by Calista Skye
“Seh poh may.”
I turn to look at him. I don't know what he said, but that voice has command in it, even if he's just talking normally. Something about the calmness and certainty and deep resonance. I guess the patriarchy back on Earth has put its mark on me.
He points his hand towards where his heart would be if he were a human man. “Jax'zan.”
Ah. He's telling me his name. “Jacksan,” I repeat, and he sticks his chin out a couple of times. So my pronunciation can't be that bad.
I repeat his gesture to my own chest. “Sophia.” I say it slowly.
“Zoh-peee-eh.”
Okay, not a bad first attempt. “Sssoo. Fffee. Aaah.” I enunciate very clearly.
“So. Pee. Ah.”
Hm. I guess his fangs make it harder to pronounce the 'f'. I nod and smile and then try to stick my chin out like he's doing. I point at him. “Jax'zan.”
He points at me. “Zopia.”
Now that we've been introduced, I feel the time for stolen glances is over and I can spend a little while really looking at him. He may be alien, but I find his strangeness unreasonably attractive. His face looks a little wrong, still, but it has all the features I'd expect from a human. His mouth is wide and has full lips that have a different shape than any person I've met, but I still can't help wondering what it would be like to kiss them. His cheeks are hollow and show the bone structure underneath, and his chin is very strong and has not one, but two deep clefts in it. His ears are pointy and his hair still appears to shine with a light of its own.
I reach out to touch it. “May I?”
8
- Sophia -
He doesn't recoil, so I let my hand explore his hair. Hey, I have every right to. He's explored much more of me than that.
Each hair is a fraction thicker than a human hair, and now I see why it seems to exude light: it does. It kind of looks like those fiber optic sculptures on Earth, the ones that are a bunch of strands of fibers that shine in all colors of the rainbow. Except on him, it's natural and much less gaudy. It's pretty cool, actually. His hair can change brightness.
I touch his ear. It feels much like a human ear, except for that elf-like point at the top. But he doesn't look like Spock at all apart from that.
I let my hand glide down his shoulders and feel the bulging muscle there. He doesn't have much fat on him, and I can both see and feel scars. Probably it's a hard life here on the dino planet. The stripes have a different texture than his normal skin, and feel like extremely smooth suede.
My hand slides down his back. I had no idea a back could be that muscular.
For a moment I'm tempted to let my hand innocently wander to the front and his kilt-like loincloth, but he might take that as an invitation for more action than I'm ready for right now.
I yawn. Except for the unconsciousness after the hijacking attempt and the drowning thing, I haven't slept since seven the morning before. However many hours that it. Feels like a lot. And it is pretty dark in here now, except for his torch.
Jax'zan seems very sensitive to my needs, and now he's straightening out the blanket and motioning to it as if he wants me to lay down. Which I do want. What I don't want is for him to get the wrong idea. I mean, if his species eats you out as a way of saying hello, then who knows what he might want to do as a way of saying goodnight.
I remember his hot mouth on my pussy and the memory sends a nice little arrow of horniness to my crotch. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have actual sex with a caveman who seems totally nice and has probably saved me from drowning? Maybe it will make him more eager to help me with my goals?
I yawn again. No, I need to rest now. My mind is totally fried and there are some things that have happened that I'm desperate to not think of right now.
I lie down and make sure that he sees me fastening the zipper on my jeans very carefully, yanking it up a little extra and then pulling the hem of my shirt down over it. For good measure I make a denying motion with my hand over my crotch while I look him straight in his red-hot eyes. “No more tonight, okay? Or until I open them myself. Deal?”
He just looks at me and then lies down beside me, just close enough for his arm to touch mine. That's fine.
He's warm and big and I suddenly have an urge to cling to him. This whole planet scares me senseless. But he seems so damn safe, and he's done nothing to harm me. On the contrary. He's the only good thing I've found here. Everything he's done so far has been good and kind. He's shared his food and his drink. And his blanket. And his talented tongue.
