Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2014 16:36:25 -0700
From: John Black <blackhunk33@gmail.com>
Subject: Switching Sides, Chapter 15.
Switching Sides
Chapter 15
Nearly a full lunar cycle had passed since we spoke with Pronin
about the murder of his boyfriend Raddig. I was beginning to wonder if our
request had been ignored. The next time I saw our bodyguard Dispol, I had
to ask. However, Persid beat me to it.
He rushed into my office which adjoined his. The smile on his face
said that he had good news of some kind. I returned his smile and let him
tell his tale without interruption. "Before the citizens of Faldo threw
over their oppressive regime, banking in this country was primitive.
Transactions had to be recorded in ledgers by a cadre of scriveners. The
chance for error was enormous. But, because this was almost a cash and
barter society, the banks generally only dealt with big companies and
entities such as government and religion. When Faldo began modernizing
with our help, rudimentary calculators were use that quickly segued into
their first computational machines. With the right direction and some
training, the banks quickly adopted the new systems. Other companies
quickly followed suit, including the Patriarchs."
"Thanks for the history lesson, but where is this going?" I
interrupted.
Persid laughed at my impatience. "I'm getting there," he finally
said. "So, with electronic records, following the money trail as well as
the calendars of the Patriarchs is possible."
"So, what did you find?" I pressed.
"Nothing yet. But, be patient. The Treasury Department has the
complete, subpoened file from the central bank and has a team of forensic
accountants working on it. They have been asked by a friend of Dispol who
works in the Justice department to check on specific transaction during
certain dates. The Treasury Department is the one that asked for the judge
to call for the records. So, if there is a problem in the Justice
Department with someone at the top who is too friendly with the Grand
Patriarch, that's been circumvented. I expect to hear back from them in a
couple more weeks, perhaps sooner."
"Is there anyone checking the appointment schedule for the Grand
Patriarch?" I asked.
"That is a different task with different people working on it. The
written appointment calendar has been sent to the Patriarch's archives.
However, the electronic one kept by the secretary to the Grand Patriarch is
kept at the Palace. I don't think we could get access to that without
someone finding out about it. So, the archives are a better target. Those
are available upon request to the archivist. Meetings between the
Patriarchs are kept in separate books from the appointments. The latter is
not considered confidential, so a friend of Pronin's will be going there to
review it."
"Does he know what to look for?"
Persid nodded. "Pronin told him the date and time. And he'll be
making a copy of appointments within a week of that, just in case there are
some curious appointments that involve the perpetrators of the murder or
some high level intermediary like the Minister of Justice."
"You really suspect him?"
"Pronin does."
I shrugged. "Well, I guess it's worth checking out."
"And there's more," Persid nearly crowed. "Pronin and Dispol are
working closely on this. The way that Dispol talks about Pronin, I'm
thinking there is something else going on between them, other than
collaboration."
"Pronin could sure use a close friend like Dispol. The next time I
see Pronin, I'll have to ask. Discretely, of course," I smiled.
"Yeah, discretely," Persid laughed. "You don't have a clue what
that means when you are inquiring about the sex lives of our friends."
"I can be discrete!" I protested.
"If you say so," Persid replied, not believing me a bit. Well, I
do have a history of being blunt with my friends. This was certainly not
the right time to be coy when I questioned Pronin. In fact, I made a
mental note to ask Pronin to come to the Embassy at his earliest
convenience.
After Persid returned to his office, I plowed through the
diplomatic pouch. This was something only the ambassador was supposed to
do. There were highly confidential secrets contained as well as messages
from the king or his ministers or his deputies. Other items that were
frequently included were foodstuffs that we couldn't get in Faldo or
electronic devices that Faldo was not supposed to know about. However,
today there was an envelope addressed to Persid and me. It wasn't uncommon
to receive personal correspondence in this fashion, but it was unusual.
