frantically searched for something, anything, that would get her on that ship. She hit paydirt.  A group of lockers. She effortlessly broke into one and pulled out a spacesuit for repairing the exterior of a ship in space. The jetpack was already loaded and ready to go.

And a soldering cannon.

The cannon resembled a fire extinguisher, but could melt just about anything. She connected it to the back of her suit and put on the glass-bubble helmet.  She needed to climb higher, onto the roof of the warehouse she was in so she could take off without anyone below noticing.

Elexa laughed to herself as she climbed.  Notice her or not, she was boarding that transport.

Once on the roof, she pressed the thumb control and blasted off!

This wasn’t her first time in a suit like this, and Elexa smoothly glided upward toward the ship. She slowed as she reached it, finding footing along its edge near of one of its open loading bays.  There was no going that way.  She would be spotted immediately.  She reached her arm back and swung the cannon forward.

She made her own door.

The thick metal plate clanged as it hit the floor, but Elexa had luckily cut into a lavatory. Empty.

Within minutes she was deep inside the cargo ship – undetected – although she did have to play hide-and-seek with three sets of oblivious crewmen. She made her way to one of the enclosed storage compartments. She hit the button.

The door opened into a full loading bay.  Dozens of metal pallettes, containing dozens of boxes, filled the compartment.  Unmarked. Unstamped. Catatonic.

Elexa ran her hand across one of the boxes – kyrolyne. A material easily ignited by a burst from her soldering cannon. Time was running out.  She aimed the cannon toward the center of the bay.  She took a deep breath.  Getting in was easy, getting out …

Then she heard a strange sound.

K’wari panted, trying to focus her hands on selecting a brick instead of plunging them into her pants. She reached for the pile of rectangles and grabbed one. She didn’t have time to look at it before the energy dome went back up.

“Final bet,” Morova announced. “I’m thinking … 10,000.”

K’wari whined and played with her nipples to stave off the onslaught of arousal. It didn’t help. “Match,” she croaked and half her pile of chits floated into the wager ring.

“K’wari?” Epsilon’s matrix began fluttering. She put her hand on K’wari’s shoulder, but that only made the Vicar shudder.

It was time to build bricks. K’wari was mentally reciting concentration mantras. Trying to keep her mind on the game. She’d managed to build a strong combination. Though it was arranged in a suspiciously phallic shape.

“Winner,” the table announced. K’wari smiled … then she saw the green circle around Morova’s bricks. “Four straight cycle and one double. Fayd dagger configuration.”

“Dammit,” she hissed and began grinding her throbbing sex into her seat. Her pants felt amazing on her swollen lips.

“Tell me, Epsilon,” Morova said, her eyes sexing Epsilon as the chits floated to her stack. “Are you cybernetic? Robotic?”

“I am … living.” Epsilon’s eyes flicked back and forth between the Contessa and K’wari. Her matrix rippled in waves of concern.

“Mmmm. Biological then.” Morova teased one of her ovipositors, coaxing glistening oil forth. “That’s very good. Biological species are absolutely helpless to resist Warvian honey.”

“It’s totally overwhelming,” the pixie purred. Her own nipples were flaring under her top. “Not as powerful as pleasure pills … at first. But you just need more and more. In time, you’ll do absolutely anything for it.”

“S-stop,” K’wari whispered. “Stop this.”

“Are you defaulting on our side wager, K’wari?” Morova chuckled. “Shall I call over the sentries? With a bet of this value they’ll keep you for three months, at least.”

K’wari knew three months in the basement dungeon of Club Dimonica was like three years. She bit her bottom lip and moaned. “Just get on with it.”

Morova looked hungrily at Epsilon. “One game to me. Two more to go.”

Jette was fortunate to flag a sky skimmer as soon as she got outside.

She didn’t have any money, but assured the driver that she’d repay him – with a large tip – if he got her to the capital. The fish-faced driver was reluctant, especially since Jette was still in her catsuit. But her pleading convinced him. “It’s a matter of life and death” never took on truer meaning.

Soon the taxi was heading away from the bright lights of the Entertainment District and sped at top speed toward the capital and city hall.

