The Start of Time

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  Chapter 31 Afternoon Musings

  At one point as we walked, Sashar bounced up and took my left hand in hers and skipped along beside me happily. A minute later, she swung herself around and climbed up my body and put her legs around my waist and kissed me on the mouth while I just kept walking. To me, she weighed the equivalent of 18 pounds and I carried her easily.

  She said, “See, I’ll go anywhere with you, if you carry me!”

  Her legs were spread wide around my waist and she leaned back and rubbed her crotch against mine. She felt frisky and apparently wanted some attention. I pulled her higher onto me and lifted her to where her breast was at my lips and said, “A perfect time for lunch,” and I sucked at her nipple, tasting the honey flavored milk. I knew that if I had enough of it, and if I let the little elf grind against me, that we would end up with us trying to march ahead with her bouncing happily on my penis. It wasn’t time for that right now.

  After several drinks at her chest I set her back on her feet and said, “Ooh, that was a good lunch. I’ll want more in a little while.” It seemed to satisfy her for now.

  I heard Alexia say, “Oh, to be a tiny pixie like Sashar.”

  I said, “Oh, Alexia, come here a moment.”

  Alexia came to my side and when she got close enough, I scooped her up and put her legs around my waist in the same position that Sashar had just vacated. Alexia was surprised that I swung her into my arms so easily: even she only weighed 26 pounds to my Earth muscles, and she smiled and put her arms around my neck.

  I said, “I seem to be still hungry!” and I scooted Alexia into position and took a long draught from her breast. Alexia stiffened in my arms and pulled herself to me at the sensation of her sensitive nipple flooding my mouth with its gift. I pulled off and smiled at her and said, “Oh, but you were saying something about wanting to be a tiny girl. Why?”

  She took a deep breath and said, “No, I’m fine. Um, yeah, I’m good just like this.”

  I said, “I think you’re perfect just like this.”

  I set her down and walked on with one arm around Sashar and the other around Alexia.

  I had been pretty busy for the past several weeks and now, as we just walked on and on across the sea of moss, my mind began to calm itself and I had time to reflect on my situation.

  For my last few weeks on Earth, I was busy studying the manuscript, researching where it might lead me, wrestling with what I might or might not be uncovering. I had bought property and made plans. I had driven for days out to the desert and set up a camp. My mind had raced as if it were life and death that I was facing. It essentially was. Either choice, stay or go, would change my life forever. If I went, I might never come back and never see my son again. If I stayed, I would go back to work and live out my life like a ‘normal’ guy.

  For the first few days on Barsoom, I was in constant, actual life and death situations. Running desperately to find water and shelter. Collapsing, nearly dead until Aeyli caught up with me and revived me. Carrying the girl miles and miles in a race to find water for her before she died of thirst and exhaustion. Hounded by the threat of darkness and wild beasts. Attacked by a Great White Ape…and killing it.

  The next few days were within the safety of Tranna, but they weren’t really relaxing by any means. The first night I appeared before the council. Later I got to know my second and third mates. The next morning we spent on plans for renovations. I taught in the market and was captivated by Alexia, the odd girl. That night I taught in the council hall in front of the entire village population…and took two more mates. Afterward, we went home and I made love to all five of them before sunrise.

  This morning we were busy with preparations for our trip into the wilderness and I heard the story of the death of Aeyli and Alexia’s parents, attacked by a Great White Ape on the way from the very village that we were headed toward now.

  And now, we just walked. Quietly or in conversation, we just walked. Mile after mile, the moss in front of us in a never ending sea of unchanging views of nothing. We walked. There was no danger, no hurry, no thirst. No tense discussions, and no challenges from any side. We just walked.

  We walked on a different planet than I was raised on. A different planet! I was just walking…on a different planet. I walked along with five companions. Five of the most beautiful women imaginable. I walked naked except for a leather belt, with five women who were also completely naked except for their leather belts. It was like walking down a long nude beach with no one else around, mile after mile. The only scenery to speak of was the swaying of their perfectly shaped hips and buttocks, and the smiles on their faces.

