Wishing On A Star

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"If you're feeling better," said Morkai I'll see if I can round up some of my gress for you to wear while you're out and about." I turned on the bed and prepared to get up but them stopped. "Before Hanna and I do anything else, I want some serious answers from you good sir." Morkai stood there and merely shrugged, "Of course, what is it you want to know?" "Ah good," I thought, I had him on the defensive. "First of all, what are your intentions towards Hanna and I?" Morkai grinned, "Intentions Miss, we have…Oh I get it, you're asking us if we intend to hold you two for some sort of s*x slaves, keep you in bondage, as it were and force you to perform all sorts of unspeakable s*x acts on us?" At the mention of this, Hanna started to giggle, but I remained steadfast. "Miss Holly Bickford," continued Morkai, "I'm ashamed of you, we Nuel are complete gentlemen, you ask of our intentions? I won't lie to you, Nargra and I are quite taken with both of you, we find each of you quite attractive, we are offering each of you an opportunity that comes maybe only once in a lifetime, a chance at high adventure, and to travel to another world no one on this…Planet could even dream of. It is our ultimate hope that eventually each of you in turn will come to love us, see the advantages, of life on an advanced world. I will never lie to either of you, if after a period of time you are not happy and wish to return home that will be done, no questions asked, the choice is yours, you are under no restraint or bond is that clear?"

I looked at Hanna who shrugged, then back at Morkai, "Word of honor?" "He held up his hand, "Word of honor!" As I write these words, I look over at my husband who has kept his word, and has never lied to me, we look at each other and smile, along with all the other attributes of Nuel and Falthian life and behavior I've picked up, the rough beginnings of telepathy seemed to have taken hold in my brain, as time goes by we find that we simply "know" what the other wants or is thinking, Morkai already had this ability, I seem to have picked it up somewhere along the way.

While Morkai left to round up some clothes, Hanna and I talked, "So what do you think?" I asked her. "Speaking for myself," she said, "their offer beats anything I've heard so far, it certainly trumps working on my back for the rest of my life. As I said, that Nargra fellow is mighty handsome, he seems very nice and considerate, I've never met a man like him before, I think I tag along see where this "ride" stops, when Nargra showed me their "commode" my mind was almost made up then, wait until you see it, they ain't kidding about having stuff more advanced than we have, you do what you like, but this girl is staying put for awhile." I stood up and reached out to hug her, "Remember Hanna when I told you we were in this "thing" together, well I meant it, guess I'll stick it out as well, I don't know what it is, but I'm starting to find Morkai quite attractive as well." Both of us started giggling like schoolgirls, when a confused Morkai stepped in and tossed some clothes onto the bed. "Here, put these on, when your ready Hanna will show you where the bridge is, come on up we'll talk, oh, and Hanna, show Holly the "Necessary" I'm sure she has to "go."

I found a clean camisole in my bag and put it on along with a pair of women's drawers then stepped into a pair of black trousers or cargo pants as Hanna said they were called, each leg had a large bellows pocket plus inside pockets as well as a smaller bellows pocket down on each leg as well. I then put on a short-sleeved shirt, dark green in color, a little bit tight due to my bust line that had two large bellows pockets right over my breasts, plus two smaller ones below them, as well as smaller ones on each sleeve. The shirt was adorned with various emblems and had large writing on the back I couldn't read. I also put on my green high-tops, and looked at myself in the small mirror. "Your certainly right about one thing Hanna," I said, "These clothes are certainly more comfortable than that riding habit." "C'mon," said Hanna, "I'll show ya where the "privy" is."

The "privy" was in a small room at the end of the small hall. "Just push this pedal with your foot," demonstrated Hanna. A metal commode slid out, "sit down, do your business, and look at this, just the softest paper ya all could ask for," snickered Hanna. "Then when you are done, push the pedal again, the commode slid back into the cabinet. "Nargra said the toilet empties, is automatically cleaned for the next user, now you flip this cover down and stick your hands into these two holes." I did as she requested, and felt a warm sensation envelop my hands. They grew warm and tingled just as if I had actually placed my hands in warm water." Absolutely amazing," I exclaimed, "Wait until you get a load of the shower," replied Hanna.

