Asteroid 6969: Tiger Gold Read online

  His thoughts grim, he packed the suit in a backpack, loaded his weapons, and left the space station. Outside, he grabbed a scoot. Rewiring it to take him to the far rim took almost ten minutes, but he’d grown up in a mechanic’s shop. He could rewire almost anything. He knew that the Condozzis would be betting on his coming to find them. They just wouldn’t think of watching for him from behind their hideout. If he could get the scoot to take him over the mountain range, he could hike to the Condozzi hideout from the dark side. It meant doing some serious changing to the scoot’s inner mechanics. Scoots weren’t programmed to go up and down mountains.

  He glanced up at the tall peaks and a shiver ran down his back. Then he patted the scoot and climbed aboard, stowing his backpack at his feet and slinging the weapons over his left shoulder.

  “Lance Rocket to the rescue,” he said dryly, pushing the scoot’s newly rewired button.

  With a jerk and a whirr, the little craft rose, hovered a second, then streaked off towards its destination.

  Chapter Seven

  Terraforming Planets and Asteroids

  The Federation has perfected the method of terraforming so that almost any large asteroid or planet with an acceptable temperature range somewhere on, or just below the surface, can be made life-supporting. Terraforming is simply creating an atmosphere and sometimes adding topsoil and water exchangers. In the most drastic cases settlers have to live in domes, which protect them from the climate outside. Inside the domes are enough air and water exchangers to support life. On most asteroids, terraforming consists of making an atmosphere so that miners can work and so that spaceships can land and pick up the ore. Most of the time, terraforming an asteroid is rudimentary, and only done along the sun/shade line. Since asteroids don’t rotate, that is fairly easy to do. On the dark side of the asteroid the terraforming stops, so there is no atmosphere and the creatures native to the asteroid usually stay there. Once terraformed, a planet or asteroid will not revert back to its original state, even after the miners or settlers have all left.

  Terraforming is usually done to encourage mining or farming. Settler planets are another name for farm planets. Asteroids are usually used as mines and then once they are mined out, are deleted from Federation memory banks. Miners are encouraged to leave asteroids once the mines have been depleted. Of course, the Federation cannot be expected to pay for miners to leave their asteroid. They should have saved up enough credits while working to get back to Federation territory. The Federation believes in complete independence for its workers.

  - From The Revised Galactic Dictionary, – “A short introduction of the Federation”

  Lance would have liked to have had his crew by him. Jack’s humor would have come in handy right now. And Dobby, who was not human, could see in the dark. Dobby came from a night planet, and his huge, pale eyes disconcerted most people. Rafferty had been Lance’s friend since the days in the space station. Raff’s parents had worked there as well. Now they were gone, taken along with the forger, Quill.

  Quill had kept to himself mostly. He’d been terrified by the Condozzi gang, claiming that he had never worked for them out of his free will. And now he was once again their prisoner.

  Quill had turned very pale when Lance had announced they were heading back to Asteroid 6969. Lance had tried to reassure him. Now, he had to get him back. Heidi and his crew needed him.

  The scoot’s hydrogen motor started to whine as they began to gain altitude. Scoots weren’t made for flying up mountain sides, but this little craft was game, and sputtering mightily, it headed upwards with only a slight drop in speed. The road up the mountain dipped, and suddenly they were in deep shadow.

  Lance put his night-sight-enhancing goggles on as the reddish gloom became darkness. The sun was now at his back and the night would only get deeper. With the enhancing goggles though, he saw everything clearly, even more clearly than if the sun had been shining. Everything was still. No breezes blew here, the dust was settled and covered the rocks like sugar powder. The cold hit suddenly too, one minute he was still in a warm current of air, the next he was enveloped in an icy chill.

  He stopped the scoot and got out. With the high-tech suit in his pack he could withstand most any cold, even the deep chill of the dark side. He unfolded it and carefully pulled it on, making sure all the clasps were tight. While sealing his helmet on, a sudden movement to his right caught his eye. There! Something just behind a large rock!

  He pulled out his stun-gun and crouched behind the scoot.

  Nothing moved.

