Shepherd

by Piers Anthony

  Shep kept his lips glued to Elen's.

  “Help me, girls!” Lova called. “I have a resistive client here.”

  The other vamps crowded close, catching hold of Shep's arms and legs. He kept pounding on the pedals, but he felt their hands stroking him everywhere, especially the crevice of his bottom, trying to pry him out of Elen. Others were kissing his head and neck, trying to make him break his mouth contact with Elen. It seemed they could not force him physically, but wherever they touched him made him want to obey their urgings.

  They continued, wedging in closer. Now one was kissing his scrotum while another stroked the exposed base of his member. They were gaining on him; soon he would give up and pull free and be lost. They were simply too strong for him to resist long, even attached as he was to Elen. What could he do?

  Then a thought came to him. He remembered playing music on the staff. The sheep had heard that, and evidently liked it. Now it seemed the sheep were wanting him to play again. Did that make any sense at all?

  Trust the sheep.

  Shep broke the long kiss and opened his mouth, taking a deep breath. Lova, waiting for this opportunity, dived in.

  But not before Shep started singing. “He who is noble, pure and simple-hearted.”

  The vamps recoiled. “What is this?” Lova cried in horror.

  It was working! Shep continued singing, and now Elen joined him, making it a duet. This body had a surprisingly good voice, and so did Elen. “...Needs not a weapon, needs no man to guard him. Virtue defends him.”

  “This is revolting!” Lova said.

  Shep realized that it was not the melody or the words so much as the spirit. He felt the song, the wonder of spiritual nobility, the seeming shield of goodness surrounding them. The ignoble vamps could not compete with it.

  The two of them continued to sing as he paddled, forging on toward the island, while the balked vamps hovered at a safe distance. The other passengers on the boat seemed unaffected.

  Finally the vamps gave up and disappeared. Shep knew better than to trust this, and remained connected to Elen as they continued to sing.

  They reached the shallow surf surrounding the island. “This is beyond the vamps territory,” Elen said, ceasing her singing. “We are safe here.”

  What a relief! But Shep still held her as he paddled on, just in case.

  They reached a natural wharf on the island. “You can let go now,” Elen said, smiling. “Unless you have something else in mind?”

  He remained sexually charged, but resisted. “I do. But not while those wicked pheromones remain.”

  She laughed, and he felt it below. “You are noble.”

  Now Shep disengaged from Elen, and she did not hold him. He moored the boat with a rope. Vulture hopped across, and Python slithered to land. Then the sheep walked off in single file. Finally Shep and Elen stepped over. They were there.

  Six rams were waiting. The six ewes eyed them but did not advance. Shep realized that these ewes would not be forced, no matter how randy the rams were; their bone blades would stop any unwelcome effort. They would choose exactly when and with whom they would breed.

  “We have time to pass,” Elen said. “A couple of weeks. There's a shelter.”

  “As you wish.”

  She showed the way, and Vulture and Python accompanied them. Shep realized that nice as this island was, it was foreign territory to these creatures. They were guests of the sheep, and preferred to remain with the group. The rams might not take kindly to stray predators.

  The shelter turned out to be a nice cabin complete with an adjacent tree and a pile of rocks ideal for bird or serpent. This made sense, as there must have been annual visits here for decades. There was a pond behind it that rustled with frogs. There was even a faint odor of carrion. Vulture and Python would not go hungry.

  The two of them entered to find a well-stocked chamber and a twin-size bed. Shep realized how tired he was, physically and emotionally after pedaling across the lake while fighting off sexual predators. He was ready to plump down and sleep.

  “Uh-uh,” Elen said. “Don't touch that bed yet. You're filthy with sweat and pheromones.”

  “I'll wash,” he agreed.

  “I'll wash you.” She took him to the bathroom alcove, where there was a pump and pitcher. “Strip.” He was glad to obey, despite his fixed erection. She pumped water, then poured pitchers-full over him, thoroughly rinsing him. The water was cool but not cold. She scrubbed out his hair and ears, and his genital region. When he was clean he knew it, because at last his member sank, no longer prodded by the pheromones.

  “Dry and rest,” she said. “I will join you soon.” She stripped and poured water over herself. As far as he knew, the pheromones had not affected her, being male-specific, but some would remain around her and he couldn't blame her for wanting them gone. She also dumped both their sets of clothes in the washtub for later processing. Presumably the ones in the knapsacks were cleaner in the respects that counted.

  Then, nude, she joined him on the bed, taking his hand. “Let's sleep. Then we'll talk.”

  He was glad to agree. He closed his eyes and was soon in slumber.

  Some time later he woke to the smell of baking bread. It seemed the cabin had a stove and food; he hadn't noticed before. Obviously Elen had.

  She saw him stir. “It's not ready yet. Now we'll talk.”

  “About what?”

  She rejoined him, still nude. “About breeding, of course. This is the place for it.”

  “For the sheep,” he agreed.

  “The sheep are telepathic. Didn't they send you the clue to sing?”