There wasn’t time to contact the polizi or anyone she knew from the SRC, but it was just as well. The less people involved the better. She slammed her hand on her hip instinctively for her rayvolver.

She was going to have to deal with this unarmed.

Her eyes spotted a large cargo ship hovering in the distance over the landing harbor. She knew Elexa was probably in the fight of her life. Then she thought about Riesga.

“Faster, please!”

As Elexa moved farther down the tunnel the sound grew louder.

Human sounds. Chanting. A lot of chanting.

She quickly climbed a short ladder to get a higher vantage point.  She pushed open an unlocked door, which overlooked a cargo bay. Empty of cargo. But filled with rows upon rows upon rows of catwomen.  Hundreds of them.

They were stiff and motionless. Every head slightly upturned and staring at the dozens of large viewing screens along the walls. Showing a face Elexa recognized from her time working as a courier for Kitka.

Her name was Nu Marr.

“Our moment has arrived!’ The image said. “ Soon we will be spreading catatonic throughout the galaxy. Then it will time to play, my kittens.”

“Time to play …” came the chant.

“Obey,” Nu Marr purred.

“Obey …” the catwomen replied. Their hands raised, pressing a small device to their necks.  There was the sound of a hundred hisses as a dose of catatonic was injected.  Elexa noticed bodies beginning to writhe and squirm as the drug quickly took effect.

“You have your orders.  You will go in pairs to each planet, secure your prey. Seduce and infect.”

“Seduce and infect …”

Elexa had seen enough. She hurried down the gangway, back toward the loading bay filled with catatonic. There was a swipe – she ducked.  The catgirl bared her teeth, her claws open, loaded with the poisonous drug. But Elexa’s torn suit was thick enough to keep from being scratched.

It was Tora. Elexa looked at her angrily. Then … Pow!

She slugged her across the jaw. The catgirl crumpled in a heap.

When Elexa returned to the compartment, it was clear what she had to do – not just destroy the catatonic – she needed to scuttle this ship!

In a fiery burst from the cannon, Elexa torched the bay!

Flames shot up high into the air, nearly licking the ceiling.  It wasn’t going to be enough to bring down the ship, however. She headed toward the ship’s stern and its engine room.

Alarm claxons wailed!

Catwomen raced down the corridors.  In her suit, Elexa moved unsuspected through the ship.

She entered the main engine control room. She quick-fired a burst from the cannon, sending catwomen scurrying.  The blast cut into the navigation system’s stabilizers. Another blast melted the engine’s central core.

There was an explosion!

Elexa tumbled backward. The ship began to pitch and heave, slowly pointing downward and into the shipping harbor only 500 feet below. There was only one way out. Elexa hurried to the open loading bay above the engine room. She only had precious seconds before the ship crashed headlong into the loading docks.

She pressed the thumb control and flew across the bay sideways before finding herself in the open air.  She touched down onto a nearby building just the transport crash landed into Plutonia.

There was a rumbling in Club Dimonica. The crash of the transport miles away felt like thunder.

“A storm is coming in,” Morova said, her eyes fixed on Epsilon, her matrix fluttering with agitation.

“Doesn’t it feel soooooo perfect?” The pixie bent forward excitedly to tease K’wari, as if joining her in the narcotic perversity. She ran her hands down her body and chirped.

The disc spun before K’wari’s glassy eyes.  She grunted and orgasmed … again.

Epsilon watched, helpless. She focused on trying to help K’wari. “The field will drop in 2.73 seconds. Get ready.”

Through the sexual fog, K’wari nodded. Her hand poised … then shot forward just before the dome re-energized.

YES!

She’d plucked a double-resting dove brick. The exact one she needed.

The orgasm had given her a few moments of clear thinking. She was in deep trouble. The pleasure pill, in addition to distracting her with unimaginable arousal, also lowered her inhibitions. Made her more impulsive. But with this brick and the five she’d already collected …

“All or nothing!” She cried and tossed all her remaining chits into the wager ring. She frantically assembled her bricks.

Epsilon’s eyes went wide. “K’wari, is that wise?”

“Winner,” the table announced. “Natural keeper of cups chain. River configuration.”

Epsilon looked up and the lines of her matrix buzzed as she saw the green circle … around Morova’s bricks.