I have an impulse and then carefully take hold of his strong arm, then turn away from him and pull the arm with me, making sure to keep his hand off my chest. Then I hold on to the arm, hoping he's like other good men and that he understands that I'm asking for his protection and safety tonight and nothing more. Now he's spooning me and has his arm around me, and if he thinks this is an invitation to sex, then he's hopeless and I guess I'll just shoot him.
I feel him adjust his position behind me, and I stiffen. This is it. If he now tries to-
Then I feel his face in my hair and I hear a low humming. He's humming a melody into my hair.
And I can't mistake it – that's a lullaby of some kind. It's simple and hypnotic and his deep voice makes my whole body relax.
Yeah, he gets it. He won't do anything more. We'll sleep until the morning. And I'll be safe.
Shit. He's so great it makes me want him to ravish me now.
Before I drift off into sleep with his deep, soothing voice in my ear I have just one more thought: this whole experience should have made me more afraid and less horny. I really have to check what the hell is in that water. And then maybe find a way to bottle and sell it.
- - -
I wake up and smell something delicious.
I immediately remember where I am and feel behind me on the blanket. Nope, Jax'zan isn't here. I check my jeans, too. Perfectly zipped up. My bra is still on.
And I'm alive. I purse my lips and nod to myself in satisfaction. Looks like this night went pretty well.
The cave is much brighter now and I can see daylight outside the opening. And the smell seems to be coming from there.
I rub the sleep out of my eyes, get up and walk over there. Outside is the jungle, with tall trees and large bushes and hot, humid air.
And Jax'zan. He's lit a fire and is grilling something. Meat, looks like.
“Good morning, Jax'zan” I say and smile to him.
He juts his chin out. “Zopia.” He seems happy enough. He doesn't smile all that much, but that's fine with me. Guys shouldn't go around constantly grinning to the world.
I nod to the meat he's grilling. “So you got us breakfast?”
“Go a ren,” he says.
“Go a ren,” I repeat. “Is that breakfast or meat or something?”
He points to the ground beside the fire. There's some blood and bones and entrails, and about half a dead creature that looks like a cross between a pig and a turkey. It's very dead, of course. The other half is what he's grilling.
“Go a ren,” he repeats and indicates both the meat and the dead animal.
“Oh, that's its name? Go a ren? Okay.” I sit down on a boulder beside him with my back to the slaughtered animal. I'm a city girl and I don't like to be reminded where meat comes from. But I absolutely will eat the stuff he's grilling now.
I take a deep breath of alien air. The bright daylight works wonders for my mood. The smell of rotting vegetation is still present, but somehow it feels better when Jax'zan is here.
Today I have to make my way back to the tuna can and see what the girls and I can do. I don't know how far that underground water tunnel took me, but it couldn't have been that far. Probably this cave is right under the mountain where we landed and where we found the spiky rock pile that said to stay away.
Now I see what Delyah meant about the sun being too big – it absolutely is. I can see that now. The gravity being lower I can't feel at al
l. Well, I was never the lightest girl.
Jax'zan does some cutting with that remarkable sword of his.
“Vehl bah kom,” he says and hands me a green leaf with a sizzling piece of meat on it. It smells good. But it's an alien animal. The food he gave me last night doesn't seem to have had any ill effects on me, though.
He gets a slice of his own and takes a bite out of it. His fangs glitter in the sun and I feel a hot spark down below at the thought that those fangs have been very damn close to my delicate parts. It doesn't scare me, it's just cool.
He chews happily and smiles into the sun and looks so content that I have to smile, too. I take a little nibble of the meat. Ah yes. Not like a mix of pork and turkey at all. More like beef. I haven't tried that many meats in my life. But the grilling has caramelized some of the fats, and that familiar flavor helps a whole lot.
