ToxicHaven (7 page)

It was deliciously warm inside the house. Danielle had disappeared through a door, probably gone to the kitchen to do as her husband had asked. Pierre returned, clothing hanging over his arm.

“Isan is enjoying a hot bath at the moment. Please, make use of these. I will ask Danielle to take care of your wet clothing, though it is hardly suitable for this environment.”

“Do you mind terribly if we bathe, too, after our friend is finished? Do you have enough water?” Josias asked.

“We have plenty. Our water comes from an underground spring.”

“How do you heat the water? You seem to have no electricity,” Haven said, glancing at the oil lamps and candles.

“The fire is kept burning day and night. One of our engineers devised a system that allows it to heat our water. Where is your ship? Are you the only crew members or an explore party?”

Haven hesitated. She sent a look to Josias who nodded. “We are escaped prisoners from the Dahkhar Mining Corporation. We came on a freighter, a slag ship. We managed to escape by hiding in the cargo hold with the slag. When they dumped the slag, we got dumped, too. That’s how Isan ended up in the lake.”

“Ah, that explains it,” he said and chuckled. “The smell. I did not want to be rude, but you all stink very bad. You were not followed?”

“We don’t know. By now, the authorities will know which ship we used to escape and its destination. I hope we’re not important enough for them to send their fleet to capture us and take us back. It would mean the death penalty or permanent banishment to the deepest mines,” Josias told him.

“I wish they’d stop dumping their toxic waste here under the pretense it’s fertilizer for our crops. It’s good we are so far away or I’m sure they’d punish us for not using it. It’s highly toxic, contaminated. Eventually, it’ll mix with the hard soil and loosen it and maybe one day in the distant future, we can till a field and during the warmer months, grow crops outside.”

Haven noticed his face take on a more serious expression and understood why when he continued.

“My father was a scientist. He was one of the first to become very ill. He spent the remainder of his life looking for answers and teaching and training several young men. We have three scientists among our people now, thanks to my father’s teachings. Just before he died, he discovered it was the slag causing the diseases, which at that time we were using in our greenhouses. He cultivated a serum for those who could still be saved and he discovered how to detoxify the slag.”

He stopped, for a moment, emotion at the memory of his father getting the better of him.

“They don’t dump that often anymore because our planet isn’t suitable to cultivate what they want mostly, the cannabis sativa, more commonly known as marijuana. A single, healthy plant is worth much gold, or for settlers, more slag, supplies. It needs a tropical climate to be grown en masse. Our planet’s soil isn’t suitable and neither is the climate anywhere on Anat. Of course, they didn’t want to spend their resources on building huge greenhouses.

“Many planets have a suitable climate to cultivate the plant. We were supplied with enough seed to grow thousands of hectares, but when the powers that be found out the seeds wouldn’t even germinate on Anat, they confiscated it all and pretty much abandoned us. They only dump slag here now when there’s a surplus and they have no place else to go with it. In the beginning, they dumped it several times a week.” He stopped for a moment to stoke the fire.

“What they don’t know is that we’ve successfully cultivated the plant in one of our greenhouses. We grow a supply, use it for medicinal purposes only and make paper and oil from it. Its oil is the purest and burns very cleanly and its fiber makes excellent paper. The seeds we can use to produce a varnish. Our plants and crops flourish in our greenhouses, without the use of slag.”

“I thought as much. When I saw how deteriorated the bridge was, I was sure you didn’t use the slag. There’s no way you could get it across that. How do you detoxify the slag?” Haven asked.

“The formula my father discovered is made from the pink and white stones he found in a large cavern deep in the mountains. He brought a bag of stones home and analyzed them and experimented. It took some time, but he hit on the right mix and since then, we’ve never looked back.

“Now, every time they dump slag, a team goes there to detoxify it. They wear protective clothing and masks then spray the whole area where the slag’s dumped. The detox team is probably there now doing just that.”

“How do you get there? Across that rickety bridge?”