“Nooooooo,” K’wari wailed. She looked at the empty spot where her stacks of chits once stood. “I’m busted. I can’t play the final game.”

Morova nodded sadly. “If you don’t play all three games you default on our side wager. Then you’ll be stuck here as club property, while I get to know Epsilon more intimately. Perhaps coax some new and decadent patterns from her delicious body.”

There was an audible growl from Epsilon.

“I’ll borrow it,” K’wari stammered. “I’ll play.”

Morova looked sympathetic. “I’d be happy to wager everything I have sitting here in front of me. Plus one credit for you. Just enough for you to wager something.”

“Repayment?” K’wari asked, staring lustfully at the Contessa’s breasts.

“One credit, plus a one-year indenturement. Easy work. Mostly on your back. I’ll feed you well.” She pinched a nipple and a dollop of honey oozed out.

K’wari’s eyes rolled up as she came again. “I-I’ll do—”

“K’wari!” Epsilon shouted. “You cannot accept! There has to be another way. Bogehtta!”

“No, Epsilon,” she moaned feebly. “It’s either a year with her or three months in the basement. This club … Epsilon. Three months? I’d never get out alive.”

“Don’t do it, K’wari,” Epsilon pleaded.

“I accept.” K’wari eyes fell. They fixed on her own nipples and she stroked them mindlessly.

Morova smiled like a jackal. “I told you, you’d love losing to me.”

The day moon was just beginning to rise as Jette ran toward the entrance of city hall. Two female security guards blocked the entrance.

“No one is allowed in without clearance,” one said.

“There is going to be an attempt on the chancellor’s life! I’m Captain Jette Jones!”

The guards looked at the catwoman and laughed. “Sure. And I’m the queen of Orgasmia!”

“I don’t have time for this …”

In a flash, Jette chopped one of the guards in the neck and slammed the other in the stomach. They hadn’t hit the floor before Jette was pulling on the door to the main auditorium. Locked.

Frantic, she headed for the side stairway which led to the balcony. At least she could get a good view of what was going on from there.

Inside, there were dozens of officials and planetary representatives seated before a large stage, where the chancellor was at the dais, in formal negotiations with Plutonia’s head of government – Provincial Governor Kitka. Dallin was at her side.

The chancellor, a white-haired, rather feeble-looking man, was flanked by Rear Admiral Hartley … and her aide-de-camp, Marissa.

He was an open target.

Jette bounded up the steps three at a time.  She heard a voice as she spread the curtain leading into one of the private loges.

“Obey me, Riesga. Obey Captain Jones.  The chancellor is a danger. He will hurt people. Be brave. Do it for Captain Jones. Raise your rayvolver. Aim. Kill him!”

“No!”

Riesga was glassy-eyed. Her arm had gone halfway up, but stopped as she turned toward Jette. The woman standing behind her was in a Ranger uniform and looked very much like Jette herself.

Riesga’s upper body looked as if it was vibrating. There were two Jettes. Two Captain Joneses. Her eyes fluttered, then she blinked hard, trying to make one of them disappear.

“Kill her!” Nu Marr hissed in her ear. “Obey your command!”

Riesga’s blank face stayed a blank. “Captain Jones?”

Her knees shook from a low-voltage orgasm.

Nu Marr pulled her arm, pulled her back. She turned her toward the stage.  Toward the chancellor. Jette moved forward but stopped when she saw the glint of steel in the woman’s hand. A knife at Riesga’s back.

“Who am I, Riesga?” The catwoman urged.

“Captain … Jones.”

Jette shook her head. If only she had her rayvolver …

“Kill for me. Kill for Captain Jones. And cum!” Nu Marr rasped in Riesga’s ear. The lieutenant’s knees began to shake, her hand unsteady.

“Stop!” Jette was ten paces away.  She dared not make any sudden moves. Jette lowered her voice. “Kanivia … don’t do this.”

Obey? Don’t obey? There were two captains in Kanivia’s mind, both fighting for control.

Jette suddenly straightened. Her words were loud and clear.

“Lt. Riesga! Attention! Who am I!”

A blink of confusion. “C-c-captain Jones.”

Nu Marr rubbed Kanivia’s ass and her head began to list.

