Volunteer (Selected Book 3)

by Robin Roseau

  The next afternoon, both girls wanted to drive me back to school. Violet finally spoke in rapid Catseye, far too fast for me to follow, and the end result was she drove me alone. But I told her, "Lila might be back, so we should get our hug here."

  I didn't have to offer twice, but she had me half out of my clothes in the car, holding me tightly most of the way back to school.

  As we drew closer, she asked quietly, "Skye, could I ask you something."

  "Sure."

  "Would you go on a date with me?"

  "Yes. When and what are we doing?"

  "Really?"

  "Of course. But did your mother tell you about school coming first."

  "Yeah. She also said I didn't have to worry about human competition."

  I laughed. "That's probably true."

  She helped me back into my clothes and still didn't answer when and where, but then she asked, "Will you teach me how to kiss?"

  I turned to her and cupped one of her cheeks, staring into her eyes. She wasn't wearing the glasses, but if she climbed from the car, she'd have to put them on. "Close your eyes," I told her. She did. Then I leaned closer. "We start easy." I kissed the corner of her mouth. I think I surprised her. Then I kissed the other corner. Then back and forth a little before going into a full on kiss.

  I couldn't say it was a great kiss. She was tentative, and it was a little strange. Finally I pulled away, and she opened her eyes to look at me.

  "What did you think?"

  "I don't know," she said. "Human women like to kiss. I don't think I'm going to be very good."

  "Like me at Boardwalk?"

  "Oh, I hope I wasn't that bad," she said with a smile.

  "Violet, what do Catseye do?"

  "We taste, but we're more intimate about it."

  "Then that's what we'll do," I said.

  "But you want to kiss."

  "Give me a tentacle," I said. She slipped one back out of her shirt and offered it to me. I leaned my face against it, and immediately she wrapped around me, covering much of my face, the tip across my lips.

  "Do not mark my face," I said. "That rule might change in the future, but for now."

  "All right."

  Then I kissed, and she immediately slipped the tentacle into my mouth. I wrapped my lips around it, and I felt her begin to tease my tongue, sliding and sucking, very lightly. She closed her eyes, and while she didn't moan, she gave a sound of Catseye pleasure.

  I enjoyed it, too, but eventually she withdrew then opened her eyes.

  "I don't know what you want me to do," I told her.

  "I like how you respond to me. Will you give me a hand?" I offered my hand, and she brushed her face with my fingers, then when she slipped them across her lips, she kissed my fingers.

  And I knew what to do. I slipped two fingers into her mouth. A moment later, her tentacle was over my face, and I kissed and opened.

  It all sounds a little weird, but I actually got worked up, and finally I pulled my fingers from her mouth. She removed her tentacle but brushed across my lips, so I brushed my fingers across hers. Finally she opened her eyes.

  "Next Saturday," she whispered.

  "All right," I said quietly.

  The car came to a stop, and she quickly pulled herself together. I knew that no one could see inside, so there wasn't a risk of us being caught. But we both checked all our buttons.

  "I'm not going to walk you to your room," she said. "If I do, I won't want to leave."

  "Lila could already be back," I said. "I'm sorry."

  "She isn't your fault. It sounds like she's average for a human. You're the odd one, Skye."

  "Maybe I am. There's something else I want to do before I get out." I pulled her into a hug, although she kept her tentacles to herself. But kissed her ear and sucked on the lobe for a few seconds. She squirmed and held me tightly, then slowly I released her.

  "Do you have any other girlfriends, Skye?"

  "No."

  "I know sometimes humans go out with more than one person at a time."

  "I've never been on a date, Violet."

  "Good," she said. "I know humans don't do it this way, but I don't want you to go out with anyone else unless you are no longer going to go out with me."

  "Then I guess it's just you," I said.

  "Thank you." She looked me up and down. "You better go, or I'm going to grab you and mark you terribly."

  I climbed from the car, and she assured me she'd email.

