The male alien then thanked them all for their sacrifices and another alien led them each to separate rooms.
When she was taken to her preparation room, that was all she could think to call the little dip in the cave she was in. The tall woman filled a silver tub and gestured for her to undress and get in. She did and let the warm water overtake her. The female knelt beside the tub with a cloth and washed her.
“You can sleep if you want. The soap will soak into your skin making it silky for your men to enjoy.”
Sarah couldn’t sleep if she wanted to, her nerves were all bunched up like little snakes ready to strike and give her a heart attack. She wished anxiety pills would have been allowed during travel. The drugs they gave her had kept her calm and now that they were wearing off she was facing what she really was there to do. It felt like bats flapping around inside her belly. Her heart jumped in her chest and she had to mentally force herself to keep calm. The last thing she needed to do was to make the alien woman think something was wrong. She knew they could sense human feelings but she wasn’t sure if it was all of them or just certain ones.
It was surreal having a seven-foot blue woman give her a bath like she was a child. She was gentle though to be so much larger and stronger. She found herself wondering how the men would touch her. Would they use her like a stallion uses a mare? Would they be gentle with her? The questions were endless, and the answers were nowhere to be found.
Before her imagination could get carried away with her, she focused on her bath. Steam curled up from the purple colored water, carrying with it the sweet fragrance of mysterious flowers. She lifted her arm from the water and noted how her skin seemed to glisten in the dim light. Whatever they bathed in smelled great and her skin felt smooth as silk when she exited the bath. It was like floating on a cloud. The flowers had some sort of calming effect as well. The cold air hit her and kind of shocked her back into reality.
The woman wrapped her in a large, fluffy towel that smelled like a spring day after a rain. The cloth was smooth against her skin. Then, directing her to a small chair sitting in front of a table, the woman moved behind Sarah and began to work a comb through her hair. She moved fast braiding and parting.
The woman smiled as she dressed her in their clothing and gently nudged her back out the door. The clothing was comfortable and hugged her small waist and large hips. Her blonde hair had been braided and decorated with lots of silvery beads. There hadn't been a mirror but she could see the strands swinging while she walked and looked down at the clothing as she moved. Her breasts never looked so good.
The cave opened up into a huge cavern when she walked out of her little cove. There were pink and purple crystals on the walls and light trickling in from the ceiling causing a spectrum of colors to dance along the cave walls. It took her breath away and she couldn’t help but stare above her as she moved forward. It truly was the most stunning sight she’d ever seen in her life. She longed to reach out and touch one of the crystals, but thought better of it.
They went under a waterfall as they moved through the cave and the water was pink and purple from the reflection off the crystals. If she were a painter she would have liked to paint the scene and hang it on her wall in the SAAB office. A reminder of her travels and a betrayal of a whole people. She tried to push that last thought from her mind by reminding herself she was doing the right thing.
It was important to compartmentalize and make sure she kept the right things top of mind to not get distracted. She could do this she just had to reign in her curiosity and self-doubt. However, the further she walked and the more of the beauty she saw of the planet, the more her self-doubt became present. All she had to do was keep her head on straight, get in, do her job and get out! Simple. Easier said than done.
Chapter Two
Sarti
Sarti and Notla were brothers in the sense that they grew up together. Their lives had been intertwined for as long as he could remember. It was no surprise to Sarti the two of them were paired to mate the same human woman. Notla wasn't sure he could do it. Sahmi had been everything to him. He'd lost her and his two small sons in the move. Everyone had lost someone, but Notla's loss seemed most unfair. Sarti knew Notla wanted to conceive with the woman and have a son or daughter to raise and teach the ways of their people, but he also knew that his friend was struggling. Notla was a builder by trade and could create the most beautiful places for dwelling and quiet reflection. Sarti's specialty was what humans would call animals. A flying creature named the Swiveal perched nearby. It was complaining that he had sat where she normally found food for her young. He felt moving on was betraying his mate and his young children. Sarti understood that.
"I'm sorry mother, let me move," he chuckled as she flew down and clucked at him as if to say, you better move.
He went back to the cave where Notla lived. His friend sat working with wood. For a moment, Sarti just watched as his friend’s hands moved skillfully over the wood. It never ceased to amaze him at the talent the other man possessed.
"Thank you for sacrificing yourself to build for me,” Sarti finally said, making his presence known and stepping further into the cave.
Notla sat with the wood in his lap, eyes closed. The plant that had given its life freely for him needed to be appreciated. They all took great care with the planet and all its great wonders. It was one of the reasons they'd been so appalled with the way humans treated their own home.
"Today is the day Notla, aren't you excited?" Sarti was two years younger than his friend and hadn't been mated with a female yet.
"Not as excited as you are my untouched friend. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around being with someone other than Sahmi."
Notla looked down and Sarti could see there were tears in his eyes. He didn't know loss like Notla did, but he hoped the promise of new life could renew his friend's spirit.
“You will soon have a young to raise in Sahmi’s good name. She would have wanted this for you. We all knew the danger of moving the planet.”