  Thinking about it, I unbuckled my belt and tossed it into the cart pulled by the giant Barsoomian dog we had brought with us. Alexia and Sashar, walking beside me smiled and tossed their belts on the cart as well. Belle jumped at the chance and was out of hers an instance later, and Rani and Aeyli were right behind her.

  We walked along, now completely naked, except for the ruby anklets that each girl wore on her left foot, miles from any living being. Me and my five mates. The girls with me were amazing in so many ways. Beautiful in the extreme. Buxom in the extreme, but in the most attractive way. Their breasts were rounder than possible on Earth because of the lower effect of gravity. Breasts that produced sweet flavored milk for their husband year round, not just for infants. Sexualized in the extreme. The girls were highly orgasmic and climaxed easily: multiple times. They were unashamed of their sexual desires and joked freely about them and weren’t shy about talking about it with their own household.

  We walked along and when we talked, it was always honest. Barsoom was a very different place than Earth. I was as if the envy and need to always be sure that no one took advantage of you, and the desire to take advantage of others for your own gain, never made it to this planet. I assumed that this was why the girls were able to be so openly sexual with me, without thoughts of territory and abuse and lack of security and being taken advantage of; without lying and inappropriate lust, they had no need to protect themselves from me.

  I loved them and they loved me. As such, it wouldn’t occur to them to be afraid of me. They knew that I loved them, so what could they be afraid of from me? There was no jealousy between them: without the fear that their own needs wouldn’t be met, why would they be afraid of one of the others getting their needs met. There was also no need for modesty. They had no fear that they weren’t attractive enough or that they had to compete for my attention, so why not be as comfortable and as naked as possible? Why be afraid of seeing your husband make love to another of his mates if you knew that he loved you and wanted you to have a wonderful time as soon as your turn came? Why be afraid of being seen making love to your husband if you knew that that the other girls were happy for you and it would never cross their minds to wish that it was them instead of you?

  I walked on and on, down my own planet sized nude beach with five beautiful naked women. A pixie, a giantess, a genius planner, and two more who loved me deeply.

  We walked a long time this time. Finally, Aeyli called a halt.

  She said, “I think that we should stop here for today. We will cross over the spot where the attack happened tomorrow morning. I think that this is good for tonight.”

  We unharnessed the dog from the cart. Rani explained that he would stay nearby and that he would watch for dangers overnight. She said that we should be able to sleep peacefully knowing that he was protecting us.

  I said, “Does he have a name?”

  She asked, “A name? No, no name. And only four legs, just like before.”

  I said, “No, he needs a name. What shall we call him?”

  The other girls gathered around and Rani said, “He’s a Calot. That’s his name.”

  I said, “No, that’s the kind of animal that he is. But he is a being like us and we should give him a name. What should it be?”

  Rani said, “We could call him ‘Big Calot’.”

  I
said, “OK, I’ll pick a name. I say that we call him ‘Cassius’.”

  I took my belt from the cart and put it around my waist and then took a treat from the bag and tossed it to him. I told the girls that we would be back in a few minutes and the big dog and I walked about 50 yards away together.

  The dog was a very quick learner. I called him by name and associated it with the reinforcement of the food. Soon, he was walking at my side reliably. Training went really fast. The telepathic component made it very easy to communicate what I wanted. I would say ‘sit’ and the word was instantly associated with the behavior. I still had to get the behavior first because ‘sit’ to me wasn’t the same as ‘sit’ to the dog, but once I got him to sit naturally or by luring him into the position with the treat, the verbal cue took on meaning the first or second time that it was used. Within a short time, Cassius responded to his name, sit, down, stay, and come. I could have done the same with a dog on Earth in about an hour or so; I had done a lot of animal training in my past life. With Cassius, it took a little less. It wasn’t magic, but it was easy.

