Garden of Idin

GARDEN of IDIN: The Empress and Ianna

The bedchamber was dark, and the silence was only broken by the sleeping sounds of a man from Earth and L'majha.

And then there was the inner voice of Donald Talbot. ('Pssssst. Hey, dudeman. Wake up.')

The man mumbled something in his sleep, a moment later and he began to snore.

('Uh, no dude. Wrong way. The idea is to wake up, not slip further into a state of unconsciousness.')

Donald snored and he slumbered in a manner of one who is satiated and gratified from copious helpings of sexual activities.

('Hey, dudeman. I mean it; I think that there is something going down here; you are one lady shy of two; Maritiseis has bailed.')

Donald Talbot continued to sleep.

('Dudeman. Dudeman. Wake the fuck up, now!')

The man from Earth went on snoring.

('Hey, DONNY-BOY! I SAID WAKE THE FUCK UP!!')

Donald's eyes came open with a start. He looked around in the darkness trying to focus his vision. He sensed almost immediately that something was amiss.

('See...?')

'See what? I don't see-'

('That's what I've been tryin' to tell ya'; Maritiseis is gone.'

'So? She's the Empress; she can come and go as she pleases.'

('Look dude, we've been here on this battle cruiser about a week now, maybe more. And during that time I've seen a lot of strange stuff; I've seen--and who woulda' thought this--you go from being a pussy whipped wimp with a little dick, into a pussy whipped He-man with a little dick. And all the time you been lookin' like a monkey tryin' to hump a football-')

'If you're trying to make a point, I sure as hell wish that you would get on with it so I can go back to sleep.'

Donald Talbot sat up in the bed. Ianna stirred briefly next to him but remained sleeping.

('God she is fuckin' beautiful; what she's doing sleeping with you God only knows; I will never understand what these bodacious alien babes see in you-')

'It's probably my personality. Now will you get on with your point?!'

('Oh, yeah. My point is this Donny-boy; you're the consort of the Empress.')

'Thanks for the revelation, she's been calling me that for the past week now. What is your point?'

('Well dude, my point is that you're supposedly the champion of Malrishi.')

'And I appreciate that obvious declaration as well. I will sleep better knowing that.'

('Listen to me dude; every He-man stays alive and keeps others kickin' it only as long as he listens to that small still voice inside; call it what you want; instinct, intuition, a gut-feeling, ESP-')

'Oh, I get it; so now you think we got ESP. Screw this, I'm going back to sleep.'

('Dude, if you don't listen to your small still voice-')

'What small still voice!?'

('That would be me, dude.')

'You?! You're my small still voice?! You couldn't be any louder if you were a propane tanker slamming into a moving freight train!'