Blue Planet (sci fi, D/s, wife) Chapter Four, part 1 Debbie drifted awake slowly, stretching out her limbs and flexing her muscles even before she was fully conscious and then relaxing with a deep, contented sigh, allowing her eyes to slip open dreamily. Although she felt wonderful, relaxed and almost smugly satisfied, she could sense a certain oddness about herself. She took a moment to focus and realized that she didn’t feel at all ruffled or disheveled, as she had fully expected to. Her skin didn’t feel sticky or unclean, even between her legs. In fact, it occurred to her, she felt as if while she slept she had been bathed, massaged and dressed in fresh garments. Looking down she saw that she was still attired in the same gauzy wrap-around she had been wearing when she boarded the craft, but it somehow seemed brighter, fresher and even newer than they had before. Although she couldn’t quite grasp what had happened, it occurred to her from some vague fragment of distant thought that she had indeed been physically pampered and cared for while she had been sleeping, that her clothing had been cleaned and freshened and that all of this was, somehow, expected by someone of the stature and importance she was pretending to have assumed. She glanced around and noticed that elsewhere in the cabin others were coming slowly awake, the women mewing and cooing as they drifted up from their slumber, the men seeming more ruffled, as if no thought had been given to their comfort during the long journey. Debbie was suddenly struck with a desire to ask exactly how long the trip had taken, how long she had been unconscious, how much of time had passed. But then she decided that it really didn’t matter in terms of what she was supposed to do and she might not like the answer anyway so she decided to simply let that issue pass. Besides, she thought, time was a very relative term, something she knew today with a deeper assurance than she had in her life before. She turned and looked over at Robert. He was slumped in his seat, head lulling far to one side, eyes shut, breathing on the faint, ragged edge of a snore. And at that moment she realized that he was slumped in his seat… that they were once again under the inexorable pull of gravity. She leaned over and stared at the window but it was as blank and empty as it had been for most of the trip. She sighed. Perhaps this sort of journey is so mundane it is merely considered a distraction to those in this day and age. She laid her head back against the seat and noticed one of the little grey stewards moving down the aisle between the seats, holding a large, glittering silver tray on which stood some tall, thin crystal beakers of a slightly pink, clear fluid which where being offered to and taken by the other women in the cabin. When the steward arrived where Debbie sat she took the offered tumbler, raised it to her nose and sniffed it. It smelled sweet and fruity. With a sigh she placed the rim against her lips and drank a thin swallow of the liquid. It was sweet and cool at the same time and instantly she felt brighter, more alert and a deep sense of contentment flooded her. She upended the glass and drained it in two swallows, settling back to allow its effects to seep through her. When, a few moment later, the steward reappeared and extended the tray she placed the empty container on it next to the several others and he moved along up the aisle. It certainly beat a morning cup of coffee, she decided. Moments later the cabin began to shudder slightly and she got the first definite sense of movement, a feeling that they were now descending. Something caught her attention from the corner of her eye and she turned to see that the window had faded into a view of a glowing, aqua colored ball covered with a deep mist which they seemed to be approaching at a surprisingly high speed. For a brief moment she felt a thin rush of panic, but took a slow, deep breath and fought it back, calming herself. Beside her Robert groaned as the cabin shuddered once more and rolled his head up, his eyes coming open, looking groggy and unfocused. Debbie smiled down at him. "Good morning, sleepy head" she cooed quietly. He stretched his eyelids wide as if struggling to make them work properly and fixed them in her direction. She could practically see them fighting to finally come into focus. He looked terrible, his face bearing the bristling shadow of at least a full day without the touch of a razor, eyes sunken, hair matted and glistening with oil. "What time is it" he muttered, his voice harsh and croaking. "I have no idea" she said with airy lightness. "Does it matter?" He seemed to think about this, raised his eyebrows in surprised realization that it indeed made very little difference in their current circumstances and sighed heavily. "I guess not" he muttered, clearing his throat and then awkwardly shifting around, attempting to sit up straight. "So" he said, with the finality of a drunk changing subjects, "what’d you do while I was out?" Debbie’s face became a mask of innocence. "Oh, not much. Slept, mostly" she said lightly. And participated in my first lesbian orgy she didn’t add. Robert nodded absently, glanced around, noticed the image of the lime colored sphere they seemed to be rapidly approaching. "What are we doing" he said, his tone slightly alarmed. "Getting ready to land, I think" Debbie said. "Oh, that’s right" he said, nodding thoughtfully "on……" His expression slowly went blank and his brow furrowed in concern. Debbie smiled at him. "Don’t worry" she said "I can’t pronounce it either." "No" he said flatly, "it’s not that. I