Going for the Juggler
7
Dragon!
IT WAS THREE DAYS’ RIDE north, always in sight of the narrowing chasm, before we reached the bridge to the other side. At this point, the chasm narrowed to only a hundred feet, but the bridge that spanned it didn’t seem solid enough to cross. I wondered, in fact, how they’d managed to construct it.
“The Brothers Tsao got tired of sending their goods around the chasm,” Chang said. “It’s nearly a hundred miles north to where the chasm ends in the mountains. Going south, the land eventually slopes down to meet the base of the chasm before it reaches the sea. Both were costly alternatives to shipping goods to profitable markets. There is a steep trail into the canyon and back out, but it’s impractical for shipping goods. They sent a team around and constructed this rather remarkable bit of engineering. I would have to say I believe there was an Earth engineer involved. You don’t see many suspension bridges on Chaos.”
As in none. The ropes that stretched across the canyon were a good three inches thick with a stone tower on either end of the bridge anchoring them. The bridge was wide enough for a wagon to cross, but the bridge swayed in the wind.
“How often do they replace the ropes?” I asked.
“Whenever they break.”
We crossed the bridge one at a time and discovered there was a toll at the other end. We were questioned and Chang’s suggestion that it was a diplomatic mission was accepted. It wasn’t like we had a force that could really challenge what appeared to be a well-fortified city. We were allowed to pass and headed back south on the west side of the chasm. We passed a caravan headed north loaded with goods. It was well-guarded. Just after it passed, five riders came down from the West to intersect with us. They had us pinned against the canyon and Chang immediately formed up our little squad for defense.
“Ho the Minstrel!” one of the riders, dressed in a red cape, called out. Lees and I rode forward with Chang and Cadence right behind us.
“Khan! You made it,” I called.
“Thought you’d never get here,” the rider responded.
“Well, if it isn’t Little Red Riding Hood,” Chang muttered.
“Ah, the ageless wonder,” Khan responded. “Where do you get all the iron you use to make your fist?”
“I pick it from the rusty bones of your comrades,” Chang responded.
“Guys! Could we be civil here? I see you already know each other so understand this. I count you both as my friends and would appreciate it if you’d tolerate each other while we’re on this mission,” I said.
“I suppose you have a campsite already chosen and provisioned from that last caravan that passed,” Chang said.
“They were only too happy to help stranded travelers,” Khan said. “Right this way.”
It was an uneasy truce. Chang had a couple more men than Khan did, but they stayed well separated as we rode farther from the rim of the canyon. A mile off the road, we came to Khan’s camp where two more of his company tended cook fires. We settled with Lees, Cadence, and I pitching our tent between Khan’s company and Chang’s. One of Khan’s cooks fed his company and one fed us. A fire with a kettle of stew and pan bread was left for Chang’s men. The five of us sat in the middle and settled into our meal.
“I have to say, your meals are always the best on the road,” Chang muttered begrudgingly.
“And you know why,” Khan said. “It’s always been.”
“It’s unnatural to take women along as warriors,” Chang said. “That always separated us.”
“Yet here you travel with two of the best warriors I have ever met, and they happen to be women,” Khan said. “Though we don’t let Master Lees be known. It would be too embarrassing for our men,” he laughed. Chang stopped to consider this for a minute.
“It’s different. They are… special.”
“I take it you two have known each other for a long time,” I ventured.
“Khan was our commissary for the slaver war. He was off raiding a farm for supplies when Holland turned on us and Danny was killed,” Chang said.
“I was doing what my commander sent me to do,” Khan said. “Just as you were. Neither of us could reach him. Don’t forget who scraped you up off the battlefield and got you healed.”
“We should have ridden back to fight,” Chang said.
“We didn’t stand a chance against them. You couldn’t even stand up. By the time you mustered another army, the war was over,” Khan said.
“You used to fight together?” Cadence laughed. “That was before I was born. You need to learn to get along.”
Her laughter had a magical effect. Not that it calmed Chang or Khan, but because her little pixie popped into the air near the fire and landed on Cadence’s shoulder.
“There you are, Capricie,” Cadence said. “I wasn’t sure you crossed the chasm. I saved some meat for you. Are you hungry?” The little pixie chittered to Cadence and she fed her a few morsels from her bowl.
“I’ll be!” Khan breathed. “Our Cadence is a pixie charmer. I’ve not seen anything like that for twenty-five years.”
“Her name is Caprese?” I asked.
“She needed a name and when I suggested it, she seemed happy.”
