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Chapter-10

From the station it was a short flight to the equatorial elevator platform, then it was a three-hour ride down its length to the surface. Even as Marcus, he still had to ride standard class. That meant he had a comfortable seat, access to the entertainment library and the on-board eatery, but nowhere to take a guy and have some fun.

He sat back and rested. Refamiliarized himself with details of Marcus' files. He shouldn't run into anyone who had a reason to know Marcus directly, but there was a possibility the mongoose had communicated with coworkers here. Cass had cataloged close to twenty calls between Mars and Titan Station, but he hadn't been able to access the details. SolGov was serious about the privacy of its citizens.

Because of the cost of bandwidth, those calls would have been voice only, or more probably text; and no one really bothered checking the species of who sent the calls. So the worse he expected, was to improvise having talked with someone, and after having spent a few months close and personal with Marcus, he knew he could pass himself off as him when needed. Having his history fresh in his mind meant he wouldn't have to depend on Cass to provide every detail. His partner would be busy with his own work.

He had gotten a window seat, but there wasn't all that much to see. Mars was still just a big red ball, with only one city. The corporations were still fighting over how to divide it even a hundred year later. Theo had to shake his head at that. All that money, all that technological power, and petty rivalries stopped them in their tracks.

If his people were in charge, they'd have made Mars green already. He wouldn't be looking at only fields with trees and animals, but there would be flowers. Caduceus loved flowers and they would be everywhere, making patterns you could see at a distance, and others up close. Theo missed going to Caduceus' flower park.

Instead of doing that, the corporations were busy arguing over who's terraforming technology should be used and what kind of rights it would give them over the others. Understandably enough, none of the others wanted another corporation to have power over them, so nothing had happened.

Even this conference wasn't about Mars. It was about the colony ship SolGov had built. They corporation were trying to work out who would be on it, what governance system would be in place for those staying awake during the trip. Theo had been surprised to find out this ship would freeze most of the passengers, just like Jimmy had said.

The Dreamer's ship was built for everyone to live, grow and reproduce during the trip. It was a true generation ship, where the descendants of those starting the trip would be setting foot on the new planet. But maybe he was wrong now. The ship had been launched thirty years ago, back then putting someone under cryo sleep was a chancy process.

If SolGov was using it, it had to be reliable, and that technology would have been stolen and sent to the generation ship. Maybe they had converted some of the storage space to freeze those who wanted to see the new planet. If cryo had been available from the start, maybe Theo would have gone with them if he'd been there to go. He'd been born around the time the ship launched, which meant he was still on Earth then.

"How long are you going to need until you're certain I can access the database?" he asked.

"Until I'm certain you can get in? Five minutes."

"How about that I can move in there long enough to do the work?"

"Ahh, that's a different story. The database is a high security area. They do random ID tag scans, with living people supplementing the checks. That means I'm going to have to solidify the changes to your identity. What I did to get you through the scan on the station won't hold up here. I don't expect you'll have problems performing Marcus' duties, none of them require you do go into sensitive areas. You'll be mainly held to the conference floor, carrying information deemed too personal for the communication network back and forth."

"How long am I going to have to do that before we can deliver the package and leave?"

"I'll need a week to ensure Marcus is a tiger all the way back through his history."

"Won't that propagate back to Luna? Cause Marcus problems?"

"We won't be here long enough for that to happen, and Casanova will undo all my changes once we're gone. There won't be any evidence you were Marcus, and since he isn't on Mars, no one will be able to point this back to him."

"So a week of being at every representative's foot. Standing around being told what to do, where to go. Having to be quiet all the time. Being SolGov sucks."

"At least you're not SolGov for the rest of your life."

"Or in private. It's going to be a relief to drag someone to my apartment and work off some of that frustration."

"Angry sex. You don't have enough of that."

"And I'm grateful. Unlike what Casanova writes and you film, angry sex isn't all that great."

"Just try to be extra angry at least once. I have a script that calls for it."

"You need to program some actors to do what you want."

"I have programs already, and I don't need to program them for the sex, you're much better than anything I could come up with."

"You're just being lazy."

"No, I'm being a professional."

Theo chuckled and closed his eyes for a nap.

* * * * *

The apartment he was assigned to was everything he expected from SolGov accommodations, except for the size. The walls were gray, the floor gray, the ceiling? Gray. But it was large. He'd expected something barely large enough to accommodate him. Marcus had said it was a one-person apartment, but the bed was large enough for three, five if no one minded being pressed against each other. The kitchen was on the small side, food prep area, with a printer, fridge, stove and oven. A small table with space for four. The living room was large enough for six chairs, although there was only one, plus a couch, at the moment.

