Catalyst Part I

by L D Strawser

  “I don’t know if I can handle you having all of those other wives,” she said in a timid voice.

  I sighed. There was no point getting angry with her when she really did not understand. I would most likely be outcast anyway. So I smiled down at her.

  “You are a very greedy creature wanting me all to yourself,” I chided her, “I am your husband, I will obey you in all things of the heart and never would I do anything to change that fact.” I smiled and continued to touch her skin. Every rough edge of the skin of her face, shoulders, neck, and hands felt like fire and ice tearing at my nerves, driving me wild with desire for her. She seemed completely oblivious to what her skin did to me. She reached her hand up to touch my face and it took everything in me to remain still while her fingertips rasped roughly across the side of my face. No wonder humans were so numerous—if a simple touch could do this to my iron control—what would happen when we were finally married.

  “What did your brother mean when he said that you would be outcast and that they wouldn’t approve of me?”

  I could see that this conversation was not going to go well. She backed away from me when she saw the angry look on my face. She did not realize that I was not angry with her or her question, I was angry because I knew what was going to happen and there was nothing I could do to change it.

  “I would rather not talk about that right now, I was hoping you and I could make plans. Perhaps you would like a tour of your solar system or we could meet your family and I can make reparations to them.” I knew this would not work but I had to try anyway. She did not disappoint.

  “Why do you always avoid my questions before answering them? On top of that you get angry with me with almost every other sentence or question that comes out of my mouth! How am I supposed to get to know you better if I can’t ever get you to answer questions or you get mad at me for no reason?” By the end of her little tirade her face had turned almost the color of her lips which made her even more exotically beautiful. I wanted to smile but I could see that this would anger her more.

  “I am not avoiding your questions and I am not angry with you, I am angry with the circumstances that come about and make you angry with me. I am angry with myself for harming you several times already even though I did not mean to do so. In answer to your questions, being outcast means that my wives will collectively reject me and when they do that I will lose a great deal of power and backing that those wives brought with them to our marriages. The reasons they will not approve of you are many and varied depending on which wife you ask and what her particular agenda happens to be.” I had no idea why but she was about to accept my explanations and drop this whole conversation.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I would be causing you so much trouble. Are you sure that I’m worth the trouble?”

  “There is no need to apologize, I knew long ago what would happen and I have never looked back or regretted any of my decisions. As for trouble, I will let you decide what the definition of trouble is after we discuss the future. You may decide that I am not worth your trouble as you put it.” Interesting that she was suddenly so understanding. I could see future events rather clearly but the reasons behind those events and the reasons behind individual choices were unknown to me.

  “You said that he is your brother, did you mean that literally?”

  “Yes, he and I have the same mother, why do you ask?” She seemed to be having one of her internal conversations again. For some reason she did not seem to like the fact that one of my guards was also my brother. I could not imagine why it would make a difference to her.

  “He doesn’t like me at all and he seems to enjoy attacking me.” I could tell I would have to try to make her understand Brenthin culture before she would be able to understand the reactions of my family, not to mention my bodyguards. There were so many things she needed to know about me and so many things I could not tell her. I would have to be very careful what I revealed to her and when I revealed it. If only she would allow me to put controls on her mind so that I could prevent any disastrous outcomes. It looked like any further education in Brenthin culture would have to wait. My brother was returning to tell me that I am needed on the ship. Well at least she would understand this and not be upset over my leaving—at least not overly upset.

  “Pan’Ar, the Generals and Circle of Elders are assembled and waiting for you. Do you want me to tell them you are busy or will you meet with them?” My brother was enjoying this a little too much. He knew that I would have to tell the Generals and the Circle that I would be taking an alien wife and that she was the one we had been looking for on top of that. What he did not know was that I had already explained the situation to them before I departed the ship so they were not going to be as upset with me as he supposed. They would only be disappointed that I was unable to gain control of her power before leaving.

  “Tell them I will join them as soon as possible,” I was going to try to gain control of Cassandra one last time before leaving, “and Tren’Ar, you are not to say anything to my wives. I will tell them myself upon my return to the fleet. Is that understood?”

  “Of course Pan’Ar.” He walked away with an exaggerated stiffness to his movements that told me that he had been planning on telling them and was upset that he was not going to get the chance. Now I would attempt to gain control of her more dangerous gifts without upsetting her.

  “Do you really have to go or is he just trying to keep you away from me?” Amazing, she truly wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with her.

  “I want to explain so many things to you and I do not know where to start. You must understand one thing though. Tren’Ar is my brother and one of my bodyguards. He would never lie to me or betray me in that way. He also would not attack you without reason. He thought he was protecting me and my reputation. Reputation and status are very important in our culture.” She seemed to be thinking over what I had said and she seemed to be assimilating the information without any problems, now for the dangerous part of this conversation.

