Horny Gold

Hey ya'll, Dakota here with a new episode of my kinda smutty, kinda serious sci-fi adventure series. This is an ongoing series, so I recommend you start at the beginning lest you become confused about who these characters are and what the hell they're doing.

Returning reader? Welcome back! I'm frankly blown away by the response this has been getting and I appreciate (and read) all the comments you've been leaving. As far as harem-lit goes, this is more of a slow burn than most, as I want the romance between the characters to develop somewhat naturally. This is mostly a sci-fi story with some smut inserted rather than a smut story with some sci-fi window dressing.

As always, please like, comment, and fav because it helps other wonderful nerds find my weird little stories.

Arcadia was a blue world.

Erwin Wu hadn't seen one of those in a long time.

"It's so pretty," Iana remarked, staring at the heads-up display. There were no windows on the Hornigold; that was a luxury reserved for only the priciest of Nova liners. All images of the exterior were from cameras and sensors lining the hull. Still, it was an impressive sight to watch the blue gem grow in their monitors.

"My colleagues say it's the Wild West down there," Lucia Lei remarked. "Although I don't really understand the idiom beyond meaning vaguely dangerous and lawless."

"No, that about covers it," Alma said. Because she was Earth-born, she tended to have a better grasp of their archaic sayings.

Lucia was the newest member of the crew. The whole shindig with Eris-Stratton station had given her a taste of adventure. That and a promise to travel the galaxy with a crew she could trust. Wu thought she had a quiet strength about her. She didn't panic under pressure and could still think while in danger. That was good enough for him to offer her a spot. Besides, her knowledge of alien life was sure to come in handy.

They'd been in the system for a week now, slowing their acceleration at a comfortable 0.8g instead of doing hard reverse burns. That gave Wu and Iana plenty of time to cross-train their newest crew members. There was a lot to learn about the inner workings of any ship, and Lucia took to her new studies with academic rigor.

"Ugh!" Iana exclaimed. "There's a line."

This system was busier than most. New colony worlds often were. Hyperia Station lay on the moon of the same name and had quickly become the main hub for traffic to and from the new colony. With the Hornigolds' shuttles, they could easily land on the planet itself. But they were first dropping off their sole remaining passenger.

Cam Hackett had already put his bag down in the cargo hold. After his tryst with the all-female crew of Eris-Stratton, he was in remarkably better spirits. But he had a contract waiting for him in the inner system.

The plan was to dock on the moon, drop off Cam, and take one of the shuttles down to the surface. Alma would stay behind and gather what supplies she could for the return journey.

Wu had given her a list of the types of cargo they were looking for. It was essentially a grocery list, as Wu was procuring different foods for a distributor back on Port Ever Evening.

"They're telling me only six hours," Iana announced cheerfully.

The rest of the crew groaned. Everyone, it seemed, was eager to get off the ship.

"These slip fees are going to kill us," Wu said, looking at his screen. "It seems we came at a bad time."

"We need another job," Alma said. "One where we get paid up front."

"We have no contacts here other than the supplier on planet," Wu replied. He sat back in his chair, staring up. "Okay. Iana, you stay with Alma and pound the bulkheads around Hyperia for a job. Preferably one that doesn't take us too far out of the way. Lucia, you're with me."

"Captain, with all due respect," Iana said. "I should be accompanying you. You tend to find trouble wherever you go."

"I'll be fine. Besides, that's how I found you."

***

***

While the rest of the crew left the bridge to prepare for their assignments, Wu pulled Alma aside.

"Ensign, a word."

Alma already had one foot on the ladder, but she stopped to look at him. "Yes, Captain?

"We need to talk."

The look on his face must have told her this was going to be a serious conversation. Most of the time, he interacted with the crew pretty casually, less like a boss than a colleague. But it was clear he was addressing her as the captain of his ship.

"Are you smooth?" he asked simply.

"I'm all right."

"That's good. I'm glad to hear it. Does that mean your head's right?"

"Sir, if this is about--"

"That's exactly what this is about," he cut her off. "I gave it a few weeks, hoping that time would lead to clarity. You've had plenty of time. Emotions ought to give way to rationality."

"I wasn't emotional, sir."

"No?"