  “Yes,” he said, surprised. “I had forgotten, but I think they put that thought in my head, and it worked. But how does that relate to this?”

  “The sheep realized that you were being overwhelmed, so they helped you. They are not smart in the manner we are, but they know what's what, and do what is necessary. That enables them to survive the dangers of the breeding journey.”

  “Yes. They gave Python the clue to help Vulture with the carrion, and gave Vulture the clue to help me with the bridge. The knowledge was in my mind, and they relayed it.”

  “Yes, they draw on each of us as necessary, and our intelligence helps. You accept that now.”

  “I do. I'm not sure about the precognition, but the telepathy, yes.”

  “The holddown,” she reminded him.

  “That saved us from getting caught by the sudden storm. Yes, I have to agree: telepathy would not account for that, but precognition would.”

  “When the sheep breed, there will be powerful telepathic waves of lust, male and female. That will affect us both, because we are attuned to the sheep. We will want to breed, not from pheromones, but from our minds. If we yield to it, I am very likely to conceive.”

  Shep whistled. “Now I see your point!”

  She seemed oddly constrained. “Do you?”

  “We can't afford to have that happen. Unless you have contraception.”

  “I don't need it. I will conceive only if I choose to.”

  He looked at her. “Then what is the problem?”

  “I will choose to.”

  Shep pondered that. “Oh, you mean the sheep lust is so strong that it will override your preference?”

  “No.”

  “Elen, I think you will have to tell me directly, because I know I am missing something.”

  “In a moment. But first I need to be sure you understand the risk you take.”

  “Risk?”

  “Shep, I have necessarily teased you twice, by putting you into me without culmination. I do not wish to tease you further.”

  “There's another challenge?”

  “In a manner.”

  “Elen, you're teasing me right now with your obscurity! What are you trying to tell me?”

  “You desire me.” It was not a question.

  “I do.”

  “I will give you all the sex you want. But t
here is a risk that you will fall in love with me, unless you can do it without emotional commitment. Then you will lose. As with the holddown.”

  Shep laughed without humor. “I think I have already lost.”

  “No. You are not in love with me, nor I with you. You are in lust, and when the sheep breed, I will be too.”

  “Lust, but not love? There is a significant distinction, but I don't think my heart has honored it. You are the most remarkable woman I have encountered, Elen, on any planet, and I wish I could be with you always.”

  “You can make that distinction by satisfying your lust. Then that will no longer deceive your heart. I offer you that. But the risk is that by the time the distinction is clear, you will indeed love me. Then you will want to marry me.”

  “And I can't do that.” He smacked his fist into the mattress. “Damn!”

  “You can do it.”

  “And then leave you here, in effect a widow, when I exchange back to Earth? Leaving you with the lout? I would not do that to you, Elen.”

  “You would not have to leave me.”

  Shep gazed at her partly in bafflement, partly in hope. “You have something in mind?”

  “I do. But this requires a commitment beyond what you may wish to make.”

  “Spell it out.”

  “Exchanges such as the one you made are rare. There needs to be special reason, and the participants need to be highly qualified.”

  “Yes. I was the only student in my class selected this term, because I am training for planetary management.”

  “Which means you are the smartest and best connected person in your class.”

  “Yes. Also most committed. I worked hard to earn my place.” Shep smiled. “Then it seemed it was being thrown away watching sheep. How little I knew!”

  “I am also the smartest and most committed person in my class,” she said. “I long to visit Earth and learn more of it first hand. But I am not well connected. No colony native is.”

  “True. Almost by definition, colonists are secondary citizens. I have never heard of a colonist achieving an exchange as a primary figure. Only as a secondary one, like my present host.”

  “There is an exception. The spouse of an Earth exchangee can qualify.”

  “Well, yes, so that married couples can go together. If I were married, my wife might have been able to come here with me. We'd both be in foreign bodies, but our relationship would continue.”

  “I believe there is an obscurity in that regulation. It does not say the spouse has to be a resident of Earth.”

  Shep laughed. “Well, it doesn't have to. How can it be otherwise?”

  Elen merely gazed at him.

  Then it dawned. “That's why you want to marry me! Because I am of Earth. So you can exchange to Earth!”

  “That is why,” she agreed.

  “You have been playing up to me to make me amenable to such an arrangement.”

  “Yes.”

  “Not because you really liked me for myself.”

  “True.”

  “And now you are offering me endless sex, as an inducement.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “You can have the sex without marrying me. Then you can leave me.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because it will work out long-term only if you love me.”

  Shep shook his head. “I don't know whether you are being supremely generous, or supremely cynical.”

  “Both. The sheep gave me my chance. What I make of it is up to me. But I do not want to take you by subterfuge. You must understand and accept it.”

  His head was spinning. “I'm not ready to digest this right now. I will need time to ponder.”

  “Of course.”

  “But I do have one question. You want my love, but you do not love me. Is that fair?”

