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Excerpt
Orion: Symbiont of Passion
By Herbert
Grosshans
Prologue
Tall and thin, Earl Preston looked frail behind his wooden desk,
but Orion knew this to be an illusion. Only a strong, ruthless man could
have risen to the position of Director of Planetary Control on this
planet. Orando was the fifth planet in the Orelli System, highly
industrialized and densely populated, mainly because of its location
around the giant Primary. The seasons were moderate and the weather
stable. An ideal planet, unlike the fourth and sixth. One of them hot
and dry, the other one cold and harsh, with the large cities under huge
protective domes.
“As you are aware, Agent Orion, Orando is best known for its electronic
devices and robotic machines, which are manufactured by the majority of
our larger companies. You probably don’t know that the finest robots are
built on Bakker’s Planet, the sixth planet in our system. Since Bakker’s
Planet does not have much of a spaceport, all shipments out of the
system go through Orando. Actually, most deals are made through Orando.”
Preston leaned back in his oversized chair and took a long drag from a
thin cigarette. He breathed out slowly through his nostrils and looked
at the big man sitting across from him.
“Apex, our neighbor closer to the sun, was settled largely by groups of
religious people. Once a year, after the winter season, they have a big
celebration where they sacrifice young virgins to their god.” Preston
smiled thinly. “I know that practice is nothing new, but these people
are civilized. For obvious reasons they can’t use human girls, so they
use dolls made from plastic, but this year they decided to make it more
realistic and had young virgins made to order. One thousand of them.
They were built according to specs on Bakker’s Planet and delivered
through us.”
Orion didn’t comment, wondering where this was heading.
“Somebody with a twisted sense of humor made these robots all too
life-like,” Preston continued. “There exists a small creature on
Bakker’s Planet which, at certain times, lives in symbioses with other
creatures. Our knowledge about it is limited; all we know is that this
little animal possesses a strong sex-drive, which it transmits to its
symbiotic partner. Some genius bio-technician implanted these creatures
into the control circuits of the one thousand robot-virgins.
“Apparently, these tiny creatures are telepathic, and any male coming
within range gets as horny as hell. You can imagine what happened on the
great Day of Celebration. One thousand sex-driven virgins with the
capacity to do so practically raped most of the males present, and there
were thousands of them. It was probably the largest orgy a religious
gathering ever witnessed.”
Orion smiled, but his gray eyes remained cool. “I really don’t
understand why a government agent of the Colonial Worlds of Sol-Terra
had to be called in for that. It seems like a small local problem to
me.”
“It would have been, but understandably the people of Apex, especially
the women, were furious. Since they dealt with Orando, they directed
their anger at us. They kidnapped one of our passenger cruisers and gave
us an ultimatum: Find out who is responsible for the cruel joke or all
of the people on board the cruiser will be killed. One of the passengers
happens to be our president’s daughter. You see the problem? If anything
happens to her it will mean war.” Preston stared at Orion. “They also
demanded that an outside party be brought in to handle the
investigation.”
Orion nodded thoughtfully. “I see,” he said. He stood up and walked over
to the large window overlooking the city. In the distance, he could see
the long, thin needle-shaped spaceships breaking through the clouds.
He was a big man. Tall, lean-hipped, with wide shoulders. Under his
tight-fitting black clothes, his muscles rippled as he moved gracefully
across the thick carpet. The Director’s gaze rested for a brief moment
on the large energy pistol strapped to the big man’s hip.
“I have made arrangements for you to go to Bakker’s Planet. You’ll be
met by a local agent. Officially, you are a wealthy merchant who wants
to buy a certain kind of robot. My secretary will supply you with your
ID and a specially prepared chip.” He joined Orion by the window, looked
at the city below. “We haven’t had a war for a hundred years, Agent
Orion. This problem needs to be resolved peacefully.” He held out his
hand. “Good Luck.”
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