She was standing next to her beat-up hauler. Staring at the engines I’d left on the ground nearby. Her hand resting on it, as if the complex machine was giving her a pep talk.
I zipped up near her on my hoverboard then dismounted and stepped over. Walking slowly but loud enough for her to hear me coming. As I did, I saw her body start to turn as if to look, then freeze. Intentionally staying in place. Once I was a few yards away from her I spoke.
“Tisha. Got a second?”
She shook her head with her back still turned. “I… I don’t think I can work this job anymore, Luis. I’m happy you like my skills, but…” she sighed. Clenched her hands into fists, then turned around to face me as she released them. Putting on a false smile. “There’s just some things I need to take care of back home. Starting up a new scrap machine. That sort of stuff.” She managed an almost casual wave of her hand, but the sadness on her face was plain. “You know?”
“I know,” I said. Walking closer to her. Gauging her reaction. To my surprise, she didn’t step away. Maybe I still had a chance of working things out. “Tisha, about what happened back on the salvage run.”
She held up a hand and said, “Stop it, Luis. You don’t have to explain. I’ve been through this all before. It’s no big deal. We just call it what it is, and we move on.”
“Oh,” I said. “You want me to call it how it is?” I inched closer. Her bottom lip trembled and she stared up at me. Tension in her whole little frame.
“That’d be swell,” she said. Her blue eyes shining with oncoming tears.
“This harem thing is complicated. Explaining it to someone I’m attracted to is even more complicated,” I said. Watching her reaction. She twitched as if a live wire had hit her. “I know it seems like I’m just screwing all the women I see, but I’ve got some rules built in. One of them is that I’m not just kissing every woman I’m attracted to. Even if I want to date them.” I cocked my head to the side, mirroring the way she did often. Trying to show her I meant it.
“So, you’re saying…”
“I’m saying that I wanted to kiss you back there, but if I didn’t talk to Evelyn and Jade first about bringing you in… it would have been. I don’t know. Cheating? In a way?” I reached out and took her pale smooth hand. Rubbing her palm with my thumb. That first-touch electricity passing through us. My heart beating faster. “It wasn’t because I’m not attracted to you—I’m definitely attracted to you. So I’ll call that as it is. I don’t want you leaving. I’ll say that plainly too. Do you want to leave?”
She shook her head. A broad and simple smile spreading across her face. “No. Not at all.” Then she took my other hand and inched closer to me. Finally gripping me in a big hug. “Is this real, Luis? Can you tell me that it is? You aren’t just looking for a good time. Then gonna move on?”
I laughed, and she pulled back in anger hearing it. Thinking it was directed at her. “Tisha, I’m building a stealth jet with space for you specifically. I want you around, for good. Seriously.”
“You really mean it?” she asked, putting her hands around my waist and looking up at me. I took my own and placed them on the small of her back. Nodding. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Back at the salvage. I want that too.”
“Because I hadn’t talked to the ladies yet, and I wouldn’t have been able to do this,” I said.
“Do wha—” she started to say, just as my lips touched hers. The tension within her vanished instantly. Her body fell into mine, all warm and yielding. After a minute like that she pulled back and fanned her face with her hand. “My word, Luis. You’re a good kisser. Hot damn.” My answer was another dive inward. This time I used my body to press forward. Squeezing her against the engine just barely. Her hand shot out and gripped the exhaust port. A giggle breaking from her lips.
Then I lifted her up and sat her on the engine. She squealed in delight. The move put her above me, so I hopped on my hover board and got myself right at her eye level. This time she dove into me and we kissed openly. Our mouths opening and tongues exploring.
It was incredible.
Finally we pulled apart. Breath heaving. Staring into each other.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I said back. Scratching the back of my neck sheepishly. I turned to look over to the ship. Seeing Jade standing on it. Grinning.
“Woo!” she shouted, pumping her fist. “Look at you two. Holy fuck you’re sexy!”
Tisha’s laugh was nervous and incredulous. “You all really get to it, don’t you? That band name wasn’t just for show?” Tisha was too shy to come straight out and ask if we were full-on fucking in a world where it was punishable by death.
“What?” I asked. “Luis and the Unlicensed Fornicators?” She nodded. “Oh yeah.” I thought of the crazy sex I’d already had with Jade and Evelyn. How things would only get wilder. “If anything we’re underselling the reality,” I said with a chuckle.
