by Lionel Law
“Until the pathogen is isolated, there isn’t much we can do,” the doctor replied. He was covered from head to toe in a containment suit, his voice mechanical and stilted after being fed from his face mask through a computer translator and into her earbuds. “My staff are trying to treat the symptoms as best they can, but so far all we can do is keep them comfortable. The disease is currently one hundred percent fatal.”
The spread of the disease was easily traceable. Day workers who had been to the trading outpost brought it back to the larger towns and cities, infection marching steadily outward from there. In the three weeks since the first reports of the outbreak, over a thousand Iovans had died, none of them living more than five days after the first symptoms became evident.
Katrina stopped at one of the beds, where a young Iovan girl lay underneath a blanket. Her eyes were filled with a blank, mindless pain, her body too weak to even cry any longer. Wires and tubes ran out of her arms, but she could see they were doing nothing for her. Looking at the small child, Katrina felt her heart break. “How long does she have?”
The doctor looked down at the girl’s chart before setting it aside. “Hopefully, not much longer. She’s been hanging on for four days. Her mother and father died yesterday, although I’m not sure if she understands that,” he whispered, just loud enough for their microphones to pick it up. “I suspect she has brain damage at this point, but I cannot tell for sure. My only wish is that she passes peacefully and quickly, if she cannot recover.”
“Is there a chance of recovery? There’s always the first time, you know.”
The doctor shook his head. “When she was brought in, she was already in the advanced stages of the disease. If there is to be any hope, the best chance is someone who is brought in even before symptoms appear. Then we might have a chance to dull the progress, and hope the body’s natural defenses can take over.”
The tour continued, Katrina hurrying on. She could see in some of the more aware patients’ eyes the silent accusation. The rumor had spread that the disease was a human biological attack, and more than a few Iovans believed it.
“Thank you doctor for your time. Please, do what you can,” she said at the end of the tour. “Is there anything I can do?”
The doctor shook his head. “Unless the rumors are true and this disease is of human origin, in which case we could use their help.”
“I know,” she said, not sharing any more information. “I’m trying my best.”
The reality of the situation was even grimmer than what the average Iovan knew. Soon after the first cases of the disease appeared in New Des Moines, she received a report of another disease breaking out in Iova City. Ross Hunt had given her the first message, two weeks ago.
Two weeks prior
“I just thought you should know, Pete Rodriguez is dead,” he started the conversation. “I just identified his body at the medical center.”
“Damn, what happened?” Katrina said, startled. She and Brynnda were getting ready to send out another request to Iova City on any information on potential infectious agents, their previous ones having been ignored.
“Disease,” Hunt said shortly. “Katrina, I know you and him had a lot of reasons not to like each other. He wasn’t always the best of men, but I had him as my executive officer for a year and a half, even before we left Earth. Demoting him was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, and I hoped he saw that my posting him out where I did was a chance to actually redeem himself.”
“I see,” Katrina replied, and while she did, she didn’t think Hunt knew just how much of an insensitive idiot he was being. “Ross, I don’t want to take away from your grief, but your medical staff still hasn’t replied to my office’s request for assistance. The Iovans have an outbreak over here that we could use your help with.”
Hunt shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I was just going to ask you for the same thing. Pete isn’t the only person who has gotten sick, Katrina. I’ve got five more with symptoms just like his, and to be honest, our doctors don’t know what the hell to do.”
Now
The biggest problem, Katrina thought as she left the hospital and made her way back to her office, was that the two diseases were so dissimilar. Initial hope that the disease was just native disease or something that both sides shared disappeared as the symptoms appeared. While the Iovans burned with fever and oozing mucous, the humans dropped from micro strokes that first dulled perception before eating their way through the brains.
The only common element that anyone could find was that in both cases, the origin was from human-Iovan contact areas. The trading post was shut down, but the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, and the diseases were starting to ravage both groups. Without any method of comparison, communication shut down, and both sides concentrated on the emergency in their own populations. Katrina tried desperately to keep the lines of communication open, but Ross Hunt was being stubborn, and would rarely return her messages any longer.
