The Crime of Protection

by Gloria Martin

  “Anna…are you sure, do you—” of course he stopped kissing me to make sure I was alright with things. I almost expected him to, so I stopped him before he even finished his sentence.

  “Yes, I want you Jasiah,” I said, and the passion flared in his eyes as he smiled at me.

  “I want you too,” he said, and I giggled at his almost boyish expression of excitement. He lowered his mouth to mine and brushed a feather light kiss over my lips. Then they slid to my neck and I quickly got rid of the ear things I had to wear when I was outside, as well as the patch at the back of my neck that was meant to help with the temperature. I felt his tongue slide against the delicate skin of my neck and tingles shivered through me at the sensation.

  I put my hands on Jasiah’s waist and pulled him down as he was hovering above me and supporting all of his body weight. His hips pressed against mine and I felt the long length of his erection against my stomach. Certain things south of my belly button clenched in anticipation as Jasiah’s tongue swiped just below my ear, which was a sweet spot for me. A moan slipped from my lips and I rolled my hips against his unconsciously.

  “Anna…” Jasiah practically growled my name and my vision blurred a little at the sexy sound of it. I wondered when the last time I had sex was, I was definitely overheating and both Jasiah and I were still fully clothed. I slid my hands underneath his pullover and splayed them against his defined abdomen.

  “Oh my god… Jasiah can we get naked now?” I asked, and he chuckled as he straightened onto his knees and pulled his blazer off, followed by his pullover. My eyes feasted on his chest and stomach, Jasiah very clearly kept fit.

  “You said we correct?” he asked me and I giggled.

  “Right, I was just distracted by the sight of…you,” I said breathlessly, and he chuckled again. He reached down to take off my top, followed by my bra. His hands went right to my naked breasts and I leaned back as he brought his mouth to one. His hands slid everywhere on my torso it seemed, as he sucked and nibbled on my nipples. My hands were in his hair and I couldn’t help the moans and whimpers spilling from my throat. Jasiah’s hands went to the fastening of my pants and he quickly undid it before pulling them off of me.

  I was in nothing but my panties when Jasiah pulled back and got off of the bed so that he could step out of his own pants. His eyes were on me like the heat of the sun the entire time.

  “You’re so beautiful Anna,” he said. I reached for him before he could get out of what looked like boxer briefs. He came back immediately and covered me with his warmth. He held much of his weight off of me while his mouth explored my neck and chest, then further down to my belly. My body was on fire by that point, I just wanted him inside already.

  “Please Jasiah, please,” I said breathlessly and then had to giggle as he literally ripped both of our underwear off and threw the scraps of clothing aside. I opened my legs for him and his gaze went right to the heart of me.

  “I can’t resist,” he murmured just before he lowered his head and kissed my entrance twice. Then he gripped his sex in his hand and my eyes widened a fraction at the sight of how thick and long he was. Jasiah was definitely hung. He slowly guided his engorged head to my entrance and then inched inside of me.

  He slid in easily and I think we were both surprised to see that he fit inside of me completely. The feeling of fullness was incredible and I barely had any mind to even speak. The look on Jasiah’s face was pure in the passion he felt and I saw awe there too, but also something else that I was afraid to identify. There was almost a look of ownership. I hoped that was true because I wanted to be Jasiah’s and no one else’s.

  I reached for him and held him close as he began to move; the pleasure was indescribable. I wondered if that was simply because I had never had sex with an alien. But that felt wrong even as I thought it, Jasiah wasn’t an alien. He resonated with me soul deep and that made the difference. Impossibly, the pleasure mounted and mounted until we were both at such a height that our shared climax was astounding. We held each other close until the last quakes of orgasm calmed.

  “Jasiah I—” my voice was thick with the things I wanted to say, with emotion.

  “Will you be my mate,” he asked me suddenly and he let me pull away from his chest slightly so that our gazes could hold. “I feel…I think I’ve been waiting to find you Anna,” he said sincerely and in earnest. The one time where being a talker would come in handy was the one time that I couldn’t find the words to say. All I could do was nod and convey just how I felt with a look.

  Jasiah smiled, he beamed at me and then pulled me in for a searing kiss. Of course he was still inside of me and that started up a whole new round, just like many more to come.

  THE END

  Bonus Story 39/40

  Mated with the Cyborgs

  Shimmering and beautiful, space was unveiled around all sides of Juniper as the observation deck folded back its most protective layers. Thick glass allowed Juniper to observe the worlds that stretched and webbed in the galaxies ahead of her.

  The observation deck was a large lounge with long couches and tables, an abandoned bar sat against a wall. The floor was a dark and wood-like, created from plastics and manmade fiber when wood became a rarity. Between it and the curtain of space, the white furniture and pale Juniper seemed to float like stars. She collapsed into one of the oversized chairs, its shape was angular but the fabric and cushion of it felt divine against her body.

  The Marianne Zoendy, named after the designer’s late wife, was built to house a crew of one hundred. Fewer and fewer people were agreeing to continue on missions that would risk their lives after the first few habitable planets were found, they decided that they were lucky enough to survive and didn’t want to risk more than necessary. Slowly the crew dwindled down to only three, and Juniper was the only one of the remaining three that had joined by their own choice.