The three previous times he'd been on Mars he'd had to stay in lower end accommodations, since his cover hadn't required him entertaining anyone. He had yet to manage to explain to Anderson that entertaining someone was always required for him. He'd stayed in room so small they qualified as shipping boxes.

Maybe there was something to being SolGov. He grinned at the thought of the parties he could hosts here.

He stowed his bag, not bothering to unpack it. And printed himself a basic meal. He'd see if it was worth getting real food and cooking himself full meals after his first day of work.

As he ate Cass gave him his schedule. Like he predicted, Theo would be on the conference floor all day, starting at eight, with an hour for food. That wasn't fair. The corporate representative would be able to come and go as they pleased, but he'd be stuck there for two four-hour blocks. Well, he was in good shape it would serve him well tomorrow.

* * * * *

The conference room was a lot larger than Theo had expected, considering there was only five corporations in the whole systems; none of them recognized any of the independents as anything more than a group of backwater hicks. Theo couldn't disagree with them when it came to the factions on Earth.

What Theo hadn't realized was that each corporation would bring more than one representative and a few aids. There had to be at least five hundred people seated around the circular room. There was space for more, so each group was clearly defined, leaving gaps between them, and while it wasn't quite eight yet, some of them were already arguing with each other.

The room only took a moment to identify his presence, then he received an order to joined Representative Abigail. Cass identified the tall and slim elephant. He went to her, and even before he opened his mouth to announce his presence, Cass told him he had the message and who Theo needed to take it to.

That was how his morning went, moving from one person to another, Cass taking and delivering messages. Theo didn't quite understand why they didn't just send them over the communication network, but he was too busy trying to find one person or another to spend too much time thinking about it. Even with Cass directing him, it wasn't an easy task among such a large group.

When they broke for lunch, Theo felt like he'd run the whole of the Colony's track. He'd had to do it as part of his training, and he'd promised he was never doing it again after that. So much of that.

He rested against one of the rails overlooking the lower seats, catching his breath and letting the bulk of the crowd leave. He'd rather wait than be pressed to a nanometer by them. When it began thinning, he started to head toward the exit, but a splash of familiar color entering the room stopped him.

The captain of the Mercury was wearing clothing in gold and red, to match his colorful fur. A tiger who was still seated, looking ahead eyes half closed looked up when Eric called to him. A broad smile lit his face and he ran to Eric, hugging him tightly.

'Give me sound,' Theo coded.

"Dad, I didn't think you'd be coming down."

"And miss seeing you in action?"

"You can watch the conference from the ship. It's a public broadcast."

Eric grinned. "And I understand why. It's so riveting they'd get riots if they required payment to watch it."

"That's politic for you."

"Yeah, that's why I stayed out of it. My heart couldn't have taken the suspense."

Someone snorted behind Theo and he turned. A tiger a few inches taller than he was, was also watching the father and son, but his face showed disgust. Theo looked around to see if there were more tigers. With four of them, they were really pushing the average.

"Can you believe that?" the tiger asked, a slight accent in his voice that marked him as being from Vanguard. The green and gold insignia on his breast said the same.

"A father hugging his son? A son happy to see him?"

"No, the way he disgraces his fur. No self-respecting tiger would do that to himself."

Theo avoided rolling his eyes. As far as he was concerned fur had nothing to do with who someone was. Their actions did that.

The tiger looked him over. "At least you take good care of your fur." He offered his hand. "Taavir Doramok. Second to General Alexie Votroff, Vanguard Envoy." Cass provided the image of a rigid vixen standing at attention.

Now that Theo took a good look at him, he realized he was standing in the military at ease position, and that his fur was expertly trimmed. He took the hand. "Marcus Bowfinger, runner around to anyone who needs him."

"Do you know who they are?" Taavir asked, nodding in the direction of the father and son. They'd let go of each other, but were holding hands as they talked. Eric caressing his son's arms once in a while. "The Orrs," Taavir said with disgust.

"I recognize Eric, the older one."

"The other is Thomas," Taavir said, as Cass provided the information. "His son. They have sex together."

Theo thought the tiger would spit. Theo raised an eyebrow and acted surprised, but he didn't bother pretending to be offended or disturbed. He couldn't see himself having sex with his dad, but who others wanted to have sex with was their own business. And the Orr corporation was known for not putting any limits on who had sex with whom.

"Talks will begin again in forty minutes. Do you want to go have sex?"

