by Calista Skye
Juri’ex pulls back, and now every cell in my pussy is waking up. That alien cock is here again, doing strange things to them, things they have never had before.
He thrusts in, and I can hear myself moan. I give myself over to the alien invader, and it feels like nothing else ever has.
He calmly fucks me, his alien cock sets my pussy on fire and soothes it at the same time, and one of his huge hands is still playing with my nipples.
I can’t hold back much longer. His cock fills my sex with molten gold, so hot and so deliriously wonderful.
Then Juri’ex changes his position. He comes closer to me, lowers himself, covers me with his immensely powerful torso. My whole front is covered by his warm skin and his rough stripes. It’s the closest I have ever been to anyone. And still his cock is inside me, pumping me hard and fast.
I can’t stop it now. It’s happening again.
And then, right at the moment when my orgasm hits, that second cock is at my clit, and it has to be vibrating or something. Because my pussy just explodes.
“I love you,” I yell, and then all I can do is scream and shake and twitch uncontrollably.
Juri’ex holds me down, controls this part too, lets me ride it out and enjoy it.
But my climax isn’t done when he stiffens, fucks me slower and less evenly, and then sprays inside me while he growls and grunts.
That reignites my orgasm and sends me for another orbit, until I can only whimper and my body shakes with the aftershocks.
Juri’ex stays on top of me, as if he will never let me go. And right now, that’s fine with me. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
14
- Juri’ex -
I go first down to the unknown level, my sword unsheathed and in my hand.
I step out of the beam to leave room for Ashlynn, and then we stand there and look out over the ocean.
“So many islands,” Ashlynn says in wonder. “And little bridges between them. It’s cute!”
I’m not sure what she means, so I only grunt. But I also see the appeal. It is somewhat similar to the ocean where I lived on an island with Rax’tar and the others. Except these islands are tiny, the plants are much smaller than our trees, and the water doesn’t have seatrees growing out of it. “There are no boats.”
“Nope,” she agrees. “But maybe the water is good to swim in. Do you think it’s salty?”
Before I can answer, she goes to the edge of the water and puts one finger in, then licks on it. “Pretty salty. I thought the air smelled different here than on the other levels.”
I shade my eyes with my hand. There must be hundreds of little islands, each with some small and colorful plants growing on it. “Do you think this is another recreation of some famous place on the Ex planet?”
Ashlynn takes hold of my upper arm. “Oh, I’m sure it is. Who would just make up something like this?”
“Let’s explore, then,” I suggest and walk over the low bridge to the closest island. The grass is soft, and there are many yellow flowers here, growing wild all over the ground.
Ashlynn follows me, and we walk over several more bridges to other islands.
Finally, we stop in the middle of a bridge.
Ashlynn stares down into the water. “No fish down there. You know, the islands are very pretty. But maybe a little boring? It’s all the same, except for the colors.”
“They’re so orderly,” I agree. “They could use some variety. Except for that one over there.” I point to an island that’s larger than the others and has some strange structures on it.
Ashlynn looks to where I’m pointing. “Yeah! What is that?”
“Let’s find out.”
We cross many more bridges to get to the larger island. It appears to be in the middle of the ocean.
The structures are small, and I can’t imagine what they’re for. There are little domes with holes of various sizes, small pads that rotate, spindly racks with ropes hanging from them, a round and flat container of white sand, a structure with many ladders and steps, and a lot of other things that have no obvious purpose. Everything is strangely rounded, and the colors are just as bright as those of the flowers.
“It’s a playground,” Ashlynn states with a voice that is suddenly flat. “For children.”
I walk over to a rotating pad and push it. It spins easily on a central axis, and it reminds me of some of the things I saw in the amusement park. “I didn’t know there were children here.”
Ashlynn doesn’t reply, just walks over to two hanging ropes and sits down on a board between them. She pushes off with her feet, then swings back and forth. But there is no joy in her face.
I touch the thin rack the ropes hang from. “You know how to use this stuff?”
“Not all of it. But I recognize many of these things from Earth. I guess kids all over the universe like the same things. These have been used a lot. See how the rope has frayed up there where it’s fastened to the bar? Juri’ex, there must have been children here. The Ex must have brought their kids when they escaped from the dragons. I think I understand this whole hanging gardens thing now.”
I squat in front of her. She’s struggling with something. “Can you tell me?”