  Her peach and gold nail polish was tracing small temporary lines into the arm of the chair as she trailed her fingertips across it thoughtfully.

  She joined the first mission when she was only 18, ready to explore- to be out there and show that she could be anything and do anything. She wanted everyone to know who she was and what she was capable of. She quickly rose through the ranks into a position that let her be a surface explorer, able to have hands on experience with new lifeforms and worlds no human being had ever seen before.

  It had been fifteen years though, and it seemed that she was really the only person with any passion for it left. People were frightened off by the danger of it, or were just ready to settle and evolve a new planet into something habitable, but she had fire in her blood and wasn’t finished yet.

  “You don’t have to sit in here alone, you know,” a kind, deep voice said, pulling her out of her thoughts and back onto the ship. She glanced up at him briefly, her gaze pausing on his mint green eyes before looking back out into the spread of space ahead of them. She had tried her best to not let affections for other people interrupt her work. It wasn't a far fetch to say that she had been having difficulties with the two crew members on board about that.

  “I just thought it would be nice to unwind a bit before we reach FE302,” she responded. She slid her mahogany colored hair away from her face with her left hand in a thoughtless motion.

  “I made lunch if you’ll have it,” he motioned to the door with his left hand: it was pale save for blue and silver wires that let patterns unwind under what might have been his skin, she wasn’t sure what material it was now. A brief pause in her thoughts and she could smell what might have been a tomato based soup, or maybe pasta sauce. He was wearing well-fitting pants that were snug in just the right places, a black stain was on the left leg may have either been from oil or a kitchen incident. His shirt was plain black open just to his clavicles, the sleeves folded up to his elbows to expose his forearms and their shimmering technology.

  “I’ll eat after you get me the system’s report on our landing gear, you need to be d
oing your actual job, not just hobbies,” she responded, sounding exasperated. Juniper had to still herself to keep her eyes from wandering up to his handsome face, the starlight from the galaxies around them played games in his black hair and she needed to focus. He was very distracting.

  “Fair enough,” he responded, shrugging slightly. “It’ll take me a couple minutes to get it together, don’t go anywhere,” his voice was playful as he headed out through a different door than the one he had slipped in through.

  Bren had been hired for the same reason as their third shipmate, they were both cyborgs, people who had seen tragedy and through science and training had become so much more. They literally owed their lives to HSOC (The Humanity Survival Outreach Corps) who funded their recoveries: which is actually how they ended up on the good old Marianne Zoendy, covering 90% of the jobs that used to be handled by 100 people.

  Their job was to ensure Juniper could carry out her mission of exploration to find new planets to colonize without getting in the way or impeding her. Bren had been a water farmer, his father owned a treatment plant. He didn’t know a single thing about space or landing gear before his accident. HSOC made sure that along with a new vascular system, and improved anatomy over all, that his brain was pumped with all that he needed to know about exploration. Two months in a lab and he had as much knowledge about this role as ‘the normal human’ Juniper had, and she’d been doing this for fifteen years- the only thing either of the boys was missing was the fire and passion she had.

  You couldn’t replicate or spark that in a laboratory.

  Juniper straightened the collar of her jacket, smoothing her hair and clothing as she heard movement in the next room, she didn’t want to be caught off guard again. He couldn't know that she viewed him as anything more than a coworker.

  “I thought I’d cover both bases,” Bren said, smiling from ear to ear. In his left hand was a file screen that she could read the reports on, in his right hand was a bowl of soup and crackers on a plate, the spoon clinked as he bumped the door open with his hip.

  Juniper stood to take the file screen, and let him set the dish down on a small table beside her. Her index finger’s nail clicked slightly as she slid it over the sleek surface, scrolling through the information to ensure that their landing would be safe. They’d never had an issue, but she wasn’t going to stake her life on the chance that they’d never have problems in the future.

  The calculations looked good and she set the file screen down on the table, the numbers clearing out into a blank surface once the device didn’t detect any eyes on it.

  Bren came back into the room, bringing out a bowl and dish of his own, Juniper looked up at him expectantly, her heart beat out her surprise that he’d do this. She needed to be more careful.

  “As I said, you don’t have to sit alone,” he said genuinely.

  *****

  Pov was fully immersed into his work when Juniper returned to the control center. Literally. His wiring was extremely compatible with the ship, to the point that there were times Juniper would swear that he could pilot it with his thoughts. Wiring of the ship was hooked into his arms at the elbow so he could monitor everything that was going on with the ship in its current status while working on other projects as well. He was younger than her and Bren by a couple years, his skin smoother and warm with the glow of being in his late twenties. His hair was a dark natural red, curling slightly and brushed back away from sleek features and crisp cheekbones. His eyes were an incredible dark brown, almost as black as the vastness of space, as they scanned over the information on his screen.

  “How much longer do we have?” Juniper asked, not bothering to sit.

  “Just about an hour, you should go ahead and start suiting up,” he responded, glancing up at her with those endless eyes. “You could always change in here if you wanted,” he flirted, a short smile on his lips.

