Spar the Runner

The Continuing Adventures of Spark, Tonya, Okami & Friends

Author's note:

This is a continuation of previous years'

Geek Pride event

Spark the Runner stories (1 thru 6). It isn't necessary to read the previous ones to enjoy this one, but you might find it entertaining...

Okay, so I still have a perverse need to keep this one going. In the spirit of fair warning, this continues where the last one left off and continues both the physical and metaphysical adventures, the nonhuman relations and so forth, mostly on Earth and concentrating on the Solarian Consortium's efforts to get up and running. Large amounts of the tour of the Enclaves will be abbreviated and more attention paid to the interpersonal relationships and their development.

The Geek Pride event isn't a contest. That being said, voting and comments are how I know how well I am pleasing you, the reader. Enjoy.

*~ *~ *~ *~ *

When we last left our intrepid adventurers...

"Do you think we made a good impression, husband?" Tonya asked as she monitored Ginny's vitals.

"I think we've ruined her for humanity, wife," Spark told her.

"Thank goodness for the Xenos, then," Okami smiled. "Wait until she gets one of those Crescian or Sirian or Regulan dicks in her."

"I think I should do some healing of her, just in case," Tonya mused. "We can all get cleaned up and presentable by the time the Professor, Charlie and Su Ling get back. Dinner, of course, would be in order."

And so it was that by the time the others got back from the 'movies', Spark, Tonya, Okami and Ginny were sitting at the dining room table, enjoying drinks and chatting, while dinner was in the oven.

* * * * *

"I take it a splendid time was had by all," the Professor smiled as he, Charlie and Su Ling entered the apartments. An obviously happy Ginny, also known as Ms. Georgina Stevens, Chief Administrator of the Virginia Beach Enclave, was probably his first clue.

"Absolutely excellent, Anatoli!" she smiled to him. "Dreams come true and all that."

"Perfect," he smiled in return. "And it smells like one of Lizzie's creations is slated for dinner."

"It is, Professor," Tonya confirmed. "In about ten minutes. You will all have time to freshen up before it is ready. And how was the videogram?"

"Ah, I so miss the old days, when movies were movies and not fancy videogrammetry presented in three-dimensional Sensimmerse studios. But to your question, it was remarkably entertaining."

"It was a story about a Courier pilot," Charlie summarized, "whose ship and it's AI get sucked through a wormhole to a completely alien planet in a different galaxy and he has to survive the local flora and fauna, which turn out to be rather randy. There were, like, three different alien races he had to cope with, each with different physical attributes. And different ways of having sex."

"Having sex?" Spark asked, surprised.

"Well, it

was

an adult-rated story," Professor Lenox smiled slightly. "I have no idea why we chose that particular venue..."

"Yeah, right..." Okami muttered under her breath.

"Professor," Tonya interrupted, "if you would care to choose the wine, we are having a Denebian roast

agrum

with a honey and herb glaze."

"A white wine it is, then," he smiled and headed towards the wine rack in the kitchen.

"Husband, would you please set the table?" Spark moved to do so with Okami right behind him.

"I think I'm going to go wash up," Charlie announced, then headed for her bedroom with Su Ling following after. By the time they were done, the table was set for seven, the wine was poured and Spark was helping Tonya bring everything out to the table.

As Spark expected, once everyone was sitting and just before the food was served, Charlie bowed her head and said "for the food and friendship we are about to receive, Lord, we thank You." Then she looked up at the others with a smile and told them, "smells delicious!" Spark was surprised, though, when the Professor, Su Ling and Ginny echoed "amen!" before agreeing about the food and beginning to pass the plates.

Dinner actually proceeded with little conversation until the main part was done and Tonya excused herself to get dessert ready... an Antarian flaky pastry with a sweet cream inside, like cannoli, called

Kyrmyl

. In Spark's opinion, served with espresso it was fantastic.

"I'm not sure what you have planned for your rest day, if anything," Ginny started the after-dinner conversation. "I have the expected requests from Norleeith and her pod, and Belamon, to spend more time with you, of course. Although somehow, I don't think that would be all that restful. And a late batch of questions I'd like you to look at when you can and get back to me. And of course, an evening like this one can be addicting.

"I will have one of our high speed limos available by zero-six-hundred on your travel day, to take you to Richmond. You can catch an SST to Bristol and a charter to Penzance. Su Ling can book your tickets for you so you have little wait time."

