by Lil Gibson
Zorroc blinked lazily at her heady revelations. Though impolite to read another without invitation or knowledge, this represented a special circumstance and special measures overrode edict. Anyway, he justified, she belonged to him, and seemed to sense it, at least on a physical level. It had taken almost an earth year to free himself of his obligations and make the journey to claim his future mate. Now that the time had arrived, he grew impatient to uncover her varying facets.
"Come to me Catarina, and share some Gattonian spirit; I will not bite you," yet, he silently amended. He smiled artlessly. "What is a pooka, I am not familiar with this earth term, and who are Harvey and Elwood P. Dowd? I fear you have us at a loss," Zorroc inquired silkily, as he filled the waiting cup and extended it to her as she slowly made her way to him. Her hand trembled as she took it from him. "I believe you will find the fruit to your liking as well; I had it provided especially for you."
"Thank you, that was very kind," she murmured; her inbred manners kicking in while her mind had taken a vacation. She sat gingerly and took an experimental taste of the liquid; it was surprisingly easy to get down. Cat squirmed, had he been monitoring her the entire time? How else would he have heard about Elwood P. Dowd and Harvey? How did one go about explaining them, and in particular—pookas—without divulging her vulnerability? This autocratic, oversized feline would most likely find a way to use it against her. Okay, okay, so she had secretly longed for her own pooka, a confidante and companion to help her through the unsteady realities of existence. This though, was not her pooka, so how could she extricate herself gracefully? What would Angel do in a situation like this? Prevaricate. She took another pull on her drink and tried to look preoccupied by her surroundings.
The large room reminded her of a space-aged boardroom. The ceiling, though high, softly glowed, making the walls and entire room shimmer comfortably. A large oval table that would seat at least twenty dominated; while electronic equipment lining the entire wall behind it blinked and softly hummed. The cozy sitting area they occupied completed the massive space.
"It really is not important. I drew the wrong conclusion, obviously. Who are you, if I may ask?" Cat interposed, trying for a combination of guilelessness and curiosity, the later unfeigned.
He smiled knowingly but answered her question. "I am Zorroc, of the House of Ra, from the province of Gattonia, on the planet Ganz," he stated. His body held perfectly still as if waiting for her reaction.
"Oh," she barely croaked. Her mind derailed, conjecture-overload seizing her every brain cell. She gulped. She’d always believed in intelligent life on other planets but being faced with the reality seated across a very small table from her, proved daunting to say the least. Quite a mind-set shift from boat to space ship. "So, umm, you are from another planet," she began haltingly, "one that I have never heard of unless we have inadvertently misnamed yours. Where exactly is Ganz?"
"I have answered your question, Catarina, and now you will answer mine. About the pooka?" He tilted his head, pinning her to the chair with a glance.
Well, he had answered her question; but what did it mean? For though she had never heard of a planet called Ganz, she knew one thing. It was not on any American Airlines flight schedules.
She took a deep breath. "A pooka is a mythological creature from Celtic folklore that appears only to some people, usually those who have had too much to drink, like me tonight. Harvey was a pooka and Elwood P. Dowd was his companion." She contrived to look contrite. "I apologize for approaching you the way I did." And touching you, she silently added, remembering the feel of him. "I have no excuse but I really must be running along. Could someone show me the way?"
He ignored the question and asked one of his own. "Do you want me as your companion, little one?" He gently ran his finger down the side of her throat, the outside of her right breast, causing her nipple to bud tightly, and then down her arm punctuating his inquiry.
"No!" Cat yelped, as if she had been prodded. "No," she repeated more gently and quivered. "Of course not. I just, ah, really need to go home now. Ah, I have all the friends I need and, ah, need to be getting back to them."
"No," stated Zorroc softly and then smiled, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing his ankles.
She blinked, "No?" Just no with no excuse, no reason, no threat, and no justification?
"No," Zorroc confirmed, still studying her carefully, anxious for her next move.
This human held a fascination for him that he could not pinpoint. Maybe it lay in the role she would play. Her mind shared opposing facets of directness and scattered. He would enjoy taming her. Her body hummed to him, responding to his touch and he wanted badly to accommodate. Her heart spoke to him and he knew that if he could win her to his side she would be loyal beyond measure. He and his people could not accomplish their quest unaided, as much as it chaffed him to admit. He would like to avoid a confrontation so soon in their union but how to bring her around, and then he smiled, confident he had a way.
"You see, Catarina, you may not need a friend, but like Harvey, I am in great need of one."
"It was the other way around," Cat corrected. He read her determination to escape him and her amusement at his obvious ploy.
"Leave us now." Zorroc looked up and commanded the four guards still stationed at the exit. Prolinc shrugged. As he followed the three others out, he asked, “What could one small earth female do anyway?”
Zorroc regarded her in silence; she had read him exactly right. He would be more careful in the future not to underestimate her. The unvarnished truth rankled; he greatly disliked enlisting the help of a female he barely knew but would take to mate. "Our civilization is dying," he finally confessed. "We need women."