She whispered urgently: “I am here, Star Ranger. Obey me. Obey Captain Jones.  There is your target. Feel the rayvolver in your hand. Aim. Fire. And cum.”

Riesga’s hand went up fully. She pointed the rayvolver into the crowd below. Its setting on d-i-s-i-n-t-e-g-r-a-t-e.

“Lieutenant Riesga!” Jette shouted. “Who am I?”

Thoughts and emotions pinballed in Riesga’s vacant mind. Captain Jones was there … with her. Commanding her to obey. Aim and fire. But … this was Captain Jones! It was too much. Riesga’s mind teetered on the brink.

Who is Captain Jones?

There was a stirring in the crowd below. Heads turned.

Riesga shuddered like someone slammed the air-tram brakes. She looked at Jette. “Captain … Jones …”

“Don’t listen to her. I am Captain Jones, Riesga. Obey me. Shoot him!”

“No!” Jette’s voice rang out.  The room of dignitaries and officials suddenly hushed as everyone’s attention was draw upward to the balcony. “Who am I to you??”

A thought. A question. Riesga struggled for a simple answer. The only answer.

Below them there were screams.  A group of GSL security officers rushed to the front of the stage, looking up.

“Lt. Riesga! Say it quickly.” Jette yelled it: “I’m your Skipper!!”

Riesga looked like she had been slapped. Her mind crashing down from the floating nothingness.

“SKIPPPPER!”

Riesga spun away from the knife, her thumb spun the dial on the rayvolver, she took aim … for Captain Jones … she fired her weapon …

Nu Marr flew backward from the impact.

There was shouting from below. The chancellor was hurried off the stage and out the door.

ZAP!

Riesga pivoted and fired at Marissa on the stage! She fired again, catching Dallin in the back as he fled. He slammed against the corner of a doorway.  The rayvolver guided her across the stage …

ZAP! ZAP!

Two Plutonian “officials” took the stun beams full force. Her eyes were searching.  The onlookers cowered. Four GSL security guards took aim at Riesga, standing alone.

She spun again, but an arm caught her. “At ease, Lieutenant!”

Riesga’s eyes were wild and tamed at once.

“Hold your fire!” Jette yelled to the guards.

The rayvolver slipped out of Riesga’s hand and hit the floor. Jette put her hand behind Riesga’s neck to steady her.

“It’s okay. Riesga? It’s okay.”

There was a sound from behind, Jette turned.  Kitka stepped through the curtain, her power pistol taking aim …

Jette wiggled her ears.

A short, sharp red beam shot out and burned into Kitka’s thigh. She screamed and collapsed. Two GSL guards arrived and Jette raised her hand to stop them.

Riesga’s eyes were wide, then her whole body tensed. “Skip …”

She collapsed into Jette’s arms.

“I was sitting right where you are once.” The pixie whispered into K’wari’s ear. “Desperate, horny. Thinking about how badly I wanted to win. And how badly I needed to lose.”

“Stop,” Epsilon said angrily. “Stand back. Don’t speak to her.”

The pixie ignored her and kept whispering poison into K’wari’s defenseless mind. “I wasn’t on pleasure pills when she fed me my first taste. I can’t imagine how good it’s going to feel. You’re going to be addicted from the very first drop.”

K’wari moaned and thrashed her head from side to side.

“One day, you’ll be her Second. You’ll be me. Mindfucking another pretty idiot into slavery.”

“Last game.” Morova smiled confidently as the disc began spinning. “Then we can stop this dance and all retire for your first feeding frenzy.” She stole a quick glance at Epsilon’s matrix. “I’ve not seen that pattern this evening, Epsilon. Is that fear?”

Epsilon looked at the Contessa. Her matrix went dark. She stepped out from behind K’wari and stood directly across from Morova. The matrix began to emit glistening lines across Epsilon’s body.

“Some find my matrix is quite fascinating, Contessa.”

“I agree.” Morova paused, then forced her eyes back on the table.

Epsilon’s biotechnically precise mind was following the spin of the disc. It slowed, stopped.

“Now, K’wari. Take that one.”

K’wari’s unsteady hand grabbed the brick.  Morova chose hers.

