Buck Rogers
by AJ Marks
Part 7
Buck looked on at the interior of the shuttle after being invited aboard by Ardala, and what almost was a scene at the dock between her and Wilma. Buck knew then the two woman didn’t like each other, and wondered if there wasn’t more going on between the two which he did not read about.
He looked around, expecting some sort of dark, dreary furnishing and was surprised by the lavish furnishing it had and compared it to the shuttle when he came back from the Rizonian Empire. This shuttle was more plush, comfortable, designed for luxury.
“I hope this is to your liking?” Ardala said slinking in and lounging in one of the sofas giving him a long look.
“Not quite my style, but, it’s very nice,” Buck finally said trying to be honest. True he wasn’t used to such luxury when traveling, most airplanes lacked such things back where he came from.
“You’ll find I like the finer things in life,” Ardala replied.
“So, you’re a princess?” Buck asked, sitting down in one of the chairs watching as Ardala dropped her head back with a groan.
“My father is the king, yes, but I could care less what he thinks,” she replied back to him. “He’s such a bore, as is my brother, always talking about this or that, never actually living.”
Buck wondered what type of government they had, did the king rule absolutely, or did they have a council of some sort.
“You don’t like politics?” Buck asked.
“Not the way they do it, so boring, no fun, too serious in everything,” Ardala replied suddenly standing up and heading over to the bar. “You want a drink?” she asked.
“You have any coffee?” Buck asked.
“See, that’s what I mean, always so serious, coffee, no sense of adventure,” Ardala replied.
“Actually, you can add all types of things to coffee, like chocolate,” Buck said to her seeing her look at him in disbelief.
“Chocolate, in that drink?” she replied as Buck walked over and looked over what she had at the bar before selecting a few items. “Or how about this,” he said, taking a schnapps, or at least he hoped so by the name on the bottle, and added it to a cup of coffee. “It’s close to a peppermint schnapps which is what we would have when I went camping in college, a morning drink we used to have.”
He watched as took a drink, smacked her lips a bit, looked at him then took another sip.
“Well, seems like I might have miscalculated a bit, it’s better than I expected, but no chocolate,” she replied.
“Didn’t see any,” Buck said, pouring himself a cup of coffee, putting some sugar in it and taking a sip. The last thing he wanted to be just yet was drunk in an unfamiliar area considering the relationship between the two groups.
“I’ll have to correct that oversight when we arrive,” she said, taking another sip of her coffee and sitting back down. “What do you think of the future, oh, I’ve heard your interviews, but what are you not saying?”
“Nothing much to tell, everyone I’ve ever known is dead, what I knew of society is gone, my house is gone, hell, even my bank account is gone,” Buck said, having taken the opportunity to look that up, and it was given to his niece and nephew a couple of years after he was finally presumed dead.
“Hmm, yeah, that must be tough to understand, I’m not sure I could comprehend it,” she replied lounging on the sofa again. “Though, I wonder what else you can tell us,” she lifted her cup before taking another sip.
“Not too much, most of what I know is old tech, outdated by today’s standards,” Buck stated looking around at the interior once more. “Take this interior, no normal airplane would have this, only a few, and they would be the wealthy elite.”
“Well, I guess somethings haven’t changed then,” she said. “You could say this is a one of a kind shuttle, something I wanted if I was to fly back and forth between Brezzel and Earth.”
“Brezzel?” Buck asked, not familiar with the name.
“Our capital city,” she replied before sighing a bit. “I long for the olden days, when things were more exciting, adventurous.”
“Wonderlust,” Buck said seeing her frown at the term. “It’s a term some used to describe someone who wants adventure, get out and away from their home.”
“Hmm, yeah, I guess that’s me to a bit,” she replied as Buck relaxed in his chair.
“So, what is my itinerary?” he asked wondering how many shows he would be doing and with whom.
“That’s being handled by someone else, my father saw you on Erath news and wanted to meet you, though I can’t say I’m disappointed you came,” she said, now walking over and sitting down next to him. “There’s so much we could show each other.”
“There is always time for some things,” Buck said, noticing she was practically draped over him. He had to chuckle if some of his old buddies could see him now, having a princess practically asking for it. He knew a few who wouldn’t hesitate, but Buck felt the timing wasn’t right. “How long is the trip back?”
“Never long enough,” she replied, obviously something she had done before if she knew the timing of it. “You don’t want me?” she asked, slipping part of her dress off her shoulder exposing flesh to him, and he had to admit she was very beautiful. “I’ve read so much about men from your time.”
“Yeah, well don’t believe everything you read,” Buck said. “Besides, I’ve been burned before in this type of situation.”
“Now I hear a story behind this,” she said, making herself comfortable again.
“Not much to tell, she came on, we had sex, only to find out she did it to double cross her boyfriend, then she comes out as gay and it got really weird,” Buck said.
“Gay?”
“Lesbian, she only liked other girls,” he said.
“How barbaric,” Ardala said surprising Buck by her statement. “Limiting yourself to only one sex, awful.”
“Princess, we’ll be arriving in fifteen minutes,” a voice said.