I don't chew it too carefully. I need the energy, and being picky about what I eat could get me starving pretty soon on a planet like this. The other girls probably haven't had anything to eat at all.
Then I have a strong flashback to the other abductees being taken by that swarm of not-dactyls, and I want to cry again. At the back of my mind is the suspicion that my hijacking attempt is the reason that we were dumped here. That means that the deaths of those women is at least partly my responsibility. I'll have to do whatever I can to make it right again, no matter what the cost is to me personally. And that starts with finding the tuna can and reuniting with the girls.
My girls. The girls from my translator project. The girls I forced to work until late at night, so that they were abducted.
My good mood evaporates and that familiar cold rock settles in my stomach. “Shit.”
Jax'zan looks at me and frowns.
I force a smile. “Sorry. Just thinking about things. You know that I'm not from around here, right? Yeah, and I kind of really want to get home.”
Even if he doesn't understand the words, he can probably interpret my sad and defeated tone of voice.
And even if I don't want it to happen, I can't help a tear or two rolling down my cheeks.
Jax'zan reaches out and gently wipes them away with one finger. I let him. I like his touch. I can see that he's probably capable of intense violence, so his gentle gestures like that are all the more meaningful.
He smiles again, then looks into the fire and finishes eating. Then he starts speaking, very calmly, and he points up the hill and then in the other direction, towards the jungle. His language is very melodious, but it has some hard consonants. I really like listening to him.
Finally he points to the sky, as if telling me that he knows where I come from. When he's finished he smiles warmly and squeezes my shoulder. And don't you know it: it works. It makes me feel better. I don't know what it is about this guy, but my gut tells me I'm totally safe with him. And now I think everything will be all right, too.
Almost everything. Because in a flash, I see Alesya's dead face in front of me.
9
- Jax'zan -
Sophia suddenly seems sad, which I had expected. The water in the holy cave makes you dizzy and brave and aroused, but the next day you feel a little down for an hour or two. It's not good to drink much of it, and the tribesmen usually avoid touching it at all after they try it a couple of times while they're young boys. Its holiness also keeps us from drinking it except when something in our lives goes wrong and we want to spite the Ancestors because of it.
I want her to feel less sad. I know she can't understand what I'm saying. But I tell her about the Prophecy and that the Ancestors have decided that she is to be my mate and that we will go home to my tribe and that she will marry me and that we will have many children in the mysterious way that the Prophecy promises, which apparently means the woman carrying the child inside her for a period of time. In other words, she is the Mother. The Mother of this planet. The Mother of Xren.
I can't quite see how that will work. But They have promised it by letting me find her in the holy pool with water from sacred Bune, so it's certain. They rarely break promises.
I enjoy looking at her. She is so different from every person I've ever met, so soft and round and ... luxurious. And her slit was just as delectable as I hoped – slick and delicate and pink and responsive. I'm glad the shamans educate everyone in how to use our mouths on a woman, just in case it turns out that one of us is the Chosen one. It was extremely unlikely and I don't know how many of us took it seriously. But I did my best, and I'm glad I did. Because now it has turned out that the Chosen one is me.
I can't quite grasp it. But she's sitting here, as real as my sword, and she looks and smells so intoxicatingly enticing that I must rein myself in to not simply enjoy all the attractions her body has to offer. To continue the worship I showed her immediately upon discovering her.
On the other hand, she is a sacred being, a gift from the Ancestors. I must be careful and gentle with her. And she needs my protection. She is so small and beautiful and fragile, and so much here can kill her. Why, she doesn't even have a weapon!
Well, the Prophecy states it: the Chosen one must protect and worship the Mother and see to it that her needs are met. I certainly will do that. After all, she is mine.
10
- Sophia -
“This was good,” I say and venture a thumbs-up. Jax'zan frowns, and then I wince. I better be careful with hand gestures. They might mean something quite different here.