don’t know. It’s not coming to me." "What do you mean" Debbie said. Robert turned to her, his expression fixed. "I don’t get… anything. Total blank." Debbie thought for a moment, then her voice was tight and low. "Tell me what we have to do when we get there. Who do we meet." Robert fixed his gaze at a point in space before him, then slowly shook his head. "Nothing" he said. "Tell me anything you can think of about this planet. Anything at all" Debbie said with quiet urgency. Robert closed his eyes and seemed to be straining, then sighed and looked at her, his eyes twinged with sadness. "Nothing" he whispered. Debbie was suddenly concerned. It was one thing to have small gaps in the implanted memory, little black holes in the information that didn’t much matter or which they could bluff their way around. It was something else to completely omit a planet and any information about it. Especially since this was the one they were going to engaging in the first truly hazardous part of what they had been dragged hundreds of years into their own future to accomplish. "Maybe" she said, paused and plunged ahead "maybe you don’t have to know. Maybe you’re never supposed to have been here before. Maybe you’re just not supposed to know." Robert looked at her, drinking this in and slowly nodded. "Maybe" he said dubiously, then shook his head. "I’m sorry, sweetheart. I don’t think I’m going to be much help to you." Debbie smiled gently at him, raising a hand to lightly stroke his cheek, feeling the bristles of his beard against her palm. "That’s all right, honey" she said quietly. "Things keep coming to me. We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry." He smiled at her, sadly, and leaned back against his seat, a air of defeat settling over him. Debbie was torn, wanting to reassure him but not knowing what to say or do. Instead she simply settled back in her own seat and fixed her gaze straight ahead. Whatever was going to happen here, it was all apparently going to be up to her. They spent the rest of the flight in a vaguely worried silence, absorbing the sensations as the craft bumped and shook its way down through the thick cloud layer toward the surface. The window faded to black once more soon after they plunged into the roiling stew of clouds but the movement of the craft smoothed out soon after and they both thought they could pick out the moment when it actually touched down, rumbled along for a minute and finally eased to a stop. Everyone in the cabin was then rising, stretching, gathering up small bags of various shapes and configurations, the men assuming the burden of carrying them while the woman waited patiently or tossed them disapproving, scowling looks. Some of them, Debbie thought, would have been quite unpleasant to belong to judging by the way they treat their consorts. Debbie and Robert waited patiently in their seats while the craft emptied then rose and moved through the aisle to where the small grey steward stood, giving each departing passenger a formal nod. Debbie smiled at it and was rewarded with a crinkling of pleasure at the corners of its large eyes that even Roberts cool, suspicious look couldn’t diminish. They walked down the long, oval shaped tunnel from the craft and when they emerged found themselves in a moderately sized lounge room. The far wall was apparently composed of some sort of invisible force field, for although they could not distinguish the reflected glare of any sort of glass or other surface, the throngs of people moving swiftly by seemed not only to totally ignore them, they also did so in utter silence, all sound effectively blocked. In the center of the space was a large oval counter behind which sat a creature, human in all appearances except for the bright orange hue to her skin and the almost glowing neon yellow of her billowing hair, wearing what appeared to be a long, flowing gown of dull green that shimmered with each ripple. Debbie noticed that the last of the other passengers was just turning away from the counter, the woman moving toward a small, rounded archway tucked in one corner of the far wall, her consort moving in the opposite direction toward a rather plain looking door set into one of the side walls. As she watched the woman stepped into the archway and seemed to vanish, only to reappear moments later amid the throng of creatures, people and beings flowing passed in the hallway beyond the room. She turned her head just in time to catch the consort stepping through the now opened door which slid closed behind him. She tossed Robert a reassuring glance, wanting very much to grasp his hand but knowing that such behavior would draw attention to them, and strode over to the counter. The orange woman looked up with a pleasant smile. "Pleasantness and welcome" she said, her voice melodic and crisp all at one "your name?" "Jem Alaasho" Debbie said, forcing her own tone to come out bored and slightly annoyed. The orange woman looked down at the countertop where Debbie could see a large screen of some sort was set into the surface. Lines of some alien script were flowing onto it, and Debbie understood that this was her… or rather the real Jem Alaasho’s, entire travel history from the time of her birth to the present. The orange woman scanned it quickly then looked up at Debbie once more, her smiling face pleasantly impassive. "Purpose of your visit?" she asked. Debbie managed a bored shrug. "I’ve never been here before" she said, knowing from the implant this was absolutely true and hoping it would serve as enough explanation for the woman. The orange woman nodded, looked down at the