  “Ha-ha, very funny,” Juniper said dryly, smiling only once his eyes were off her. She could feel her cheeks warm at the thought of it. He wasn’t terribly younger than her, and he was incredibly attractive, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to-

  She needed to get suited up, and she had an hour, she didn’t have time to dawdle.

  “Make an announcement when we’re ten minutes out,” she commanded.

  “Aye Cap’n,” he teased again, typing something into the screen and not bothering to look back to her.

  ***

  Her suit was skin tight to allow for mobility. Pouches on the hips, and a pack she carried on her back, were used to carry whatever supplies she needed or samples she found on the trip out onto the surface. The planet looked like a giant copper marble that was starting to patina in streaks and streams across its surface. Pov’s voice came in through her earpiece as she finished ensuring her suit and helmet were air-tight and sealed properly. She wasn’t going to start her oxygen converter until she was stepping out onto the surface.

  As she came out into the hall from her quarters, she was greeted by an almost fully suited Bren. His face was perfectly framed by the collar of his suit, and through his open door she could see his helmet was still on its hook in his room.

  “You should really wear that some time,” she said shortly as he followed her through the ship to the control room. “You may not need to breathe, but you can never be sure if there’s something else going on down there on the surface.” She had said this dozens of times, but he never listened to her. His lungs and a large part of his chest, stomach, and legs had been replaced after what he told her was a fire. He basically had the oxygen converter that was in her suit built into his lungs. That wouldn’t help him if debris came flying at him, or if the atmosphere was corrosive, but at least he was wearing gloves this time.

  “I’ll be fine, I always am,” Bren confidently said as they entered the command room.

  “Wouldn’t want to ruin that hair of his anyways,” Pov joked without missing a beat. “There’s a lot of water down there and signs of plant life, so be sure to bring a stun gun just in case. I’ve included on each of your handhelds a map of the terrain as clear as I could get but there are red storms going on, so the image isn’t that clear. We’ll be landing a few hundred miles from any of that activity though,” he turned to them, or more to Bren with a stern face.

  “If you give me the usual ‘don’t let anything happen to her’ spiel again I might just have to get my helmet to muffle your voice,” Bren cut him off impatiently. Pov’s eyes clicked between the two explorers for just a moment before he shrugged and agreed, turning back to his screen.

  “Go ahead and head down to the lock-room, we’ll be landing in five, good luck today,” he said, his eyes reflecting off the screen and meeting with Juniper’s for just a moment.

  ***

  The plant life of the world was bizarrely bright and soft. The gravity wasn’t terribly unlike the artificial gravity of the ship, yet when she stepped onto what might have been grass or moss on earth it felt like she was stepping onto a very soft mattress. The terrain was a rusty colored pink and gold, the water almost green in soft contrast. Glancing skyward, she admired the two suns, one substantially closer- but because of the distance they looked comparable in size.

  A perfect distance for heat, comparable gravity, the air didn’t matter - they could fix that with enclosed environments for living.

  “I always feel like we’re Adam and Eve when we first step onto new worlds,” Bren said softly, his gaze trailing over the scenery before pausing for a moment on Juniper’s face. They held eye contact for a moment, something warm blossoming between them, before Juniper unloaded her pack. She gathered samples of the ground plants while Bren used his pack to analyze the soil and atmosphere of the planet. It was hard finding a bit of soil that wasn’t overtaken by the soft moss that covered the ground.

  “Soil is extremely acidic, you could grow tomatoes here without even trying,” he observed, marking down his findings. He continued to talk about his findings before paus
ing to look up to see why Juniper was quiet. She was about three hundred feet away from him, leaning down and closely studying something. “What do you have there?” he asked, curiously heading over to her.

  She seemed entranced, below her line of sight was something small and furry, rolling around in circles and figure eights. It didn’t have legs, but moved more like a clock that had a fluffy inchworm as one of its hands. Something didn’t seem right.

  “June, get away from that!” Bren shouted suddenly, breaking into a run towards her. She looked up at him, a surprised look on her face for just a moment before the fuzzy thing wrapped around her arm and pulled her into the ground. She yelped in surprise, trying to grasp at anything to get a hold, but was pulled under, the fuzzy ground retracting above her. Bren was too slow to save her.

  He plunged his hand in the hole after her but felt nothing.

  “Fuck!” he said angrily and desperately, trying to claw his way into the ground to save her.

  ***

  The inside of the planet’s crust was just as soft as the top layer had been, it squished around her, moving her through what felt like a huge furry straw that was actively being sucked on. When the space around her finally opened up, her eyes had to adjust to the faint golden glow. The room was spherical, the lining of her surroundings was a rust color with ribbons of teal coloring running randomly throughout it. Juniper slowly stood, surveying her surroundings with open curiosity.

  The soft moss-type plant matter was a bit rougher in here, denser in texture. Juniper cut a few strands of it from the wall, loading them into her pouch for later research. She was able to keep her mind active with the research for what must have been twenty minutes before she started fully trying to find a way out. Her communication device in the suit didn’t seem to be working, when it searched for the ship or for Bren it could find neither. The aperture that she had slid into the room through was now closed, and she couldn’t see any other clear entry or exit points.