“Like the salad?”
“No! Like capricious. She’s unpredictable. Like me. I think we’re related.”
“Hmm. On your father’s side, no doubt,” Lees chuckled.
“I don’t know, Mom. She sort of looks like you, don’t you think?”
“Especially the tail.”
Two days later we approached the smoke of Beilong City.
“I suggest we call it an early night tonight,” Khan said. “My women have found a good campsite about an hour east of here.”
“And why would we want to go so far out of our way?” Chang asked. “Because that is where the perfume factory keeps its ladies for scent,” Khan said flatly.
“I know that,” Chang said. “But we were going to go visit the Brothers Tsao and bargain with them for their release. And your man scouting last night was spotted by my man scouting. They’ve probably doubled the guard.”
“We saw him. It will be much easier if we don’t bother with the brothers. The facility is lightly guarded, even if they doubled it, and we could snatch and run with the Minstrel’s twins,” Khan said.
“First of all, let’s look at how this plays out,” I said. “It’s true that there are few guards—just six. But, it’s an interesting compound. A stockade is set a hundred feet outside the building where the sisters are kept. That means that no matter how we enter, we have to cross a hundred feet of open space to reach the house. Only women are allowed inside near the sisters. We believe that is because Chaosian men cannot be trusted closer than that with the sisters being stimulated so much and producing so much of their unique pheromone-laden scent. How about the men here in our company? How difficult will it be to control them?”
“How did you get so much information?” Chang asked.
“Did neither of your spies spot Master Lees last night?” I asked. Khan and Chang looked at each other and then at Master Lees.
They both shook their heads in chagrin. “What is your plan, Hero?” Chang asked.
“I think we should send Cadence in,” I said. Cadence snapped around to look at me so quickly her horse sidestepped. “She’s obviously a woman and could go into the compound. Once inside, I don’t think she’d have a problem subduing the female attendants. We have our horsemen ride at the front gate, kicking up a big plume of dust. That should draw the guards around to the front entrance of the compound. We have Khan’s women cut a passage through the back of the stockade and while the guards are dealing with the men at the front, we take the damsels out through the back.”
“There’s a problem,” Chang said. “Companions can’t do the rescue. You have to go into the stockade and get them. Cadence can’t do it.”
“How many more rules are there?” Cadence moaned. “I could do this.”
“No. Chang’s right, my love,” I said. “While the guards are running to meet the approaching horsemen, you, Lees, and Khan’s women will have to help me breach the stockade from the back. You can guard my back while I effect the rescue.”
“How do we keep the women from driving the men insane after we have them in camp and are escaping?” Khan asked.
“We bathe them in vinegar,” Lees said softly. “Vinegar will neutralize their scent. I tested it with this,” he said, holding up a bottle. “I stole a vial of perfume while I was investigating. We can keep the damsels in a tent when we camp and ride ahead when we’re on the move. We’ll need Khan’s women to surround them. Your men will have to make camp.”
“We needn’t worry tonight,” Khan said. “Our women have already set up camp. I suggest we go meet them and get lots of rest.” We agreed and turned east.
“Are we ready?” I whispered to Lees and Cadence.
“As we’ll ever be. Are you sure this is wise?” Cadence asked.
“No. But it’s heroic,” I laughed. “Let’s move out.”
We crept out of our tent into the silence of midnight. By the time Khan and Chang set up their disturbance out front, we should be on our way into the chasm. Chang had said that before the toll bridge, individuals actually rode a narrow path into the chasm. The river was not difficult to cross as it was relatively shallow. On the opposite wall of the canyon, another narrow path led up to Beilong Village. It reminded me of the kind of trail you ride on burros at the Grand Canyon.
As it turned out, we weren’t the only ones who decided on a midnight raid. When we approached, we saw the stockade had been breached. Shouting and running reached our ears as we entered the compound. Torches lit the side where three guards were running from a dark shadow toward the front gates. I tripped over the body of another.
“This looks bad,” I said.
“What is that thing?” Cadence asked. She was pulling her crossbow into the ready position.
“Don’t shoot it,” Lees warned. “That’s the Chaos version of a dragon.”
“That doesn’t look like any dragon I’ve ever seen,” Cadence said.
“Nor does your pixie look like any picture of a pixie we’ve ever seen,” Lees answered.