“No, we have our landgliders, again, old fashioned according to today’s standards, I’m sure, but they do us fine. Our population is still small and we only have a few villages. We go around the lake to the other side. The gliders are very old, but we have managed to keep them going.” Pierre rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. His keen gray eyes scrutinized each of them. “Why were you imprisoned? What did you do?”

“We don’t know. They suspect us of being part of a resistance organization, which we are not. Although, we are against what they’re doing to the settlers. They don’t care about the people. All they want is for them to work the land and grow their crops. Doesn’t matter how many die, young or old. They take no interest in the settler’s welfare. They just want what they produce, and now that you’ve told us what the main crop is, it explains a lot,” Haven said. “It also explains the erratic behavior of many of the higher officials and the rich. I’ve heard of marijuana—we learned about it in history class. But I thought it was banned, even for medicinal purposes because of abuse and misuse, and eradicated many centuries ago. How did they manage to get hold of so much seed?”

“There must have still been well-hidden illegal operations in various countries on Earth,” Pierre said. “That’s what my father told me.”

Danielle returned carrying a tray with steaming bowls. Haven inhaled the aroma. It smelled heavenly.

“I hope you enjoy our simple fare. We are mainly vegetarians, so there is no meat, but the soup is very hearty. We do eat fish, but not from the lake nearby. There is an ocean not too far from here. We have built boats and often go deep sea fishing. Our parents learned a long time ago how to live on this planet and to utilize its vegetation and resources,” Pierre told them while Danielle handed them each a bowl and a spoon. She set a platter on a small table nearby filled with chunks of dark bread.

“Does your wife speak no English?” Josias asked when Danielle spoke to Pierre in French.

“Yes, she does, but her English is not so good, so she is embarrassed to speak it. Our parents only spoke French. Later, when more settlers arrived, many of us had to learn the English language so we could communicate. Our children speak it fluently. As for the authorities, they’ve pretty much forgotten about us. No new settlers have arrived for a very long time, and we only occasionally get their slag dumps now, as I told you.”

“Are there aliens on Anat?” Josias asked.

“Yes. They’re very peaceful and quite friendly. We trade with them. Eat your soup before it gets cold. We can talk more, later.”

Haven hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she started eating. Pierre hadn’t lied that it was hearty. It was the best soup she’d tasted in a very long time.

Isan appeared, dressed in tan colored pants made from what looked like a thick woven material, and a tunic held at the waist by a braided rope. It was similar to what Pierre wore.

“Man alive, I can feel my skin again,” he said while sitting on the floor in front of the fire. Danielle quickly handed him a bowl of soup and he began eating greedily.

“Your turn?” Josias looked at Haven.

“Please! I can hardly wait to wash the stench off my body and out of my hair!”

Haven followed Danielle to the bathroom. “Do you have a ship,” she heard Josias ask just before their hostess closed the door to the living room.

The water pressure was terrific and the large wooden tub filled up fast. The bar of soap she saw sitting on the side of the tub looked homemade. No shampoo. The soap would have to do. Haven sniffed it. No flowery scent, but it smelled fresh and clean. It would cleanse her and that was most important to her.

She relaxed in the water allowing it to soothe and calm her. The authorities could still send the space patrol after them. What if they’d endangered these peaceful people? She tried to put the thoughts out of her mind, but pangs of apprehension wouldn’t leave her. Her gut told her that it wasn’t over. How were they ever going to fight against what was going on? They needed a ship, a pilot. They needed help. They couldn’t tackle the Dahkhar fleet on their own. How were they going to handle their fight against the slag dumps?

So far, they hadn’t had a chance to discuss much of it, but Haven was sure Josias and Isan were of like minds. They had to stop the insanity. Because of their successful escape, they’d become humanity’s only hope. No one else had ever managed to escape from the Dahkhar prison.

Chapter Six

Pierre and his wife had offered them the hospitality of their home and they’d gladly accepted. Haven longed for the arms of her men, but Danielle had given her a room of her own. Josias and Isan shared another and she couldn’t abuse their hospitality by sneaking into their room at night. She realized they couldn’t stay with them indefinitely.

She finally got her wish when Pierre and Danielle, apologizing profusely, told them they had to attend a function and would be gone a few hours.