  Cursing softly, he stood, and as quietly as possible, stole over to the rock. Then, taking a deep breath, he bounded to the top of it and pointed his stun-gun.

  Three very large eyes stared up at him from a round face.

  A little mouth opened, showing pink gums and some sharp teeth, and it said, “Reeee-Yeep?”

  A furzba. A baby furzba from the looks of it. He pocketed his stun-gun and shook his head. He’d have to control his reflexes. Besides being an awful thing to do, shooting a tiny furzba kitten would have alerted anyone with ears in the vicinity.

  “Reeee-Yeeep?” The furzba tottered unsteadily out from behind the rock and pounced at Lance’s foot.

  He shook it off. “Go home,” he said.

  The furzba just looked at him.

  This furzba was a strange color. He’d never seen one like that. And it had a small ruff around its neck, its fur spiking up almost comically.

  “Reeee-Yeep-Yeep?”

  “Where are your parents, little one?” Lance didn’t have time to save a baby furzba. He had to save Heidi and his crew. The furzba made an awkward leap and latched onto the scoot and wriggled into a tiny cavity near the motor. It must be hungry.

  Lance sighed. Well, it wouldn’t be much of a help, but it wouldn’t hinder him either.

  He started the scoot and continued on his way. “No more hitchhikers,” he said sternly to the little tail poking out of the scoot’s engine housing—the only visible part of the furzba.

  “Reeee-Yeep!” it seemed to agree.

  The scoot took them up the mountain in no time. Lance searched for signs of life as he guided the little craft past huge boulders and over deep crevices. He didn’t find anything. He had just started to get discouraged and wonder if he should shift course when a faint thread of light startled him. He stopped the scoot and shut off the engine. The little furzba popped its head out and gave an annoyed “yeep!”.

  “Shhh. I’ll turn it on again. I think I found something. You wait here. I’m going to try and find an entrance.” Lance felt a bit silly talking to a furzba, but the little creature tilted its head and then pulled back inside the engine casing, disappearing completely.

  Lance strode over the rocky terrain, careful where he set his feet. The light was there, it hadn’t been an illusion brought on by fatigue. Two huge rocks had come apart, perhaps from an underground earthquake. A fissure remained, with light showing inside.

  Holding his breath, trying to forget the bone-numbing cold, Lance knelt and put his eye to the crevice.

  He couldn’t see much, but he caught a glimpse of the backs of several men, and a little further on was Heidi. His vision darkened as rage welled up like a boiling cloud, but he shook his head. He would not lose his head now. Not when he’d come so close. There had to be another entrance nearby. Something hidden. He stood up and shined his flashlight around, checking for something he might have missed. One section of the cliff next to him seemed wrong.

  It looked too smooth. Everything else was jagged and rough-edged. This part of the cliff face looked as if it had been shorn off by a laser blast. Lance went over and touched it. The cliff face shifted. Surprised, he jumped, and then he took a closer look. It wasn’t stone. It was a hanging curtain of some sort of material designed to mimic rock. It was too small to be a main entrance, but as he watched, it blew a fraction of an inch outwards.

  “An air vent. That makes sense, anything metal would show on a
scanner, and a hole might let light out. Smart move putting a curtain up,” he muttered to himself, rubbing his arms to keep the circulation going. Even through the spacesuit his feet ached with cold. Teeth chattering, he went to the scoot and got his backpack, then he crouched down and crawled into the narrow opening. It was dark, but he followed the tunnel until it suddenly veered and gave way to a large, open area. He inched forwards and peered down. He was above the scene, about fifty feet off the ground. And what he saw made his fingers dig so hard into the stone his nails broke.

  Chapter Eight

  Heidi tried to empty her mind. She was not on her hands and knees, chained to the floor, while Ivan rubbed lotion all over her body. This was not happening to her. The roughly woven rug beneath her hands and knees did not exist. The crowd of gaping Condozzis did not exist. It was a dream. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Open your eyes.” The voice was calm, cool, and had a hint of amusement in it. She knew why. Each time she didn’t obey a whip slashed her.

