by J. S. Wilder
I smiled and ducked my head. Now that it was all over, I was feeling self-conscious for what I’d done. She was right. I’d gotten lucky and hurt him badly with my bag of produce, but it could have just as easily gone the other way.
“Do you live near here?” I asked, taking one of her hands. They were scraped, and blood was oozing from the abrasion. “We should get your hands cleaned up. Any place else hurt?”
The woman looked at her hands. “I was on my way to the greengrocer. I live just a few blocks from here.” She looked around as the crowd continued to thicken around us.
“Do you need to see a doctor?” the man who’d helped the woman to her feet asked.
“Posh,” the woman said. “For a few scrapes? I’ll dress my hands and knee when I get home.” She turned her attention back to me. “How can I thank you…?”
She paused, watching my eyes expectantly.
“Catherina. Catherina Hume,” I said with a smile.
“Donella Sheehy,” she said, offering her hand.
I took it and shook it gently so I wouldn’t cause her any more pain. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked. I was afraid her fear and shock after being attacked was masking injuries.
Donella nodded. “Yes, I’m quite alright, thanks to you. I’m going to be a little sore in the morning, but other than that, yes, I’m quite fine. Thank you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, quite sure. Again, thank you so very much.” She pulled me into a hug and held me for a long moment then released me. “I’ve seen you walking. Perhaps you can pop around for tea sometime?”
I smiled. “I’d like that. Thank you,” I replied, and meant it.
The crowd was beginning to disperse now that the excitement was over.
“Brilliant,” she said with a beaming smile. “Give me a few days to recover, then the next time I see you, we’ll set up a time. It’ll be nice to have a visitor, and such a pretty girl too.” Her smile grew even wider. “I bet the boys must fight over you. But listen to me prattle on. I’m sure you must be busy. Thank you again, Catherina. And don’t forget the tea.”
The shower was picking up and I was anxious to wrap this up before it began to rain any harder. “I won’t forget, Ms. Sheehy.”
“Do call me Donella,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Ms. Sheehy sounds so stiff and formal. I think you’ve earned the right to call me by my first name, don’t you?”
I giggled a bit. “Okay, Donella it is.”
Donella looked up at the sky. “I don’t want you get wet.”
She pulled me into another brief hug then released me with a smile. She stood, watching me a moment and I realized she was waiting for me to break contact first. I gave her a nod.
“Hurry, before you get wet,” I said as I began to step backward.
“You too, dear,” Donella said.
I took another a few steps as she continued to watch me. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable with the way she was looking at me. She was looking at me as if I were some savior, but I was just a woman that had lost her temper and committed a foolish act that happened to have worked out well. I nodded and smiled, then not knowing what else to do, I turned my back to her and walked quickly away. After a couple of dozen steps, I stopped and looked at me, and was relieved that Donella had gone on her way and was no longer looking at me.
I walked the rest of the way to my apartment, just making it before the shakes and tears started. I leaned my back against the door and whimpered. It took a moment, but I gathered myself. It was times like these when I missed having someone to come home to, someone to take me into his arms and hold me until the tears dried. Wiping my eyes, I peeled myself off the door and moved to my tiny kitchen. I emptied my produce out of the bag as raindrops began to splatter against the glass of my window.
It appeared my pineapple had taken the brunt of the impact. I giggled wetly to myself and wiped my eyes again. I hoped the mugger had learned his lesson. The pineapple was too expensive to waste by bashing it over someone’s head.
I spent the next thirty minutes preparing my meal. I hadn’t intended to cut up the pineapple tonight, but I wanted to cut out the damaged portion so I could salvage the rest of the fruit.
I changed out of my suit and into something warm, soft and comfortable as my potatoes cooked. For reasons I couldn’t readily explain, I was feeling better now than I had in weeks. Kicking the shit out of a hooligan that needed it had a cathartic effect. I had been feeling sorry for myself, but now that the danger was past and I had emerged unscathed, I was feeling bold and empowered.