  “If you come to love me, I will allow myself to allow you.”

  “Allow yourself?”

  She nodded. “I am under siege. You possess the qualities I want in a mate, and you are of Earth. My body and mind want to love you, and will do so if I yield. But to love you only to have you leave me would be heartbreak. I must avoid that, just as you had to avoid being taken by the vamps.”

  The parallel moved him profoundly. She could love him! “You haven't even met my real body on Earth!”

  “Women are more practical than men about these things. I can accept your body as the host of the man I love.”

  “Whereas you use your pretty body to besot my foolish male nature.”

  “I would not put it that way, but yes.”

  Shep sighed. “It is true. Men are fascinated by appearance. I am typical in that respect.”

  “And I am typical in judging by your position and mind.”

  “So our cards are now on the table. You want to marry me for my position. I want your body for sex. Probably most marriages are of that nature. But I think I am not ready to make any kind of decision at this moment. You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the floor.”

  “Shep, there is no need. Take my body now, without commitment, as long as you recognize the risk. There is no need to torment yourself.”

  He considered, then reversed the call. “Do you want sex with me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Because I wouldn't care to force it on you.” Then he did a double-take. “You said yes?”

  “Yes. I get pleasure in it too. I hated holding off to win the holddown, and to shield you from the vamps, but did it because it was necessary. Now it is not.”

  “You actually want to have sex with me, without commitment?”

  “Yes, now that we understand one another.”

  “You like sex for its own sake?”

  “Yes, if I respect the man. My interest may not be as extreme as yours, but I certainly would enjoy doing it with you.”

  He knew she was not one to deceive him in a matter like this. “Then I take you at your word. Let's do it.”

  She moved into him, and kissed him ardently. Her hand found his member and guided it into her. Then he was thrusting and spurting with abandon, and she seemed to be climaxing with him.

  “Oh, Elen,” he said as he ebbed. “I have longed to do that since I first saw you.”

  “I, too.”

  He had ejaculated, but his excitement was unabated. “Let's do it again.”

  “Can you?”

  “Let's find out. Maybe if you help me.”

  She wrapped her arms and legs around him and kissed him passionately. Her responsive vagina kneaded his member. Soon a second orgasm formed in the distance, expanded, and erupted in a slow and long culmination.

  It finally faded, and they fell apart. “I never did that before,” he said. “I mean not so rapidly.”

  “I think some of the pheromones remain, facilitating it.”

  “That must be it. Oh, Elen--”

  “Do not speak of commitment. Wait until you have properly considered. We are merely relaxing now.”

  “Merely relaxing,” he agreed. “Stop me when you get tired of it.” He started kissing her, first her mouth, then her face, neck, and breasts. He paused.

  “I am not tired,” she murmured. Then she started kissing him, starting innocently, proceeding to un-innocently. He loved it.

  Soon they were connected again, for a third mutual orgasm. Then they drifted off to sleep, holding hands.

  It was quite a night. By the time dawn arrived, they were both exhausted. So they slept on into the day.

  Meanwhile his mind was going. Could he actually marry her, and qualify her for exchange as his spouse? Or would it turn out to be too complicated? For one thing, this would be the first interplanetary marriage, with the groom not even present physically, only in a native host. Earth authorities might not consider that to be valid. Whose law would govern: Earth's or Colony Jones's? What would be the citizenship of the baby?

  “You are troubled,” Elen said. “Do you wish to tell me?”


  He told her.

  “I think that if we do it, we shall need a lawyer,” she said. “This is further reason for caution.”

  “My father has connections. He can get a lawyer. But it's not just that. You will need a host on Earth. I'm not sure what woman will want to exchange into a pregnant native woman.”

  “I must be pregnant. Otherwise the lout's family and mine will block the marriage. My baby will represent proof of consummation.”

  “Could we return and broach the matter, and go for the baby if that turns out to be necessary?”

  “No. They will isolate us from each other to prevent any such contamination.”

  “Contamination!”

  She looked him in the eye. “Shep, they will oppose this union. There is prejudice on either side against the other, and against Earth. Only a fait accompli will prevent that interference.”

  “So we have to be truly committed before we return.”

  “Yes. To marry me will complicate your life.”

  Yet his love was burgeoning. “Elen, I think I am ready to--”

  She cut him off with a kiss, and followed immediately with sex, preventing him from saying it. She wanted no hasty decision. But he doubted that made a difference.

  Two days later, after more sex than he had ever imagined, she was ready to talk. “The sheep are about to mate. They have settled on their partners.”

  “That means a telepathic barrage of sexual urgency?” he asked.

  “Yes. We will be having almost continuous sex. So now we must decide whether I should allow it to take. Do you wish to marry me?”

  “I do,” he said without hesitation.

  “That was a question, not a proposal.”

  “And an answer, not an acceptance.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you wish me to have my baby, though it will not be of your genetic stock?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can not persuade you otherwise?”

  “Never. I love you.”

  She sighed. “I have tried.”