“This thing is ugly,” I added. It looked like a huge snake, maybe thirty feet long and a couple feet thick at its widest. That section seemed rigid, like there was a carapace where the wings attached. There were four wings, similar to Caprice’s, but longer and broader. For the most part, the creature was using its massive tail to lay waste to all around and extinguish the torches. As soon as the guards were out of the way, it began thrashing at the walls of the building that housed the damsels. I saw three women run from the front of the building and head toward the gates. It was obvious that one of them wasn’t dressed. Damn! Had we brought any clothes? I took off at a sprint with Cadence and Lees right behind me. We cut the women off before they reached the gate.
“We’ll take the cockburner,” I announced as I placed myself between them and drew my sword. The two women who were clothed parted from the damsel.
“Take her. We’re not warriors. We’re just workers,” one of them said.
“It was a pleasure to work with you, Diane,” the other said. “But we’ve got to go now. Sorry about your sister.”
The two women took off at a run for the gate and left the dazed damsel standing in front of me.
“Diane Twin, I am Hero Lincoln of Earth and I’m here to rescue you.” The damsel swooned into my arms, her bare breasts pressing against me.
“My sister. Please don’t leave my sister. You came for both of us, didn’t you?”
“Definitely, but where is she?”
“She’s trapped in there. That thing knocked a wall over between us.”
“Stay with Lees and Cadence. I’m sorry we don’t have clothes for you yet, but I’ll try to pick up something from inside.”
A scream ripped through the night and it was answered by a whistling hiss. We jerked toward the building and saw the creature raise up on its tail and launch itself into the air. Trapped in the coils of the tail was the other damsel. Cadence raised her bow. Lees slapped it down and the bolt bit into the dirt at our feet.
“You can’t kill a dragon!” she said.
“We can’t let her be taken by it,” Cadence cried.
“You have to kill it!” Diane joined. The dragon whipped overhead with the flailing sister and moved west toward the chasm.
“Get clothes, horses, and troops,” I commanded. “It doesn’t seem to fly rapidly with the burden. I’m going after her. Hurry it up. I’ll need reinforcements! And be sure we have ropes at the ready. We might have to scale the canyon wall.” I ran out the gates and followed the shadow of the dragon. How the fuck am I going to do this without killing the dumb beast? It looked like a cross between some kind of insect and a snake. And like an insect, it didn’t fly in a straight line, but zig-zagged through the air. It wasn’t difficult to follow as the damsel’s screams kept me on track.
Until I nearly went over the edge of the chasm.
I was warned by the sudden dip and disappearance of the dragon as it dove over the edge, accompanied by the Doppler effect of the damsel’s voice fading away.
We’d sat around the campfire the previous night drawing maps in the dirt and discussing strategy until we were blue in the face. That was when Lees, Cadence, and I decided to go alone. The maps we’d drawn, however, were exceptional, and I knew that I should encounter the steep trail into the chasm just a little way north. I picked my way carefully along the rim of the chasm until I found what looked like it could be a trail. It was just coming on dawn and the sun lit the opposite canyon wall, but did nothing to illuminate the side I was on.
As I trod carefully down the trail I had to wonder if our horses and packs could possibly fit. Once they started, there was no way to go but down. I was sure of that.
“No. Please don’t do this to me. I don’t want to die. Don’t eat me. Please. Please.” I could hear Selene Twin’s pleading voice as I drew nearer.
There was a slight cavern indented into the canyon wall. I couldn’t see it until I’d passed a level below on the switchback trail. I could see a nest now, but the snake hadn’t seemed to notice me. It didn’t look like he was eating her. And her pleas became wordless weeping. Whatever was happening, the snake seemed content to curl around the nest. I could hear horses on the trail above. One way or another we had to distract the dragon enough that someone could get into the nest and save her.
“Are you down here, Lincoln?” Cadence called.
“Yes. Be careful there is a nest in the wall halfway between where I am and where you are. I’m going to distract the beast. Chang! Rappel over the trail and grab the damsel when the dragon takes off. Keep coming to my level on the rope and I’ll watch your back.”
“Save me! Save me!” the damsel in the nest called plaintively.
“Don’t worry. You have a Hero coming,” I called to her. The worm stirred and looked over the edge of the nest at me. I grabbed rocks and tied them in my scarves to give them more weight and fished the bottle of perfume Lees had brought back from her investigation as a sample. When I had half a dozen scarves knotted around rocks, I poured the perfume over them. The worm slithered out farther, nostrils flaring at the scent.
“Are you ready, Chang?” I called.
“You forget!” Chang called back. “A companion can’t rescue the damsel.”