She opened an opaque glass door to reveal a small room, "Those three buttons control the length of your shower, there's no water mind you but Nargra says you get just as clean. That top button sets a short shower, like if you're in a hurry or something, the middle is for a medium shower, and if your really dirty the bottom button gives you a really long one, but Nargra says not to use it, tends to break the shower so he says," remarked Hanna. "Oh yeah, there's a place you can put perfume and all sorts of pretty smellin' stuff that come out at the end, making you smell pretty and sweet." "Well what actually cleans you if there's no water," I asked. Hanna shrugged, "Nargra says some sort of invisible waves, ask him, I didn't really catch that either," replied Hanna. "Truly amazing," I thought, if this was merely a sample of what this race of men had, we were truly in for many surprises. I excused Hanna and actually used the "necessary," Once finished; I could see why Hanna was "sold," no cold and drafty privies, convenience, and cleanliness. As a test, I smudged my hand with some mud from my boot , sticking my hands into the two holes above the commode I felt a warm tingling sensation, upon removing my hands the smudge was gone, all I could do was shake my head.

Hanna then steered us towards the "bridge" Morkai and Nargra were sitting in what can only be described as futuristic looking chairs surrounded by black panels and protruding box-like cabinets covered with colored lights instruments and gauges of all descriptions my mind simply had no understanding of such instrumentation. As if he were reading my mind, Morkai kept his eyes on the lights and gauges, but said to no one in particular, "If you two decide to stick around, I'll teach you not only how to read all of these instruments, but to actually fly the Na'Vas." I looked at all the confusing clusters of gages and controls and felt panic surge up within me. "Think that way and you'll never accomplish anything," said Morkai. "H-H-How did you know…?" "You are looking at the problem all wrong," continued Morkai, possibly that is your race's problem, always looking at things from the wrong angle, anyway, like I said, Holly Bickford, and you too Hanna, stick around and before it's all over it will be you two sitting up here while Nargra and I are getting some rest, don't doubt me on this." I'm certainly glad he had confidence in me, perhaps he sees something in me I don't.

"You ladies have a seat in any one of the jump seats, and buckle those belts we'll be taking off in a few unas." Hanna and I figured out what he meant by the "belts" and fastened them around our waists. Both of us then became aware of some sort of music in the air, "Where's that music coming from, thinking there was a band hidden in a room somewhere. "It's coming over the ship's comm," replied Nargra, "Where else would it be coming from?" He then looked at us and started laughing, "What! You two didn't actually think we had a live band playing somewhere did you?" Actually, we did, both Hanna and I felt humiliated for our ignorance but Nargra quickly apologized. "I'm sorry for laughing at you, I forgot you're race has no recorded music, we take this gress for granted, it's hard to realize others may not have this sort of thing."

While Morkai and Nargra busied themselves with the operation of the ship, I listened to the music. It was a fast-paced instrumental, nothing like I had ever heard before. I could pick out drums, wood wind instruments, along with horns as well as other instruments I simply couldn't recognize. The longer Hanna and I listened; we started nodding our heads to the infectious rhythm. Then the music seemed to switch, this time the pace was slower, and someone was singing. Suddenly my trance was broken by, "Brace yourself, here we go!" We felt the whole ship vibrate as we rose into the sky, I simply can't describe a feeling I've never had before, I was scared and yet I wasn't, I caught the large screen in front of Morkai and Nargra, it was apparently dark out, so we didn't see much, and probably wouldn't have known what to make of anything even if we had. I felt a slight sickness in my stomach but it soon passed. "For your information," announced Nargra, "We are heading for the eastern part of your country to harvest Frasta." I noticed Morkai and Nargra each wore something in one of their ears but couldn't begin to guess what they were, but they had little wires coming down towards their mouths that the men appeared to be talking into. Morkai then got out of his chair and reached down and took something off the console behind him, then stood before us. Holding out his hands the revealed what appeared to be a black walnut, still in it's green husk, as well as a small flower I didn't recognize at first.