I sat down at the table with my meal, a piece of baked chicken with buttered potatoes and carrots, and opened my laptop. As I ate, I searched Netflix until I found something to suit my mood. I finally settled on Thelma and Louise.
By the time the movie was over, I had moved to the sofa, and I was smiling. Seeing a young and exceptionally hot Brad Pitt bone an older Geena Davis, even if there wasn’t much to it, had gotten me all worked up. Why couldn’t something like that happen to me?
Grinning, I sat the laptop aside and carried my empty pineapple plate to the kitchen. I washed up the few dishes I used and put them away. Flipping out lights as I went, I retired to my bedroom. What I wouldn’t give to have Brad Pitt here right now. It was still early, and I’d let him pin me against the wall as he fucked me for as long as he wanted. I couldn’t get the images out of my mind as I cleaned my face and brushed my teeth and hair.
It was going to be another one of those nights. There wasn’t going to be any sleeping tonight unless I took care of something first. I flopped on my bed, biting my lower lip as my hand snaked into my pajama bottom to softly caress myself. It wasn’t nearly as good as having a man between my legs, but it was better than nothing, and it had been a couple of months since I’d had a man.
I continued to touch myself, my juices flowing as in my imagination I became Thelma and the sexy grifter J.D. took me against the wall. As I began to get into it, I stopped and slithered out of my pajamas and pulled my toyfriend from his home in the bottom drawer of my nightstand. He wasn’t as good as a real man either, but at least I didn’t have to worry about finding him in some strange whore. So long as I kept him charged with fresh batteries, he was always faithful.
I flipped Buzz on and touched myself, a soft moan escaping me as he sent delicious chills rocketing through me. My head tipped back as I touched myself with my toy, my right hand guiding Buzz to all the best places, my left gripping my breast as J.D. manhandled me against the wall.
I plunged Buzz inside as J.D. slid into me, his breath hot on my neck as he gripped my breast in his big hand.
“I’m going to cum, baby,” he breathed as he plunged into me hard and fast. “You feel so fucking good; you’re going to make me cum. Cum with me, Cat. Cum with me.”
I touched Buzz to my button, pressing him down as searing pleasure ricocheted along my nerves. I moaned softly as my orgasm swelled within me.
“I’m cumming!” J.D. grunted as he pounded into me.
“Ah… fuck…” I breathed as my rapture washed over me.
I held Buzz to me, amplify the pleasure as I began to curl into upon myself, my shoulders rising off the bed as I jerked softly. I grunted quietly, battling the pleasure, wringing myself dry of need as it swelled to intolerable levels. With a hard moan, I dropped Buzz to the bed, unable to stand the sensations another moment. I rolled to my side as I jerked, ravaged by pleasure, one hand between my legs, the other gripping the linens of my bed fiercely tight. After a second, an hour, an eternity of pleasure, I gasped as my climax washed out of me. I lay on my side, breathing hard as I relaxed. After a moment, I took a deep cleansing breath and smiled as I slapped around until I found Buzz and switched him off. I sighed again as I dropped him back to the bed. Buzz might not be as good as a man, but he was pretty damn good, and he was always available when I needed him.
I lay still for a moment, basking in the afterglow of
my orgasm. I sighed again. I could feel sleep tugging at me. I debated flipping Buzz back on and have J.D. go another round or two, but I decided that I’d taken the edge off, and that was enough for tonight. Maybe when the weekend arrived, Buzz and I could go three or four rounds. I hadn’t been able to wear out his battery on one marathon session yet, but I was still trying.
Smiling to myself, I forced myself out of bed. I knew from experience if I allowed myself to lie still for very long, I’d go to sleep. I needed to get Buzz cleaned up and tucked back into his home in the bottom of my drawer. Taking care of him seemed like the least I could do since he did such a good job taking care of me.
Chapter Two
Stevan
“My Lord,” Kergah said, dropping to his knee.