screen again and Debbie saw more lines of the strange, alien script appear, as if the orange woman was causing them to appear with her thoughts alone. Once again she looked up at Debbie. "How long do you expect to remain with us?" Debbie pulled out a weary sigh and cast her eyes upwards as if absently thoughtful. "Oh, not long" she said in a tired, sing-song voice. "I just want to see what it’s like here." Again the orange woman looked down and thought more information onto the screen, before looking up again. "Please enjoy your visit with us. You are welcome." Debbie gave her a tight, perfunctory smile and turned toward the archway. Robert took a step to follow her. "Excuse me" the orange woman said, a bit sharply, her voice rising. Debbie stopped cold, an icy chill shooting up her spine. She turned slowly, stiffly and stared down at the woman whose expression was now curiously suspicious. "Yes?" Debbie said quietly, hoping her voice did not tremble. "Your… extra must report to quarantine. Were you not aware of that?" the orange woman said, her tone only slightly wary. Instantly Debbie’s mind flooded with information. Of course, she realized, quarantine. This was one of those planets that were very particular about who they allowed to enjoy its special features and flavors. On this world they regarded male consorts as something akin to a pet. In fact, she suddenly realized, it was a planet devoted to its tourist trade and had been that way since before it was finally absorbed into the comforting arms of the new galactic arrangement. The change over of authority had little real effect outside of the retooling of certain attractions and facilities to suit the peculiar needs and desires of the new power. As far as those whose home world this was, one form of entertainment was the same as another and here it was all available, for the right price. But in order to assure the comfort and, more importantly, frequent return visits of their valued visitors, they had instituted a very strict policy with regards to who got to enjoy the wonders of this world and who had to sit patiently and wait, quietly, out of the way of the revelers. And that meant that all consorts were required to undergo a rather thorough examination process and period of quarantine. Debbie tried to coax up some thoughts about what that involved but apparently that was something she wasn’t supposed to know about, or more likely have the least interest in. She let a controlled, superior smile flood over her lips as she regarded the orange woman haughtily. "I was under the impression that my… extra would be allowed to accompany me to the transport zone before he had to report for quarantine" she said coolly. The orange woman returned a pinched smile. "The regulations have changed" she said simply. "We’ve had some difficulties recently with certain extras and it is now required that all extras remain in controlled areas. You’ll be able to retrieve it next cycle, if you plan to remain that long. If not, you can simply board it and pick it up as you prepare to depart." Debbie struggled to suppress a desire to sneer at the orange skinned woman and simply pushed the flat smile wider. "Oh" she said airily, "I don’t intend to stay that long. Why don’t you just board him…" She narrowed her eyes meaningfully as she glared at the orange bitch "…comfortably, and I’ll pick him up when I return." Debbie saw genuine fear flicker through the orange woman’s eyes, as if she was suddenly realizing she had overstepped some invisible line of behavior, but then it was gone and she simply nodded pleasantly. "Of course, Jem Alaasha" she said, "As you desire." Debbie turned and the expression of confusion and tension on Roberts face caused her throat to tighten. She looked him deeply in the eyes, knowing that he was completely in the dark as to what was occurring, praying that he would understand that this was not something she wanted to happen but that it was necessary… that she would be back as quickly as she could manage… that he would be all right… But she knew that any attempt to communicate these thoughts to him would draw suspicious attention to her and perhaps endanger them both. Instead she gave him a trace of an encouraging smile, the faintest of nods and then, as she flicked her gaze back to where the orange woman was staring at them, and raised her eyebrows in a grand show of tolerance. "Was that all" she said, her voice dripping with controlled sarcasm. "Yes, Jem Alaasha" the orange woman said, her smile once again genuinely pleasant. Debbie flicked one last glance at Robert, turned and strode across the room to the arch, stepped into it and instantly found herself moving down the wide, main concourse of an extremely busy, bustling transportation center. A firm, clear memory of this complex formed in her mind and she knew that she had to go to the end of this promenade, turn to the left, go down to the lower level where she would find local transport vehicles. From there she would find her way to the House of Indulgence and that portion of her current mission. She should have been startled, amazed to open-mouthed fixed staring at the vast profusion of races, species and organic entities that moved along the concourse, seemingly representing a hundred different worlds, but with every step all she could fix upon was that she was adding distance between herself and her husband, and had left him in circumstances she knew nothing about. All she could think of was getting done what she had to do and getting back here, to him, as quickly as she could. And with that thought driving her, she quickened her pace.