  “Cassandra,” I held out my arms to her and she responded by immediately filling them, “I know you are frightened of many things right now but I need to protect them. They are my children, the only children I will ever have. Can you at least understand why I want to put controls on your power?”

  She looked up at me, her eyes locking with mine. Her hands reached up and held my face on either side. It was as if she knew exactly what to do to distract me from my purpose. But this was too important to be so easily overcome by her touch. My nerves were on fire as her fingers stroked my face in such a provocative manner. I could barely contain myself and now she was tugging my head downwards towards her face. Her mouth touched mine and I forgot where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. My mind could only process the rough feel of her lips on mine and then she did something only those who are married are allowed to do. She started stroking my ears, she could not possibly know what it meant but all the same it drove me into a mindless fever of desire. I wanted her and I wanted her now.

  Flashes of the future were blending in with what was occurring in the here and now for me. My entire body was on fire, I had never felt anything like this before. Her every touch, her breath, her sighs were sending me over the edge. I had never lost control like this before and then in a starburst of vision I saw my children, our children. They were beautiful, exotic like their mother and yet I could tell they were mine as well. Two boys and a girl, they were smiling up at me—the moment to create these beautiful children, the only ones I would ever father, was now upon me. She was pulling me through the house back to her room. It was obvious that she wanted this as much as I did. Any cultural taboos I had at this moment were being flung aside in my desperation to have her.

  As we entered her room she shut the door with her foot and her hands slowly travelled from my ears to my chest where she began tearing at my clothing. It was too much—desire overwhelmed me. Before I could even see what was about to h
appen I had already torn her clothing off of her and removed the rest of mine as well. She wanted to lie down on the bed but I did not let her get that far. I had to remember how fragile she was—it took all of my concentration to slow down and gently lift her until she was poised over me. Her eyes never left mine as I slowly entered her. Her legs wrapped around my waist as I brought her body slowly down on mine. The sensation of being inside of her was testing all of my ability to control myself. I could feel ridges and folds that were rough and soft and wet all at the same time—and then she squeezed me from the inside.

  Once again I lost control but it seemed that she wanted me to lose control and as I did she went into a wild frenzy like I have never experienced. Her body convulsed rhythmically in time with mine. Her hands gripped my shoulders and her fingernails dug into my skin making me gasp with pleasure. Her mouth found my neck and she began biting her way up to my ears. It was more than I could take. With a final hard thrust inside her I exploded with her as she gasped in pleasure and her body squeezed uncontrollably every last drop of seed out of my body. I finally stumbled to the bed with her still on top of me. She continued to move on top of me in a way that suggested she was not finished with me yet. In a flash of sight I could see that this was going to last much longer than I expected and I smiled up at her as we started what would be many pleasurable repetitions of our bodies joining as one.

  “I must leave, I do not want to leave, but I do have responsibilities that cannot be delayed any longer.” If she only knew how unbelievably true and desperately I wished that I could stay right where I was, her body fitted next to mine, intertwined and content. None of my other wives had affected me in this manner. It was partly that I had known her since we were children and known what our future was to be, even though we had only met in person in the past day. I already knew that I would defend her and die for her if necessary—I already loved her more than anything else in my world. I could see she wanted to hear these sentiments, hungered for them as if she would die if she did not hear these words from me. I could see no harm in telling her the complete truth in this case.

  “Cassandra, you are the most important person to me, I love you more than you can possibly imagine. I have to leave but before I go please allow me to protect them.” I could see that she was going to agree but the look on her face was afraid and hesitant. Perhaps if I reassured her of my intentions and promised to only put controls on her to prevent harm to the children only. That would be a compromise on my part and it would protect my children at the very least. Once she trusted me then I could put stronger controls on her to prevent a greater disaster.

  “Is my word not enough in this case? You should know that I probably cannot have anymore more children but even so can’t you just trust me when I say I would never harm our children?” The look in her eyes begged me to trust that she could control her power and I truly wanted to trust her, but in this particular case the lives of the only children I would ever have were in jeopardy. I did not know why she thought she could not have children and how could I possibly explain the importance of these children to her without offending her. She made any explanations unnecessary.

  “I love you more than you can imagine and I will trust you to not take advantage of your power over mine.”

  With those words she looked directly in my eyes and waited expectantly. I focused my gift on her and was surprised when I felt no response. It was as if there was nothing for my power to take control of, as if no one was before me, as if I were looking in a mirror. I tried again and again to no avail. She smiled up at me innocently and I could tell that she assumed I had been successful.

  “There, now you have put your controls on me and you have nothing to worry about anymore.” I controlled the expression on my face simply because she could never know the truth. I could not control her power and I had no idea why she was immune to mine. I needed to consult with the Circle of Elders immediately, they must know of this and perhaps they could present a solution. The protection of my children was paramount in my mind but all life in the universe could be in danger from this beautiful, frail woman if her power was unleashed.