She blushed again. Then stroked my hand. “I’ll need some time, Luis.”
“Whoa, whoa,” I said, joking. “We just met, Tisha. Slow it down.” I winked at her. “You’re not quite in the harem yet. We’re just getting to know each other. No rush on the physical stuff. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t run off. I want to get to know you better.”
“Okay,” she said. Squeezing my fingers again. “Mind if I stick around then?”
“I was just going to ask you,” I said.
“Well. Shucks, that’s great,” she replied.
“Come on. Can you help me finish up? I want to get as much as we can done before nightfall.”
“I’d love to, darling,” she said, walking hand in hand with me toward the ship. Which was getting harder and harder to do as more of it disappeared.
We spent the rest of the day working as a team. Tisha and I spent an hour getting all the parts laid in. Creating a layer above the flooring that would hold all the controls, rods, and gearing. It meant that I had to move the roof up to make up for the added crawlspace, but with my powers it was trivial. Whenever she needed anything set in or installed, I was right there spot-welding it in place, Jade providing an extra set of hands if we needed them.
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The engines were crazy to get installed, and I realized that Tisha had been right about two being near overkill. They barely fit on the damn ship, and she had me weld in a ton of support structures to them. Including the rest of the ship moving forward.
“If weight isn’t an issue,” Tisha said as she tapped along the wall, “then you’ll want to gird up the girl as much as you can. Distribute the forces of the thrust.” Jade was standing behind her. Running her hands down her face in restraint. Trying desperately not to say anything.
To her credit she mouthed it to me instead of saying it out loud.
That’s what she fucking said.
With herculean restraint, I too managed to keep a straight face.
She had me put in crossbolts within the metal sheets that comprised the hull, talking about how they would further reinforce the metal. Then she moved us through more complex reinforcement structural supports. After that we moved on to the temperature controls and a dozen other smaller systems. We took a few trips back to the salvage yard to look for more parts.
I expected Tisha to pin me up against one of the engines when we went back to them, but to my surprise she only gave me a smile. Staying on-task. The amount of parts we pulled out of the wreck was insane. And I was glad I’d accidentally saved the ass-end of the ship with my first assault.
With everything set up structurally, I left Tisha to her work. Heading into town with an improvised metal hovering wheelbarrow. Hitting up every corner store and buying appliances and supplies. Even getting a few surprises for Jade and Evelyn. The range of technology that they’d been able to accomplish with magic and steam was surprising. They had equivalents of microwaves and refrigerators. Fancy latte machines. You name it, they had it.
Except for a fucking microphone and speaker system.
Nobody had one of those.
It seemed that the banning of public performance had punched a hole in the market for that sort of thing. I’d have to ask Jade—or Tisha even—to help me figure out how to make that happen.
The three of us made some educated guesses about wingspan needs for the ship, and general design. Luckily with me able to displace the weight of the ship, it wasn’t as critical to get perfect. It took pretty much every bit of scrap I had left, but we got them put in place. Jade and Tisha took careful measurements to make sure that everything was correctly supported and positioned.
After that it took multiple trips to get everything stocked into the ship. Which I was beginning to think of as a jet now that it had literal rockets strapped to the back of it, and wings. Along with all the food I realized we’d need water. So Jade and I designed and formed two huge tanks and installed them where Tisha instructed. She decided on the halfway point to help balance out the weight of the engines. One of them was an industrial supply for keeping the engine and thermal controls running, and the other one was for food and hygiene.
I was really glad that I’d built in a lot of extra space.
With Tisha pointing out item after item, the jet was filling up fast.
The town didn’t have a bed big enough for my purposes, so I bought two of their biggest ones and ended up putting them in side by side. Easily opening up ports in the bedroom section wall to insert them. Laughing at how easy it was compared to all the other times I’d put beds into living spaces. Putting in a few spare smaller beds in private cabins. Finally, I stocked up plenty of bedding and linens.
Jodi almighty, were we going to need lots of clean sheets.
The clerk at the bedding store asked me why I needed so many, and I could only shrug and laugh.
As the sun began to set I was finally wrapping up most of the stocking-up. Realizing that it would’ve taken the work of dozens of men with specialized vehicles. I marveled at how little drain had been pulled from me from the day’s work. Every day really was making me stronger.