She takes a deep breath. “All these things. These levels. The ridiculous city and the idyllic forest and the gardens. The amusement park. These islands with the playground, so perfect for picnics. It wasn’t for the Ex. Not for the adults to walk in while remembering the good old days. It was all for their kids. So they would know where they came from. So they would have real experiences. So they could see different locations. So they could live real lives, create real memories. So they wouldn’t be confined to only the sterility of an empty spaceship. The Ex were desperately fleeing from their own planet. They must have known they would never return. They were taking their children with them. And this… this was the best they could do for them!” Her voice cracks by the end of her sentence.
I go in close and clumsily hug her, pressing her side to me, while she wipes moisture off her face.
“They did their best to recreate the highlights of their homeworld inside the ship,” she finally continues. “Instead of just doing some kind of virtual reality in a computer. They knew that wouldn’t be good enough. They wanted the best for their kids. And they built this ship with that in mind. That’s why it’s so huge. It’s their home planet condensed. So their kids could walk around here and touch things and taste things and see famous sights and have something that was real. Or as real as the Ex could get them. God, they must have been desperate!”
Her narrow shoulders shake for a moment.
I don’t understand everything she says, because she uses some words from her own speech. But I get the main point. The Ex wanted their children to have real childhoods in real landscapes. I am not a father, myself. But I absolutely understand them.
“It’s not a bad effort. They did well.”
Ashlynn sniffles. “Yeah. They did well. They must have loved their children very deeply. Juri’ex, the Ex weren’t much different from us at all. Probably, they were closer related to me than to you, but still. They had the same problems and the same experiences. And I think their home planet must have been a true wonder.”
“Until the dragons came.”
“Yeah. Until the dragons came and destroyed everything. Well, we don’t have the full story of the Ex yet. But it never crossed my mind before that there had been kids here.”
I take in the colorful toys around us. “I wonder what happened to them.”
Ashlynn stands up from the swinging ropes. “According to the last living Ex, the Ex left their bodies and lived on only as minds in computers with robot bodies. I think that’s something they did long after they came aboard here. I think now that they did it to eke out a little more life so they could get their revenge on the dragons. Probably, it was the children themselves, now adults, who were forced to do that. But I don’t think we’ll ever know.”
&n
bsp; I take her hand, and we walk back to the white beam. This time, the robot has been waiting there for us.
“Let’s go up,” I suggest. “We need some food.”
“Okay.”
Up at the garden level, it’s already afternoon. We pick some fruits and eat them in silence.
I allow myself a smile while I chew the sweet meat of a delicious piece of fruit. I have Mated twice now. And Ashlynn appears to enjoy it more and more.
I enjoy it more and more, too. I would want it to go on forever.
And maybe it will. If Ashlynn stays.
She will soon leave. You think she wants you?
That voice again. This time I don’t draw my sword, just calmly turn around to spot anyone close. But there’s only Ashlynn and the robot.
I must be going crazy, and the voice comes from myself and my own doubts. But it sounds so strange in my mind.
Well, insanity is strange, I suppose. If this continues, I’ll have to—
She is your enemy. She is only using you.
I glance over at Ashlynn. The voice is very convincing. Is she only using me, while she prepares to leave Xren and me? It rings true.
She did willingly go to the Weirdness again, despite the unpleasant experience. She must be desperate to go home to her planet. As desperate as the Ex when they made this spaceship. Didn’t she say it, herself? She is just like them. And they missed their home so much that they built this gigantic spaceship around a pale copy of it. Won’t she want to do anything to get home?
She has no intention of helping me build a tribe. She has no intention of inviting me to her tribe. She needs me to protect her here, and then she may allow me to fight dragons on her behalf if she can’t leave.
But all she wants is to leave. I mean nothing to her. I’m only her escort.
There was a fence between me and her when I first saw her. That fence is still there. In her mind. And now in mine.
I toss half the fruit into a bush, uneaten. It doesn’t taste that good after all.
15
- Ashlynn -
I don’t even notice the flavor of the small fruit I’m eating. I’m not too hungry right now.
For some reason it had never crossed my mind that there were kids here. That Ex Delyah talked to didn’t mention them, as far as I know. Of course, I can ask her, through the robot.
But I don’t feel like talking to her. I have a guilty conscience about losing my secret thing, and I don’t want her asking me more about it.
I look over at the edge of this level and the narrow staircase that’s obviously dangerous to use. It’s the only way up to the control room if I want to see Delyah face to face.
