CHAPTER 7

Hamunaptra Resort

Eart, Sol Sector

Stardate 2359.8

Captain Picard moved his legs and arms against the fresh water. He was swimming in one of the pools in the resort compound. Lt. Comdr. Data was somewhere around the hotel. According to the scan from the Enterprise that is still orbiting the Earth, the Princess was staying in the Penthouse. She was apparently still sleeping. The Enterprise will inform them as soon as she left the room. Both Picard and Data had checked in the hotel last night.

Picard who’s interest had always been in archeology quickly fell in love with the place. He wished he could come back to this place for a real shore leave. He got out of the pool and dried himself with a towel and walked to the changing room.

Lt. Comdr. Data looked around the room. He walked towards a console and sat down. He accessed the computer to see the contents of the library. The monitor flickered very fast in front of him that no human eyes could follow. His eyes catching all the information and he saved them in his positronic brain for future needs. In 25 minutes he had finished reading all the information about this place, its history, its leaders, and cultures. Basically, everything that was in the library. He sat up and left the room.

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Ardeth let out a deep groan as he released his climax. He could feel Salvia convulsing under him as she too screaming while releasing her orgasm. Nothing could beat the feelings of having a climax after making love to her. She was like a drug to him. The more he made love to her, the more he wanted her. Ardeth kissed her passionately before letting her go.

They both lied down breathlessly. Ardeth’s chest was bleeding, suffering from Salvia’s sharp nails. His back was worse. He could feel the pain starting to build as his afterglow began decreasing.

Salvia sat up and bent to lick the blood on his chest. He liked it when she did that. He knew that it didn’t help curing the wounds but made them worse because not only she licked them, she sometimes sucked the blood out. Still he liked the feeling.

Ardeth laughed, "Stop sucking my blood, you vampire!"

Salvia stopped and smiled at him, "It tastes so sweet, Ardeth. I’d love to drink it in a glass."

Ardeth sat up and reached for the medical tricorder to treat his wounds. "Why don’t you just kill me and drink my blood?" He joked.

"It’s only done for those who had put disgrace upon me. I get to eat the heart too." She said licking her lips.

Ardeth looked up, laughing, "You’re joking, right? I’ve never heard of that barbaric ritual before."

"Nope. The last time a royal family did the action was ….. almost 150 earth years ago…." She calculated roughly.

"Really? What kind of disgrace could result in such punishment?" Ardeth was intrigued.

"I told you. Disgrace. Such as… Blaming me for something I didn’t do, seeing me in an improper attire, saying things that can lower my status…… that kind of things. But it can only be carried out if I feel disgraced. And I get to execute the punishment myself. It’s kind of personal, you know." She walked to the bathroom and left Ardeth alone, treating his wounds.

Ardeth shook his head. He had been so worried about her last night. He had even created a scenario that scared the hell out of him. Now, watching the morning sun from the window of his penthouse, having finished making love to her, he felt totally different. Maybe he had worried too much.

Dnunian technology was superior to Federation’s. He was glad that Earth sensors had not detected the decloaking of her shuttle after all. If they had detected it, he was sure that Starfleet would not wait this long to confirm a suspicion of espionage action.

Ardeth went in the bathroom and joined Salvia for a bath. She was sitting comfortably inside the bubble pond when he entered the room. He joined her and they ended up making love again. Once they got out of the bathroom, they ate breakfast together. The food replicator had been programmed to serve Dnunian food, so both of them had a wonderful time eating and chatting, catching up for the 7 months of lost time.

After breakfast Salvia asked Ardeth to sing for her. Ardeth had programmed some of his songs in the computer so all he needed to do was order the computer to play back the music and he started to sing for her. Salvia lied on the carpeted floor. She watched Ardeth singing with a look of love and admiration. She adored him and was madly in love with him.

Ardeth ended his song, looking at her with so much love in his eyes. He came near her and caressed her face with his fingers. Her white skin felt so soft and her red lips invited him to kiss her. He kissed her lower lip lightly before taking the rest with his lips. Her tongue pushed inside his mouth and he welcomed it with his own. They explored each other’s mouth with increasing passion. Somehow, when they were near, it seemed like there was an electrical impulse that attracted them to each other. And both of them could not resist the impulse, or hardly tried to.