As it was addressed to both of us, I called Persid back into my
office. I indicated the unusual letter which got only a shrug from him.
"I've not a clue who it could be from or what it is," he said. I slit open
the envelope and found a piece of paper that was sealed shut, but within
that clumsily created folder was a small recorded medium. Persid instantly
recognized the device and slipped it into a player on my desk that could
display it. It included a message from our friend the lab tech. The 3-D
image smiled at us and began speaking.
"I know how busy you must be, so I'll make this short. Enclosed in
this envelope that you just opened is a small packet of gelatin strips.
Each one of the strips contains a micro-dosage of the super-horny drug.
Anyway, that's what I call it. The effects are the same, except for the
production of sperm. There isn't enough time in four hours to manufacture
a significant increase in your sperm count. The overwhelming urge to breed
is there as is the volume of discharge when you nutt. Each dosage lasts
for four hours instead of one lunar cycle. Just pop one in your mouth and
they melt immediately. You should feel the need to fuck within 20 minutes,
as if that were ever a problem for the two of you," he laughed. "I know
you have two wonderful babies that keep you far too busy to take the
standard dose. Besides, I'm sure you're ambassadorial duties keep you
hopping, too. I've enclosed enough of this new dosage to keep both of you
well-bred for a full lunar cycle. Enjoy! And by the way, the King loves
this stuff!" he concluded.
Persid shook the envelope that contained the letter, but nothing
fell out. He checked inside and smiled. The gelatin strips were affixed
to the side of the envelope with adhesive tape in another small envelope.
"I'd love to try these right now, but I know how they affect us, so we'd
best wait until after we put the boys to bed tonight," he suggested.
I nodded and put the strips inside my desk. "Don't let me forget
to bring them back to our residence after work," I said. He assured me
that there was no chance he'd forget them.
With the diplomatic pouch emptied and the remaining contents sent
off to various parts of the embassy, I checked my calendar for
appointments. With nothing holding me in my office for another hour, I
hurried upstairs, stopping first in our bedroom to put the strips away.
I'd have to remember to put them somewhere that the boys couldn't find
them. I didn't want to think about what something this strong would do to
their little bodies. If we found that we liked what the new dosage did,
we'd have to hide the strips very well.
I knew we'd have to discuss that hiding place soon. The boys were
already walking across the floor with assistance. They weren't to the
point yet that they were holding on to the furniture to get from place to
place, but that was only a matter of a few more days. Going back to the
living room, I found them playing with the nanny. They looked up and
smiled and giggled when they saw me. "They'll be ready for their naps
soon," the nanny said, "but, they always have time for their daddy."
Torig started to crawl over to me with Talig close behind. When
Talig saw that he wasn't going to beat his brother to me, he stopped and
sat down. He held up his arms to me, begging to be picked up. I picked up
his brother instead who was already attempting to climb my leg. I smiled
over at Talig and beckoned him to join us. He smiled really big and
rapidly crawled over to me. He tried to climb my leg like his brother did,
so I bent down and pulled him into my left arm. He giggled and grabbed my
arm with both hands. With a child in each arm, I walked over to the sofa
and sat down. Both boys nestled into my chest and cooed. I spoke softly
to them, telling them I loved their cute little selves. Moments later,
they were asleep.
I looked over at the nanny and she smiled. "You sure have the
touch for those angels," she said. "I've been trying to wear them out so
they'll take their naps more readily. Sometimes it works, sometimes it
doesn't." She held out her arms and took Torig and then headed to the
boys' bedroom. I followed with Talig.
"My work here is done," I smiled after we put them into their
shared bed. "Time to get back to what pays the bills," I added. I
returned to my office for a full slate of meetings. Nearly all of them
involved business people who wanted a license to export their wares to
Aldig. I gave them the appropriate applications and names of people in the
Aldig Ministry of Trade who would help them more than I could. With a
break for lunch, I resumed my boring schedule. But, late in the afternoon,
I got a message from Pronin that he would like an appointment as soon as I
had an opening.
