Page 26 of Emperor of Draconis

They entered and it was the usual crazy Saturday in the store. Not the day she would have chosen, but they had to work with what they had. Torr kept pulling items off the shelf to ask her about them. ”What is this?” Torr asked.

She blushed. “It is for women so they can clean themselves.” Leave it to Torr to find a box of douche.

“Oh. What about this?”

“Those are to prevent conception. The male wears them. Let’s get out of this aisle now. Okay?” She was relieved to move on.

The candy aisle drew his attention and he asked many questions. “What is this chocolate?”

“Have you not had some at Tomi’s?”

“I don’t believe so. Does she sell it like a snack?”

“No, it is used in pies, cakes, puddings, and cupcakes.”

“I’ve not had any that used chocolate.”

“We’ll have to remedy that.” She filled up her cart between the spices and the licorice and filled the cart Torr pushed with chocolate and other candies. “I guess we’d best go now.”

“Alright.” He followed her and helped her unload the items at the checkout stand.

She paid as he loaded their bags into the two carts. As soon as they arrived outside, the guards with a car located them. “Sire, let us take that.”

The guards quickly loaded everything and helped them in. Now they were headed to the place shuttles were loaded to head to the ship. They’d spent little time here with only a day in orbit. Now they would already be heading back.

“Maybe some time we can come for a week or so.” Torr said as he took her hand and squeezed it. Apparently, her disappointment was palpable.

They rode the shuttle to ship and she noticed it was now lunch time. Torr accompanied her to the dining room where people were finishing up their meals. Several seemed happy to see her and wanted to ask questions. Most of them were job related.

One lady asked about the males they would meet. “Torr, why don’t you answer this question?” She requested.

“Certainly. Our males are generally tall, muscular, and if I do say so myself, good looking. They were raised to believe females are precious and should be treated as ladies. Many females stay home with the children, but more and more are working outside of the home these days. This is by choice not because their males want them too.”

“But do they get upset that their mates wish to work?” She asked.

“No, they rarely get upset at their mates. They work things out as a couple and as I said many more females are choosing to work.”

“It sounds too good to be true.” She responded.

“No, everyone has some troubles at times. Life is like that, but they work through them.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at Torr and batted her eyelashes at him. “Are you single?”

“I have a girlfriend I hope will join with me soon.”

“What a lucky girl.” She said before she walked away.

She didn’t miss what he meant. Everyone around them was aware of his intentions. They also looked at her like she was crazy when she didn’t just melt into his arms. Secretly she was tempted but she wanted to make sure she took him on her terms. He’d wait or not.

Meanwhile it wasn’t like they didn’t have enough to keep them busy. The trip had just started, and everyone had much information to assimilate. Her staff on Earth was already compiling the next list of people that would travel to Draconis. Torr was sticking to her side closely. He said he was learning a lot about the program.

There was a lot to learn and she learned something new every day. It was the third day and it was lunch time. The dining room was packed as this was a heavier load than expected. Even one bay had been used for the males that had been heavily recruited as soldiers. Most of them stood out in the crowd. They weren’t bad, they were reserved, and many were muscled up and bulky.

A few did look a bit scary and there were always seats left empty near them. Perhaps serving their meals downstairs would be an option. Not that she was bothered by the men, but the children here with their families and some of the ladies, hell a few of the men, were. If more soldiers were recruited, maybe a plan needed to be set up. She didn’t want them isolated, maybe just contact limited.

If only she had help. Marsheel hadn’t come this trip and no one had explained why. Her help was assigned on an as needed basis and that made things much harder. Meanwhile she was spending every day and pretty much all day with Torr.

She was standing at his side when an emergency occurred and even though she wasn’t invited, she followed right along as he headed toward the bridge. Normally everyone would stand and bow to him, but they were all otherwise engaged as a group of ships was attempting to surround them and one had even fired on them.

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