"Well, of course Iwas. I was angry and enraged and all that. But I knew what I was doing. As soon as the spin stopped, I armed myself, intending to kill them both."

"You understand that wasn't your decision to make."

"I do. I don't have an excuse. And I'll take responsibility. But when you signed me on, you told me that we were going to kill pirates, not take them prisoner. That, while we would do our trading and run our routes, we'd also be hunting them."

"You disagreed with me taking them prisoner?"

"Emphatically. Sir."

"Tell me, ensign, what separates us from them?"

"Any sense of decency or law. They're scum. Parasites. They feed off the blood of honest folk trying to live their lives."

"Law. That's a funny word. People fill up entire libraries with words trying to explain what that little word means. Butlawis very simple. It is simply our collective sense of justice. We decide what is just and what is unjust. They are our principles and that's what makes us civilized. Don't misunderstand me. I frankly don't give a damn about Lance and his sob story. The man made his choice knowing full well the consequences. The galaxy is better off without him. But his judgment was not yours to make."

"Fuck. Yeah, I get that," Alma said, despondent. "If you want to drop me off here or even turn me over to the authorities, I guess I deserve that."

"Is that what you want? What you deserve?"

"What I want is vengeance."

"Let me ask you this: are you broken?"

"What do you mean?"

"Near as I can tell, people who have been broken by their circumstances often end up being the worst among us. Whether it's their shit upbringing or simply bad luck, those who allow themselves to be broken by fate or circumstance use it as an excuse to do all manner of terrible things. Look at Lance and his wife. A shitty job and hard life led him to work with people who were clearly criminals, and one day, he gets the gig that lands him with us. He rationalizes it by saying he's doing what he has to do to survive, even if it means killing us and stealing our ship. Even if it means selling people into slavery. He was broken on a fundamental level. So let me ask you again, are you broken?"

"I am not broken," she said, her jaw clenching.

"Good. I can't fly with broken people. Vengeance, however, I can work with."

"So you're giving me a second chance?"

"I don't believe in second chances. But I do believe in teaching. People make mistakes, the stars know I've made plenty of my own. But I do expect people to learn from their mistakes. And to not repeat them."

"I can do that."

"I know you can. Now, prepare for your assignment. You and the XO have a job to do."

Alma snapped to attention, trying to conceal your grin. "Yes, sir."

She left him on the bridge, and Wu turned to go down the other ladder that led into the stateroom. Iana was waiting for him, sitting primly on the edge of the bed, hands folded in her lap.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Well. I think."

"Can we trust her? Canyoutrust her?"

"Aye. It's not like she disobeyed an order. I hadn't given one. Call it a lapse in professional judgment."

"You're calling murder a lapse in professional judgment?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. If she's a murderer, so am I. So are you."

"I'm not sure that's the same thing."

"You were a warship. In action. How many campaigns did you participate in?"

"Three. But war is different."

"Yeah. It is. Sometimes."

"Well, we're not at war."

"So they keep telling me. Regardless, she's damaged, not broken. And she's got something that can't be taught."

"Let me guess, heart?"

"I was going to say conviction. Purpose."

"So she's staying on?"

"Keep an eye on her. But yes."

***

***

The biggest settlement on Arcadia was called Sunva's Landing. It was situated on the equator in what would be the eventual anchor point for their future space elevator.

Arcadia was about as cold as Earth was back during her many ice ages. Broad ice caps covered about a fifth of the northern and southern hemispheres with a central band of temperate to semi-tropical habitable zones.

Sunva's Landing was near an inland sea that everyone supposedly called the Hot Sea.

Wu landed the shuttle in the main port, which acted as their small airport too.

Sunva's Landing was a classic betweener colony--a mix of the Consortium's high technology and the relatively primitive local economy. The local government was the combination of the original founders and Consortium consultants. The initial founders of any new planet varied wildly in scope. Some were founded for resource extraction, homesteading, scientific discovery, or even by religious orders, as the original Mormon founders of the Citadel were.

Arcadia seemed to be a hodgepodge of all these different types, and Sunva's Landing reflected that.

It was warm and humid when they stepped out. The air felt thick compared to the recycled atmosphere of ships, and the slightly lower than standard gravity made his gait seem carefree.