“Chang, quit thinking like a fucking companion and think like a hero!” Cadence barked. I watched from my position as she jerked the leather pouch from around her neck and handed her grandfather’s ring to Chang.
“But I’m not a hero.”
“All companions are heroes. Otherwise you wouldn’t be allowed through the portal. Unlike me, you have the equipment to get the job done. Now go rescue a damsel.”
“Give me that cape, Khan!”
“What do you need…? Ow!”
“Now hang on.” I saw Chang launch over the edge of the cliff and I tossed a scarf in the air. The worm lurched at it, but it was too far out to snatch. I managed to grab it before it went out too far and threw it again, the scent wafting with the fluttering silk. The dragon’s attention was thoroughly captured by the flying silk. Before it had landed, I had launched another. But it wasn’t leaving the nest. I would have to toss them farther out.
That did it. Chang was just above the nest when the dragon launched itself to dive at a scarf. Before it could reach it, it was distracted by a second scarf passing near its hindquarters. It turned and twisted as I tossed them left and right, running to pick up scarves from the trail as they hit. The dragon dove and twisted, actually knocking me from my feet with a wing as it dove past.
“Hurry it up, Chang!”
“She’s wrapped in a cocoon! Fuck! There’s eggs. And they are hatching!”
“How do we get past the dragon once Chang’s out of the nest?” Khan asked. “Whatever game you are playing, I’m not. Load crossbows.”
“We can do this. I’m going to start tossing them into the chasm.”
“Ow! Fucking little monster. It bit me. Here we come!”
I tossed another scarf out over the chasm and the dragon dove for it. Just as it passed, though, it turned and eyed us. Not only was I the source of the scented kerchiefs, we had just stolen its damsel and Chang landed behind me. I tossed another scarf.
“Capricie! No!” Cadence yelled.
The little pixie dove in front of the dragon and caught the scarf I’d tossed. She was quick, but if she got out in open air, the snake wouldn’t have more than a mouthful. It snapped at her and she flew higher, waving the scarf at it like a bullfighter’s cape. With the same results. Pixie and dragon engaged.
“Let’s move!” Lees ordered as the dragon and pixie flew out over the canyon.
“Cadence! Rings!” I called. The satchel of rings fell at my feet. I grabbed one. I could no longer throw scarves out far enough to distract the dragon, but I might be able to protect Caprice. The little pixie was fluttering the silk scarf out of the dragon’s reach and dodging the strikes of its snake-like head.
Then she dropped the scarf.
The dragon started to dive after it, but saw the pixie that had been tormenting it and went for her instead.
I threw a ring.
It caught the scarf and launched it between the pixie and the dragon just as it struck.
The powers that be must like me.
The striking snake drove the scarf and its head through the ring. The ring held it secure while the scarf effectively blinded the beast. Scented as it was, it would mask the scent of the damsels as well. The dragon thrashed and hissed to no avail. Blinded, it flew higher and disappeared over the summit of the canyon. We turned and continued down the trail, our companions and horses catching up with us. I squeezed by Chang and took the lead while he carried the very messy damsel wrapped in Khan’s red cape behind me.
“Selene Twin, I am Chang of Earth and I am here to rescue you.”
“Thank you, but please get me out of this. I can’t move.”
“As quickly as we can, Damsel. First we have to get to safety.”
As I led the company down the cliff face, Capricie landed on my shoulder. She held onto my neck with her prehensile tail and leaned in to put her face against my cheek.
Damn! I think the little pixie kissed me.
At the bottom of the chasm, we all bathed in the river. It took a great deal of work to clean the sticky substance off Damsel Selene. Damsel Diane helped, but Chang carefully and lovingly bathed her and held her. As a final measure, the damsels washed their armpits and privates with diluted vinegar to neutralize the scent. We kept a watch all night but saw no further sign of the dragon or its young. If they attacked, all bets were off. We’d defend ourselves. With luck, we wouldn’t kill any of them.
“Thank you for your attention, Hero Chang. I will do my part when it comes to our rewards. But frankly, if no one ever touches my pussy again, it will be too soon.”
“Sister, we survived,” Diane said.
“Was it bad?” I asked.
“It shouldn’t be possible for a Cassandran woman to have too much sex,” Diane answered. “But to be held naked and strapped to a table while our privates were stimulated, never quite to orgasm, while those women collected our secretions into vials… Yes, it was bad. I believe my clit is at least twice the size that it was when I began this journey and it hurts as well.”
“The healing chamber will put it back in perfect condition,” I laughed. “I’m sorry you never got a chance to orgasm.”