Wanting to get all the latest information on who was involved in
killing Raddig and if he was trying to make babies with Dispol, I asked an
aide to try to get Pronin in right after my last appointment. Further, I
asked the aide to let Persid know that Pronin was coming, if Pronin could
make it. An hour later, the appointment was confirmed.
The last official appointment was with my intelligence attaché.
It was a standard briefing, but there was an undercurrent of concern that I
quickly picked up on. "What aren't you telling me?" I pressed him.
"Uh, well, there are a number of unconfirmed rumor that the Grand
Patriarch is planning some kind of counter-revolution," he warned. "Right
now, it is only rumor. There are no specifics as to how he hopes to
accomplish this or who will be involved, including other Patriarchs. And
we've been unable to determine when the event may occur."
"This could be very serious," I reflected. "Have you contacted the
Intelligence Ministry here or in Aldig?" He nodded. "And what was their
response?"
"Faldo is monitoring the situation with spies of the Ministry
sprinkled among the staff of the Palace. Aldig is concerned, but they know
less than we do," he sighed.
"That's not reassuring," I bristled.
"Perhaps, you have other contact in Aldig that are more willing to
share their intelligence than I've seen. They don't seem to be completely
honest with me."
"Why is that?"
"I'm not sure that they care about Faldo catching up with the rest
of the planet. I think they'd rather keep them down."
"That sounds familiar," I smiled, "like the attitude of the last
two Ambassadors that were sent here. Give me their names," I insisted. He
blanched. "Don't be concerned. I have access to people within the
Ministry that you don't. They'll be interested to know they have problems
similar to the Foreign Ministry. This may not be your contacts that are
the problem. It could be higher up. Your contacts are only doing as they
are told."
"Probably," he allowed. "But, it is still very frustrating trying
to get my job done when the people who are supposed to be on your side are
withholding information."
"I'm sure it is. Please write this all up for me. Get a copy to
Persid as well. It should be in four parts: what you know, what you
suspect, what you hear as rumor without substantiation, and who the
contacts are in Aldig that seem to be standing in the way," I requested.
"Could you have it to me by mid-day first of the week?"
He nodded and smiled. "I sure hope all of this is vapors. We
don't want to see Faldo revert to their old, backwards ways."
I agreed with him and sent him away to write his report. As he
left, Persid walked in for our mutual appointment with Pronin. I briefed
him on what the intelligence agent had just told me. Persid was concerned
about the negative impact of a reversal in Faldo's direction. "But,
there's no need to worry until we get more information," Persid sighed.
"However, this is concerning at a minimum." He told me in lurid detail how
he was looking forward to popping one of those gelatin strips into his
mouth this evening. I countered with my own promises that involved the
frequent breeding of his ass.
Both of us smiled and nearly laughed aloud when Dispol ushered
Pronin into my office for his appointment. The eye contact between them
spoke volumes. When Dispol departed, I launched into my most discrete
inquiry of their relationship. "And how long have you and Dispol been
fucking?" I blurted out.
"Smooth, real smooth," Persid laughed. "You don't have to say
anything, Pronin." Pronin's eyes told us that they were indeed fucking.
It was only a matter of finding out how long they'd been playing around and
how intense their feelings were for each other.
Pronin looked away, but couldn't help but smile. "Okay, how long?"
I pressed.
"Since the first time we saw each other in your office," Pronin
revealed. "And it has been pretty intense. I never thought I'd work the
bottom side of the street, but Dispol has showed me how that can be even
more satisfying than fucking a hungry ass like his."
"So, Dispol plays both sides, too?" Persid smiled and winked at me.
"Oh, yeah. The first time we got together, I was sure we weren't
going to be sexually compatible. You know how I am, Koldan." I nodded and
smiled at him. I knew very well what a monster dick he had and that he
definitely knew how to use it. "But, Dispol had me begging him to fuck me
several times before the night was over. He's so amazing in bed. And such
a body! DAMN!"