  I smiled down at her and kissed her while my mind reeled at the ramifications of this predicament. I had to leave as quickly as possible without raising her suspicions. Her next words provided me with a way.

  “I’m afraid your clothing is in pieces,” she laughed, “I guess your brother is going to have to bring you something to wear out of here.”

  “You are not angry that I must leave?” She smiled and touched my face with her fingertips.

  “I am the wife of your heart and in all things of the heart I will obey you, if that means you must leave me for a while, then I must accept that a sacrifice on my part is necessary. Of course you must promise to return soon, do you promise?”

  “Of course I will return to you, I have reparations to make to your family and we have a wedding to plan.” It was as if her powers were growing and multiplying. And just hours before she was not immune to my gifts and now I could no longer see flashes of her future either. If this was an aspect of her gift then it was formidable indeed. No single other being I knew of had a gift that could evolve based on changing circumstances and conditions. No one had ever thwarted my gifts before, not even her, until now. This was not a good sign and the Elders would not be happy with this development. They might see this as a very good reason to simply kill her and her family.

  Chapter Six

  1 Day ago… Brenthin Stellar Class Ship Vora’Cort in Saturn orbit

  The room was bare of any furnishings. There were no decorations—there were the walls and the door and nothing else. It was perfect for my purpose. There were no crevices to hide recon devices, there was only one entrance and that had a weapons detector that would sound if anything entered the room that could be used as a weapon. Normally it was only used for combat disputes to ensure fairness but now it would be used as a safe meeting place and in the future a holding cell for her. She could not be allowed to become a part of the family. Pan’Ar and his two gifts were unusual and rare but he was not the only one with the ability to see the future. If she bore his children she would be responsible for bringing down our society and our way of life and that could not be allowed. Surely the others would see the need for this action and agree to help. If not I will simply act on my own. It is not as if I do not have my own resources.

  “What is this about sister?” Shar’el Lek’Ser was beautiful and respected. She had a child with each of her husbands’ with the exception of one, Pan’Ar. It was a constant irritant to her that she had failed to conceive a child with Pan’Ar. She would be on my side with barely an argument.

  “Yes sister, why have you called us here?” Rhan’vi Fah’Din would be harder to convince but not impossible. She was as much a warrior as Pan’Ar and she was not one to stand by while our world could be destroyed. Behind her three of the other wives most likely to help came through the door.

  “Shut the door and lock it, we have much to discuss and I do not want to be interrupted.”

  “If this is about his obsession over this alien woman, you know as well as the rest of us that he was honest in his marriage negotiations. He told each of us before we accepted his proposal that we would not have a child with him and that the only progeny he would have would be with this alien. We have finally found the world of this alien woman and now you are upset, why?” Tash’na Set’Ral was lead wife and would be the hardest to convince. She was also the most important one to convince that my way was the best way to deal with this alien usurper.

  “Yes, he used the word progeny, a word that can refer to a child or descendants. Have any of you conducted any research on this alien race?”

  “Get to the point of this meeting Kish’ra, what do you want?”

  “These alien women are in the habit of having more than one child with one male and are completely compatible with our race physiologically.” This simple statement brought lo
oks of shock from every face. It was obvious that these simple facts had eluded all of them.

  “What?”

  “You cannot be serious. He would have told us this!”

  “Who is your source of information?”

  “I have more than one source of information in this matter. I also consulted the Seer. She confirmed that he would have three children with this woman.”

  “Why would he keep this from us?”

  “Good question Tash’na and I believe the answer is simple. He knew that this would destroy our society and cause a rift that would tear us all apart. He knew that males from Brenth would flock to these women who could bear more than one child to one man, who were genetically and physically compatible, who could be easily controlled and many of whom would be willing. Imagine what would happen if Brenthin males found out they could have more than one child with one woman. Have any of you bothered to research the cultures and societal norms on this world? Of course not, I have and it is a worldwide patriarchy even in the societies that allow women political freedoms. I do not believe Pan’Ar bothered to mention to any of us that his new found love wife will also bring down our entire society forever.” There was complete silence—it was now or never, I had to convince them that my plan was the only option available to us.

  “We must capture this woman and kill her before she conceives a child by Pan’Ar. There is no other way to prevent a disastrous split in our society if we do not act now to prevent this pregnancy we will never get the chance. He has already met with her at least once…”

  “Kish’ra, if we kill her we will start a family war on a scale that has never been witnessed before, you cannot be seriously considering this as the only option?” Tash’na looked around at the others before going on, “We could visit with her and talk to her, perhaps if she understood the situation she would be willing to help us. Surely she would be willing to compromise in return for her safety—her life?”