I finish the meat. It's not bad, but I'm not used to eating steaks for breakfast. I'd kill for some coffee right about now. And maybe a newspaper and a croissant, now that I'm dreaming. Or my cell phone. None of the girls have them here, because we all have to leave our phones and tablets outside the lab to protect the sensitive equipment there from their radio signals.
I wonder what's happening on Earth right now. Was that a real alien invasion? I mean, every news channel has to be blowing up about the abductions, at least. Maybe all us girls are front page news right now, with our pictures and our names and everything. Or maybe there's no one left on Earth. It did look like the aliens only wanted women, though.
And now I have to find mine. My clothes have dried out during the night, but I don't feel too clean.
“Excuse me.”
I walk behind a large bush for a little while, then back into the cave too see if I can wash a little. But Jax'zan shouts something and I turn.
He's on his feet and comes over, not too happy. He lightly takes hold of my upper arm and looks at me, very seriously. “Veek tees tedd,” he says.
“This is an important place,” says another voice, and I almost jump out of my skin. Jax'zan lets go of my arm and draws his sword in a movement so fast he's just a blur.
We both look around. No one.
That voice was familiar, though. Very familiar. So damn chipper.
Then I remember the translator.
I sheepishly pull the little thing out of my pocket and show it to Jax'zan. “I think it was this.”
“Yah tro rdehvar de ne,” the translator says brightly.
Jax'zan's eyes widen and his jaw drops. It's pretty unsettling to look at – I mean, he has eight very pointy fangs and it reminds me that he can probably rip my throat out just like that. But I get the feeling that he can also protect me really well, and I feel another nice little tingle down below.
“Yeah, this might come in handy,” I say, and the translator says something in a language that sounds a lot like Jax'zan's. Except its bright, girly voice is totally wrong for him. But that can't be changed.
I scratch my head and stare at the flat little translator in the palm of my hand. Sure, it does use a state-of-the-art chip with AI capabilities, but I had no idea it could teach itself an alien language this fast. It should need at least a hundred sentences to learn the even the basic structure of an Earth language. I guess it's better than we'd thought.
Jax'zan growls.
“Alien magic,” the translator says.
&nb
sp; Hm. I'm not sure how smart it is to make him think that this is magic. I have a feeling primitive people can react badly to that. I know witch-burning was a popular thing on Earth back in the day. But I'm also not sure how to explain the chip and the tech and the algorithms. But then again, I'd struggle to explain that to myself.
“Not really,” I say, and the translator dutifully translates. Or so I hope. “It's just a tool.”
Jax'zan peers at it and then seems to shrug. He places his sword back in his belt, takes my hand and leads me back to the fire and away from the opening of the cave.
An important place, huh? I wonder if it can mean a sacred place. It did kind of feel like a church. Or a cathedral.
Jax'zan wraps some grilled meat in leaves and places them in his bag, and then I guess we're ready to go somewhere. I have my gun and my translator and the damp clothes on my back. And I have a mission.
I point up the hill towards what I think is the mountain where the tuna can crash landed. “I have to get back to the girls. Could you please help me?”
He points the other way and speaks. “Home. Safe,” the translator offers. “Chosen one. Mother.”
I'm guessing he wants to take me home to his village to show me to his parents. Which makes a lot of sense. But I can't come.
I point again. “My friends are up there. They need help.”
He glances up there and says something. “Important hill. Forbidden,” the translator says. “Bune.”
Forbidden, huh? I guess probably he or his people made that pile of rocks with the spears that's supposed to be a warning. If so, it might be pretty hard to get him to go up there. Just my luck if the tuna can landed on a holy mountain.
“I have to go there. My friends are in danger. They need help.” I take a couple of steps up the hill, so he can see that I'm not really asking. I'm telling him. I have to do this.
He grunts. “Danger. Important hill. Death.”
Well, I can't expect him to follow me there if he thinks it will kill him. I have probably done enough damage to people already. “You don't have to come. I'll go alone.”