Then the matrix began to pulse, catching Morova’s eye.

“I have been told it’s very attractive.”

“Everything about you is attractive.” Morova glanced down, then up again.

Epsilon’s matrix slowly flowed in a circle. Dancing white lines over glossy black.

“I’m sure you noticed how my matrix changed when you revealed that you wanted me as much as I want you.” Epsilon’s face showed no emotion, but Morova’s eyes widened as she sensed Epsilon’s arousal in the dancing lines.

Morova was enjoying herself. She looked at Epsilon lustfully.

K’wari tried to make sense of her bricks, but couldn’t concentrate. Her nerve-endings were like aroused sparks.

“I … I don’t know what I’m doing. I can’t think. I’m so horny.”

Epsilon whispered: “It’s all right, K’wari. I know the game. I’ll choose for you.”

The disc began to spin again. Morova straightened in her chair to take her eyes off Epsilon. She studied the spin of the disc intently.

Mathematics, brick formations, the odds, the rate of spin. Epsilon’s computer-exact mind stared at the disc. It slowed to a stop.

“Take that one. Now.”

K’wari chose. Morova’s smile wavered, then widened again as she retrieved a brick. She had selected the perfect one. Yet her eyes quickly returned to Epsilon’s body matrix.

“Place your final bets,” the Gamekeeper announced.

Epsilon’s matrix began to shimmer as it spun. Morova’s sinister smile slowly melted from her face. The sparkling, the spinning. The twirling design held Morova’s frozen stare. She couldn’t blink.

“My matrix is very soothing, Contessa. See how it flows?”

The pattern gracefully changed. The white lines were rotating more smoothly, the spiral effect more pronounced. From her shoulders to just above her knees, spinning faster – a wide spiral – which forced Morova’s eyes toward the center. The swirling, fluid movement was hypnotic.

The Contessa’s black eyes sank into the middle, just below Epsilon’s breasts.

“Place your final bets,” the Gamekeeper repeated.

One of the bricks slipped through the Contessa’s talon. K’wari forced her hand away from the soaked seam of her pants and made her one-credit wager.

“I have not been a very good Second,” Epsilon said quietly to Morova. “I have spent too much time sinking deeper and deeper.” Morova’s hand plucked and pinched at her nipples as they leaked freely.  “Deeper into fantasies. Fantasies of serving you, Contessa.”

The Contessa moaned. Her hand left her throbbing nipples and went under the table.

The disc began to spin.

“So deep. So helpless. Helpless to deny the arousal. The need to go deeper. To keep watching and go deeper.”

“Yes,” Morova breathed out.

“Mistress?” Chakl didn’t know what to do.

“You feel so helplessly horny, Morova, as you keep sinking deeper and deeper.”

“Godssss yes.” Morova’s voice was pure sex.

“Contessa Morova … stare at my body.”

The Warvian’s black eyes opened fully. The game disc slowed, but Morova was caught in the swirl like water around a drain.

“Deeper,” Epsilon urged. “Deeper.”

Morova’s mouth fell open.

“Lose yourself in me.” The Contessa’s eyes reflected only the spiral of Epsilon’s matrix.  “So deep. So horny. So utterly — K’wari! Now! That one!”

With the hand that wasn’t buried inside her pants, K’wari leaped for the floating brick just as the disc stopped. She snatched it up and slammed it on the table.

“Mistress!” The pixie shouted as she saw what was happening. Morova sat helpless, completely mesmerized by Epsilon’s matrix.

The dome rose up again before Morova’s hand moved an inch.

“Winner,” the table declared. A green circle appeared in front of K’wari. “Simple high value. Chain configuration.”

Morova blinked awake as the pixie violently shook her. All her chits were floating to K’wari.

“What … what have you done?”  Morova blinked hard as Epsilon’s matrix resumed its normal, languid state.

“K’wari has defeated you,” Epsilon replied evenly.

The room lights went up – behind glass walls dozens of onlookers had been watching the game. The large, round alien’s belly shook as he laughed with delight.

“I will arrange a taxi to take us back,” she said to K’wari who grabbed her own breasts and sighed.

“Thank you, Epsilon. Thank you. The effects of pleasure pills last a few hours. Just … don’t leave me.”