It got so bad, she had to vent to Da’al over lunch. They were at their house, and she could only pick at her food. “Dammit Da’al, what am I supposed to do? I know it’s not a case of humans and Iovans not being able to coexist. I mean, you and I have been together for months now, and neither of us are sick. Brynnda spends just as much time with me as you do almost, and she’s in perfect health too. What is the issue?”
“I don’t know,” Da’al replied solemnly. “I’m just a guy who tries to make things go fast, remember?”
“I know. I’m sorry about the delay in your work,” she said. With the medical emergency spreading, the Iovan government had implemented epidemic procedures. All non-essential labor was to be halted, and people were to stay indoors, or wear protective clothing when they did have to leave their homes. Without knowing the source of the disease however, the measures were having limited success. “I know you’re losing progress every day with it.”
“The nature of my work can be delayed,” Da’al said evenly. “It’s not like a biologist where I must be in the labs. I can set down my work, walk away, and pick it up later without any major issues. Thankfully our reactor wasn’t going though. That would have been problematic.”
“I bet.”
“By the way,” Da’al said as he munched on his sandwich, something Katrina had taught him to enjoy, “where is Brynnda? I thought she’d be here, with all of the local restaurants and things shut down.”
“She’s doing some coordination with the defense ministry today,” she answered. “While this disease is big problem number one, the defense ministry is still worried about the hovercrafts and other issues as well. Honestly, I am too. Ross Hunt’s a military man, and I’ve never met a career military man that didn’t think every problem couldn’t be solved by a good old fashioned fight.”
“That worries me too,” Da’al replied. “I know if fighting breaks out, we’re pretty much in the main target for any nuclear strike.”
“Yeah.” Their conversation trailed off, until a thought came to Katrina. “Da’al?”
“Hmmm?”
She waited until he took the last bite of his sandwich before asking her question. “Do you regret finding me out there in the woods? I mean, do you sometimes wish humans had found another planet to try and colonize out of the blue?”
“No,” Da’al immediately replied. “Katrina, I was miserable out there in that cave. I’d been living there for close to six months, and until you wandered out of the woods with a streak of sweat and mud running across your right cheek, I had assumed I would be living out there until I either died or got so desperate I would be willing to give in to my culture’s views on polyamory. So no, I don’t regret for one minute that you and I found each other in those woods. You have made a future possible for me, and I love you very much.”
Blinking back tears, Katrina got up from the table and came around, sitting in Da’al’s lap. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him tenderly, her lips dancing over his wi
th silken softness. “I want to make love with you,” she whispered in his ear. “Help me push away the fear and the anger.”
Da’al smiled, his eyes searching with hers, and a twinkle sparked in his eyes. “They say love conquers fear.”
Wrapping his strong arms around her waist, he picked her up easily from his lap and carried her to the bedroom, laying her carefully on his hexagonal bed. “You know, when I first moved in I thought the Iovan idea of a hexagonal bed was strange,” Katrina giggled as Da’al pulled at the zipper of her jumpsuit, tickling her inadvertently. “But now I love it. Plenty of room to move around.”
“That’s the whole idea,” Da’al replied, peeling the suit back from her shoulders and exposing her breasts. “I mean, when your lover has a body like yours, it should be appreciated.”
Katrina glowed at Da’al’s compliment. He was truly enamored with her body she knew, although she still couldn’t understand why, when Iovan women were so beautiful. Maybe it was just the exoticness of her skin, or her long black hair. She didn’t know, but didn’t care by now. She just loved him for who he was.
Kissing down her neck, Da’al carefully licked along her collarbones while his hands stroked up and down her ribs. Katrina could feel the warm heat rising between her thighs as his hands stroked higher, circling around the soft slopes of her breasts. “God you’re good at teasing me,” she groaned as he intentionally avoided brushing her nipples while his lips kept sucking and kissing her throat. “How’d you learn so quickly?”