"Aren't you being a tad forward?"

The tiger shrugged. "I am very good, you will enjoy it."

Theo shook his head. "No thanks. I'm going to go sit down an give my legs a rest."

"You should say yes. You will not get another chance."

Theo rolled his eyes. "I'll live." If not for Taavir's personality, Theo might have said yes. After all, he was muscular under the clothing, and had a decent bulge, and sex would be relaxing, but he wasn't putting up with the walking ego.

Taavir looked at the father and son with a sneer and walked away.

Theo left the conference room through a different door and stopped at the first restaurant with place to sit. The first four restaurants were full with people. He had leisure meal, then it was back to work.

As he ran around he kept an eye on Taavir, and found him seated behind the severe looking vixen. He often bent forward to whisper something to her moments before she took the floor to object to something, or make a point about something else. Theo couldn't keep track of what they were discussing. Population ratio, he thought.

When the day was over, he headed to his apartment, printed a meal and then fell into bed. Cass informed him he'd ordered a masseuse a few minutes before someone was at his door. Cass unlocked the door, and Theo called from the bedroom.

A well tone gazelle came in the room. "Long day?" he asked. "I'm Lucas."

Theo waved. "Marcus." He did look up when Lucas undressed.

"You did ask for a full massage and sex session, right?"

"Right, yeah." Theo sat up. "Sorry, I'm out of it. It has been a long day. Let me take care of business first."

"Take your time. I still have to set up."

'Warn me next time,' Theo codded.

"I figured you knew what to expect after the day you had."

He closed the bathroom door.

"No," he whispered. "I wasn't able to think anymore." He took off the shirt, which reverted to plain, featureless, white as he put on the counter. "To be honest, I was just going to let myself fall unconscious." The pants did the same when they joined the shirt.

"Theo, sex always helps you relax and sleep better after a tough day. I added the massage because your legs will need."

"I'm not angry, Sorry if that's how I came across. I'd have changed into something more normal if I'd known."

"You'd have come in here anyway. So it didn't matter."

Theo grunted, took care of business then took a quick shower and dried himself. When he reentered the bedroom, Lucas was standing next to a massage table. Theo didn't even question where the gazelle had been keeping it.

Theo looked at the gazelle's cock, long and thin and already plump and he lied down on the table "You're probably going to have to do all the work. Moving is difficult enough already. After a massage, I doubt I'll be able to do anything."

"That's alright. I'm used to taking charge. Most of my clients are usually too relaxed by the time I'm done with the first part to do more than tell me what they want done for the second part."

"Oh, I'm easy. Do whatever you feel like doing when it comes to the sex."

Lucas applied oils in Theo's fur and worked it in. "Any kinks I need to know about."

"No, I'm good with anything pleasurable."

"How much pain is too much?"

"A reasonable amount."

The gazelle chuckled. "You have a knot right here. I'm going to press, tell me when it's too painful."

Theo didn't try to act tough, when it got close to being too much, he told Lucas to stop. Professionals like him would remember exactly how much pressure that had been, and he wouldn't go above that during the sex.

"Do you like conversation during the massage? Or do you prefer music?"

"Normally I don't mind talking, but right now I think I'm just going to fall asleep."

"I doubt that, but I'll stay silent."

Theo nodded and closed his eyes. "Oh." He raised his right arm. "From the elbow down it's mechanical."

"Alright, I won't spend time on that. Now just relax."

Theo did as he was told, and then proceeded to moan as Lucas turned his body to jelly. When he was done massaging Theo, the gazelle lifted him off the table and deposited him on the bed. Theo was fairly unresponsive as Lucas positioned himself between his legs, and expected to remain so for the duration, but once the gazelle entered him, he found his energy returning, wrapping his legs around his waist and took some control over how he was fucked.

The gazelle was energetic, just on the edge of being too rough. More than once he bent down to bite the side of Theo's neck. Theo moaned and never had to tell him when to stop, the bite's pains never eclipsed the pleasure.

When the gazelle emptied himself in Theo, the tiger flipped him on the bed, on his stomach, and then lied over him, fucking him slowly for half an hour. When Theo was done, he managed to see the masseuse out, and get back to bed before the world vanished.

* * * * *

The next two days were much of the same. Running around delivering unknown messages, by the end of the second day it had become enough of a routine that Theo could pay attention to what was being discussed. Most of it went over his head, but on the fourth day, SolGov was laying down how the ship would be governed.

"No," The Vanguard Vixen said. "SolGov will not be telling my people how to live."