  Cassius and I walked back to the new camp spot with him loping along beside me.

  Rani said, “Well, does the Calot have a name?” and she laughed at the idea.

  I said, “Rani, you surprise me.”

  Aeyli laughed and said, “Me too!”

  Alexia said, “Rani, I think that you have lost your mind.”

  Rani frowned and said, “Why? Why me? He’s the one who wants to know what a Calot’s name is!”

  Aeyli and Alexia just smiled.

  I said, “Rani, sit on the ground.”

  She sat down and waited.

  While looking at Rani I said, “Cassius, sit,” and the big dog sat on the ground. Still looking at Rani I said, “Cassius, down,” and the big dog lay down on his stomach and watched me. I tossed him a treat and said, “Cassius, stay.”

  I walked about 20 feet away and said, Rani, come here for a minute.”

  She got up and walked over and stood in front of me.

  I whispered, “I love you,” and I gave her a little kiss. Then I whispered, “Cassius, come.”

  The dog jumped up and hurried to stand at my hip. I took Rani’s hand in mine and patted Cassius on the head and we all walked back to the others.

  Alexia said, “Rani, if Mark says that he taught a Calot a name, why would you question it? Is there something that he has said that he would do that he hasn’t done? The Calot does what he tells it, but only when he calls him by name, the same way that when he told you to sit on the ground you did it but I didn’t. If he said ‘Alexia, sit down’ I would. But he said, ‘Rani’ and then he said ‘Cassius’. The Calot definitely knows that it has a name.”

  Rani said, “Yes, I guess he does. Will he do it for me?”

  I said, “I don’t know. Here, take this treat and ask him to sit. If he does it give it to him.”

  Rani looked at the dog and said, “Cassius, sit.” The dog just stared.

  I said, “Cassius, do what Rani asks you. Rani, try again.”

  Rani said, “Cassius, sit,” and the dog sat and Rani gave him the treat.

  I said, “Maybe he wants to know if I give you authority to ask him to do things. Let’s have everybody try it.”

  I said, “Cassius, watch me,” and I deliberately showed him a treat and handed it to Aeyli. I took another one, and showed it to Cassius and then handed it to one of the other girls and then repeated it until each one was holding a treat. When the girls asked him to sit or lie down, he did so and received his reward.

  Belle said, “What commands have you taught him?”

  I said, “Um, none. We can ask him to do things, but there are no commands. We ask each other to do things, but there’s no punishment if you don’t do it. They are requests. If I say, ‘Belle, come here for a moment’ you choose if you want to do it or not. What happens if you don’t do it?”

  She said, “If I don’t do it, I don’t get to do or hear or see whatever it was that you had in mind. I want to do whatever you ask because I love you. And it’s fun. And you love me.”

  I said, “Exactly! And, if we make it fun, and if he loves you, and if he knows that you love him, then he wants to do what we ask him to. If a dangerous creature comes and threatens me, if you tell him to lie down, he’ll probably ignore you because he wants to protect us more than he wants to lie down, and that’s the right thing for him to do.”

  I took off my belt and put it back in the cart and lay down on my back and relaxed on the soft carpet of moss.

  Aeyli said, “That looks like a good idea,” and she lay down next to me. The other girls smiled and did the same.

  I said, “Tell me what kind of dangers there are here in the open and what will we find when we get to Nobrus?”

  Aeyli said, “Here in the open, there will be almost no chance of seeing any wildlife at all. The apes or other creatures would only come here if they were tracking prey. That’s what happened on our way from the woods back to the ruins. Those ruins don’t have a name that I know of. Those attract beasts because there’s water and the woods aren’t too far away, but also because there are basements and sewers and other underground passages where vermin hide and multiply. It has been uninhabited for a very long time. Maybe 800 years, but we don’t really know.”