"Dirtside always feels fucking strange," he grumbled. He had to spend several minutes fighting off the vertigo of suddenly being outside, in the open, with a horizon to contend with. A wave of nausea passed over him as he focused on reference points close to him: the hull of a nearby shuttle, the dust-covered safety cones in front of a construction site, the canopy ceiling of the small terminal they exited the airfield through, more circus tent than building.

"I love it," Lucia replied. "It's like the planet is giving you a long hug. Or like a fingerprint, unique to it. You just have to get used to its embrace."

Their first stop was a small shop selling hats and clothing to visitors. Wu considered buying a wide-brimmed hat woven from some local fibrous plant but decided against it. Looking like a spacer tourist wouldn't be ideal. He bought a pair of sunglasses instead, ones that didn't look completely stupid.

Lucia had come more prepared, already having her own field clothes from her previous expeditions.

She looked less out of place than Wu did in loose breathable fabric and a narrowly brimmed hat. For all her supposed naivete, Lucia was a field researcher by trade.

Wu's jumpsuit and light sneakers, ideal for life aboard ships, were less practical dirtside. He was already sweating, and he was tempted to unzip the top half, wrapping the arms around his torso. That would reveal his shoulder holster and the pistol he kept there. Openly carrying firearms was legal on most of the frontier worlds, but Wu believed in subtlety.

Their next stop was to find a transport over to the Hot Sea, where Sy Lee's contact was. After some asking around, they were directed toward a row of trucks of various dimensions with their excitable drivers trying to elicit jobs.

Wu brushed past several pressing drivers offering tours to local sites and approached a young kid lying in the flatbed of a large truck.

His hat covered his face, the clear sign of someone napping.

"You for hire, kid?"

The kid tipped the hat off his face, sizing up Wu and Lucia with an impassive gaze.

"Maybe. Depends, of course."

"We're heading over to the Hot Sea. A settlement called Kipling. Need something big enough to haul a pair of aquatic habitat tanks."

"Y'all scientists?"

"She is. I'm her ride."

The kid nodded, clearly unsurprised by the request. "Third outfit this month, trying to haul star eels. Word is they're going to start regulating that here pretty soon."

"How do you know we're here for star eels?" Lucia asked.

"They're the most interesting thing happening over by Kipling. People seem to like them."

"You don't."

"Not really my thing."

They haggled over the price for a little bit. Wu found him to be a surprisingly tough negotiator, but it was clear the kid was bored and didn't have anything better to do.

They loaded the tanks onto his truck from the shuttle. Each one was three meters cubed and was heavy as hell, even empty. The truck had a winch system that helped, but when they were done, Wu was sweating profusely.

The ride over was bumpy and uncomfortable once they left the paved roads of the city.

Kipling was a spat of civilization between a dense woodland of angular umbrella-like trees and the sandy coast of the large inland body of water.

The kid, whose name was Diego, parked the big truck next to a prefab warehouse that jutted right into the water.

Without a word, Diego put the truck in park, tipped his seat back, and put his hat back over his face.

The warehouse was the largest building in the whole settlement. There were a few houses nearby, some prefab modules, and others constructed from the local trees. Like Sunva's Landing, it was clear this settlement was growing, as noted by the construction crews busy with their various projects.

Wu knocked on the first door he saw, and when nobody answered, let himself in.

The smell hit him immediately. It was a muskie, salty stink clearly from the dozens of open aquariums that sat in rows.

Wu grabbed the first person he saw, some science type, kneeling next to a water tank, tapping seriously on his tablet.

"Hello," he started. "I'm Erwin Wu with the Hornigold. This is Lucia Lee, our xenobiologist. We're looking for Doctor Quincy Jasper."

With barely an acknowledgement, the scientist pointed to the other end of the building, "Down there. White coat. Can't miss him."

They spotted their contact almost immediately. Quincy Jasper was a so-called Arcadian princeling: one of the founding settlers of the planet and a principal stakeholder in its success.

He was tall and sturdy, and looked to be in his mid-70s. Gene cleaning made him look younger and healthier, of course, but like many other rich old farts, he didn't dye his hair, letting the gray give him an august presence.

As they approached, Dr. Jasper seemed to be consoling a young woman, a tech of some sort, who looked like she'd been recently crying. She was wearing a jumpsuit that looked too big for her, her hair was wet, and she was hugging her own body as Jasper spoke to her.