"We have built the ship," The elephant replied, her tone delicate. "We have spent the time constructing the space yard for it, we have invested time and money into the project. Therefore, we are the people in charge of it."

"You used Vanguard technology to build it."

"And Halibury," that corporation's representative said.

"As well as Soromis."

"And Ameritech."

"And Orr technology as well." Thomas Orr added. "While I am loath to agree with anything my distinguished Vanguard counterpart says, I'm forced to on this. We to can't accept that SolGov dictated how our people live. Orr citizens are entitled to living their lives as they will, so long as they don't impinge on other's consent." The people seated behind the tiger nodded and exclaimed their approval.

"Representative Orr," the elephant said, once the clamor had died down. "This will be a community of a hundred thousand people from various corporation. You can't expect your lax attitude to be enforced on all of them."

"I don't want anyone else to live by the Orr constitution. Just like I won't accept to have my people forced to live under another's. SolGov will force the people I represent to wear clothing from toe to neck. To keep a demure ten centimeter between bodies at all time in public. To keep displays of affection to the privacy of their homes. Will you also expect them to go to church? To worship in public?"

"The code of conduct we are establishing are not meant to push a SolGov agenda, but to ensure peaceful coexistence.:"

"But you're the ones dictating them. At no time did you contact any of the corporations to get their point of view, did you?" This time everyone seated in the upper rows growled their approval of Thomas' words.

Theo was amused to see Taavir turn around and glare at those closest to him. Seemed that Vanguard was never supposed to show any agreement with Orr.

The elephant sighed. "Representative Orr. We are not forcing you to take part in this voyage. If you don't like how things will be done, you are free to leave. I'm sure the corporations who remain will be happy to fill the vacancies."

Theo could see the fight on the representative's faces. Clearly, being able to bring more of their people fought with having to live under what most would feel is a chocking set of rules. Thomas didn't seem bothered. He leaned back in his seat.

"I figured you'd say something like that, so I just sent you the bill."

"What's this?" the elephant replied.

"When the deal was struck with my brother, you know, Terrence, the current Head of Orr? We agreed to provide you with many of our technological advancement at a serious discount for twenty percent of the available space on the ship. Oh, and that included our terraforming technology, which we'll be withdrawing if we're not on the ship."

"Like that's going to matter," the vixen snarked

"So," Thomas continued, "If we're not going to be on the ship, SolGov owes us reimbursement of the discount. As per agreed Solar trade laws, we'll expect payment in full within thirty days."

He stood and looked around. "I'll encourage the rest of you to remember that we never agreed to a dictatorship, which is what SolGov is trying to turn this into. We all entered into this agreement expecting fair treatment and representation. We came here expecting to be treated fairly, to discuss, negotiate and compromise into something we could all live with, but this isn't what it is turning out to be. When SolGov Came to us, and told us the ship would be built at Titan, we didn't argue, because that made sense. When we arrived here and SolGov told us the ship would head for Glieses-667-C, Orr didn't argue, even though I know our stellar cartographers don't think this is the best choice. SolGov had the foresight to start this project, they are entitled to decide where the ship will go."

Thomas was in the center of the room now. "But then, SolGov told us what we would be able to bring, and how much of it. Not an even twenty percent of the available space, when we objected, they claimed they needed to keep some space for 'essential' technologies. Their technologies. Then they told us who would be able to board the ship. They will only let fully compatible people go. They will refuse experts because he or she will be gender specific. And now, they want to tell our people how they will live. None of that was put forward when they approached Orr with the contract. I know Terrence would never have agreed to such a deal. Now they are hoping that because we've invested so much, lent them so much. We won't feel we can back out and have to accept what they dictate. Let's remember that contracts are entered in good faith, and that SolGov has abused not just Orr, but all out good faith. Remember that it is their actions, their decisions, that is making this contract unbearable. By pulling out, we are not breaking it, we are being forced out. That puts SolGov in breach. And they will have to make reparations." He silently looked around, not at the representatives, but at everyone else.

"Are you done?" the elephant asked, an edge to her tone.

Thomas sat back down without answering.

Theo could see the calculating looks on the other representatives. Taavir and the vixen were conferring quietly. The Halibury representative's eyes were closed, but he was nodding and shaking his head as if he was silently conversing with someone.

The elephant stood. "It's apparent we all need time to absorb representative Orr's words. We will recess until tomorrow morning."

Theo was ordered to attend her. By the time he reached her Thomas was standing before her, all smiles.