"That is greatly appreciated, Ginny," the Professor smiled. "And Su Ling, if you would, please show Charlie how you access our travel arrangement system so she can handle emergency bookings in the future."

"As you wish, Professor," Su Ling nodded. "And as soon as you decide, please let me know which visitors you wish to receive tomorrow, if any."

"We shall keep you informed," Tonya smiled. "Of course, if I follow my husband's example, my response would be 'what the hell... bring them all'!"

"C'mon,

wife

..." Spark responded. "I'm not

that

much of a horndog!"

"Wanna bet?" Okami muttered, rather distinctly.

That got a good-natured chuckle around the table and the seven decided that Ginny would head on back to her own apartments while the others wound down in their own ways. Tonya volunteered to start looking at the outstanding questions and Spark offered to help her while Charlie and Su Ling went over how to make travel arrangements. The Professor begged off to do some light reading he wanted to catch up on and Okami decided to putter in the kitchen.

In all, it was a tranquil, refreshing, low key rest of the night.

* * * * *

"On the presumption that we will want one more outrageous orgy before we move on to the next Enclave," Tonya informed the team at breakfast, "I have extended invitations to Norleeith and her pod, to Belamon and to Ginny to meet us this afternoon. I was wondering if I should also invite Janet Stearns, the Second Officer on the submersible

Dorado

? Or anyone else we think might enjoy it."

"I don't know about expanding to anyone else," Spark answered. "It would certainly give whomever a radically different view of Xenological Relations. I've got to ask, though... why Stearns?"

"Oh, simply because she was overflowing with curiosity and libido when we met her," Tonya answered. "Or at least, when I met her. I understand you had met her previously."

"Was somebody doing a bit of meta-skimming?" Spark asked with a barely suppressed smile.

"Of course," Tonya smiled. "It is in my...

nature

... to be curious about everything and everyone around me."

"I think, my dear," Professor Lenox interjected, "that a bit of creative namedropping might be in order. Since the

Dorado

is rapidly approaching sea trials, I would think that simply mentioning Ms. Stearns to Norleeith as someone they might like to get to know would be sufficient. Let Nature take Her course, as it were. After the

Dorado

gets back."

"Likely a wise approach, Professor," Tonya acceded. "I will defer to your judgment."

"In which case, given those who will be attending the orgy," Okami spoke up, "we'd still better schedule it for early afternoon so we have time to get some real rest before hightailing it for Penzance. Globetrotting travel isn't terribly restful, in my experience."

"Unless there's some kind of major cockup," Charlie interjected, "I don't think it'll be all that bad. Based on what Su Ling was able to pull together, we won't be traveling for more than about seven hours."

"Really? To get across The Pond? What'd you get?" Spark asked. When he had to fly, he usually flew Business and nothing he flew was

that

fast.

"Well, the fast limo gets us to Richmond in half an hour; we have to wait maybe an hour for the FedAir SST to Bristol, then we're in the air for maybe three hours; another half hour to deplane and pick up the Light Rail to Penzance, which we should do in about an hour; then however long to get a limo to the Enclave which I've got figured for an hour, combined. That gives us about seven hours of travel time.

"We're probably going to go through the same meet and greet we ran into here, so if they've got somebody as efficient as Su Ling for us, maybe three hours to get ID'd and settled? So less than half a day to be in our new digs."

"You won't have to go to Badge and Pass this time," Su Ling pointed out. "Your ID's are good at all the Enclaves."

"So that's even better," Charlie smiled. "I'm really starting to like this highfalutin' jet setter stuff..."

"When is our flight out of Richmond?" the Professor asked and Su Ling answered before Charlie could.

"You have a noon flight from Richmond. Your tickets are confirmed -- you can check in as soon as you arrive. You are all traveling light with carry-on only and you will not have exit Customs to contend with. You are all traveling on Diplomatic passports. We will have one of our people meet you and shepherd you through. Hopefully, you will have a very relaxing trip."

"So we should leave here not later than ten, to leave some Murphy cushion," Professor Lenox stated. "Just so that we are all on the same page."

"Which is why I suggested starting this afternoon," Okami told him. "Not that this group understands the concept of limits, or follows them..."

"Ummm..." Charlie was obviously wanting to say something but hesitant to say it.

"Yes, my dear?" Lenox prompted her.

