by Calista Skye
An important thought came into her mind, something she always wondered when she met a new guy. But she could just ask! She wanted to slap her forehead. Why had she never done that before? Well, she would do it now and maybe make a note of it. “Is your cock really big, too? I ask because I like them big. I think. Never had one that big, you know. Just average. Which is okay! As long as it isn't small. But you know, actually, when you have a face like that, I mean like the one you have, that right there,” she pointed helpfully, “it can be small. It's fine. It's just hard to see it through your pants. But if that bulge there is real, then damn. In a good way! You can just take it out and show me, okay? I'll tell you if it's small or not.”
The man looking at her turned his head and barked something at the other one, who answered something and looked at her and frowned, and then came close and shone a tiny light into her eye, one after the other, so she was blinded.
“Hey, quit it! There's nothing in there!” Except, maybe there was? Maybe he could see her thoughts through there. Well, if that was his thing, whatever. The guy turned off the light and shrugged, and there was a brief conversation in a strange language.
Something was pressing on her in her mind, something important that she couldn't quite get a hold on. She just felt that it was something bad. But still, she was in a good mood. A very good mood, in fact. She could feel that the seat she was in was too high for her feet to reach the ground, so she sat and dangled her legs happily. It was nice! And this was a spaceship, she was sure now. Not like the shuttle that she had been on when she went up to Tellus, but a real one like the aliens used. Maybe they were aliens! No, they looked just like humans. Suspiciously perfect humans, perhaps, but humans. But of course, she could just ask them.
“So who are you guys? Also, where are we going? The North Pole, right? 'Cause it's soon Christmas. Right? No, I mean Easter. But then, why are we going to the North Pole? Shouldn't it be the east pole? Guys, you have to think about these things!”
“We are from the Atrexu Empire,” the very handsome one said in English, with an accent that she knew she'd heard before, very recently. “And we're going back there now. Unless you'd prefer us to take you back to Tellus Station. If you want that, we will do it. We will not do anything that is against your will at all.”
“Oh, yeah, that space station I work at?” she said happily. “Did you know it's in space? So damn cool, right?” Then suddenly she remembered: The commander had practically fired her because of Meller's bad performance reviews. Somehow, even though she could feel a tiny little uneasy feeling about it, it didn't seem bad at all. In fact, everything was awesome!
“Everything is awesome!” she said and felt that she had to laugh, but she didn't know why. It just seemed right.
“You want to come with us to our home?” the man said. He really had the most extraordinary eyes. They seemed crystal clear, just radiating blueness and whiteness, with black rings around the blue part. Was that even legal?
“Hmm? What?” she said, preoccupied with her intense study of his eyes.
“Will you come along with us to our home planet? I guarantee your safety. And I will transport you back to your Earth any time you want.”
“Yeah, sure! Of course. I will. I mean, yes. I do. I do!” Somehow, spending more time with this spectacular-looking guy and his almost as handsome friends seemed really attractive to her. She was having a great time with them!
“Very well. Would you perhaps like to sleep now? You must be exhausted.”
The man stood up, and the other one took his place, smiling calmly at her while doing something with a little piece of equipment in his hand.
“Sure, I'll sleep. I'll sleep with you anytime. No, wait. Sleep? Where are we? And my bed? But we mustn't disturb Tonya! She gets grumpy if I wake her up, so be quiet, okay? Ssshhhh!” She put her finger in front of her lips and shushed.
“Don't worry. We're in a spaceship, a very small civilian machine for transporting people through space and over very large distances. Is it your first time in one?”
“I don't know. Yes, maybe? Except, why would you have a ship in space? But okay. Whatever floats your boat. Or ship, I guess. Hey, did you know I work in space? Such a weird coincidence, right?”
The handsome one nodded to the other, who touched something cold to her neck.
15
The alien female nodded off a split second after Ev'Ax had administered the sleeping substance.
“I certainly hope you gave her less of that than of that damn mood enhancer,” Ar'Ric said. “You had this noble warrior woman making a fool of herself!”
Ev'Ax placed the medical equipment back in his bag. “I do apologize. Keep in mind that I mainly treat large Atrexu soldiers. It's very hard to judge the dosage at the best of times. I gave her less than I really wanted, too, precisely because I couldn't be sure. And even that was too much.”
“It was. Well, at least we were able to end the embarrassment we forced upon her. She would never forgive us if she knew that we had allowed her to say those things in her drugged state without helping her end it, and so preserve her honor. How long will she be asleep?”
“Not long. This is much easier to dose than the mood enhancer. An hour at most.”
“And when she wakes up, she will not be under the influence of the mood enhancer?”
“She will not, unless her physiology is more different from ours than we think.”
“Let's hope it isn't. Now, she will be more comfortable in a bunk, I think. Let's carry her to my cabin. She shall have it for the duration of this voyage.”
Carrying the sleeping woman to his bunk, the prince noted with satisfaction that she had a good heft to her. She was not light as a bird, like most other women he'd known, rather she was nice and weighty like a real woman should be. And even though he did everything he could not accidentally to touch any part of her that was too close to any intimate area, he felt that she had a good, squishy texture.