"I've noticed that he does seem tired some days when he arrives at
the embassy," I noted. "But, it has never interfered with his duties."
"That would be my fault," Pronin apologized. "There are days when
I can't get enough of him."
"It sounds like this is getting pretty serious," Persid observed.
"It sure is from my perspective," Pronon acknowledged. "I've never
been with a man who is as well built and well hung as this guy. For a
white man, he has an enormous dick! And he's so gentle and eager to please
me. He's willing to do anything to make me nutt, including pounding my ass
when I need it."
"You've been seeing him for less than two lunar cycles," I
cautioned. "Is this more than wild sex or do the two of you have a future
together?"
"It's really too early to tell, but I think we have something
that'll last," Pronin said. "I only wish we had more time we could spend
together. He has such a captivating accent. I love listening to him talk.
But, when we're together, we skip the talking and go directly to the
amazing sex."
"Amazing sex is always a good start," Persid smiled looking over at
me. "You'll find there is more to him than the physical, if you give
yourselves the chance. Get out of bed on the weekends and go do something
fun. You'll learn a lot more about each other that way."
"I know that," Pronin sighed. "But, he's so incredible in bed that
I don't want it to stop."
"Maybe he wants to please you so much that he thinks that's all you
want to do," I wondered. "Take a chance. Make some suggestions about
shopping or just a walk in the park. Perhaps, a weekend away at a beach
resort would be start?" Pronin nodded and smiled at the possibility. We
added that we had the general information that we needed about Raddig's
murder, but the analysis was not complete. As soon as we knew something
definitive, we'd let him know.
As Pronin left my office, Persid reminded me, "My parents are
joining us for dinner tonight. Our embassy chef will prepare some
authentic Aldig cuisine for us. I'm sure they're ready to have some
familiar food instead of the Faldo fare." I remembered how richly, but
subtly spiced Aldig food was and how bland Faldo food was by comparison.
"And they'll probably arrive early just so they can spoil their grandsons
more than they already have."
We let my secretary know that we were done for the evening and that
he should go home as well. Back in our residence, we weren't surprised to
see Persid's parents already playing with their grandsons. "Their legs are
stronger than the last time we were here," their grandfather said. "Have
they tried walking yet?"
"Only with assistance," Persid answered. "And that's one of the
reasons we invited you over for dinner tonight. I think they're very close
to walking unassisted and we wanted you to be here when they did. Shall we
try now?"
I sat in a chair and stood Torig up so his little feet touched the
floor. Persid sat across from me with his arms outstretched. Torig smiled
and held on to my fingers to help him get to his other daddy. I stood and
steadied him, but didn't provide much more than a little balance and
security for him. With his hands held high, he tottered toward Persid.
The baby waddled, wavered, regained his balance, and took another
unassisted step. I hovered behind him, in position to catch him if he
faltered. The last two steps were more of a fall as he landed in Persid's
arms giggling. We applauded and made a big fuss over him. He smiled back
at us, not sure what we were so happy about.
Their grandmother put Talig on the floor standing with assistance.
I sat on the floor in front of him and beckoned him to come to me. He
smiled and babbled something. Like his brother, he held his hands high,
seeking the assistance that his grandmother was providing. I could see in
his face that he wanted to let go so he could fall into my arms, but he was
still too far away. He looked back at his grandmother as if he were urging
her to move forward with him. She didn't move, but did slowly slip her
fingers out of his hand. He looked back at me and smiled when I encouraged
him again to come to me. He could still feel his grandmother's light touch
and decided it was safe to walk over to me. I held out my arms and urged
him forward. He moved unsteadily, staggering his way toward me. He stood
alone, stark still, wondering what to do next. Once more, I held out my
arms for him and told him to come to me. He smiled and forgot his dilemma,
as he tottered the last two steps into my arms.