"You had no business bringing this up in the public forum," she hissed. "You should have approached me privately so we could discuss this."

"Why? So you could brow beat me with how everyone else is fine with the agreement? I'm guessing that's what you told Soromis when they had that private meeting? Don't think I missed how surprised he showed at my words."

"That isn't he point. What you did was tantamount to causing a riot."

"Hey, you're going to be unreasonable, don't expect the rest of us to sit by quietly. SolGov is in breach. You want to pay all of us and populate the ship with your people, that's fine, I can promise you none of the corporations are going to lose sleep over not being on that ship. You've shown such a ship can be built, so we can build our own now."

She snorted. "You'd be thirty years behind. You'd get there and our people would already be established."

"Don't be too sure of that. You had to figure out how to do it, we won't. We've made advancements in the last thirty years that we can apply to speed thing up even more. I wouldn't be surprised if we could have our own ship ready in little more than a decade. As for your people being there before us. Don't worry. Our ship wouldn't be going to Glieses-667-C. There are far better choices out there."

"You can't do that. The contract stipulates that-"

"You're breaching the contract. It doesn't mean anything anymore, unless you get off your cross and join us common folk down here and talk like a reasonable corporation. If Orr walks out, I promise you that none of the others will stick around. Even Vanguard isn't so proud that they'll let you walk over them just to spite me. How many trillions did you get in discount from all of us? Are you going to be able to repay everyone? And before you think of reneging on that too, we have a fleet now. We have armed ship in the lanes."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, it's a warning to consider the consequences of SolGov's actions. We're pretty reasonable, but take it from me, Vanguard's trigger happy. You cross them, and they won't have any trouble shooting your cargo ships down. Read up on your history, we kicked you off Earth because you tried to screw us over one too many times. If we have to, we will kick you out of the solar system."

"You should check your history books. We abandoned you on Earth. It's a miracle you managed to drag yourselves out of the cesspool you created. We were benevolent then, don't expect us to be so this time. If you push us, you will pay."

"Hey, the ball is in your court. I've said my piece, how you respond to that will tell us where things go from here."

She turned and so Theo. "What are you doing here?"

"You called for me."

She shoved him aside and stumped out. She was loud for such a thin woman.

"You work for her?" Thomas asked. "You have my condolences. You know, if you're interested in changing sides, we offer really good benefits."

Theo smiled. "I appreciate the offer, but I already have my allegiances."

Thomas looked him over. "That's a pity."

Theo laughed, and caught sight of Eric entering the room. "If you'll excuse me. Since this is over for today, I'm going to go enjoy a soak."

"If you ever want a taste of what Orr has to offer, look me up," Thomas said as Theo walked in the opposite direction of Eric.

"I am so glad we're not here to fix this mess," Cass said. "You're going to take him up on his offer?"

"No while his father down here. I wouldn't want to have to explain why I'm currently Marcus."

"True, that could be an awkward conversation. Although them being Orrs, I'm sure you can bypass the talking and go right to the sex."

* * * * *

The next day was more tense. Everyone was back, but it was clear the Earth based corporations were now willing to walk away if it became needed. Theo didn't get to watch much of it. Instead of being sent back and forth from one person to the next in the room, most of his messages sent him to other places in the building. Fortunately, none of them sensitive areas that could question his identity. Cass was now confident Theo would pass all but the most thorough of checks, but the tiger didn't want to put it to the test and jeopardize the mission.

By the end of the day he got the sense things were back on track. When he went home, he checked the recap and SolGov had agreed to divide the interior in six. One for each corporation, to be run as the corporation saw fit, the sixth wasn't one zone, but a series of buffers between zones. For those all the corporations agreed on specific rules of conduct. And part of the ship that was vital to its function fell under those rules since the people in charge of its maintenance would come from all corporations.

Theo grew impressed with SolGov when he found out they had managed to get Orr to agree to ensure most of the people they would bring would be fully compatible sexually. Their argument was that the goal of the ship was to increase its population during the trip. SolGov did agree that once the ship left there would be no rules forcing the people born there to breed if they didn't want to.

From that point on, the rest of the conference was boring. The details being worked out were back to being so boring Theo was happy not to pay attention to them. On the seventh day, Cass informed him his identity was entirely in place, but he had to wait another two days before doing anything. That's how long it took for the conference to finally break for a few days so everyone could rest.

Theo allowed himself the night for fun, contacting Lucas and other guys for a sex party, he almost invited Thomas, but figured the Orr representative would be resting in his own way.

Tomorrow, Theo would be getting down to work.