  I wondered at how furs and tapestries, and even wooden poles could last 800 years without disintegrating. Maybe the atmospheric differences or the relative sparsity of insect life played a factor. Or maybe it wasn’t as old as Aeyli thought.

  She continued, “Nobrus was abandoned about 60 years ago. When I was there last, a small wood came right to the edge and the people would gather wild foods and hunt, and children would play there. It wasn’t dangerous except at night. There are caves in the woods where the rats lived, and those are dangerous.”

  Sashar said, “How dangerous can a rat be? I’ve killed a lot of rats in the fruit orchards.”

  Alexia said gravely, “These rodents are of an unusual size. Like small Calots. They stand as tall as your knee and they have large teeth. Aeyli and I saw a dead one when we were children. It was a hideous thing.”

  Aeyli said, “Yes. These rats are much more dangerous than orchard rats. Fortunately, they don’t hunt large animals. If they have to defend themselves, they will fight fiercely, but they will run from us if given the chance, unless they’re starving. There may be snakes, but they don’t hunt us either. When Mark and I were at the ruins, it was more dangerous because of the underground beasts, and there were just the two of us and we were weak from lack of food and water. I don’t think that we’ll have much trouble in Nobrus.”

  Belle asked, “Where will we stay, do you think?”

  Aeyli said, “There is a wall around the village and a gate. I’m sure that the gate was closed when the villagers left, and if it hasn’t been opened since, it will still be closed. Um, Nobrus…well, like Alexia said, it has its demons. Or it used to. It was attacked many times by the final tribes of the insane green men, and even some of the people of Nobrus went insane from the horrors that they saw and experienced. At the end, those who were left did what they could to clean up the bodies and debris and make it livable again, but there was just too much pain and memories of how much was lost for anyone to stay. Finally, the last of them put on their belts and left. Many came to Tranna. Some continued on to other places. The fall of time was very devastating.”

  She paused for a few minutes and then said, “So, here’s what I think will happen. We will walk up to the gate of Nobrus and find it still closed.”

  I interrupted, “Aeyli, if it has such a sad history, should we disturb it? Would it be better to leave it as it is? Will others be upset if we go there?”

  Belle, Rani, and Sashar looked at Aeyli to see what she would say.

  She said, “Girls, Mark comes from a different world. Oh, Sashar and Alexia, Mark really did come through the shrine from John Carter’s world. A place called Earth.
”

  Sashar said, “Yes, we know. It’s no secret from us.”

  Aeyli said, “Then, you understand that sometimes he thinks like someone from a different world. He has told me strange stories about Earth, and this must be how someone from Earth might think. Mark, entering Nobrus after so long would be considered a triumph. I bet that in a few months, after Tranna has changed a bit more, if we announced that we wanted to go to Nobrus and see if it could be lived in again, people would volunteer to go with us. When we go back to Tranna, they will make us tell stories in the council meeting.”

  I said, “Oh, I see.”

  She said, “So we’ll probably find the gate closed. We’ll open it and find that the village is relatively clean. First, we’ll find the well and then we can look for a suitable building to stay in. Probably we should look for the tallest building that we can find. We can find furniture and make the place secure on the first night. The next day, we should go into the woods and see what food will be available to us. Then we’ll know how to decide if we should stay or head somewhere else right away. I think that we’ll find plenty to eat in the woods of Nobrus.”

  Aeyli said that the woods next to Nobrus were about twelve miles across. Because water was scarce and primarily spring water rather than rain water, any woods or jungle on Barsoom tended to be very small by earth standards. The very fact there was a wooded area meant that there must be a spring.

  I asked, “Is the spring warm and big enough to bathe in, like we did before?”

  She smiled and said, “I don’t know. We’ll have to find out. I hope so.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon training. After practicing the block and avoid moves for a while, I added a single counter attack on each block. Later, I added another so that each block was followed by two counters, and then three when two was comfortable for them.