Wu only caught snippets as they approached.

"...you weren't the first and won't be the last. We have those procedures for a reason."

The tech looked like she was about to protest, but noticed them. She quickly looked away.

"Dr. Quincy Jasper? Sorry to intrude. I'm Erwin Wu. Sy Lee sent me."

Jasper nodded, then turned back to the tech. "Ami, take the rest of the day off. Rest, relax, try to get your head right. I'm sure things will look better in the morning."

Ami shuffled away, leaving them alone with the doctor.

"What was that about?" Lucia asked.

"An unfortunate, although rare occurrence these days, I'm happy to say. Poor girl got too close to the animals."

"Are they aggressive?"

"No. No, nothing like that. But they are curious and strong. Gave her a bit of a fright, is all." Jasper shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'What can you do?'

Wu walked over and examined one of the tanks. There didn't seem to be anything remarkable inside, just an empty aquarium tank with rocks at the bottom. Upon closer examination, he realized that the rocks were actually creatures, gray and brown in color, sitting on each other in a pile.

"Their camouflage is superb, isn't it?"

"What can you tell me about them?" Wu asked.

"Well, they're invertebrates, and as far as we know, the only species in their phylum thus discovered. We didn't think much of them at first, but some of my colleagues found them cute and took to keeping them as pets. They're good-natured, seem to enjoy being handled, and rarely act aggressively. They're only semi-aquatic and can stay out of the water so long as their skin doesn't dry up. When exposed to air, they secrete a moisturizing fluid that helps keep their skin hydrated. We're still looking into it, but it appears to have a mild analgesic effect when in contact with our skin."

"So it's like an opiate you can hug?" Wu asked.

"Nothing so extreme. Although it's probably one of the reasons that people are fond of them."

"Do you classify them as a cephalopod?" Lucia asked.

"Sort of. We're still testing their intelligence."

"Sy Lee didn't give me a quantity to pick up from you. But she is paying per head."

"Got tanks?"

"Two. Eighteen cubic meters each."

The doctor looked thoughtful for a moment, clearly running some numbers in his head.

"They're communal. You could probably fit two dozen in each tank. I don't advise more than that, though. They can work themselves up into a frenzy. Makes handling them difficult."

"Is that dangerous?"

"Not unless you fall into the tank. Individually, they're not very strong. Together, they can drown a human easily."

"What are you charging per head?"

"A flat two thousand."

Now it was Wu's turn to run some numbers in his head. Sy Lee was willing to pay twenty-five-hundred for each of these things. Stars only knew what she charged the end consumer. That was 120k gross. Once he accounted for expenses--fuel, food, crew pay--it didn't leave him with a ton of negotiating room.

Wu kept himself from laughing out loud. "Are you kidding me? You know it took us a month to get here?"

The doctor shrugged. "It'd be a shame to come all this way for nothing."

"Yes, it would. But tell me, how long do you think this little operation of yours is going to last?"

Jasper squinted at him. "Are you threatening me?"

"No, quite the contrary. Word in the port is your fellow founders are going to start regulating your little pet business. The bureaucrats are going to get their cut, a nice tidy stream of income to build roads and schools and hospitals. Then you're going to have to raise your prices. Until then, you're in the game of getting into as many markets as you can as cheaply as possible. I don't suspect you have the budget for an interstellar marketing campaign, right?"

He let Jasper's silence be the answer.

"Now, Ever Evening sits at a junction of four jumps. Thousands of ships stop there every standard year. That's marketing you can't buy. Especially if you want to see this operation grow into a real industry before it gets regulated into obscurity."

Wu had apparently hit a nerve with the old scientist.

Wu went in for the kill. "At two thousand a pop, I can't make this worth my time. But at twelve hundred? I can take an even sixty. That's thirty a tank. And you can rest assured, I'll be back to buy more."

Jasper thought for a moment. "Eighteen hundred."

"Fourteen."

"Sixteen."

"Tell you what. Fifteen hundred and I'll buy as many as can fit into my tanks without killing them."

The doctor glared at Wu, clearly trying to decide if he should walk away or not.

"Deal," he said finally. "Although you're already pushing the limit. Any more than thirty-five in each tank and you're sure to cause a frenzy."