"Um... didn't somebody say there were some Regulans here?" she asked, hesitating. "Would it be possible to meet them? I mean, if they're even interested in humans, that is. I'm just curious, and not because I'm horny, but sex being the Crescian stock-in-trade, I'm kind of curious, and I thought maybe talking to them..."

"Whoa!" Spark had to interrupt her or she was going to take off like a runaway train. "Yes, I believe there are Regulans here; no, we haven't met them yet; yes, they can be wonderful lovers and yes, we can probably find out if they'd like to meet us before we leave."

"In fact, husband, I could extend an invitation to them to join our orgy this afternoon," Tonya suggested. "Or if that is inconvenient, perhaps an after-dinner get-together?"

"Works for me," Spark decided. "Do we know anything about them?"

"Two mated pairs," Su Ling spoke up. " Shars and Bitariq are Engineering consultants, working with the extraction crews, and Mufaji and Rashiqa are IT consultants, with Mufaji working in Finance and Rashiqa working in Systems Security. They originally arrived through the Enclave at Valetta where they acquired their Solarian nicknames. They have been working here for a little over a week. I have found them enjoyable to work with, very intelligent and inquisitive, but have not had any kind of personal relations with them."

"Yet," Okami muttered

sotto voce

.

"Let's see..." Spark mused with a smile. "A Crescian pod, a solo Sirian and two mated Regulan pairs... gee, I wonder what could happen?"

"You are forgetting to add Charlie and Okami," Tonya pointed out. "And me."

"Oh, yeah... and three Solarian sex goddesses..." Spark added.

"Four, if you add Ginny," Okami told him. "Five, if you add Su Ling. And two poor, mortal, Solarian males. However will they cope?"

"I call dibs on the video rights," Spark smiled. "We could make a bundle selling it to the pay-per-view porn networks..."

"Someone should probably call Room Service and order additional snacks and beverages," the Professor suggested.

"With extra Crescian milk and honey on the side," Okami added.

"I don't think you will have to worry about that," Tonya told Okami with a straight face.

"Oh. Right." Okami actually looked serious for a moment.

"Do we know what the Regulans' tastes are in food and drink?" Tonya asked, looking at Su Ling.

"We will by this afternoon," she answered and got buried in her P-com.

"Well, Professor," Spark told him. "This'll be going out with a bang!"

* * * * *

'Bang' would be on the low end of whatever the appropriate scale for explosions would be. In a familiar

déjà vu

, Tonya and Professor Lenox were sitting at the dining room table, sipping tea, nibbling biscuits and looking quite pleased with themselves. After all, it

had

been an epic debauch.

It had started around 1400 hours when Norleeith and her pod arrived. They surprised the Solarians, insofar as they brought refreshments to contribute, not the least impressive of which were three bottles of Silderian Ice Wine... the same rare wine Chief Schmidt gifted Spark and Tonya when they were headed to Mars on the

Aquila

. And to go with it, they brought an assortment of Denebitian finger foods, many resembling sushi and known to be very tasty. Okami had taken charge of the foodstuffs, per her usual habits.

They were settling in when Ms. Georgina Stevens, Ginny for short, arrived and also had a gift of food -- this time a large basket of Solarian fruits and fruit preserves, plus an assortment of cheeses. Once again, Okami took charge of them while Ginny went to greet the others.

Next to arrive were the Regulans and they immediately attracted Charlie's complete and undivided attention. Four two-meter cats with silky fur, varied coloring, bright eyes and what she hoped were brilliant smiles... she felt herself attracted to them before she even realized it. Ginny let Su Ling do her job and make introductions.

We are all telepathically enabled,

Su Ling thought to the others,

so to avoid miscommunication, I will use it for introductions.

Fellow teammates,

she started, indicating those already there,

may I introduce four of our Regulan coworkers? Shars, whose nickname means Gnarled, and Bitariq, whose nickname means Sleek, are mates and Engineering consultants.

At his name, Shars stepped forward slightly and did the humanlike bob of the head. He was close to two-and-a-half meters and well muscled. His fur was a mottled grey and black, giving the impression of age. He had green eyes and a ready smile which tended to show his fangs. When his mate was named, Bitariq also stepped forward and bobbed her head. She was smaller, perhaps just shy of two meters and as her name implied she was trim with white fur and blue eyes.

