Toni was still standing where I had left him in the middle of the room. The other Pash were still quietly waiting too.

Hesitantly I walked up to him, afraid he would spurn me for running off like I did. Afraid he wouldn’t forgive me for pointing all my hate at him for what had happened to me. “I’m sorry, so terribly sorry.”

Looking down at the floor so he wouldn’t see the tears that were leaking out of the corners of my eyes, I begged forgiveness. “I know you must hate me. I was wrong. I won’t blame you if you hate me.”

Toni put his hand under my chin and lifted so I had to look at him. “I was as bad. Please forgive me. I could not contemplate a cure, for I was in love with Brandy. If you had found a cure then I would have to spend my life without a mate. That was too painful for me to bear. Is it too late to ask for you to be my mate, or do you hate me too much?”

Crying, I threw my arms around him. I pulled him in and cried with my face buried against his chest. “I love you Toni. I have always loved you. I didn’t understand, but you have always held my heart in your hands.”

He stroked my hair as he rested his chin on my head. Then he stated out loud, “I take this female as my mate. I will provide for her and protect her with my life. From this time forward until the end of time, she is to be known as my mate.”

“So be it.” Echoed from the Pash gathered up in their group.

“Let’s go home, darling.” Toni swept me up in his arms like a baby.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head against his chest. I admired his strength as he carried me across the room like it was nothing.

There was a flash of light and we were outside Toni’s ship. He carried me in and sat me down in a chair that formed from the floor. “I will teach you all our ways. I will teach you how to fly our ships and how to understand and speak our language.”

He walked back and sat down, pulling a console out in front of him. “We’re home.”

The wall formed a door and ramp. He picked me up out of the chair and carried me down the ramp, standing me inside the door of his home. “This is your home and my home.”

“When is the wedding?” I was wondering if I could invite any friends?

“We had our wedding. The council gave their approval. Brandy, if you want out you may do so anytime you like. I will take you back to your station.” He stepped in front of me, turned and was watching my eyes.

“We are married?” I coughed out.

“Yes. Do you wish a human wedding?” He waited.

“I had kind of, well, I don’t guess...” I was kind of hoping for a little more ceremony or something. Sheesh, I had turned into a woman and yes, I really wanted a wedding with all the trimmings.

“I see. I’ll arrange it. Would a wedding on UF-2 be okay or would you prefer someplace else?” His eyes had closed to narrow slits.

“It’s not important. Forget it. I was being a jerk again. Please forgive me. We are married. If that’s good enough for you then it’s certainly good enough for me.” I giggled as I said it. What difference did it make? Who would know? Obviously I was going to spend the rest of my life with the Pash. If they considered us married, then that was fine by me.

“It is important.” He swept me up in his arms and carried me to the bedroom. Gently laying me down on the bed. He leaned over and kissed me.

I thought I would have a hard time warming up to kissing Toni, but he was still the same person I fell in love with back on UF-2. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in as I planted a firm heavy kiss on his lips. Then I let my fingers do the walking down to his... ‘Oh my lordy!’

There was no way I was going to get out of that dress without one of those stick bots using their molecular magic on it, but I didn’t care. I was a woman in heat. My afterburners were hot and in hyper drive. I ravished Toni and was ravished by him again and again, each time thinking I had given it my all, but that was my mind thinking, not my body.

I can only figure Sherry had been right when she said we had been reprogrammed as female sex machines, designed for fun and pleasure. It was a good thing I married a man with the stamina and strength of a cat. I was a babe in heat and on the prowl.

“Morning Mistress.”

Licking my lips to get some moisture on them, I rolled my head over to look at the stick bot. “Morning, Stick. Where is Toni?”

“Master is gone for the morning, Mistress. I have your bath ready.”

“Thanks.” I rolled out of bed, stood up, and turned my back to the bot. “Undo me please.”

The dress fell to the floor. I pushed down my nylons and stepped out of my heels as I headed toward the other room and the bathtub. “Thanks. You are a gentleman.”

After the bath I stepped back into the bedroom and smiled as I shook my head. “Obviously the Pash like.. or Toni does.”

I headed out to the garden after I finished dressing. Toni’s place was so beautiful. I was beginning to suspect it was real and not artificial manufactured stone and wood and probably real plants.

Stick followed me out. “You wish to eat in the garden, Mistress?”

“No, what I need is a sense of belonging. What are my duties?”

“Your duties will be explained to you, Mistress. When would you like to begin lessons?”

“Lessons?” I had no idea what lessons I needed.