Salvia’s arms were around his neck, clinging to him. His arms supported her back so as not to let her fall. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of his tongue inside her mouth. She instinctively spread her legs, giving room for Ardeth to come closer. Ardeth placed himself between her legs, spreading his legs. They were now sitting on the floor hugging and kissing. Ardeth’s hands were starting to explore hers, undressing her. Salvia did the same with him. They only broke the kiss when they had to take off their pants. Now both are standing naked in the middle of the living room. Their clothes were scattered around them on the carpet.

Ardeth held her close to him. His hands squeezing her round buttocks. Her breasts were squeezed against his chest. He could feel her hard nipples. Salvia was drowned in the waves of sensations. She could feel his manhood hard brushing her skin. They kissed passionately. Ardeth lifted her and carry her to the bedroom where he laid her on the bed. He was on top of her, kissing her neck and licking her ears. Salvia moaned, her hands squeezing his behind, sending electrical sensation to him. Salvia’s hands started to explore his back. She started to dig her nails on his skin.

He broke the kiss for a while to tell her, "Mmh… don’t.. my love, don’t hurt me.." He whispered and Salvia let go of his back. Instead she clutched the bed sheet and moaned louder as Ardeth’s mouth claimed her nipple into his mouth. She instinctively pushed her waist up, wanting him to go inside. Ardeth took the other nipple and did the same to it. He sucked it slowly then licked around the hard nipple while his hand slowly squeezing her breast. He kissed her cleavage and went further down to kiss her belly. Salvia convulsed as the kisses sent waves of sensations into her nerves. She let out a deep sigh, calling his name.

Ardeth didn’t plan to stop. He went on kissing her belly and pushed his tongue inside her belly button. Then he went further down. Salvia spread her legs to give him more room to finish his job. Ardeth caressed her feminine part with his fingers. Salvia moaned and started to push her waist up in anticipation. Ardeth spread the two petals of her femininity with his fingers and licked the central of her ecstasy. He kept on licking it, sending shivers down her spine. Her body tensed and her waist was moving up and down instinctively. She closed her eyes, moaning and sighing as Ardeth went on licking and sucking it. She felt the central of herself wanting him inside. Her love box was pumping the liquid out. She was now wet and ready for him. Ardeth licked the liquid and sucked her. He intended to play longer with her, controlling his needs to be inside her as best as he could.

"Oh… Ardeth.. please…. I want you inside me." Salvia begged in whisper. Her body was tensed. Ardeth smiled and shook his head.

"Not now, my love. Not yet." He teased her.

She cried out his name and moaned when Ardeth inserted his finger inside her. He played and toyed with her feminine part for a while, until Salvia couldn’t control herself any longer. She suddenly grabbed his shoulders and turned him over. She was now sitting on his belly, pinning him under her.

"I want you, Ardeth. Now." She said, smiling. She took his manhood with her hand and pushed herself on top of it. It went inside her slowly. She moaned and started to move her body up and down, letting him inside and out in a rhythm. Ardeth groaned as he felt the ecstasy building inside him. He held her waist and motioned her faster. He went inside and out of her faster and faster. They were moaning and sighing, groaning and crying, building up the ecstasy. Until Salvia screamed as climax overtook her. She rocked faster and faster, making Ardeth coming after her. He let out a cry of ecstasy. The world seemed to stop turning, as they were both drowned in the most wonderful feeling. They gasped for air, breathlessly. Both lied down side by side. When their breathing was near to normal, they hugged and kissed, saying I love yous, stating how much they cared for each other.

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Only five hours later, that Lt. Comdr. Worf could confirm to Cpt. Picard that both the Princess and Ardeth Bay VII were leaving the Penthouse. Cpt. Picard detected that Lt. Worf was upset from his tone of voice. He had absolutely no idea that the Klingon had monitored two people who had barely said nothing but moaning and groaning in passions for hours, that he wanted to hit Commander Riker for assigning him such a silly task. Humans can be so repulsive when it came to love making, he had known that. But he had never known that a warrior race like Dnunian could be as repulsive as human. He tapped on his comm. badge to talk to Captain Picard.

"Ardeth Bay VII is leaving the compound for a trip to Rigel IV, Captain. He said it was for a meeting with an investor. I have assigned three officers to follow him. The Princess remains in the Resort waiting for him." He reported.

"Thank you, Mr. Worf. I see her now walking to the front desk. Picard out."