He drew in her feminine scent, feeling the body heat from her, enjoying the close physical contact with a woman who so perfectly embodied his own preferences in females. He needed no help in carrying her and gently putting her down on his own bunk.
“Her clothing looks loose enough,” he said. “I don't think we have to loosen it any more to secure her circulation.”
“Nor do I,” said Ev'Ax. “She will be safe here. I suggest we let her sleep alone. We'll check on her every ten minutes.”
“No need for you to bother yourself with that, Ev'Ax,” the prince said and patted his friend on the shoulder. “I will make sure she's okay. I don't have much else to do aboard here anyway.” He was already feeling possessive about the young alien woman and didn't want anyone else to touch her, even Ev'Ax, whose loyalty was beyond question.
Ev'Ax left the cabin, and the prince couldn't help but stroke the exotic brown hair away from the alien woman's face. Her skin was smooth and cool, her breath calm. He was surprised to notice that he already felt affection for this female, and seeing her sleep innocently did something to his heart.
He turned off the light in the cabin and went back to the cockpit, feeling a surge of excitement in the pit of his stomach. Perhaps this expedition wasn't a failure after all.
16
“What exactly are your intentions with this alien?” Ber'Ain had left the autopilot in charge of the hyperspace flying and turned his pilot's seat around for the war council the three men were having. “We don't know anything about her, not even why she's on board.”
“Except that she appears to be exactly what we went there to look for,” Ev'Ax pointed out. “It's hard to imagine a more fortuitous chance. We would be fools not to see if she might be willing to consider our proposal.”
“And which proposal is that, Ev'Ax? 'Hey, we knocked you unconscious and then doped you up and then put you to sleep, all while taking you sixteen light years away from your home'? That proposal?”
“No, the proposal to consider marryin
g the prince, of course. We have not yet been able to put it to her, but I think Ar'Ric intends to.”
“I don't believe this!” Ber'Ain exclaimed. “We have known this lady for about twenty seconds when she wasn't blacked out or under the influence of drugs, and those twenty seconds were spent fighting her. And now we're talking about her becoming a royal princess?”
“The possibility must be explored,” Ev'Ax replied. “Everything we do know about her is ideal. Is it really inconceivable that the rest of her might be, too? The only thing that worries me is that she's obviously a mighty warrior. If I know warriors, and I've spent my whole adult life around them, she will not want to abandon her life of conquest and honor for the life of an Imperial Princess.”
“It's a conundrum,” the prince said, breaking his silence. “She refrained from using deadly force because it would violate her sense of honor. On one hand, an honorable warrior spirit is very right in a princess. On the other hand, it might create problems. For instance, her motherly instincts may be dulled by constant warfare. She will be the mother of my heirs, and they must only receive the best care from their mother from the very start. Can we be sure that she will provide it?”
“Surely that's to be determined in the future?” Ber'Ain said. “What I think we should talk about is the fact that from a certain point of view, we have abducted her.”
“But didn't you hear her? She wants to come!”
“She was drugged up to her ears in mood enhancer when she said that. If you'd asked her if she wanted to be shot from a cannon into the sun, she would have agreed with the same degree of enthusiasm.”
“We can defend our actions,” Ev'Ax pointed out. “First: She was not invited aboard. She's a stowaway, as real as they come. Second: We had to do some wild maneuvering because we thought we were under attack. She lost her consciousness, but if you hadn't done that, Ber'Ain, we might all have died. Third: I gave her a mood enhancer because I was worried that we would be dealing with an angry warrior running loose in the ship. I gave her too much, I admit, and that was my fault. But it was understandable. Fourth: We put her to sleep to save her from saying those very strange and embarrassing things.”
Ber'Ain looked at the prince. “Why did you decide that we would not turn around and take her to where she came from as soon as we knew we had only been attacked by an automated system?”
“I take responsibility for that, of course. If it was dishonorable, then I must live with that. But you both know why we went on this expedition. She appears to be everything we looked for. We need time to evaluate her aptitude as a princess. Now we will have that time, during the two days we will be in transit.”
“And if she demands to be taken back?”
“Then we will do that. Anything else would be dishonorable. We're not kidnappers.”
“I don't like any of this,” Ber'Ain said flatly. “I urge you to reconsider.”
“The decision has been made, Ber'Ain,” Ev'Ax said. “Why are you suddenly discussing orders? It's not like you. Ar'Ric, should we tell her about the purpose of our visit to her station?”
The prince thought for a moment.
“Let's not. To start with, I mean. At some point it will become necessary, I suppose, once she sees our own women and realizes that, with her genuinely female shape, she possesses immense beauty, compared to their boniness. It's bound to make her suspicious. And I don't want her to know who we are. Or, specifically, who I am. If she were to, say, fall in love with me, I want it to be not because of my status, but because of myself.”
The words hung in the air, and the Prince felt himself blush. This was not a common topic among Imperial officers. “Of course I know there's little chance of that,” he snapped, embarrassed. “I'm not attractive, as I well know. But I'm just saying if. If there's a chance for a big win, one must not block that avenue for oneself. That's sound military philosophy.”