Cat snorted, suspecting another ploy. "Mars Needs Women? Excuse me but that has been done before, you realize," recalling an old science fiction classic.
His mood snapped and he shot from his chair; he should not have to beggar himself, especially to an earth female. His frustration and helplessness at their situation pounded at him and when he answered, he did not recognize his own voice as he towered over her. "We are from Ganz, not Mars," he roared hoarsely, "and while you find this amusing, it means the death of our people and civilization. Is this clear to you, or are you too stupid or shallow to understand the obvious?"
Cat closed her eyes, unable to watch the pain and accusation in his. His pain and torment beat at her both from within and without and his anguish became her own. Could he possibly be telling the truth and even if he were, what could she do to help?
"But how could I help?" she found herself asking, looking straight into his beautiful, ruthless, feline eyes. "At least, I assume you want my help or I wouldn't be here."
Zorroc sighed and ran a hand through his mane. He looked beaten and road-weary as he once again focused on her. "We need help finding willing women. Our two races have mated successfully in the past, many times throughout the centuries, so we know this is possible. We are looking for women willing to come with us to our home planet and provide us with offspring."
"What's wrong with your own women, don't you produce them any more?" Cat probed, trying to understand exactly where she fit in. Not liking any of the answers. Lord, if he was asking her for help, he must really be desperate.
Zorroc gazed at her surreptitiously and took a sip from his drink but she knew he was fighting to remain civil. "The women of our world have been infected with…a virus of sorts which makes them infertile." Or worse, his expression implied.
"Well, how are they going to feel about a bunch of alien women invading their territory and procreating with their men?" she asked, trying to hold onto her last remnants of tact.
"They know it is necessary," he growled warningly, "there will be no trouble."
"Uh huh." The guy was clueless when it came to the opposite sex. 'Never give in, never surrender', recalling the line from Galaxy Quest, this mission was doomed from the get-go. How could she eject herself out of this S
ci-fi soon-to-be-female-fury-detonation?
As she observed his shuttered countenance, she wondered if she could help them in some way. She’d always believed that humans create their own limitations through lack of imagination and that all you need is a spot of ingenuity to break free.
An idea worked its way into her already clogged brain. Oh well, no guts, no glory. "I will try to help you. Let me sleep on it tonight and come up with some ideas and we can meet tomorrow morning at my home. When you take me to my car, you can follow me so you’ll have more than an address. My aunts live with me and I know they’ll be very worried, so…" Maybe things would work out after all.
"No," he refused softly, pinning her with his now familiar implacable stare.
"No?" she repeated, frustrated that he held all the power and could keep her against her will as long as he chose. “Look, I won’t say anything to my aunts or anyone else. For one, who would believe me? I don’t know if I believe it myself. It’s too bazaar; but I do give you my solemn promise to keep your secrets and do all in my power to assist you. But you have to let me go or my aunts could panic and call the police and I don’t think you want the ques…”
"No," he cut her off more forcefully this time.
"No, just no. Is yes in your vocabulary?" she charged, jumping out of her chair even as he answered her last question in the affirmative, which she ignored. "You are no longer in the terrible twos. You can't just say no! You have to follow it with, I don't think that would be a good idea or it will not be possible this evening or I am not totally losing my mind!" she lectured, her voice escalating to match her mounting panic. Facing him nose to nose, she no doubt resembled a ferocious mouse to his saber-tooth tiger.
"No, I do not think that would be a good idea and it will not be possible, and I am not totally out of my mind yet, but given a few more days with you it may come to pass. Satisfied?" he responded.
"Immensely, so what happens now?"
"You are going to make this difficult."
"I'm going to make it hard as Hell."
"You already have, my cream." He shifted trying to find a more accommodating position for his alter id. "You will stay with me tonight and we will have our meeting tomorrow in the afternoon. You may contact your aunts to let them know you are well, but give no details." He crossed to a video screen and punched in a number. Her number.
She wondered how he knew it but decided it could wait until she had talked with the aunts. The question was, what to tell them. 'Hi Aunt Helen and Aunt Marie, I'll be a little late; I've been kidnapped by a rogue group of alien pookas who slightly resemble cats’—Hmm; probably too direct.
Marie picked up the phone and Cat flooded with relief at the normal greeting from her quirky aunt.
"I’m running a little late, Aunt M. It's difficult to explain, but I got carried away and lost track of the time. Actually I may just spend the night."
"Since we didn’t expect you until now it’s no problem, cupcake. Helen and I ate an entire large Pepperoni pizza with extra cheese. I feel like a snake that swallowed a rabbit whole.” There was a pause, then Marie asked tentatively. “Is everything alright, dear?”
Cat fought back a sob. “Just fine, M. Love to you and Aunt Helen.”
“Goodbye, dear. Give our love to Angel and Dee and we'll look for you tomorrow."