He watched her head back to the sofa and settle back in and seemed to have lost interest for now. Buck realized he would have to keep an eye out on her, she was not the type to take no for an answer, and probably got everything she ever wanted. A spoiled princess, but in this case the term really did fit.
He hoped the entire trip was really legit.
*****
Buck walked along with the princess past several guards and into a large room where a man sat behind a desk. Also in the room were several sofas, a few chairs and other smaller tables and in a way reminded him of the Oval office in the White House.
“Poppa,” Ardala said as the man behind the desk looked up. Buck noticed he also had black hair, with a pointy beard and moustache, but intelligent eyes which flickered to her and then to him. “This is the man from the past, Captain Buck Rogers.”
“Ah, captain, welcome,” he said getting up and walking around to greet him with a firm handshake. “I’m so glad you accepted my offer.”
Buck felt a bit glad that he offered and not Ardala, which made things a bit more official in his mind.
“It was an honor to be invited,” Buck said.
“Now, now, come on, have a seat,” he said motioning to one of the sofas which he sat down upon. Buck made his way over and sat down, with Ardala sitting down next to him, but no one said much of it, so he focused instead on the man in front of him, Liam Draconia, or at least that’s what the information he heard had the man’s name as.
“So, is your name really Liam?” Buck asked watching as he sat back giving it some thought.
“Yes, it’s a name I don’t go by much anymore, my official kingly name is William the third,” he said. “Sounds more authentic than King Liam.”
Buck wasn’t sure what to say to that, so merely nodded in agreement not saying his real first name was William.
“So, you caused quite the stir back on Earth, wish I could have seen it, all those idiots in their starched, tight shirts and pants probably pissing themselves over this,” Liam said, giving a short laugh. “Instead all I got was these official reports, but I can read between the lines.”
“I’m not much into politics,” Buck said.
“Wise man, politics makes us all fools,” Liam said, and buck wondered how bad they really were, or if they were as bad as the reports made them to be, yet he did detect an honest hatred towards the leaders of the NAA. “You must wonder what you’re going to be doing?”
“The thought did cross my mind,” Buck said.
“Simple, word has gotten out that you are from the past, you can never fully control information no matter how hard you try, and people have an interest in learning about who you are,” Liam said in a casual voice. “You’re interviews from Earth are quite popular here.”
“A celebrity,” Ardala said. “You’re popularity among the people is very impressive.”
Buck had the feeling he was being used, but had no way to stop it. He also had a feeling that to play along was the best way to get back home to Earth.
“I regret that I must get back to work, so much paperwork despite technology,” he said, something Buck could remember so well. “My secretary has a list of what you’ll be doing while here.”
Buck nodded standing and shaking his hand again. “Glad you could have me.”
“Glad you could come captain,” he said then moved to his desk as Buck headed to the door followed by Ardala. It was shaping up to be a strange trip that much was for sure as he went over to another desk where a man stood, gave a pad to another man who approached them.
“Captain Rogers, pleasure to meet you, I’m Dave, you’re assistant while you’re here,” he said, earning a glare from the princess and Buck had the impression she didn’t want to share.
“All right, lead on Dave,” Buck said.
*****
Buck walked around the room wondering if it had been bugged or not, but decided he had nothing to hide, so anyone listening wouldn’t get much out him. He barely understood the politics between the two empires so anything he said couldn’t be accounted for anything.
He briefly understood some of the workings of the Thunderfighter, but he doubted that would ever come up in a conversation, nor did he understand the defenses of Earth yet. He assumed the EAA also had a defense force as well and knew nothing about them, or the relationship between them and the NAA.
Flopping onto the bed he went over the day so far. The interviews were the same, the questions the same, the only real difference was the enthusiasm they showed, they really wanted to know more about him, what he thought and what things were like back in the twenty-first century.
A knock on the door interrupted any further thoughts, and he had a feeling who it might be. The question he asked himself, was he ready for this? Standing up he headed over to the door and opened it, unsurprised to see Ardala standing there.
“Going to invite a girl in?” she asked, as Buck looked over what she was wearing, a short skirt and simple shirt which showed off her curves. She might be a spoiled princess, but she defiantly kept herself in shape.
“Yeah,” Buck said, moving aside so she could walk in and looked over the room.
“Not bad,” she said. “Not as good as my place though.”
Buck doubted many places could match what she had a bedroom or living space, even back in his time.
“So, what brings you by at this time of night?” Buck asked
“You have to ask?” she replied, then smiled at him. “I can show you a real good time.”
Buck had no doubt about that, and she probably knew a lot when it came to such things. He also realized he could spend the night alone in a strange place hoping to not say something, or give those listening something to talk about.
“I was about to take a shower?” Buck said motioning to the bathroom.
“Really?” she said, moving to the bathroom as well and looking inside. “You know, I think we can both fit in there.”
Before Buck could even say another word she stripped out of her shirt and skirt leaving her looking very sexy in her underwear. Buck’s inner voice finally tossed caution to the wind, walked over and kissed her.
“Now that’s what I wanted,” Ardala said when they broke apart.
Buck wondered if they would even make it to the shower.
End part 7