  * * * *

  We emailed daily, but I think both of us were afraid to call the other. I wrote Jasmine and told her what was going on.

  "But school comes first."

  "Have a nice time," she wrote back. "I hope she steals your heart."

  "It's a first date."

  "You've known her for months. She's been flirting with you for months, and you've been flirting back."

  "Taking it slow."

  On Thursday, I wrote Violet and said, "I need to know what to wear."

  "We're going to a show in New York," she said. "It's a human comedy. Any of the dresses you wear for dinners here is fine. We'll overnight here and have you back to school on Sunday."

  "What about dinner?"

  "There's a restaurant near the United Nations building."

  "How are we getting there?"

  "Trust me." She included the rest of the information I would need.

  * * * *

  I dressed in the first dress I'd worn with them, although I wore boots instead of heels. Lila was in our room, studying, and I didn't want Violet to deal with it. I called Violet.

  "Where are you?"

  "I'm not late."

  "I know. Lila is here. I want to know when to head downstairs."

  "I'm in the parking lot waiting for 5:00."

  "Oh, you didn't have to do that! I'll be right there."

  I collected my things, waved to Lila, and headed down the stairs.

  One of the things I hadn't thought through properly when picking schools was winter. It had been a long time since we'd lived in Cleveland, and my body was no longer accustomed to the cold. It wasn't even full winter yet, and I already disliked the weather. What was I going to do in January?

  But I bundled up and then hurried.

  Violet was standing beside the car, one of those magical, self-driving space alien cars they always used. She brightened and waved when she saw me, and I hurried to her.

  She wanted to hug when I arrived, so I took a quick hug but said, "Car."

  She held the door for me and then climbed in the other side.

  Inside the car, it was warm, and comfortable both with the temperature and the knowledge I could look out but no one could look in, I unbuttoned the coat then decided to take it off entirely. Violet watched me, and she smiled when she saw what I was wearing.

  "Are smiles universal?" I asked.

  "Excuse me?"

  "Well, humans smile. And Catseye smile."

  "Oh. It's learned behavior," she said. "Our natural reactions involve our tentacles. We learn to smile for humans, but now it's an automatic habit."

  We looked at each other for a minute. She had a dress I hadn't seen before, black and purple and elegant, although unlike my dress, it wasn't backless. I sighed.

  "Is something wrong."

  "I want a proper hug, but you can't deliver one while wearing that."

  "That isn't true," she said. A moment later, both sides unzipped, seemingly of their own, and then her tentacles emerged. I smiled and moved into her arms, awkward in the car. But still, we hugged.

  But she didn't suck.

  "I'm going to be careful of your back for now," she whispered. "We'll be around humans."

  "I don't care if they see."

  "Mom's orders," she said.

  "Oh." But we held tightly, and when presented with the offer, I kissed a tentacle, and she slipped it between my teeth.

  She teased my tongue for a long time, sucking and sliding, and then she adjus
ted one of her tentacles, finding my right arm. She pulled it away from around her back and moved my hand until it was pressed against her face. I was puzzled at first, but when she moved my hand to her face, I understood.

  I caressed her face gently, finally brushing across her lips. She kissed the tips of my fingers, and I slid fingers into her mouth. As soon as I did, she tightened her hold everywhere, and I heard her tentacles snuffling, the Catseye version of panting.

  Finally we each pulled away a little, withdrawing from each others' mouths and staring into each others' eyes. Her tentacles were still snuffling, and I was panting a little.

  "Okay," she said. "You need to move over to that seat and buckle in. If we do this any more, I'm going to drag you into the back seat, and my promise not to mark you is going to go out the window."

  I laughed, pulled her close to kiss her ear, and then moved back to my own seat. She watched me buckle in, buckled herself, and then we were moving.

  But I reached over, and we held hands. Then she added a tentacle, wrapping it all the way around my arm, the tips just reaching my armpit. She teased me there a little. I squirmed. "Tickles."