“Rise and approach,” I ordered.
I hadn’t slept well last night and was in an ill temper. Even the attentions of the lovely and lustful Sereni hadn’t been able to quieten the voices in my head, and after I had finished with her, I’d sent her away.
Kergah paused before my desk. “We have news.”
There was something in his tone that interested me. “What news?”
“We have discovered another race. An Ancient Ones race.”
My eyes opened wide. A new race hadn’t been discovered in nearly a half-million years. “Where?”
Kergah smiled as he placed the recording cube on my desk and waved his hand over it. A star map appeared with a blinking red and blue dot. By default, red was Firaspatciti, so the blue dot had to be the newly discovered civilization.
“Here, my Lord, 40,000 light years distant, in the Sagittarius arm.” The view zoomed with dizzying speed. “They are a young race, perhaps only 200,000 years old.”
“Two hundred thousand years? Are you sure?” That was far younger than the next youngest known civilization, the Kreedeans.
“They are still using fossil fuels and are confined to a single planet, a water world, third from their star.”
“They have no knowledge of the rest of the peoples in the galaxy?”
“No, my Lord.”
“And they can breed?”
Kergah smiled. “Like a three-cocked Snath.”
I smiled, but my heart sank. By ancient law, the more advanced peoples were prohibited from interacting with cultures that had no knowledge of their existence. It was the oldest of laws, handed down from the Ancient Ones. This new race was what we needed, young, vigorous, with their genetic code not tainted by millions of years of evolution. We could breed with them, incorporate their genetic material into our own and begin to thrive again. But it was forbidden.
There had to be a way. The news throughout the galaxy was grim. Of the three thousand different peoples that made up the known races of the galaxy, from the Aquallians to the Zykzree, all were seeing a dramatic drop in their birth rates. The galaxy was dying, and attempts to interbreed weren’t working.
All the Peoples were genetically compatible, and a few successful pairings were producing offspring, but it wasn’t enough, fast enough. If something didn’t change, in perhaps ten thousand years, the only people left might be these young ones on their tiny blue world.
“Show me,” I ordered as I rose.
I followed Kergah to the palace receiving room, where the large fixed portal resided. Kergah opened a portal, and I saw their world for the first time.
“Do these people have a name?”
“We haven’t deciphered their languages yet, but we believe they call themselves Human.”
I tried the word, and it came easily off the tongue. “Human. Perhaps from the Huimuannirky?”
Kergah shook his head. “Unlikely. According to ancient records, the Huimuannirky spread through the Orion arm, and Human is only one of the names they seem to use for themselves. They haven’t developed a unified language yet. We also believe they call themselves Terrans and Earthers. We’ve only just discovered the Humans and the scholars haven’t had time to build a comprehensive understanding of them. I knew you’d want to know of the discovery as soon as possible.”
I gripped Kergah on the shoulder. “Where would the Firaspatciti, the entire galaxy, be without you?”
Kergah smiled, gripping my shoulder in return. “The same could be said for you, Stevan.”
We broke our bond and Kergah zoomed the portal in. The portal was set to transmit light and sound, but nothing else. It hovered on the street and as ground-based conveyances passed. The Humans were obviously from the Ancients Ones, but they displayed a vast array of shapes and coloring, from very pale skin like the Higuarian to very dark like the Kullear. Some were tall, as we were, others petite. They were heavy and light, old and young, with vibrancy and variety that came with youth. They hadn’t yet bred themselves into a set of single general traits that came to define a people.
“This is exactly what we need,” I said as the Humans went about their lives. “The entire planet is like this?”
“We obviously haven’t had the time to observe the entire planet, but the major population centers are all like this, yes.”
“Such variety,” I said, my voice soft with awe. “These Humans seem to possess some trait from all the know peoples.”
“Yes, my Lord. But they are so young and it is forbidden to contact them.”