“Finally alone for a bit,” she said and looked at her men.

“Is that a hint?” Josias asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Isan had already joined her on the floor before the fireplace and Josias joined them. The men had their clothes off in seconds.

It was weird. Suddenly she felt shy. When they’d made love before, it was in darkness. Sure, she’d seen them naked, but the setting now was so different, so real. The flames sent their glow over the men’s bodies accentuating their muscularity, their almost perfectly honed physique.
Adonis,
Haven thought
. Two gods of love and they’re all mine.

Isan shifted around, sitting in front of her. He undid the cord around her waist and pulled the tunic over her head.

Josias stood and pulled her to her feet. The skirt slipped off easily and in no time she stood naked. Twirling her around to face him, he took her in his arms, his lips claiming hers. She opened them readily to accept his exploring tongue. Her fingers tangled in his long hair. She felt Isan near her legs. Gently, he prodded until she spread them. He ran his hands up and down her legs, caressing her calves, her thighs. One hand stroked her pussy then a finger slid up and down her slit. Her juices spilled as she climaxed. Isan sat between her legs his face against her pussy now, his tongue lapping at the juices trickling from her vagina. His hands were on her belly, stroking, fondling, a thumb on her clit. She throbbed with wanting them. She’d died and gone to Heaven.

A moan escaped her lips when Josias left her mouth to kiss her nose, her eyes, her forehead. He nibbled on the lobe of each ear, then bent to suck her nipples.

Isan licked her slit from front to back then entered a finger, his thumb on her anus. She startled for a second as he pushed hard on that unexplored territory, but pleasure soared through her.

Josias’ mouth and one hand still concentrated on her breasts and nipples, but his other hand stole downward. With Isan’s fingers inside her and on her anal opening, Josias hand and lips on her breasts and nipples, and now his other hand joining Isan in exploration of her nether parts, she was going to explode if they didn’t take her soon. Josias pressed hard on her clit, pinched it, until it throbbed. The ecstasy was unimaginable, something she never dreamed she could feel.

Josias eased her to the floor on her side. He lay in front of her and pulled her leg over his hip while his cock sought entrance.

Isan positioned himself behind her. Now she felt her anus invaded. His finger hurt at first and she stiffened but Josias stroked her, fondled, kissed, until her body completely relaxed and his finger slid into her easily.

Josias lay still, his cock inside her, his mouth on hers, while Isan prepared her backside. She had no idea where he got the lubrication, but when he pulled his finger out and entered her again, it felt slippery and slid in all the way easily. Another finger entered. Her anus stretched to accommodate him. He withdrew.

She stiffened again when she felt his cock against her opening pushing gently. He must have lathered his cock generously. Relaxing under Josias’s assault on her mouth then her breasts and nipples, she wriggled, wanting him, wanting Isan.

His cock entered her, a little, then some more. It hurt, but strangely enough, the pain only heightened her lust. Josias’ hand left her breast and stole down to her clit. He rubbed it, pushed on it, until she squirmed.

Yanking her lips away from his, she yelled, “Damn it, take me. Fuck me.”

“You have to be readied, my love,” Josias murmured against her lips.

“I’m ready. Dammit, I’m more ready than ever.”

“I love you, Haven Drew,” Josias whispered near her ear.

“I love you both, but stop torturing me,” she yelled.

Isan’s lips were on her shoulders, her neck. His hand grasped her hair. He pushed into her all the way and lay still until her anal canal expanded.

“I love you, too, blonde vixen,” Isan said softly.

It was then, as if an unspoken signal had passed between the two men, they started to move within her. Slowly, at first, torturously slow. The position she was in didn’t allow her to do a whole lot. She ached to touch them both, to take each into her mouth, to torture them as much as they tortured her.

Their tempo increased. Isan was now fully within her and so was Josias. Isan still moved slowly while Josias sped up. His balls smacked against her. Isan moved faster.

Two cocks moving in unison within her was exhilarating—it was out of this world intoxicating. She’d already come several times, but now she felt the ultimate release building, the crescendo. The men began to tremble. “Yes, fuck me, fuck me hard,” she shouted.