Brad Ferguson - Rhuum Service
2024-11-24
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“Rhuum Service” by BRAD FERGUSON
Originally published in Hotel Andromeda, February 1994
1
Copyright © 1994, 2000 by Brad Ferguson. All rights reserved.
Duplication or redistribution of this file in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited.
ARVELOUS,” SAID CHAYLAIFA, his
breath finally coming back to him. He
was on his back, smiling; his tail was
comfortably wrapped around his left thigh, out
of the way.
The chosha was not smiling at all, but she
nodded agreement. “Excuse me for a moment,
Chaylaifa,” she said.
“Of course,” he said. The sha watched her
by the dim light as she left their bed and headed
for the bathroom. Nasu still cuts a fine figure, he
thought idly, particularly for someone of her
years. I chose well, so long ago. She is both
good company and a good friend ... and she still
provides this old warrior with a stout enough
ride, willing as she is to try new things —
“Chaylaifa?” came a small, high voice near
the foot of the bed.
“Ah,” he said. “Still with us, eh, my dear?
Ha! Come a little closer.”
She did. “I thought you’d forgotten all about
me.”
“Not possible. Did you doze off?”
“Just for a moment. It has been a long day.”
The thaka’thott rolled across the sweat-stained
sheets of the strongly built bed and snuggled
like a youngling into Chaylaifa’s pelt. Fehlorah
ran a paw through the matted fur on the sha’s
chest, her slightly extended claws barely grazing
the sensitive skin beneath.
“I am glad the Bloxx was delayed,” she
breathed.
“So am I,” Chaylaifa replied. “I had to
appear angry for the benefit of our agents here,
but I did not expect such a pleasant ... respite ...
on the first day of the talks.”
“A most welcome respite. It’s such an
exciting trip, isn’t it?”
“Are you glad I brought you, girl?”
“Of course, Chaylaifa! Ever so glad!”
The sha smiled. “Now just how glad might
that be?”
Fehlorah smiled in a way far beyond her
years. “Very glad, my sha. Has the chosha left
anything for me?”
Chaylaifa laughed softly. “You know she
has, little witch,” he said. He sighed in mock
exasperation. “How can such a one, small as
you, destroy me again and again, time after
time, endlessly? You’ll kill me yet, girl.”
“I kill you?” Fehlorah’s paw began making
its own, slow way down Chaylaifa’s ample
body, in the way she had so recently learned that
he liked the most. “More likely it will be the
other way ‘round; I’ll be crushed under you —
or between the both of you. A sad yet wonderful
fate indeed.”
“You’re much too spry to be caught like
that, Fehlorah.” He ran the tips of his powerful
claws along the stripe of grey fur covering her
spine, and the thaka’thott shivered as her
immature tail began twitching.
“You like that,” he said in a low voice.
“Very much,” she breathed. “And you?”
“What you’re begun doing down there feels
very good, my little love.”
“Now just how good might that be?” she
asked him, laughing, as Chaylaifa’s breath
began to hiss softly back and forth through his
teeth.
A few moments later the bathroom door
opened, throwing a bright golden light into the
room. Nasu stood in it, a silhouette.
“Come back to bed, Nasu,” Chaylaifa called.
“We’ve grown a bit impatient for you here — as
you might be able to tell.”
“Yes,” Fehlorah said, reaching out a dainty
paw. “Come to us, Nasu. Be with us.”
“I ... I think I might like to retire for the
evening,” Nasu said, knowing what was to
come; she had no wish to repeat the vileness of
it. “It has been a tiring day. I will sleep in the
room assigned to me — ”
“Nonsense,” said the sha, his tone suddenly
M
“Rhuum Service” by BRAD FERGUSON
Originally published in Hotel Andromeda, February 1994
2
Copyright © 1994, 2000 by Brad Ferguson. All rights reserved.
Duplication or redistribution of this file in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited.
harsh. “Come to bed, here and now. And turn
out that damned light; the one in here is quite
enough.”
“Chaylaifa, I — ”
He looked at her, his eyes holding her
completely. After a moment, Nasu looked away
and nodded.
“Excellent.” As Nasu seated herself at the
foot of the bed, Chaylaifa reached behind him
and retrieved a small box from the nightstand.
“What’s that?” asked Fehlorah.
“It is a Terran delicacy, love. They are
called ritzcrackas, and I am assured that they
are safe for us. Expensive, as is everything else
aboard this hotel, but I thought we might try
them. They are something ... different.” He
grinned widely, showing his fangs. “After all,
we have to fortify ourselves for the rigors
ahead! Ha!”
Fehlorah giggled and, reaching over the sha,
took a ritzcracka for herself and passed another
to Nasu. The chosha ate it, chewing slowly.
Fehlorah saw her reluctance and giggled again
as she turned to embrace Chaylaifa.
After a short while Nasu joined with them,
her unwillingness quickly evaporating as their
shared scent rose, engulfing her, trapping her.
The tastefully small brass sign on the door
of the suite read:
JACOBS & BURKE, LTD.
FACILITATORS
The reception area had been furnished by a
Centaurian designer known for her terribly
trendy and effectively audacious approach to
everything she did. Wallpaper and furnishings
had been designed to intrigue a wide variety of
senses, and fabrics had been chosen to appeal as
broadly as possible to those to whom touch and
smell were as sound and light. To prove that
price had been no object, there was an original
Sunday-edition full-color Calvin and Hobbes
hanging over the faux fireplace, which itself
radiated in a variety of spectra. The look and
feel of the room had instantly established the
credibility of Jacobs & Burke aboard Hotel
Andromeda, and that credibility had been the
key to everything.
The other half of the suite was hidden
behind a door concealed in the far wall of the
reception area. Between them, the partners
called it the Dark Side, and it looked as if it had
been decorated by trolls. The Dark Side was the
soundproofed and spyproofed office where
Jacobs and Burke actually did their work, and
no one else ever got in there. The partners
allowed the hotel’s cleaning robots into the
Dark Side only once every six months or so.
Even at that, they never let the robots do very
much, frantic that something important, some
significant scrap of paper, might be snatched up
and thrown away. The partners were also
terrible packrats. For example, one of the Terran
calendars on the wall was four years out of date,
but the partners left it hanging there because it
would be good again in only another seven.
Jonathan Lee Jacobs was sitting at his desk
in the Dark Side, his head in his hands. “I guess
what I don’t appreciate the most,” he
complained, “is that this crap always gets
sprung on us at the last possible goddamn
minute.”
His partner had not really heard him. Trudy
Burke was lying back in her reclining chair. Her
eyes were closed. She was very busy.
Jacobs grabbed his most abused pencil of
the day and began tapping a rapid tattoo on the
glass surface of his desk. “First I get absolutely
no notice that Bannister Investments is
exercising its option with us, this after we don’t
hear from those bloodsuckers for years, so we
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分类：外语学习
价格：4.9玖币
属性：16 页
大小：47.91KB
格式：PDF
时间：2024-11-24
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