He was as proud as I was. Persid had a tear in his eye as did his
mother. Talig's grandfather beamed. Talig's twin wondered what all the
fuss was about. "Now that they have taken their first steps, they'll be
into everything," Persid's father said. "They'll use the furniture to
navigate for a few weeks before they'll be tearing around the house on
their two little legs. And they'll be climbing up on to chairs and getting
on tables. Their chances to explore have exploded. You're gonna be very
busy!"
"You've got double trouble," Persid's mother chimed in. "Two
little boys are gonna be into everything. If one of them thinks of
trouble, the other will follow. And if one doesn't think of mischief, the
other will!"
"Dinner is ready," the chef announced from the kitchen doorway. We
grabbed up the babies and set them in their chairs. The grandparents fed
them while we enjoyed our meal. Of course, they knew how to eat and feed
babies at the same time. The boys were sampling solid food now and were
especially taken with starchy vegetables and pureed meats. We hadn't given
them too much in the way of fruit, not wanting their taste buds to enjoy
sweet things to the exclusion of more nutritious foods.
With their little tummies full, they were eager to play with their
four adult playmates, but they were soon worn out and were rubbing their
eyes. We had tried separating them a week ago into separate beds, but that
was a disaster. We'd try again in another week or two. Persid's parents
stayed for another hour, and then returned to their house next door. The
boys got their baths, a last minute change, and were put down for the
night. That gave Persid and me a chance at an early evening. With the new
short-term drug calling to us, we each took a strip and placed it on our
tongues. It dissolved instantly.
We took a leisurely shower together, but after fifteen minutes, we
were feeling the effects of the drug. Perhaps, we were merely hot for each
other like we usually are. But, it did seem to me that I was much more
interested in breeding Persid than I usually am. We agreed after we got in
bed, that we'd take it slowly and let the drug's effects build for a few
minutes. I thought it would be a good idea to start with mutual dick
sucking to get the ball rolling. That lasted about a minute before
Persid's face moved to my ass and he ate me out like a starving man. I
could tell by the way his dick was jerking in my mouth that he was very
close to a climax.
He swiftly flipped me on to my back and raised my legs to his broad
shoulders. His hard dick pressed hotly against my asshole. I grabbed it
with my right hand and aimed it at my wet pucker. He leaned in and kissed
me as his thick phallus slipped into me. In one long, slow thrust, he was
fully buried in my ass. I sighed with pleasure. "I need you to breed me
deeply," I moaned. "Don't even think about pulling out until I'm full of
your baby batter."
"That won't take long," he smiled down at me. "This new dosage has
me hungry to breed you right now." Once more, he kissed me ardently. I
felt his big dick jerk and swell menacingly in my ass. I knew he was very
close to spraying my ass walls with his male essence. I moved one hand to
his ass and the other to my dick. I stroked myself in a rhythm to match
his thrusting pumps up my ass.
Immediately, he slapped my hand away from jacking my dick. "I need
to nutt, too," I protested.
"That nutt's for my butt," he insisted. "I need you to replenish
what you're about to get pounded up your ass," he moaned in anticipation.
"Like, RIGHT NOW!" he bellowed. He held his crotch tightly against my
upturned ass and unloaded. His dick jerked and sprayed one heavy jet after
another. I wasn't sure if I was getting more than the usual amount of
sperm, but I was certainly feeling more spasms from his cream-spraying
dick. "Yeah, fuckin' hot hole!" he groaned as he climax peaked. "I love
breeding you!"
When he pulled out a moment later, he reached for the small pump
bottle of lube. After slathering it on his ass, he added more to my
swollen dick. He positioned himself so that he straddled my body and then
he slowly lowered his ass to the tip of my dick. His butt swallowed me
easily, finally resting against my crotch. My sensitive, hard dick had
completely disappeared. Persid rocked his body, stirring his guts with my
big, black wand. He worked me to hit every sensitive spot inside him that
my extra-large dick could reach. He reached down and pulled gently on my
erect nipples.