“It wasn’t that,” Selene said. “We did orgasm, constantly, for a few days. But then everything was simply too sensitive. I found I couldn’t tip over the edge into that oblivion any longer. I fear that I will be frigid now—no better than an Earth woman.”
“Hey! I represent that remark,” Cadence said. “And I’ll be begging your pardon, but I’m taking Hero Lincoln into our tent and letting him make me come a few dozen times just to get the point across.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” Chang asked. We were approaching his citadel with its bank and now Chang was worried about whether he was really a hero. We’d also discussed up one side and down the other when and where he was going to land when he returned to Earth. There were two likely scenarios. The first was that he would return with Danny’s body twenty-five years ago. But if he did that, the ring that was in Alfonso’s hands would be in Chang’s hands. It would either split or create some kind of colossal time anomaly. Nothing can be in two places at the same time. Or, he might return through our portal at the same time we were coming through. What a jolly company we would all be then! I personally considered that the most likely, but the powers could send him any place and any time. We were trying something and had no idea if it would work.
“If it doesn’t work, you’ll take a swing at me. I’m going to knock you out and rescue Damsel Selene from the fraud. Then we are going to drag your unconscious body with us into the bank vault and all six of us return to Crossroads and then back to Earth. You’ll be back home, either way,” I said. I think.
“You make it sound so easy.”
We’d sent our horses north with Khan to rejoin them with the circus the next time it came through. Chang’s company stood outside the bank to make sure we were not disturbed. They really had no idea what was about to happen.
“We’re not going together?” Diane asked as we pushed Chang and Selene toward the vault.
“We hope not. Two heroes, two damsels, two transfers.”
“Selene, sister. We did it. Enjoy your hero. I’ll see you on Cassandra.”
“We’ll get through the mating process as quickly as possible,” Selene said. “We’ll make it and I’ll see you on Cassandra.”
The mating process? These poor women.
Chang and Selene entered the vault.
While we waited, I took Cadence to a teller and had her rent a box and deposit the money she had acquired through her battle at Mule’s Crossing. Five minutes after Chang and Selene entered the vault, we tried the door. It opened and was empty.
“Well, that’s one step.” Lees and Cadence called for their boxes and loaded them with all their contraband that wouldn’t go through the portal. They closed their boxes and I called for mine. As I was getting ready to close it and take us all into the portal, there was a pop and I heard a familiar chittering.
“Oh, no. Capricie you have to go. You can’t come with us on this part of the journey. We’ll be back, we promise,” Cadence said. The little pixie chittered and flew to each of us to kiss our cheeks.
“I’ll bring her back,” I promised. There was a pop and the pixie disappeared. We held hands and I closed the lid. There was that momentary wrenching disorientation and we came through the portal to Crossroads.
“Lisa! I love you!” Sephie said as we stepped through the portal. “Oh, my Hero Lincoln, you rescued them all. Welcome to Crossroads, Damsel Diane. Oh, Cadence, was it terrible. Will you come back? Please?” Sephie ran on and on as she led us to the healing chamber for processing. Amazingly, we’d managed to come through reasonably unscathed. “Wait! Where is Damsel Selene?” Sephie asked. I explained the situation and told Sephie about Chang and Cadence giving him a ring.
“That’s impossible!” Sephie said. “He can’t be a hero until he’s come through the admittance process. He needs a caretaker. He needs a mission. Where did they go?”
“We don’t know. The vault was empty, so they went through a portal.
I assumed they’d go back to Mei-Xing, Danny’s caretaker.”
“I’ve met Mei-Xing. I took her word of Chang after your last visit like you asked. She was pleased he was alive, but… she’s an old woman. I don’t think she’s coming back to Crossroads.”
Great. And with the experiences the sisters had just had, they surely didn’t need more complications. I wasn’t sure what condition Diane was going to be in when it came to getting her pregnant. I expressed my concerns to Seph when the Damsel was in the chamber.
“I’m afraid she might not actually want to make love,” I said. “She and her sister were being tortured by sexual stimulation all day every day. Selene said they had orgasms for the first few days and then it became so constant and painful that they stayed on the edge from there on and never came at all.”
“She didn’t have to say she felt like an Earth woman,” Cadence grouched.
“Honey, don’t be too hard on her. By Cassandran standards, even you are frigid,” Lisa said. “I agree, though. I’m not sure that teasing her and romancing her will work, Lincoln. I’m pretty sure she’ll be okay if you just take her in and fuck her. Then we can all go home.”