Da’al didn’t answer, instead letting their mental link communicate directly with her mind. I’ve had a very good teacher and a lot of motivation, he told her, causing her to laugh. She was thinking the same thing.
You’re a pretty amazing teacher yourself, she thought back. But please don’t tease me too long.
Never too long, just long enough, Da’al replied. He moved his head down, kissing a trail to her left nipple, his tongue dividing to pinch and tease the sensitive skin to a pebbly hardness. I love your breasts, you know.
“I know,” Katrina gasped, finding her voice again. “But I have something new in mind.”
Da’al raised his head, his right eye cocked inquisitively. “New?”
“Uh-huh,” she said, grinning. “I told you, we humans have gotten quite creative with our lovemaking. Now, close your eyes, and let me give you your surprise.”
Da’al did as requested, and Katrina quickly took off the rest of her clothes, turning over to lay on the bed. “Give me a back rub,” she asked, looking back over her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ve got talent there.”
With a throaty chuckle, Da’al complied, kneeling beside her. His strong hands started at her shoulders, rubbing and kneading her tense muscles until she felt everything soothe away. “Mmmm, you are talented.”
“Don’t you know?” Da’al asked. “For Iovans, our back is one of our biggest erogenous zones. An Iovan man who can’t learn to give a good back rub is a man who is seriously deficient in his foreplay skills.”
The massage continued, Da’al’s fingers working magic up and down her backbone. His lips joined his hands, lighting her skin on fire with desire, and she lifted her hips up off the bed, begging for his caress.
The first touch of his palm on the generous swell of her ass sent chills through her, a tremendous wave of desire flushing her body and causing her to tremble. I have a secret, she thought to him along their link. I love having my ass touched.
Good to know, Da’al thought back, shifting behind her and kneading his strong fingers over her hips. I’ve always loved your ass.
Good, because I want you to fuck it, she replied.
Da’al stopped his massage, surprised. “What?”
Katrina looked over her shoulder at him, getting her knees underneath her and swaying her hips back and forth. “I said, I want you to take that wonderful, beautiful cock of yours and fuck my ass. Don’t tell me Iovans have never tried anal sex before?”
“No,” he said honestly. “We’re not sensitive at all back there.”
“Too bad,” she giggled. “But I am. So what I want you to do is go to the kitchen, get some oil, and come back here. And get your clothes off while you’re at it.”
Da’al nodded and quickly headed out of the bedroom, returning in less than a minute, nude and holding a small bottle of oil. “I grabbed this from the bathroom,” he said with a shy smile. “It’s meant for back massaging among Iovans. It’s a bit old.”
“That’s fine,” Katrina said. “Start with using it to massage my ass.”
The oil was odorless, which soothed her concerns. Da’al warmed it between his hands before rubbing in wide, slow circles outward. The massage seeped deep into her hips, warmth building with every sweep of his hands until Katrina was moaning softly, her chest dropping to the bed and her ass exposed in the air for his touch.
“Now, start to massage around my hole,” she sighed, shifting her knees so her tender intimate hole was exposed to him. She could feel him in her mind, using their connection to ensure he was doing it right. With one long, graceful index finger he rubbed over her hole, probing for a moment before pulling back. The tight muscle resisted before temporarily relaxing, only to relax more the next time his finger rubbed. Anticipating her next request, his other hand reached between her legs, gathering her wet juices before massaging the aching button of her clit, the dual pleasurable sensations sending ripples through her body. She sighed, her hips opening to his probing.
Working his left hand in gentle strokes over her clit, his right hand pushed slowly, opening her up. The first feeling of his finger inside her sphincter was nothing like she had ever felt before. The slight tingling feeling she had grown used to with all of his touches was trebled inside her ass, the tight muscle clenching only momentarily before relaxing and opening up. “My God, I could come from just your fingers,” she sighed, pushing back into him. “Now, pump them in and out, stretch me out until I’m ready.”