Pointing to the walnut, I said, "That's what we call a black walnut, they have a very hard nut, but a very sweet meat inside. That plant I'm not sure I recognize," I said. Morkai came closer and let me take the flower, "I'm not sure, but I think it's what they call St Johns Wort, it grows all over." Morkai held up the walnut, and said, "We call this "Frasta" and this," holding up the Wort, "Kresha, both are extremely valuable in the production of Brotenga Serum, which cures a very nasty brain disease we Nuel are susceptible to, called Turnastus. When combined with a couple other ingredients the extracts from these two plants cure that disease completely. A company on Falth where we come from pays us very well to come here to Kagor to harvest these plants, is there anything you could tell us about them?" I thought a moment and shook my head, "No, not especially, other than my Uncle has a lot of walnut trees on his property, back in Pennsylvania." Morkai gave me a curious look, but said nothing.

"Could I ask where you put my rifle, I need to clean it soon or it will rust and corrode." "It's in the arms locker, why do you suddenly need this weapon,?" asked Morkai speciously. "Because," I replied, it's filled up with black powder residue, it's my father's rifle, and I don't want to ruin it, kook, I'm not going to try and take over this ship if that's what you're worried about," I replied. Both Morkai and Nargra laughed, "I'm not worried about that, it's just one moment we're talking about Frasta and Kresha, then the next moment you're wanting to clean your weapon," chuckled Morkai. I sat down again, I-I-I don't know, my mind seems to be trying to absorb too much at one time, the thought simply popped into my mind, but it's something that must get done, at some point." Morkai sat down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder, "Relax Holly, you are right, you're mind is simply trying to take in too much, why don't you go back to your room and get some more rest, we've got a little device that will clean that weapon for you, I'll take care of it for you.' I realized he was right got up and headed back to the small cabin, "Oh make sure there are no bullets in the gun before you do anything," I said. Upon returning to the room, I collapsed onto the bed again and fell into a deep sleep.

When I awoke, I discovered that someone had removed my clothes again and I was back into my nightgown, not the gown I had worn before. I lay there for a moment listening, we didn't appear to be moving, the room was completely silent, looking around I found the clothes Morkai let me borrow were neatly folded on a small stand next to the bed, I took the pile and walked down to the "Necessary" did my "business" then took a "waterless" shower. I have to admit it was different, I didn't get cold, and did feel fresh after bathing, it felt strange not to use any soap, but my hair also felt fresh and clean as well. Dressing, I headed down to the bridge, but nobody was there either. I then discovered that a large ramp had been lowered much like a drawbridge, and daylight was entering.

Making my way down to the cargo area, I spotted Hanna standing at the base of the ramp holding my Spencer. She saw me as I approached, and smiled, "Good afternoon, feeling better?" I looked around, "Where are the men?" Hanna pointed towards the nearby forest, "They have some sort of floating platform they're over there picking walnuts. You certainly were out of it for awhile." "Where are we," I inquired, "What time is it?" "Well we are somewhere in Virginia, never having been here before I certainly couldn't tell you, and as for the time, it's around three in the afternoon, we've been here going on all day now. I sat down on a nearby crate and said, ' I take it you are guarding the ship for the men?" Hanna nodded, "Nobody's come around, they have some sort of machine that is patrolling the area as well, it floats as well, damned if I can figure out how they get all this stuff to float off the ground it's truly amazing." As both of us sat there and listened to the birds, I looked at Hanna and said quietly, "Hanna there's something I meant to tell you about the other day after I first woke up." This caught her attention, so I continued, "While I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I found myself sitting in a beautiful garden with you and…Mary." Hanna gasped, "What was she doing there?" "Just sitting, listening to us talk, she then got up and whispered in my ear, "I loved Hanna as my sister, take care of her Holly." She then told me to tell you to always follow your heart, and that we would all meet again someday. After that, I woke up. Hanna looked at me tears streaming from her eyes, "You're not fooling me are you," she asked. I stared her dead in the eye, "I swear to God Hanna I am not." "Nargra was pounding on your chest," replied Hanna, "You were dying, but he brought you back, possibly for just a moment you were actually dead, I believe you," she put her hand on my arm, "We are truly friends Holly Bickford, thank you for telling me this."