  She took her lower lip between her teeth and bit hard, but opened her eyes. Gront Condozzi stood in front of her. He had his cock out and in his hands. All the Condozzi gang had jerked themselves off while watching. Ivan had made them stand in a circle. He’d drawn a chalk line on the floor. Only those to whom he gave permission could step over that line. Offenders got zinged by his laser-sabre. No one stepped over the line.

  Then Ivan had stripped off her clothes using his sabre, to demonstrate his skill. Her dress fell, then her slip, then her underwear. He’d forced her to get to her knees, and then Ivan had chained her hands to an iron ring affixed to the floor.

  After she was in position, he’d invited the Condozzi gang to watch while he fondled her. He hadn’t hurt her in the least—unless she counted her pride. He’d lacerated that. He destroyed her with his touch. Her skin shuddered as his fingers ran over it. He touched her back, her breasts, and her buttocks, his caresses getting bolder by the minute.

  And the Condozzi gang ate it up.

  They stood there, their hard-ons getting bigger, until first one, then another, fumbled with their pants and pulled out their engorged cocks. Eyes glazed, mouths open and panting, they’d grabbed hold of their various attributes and jerked off.

  It had been a terrifying sight. Red-faced and grunting, the men had leered at her naked body. Ivan had kept up his tickling, stroking touch. And then he’d pulled a small bottle of lotion from his pocket and her heart sank.

  She’d recognized the bottle immediately. The women in Fanny’s establishment had a lotion that they used when they needed a perk. It was supposed to be a secret, but somehow Ivan had gotten hold of some. It had no odor, and was not the least bit greasy. What it did was enhance the skin’s sensitivity and act as a powerful aphrodisiac. When absorbed through the skin, an aphrodisiac worked even better than when ingested.

  She bit her lip even harder and tasted blood.

  “You better like a little pain,” said Ivan. He chuckled and dipped his hands between her thighs. Her ass got special attention, as he spread the cream onto her skin and down into her anus. She clenched her muscles, but his fingers slid easily into her puckered hole. Her body gave an involuntary twitch as he explored her crannies.

  Helpless against arousal, a groan escaped her lips, echoed by Gront, standing in front of her, beads of perspiration on his forehead.

  Clenching her teeth, she tried not to notice the silky feel of Ivan’s hands as he stroked the lotion gently but firmly over her back. With each swipe of his fingers, her stomach contracted and a twinge zapped her sex.

  “So, you’re not a virgin anymore.” Ivan sighed. “That was supposed to be for me. Well, let’s just insert this butt plug, shall we? Then we’ll get on with the show.”

  A feeling of fullness then, as the plug pushed past her tight muscles and entered her ass. Ivan fixed it in place with a little tap that sent waves of pleasure through her. She tried to tell herself she hated this new invasion, but each time she tightened her butt cheeks, it pulled the plug in more. The invasion started to become welcomed by her body. She tried to fight her treacherous arousal, but when she moved, the plug dug in tighter and waves of pleasure started to wash over her. She gasped.

  To make things worse, the aphrodisiac cream was starting to make her skin itch and her whole vaginal area burn. Her ass felt as if it were on fire. Little tremors ran through her, growing bigger and bigger, and all of a sudden, an orgasm rocked right through her. She could feel her muscles contracting, and Ivan, sharp-eyed, pushed her legs apart so that the men standing around would be able to see.

  Now, to her chagrin, she found herself incapable of stopping the pleasure that assailed her. She moaned, her pussy damp, her stomach achy with desire. The butt plug seemed to vibrate, sending another wave of shudders down her spine.

  Ivan patted her buttocks, his fingers lingering on her skin. “Well, who is first?” he asked.

  An explosion greeted his words.

  Heidi gaped, not comprehending what her eyes saw. The ceiling had caved in, and half the Condozzi gang lay beneath rumble. The shock had sent the rest of the men to the floor as well, and Heidi suddenly realized she was splayed flat on the floor.

  “What the—?” Ivan started to speak, but his words were cut off by a flash of blue. Stun gun! Ivan froze, his mouth comically open.