“Be that as it may,” Ber'Ain said, “it's my opinion that we should take the woman back to her station right away. Too many things about this whole situation are mysterious and frankly dangerous. We know nothing about her, except that she was heavily armed and that she has the highest possible code of honor. And the fact of the matter is that she did fire her weapon at the Heir Apparent of our Empire, although at its lowest power setting. Can we be completely sure that she isn't a spy or a saboteur or an assassin? And what if she's unwilling to consider any proposal? She may have hidden powers or weapons. It seems to me that by allowing this alien to enter our home world, we're taking a huge chance, Ar'Ric. And don't get me started on the lunacy of making this alien an Imperial Princess!”
“She must be vetted, of course,” Ev'Ax said calmly. “Potential royal brides always are.”
“But you have already made up your mind, haven't you, Ar'Ric?” Ber'Ain said, his voice low and strained. “You want this alien! Yes, she's wondrously attractive! Even I can see that, despite that sackcloth she's wearing. But I warn you, Your Highness, as one officer to another: Don't let your cock determine the future of the Empire!”
The prince felt the blood draining from his face in anger. It was not the way Ber'Ain was phrasing his challenge, which was perfectly and unassailably formed, but more that what he said hit too close to home.
“I'm well aware of my responsibilities as concerns the fate of the Empire,” he said coldly. “I will not be lectured on that topic. I spend most of my waking hours with that on my mind, not that it has done me much good so far. In this alien woman, I see the best chance for securing the succession and future of that empire I have ever seen. Shall the Crown Prince, of all people, have to marry a female that leaves him cold? Shall not I have the right to take my chances on marrying a woman from love and attraction? I demand that right. And I will have it. If this arrangement is not to your liking, Ber'Ain, then so be it.”
“It's not to my liking, as I have already stated. I will do my duty, follow orders and fly this ship to Atrexu. But-” Ber'Ain suddenly went quiet, as if struck by an idea.
“But what, Ber'Ain?” the prince demanded.
“I have nothing to add.” The pilot disengaged from the conversation, swung his seat around and busied himself with the ship's instruments. A noticeable chill had descended on the cabin, and there was a long silence, only broken when the prince got up to check on the alien female.
17
Emily stretched comfortably. She felt wonderfully refreshed and ready for anything. She had planned to clean the Level Six public toilets today, which was not the most pleasant task, but at least it was in the alien section, so there was always a chance to see maybe a weird being or two. Or maybe she would never have to clean toilets again, depending on how the meeting with the commander went. No, wait... the commander? She already had that meeting! And...
Her good mood evaporated completely when she recalled the meeting with Commander Chevalier. That damn Meller jerk! But something else had happened afterward, something strange... She racked her brain to think of it. Something about lights and space... And a face... That face! She abruptly sat up. That perfect face on a perfect man! Who was that? Had it even been real? It didn't feel like it had been a dream. And why was she wearing her overalls and utility belt in bed?
The room was very dark, but not completely. Some starlight seeped in from a tiny, round porthole in the wall. Yeah, that was not her quarters that she shared with Tonya. Where the hell was she?
She looked around, thinking furiously, and some details started to come back to her. She'd hid in a small compartment out of the way... Then someone had come. And then... They'd tried to grab her! And they had succeeded! Two men with faces like angels, especially one of them! And then... She remembered making a mental note, to remember asking guys about the size of their... And then she had asked! Oh fuck! She felt herself going pale in horror. A spaceship, some guys that seemed too good to be real, her sprouting nonsense and getting turned on by that hot guy and then... She remembered nothing more until she woke up in this very
comfortable bed.
She should probably be very worried. But she was more puzzled than anything else. What exactly was going on? And, one part of her mind said, was there any coffee somewhere around?
She swung her legs down on the floor and stood up. She could just about spot a panel that she thought would be a door of some kind. If it was locked, she was probably a prisoner. And that meant trouble.
I was not. It slid silently to the side when she approached, and she stepped out of the room and into a short and narrow corridor. There was no sound, except for a background hum that seemed to come from machinery. She tiptoed towards an open end of the corridor in the cheap boots that was standard issue for all civilian Tellus maintenance workers.
She carefully looked around the corner. And there he was! It was the same guy, no question. He was sitting in a chair, looking ahead through a windshield. Yep, it was a spaceship.
She was drawn to look at him as if she couldn't get enough. His profile was clean and classic, with a strong chin, deep-set eyes and a straight nose. His hair was blond and had a curly structure to it. It looked like he was wearing a uniform, because the two other men in the cabin wore similar garments.
They were obviously human, but somehow she just knew that they didn't come from Earth. The interior of the ship was also very different from anything she'd seen. Yep, she was aboard an alien ship going somewhere.
She took a moment to check how she felt about that. Should she be afraid? Surely she should? But the fear didn't materialize. Instead, she felt betrayed and sad. Not because of these guys, but because of the conversation with Commander Chevalier. She remembered every word of it, every dismissive gesture the station chief had made. She plainly had no future on Tellus, either the station or on Earth itself. But this...