Of course, they would assume she was with her friends. She usually was. At least she didn't have to lie outright. She was dismal at it. Would that be the last conversation she had with them? Not a comforting thought. Her life had been changed immeasurably with the coming of the aunts. They had swept into her life like two befuddled semi-rumpled fairy godmothers and not only encased Cat in the first secure family situation she had known but had informally adopted Angel and Dee, as well. They were eccentric to the extreme, yet their optimism was catching, and they filled her world with a cock-eyed sense of wonder. She did not want to lose them. Heck, she did not want them to lose her.
"So, how did you know my number?" she asked as she terminated her call. Zorroc merely smiled as Prolinc appeared at the door and propelled her from the room.
"She is secure?" Zorroc asked when Prolinc returned.
"She is crazy," Prolinc retorted with the hint of a smile. "I believe she thought I would leave her quarters unsecured if I thought her unable to find her way off the ship. She made a point of explaining this on the way back to your cabin. That and inquiring if I had a mate."
The last comment caught Zorroc's attention. "Why would she ask that?" he questioned as he studied the COM in front of him.
"Who can say? I told you she is mind-blasted." His eyes, twinkling with amusement, observed the storm swirling around his friend. He did not have long to wait to catch its direction.
"She is mine, Prolinc, I have plans for her. Is this clear?" he demanded.
"Clear as uncut crystal!" Prolinc returned lightly, not at all intimidated. "What do you intend to do with her now that she is yours; do you plan on informing her as to her new status?"
"She will know when I am ready," he grumbled, snatching up his Jive and taking a long satisfying drink.
"Now that you have spoken to her, how much do you intend to reveal about our mission and will she agree to her part? The aunts seem to think she can be trusted to help but only if you are forthcoming about the situation."
"Never be forthcoming with a female, Prolinc, next I will think you mind-blasted," Zorroc snapped. "I will tell her only what I have to, in order to ensure her acquiescence."
"Do you think she will be easily led? She seems quite stubborn in her way, more cat than lamb," Prolinc concluded, then promptly dropped the subject at Zorroc's deadly expression. One could only press so far with their Leader if he wished to survive with head intact. He turned and left, leaving Zorroc to his own company.
Zorroc stared broodingly at the closed panel. He had received yet another COM from Gattonia on his return to the ship. He must hurry, and he must be successful. Massive changes would occur with the arrival of the earth females and there was no guarantee they would be unaffected by the virus. He could be responsible for killing many innocent women by bringing them to his home planet, and it was not their fight.
Viral warfare loomed worse, crueler than any weapon to date devised by any world. Zazu, what a mess! There had been talk of testing the earth females on the way to Ganz, but the risks probably outweighed the benefits. Extensive tests on earth's air and atmosphere determined that it had been so slowly infused with pollutants; the effect on females, where child bearing and birth defects were concerned, seemed minimal. There was a better than average chance that the virus would have little effect on their immune systems.
The Gattonians had lost ten percent of their own female population, so far, with countless more sterile. The progressive virus attacked the reproductive organs and, in some cases, spread from there. The males had been spared; they had no reproductive organs to engage the virus, no entrance for the organism to take hold. He wondered if the Dargons had intended just that. The Gattonian males watched those die that they had sworn to protect.
Making war on babies and females, it made him sick to his very core. Hell, maybe the males had been infected in their own way, after all; their spirits were being crushed every minute of every day in a slow, painful death of the soul. He had to find a way out of this and destroy the Dargons who had loosed this nightmare on his people.
And what of Catarina? How would the planet affect her bright light; he did not think he could bear to see it dim and go out. Mentally, he shook himself. He could not continue along that path, he had a mission, and he would see it through. His people must come first. "All right, little Cat, it is time to begin your training." He exited and made his way to his living quarters, shedding his morbid thoughts for predatory ones.
Chapter Three
Cat felt rested, calm, warm and protected. She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to lose this secure euphoria. What a detailed nightmare! Pookas, cat peopl
e from outer space, kidnapping, Mars Needs Women, maybe she did need to lay off the sci-fi and fantasy movies for a while, she giggled and yawned, snuggling closer to the heat. She had an arm and leg draped across the firm body pillow bringing her body prone against the impossibly hard and…breathing…she eased open her eyes to find a pair of golden cat-eyes studying her curiously. His eyes!
"Aay!" she screamed and bounded off the bed with the dexterity of an Olympian gymnast.
“Eek!” She didn't have any clothes on!
Zorroc winced and then yawned, Zazu, the female had lungs. She was quick; too. Had she never woken up on a male's mat, as his aunts had intimated? The panel of his quarters opened and three guards charged in, weapons drawn and pointed at Cat.
Cat screamed again, bounded back onto the mat, and under the covers, clinging to Zorroc.
"She is quick moving," Prolinc commented, "and loud." And perfectly formed he noted, sauntering further into the room while quietly dismissing the others.
"My apologies, Zorroc, they have not yet learned of your affect on the gentler species. I will leave you to your privacy." He turned, moving stealthily through the exit, the panel sliding shut behind him.