“Let me go check her damage settings on the chamber,” Sephie said. “Perhaps I can make some adjustments.” I followed her into the room with the healing chamber.
“What kind of adjustments can you make, Persephone?” I asked. It was my understanding that the chamber fixed everything that was damaged. I couldn’t imagine any adjustments to that.
“Like Earth, Cassandra is an evolving culture. At one time, it was thought that Damsels should be brainwashed and completely forget all the unpleasantness they go through on Chaos,” Persephone said. “It was considered kind. But another faction has held that without the memories of what happened on Chaos, the Damsels lost a sense of having earned the right to bear a child. The children were not treasured as if their mothers had suffered for them. In a way, it was a perfect job for the healing chamber. Heal the mind as well as the body. But we haven’t used the mind healing capability of the chamber on any of your damsels. Nor on you and Lisa. But perhaps there is an intermediate setting. Something that will heal the mind without erasing the experience.”
“That sounds tricky. Mental healing is a process. If you take away the process, you don’t really heal anything.”
“Let me work with Computer to find out what we can do. I promise I won’t damage her,” Seph insisted.
“Maybe informed consent?” I said, doubtfully.
“Brilliant, my Hero! Go. Let me talk to Computer and you tend your ladies. This might take a while. Computer, provide refreshment, showers, and clothing for Hero Lincoln, Cadence Companion, and Lisa Caretaker,” Sephie instructed.
The shower was already going when I walked into the bedroom. I joined Lisa and Cadence. Lisa had simply walked in and told Computer to start the shower. She was a caretaker.
“I am staying in this shower for a year!” Lisa said as Cadence and I scrubbed her. “How can humans survive without hot running water? It’s inhuman.” I lathered her hair and massaged her scalp. I knew the chamber had already killed any living organisms she might have brought back from Chaos, but we were all three aware of the feeling of things crawling in our hair.
“I might shave my head before I go back,” Cadence said in agreement. “And that dragon slime! I thought we’d never get it cleaned off Selene. Like a sticky, slimy cocoon.” Lisa leaned back against her daughter as I sank to my knees and buried my face in her pussy. Just to be sure we’d gotten it really clean.
“I can’t wait to get back to Earth and get on birth control so we can make love!” Lisa said.
“What’s that I hear?” Persephone said as she walked into the bathroom and shed her clothes. “Have you not yet made love? Even now that Cadence is here and grants her permission?”
“We didn’t dare,” I said. “The portal won’t let a pregnant woman pass through. Lisa was on Chaos for five years. No birth control lasts that long.”
“Oh, dear!” Persephone cried. “That’s not right. Computer, what is the status of Lisa Caretaker’s birth control?”
“Active,” Computer said.
“How can that be?” Lisa asked.
“The healing chamber adjusted the cycle before your journey to Chaos,” Computer said. “It always does that. You should be warned, however, that the adjustment is automatically removed when you pass through the portal to Earth. It has to do with the suspension of your aging when you are on Chaos. Your cycle was suspended as well. Perhaps Persephone can explain it in simpler terms for you.”
“But our manuals never mentioned that!” Cadence said. “They said we had to be protected. That’s why I got an implant.”
“It’s those old manuals again,” Seph said. “There were several instances during and after the Slaver Wars in which a Hero and Companion were on Chaos for two years or longer. Earth-based birth control simply has not reached the stage where it is effective for that long. And before that, the prohibition was in place because Earth women had no birth control. It was determined that it was not in the best interest of the Hero or Companion to leave such matters up to chance. So, as a matter of course, the healing chamber stops the ability of eggs to implant in the uterus, similar to the technique your IUD uses. When you return to Crossroads and use the healing chamber, it implants a trigger to have the process reversed when you exit through the portal to Earth.”
I looked at Lisa and we both moaned. “Shi-it,” she groaned. “We could have!”
“We can!” I said, enthusiastically. “Now, if you want to.”
“We need to tend to the needs of your Damsel first,” Seph laughed. “Business before pleasure. I’m certain, though, that even Damsel Diane will want to celebrate your consummation.”
“How is she doing?” I asked.
“I consulted with her and she agreed to a very slight modification that would make the memories more bearable and will make her more amenable to your advances. We agreed, however, that at least the first time, there should be a minimum of teasing and foreplay. Perhaps later you can romance her. I know she would love it when she permits herself the pleasure,” Sephie said. “And in the meantime, I can become reacquainted with your Caretaker and Companion!”
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