And may I also introduce Mufaji, whose nickname means Sudden, and his mate Rashiqa, whose nickname means Graceful? They are Information Technology consultants. Mufaji works with the Finance group and Rashiqa works with Systems Security.

As with the others, as their names were mentioned, they stepped forwards and bobbed their heads slightly. Mufaji looked like a two meter orange tabby with the orange and white stripes running in circles around his upper torso, extending into long lines down his lower torso. He had a muscular build, but was a bit smaller than Shars, and had orange eyes. Rashiqa was smaller in stature than Bitariq and thinner. She looked like a Russian Blue but with the light silver color to her fur and bright yellow eyes.

All four are recent additions to our Enclave and new to Solarian culture. Personally, I find them delightful. And... Shars, Bitariq, Mufaji and Rashiqa, may I introduce our Solarian hosts?

I believe you are all acquainted with Ms. Stevens, our Enclave's Chief Administrator? Next would be Professor Anatoli Lenox, a Director of the First Crescian Consortium and Bank, Earth Division, our sponsor, and then the Solarian Trade Representatives, Mr. Jamie McLeod, a human male, Mrs. Lizzie McLeod, a metahuman female, and Ms. Okami, a Canilupe female. And last, but not least, Ms. 'Charlie' Gilmore, a human female and the Professor's Personal Assistant. And of course, you already know Norleeith, Glithlor and Sardanuum, our Crescian partners.

Welcome to our humble abode,

Spark jumped in. It was becoming habit to establish himself as spokesman for the group.

Please come in and get comfortable.

Thank you, we shall,

Shars answered, thereby confirming Spark's suspicion of seniority in the Regulan group and that Shars was the top Tom.

We appreciate your invitation to meet you before you leave on your tour of the other Enclaves.

Our pleasure, we assure you,

Tonya thought up while sending to Charlie on the microband,

help our guests get settled and get drink orders.

Charlie didn't respond telepathically. She just started moving towards the Regulans.

I am a novice at these communications,

she thought to them as she approached Shars, where she stopped and bowed her head deeply.

I have only recently become enhanced. I hope I do not offend.

She extended her hand and asked,

may I escort you to a comfortable seat, and find out if there's a particular refreshment we might provide?

Shars smiled broadly, which can be disconcerting on a Regulan, and reached to take the offered hand while Tonya thought on the microband,

excellent, Charlie... you are a very quick study...

And he is exciting as all hell,

she thought back.

I'm shivering, just from his touch.

I am sure he is finding your smooth skin similarly fascinating,

Tonya thought to her.

The Regulans do tend to have plusher fur than the Sirians.

She was going to switch to Okami when she realized she was already in motion, going to assist Bitariq -- who would be the ranking female. Su Ling was similarly headed for Mufaji and Tonya saw a slight smirk in Spark's smile as he decided to go "assist" Rashiqa. Tonya knew what that meant...

Would you care for some 'assistance', husband?

she asked over the microband.

Just a bit,

he thought back.

Enough to make a good impression.

And that is precisely what Tonya did as Spark took Rashiqa's hand. The shiver that ran through her, and her eyes widening in surprise, let Spark know that Tonya had delivered.

Charlie and the others were busy taking orders for refreshments and finding that the Regulans had quite a bit of curiosity about Solarian cuisine. They had been sampling regional favorites after coming planetside and making their way from Valletta to Virginia Beach, by way of Penzance and Rum Point. The fruit juices that were still plentiful in the North American Federation territories were particularly interesting to them.

While Charlie, Su Ling and Okami got refreshments sorted, Spark decided to get the conversational ball rolling.

When we were on our way from Mars to Recensere for the Meet,

he thought to the group, but particularly to the Regulans,

we met and befriended Maya, a Denebite you might know. And also Aluxor, a Sirian. They were the first two Trade Partner races we had met, after the Crescians. It wasn't until we reached Recensere that we met Sruulan and Meesha, the Regulan Trade Representatives. I must admit, they were an amazing experience and we consider them very good friends. Just as I hope you will become.

I will readily admit that I find the feel of the Regulan fur to be exotically enticing. In general, it is so very sleek and sensuous that I can't resist touching, or petting if you will, my Regulan partner -- but especially the Queens. For some reason, their combination of physical sexuality and pheromones, plus the chakra energy we so enjoy, has made sex with a Queen very desirable. And I'm sure Lizzie and Okami have similar feelings about the Toms.