"Mr. Data, standby for further instructions." Picard said.

"Aye, Captain."

Picard walked towards the Princess. His comm. badge was hidden, tucked under his jacket. She was tall and sexy. She was laughing with the Director of this place, Monica Bleeth.

"Excuse me, I heard about a challenging games of finding treasures and replicas of ancient artifacts around here. I heard that we get to fight mummies too. Can you confirm that information?" Picard asked.

Salvia turned to see him, then to Monica. "There’s such a game in here, Monica?" She asked.

Picard smiled as she hit the bait. He had been studying the profiles of Dnunians to find that they love challenges, more like a Klingon.

Monica gave the Captain her hand, "I’m Monica Bleeth."

"Jean-Luc Picard." He said.

"I know who you are, Captain. We’re glad that you chose this place for your vacation."

Salvia turned to look at him, "Captain? A Starfleet Officer?" She asked suspiciously.

"Not for now, Miss. I’m on vacation. Just call me Jean-Luc. And you are?"

"Rha." Monica said hurriedly before Salvia blew her own cover. "Her name is Miss Rha, from Dnunia." She said further.

Salvia frowned, not liking her attitude. She felt like she was being regarded stupid. Now she had no other option but to use that stupid name.

"Hello Jean-Luc. So, are you interested in joining the game?" She asked.

"Very much. If only I could get confirmation on how to join." He said to Monica.

"Oh well, it’s easy. You can just register here and we will prepare the game for you. You can start the game in one hour. We will give you the maps, and the equipment at the front gate of the City of the Dead."

"Oh great! Put my name down for it, Monica." Salvia said cheerfully. Her voice sounded like an angelic chant in Captain Picard’s ears. He had read about the wonderful angelic voice of the Princess. Some disguise, Picard thought in amusement. Monica did as she told and left the room. She was glad that Salvia found the Captain. Ardeth specifically told her to keep her company during his absence. Now, she was free of the stressing job at least for four hours. Poor Captain, she thought.

CHAPTER 8

Salvia found that Jean-Luc was such a wonderful man. He loved archeology and knew so much about ancient Earth warriors. He introduced her to his friend who was an android. She even loved him more. He was absolutely funny. Ardeth had given her the code to see the real weapon room. Unlike her, who treated ancient weapons with respect, Ardeth never really cared about those things. However, this Starfleet officer shared the same interest.

"Have you visited the weapon room, Jean-Luc?" She asked.

"Yes. It was awesome." He replied. The three of them were sitting on the terrace of the hotel, facing an oasis. He drank the iced water from his glass again.

"Those are replicas. What if I tell you I can show you the real weapons. Would you like to see them?" She asked hopefully.

"I’d love to, Rha… is it possible?"

"Oh yes. Well, Ardeth… the owner of this place is my… close friend. He gave me the code to enter the room. I haven’t seen them either, Jean-Luc."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go see them." He replied with genuine enthusiasm. He found that the Princess was indeed very young and sometimes quite naïve. She was arrogant and spoiled. But all and all, she was a nice person, once he found a way to attract her interest. It was like playing with a child.

"May I come along?" Data asked her.

Salvia laughed, "Oh sure, droid. You can come along, if that makes you feel more human." She laughed again.

Picard was not too happy about her way addressing and treating Data. Although he knew that Data was incapable of feeling hurt, he couldn’t help wincing while hearing her teasing him and laughing at him. Especially when Data had told her about his obsession of becoming more human. He was sure that the senior officers who were listening their conversation through the comm. channel would feel the same way for they had used to treat Data as one of them, as human instead of a machine.

The Security Chief hurriedly relayed the picture from security camera to the Director’s office. Monica was surprised to see that Salvia took the Starfleet Officers to the Safe Chamber. She was suddenly becoming furious towards Ardeth who had spoiled that woman, whether he realized it or not. The Chamber was not for visitors, and especially not for this spoiled bratty to look around.

She hurriedly told the computer to record all the things the camera could get. She would show Ardeth how his precious woman messed around the room. She knew he would not care much, but she would show him anyway. If she broke anything, she would certainly break her neck to replace it, she thought in anger.

"Kalila, Open locks, authorization code Alpha Tango 2 1 7 Charlie." She said standing in front of the huge metal door, placing her palm on top of a square pad.

"Voice pattern accepted. Authorization code accepted. Finger prints confirmed. Retina scan confirmed. Opening locks….."

