The man beside her was considerably younger than she was—perhaps even more so than Rarev was than herself, Em speculated. He had long, shaggy black hair and an impressive physique of rippling muscles and six pack abs. There was a thick, black collar around his neck and he was looking down at his hands with a glum expression on his face, like someone waiting for an especially unpleasant dentist appointment.
“Er, hello,” Em said to the other woman. “It’s nice to meet you, Mistress Tatterass. I’m Minister Emilia Oxley of Earth and this is Chief Commander Rarev of the Monstrum Kindred.”
She held out her hand but the other woman just looked at it.
“If you’re here thinking that you’re going to win the Rigellen Mineral Rights, you can go home right now,” she said rudely, glaring up at Em. “Not a single couple in this room has a chance against myself and Charn. We’re going to sweep the Trials without a doubt so you may as well give up now.”
“So you feel you’re certain to win because of the magnetic attraction between yourself and your partner?” Rarev raised one skeptical eyebrow at the Yonnite Mistress.
“Of course!” Mistress Tatterass nodded. “Why, Charn and I can barely restrain our passion—can we, Charn?” She nudged the man beside her, poking one sharp elbow into his muscular side to get a response.
“Uh—yes, Mistress! Whatever you say, Mistress!” he exclaimed, jumping to attention and sitting up straight in his crystal chair.
“Tell them, Charn,” Mistress Tatterass said. “Tell them how we can’t keep our hands off each other, so they might as well give up now!”
“It’s true!” Charn nodded quickly. “My Mistress and I are deeply in love and we will certainly win the mineral rights she wants for her company with our passionate lovemaking,” he said.
He sounded to Em as though he was reciting a line he’d been forced to learn and though he tried to smile, he mostly just looked miserable. She wondered what was really going on. The dynamic between the Yonnite Mistress and her partner didn’t really appear to be mutual, no matter what she claimed.
Rarev appeared to have doubts about them too.
“I notice that none of the other couples in the room have given up and gone home,” he remarked. “And the two of you don’t appear nearly as, er, engaged with each other as some.” He nodded pointedly at the Lady Tabuu and Lord Torrid.
The hyper-sexual couple was currently fondling each other enthusiastically, and it appeared to Em that Lady Tabuu’s other set of breasts might be about to start spraying at any moment. She took a step further from them, wanting to be well out of the line of fire.
“They’re just showing off,” Mistress Tatterass sniffed. “And if they had any sense, they’d have left when I warned them to. As it is, everyone in this room is in for a humiliating defeat.”
“We’ll see about that,” Rarev said neutrally. “It was nice meeting you,” he added. “May the best couple win the Trials.”
“I’ve already told you I’m the best!” the Yonnite Mistress said snippily. “So go away and leave me alone.”
“Certainly.” Rarev nodded his leonine head gravely and took Em by the hand. “Come, let’s go find a seat and wait for the Trials to begin.”
“There is no need, for now that all the contestants have been introduced to each other, the Trials for the Rigellen Mineral Rights can commence!” a loud voice announced, startling Em so badly that she jumped, causing her dress to “flare open” again.
Lovely—just what I need—to be naked in front of someone new! she thought, hastily scooting behind Rarev in order to try and smooth the horizontal strips of her dress down again.
Peaking out from behind the Monstrum Kindred’s broad shoulder, she saw that the new voice came from the far end of the room. The Mining Director was standing there and he had four other Rigellens with him. All of them were naked and obviously male. But Em could see stray eyes popping up on their deep blue skin, usually on the shoulder or chest, which she knew must be their “slime-wives.” This must be the panel of judges, she thought.
“Hello, contestants,” the Director said, striding forward as he smiled and nodded at everyone. “We are so pleased to have you all here to vie for the mining rights to our fair planet. As you know, we hold these Trials every ten solar years, so whoever wins the contract will have access to our rich mineral and gem supplies for an entire solar decade! We do not need these primitive items ourselves, as all our technology is based on crystal and light.”
There was polite clapping from all the contestants and Em thought she saw a distinctly avaricious gleam in Mistress Tatterass’s poison green eyes. The squid-like Om’bobla and his mermaid wife, Channa stopped glaring at each other in order to clap for the Mining Director and even Lord Torrid stopped fondling Lady Tabuu’s breasts long enough to clap with all four of his hands.