  "Oh, really?" She said. I felt the tentacle tighten, and I knew she was about to go to town.

  "Wait, Violet," I said.

  "I like tickling you," she said.

  "Later. Please."

  "How about now and later?" And her tentacle tip continued to tease. I squirmed, trying to pull away, but she held tightly.

  "Please, Violet," I said. "Later. Promise."

  "Later," she agreed. "But do I have to let go?"

  "No, but stop that." I reached with my other hand and slapped lightly at the tip of her tentacle. She laughed.

  "I'm just touching."

  "Well, stop touching there," I said. I grabbed the tip, unpeeled it a little, and set it across my shoulder instead. Violet laughed again, but she behaved after that.

  "Did it really tickle?"

  "Nice tickles," I said. I liked nice tickles, even when they drove me crazy.

  It wasn't a long drive. I was expecting her to take me back to Boston and from there to New York, either by train or plane. Instead we drove only a few minutes to the local airport, and when we came to a stop, it was beside one of the spaceships!

  I stared at it. "We're flying to New York in that?"

  "How else?" she asked.

  I turned to her. "We're flying in a spaceship?"

  "That one is just a little jumper. It's for short distances."

  "A little jumper?"

  "Yep. Put your coat on. I'll lower the ramp once you're ready."

  I unbuckled and squirmed into the jacket. Violet got out of the car and then opened my door. She took my arm, and the car was moving away as we stepped towards the space ship.

  We entered via a ramp in the back of the jumper. We weren't even all the way inside before the ramp began closing behind us.

  I realized then it was smaller than the spaceships I'd flown in before. There was a center aisle and seating for six. And the chairs weren't as large and all-encompassing as the chairs on the spaceship. I would learn these could partially swallow me, but not entirely like the others.

  "Where's the pilot?"

  "You're holding her hand," Violet said.

  I looked at her in surprise.

  "Oh, it's not that big a deal. It flies itself, just like the cars."

  "But there are controls." I pointed ahead.

  "It can be flown manually, and if I have to, I can. I'm fully rated, and Mom made me go out with a flight instructor this week just to tighten my skills. But I won't have to touch them." She led me to the front passenger seat, behind what might be the copilot's seat in a human airplane, and then tried to get me to sit.

  "I want to sit there," I said, pointing to the seat in front of me. "Or isn't that allowed."

  She cocked her head. "Why do you want to sit there? I won't be able to teach you to fly it."

  "I want to sit next to you," I said. "But if I can't."

  "Oh." She pointed to the other front passenger seat. "I'll be here. I told you. It flies on automatic."

  "You don't even have to sit at the controls?"

  "Only if I need to take over. I won't have to."

  So I took off the coat. Violet took it from me, setting it on her seat, and then helped me into my seat. There weren't buckles. She did something, and the seat partially wrapped around me, although it kept my arms free.

  "But you have to behave until we're in the air," she said, pressing my arms to the arms of the chair. "If you're going to misbehave, I'll make the seat hold you still."

  "You wouldn't."

  "I certainly would," she said. "And you know it."

  I laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you would. I'll behave."

  Then she took my coat and stepped in back. I couldn't quite see, but I presumed there was a closet for it. Then she moved forward and took her own seat. We looked at each other.

  "Are you scared?"

  "Why would I be scared?" I thought for a moment. "I'm not scared. I'm a little nervous and a lot excited. When you take a girl on a date, you go all out, Violet."

  She smiled. "I've never taken anyone on a date before. Am I doing it right?"

  "I've never been on a date, but it sure seems right to me. But I don't want to think about what this is costing."

  She cocked her head. "Something didn't make it across our cultural divide. I think it's important. Can we talk about it once we're in the air?"

  "All right."

  "You need to be quiet a minute." She turned forward, staring ahead for a minute, and the spaceship -- or jumper, whatever the difference was -- dimmed the cabin lights. There were windows, and I could see our exterior lights came on. "I have to talk to the human authorities now."