Monica cursed loudly as she saw what was happening through her monitor. "Damn you Ardeth!!!"

She heard the loud clangs of the locks opening and watched them coming inside the room saying oohs and aahs in amazement. The metal door locked behind them.

Monica clenched her jaw, trying to control herself as she saw them roaming the room, taking artifacts or weapons, trying them. She was not worried about the Captain. He looked like a man who could be trusted. She was not worried about the android either. She winced every time Salvia took an item off the shelves, either it was an artifact or a weapon.

"Let her do anything she wants, Monica. I don’t want to hear her complaining about anything when I get back. She was unhappy and stressed, so while she’s here, I want her to be as happy as she can be. OK?" Ardeth’s voice was ringing in her ears. She had given him her promise and now she was forced to let the spoiled Princess do anything that pleased her.

"What is that?" She pointed to a thing on the top of the shelves. "It looks like a puzzle box." She said again.

Lt. Data took and examined it. "I have accessed all the information available in the library, yet there’s non that match the description of this… puzzle box." He cocked his head.

Captain Picard came to them and Mr. Data gave the box to him. It was octagonal, made of some kind of black metal. It seemed to be divided into two parts. The upper part contained symbols and the lower part had some numbers on it. It was written in an unfamiliar language.

"Mr. Data, can you confirm that this is an ancient Egyptian writing?" He asked.

"No, Captain. It looks similar, but it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t think it’s ancient Egyptian, Sir." He said.

"Let me see." The Princess suddenly snatched the box away from Picard’s hand.

She observed the box, but before she could say anything, something happened.

The carved symbols and numbers suddenly blinked. A greenish light was emanated from inside the box and there was a soft humming sound heard.

Salvia was surprised but she quickly regained control of herself before she dropped the box to the floor.

"What did you do?" The Captain asked, while Mr. Data quickly took out his tricorder to examine.

"I didn’t do anything!" She shouted. Her voice was not of anger and fear, but more of excitement. She brought the box closer to her eyes and examined the symbols.

"You know, I think if we turned this box, something might happen." She said.

"I don’t think that’s a wise thing to do, Rha. We better call Ms. Bleeth and let her take care of this artifact." The Captain advised her.

With eyes still staring at the symbols on the boxes, Salvia smiled, "Yes, you do that. Meanwhile I’m gonna try to turn this symbol….bird.. to meet this number….."

Before the Captain could say or do anything she had turned the puzzle box. Suddenly the room was filled with a blinding greenish light and a roaring sound that almost deafened their ears. Yet it lasted only for two seconds.

As the three of them opened their eyes they were surprised to see a huge curls of smoke and wind in front of them. It was so huge that it had gone through the ceilings. Half of the room seemed to be swallowed by the curls. Yet it stood there very still, unlike the whirlwind they had ever seen. The color was white and purple inside. All they can hear was a soft whizzling sound of the smokey purplish things going around and around.

Mr. Data was busy attending to his tricorder reading. When finally he finished he said to the Captain, "It’s a wormhole, Captain. A very small wormhole, a portal. It leads to anyplace.. anytime, Captain."

"Thank you Mr. Data. I think…"

"Let’s see what’s on the other side. Why don’t you send your droid to peek?" Salvia cut the Captain’s words.

"No. It is too dangerous, Your… Rha." Picard answered, almost slipped the word Highness out of his mouth. He was glad that the Princess was too busy to notice it.

"Then I’ll do it. You are too coward to find what’s beyond your world." She suddenly said and walked closer to the portal. Much too close.

"No!" Picard grabbed her arm to prevent her from going in. But Salvia was standing too close to the portal and the whizzing whirlwind caught her off balance. She stumbled and fell towards the portal. Once her hand that was holding the puzzle box touched the smokey space she was immediately sucked into the portal. Picard who was still grabbing her arm consequently got sucked inside. He could let go of her arm and saved himself but the Captain knew his responsibility came first. As soon as they were out of sight, the portal closed in a zap. Data barely had a chance to save his Captain. He was left alone in an empty vault. Everything was in its place, just like nothing had happened here before. Lt. Data immediately reported the incident to his commanding officer, Comm. William Riker.

Monica’s eyes widened as she saw the portal zapping closed. She swallowed hard, her hands were trembling in fear. She didn’t know what to say or what to do.