I was already at the edge of a monster climax. Getting my
sensitive nipples teased sent a bold signal to my full balls and hard dick.
The release almost took my breath away. "Yeah, Baby. Fill me up with your
sweet cream," Persid begged. "Breed my white ass. Knock me up!" My dick
and balls convulsed and unleashed a monstrous load. Like the dosage
before, it felt like I was pissing instead of nutting my cream. I held him
down and thrust up hard as wave after wave of sweet ball gravy jetted
deeply into his eager, hungry manhole.
Persid continued to work his ass chute muscles, milking out every
drop of baby gravy he could suck out of my balls. I couldn't fuck him hard
or fast enough. And he couldn't get enough of my long, thick dick and man
juice. My climax shuddered to a halt as Persid leaned in and kissed me
again. Moments later, he broke the kiss and turned around. He buried his
face in my ass as he swung a leg over my head and planted his ass in my
face. We felched each other for several minutes, enjoying the closeness
and delicious sperm that we'd pumped into each other.
I slowly stroked Persid's big dick as I ate his ass out. He did
the same for me. But, this couldn't last. The drug was hitting its
maximum effect and I couldn't allow Persid to stroke me off when his
delicious ass needed a refill of my man cream. Rolling him onto his back,
I slid my hard dick easily into him. He grinned up and me and pulled my
face down for a passionate kiss. "You taste great," he murmured when he
broke the kiss. "My sperm and your hole were made for each other; and
that's not just the filling, but the felching, too!"
"I have to say the same about your ass and my sperm. A good kiss
after a mutual felching is nearly as good as breeding you," I moaned. I
closed my eyes and reveled in the pleasure that his ass was giving me
again. I slowed my thrusts into him, but that was pointless. With the
drug providing far more stimulus than I could withstand, my balls were
churning and begging for release of their next load. "I wanted this one to
last, but there's no way! FUCK!" I bellowed, and pumped him full of more
of my man juices. I thought my first load pounded up his ass was big.
This one was huge! I couldn't stop nutting!
Twice I had to slap his hand away from feverishly stroking his
dick. "I want to cum when you do," he begged. I merely shook my head. He
smiled up at me. "Yeah, it is better to shoot my load up your ass instead
of between our abs," he eventually agreed.
When my climax waned, he pushed me away and forced me down on my
stomach. His fat dick effortlessly slipped up my ass. He gently lay on my
back and slowly bounced his hips up and down on my willing, muscular butt
cheeks. I reached around and spread my ass cheeks so he could get in
deeper and deliver another huge load even deeper than the first. "Ah,
SHIT!" he yelled. His hips sped up and pummeled my ass. His warm load
jetted into me like a fire hose. I couldn't believe how much he was
spraying into me. He couldn't stop fucking me and I didn't want him to,
either.
But, his dick did start to soften and his dick slipped out. Persid
rolled off me and lay beside me, catching his breath. "You are one hot
fuck, Koldan!" he praised. "I'm so glad you defected to Aldig and then
married me."
"And you're the best thing that ever happened to me, too," I
smiled. "But, my hard dick says you need another load." He glanced over
at my upright organ and laughed.
"Yeah, I love this drug as much as you do, Baby! Breed me," he
added, rolling on to his stomach and spreading his butt cheeks. A few
drops of my previous load oozed out. I swooped in and licked them up. As
much as I wanted to felch out that perfect ass, my hard dick and aching
nuts told me that I needed to fuck him again. This change in dosage sure
didn't diminish the effects. Evidently, it was only the longevity of the
effect and the sperm load.