He put his hand on his friend’s arm knowing he’d be able to feel his sorrow. It flooded through him like water in his veins and he closed his eyes. He wished he could take it from his friend and send it out into the universe, but he couldn’t. He didn’t have a healer’s power and Notla refused to see one. He wanted to hold on to his pain, let it be his companion and reminder.
“I will try to be happy for your sake Sarti and this momentous occasion where you become a true male,” Notla said putting a hand on his shoulder and patting hard.
“I am already a true male,” Sarti said puffing out his chance. A thought struck him and he had to ask, “Notla will we take her at the same time? The human I mean.”
“We will do what she desires. If it’s both of us, then yes. If it’s one of us and then the other we’ll oblige her.” Notla said with a knowing smile.
Sarti wasn’t sure he wanted his friend to witness his first time. He’d given himself pleasure before and once a female had allowed him to touch her but he’d never experienced the kind of act they were going to do now. Part of him hoped the female would be more comfortable being with them each separately.
They went to line up with the other males outside the cave where their females would soon emerge. Sarti had never been so anxious. He found himself worrying she wouldn’t find his appearance appealing. The Klaskian females always decorated the cave and the women in the most beautiful way. The same was true of the pathway they would take to meet their males. It was covered in the plant life of the planet arranged in a way that was appealing to anyone who beheld it.
The Klaskians had a small planet. It was much smaller than earth. Most of their population inhabited a very small part of the planet. The rest was too dangerous or unlivable. It was the reason the human women were always kept in the same area and inside their dwellings. It would be a disaster if one traveled beyond the forest and met the things that lived out there. If anything were to happen to the ea
rth women, it would bring the tentative peace they had with earth to a crashing halt. Then, everything would have been for nothing. The death of Notla’s family would have been for nothing.
Sarti stood on his tip toes trying to see over some of the other males. He wasn’t the tallest but he felt like he was in decent shape and was handsome enough to woo an earth girl with the best of them. Still, his stomach fluttered a little as he saw the Klaskian women come out of the cave knowing the earth women would be right behind them.
When the first came out he felt like he was in a dream. He’d never been to one of the revealing ceremonies before. They were only for the males who would mate with the women.
Chapter Three
Notla
“I’m going to stop and see a friend before we go to meet our female,” Notla said. The enthusiasm of his young friend was contagious. He felt excitement too, but he was also very anxious about being with another female. The friend he needed to visit was to help him cope with these thoughts and guide him in his duty to reproduce.
Sarti was still young. He’d never been with a woman in any capacity. This was his coming of age, the day he would become a full male although he liked to think he already had a warrior’s spirit. Thankfully, there had been no need for warriors in the past two hundred years. They’d been able to be peaceful with each other and those who inhabited other planets who visited or were aware of them.
There had been some talk and fear of earth being hostile when they first entered their atmosphere, but for the most part, the humans had been welcoming. The number of women who had entered into the surrogacy program was surprising, but the money offered was enticing and sex with their men was something the women could talk about the rest of their lives. Notla knew the men of earth found it intimidating and somewhat offensive. It hurt their egos, and Notla knew that if the earth men’s fragile egos were damaged too badly, things could get ugly, very quickly. There was a good reason they hadn’t tried coupling earth men with their woman. It would be too competitive.
Some of the men who’d already coupled with women from earth said it was amazing and there was nothing like it. They’d told such stories of the sex they’d had that Sarti had very high expectations.
He moved away from Sarti’s home quickly because the young Klaskian would not understand his need to see Karee. She was a seer, and there weren’t that many of them left since the move. She had sight both into the future and the past.
He’d gone to see her before the move. While a seer wouldn’t tell you what would happen they would tell you feelings you would feel and words of wisdom to help. When he’d seen Karee before the planets moved she’d told him he would lose his family. She’d broken an oath to let him say goodbye and he owed her for that kindness.
He moved through the plants that guarded her home. She’d built it from the wood and plants around her and while he could feel the creatures and plants of Klaskar, she was directly connected to them. He reached the front of her house and took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she was going to tell him, but it would give him peace to have a bit of insight.
“Notla, are you just going to stand out there staring at my house?” The woman’s good-natured voice flowed from the house. He couldn’t see her and wondered if she simply felt his presence.
“Hello Karee,” he called as he walked through the house. He found her sitting cross-legged on a pillow in the middle of the back room. Her eyes were closed, and he knew there was no way she could have seen him from where she sat.
The room was bathed in the scents of the Maslar and Keptide flowers of the caves and bright pink plants were all around her. She looked like some deity and when she opened her eyes she smiled at him.
He was always amazed at the abilities of seers. His calling had been building but sometimes he wished he could see the future. People would come to him for his mind instead of his hands.