“You are to learn Pash, are you not, Mistress? The transport is parked in front. You are to learn how to control a Pash starship are you not, Mistress? You will learn the Pash dimension, Mistress. When you are four thousand of your Earth years old, you will have learned the most valuable lesson of all, Mistress.”

“Oh? I have to wait until I’m four thousand years old to learn the most valuable lesson do I, my little friend? And pray tell, what lesson is that?” I was amused that it was going to take me so long because, even at our best at replacing human parts, most of us didn’t make it past six hundred. I was positive I was going to be a disappointment to the little guy when I kicked the bucket before I learned my most valuable lesson.

“You will learn you can never learn everything, Mistress.”

Laughing, I reached over and tapped the stick on what should be his shoulder. “Hey, I am ahead of the game. I already know that lesson.”

Sherry walked in. She looked great in a flowing yellow gown belted at her tiny little waist. She was wearing matching five inch heels, long dangle earrings, and a long scarf, kerchief style off her shoulder. “I thought I would drop by. You are absolutely glowing. How was your wedding night?”

I sighed in bliss. “Impossible to put in words.”

Sherry nodded. “I know.”

That caught my attention. “You didn’t?”

She nodded. “But I did.”

“Anyone I know?” I was curious if Sherry was playing the field.

“Meliss. You met him at the party.” Sherry grinned.

Silently I moaned. “Don’t mention party. There was a whole lot about that party I don’t remember. I do remember to not drink the red stuff. That drink will sneak up on you and grab you when you ain’t looking.”

“Yeah, I kind of noticed you got the blind staggers along about the second glass. Rule of the road. DO NOT drink more than one glass.” Laugh lines formed around her eyes as she looked at me.

I put the back of my right hand up against my forehead. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

She got serious. “I dropped by to give you a couple more rules of the road.”

“Okay, do I need to sit down, or can I take this standing up?” I was wondering how serious it could be?

“You’re pregnant.”

I stumbled for the bench as I felt a rush of blood to my head. “I should have sat down. So soon?”

“Yes.” She walked over and sat down beside me.

Sherry put her hand on my shoulder. “He implanted two eggs in you. One of those eggs will absorb one of your eggs. That will be your first baby girl. The second egg will hibernate until the first baby is born. Then it will absorb one of your eggs and that will be your second baby girl.”

“Two…?” I felt faint.

“Pash carry only two eggs. They can have two babies, no more. They seed their mate at the first sexual mating. You and Toni will have two beautiful girls.” She was looking at my eyes.

I felt relief at the fact that there could only be two, but at the same time, I felt disappointment that I wouldn’t have more, I felt cheated. I had no idea what I felt. “Only two?”

“Toni would not have made you marry him. He would have let you go back if you had asked. He also wouldn’t have shared his seed with you if he didn’t love you with all his heart. The Pash only get one chance at propagation. It’s a total commitment for them. They mate for life. If their mate dies through an accident, they don’t remarry.”

Tears involuntarily trickled out of my eyes. “I love him with all my heart and soul, Sherry. I don’t know if it’s that crazy DNA mess I’ve been screwed with or if it’s something else, but I really do love him. He’s the kindest, most caring man I’ve ever met. He brings out feelings in me I never would have known with any other man. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s as if a part of me is him and he is a part of me.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I know. I married a Pash too, remember?”

“Is it them, or is it that screwed up DNA that makes us feel that way?” If anyone knew the answer, Sherry would.

“A little bit of both.” She took a deep breath.

“There’s more?” I knew Sherry and there had to be something else.

“You are the key player in the Pash and Trag negotiations. The Trag don’t mess with the Pash. The rules to the game are, no fighting between the Pash and Trag.”

“You plan on getting to the meat of this conversation before I have my baby?” Sometimes Sherry was exasperating in how slowly she could explain something.

“You are a Pash.”

Sherry held up her hand to stop me when I started to protest. “By marriage, you are a Pash. The Trag are caught in a quandary. You are Pash, but also human. That means they can’t send out their DNA virus to wipe out the human race because that would qualify as declaring war with the Pash because of one marriage.”

“But you married one too. You said you did.” Why was I the key player in this? Sherry was... “I’m sorry. I... You know you have been as human as... Shit... that isn’t what I meant. You are…”

Sherry nodded. “I know what I am. I’m test tube. Geneticly engineered and you’re natural born. Probably the reason that DNA virus didn’t work on me the same as it did you. I’m pregnant too, and I will have two girls, just like you.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, Sherry. You’re probably more human than any of the rest of us. God knows we have been carved from the original DNA as mankind tried to eliminate all the defects.” I put my hand on her shoulder. David or Sherry. She was and still is my best friend.