  And then she sounded just like an airplane pilot. I couldn't hear the other side, so it sounded quite strange, but she took care of the things that needed taking care of. Then we were moving.

  Like we had in the spaceship, we took off like a regular airplane. Violet continued to ignore me for a while, but then she turned to me and smiled. "I'm sorry about that. We have twenty minutes until I have to talk to the humans in New York."

  "This is so cool, Violet," I said. "You're a real pilot."

  "Of course I am. Mom wouldn't let me fly the jumper if I weren't. Posey was so jealous when I got my license before she did. We actually have to have a human pilot's license to fly in human controlled airspace."

  I smiled about that.

  She laughed. "It was funny. The examiner had never tested one of us. I was his first, and he didn't have a clue what he was really supposed to do. We don't keep printed records like humans do, so I didn't have any of the paperwork he was supposed to examine. But I think someone said, 'If she can fly safely, pass her and ignore the differences.' I had to help him out."

  I laughed. "How?"

  "I told him I understood this was strange to him and then relayed the requirements for a human pilot's license. He verified I was correct, so I explained to him how I satisfied all the requirements. All this was on the ground, and then when he was satisfied, we walked out to the hangar. He was expecting to see a human airplane and was a little surprised to see the jumper. He began asking about a million questions. We climbed in, and he got worried again."

  "Why?"

  "He's supposed to be able to fly in case the person being examined is screwing up."

  I laughed. "I bet he doesn't read Catseye."

  Violet laughed with me. "No. I can put the screens into English, but I didn't tell him that at first. Instead I described the safety features of the craft and told him I could fly it from the back seat without appearing to do a thing. Then I began manipulating everything without touching a thing, and his eyes about fell out of his head."

  "You're a tease."

  "I know. But then I said, 'What you need to do is make sure I can operate properly with the human authorities.' But he shook his head. He pointed
out the license he was granted authorized me to fly human aircraft as well."

  "Oh, oh."

  "Except they can write in any restrictions they want onto my license," she said. "I pointed that out to him and told him that we're each rated for only the craft we're tested to fly. He could limit my license that way. He wasn't fully convinced and made a phone call."

  I laughed again. "And now, here we are."

  "Here we are. Skye, you said something about money. Can you explain?"

  "Oh. Well." I gestured. "I know what human airplanes cost. Well, I don't, but I know they cost an awful lot. And they cost a lot to fly. I know what a commercial flight ticket costs. I can't imagine what a private jet would cost to fly from here to New York, but I bet it's thousands."

  "So?"

  "So? You're spending thousands for a date. A first date, no less, and you act like it's nothing."

  "Oh. I see. The jumper is Mom's. It doesn't cost a thing for me to fly it."

  "Then it costs your mom."

  "Well, she had to buy it. But she needs one, so she has one. It doesn't cost any extra to let me use it."

  "What about gas?"

  "Gas?"

  "Um. Jet fuel. Whatever this runs on."

  "Sunlight is free."

  "It runs on sunlight?"

  "We collect energy from sunlight and then convert it into the form used by this craft."

  "You're saying it doesn't cost anything."

  "Well, I suppose the energy we're using could be used for something else, or we could sell it to the humans. We do sell some energy to the humans, but nowhere near what we could. We helped you replace your energy grid, but we want you self sufficient."

  "Wow," I said. "You're telling me not to worry about it."

  "Right."

  "What about the tickets and dinner?"

  "Well, those cost American dollars."

  "I should pay my half."

  "No."

  "But."

  "No," she said again. "Skye, I'm going to be blunt."

  "Aren't Catseye always blunt?"

  "No. Skye, by human standards, I'm rich."

  "You mean your moms are rich."

  "No. I mean every one of the extraterrestrials you'll ever meet is rich. There are humans who are richer than people like me, but each one of us would make your Forbes' 500 list."

  "Oh shit."

  "We charged humans a great deal for the things we did for you. We charged enough to make it hurt."