What would I be able to do a month from now?
A year from now?
Only time would tell, and that time would be filled with the slaughter of evil and the courting of beautiful fantastical women.
I wondered if people thought I had brain damage. I was flitting around town with a near-permanent smile plastered onto my face. Really though, I didn’t care. The only people that mattered to me were Evelyn, Jade, and Tisha.
At the end of the day, as the sun was setting low, I stood outside the ship watching the sun set as the ladies finished up some touches inside. Over my shoulder I heard the confident steps of Evelyn. So I turned to wave at her. Her face was beaming an incredible smile.
“Why hello there,” I called out across the road to her.
“You sneaky fox,” she shouted. Sprinting toward me and tackling me with one arm. The other holding the bouquet of ornamental metal flowers I’d crafted for her. Each one of their own metal and style. “You fibber,” she said. “Project for Jade and Tisha?” Snickering and slapping my shoulder. I grabbed her kissed her long and deeply, pulling her into a tight embrace. She pulled back and gave me a playful growl.
“It’s not all about the new girl,” I said with a wink. Then gestured to where my house had been. “How do you like my new house?”
Evelyn pulled her hair back and stared. Wrinkling her nose as she looked at the empty space, then back to me. Her tail flicked back and forth in confusion. “Luis. What… where did it go?”
“Come on in,” I said. “I made dinner for everyone. Oh, Tisha’s staying for a while. Just so you know.”
Evelyn looked down at her metal flowers and smelled them. I thought it was a joke at first, but then realized that if anyone would love the smell of wrought-metal flowers, it would be her. “That’s fine, Luis. I’m looking forward to meeting her.”
“I left a surprise in your cabin, too,” I said. Smiling even more broadly now.
“What?” she asked. “My cabin?”
“Come on. I’ll show you,” I said, taking her hand and leading her to the side entrance. The one that would be for emergency escapes only when we were in the air. I pulled it open and the door almost hissed as it swung out. We’d gotten the welds and seals so tight that it was starting to feel like an aircraft already.
Evelyn sniffed in surprise at the aroma in the air, then turned and looked back at me and said, “It’s so warm. How is it so warm? Your old box was practically as cold as the night before.”
“We set up a temperature control system so that we don’t all freeze once we get up to high altitudes,” I said, burying the big news. Delivering it piece by piece.
“High altitudes?” Evelyn asked. Her face was bright with amusement. Her black-flecked glowing eyes widely dilated.
“I want you to see something,” I said. “Come on.”
I walked her through the ship. Taking her back through the galley. Moving past the appliances, and the meal I had prepping in the oven. On by the water tanks and food storage. Through room after room of complex machinery. Past Ugg’s jeep that I’d taken as my own and loaded into one of the cabins. Lashed down tight with straps and some of my magnetic restraint spells. Right on down to her cabin. Which I’d placed as close to the engine as I thought she’d like it.
At first I worried she’d get burned in case of an engine fire, but then I’d realized that was a ridiculous concern. After that I’d gotten her set up close enough that there’d be plenty of ambient heat.
Tisha was in the engine room and turned to wave at us as she hit something with a mallet. Jade was holding it in place and joined in to greet us. “Well, hello,” Evelyn said. Stopping in her tracks and looking at the riot of gears and valves they were nestled into. “What in the…” she turned to look at me. “Luis, what the hell is going on? I feel like I’ve stepped into another universe.”
“It’s rough, huh?” I said, pinching her shoulder. “Here’s your room.”
I pulled the door to the right open, exposing the tailor-made interior. Everything in the room was intended for industrial use. Largely for forging. Apparently Evelyn had placed some orders in the past but hadn’t gone through with buying them. Which left me able to pick up some surprises for her that she’d essentially gotten herself already. They’d been expensive but the look on her face made it worth it.
Not that we really had to worry about money with all the platinum I had.
“Luis!” she shouted, bounding over to the heavy metal cabinet. It was bolted to the wall right next to the bed-like contraption that the girls had put together. “I could never afford this cabinet. It’s not even enchanted. It can just take the heat. Man, is that cool or what?” she asked, running her hands along the tempered steel surface. Already unloading her clothes and the contents of her pockets. One of which was a steel box.