It was time to change the subject. “Stick offered me some breakfast. I don’t know what they call food around here, but I’m betting we can eat it. Would you eat a bite with me?”

“Sure. I thought you would never ask.” Sherry rose gracefully and walked with me to the dining room.

Stick had already set two places. It looked like steam was coming out from under the plate covers on the table. “I guess he overheard me. Unless he did this when you came in, that little guy is really quick.”

Sherry laughed as she sat down by my right. That left me a plate at the end of the table. “I feel like the Captain at a formal dinner. I sat here the other night also.”

Sherry shook her head as she picked up her fork. “You really are dense for a Captain. Don’t you talk to your droid? I’m betting he is calling you, Mistress. Brandy, you are Mistress of your domain. You are going to be sitting at that specific place until you die. Didn’t you notice Toni sitting at the head of the table the other night? He is Master, but he will defer to your desires. I have a suggestion for you. Rule with silk and satin shackles. Make him desire to do what you like, because he will be rewarded greatly for it. Treat him with love and affection and never, ever demand from him. I promise your love for one another will only grow stronger than it already is.”

Laughing at her, I took a sip of my drink after double checking to make sure it wasn’t red. “And pray tell, how did you become so astute in the ways of a woman’s wiles?”

Sherry giggled and pointed a finger to her head.

“Oh... I should have known.” She could read minds. All those years of reading female and male minds taught her more than any woman would ever know about pleasing men. I wonder if Meliss knew how much of a gem he had acquired when he married Sherry?

“He will know soon enough.” Sherry giggled.

Damn, she was reading my mind again…

We had finished our meal. and Sherry and I were strolling through the house exploring. I was finding it hard to believe the house could be built out of natural rock and be so beautiful and warm. It was absolutely gorgeous. The gray stone in the entry was divine. The pink, yellow stone in the bedroom was soft, warm, and pleasing to the senses. The brown stone in the room that Sherry explained was a den, was soft Earth tones.

Sherry had to explain a lot of the rooms to me because I had no idea. I guess being born and growing up in space meant I had missed a lot in my education about what a family home looked like. I was in love with Toni, his friends, his ships, his... our home. OUR HOME! I kept repeating it over and over in my mind as Sherry and I walked through the house.

Sherry led me back to what she called a study. “It’s a beautiful home, Brandy.”

Walking over to an overstuffed brown couch, I sat down, leaned back in the corner next to the arm, and pulled my legs up under me. “I wish Toni was here.”

“He’s busy in council.” Sherry found the other end of the couch and sat down.

“Doing what?”

“I guess it’s time for the rest of the express lessons, Captain. Take a deep breath and don’t interrupt me or this is going to take a really long time.” She folded her legs up under her as she reached down with her right hand and wrapped it around her right ankle.

I was thinking how beautiful Sherry was. She was an absolute living doll. Everything she did was so female. It was hard to remember her as anything but Sherry.

She studied my eyes for a second as I heard her sigh. “The Pash have Clans. Did you ever study Scottish history?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Remember, Pash are of the cat family. Their society is structured on Clans. The eldest clan would be... When you learn Pash you will understand. I will call them Number One Clan for now. The Number Two Clan would be the second in the hierarchy, or importance.”

She rolled her hand over, palm up, curled her fingers and looked at her nails before returning her attention back to me. “Toni came of age yesterday. How old do you think he is?”

That caught me off guard. “Uh, well, ah, I’m not sure. Twenty something I guess.”

“And how old are you?” Her eyes were gleaming.

“Are you going to tell me I robbed the cradle? I’m a hundred and sixty two.” I was wondering if Sherry was going to tell Toni he had married an old woman?

Laughing she shook her head. “Hon, I already had a good idea of your age. You don’t get command of an Out Post before you are a hundred. If you think Toni is twenty, then that’s a start. You might want to add a few zeros to his age. Their years aren’t exactly the same as our years, but he is over two thousand years old.”

I choked and coughed. “You’re joking!”

She made the motions of drawing an X over her heart. “Nope, God’s own truth. He turned of age yesterday. That meant two things for him. He was allowed to marry without his parents permission, and he ascends to command of his clan. His dad, your father in law, has stepped down as leader of the clan.”

“Honey, you married into the Number One Clan. Toni is head or leader of all Pash as of yesterday.”

FROM THE EDITOR: Barbie and I want to thank everyone for all your wonderful comments and kudos. Don't forget that UF-2 Book 2 will follow after Book 1 concludes, without any breaks. Book 2 is already fully completed and in editing as I type this.