I nodded slowly. It was the most ancient and sacred of our laws, a law that the Firaspatciti had enforced for millions of years. But if these Humans truly contained the raw Ancient Ones DNA, then perhaps they could… I paused as I thought. We couldn’t interact with them, but perhaps one of them could interact with us.
As I watched, a lovely creature with hair the color of a Firaspatciti sunset appeared. She was walking quickly, her purse thrown over his left shoulder, a heavy bag in her right hand. Most of the females carried some variety of bags, while few of the males did. Almost out of view to the left a male ripped the satchel from an old woman’s hand and began to run, knocking her to the ground in the process. The elderly woman cried out as she fell and I thinned my lips in disapproval. All cultures went through the stage of preying on each other, and the Humans were no different. It was reasoned such as these that we were forbidden to interact with younger races, giving them time to mature before being included in the larger galactic community.
As the male rushed past, the female that had caught my eye spun quickly, using her heavy bag as a weapon, striking the male in the head. His face exploded in a spray of blood, and he went hard to the ground. The female began kicking at him viciously, screaming at him in a language I couldn’t understand, but she was obviously enraged. The man struggled to his feet and ran. The female picked up the satchel to keep for herself, the stronger taking from the weaker, but then she approached the woman who had been knocked down.
The stronger female helped the weaker to her feet, then return the satchel as others, male and female alike, crowded around. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it was obvious from their actions they were concerned for her wellbeing. I watched, fascinated. The aggressive woman was a dichotomy. She had the fierceness of a warrior, but the gentleness of a healer. She’d taken on an opponent much larger than herself without fear, but in a moment, she was as gentle as the Aquallian.
“Track her,” I ordered, pointing to the woman as she began to move away.
The portal followed her as she moved along the street and into her rooms. Kergah controlled the portal, and I watched as she prepared a meal then watched some form of displayed image with sound on a device as she consumed her food.
“Did you see how aggressive she was?” I asked as the female ate.
I was fascinated as I watched the two females on the video. I couldn’t understand the words, but this was obviously some form of entertainment in this world.
I couldn’t understand. The female didn’t seem at all shocked as the two woman she was watching killed a man with some sort of weapon, and as I continued to watch, I realized this was probably not real and was being staged for amu
sement.
Kergah and I continued to watch the female, fascinated as she watched intently while a male and female copulated in front of her on the device. We continued to watch until she closed the device and moved to another room and groomed herself.
She returned to her sleeping chamber and pleased herself with another device, her soft moans as her naked body writhed in front of us making me think of Sereni. I grinned at Kergah.
“A three cocked Snath is right.”
Kergah snickered. “They seemed obsessed with breeding.”
“That’s what we need, Kergah.”
“I know, my Lord, but there is nothing we can do.”
“Perhaps there is one thing.”
“What?” Kergah asked, his tone cautious.
“An experiment. As we a not allowed to interact with them, perhaps it would be possible to have one of them interact with us.”
Kergah squinted. “I’m not sure I understand.”
I smiled. He understood perfectly well, he just didn’t want to believe I was suggesting it.
“We should bring this one here. Perhaps there is much we can learn from her.”
“We can’t, my Lord! Stevan, it is forbidden!”
I nodded. Kergah only called me by my name when under great stress. I knew what I was proposing was forbidden, but I was desperate. I couldn’t allow the Firaspatciti, the entire galaxy, to wither and die. Not when there was even a glimmer of hope.
“Do you have a better solution?”
“No, but what of our laws?”
I shook my head slowly. “You’ve seen what they’re like. Even in the time I’ve watched this one, I saw a male preying on a weaker female. This one didn’t even flinch at the killing of another male or the attack of a male on a female on her entertainment device. They are ruthless and barbaric. We could take any one of them, and they would soon be forgotten.”
“Yes, I understand,” Kergah said quietly. “But it is still forbidden.”
“Great battles are only won with great risk,” I said softly.
Kergah swallowed hard. “Understood, my Lord. But who? Which of them should we take?”