We continued to sit for a few more minutes until I said, "I'll make a deal with you Hanna Brown, I'll teach you an education if you'll teach me life." Hanna had a puzzled look on her face, then smiled, "Deal! I always felt shortchanged by not having a good education, they didn't teach us but the basics in the orphanage, I have a feeling a better education is going to come in mighty handy." Hanna then gave me a curious look, "Have you ever been with a man before?" I grimaced, and shook my head indicating "No." I thought not, it's nothing to be ashamed about, I think that Morkai has feelings for you, don't worry, we'll sit and talk, I'll see to it that your "ready" when the time comes my dear." We stood and hugged "We're in this together," whispered Hanna.

Soon Morkai and Nargra returned, Morkai was standing on a white platform hovering around a foot off the ground-keeping pace with some sort of wheeled machine being operated by Nargra, it appeared to be hauling a trailer loaded down with crates of walnuts. Both men proceeded up the ramp into the cargo hold while Hanna and I continued to keep an eye on the area. Morkai then called us in and raised the ramp, taking the carbine from Hanna, I looked at it, opening up the breech and visually inspecting the whole thing, I found it to be totally clean , every bit of it, no carbon residue or powder build-up completely clean, what was up with these people?

We watched as Morkai and Nargra secured the machines, as well as the crates of walnuts. "One more stop before we head home," announced Morkai, "And it's a hot one." "And as usual saving the best for last," replied Nargra

An hour later, everything was secured, and we were strapped in waiting for take off. "We're going to an area in the southern area of your country," said Morkai, "Plenty of humid heat, poisonous crawly things, large creatures with nothing but teeth, that weapon of yours may come in handy." Morkai demonstrated how the terrain scanner as he called it worked, I noticed that our destination appeared to be somewhere in Florida judging from the map, naturally there were no map names but the outline indicated it could be no other place. It was night again when we landed, as soon as the door dropped down the humid air practically strangled us, the sounds of frogs and toads, wild cats screeching in the distance, all sorts of animal squawks and cries greeted us. Nargra focused lights on the field before us, lighting the whole area up, I spotted animal eyes lurking in the surrounding forest and swamp staring at us. I asked Morkai about the lights, receiving the answer that they were Xeon searchlights and not to stare into them or my eyesight would be harmed. While Morkai manned a machine he called a "picker" which harvested the Wort, Nargra stayed slightly above him standing on the floating platform armed with some sort of strange looking weapon he called a plasma rifle.

As Morkai traveled up and down the meadow harvesting Wort, Nargra occasionally unleashed his fire power upon what I learned were large snake's, crocodiles and alligators, lurking in the growth. I stood near the base of the ramp with my carbine, and actually had to kill an alligator that tried to crawl up the ramp. The harvesting took around two hours, then another machine was brought out to re-plant fresh Wort seeds for the next harvest. From time to time, Morkai and Nargra would stop and empty the machine's hopper into a crate full of Wort. Towards dawn Morkai announced the job completed, and none too soon, we were all dripping with perspiration, after securing the equipment, and cargo, Morkai stood before Hanna and I. "Well ladies if there are no objections our next stop will be home, the planet Falth, approximately five hundred lightdorns from here, If you don't want to go, we'll return you to a place of your choosing." Hanna and I looked at each other, shrugging, we replied "In for a penny, in for a pound!" "So be it," replied Morkai, prepare for take off."