  The stun gun swept over the remaining Condozzis, freezing them where they lay. Not one would be able to move for at least an hour. Heidi felt like cheering. Especially when a rope fell and dangled from the ceiling and Lance came slithering down.

  He landed and bounded to her side, his eyes frantic with worry.

  “It’s all right, I’m not hurt,” she said, as he took Ivan’s laser-sabre and cut her chains. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight.

  “Thank goodness,” was all his could say.

  “I want to get out of here.”

  “I have to find my crew first. Do you know where they are?” Lance kissed her tenderly.

  “We should look in the basement. There are cells down there. But first, do you have something for me to wear?” She felt her cheeks redden.

  “Hold on.” He took off his backpack and rummaged in it, coming out with a state-of-the-art spacesuit. She stepped into it, and then realized she hadn’t taken the butt plug out. A twinge shook her, and she felt her labia swell. She’d leave it in for now, she decided, fastening the suit. Immediately she started to feel warm.

  The aphrodisiac still affected her though. The feel of her nipples rubbing against the silky fabric almost made her come.

  “All right?” Lance held out his hand to her, and she followed him to the cells, where they found his crew and the forger, Quill.

  Heidi hadn’t known they were here. She’d been captured and blindfolded, and hadn’t realized the gang had other prisoners.

  Everyone was fine, except Jack, who had two black eyes and a cut lip, and Quill, who had four fingers broken on one hand.

  He couldn’t stop swearing, and when he found the Condozzi gang, still under the effects of the stun gun, he had to be forcibly held back or he probably would have kicked them all.

  Jack managed to calm Quill, and took charge. “I will stay here and wait for the spaceport militia. Lance, take Heidi to the ship.”

  Heidi managed to follow Jack to the outside, where he’d parked the scoot. Her skin was on fire. Her breath came short. She was so excited that each step was like a mini-orgasm.

  “What is it?” Lance asked, turning and taking her in his arms again.

  When his body pressed to hers, she couldn’t suppress a moan of pleasure. “I’m so horny I could die,” she admitted. “Ivan rubbed some aphrodisiac cream into my skin, and my pussy is swollen twice its normal size.”

  Lance swallowed hard. “Really?”

  “Would I lie to you?”

  He looked at her, then pulled her hood on and fastened it tighter. “You might feel hot, but it’s colder than Hades out here. Get on the
scoot. We’re heading home to the ship. We’ll be there in half an hour—it’s all downhill from here.”

  “What’s that?” Heidi jumped as a little furzba poked its head out of the scoot’s engine casing. She gave a surprised cry, and startled, the furzba leapt to the ground and disappeared into a crevice. But halfway in, it got stuck and uttered a loud, furzba howl of distress.

  “By Hades’ jockstrap! The silly critter’s trapped!” Lance ran after it and poked his hand into the crevice. “Heidi, pass me the scoot’s winch. I’ll push this boulder back and we’ll get it out.”

  Heidi did, and Lance pried at the rock. The crevice widened, and then the rock broke off with a loud “crack!” The furzba tumbled backwards, its tail spinning, and a glitter of gold shone where the rock had sheared off.

  Lance and Heidi stared. A huge vein of pure Tiger Gold ran through the inside of the broken rock. There was enough Tiger Gold there to buy a new spaceship. Heidi suddenly caught her breath. There was enough there to buy a Federation license!

  Lance must have read her mind, because he whooped, grabbed her hand and kissed her soundly on the mouth. “We’re going to be legal, honey!” he shouted.

  The trip back down was made in elation, the furzba cuddled in Heidi’s lap.

  “That is our lucky furzba,” said Lance, as they set the tiny creature down in the ship’s hallway. “You can crawl into the generator space all you want. The ship is yours,” he told it.

  “Lance?”

  Heidi couldn’t wait a second longer. Already on the scoot she’d come at least half a dozen times, and had nearly fallen off twice. Juice ran out of her cunt from her excitement. She dragged Lance into his room and slammed his door shut. Then she ripped her fastenings off as quickly as she could, panting with the effort.

  Lance pulled his suit off, and grabbed her roughly around the waist. “What do you want?” he teased.