Em frowned. How could he keep saying such infuriating, unprofessional things?
“Listen to me,” she said, glaring at him. “We’re only doing this because we have to. So I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head and remember that we are not an actual couple—we are just people who are working together and that requires a level of professionalism.”
Rarev gave her a slow, sensual smile that showed his sharp, white teeth.
“In that case, I’ll do my best to be professional when I treat you as my mate. And I’m certain we can make a convincing couple.”
Em wasn’t so sure about that, but she decided not to say any more. At that moment, a horizontal red gash appeared in space, right in front of the ship.
“Get ready,” Rarev said. “That’s the fold—we’re going through it right to Rigellen Five.”
As the ship flew towards the red gash, Em bit her lip and tightened her grip on the armrests of her chair.
She wondered what in the world—no, what in the universe—she had gotten herself into.
9
“So you’re interested in the mining rights only for our deposits of Yillium?” The Rigellen Mining Director raised his blue eyebrows and flared his third nostril at them and his wife did the same. It was easy to see them both, since they were standing behind a crystal-clear counter and neither one was wearing many clothes. The Director was bare-chested and he seemed to be wearing crotchless trousers. His wife didn’t seem to have much of anything on at all. Also, they appeared to be…intimately attached to one another.
Em tried not to look but she was fairly certain that the Mining Director, who was right behind his wife, was doing more than just standing there. He was, in fact, entering her and apparently fucking her—to put it crudely—moving in and out of her with slow, leisurely thrusts even as he conducted the interview.
“That’s right,” Rarev said with a completely straight face—though of course it was a bit difficult to read the emotions on his leonine features. Em was getting better at it though—she had noticed that what he was feeling seemed to center in his eyes more than anywhere else.
Currently, those golden eyes were impassive, as though he didn’t give a damn what the Mining Director and his wife did as long as they could get the Yillium. Em felt the same way. Though she really wished she didn’t have to see what she was seeing, she considered that it was worth it as long as they could get what they needed to save the Earth.
“Well, Yillium is a fairly common mineral and we don’t really have much use for it here on Rigellen Five.” The Mining Director gave an especially deep thrust as he spoke and his wife moaned softly under her breath, her bare breasts bouncing with the force of her husband’s penetration.
They had been joined this way and already copulating when Em and Rarev had been ushered into the Mining Director’s office. The two of them were almost completely humanoid in appearance except for their pale blue skin and dark blue hair and the fact that each of them had three nostrils instead of two, Em thought. Oh, and the fact that they seemed to be joined below the waist in a permanent manner.
Don’t look below the counter, she thought, trying to keep her eyes above the clear, waist-level counter so she couldn’t see all the thrusting going on. And in the meantime, the Mining Director just kept on talking to them, as though it was perfectly normal to be engaged in a sex act while conducting business. Em had heard of casual sex but this was truly ridiculous.
“If you have no use for your Yillium, then it should be no trouble for you to sell it to us,” Rarev said, leaning forward. “We are prepared to pay right now and we would be most grateful if the transaction could be a speedy one.”
“Now then, now then—not so hasty, if you please!” The Rigellen Mining Director gave a couple of short, sharp thrusts as though to express his displeasure and this wife gasped and wiggled against him.
“Is there a problem with a speedy transaction?” Em asked politely, raising her eyebrows at him. “I assure you, our people are prepared to pay your asking price this moment—there is really no need to draw out negotiations.”
“We have no problem at all with a speedy transaction, if the two of you win the Mining Rights to our world,” the Mining Director said.
“Win the rights?” Rarev frowned. “What exactly do you mean? Is it some kind of contest?”
“Well of course it is!” The Mining Director sounded exasperated. He gave his wife several more short, hard thrusts which made her squeak and gasp and writhe against him. “You can’t just award something as important as Mining Rights for an entire planet to the first people who ask! In fact, you two are the fourth delegation to come seeking Mining Rights to Rigellen Five in the past few solar days.”