“I’ll go slowly,” Da’al promised, taking his hand away from her clit to dribble more oil onto her ass. The oil mixed with his finger as he added a second, then a third, the whole time keeping up his slow, sensuous pace. Katrina had never been opened up so languidly, nor so erotically. Most of the other men she had invited into her most secret of desires either rushed, or were afraid. Instead, Da’al worked at a perfect pace, until she was almost begging for his cock. “What should I do?”
“Rub oil over your cock, to help it slip in,” she said, holding herself open. She heard him stroke and looked back over her shoulder at him, her dark eyes glittering in the early afternoon light. “Now go slowly.”
There was a moment of pain when the thick, flared head of his cock pushed past her sensitive sphincter. It lasted only a moment before he slipped in, his bumps sending spasms of pleasure through her. When he was all the way in, she sighed happily. “How’s it feel?”
“A….. amazing,” Da’al gasped, his voice trembling. “It’s so tight on part, but soft and…..” his voice failed him, his bumps already starting to vibrate and move inside her.
Katrina thought he would hold himself there, like he did when he was in her pussy. Instead, her body started swaying, moving back and forth as Da’al pulled back until just the head was inside her before thrusting in again, his slow thrust mixing with the moving of his bumps to set off explosions of pleasure inside her. The warm, vibrating skin of his cock left her breathless as it slipped into and out of her asshole. Within moments she knew she was going to climax, and climax hard. “Keep going,” she cried out before her body clenched tight, trembling and spasming.
As much as she loved assplay, this was the most intense anal orgasm of her life. Whether it was the combined psychic link, the vibration of his cock over her sensitive areas, or the emotional connection, she didn’t know or care. Instead, she just rode the long, tremendous wave, letting her body go as Da’al continued to thrust, his hips picking up speed as he neared his own orgasm. She was linked w
ith him, their minds and souls one and she could feel every tight rub of her ass over his cock, and how close he was. Fill me, she thought, don’t hold back.
With a harsh cry, lower and deeper than he had ever made before, Da’al found his peak, his warm cock filling her ass with his come. The feedback over their link sent her into another orgasm, and she felt the world white out, the sensations too much for her mind to take, before the darkness of unconsciousness overcame her.
*****
“Governor Hunt, I know this is a violation of normal protocol, but I felt it was important for you and Councilor Henchuk to actually talk, face to face. Both groups are going through an emergency, and I for one would like to see this disaster avoided.”
It had taken Katrina days of hacking, surreptitiously using the data link the communication system provided to hack her way into Hunt’s personal scheduling system. Thankfully, Councilor Henchuk had agreed with her plan, and came out to the site twelve hours before Hunt was scheduled to arrive in order to ensure as much secrecy as possible. When Hunt’s personal hovercraft landed and he got out with his secretary, they were both surprised to find Katrina waiting for them.
“What the hell are you doing, Cole?” Hunt asked, his eyes looking her up and down. “At least the fucking aliens haven’t gotten you sick too.”
“Excuse me Governor, but I would prefer if you did not refer to my people as fucking aliens,” Henchuk said, stepping out from behind the bush he had been waiting behind. “It’s rather insulting.”
Hunt froze for a moment, his face turning pale before going red with anger. “You lured me out here, you fucking Dirt traitor.”
Katrina had to admit, Hunt’s secretary was fast. He almost had the pistol out from behind his back before Katrina’s shot took him in the chest, knocking him backwards and stunning him. “Don’t worry, it’s a directed energy weapon,” Katrina said, lowering the small handheld device. “He’ll be out for about fifteen minutes. But don’t think that’s the only setting this device has. Ross, I brought you out here like I said, to get you and Henchuk to work together. Unless both of you want to be the leaders of rather large cemeteries.”