“I will not.”

“What about me?” Chakl asked Epsilon.

“I have no interest in you, Chakl. And I believe your mistress will be needing you for comfort.”

K’wari stood up, managing enough self-awareness to glare at Morova, who had barely moved. Epsilon steered K’wari around to face the clapping onlookers and raised her arm.

“The new champion.”

The pleasure bot stared at the ceiling as Flock sat on the edge of the bed looking in vain for her other dress shoe. Its breasts rose and fell rapidly, even though the breathing was simulated.

“I have been thinking,” the robot said. “I do not know what to say.”

Flock turned her head sideways as she looked back, a huge grin on her face. “My work is done here.”  She stood up, unsteadily. “If you weren’t so hot, I’d ask for half my money back.”

It took a moment, but the robotgirl looked at her, its head tilting slowly as it smiled. “You have been satisfied then?”

Flock found her shoe and slipped it on.  She pulled on her dress, shaking it smooth. She tossed her panties on the bed.

“I think we’re both maxxed out, babe.” She grabbed her ID card and wobble-stepped toward the door. Opening it, she laughed, her blonde hair flying across her back. “See you again next year, HZ124.”

Flock exited the lift and staggered toward her room, thankful to be out of the bright late-morning sunshine. Her legs still felt like rubber.

She heard a door open in front of her and a woman stepped out, looking as disheveled as Flock was feeling in a deep red leather three-piece suit.  One side of her skirt was cinched up at the waist.

They passed in the corridor, each giving the other a discrete, knowing nod.

It took Flock a couple more steps before realizing what room she had come out of. She turned back quickly. Just as the lift doors began closing, the blonde flashed her a wide, toothy grin.

Flock stood in front of the door, tempted to hit the buzzer. She spun on her heels and inserted her room card into the slot. At that moment, another door opened and K’wari – completely naked – came out and deposited a tray with two glasses and an empty bottle into the servo-unit in the wall. Her dark brown hair was wildly matted.

She noticed Flock as she turned. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” Flock took a step toward her.  “Rough night?”

K’wari squinted, the brightness of the hallway hurting her eyes.  “Night yes. Morning no.”

She smirked.

“Did I miss something?”

“I don’t know, Flock. Did you?”

“K’wariiiiiiii,” came a familiar voice from inside the room.

“Just a second,” she called, then looked at Flock. “Anything on your mind, Flock?”

She barely shook her head. “I wonder what Yasu would think.” K’wari’s smirk vanished. “You know, K’wari, I am never gonna figure you out. I don’t think I want to.”

The two just stood there as Jette came out of her room in her dress uniform. Perfectly polished. She noticed the standoff immediately.

“I’m glad to see the two of you both got home all right.”

“Uh, yes.” K’wari was suddenly embarrassed by her nakedness. “Where are you off to, Captain?”

“Meetings. We had some trouble last night. Nothing you need to worry about right now. Get some sleep. Riesga’s in her room. Let her sleep.”

“Of course.”

Jette moved down the hallway, then turned back. “We’ve still got six days of vacation. I’m going to have to work. And Kanivia’s going to need to stay here for a few days.”

Flock and K’wari looked at each other, noting Jette’s concerned voice.

“If you want, there’s a shuttle to Moonbase –”

“We’ll stick together, Captain,” Flock said quickly. She tried to smile. “I hear Plutonia has some beautiful spots. Maybe get back to nature.”

“Uh, yes!” K’wari piped up. “There’s a mountain I’ve always wanted to climb. The view is supposed to be good for meditation.”

Jette looked at the pair quizzically. Then nodded.

The towering Hajick needed to duck as she came out of K’wari’s room. She bent down and stroked K’wari’s face affectionately with one of her fahlahangeis, then walked briskly down the hallway, brushing past Jette on her way to the lift.

Flock and Jette looked at each other, then at K’wari.

K’wari watched her go. “Da-da-da-da-da,” she sang wistfully to herself as she sauntered slowly back into her room.

Flock’s head turned toward Jette, her mouth open.

“I’ll see you for dinner,” Jette said. “My treat.”

The end

See you next month for another exciting Jette Jones adventure!