I slowly fed my pulsing dick to his hungry manhole. He wiggled and
raised his ass to swallow more of my manhood. I pushed deeper and deeper
until my dick completely disappeared. Yeah, this was good! My previous
loads lubed the way in and back out. I pulled out and ate cum from his ass
and then slid back in. If I pulled out soon enough, I wouldn't nutt, I
thought. Well, I was wrong. About the fourth time I pulled out and went
down on his ass, my dick started to jerk. I knew I'd hit that point where
I was about to spray a load. Quickly, I pulled up and shoved my dick into
him. The first jerk of my dick launched a massive load just as my dickhead
disappeared. The next followed as half my dick opened him up. The huge
flow of cream didn't abate as I plowed deeply and unloaded with a shout of
pleasure. "Best fuckin' ass, EVER!" I bellowed. My hips tried to bury my
dick deeper, but I was all the way in and blasting squirt after squirt of
my creamy juices into his hungry love tunnel. This was so good!
Before I was ready to pull out, Persid pushed me aside and mounted
me again, face down. And for good reason. He wasn't in my ass more than a
few seconds before his big dick erupted with another monster load for my
always hungry hole. "Damn! This is good shit!" he moaned. I didn't know
if he meant my ass or the drug we'd taken. Either way, I was getting what
I wanted and so was he.
Afterwards, we ate ass and felched out more cum. Our butts were a
little sore from all the fucking we'd done in the last few minutes, so we
blew each other and swallowed more mutually massive loads. We had another
two hours to go on the effects of the drug and made good use of the time.
More fucks, felches, blow-jobs, and rimmings ensued. I thought the effect
was more pronounced than the original dosage. Persid wasn't so sure. The
need to breed was certainly as high, but the volume of sperm was down in
his opinion. I wasn't going to argue the point. It was incredibly
fulfilling for me.
With a final fuck for both of us, we slept like babies. Exhausted!
The beginning of our weekend started way too early. Talig and
Torig insisted that we get up, change and feed them. We dragged our tired
butts out of bed and did their bidding. We played with them long enough to
exhaust them. That included several more attempts at getting them to walk
unassisted. They failed more than they succeeded, but that was still
progress. When we put them down for their morning naps, we crashed, too.
We awakened an hour later, just in time to get the boys up and get
the real day started. Persid's mom called to thank us for the dinner and
time with the boys. She also suggested that we needed a vacation, at least
a weekend. I liked the idea, as did Persid. We'd try to schedule
something soon.
Persid suggested that because Dispol would be coming with us as
part of his duties that we should invite Pronin, too. We'd have to check
our calendars at the embassy office to see when we could get away. As the
ambassador, there were all kinds of social functions I was expected to
attend. Most of them were scheduled for the weekend. Pronin would know of
good places for a short vacation. I'd been away long enough that I wasn't
really current on the best places to go. Dispol was from Aldig, so he knew
less than we did.
We had a social function to attend that evening. It was Explorers
Day at one of the countries on the other side of the planet. Their embassy
was hosting a party to celebrate. All the ambassadors assigned to Faldo
were expected to attend. Also invited were the Patriarchs. They wouldn't
all attend, of course, but the Grand Patriarch might have to put in an
appearance at the very least. It was his duty as Grand Patriarch to spread
the word worldwide that their religion was the salvation of all mankind.
No one took them seriously. In fact, their unbridled message of hate and
degradation of minorities was banned in most countries.
At the celebration, it was clear which countries thought the
Patriarchs were the pariah of the world. They wouldn't acknowledge the
presence of the two Patriarchs that attended. The Grand Patriarch had sent
his regrets. The Ambassador was cool, but cordial enough to the two that
did attend. After all, he did invite them; but it was only as a matter of
form, not substance. Persid and I nodded to both of them, but didn't do
more than that. Officially, they weren't considered worthy of an
ambassador's time. I thought that was a short-sighted view, but I
represented my government. I didn't set policy.
However, the Patriarchs left early, citing the need to prepare for
religious observances in the morning. No one was unhappy to see them
depart.
This story is fiction. Your life isn't. Always play safe.
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