“What brings you here on the day you are to be mated?” She rose and moved to hug him. He held her to him. She reminded him so much of his mother. The sweet smell of the JaJah flower wafted around him. It was what he knew the earth women were bathed in when they first arrived too their planet. The women of his clan used the flower for many purposes. He remembered the scent of his mother’s hair as it would fall over her shoulder when she tucked him into bed at night. The soft tresses would brush across his cheeks. His mother had been gone far longer than his family, but he missed her just the same.
She took a step back and looked up at him. Her kind eyes sought out the answers in his own. He sighed and took a step back.
“I need some insight into what to expect from this union. Can I do it? Can I betray my mate in such a carnal way? My young?” He felt tears prickle the corner of his eye and fought to keep them from leaking out.
Karee frowned at him, a single line forming between her eyes. Her mouth, almost always filled with a wide smile, fell downward into a slight frown. “You are betraying no one. Sahmi would want this for you. You have suffered, and you have mourned for six years almost. It is time to move on, to bring joy to your own young again, to enjoy the pleasure of being with another being. I knew your mate well and feel that she is giving us her blessing from paradise. You so deserve to be happy, child.”
He looked down at his feet as she sat across from him. He wanted so much to believe in what she was saying but found it difficult. Sahmi’s smile filled his mind along with the laughs of his two boys. The sounds and memories haunted him every day. Notla felt as if he were betraying his love for Sahmi and tainting the memory of his children. They were both so different. One strong and stubborn the other quiet and sweet. It wasn’t common for them to have twins and the twins had been everything to him. He needed to get out of his memories and focus on the future. It was hard even knowing his Sahmi wouldn’t want him to dwell on his pain.
“Tell me something to help me on this new journey, Karee. Please. I feel so lost.”
She nodded and closed her eyes again. He sat on the floor across from her. He knew she’d need quiet and time to come to her advice.
After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. He couldn’t tell how she was feeling. It was unclear if something bad was going to happen or good. Indifferent, was a way to describe the way she looked at him. She had gotten good at keeping emotions out of her readings. He knew this from many times before.
“Notla. There is a stranger coming and she means ill for Klaskar. I don’t know what this means but you are directly involved. Your choices can make or break our people.”
Karee looked frightened and he thought over each word she’d said.
Alarm bells sounded in his head. “One of the women? One of the earth women?”
She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, pursing her lips. “It would seem so. A stranger would be from another planet. I just can’t see there are two possible futures and they involve you somehow.”
Notla thought about what this could mean. His woman, the one sent for Sarti and he could be the one who meant ill will towards the planet. He would have to watch her closely. Perhaps he was going to have to change her mind. Maybe his love would be the difference between her destroying them and deciding not to.
“I don’t know what to do with this knowledge Karee. How can I be with a woman who has the means to destroy us?”
“Maybe you are the only one who can help her see the way. It could be it’s not your female but one of the others.”
“If that’s the case then I am to love another male’s surrogate. That makes no sense to me. Surely, you can see her face.” Notla pleaded with the seer even though it had never gotten him anywhere before when he’d begged for more information.
“I can but to you, this won’t do any good. She is beautiful, so I hope she is indeed your mate Notla. I know no woman will be able to resist your charms. You will help her do the right thing.
Karee smiled and closed her eyes. She had a way of dismissing you where you knew better than to continue trying
to talk to her.
Notla left her house conflicted. How would he let himself open up to a new woman if she was indeed the one who would destroy them?
He walked slowly through the plants and back up the hill to Sarti’s. He could see his friend outside practically glowing with anticipation. He hoped for Sarti’s sake it was not their female who wanted to harm them. The thought of someone wanting to do harm to their planet disturbed him more than the thought of betraying his beloved mate. Why would someone want to destroy something so pure and beautiful?
Taking a deep breath and bracing himself, he walked down to meet his friend and go to the woman who could make or break them.
Chapter Four
Sarah
Sarah smoothed down the garment they’d put her in as she walked in the slow line of females out the mouth of the cave. Her heart rate sped up and she found the back of her neck was sweaty. Both signs she was feeling anxious.
Who wouldn’t? She asked herself as she walked counting her steps to calm down. She was about to meet one, possibly two aliens that she would have to have sex with. She’d had such a long time to wrap her mind around the concept and still felt a little off about it.
The women were led in a straight line out in front of the men as they stood on a hill looking over them. Sarah felt a little bit like a piece of meat as the men’s names started to be called, but then the alien who’d looked through her started to announce their women and it all changed.
“Tisly and Scalar I present to you your gorgeous woman Madeline, she has come to give you the gift of carrying your young. Come forth and receive her into your home.”
The way he talked about the women showed a deep appreciation for their sacrifices. Sarah couldn’t help but feel moved by it. The women walked forward and when it was almost her turn she found she’d grown nervous. She looked up at the row of men and wondered which two would be her lovers. They were all similar but built differently. While they all had the same vibrant blue skin and black hair their stances were different. She could see each one as an individual just like on Earth. It was a strange realization for someone who’d grouped the whole species together and assumed they all looked alike throughout her training.
The Klaskians Series: Boxset Bks 1-3 Page 8
