Was it?
She couldn’t answer that question, so she pushed it aside and led Rive over to the green door and its glowing letters.
“Look,” she said, pointing at the equations. “Can you solve those? I think the answers to each one might have to do with that weird combination lock thing, there.” And she nodded at the lock with its four strange dials that had numbers and letters and the two rows of symbols she’d never seen before.
“Hmm…” Rive was suddenly all business again. “This is ancient Jon’lixan,” he said, pointing at the door. “The Jon’lixors were a race that spoke the language of pure mathematics but they died out long ago. Some of the most advanced theorems in the universe came from them.”
“Yes, but can you solve for X? Or whatever the variable is?” Terra asked impatiently. “Because if you can’t, we’re all screwed. I took plenty of advanced mathematics in college but that’s all Greek to me. Or all Jon’lixian, I guess.” And she nodded at the equations.
“Yes, I should be able to,” Rive nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “It may take me some time, however. Er, maybe you’d better see to my colony-mates while I do this,” he added, nodding behind him to where Tem and V’rone were standing. “I do not think they are in a dark place, like I was, but neither of them is likely to be much help in the next world if they are still incapacitated.”
“Hmm, you could be right.” Terra nodded and turned to go…but swayed dizzily.
“Terra! Are you all right?” Rive caught her by the arm, turning her to face him. He looked down at her anxiously.
“It’s the spoors,” Terra admitted. “I…I probably shouldn’t have, er, swallowed your…your seed. It seems to be where the spoors are concentrated.” She shook her head, trying to get rid of the dizzy feeling. “But I’ll be all right—they don’t seem to affect me nearly as much as they do you guys.”
Rive’s eyes softened behind his oculars.
“I will always cherish the memory of my Queen swallowing my seed,” he murmured. “But I do not think it would be good for you to drink any more of the spoors right now.”
“You’re probably right.” Terra nodded. She was feeling better now—the dizzy spell seemed to have passed. “I’m okay,” she told him. “Let me go take care of V’rone and Tem—you just solve those equations so we can open the door to the next world.”
“Of course.” Rive nodded. Then he turned to look at the glowing numbers and symbols on the wall and seemed to go into a kind of academic trance.
Terra recognized that look—he was concentrating so hard he wasn’t even seeing the world around him. But at least now he was concentrating on the right thing, she thought. Instead of seeing horrible visions of hell, the Brain of the colony was putting every logic circuit in his mind to work on those equations. And while he did that, she had another job to do.
“Oh boys,” she called, walking over to V’rone and Tem. “Time for some treatment. Who wants to go first?”
THIRTY-SIX
At first neither one of them paid any attention to her. V’rone was still giggling to himself over something that presumably only he would find funny and Tem was staring at his hand.
“Hey! Hey, guys, right here—eyes on me!” Reaching up, Terra snapped her fingers in their faces, trying to get their attention. V’rone wouldn’t even look at her, but finally Tem’s eyes focused on hers for a moment.
“My Lady,” he said dreamily, speaking as though he was underwater. “Have you ever looked at your hand…I mean really looked at it?” he asked Terra, flexing his fingers slowly, one at a time as he spoke.
“No, and I don’t have time to look at yours either,” Terra told him sternly. “Listen to me, Tem, you’re high on spoors and there’s only one way to get them out of your system.”
Without waiting for his answer, she unsnapped his trousers and pulled them open. Boldly, she reached inside and grasped his shaft.
“Oh!” Tem gasped, his eyes widening as he put down the hand that had so fascinated him for the past half hour. “Oh my Lady—what are you doing?”
“Jerking you off,” Terra said matter-of-factly. “You’re going to come for me, Tem—aren’t’ you?” she added, taking a firmer grip on his shaft, which was already getting long and hard in her fist.
“As my Lady wishes!” he groaned, bucking his hips forward as she stroked him. “Oh Goddess, your hand is so soft! It feels so good on my shaft.”
Terra felt that surge of power again and she gave him a smile. She liked having such an effect on a big, strong Monstrum warrior.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” she told him. “Because you’re going to come for me in a minute—come nice and hard to get all those spoors out of your system.”