I’ll go and see her tomorrow.
And then I should probably come clean about losing that thing. The girls are right – we really don’t want the dragons to know that Earth exists, not if they will do the same to our planet as they did to the Ex.
But it has to be in here somewhere, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem. There’s no risk a dragon will find it. I probably don’t need to worry that much.
The garden around me is as obviously artificial as ever, but now I see it in a new light. No adult could be satisfied with it. It was for their kids. The Ex wanted their kids to see beauty and nature. I notice that I have never seen anything like weapons or such things here. I’m starting to think that they must have been a peaceful species. Perhaps that’s why they were so vulnerable to the dragons. Perhaps they never were warlike. Or perhaps they grew out of that phase when they harnessed the Weirdness.
I still don’t know exactly what it is. I just know that it represents unimaginable power. That is the most obvious takeaway from trying to study it.
I’m not done, of course. I have barely started trying to figure out what it is and how we might be able to use it.
I glance over at Juri’ex and immediately feel my mood lift.
Thank God for that honorable alien warrior. Without him, I don’t think I would have been this stubborn in studying the Weirdness. It’s like he gives me a baseline of confidence and security so that I have the freedom to use my thoughts and whatever physics talent I have. He has confidence in me, probably more than I have in myself. It’s pretty addictive.
And he seems to have no trouble letting me take the lead sometimes. I can’t imagine a guy from Earth doing that as easily without endless posturing and chest-puffing. Juri’ex knows who he is. In the jungle, he’s the king and I am a dangerously ditzy clown. In here, in these surroundings that must be much more alien to him than to me, he’s fine with deferring to me sometimes. He’s smart enough to know that it just makes more sense. And his ego takes no damage from it.
Yeah. He knows who he is, and he’s fine with it. Did I ever know any other man who was this comfortable in his own skin?
It’s contagious, too. I like myself better now than ever before. And that’s because of him.
He catches me staring at him, and I send him a sincere, flirty smile. He doesn’t smile back, but I see him checking my surroundings for danger.
I’ve spent a lot of time with him now, and still he gets the butterflies going in my stomach just by existing.
I saunter over to him. “Finding any good fruits?”
“Some.” He tosses a twig away.
“Want to explore another new level? I think we have time before night falls.”
“Very well.” He starts walking towards the elevator beam, and I follow, a little puzzled.
Hm. He’s usually more friendly than this. Now it’s like he’s in a huff.
Maybe he has low blood sugar. The fruits he’s been eating should fix that pretty soon.
The robot follows us, and we enter the beam. Juri’ex first, with his sword drawn, which has become our habit. Then me, and then the robot follows a little later.
At the seventh level down, there’s a rainstorm.
“Plains,” Juri’ex says after one look at the landscape. “No trees.”
“The rain is probably permanent,” I guess and reach my hand out into the downpour. “Pretty warm, though. I don’t think we would get a cold from walking around in it.”
“Perhaps there is a jungle level somewhere below us.”
“Think they may have a level for each type of landscape on their planet? Makes sense. If there is a jungle level, you’re in charge of exploring it.”
We just stand there for a while, watching the sheets of heavy rain drift past. Not a drop reaches us when we’re close to the elevator column, but the sound it makes is just as hypnotic and soothing as it would be on Earth.
“I was thinking about the strange thing on the amusement level,” Juri’ex says.
I look up at him. “Yes?”
“If it is as you say, and all this was made for the benefit of children, then that thing probably also is. Could it be there to show it to them? To teach them about it?”
I scratch my chin. “As opposed to being a religious site? I think you might be on to something.”
“It is unpleasant to look at the Weirdness. For children, it might be more so. It is placed close to the amusement park so that the father can say to his son ‘just one look at it, and then we’ll enjoy ourselves with many rides on the rolrcousa’.”
“It would be psychologically smart,” I agree. “And the children would associate it with fun.”
We’re quiet for a few minutes, just thinking.
“Or perhaps,” Juri’ex rumbles, “it is genuinely enjoyable for children to look at it. Perhaps they are not as set in their ways, not as confused when things don’t behave the way they expect. I remember that from the boys in the village. Younger boys tend to accept things quite easily.”
“Getting them used to dealing with it,” I think out loud. “Showing it to them at a young age. On Earth, we do the same thing with certain machines that can be used for both work and entertainment. The children who grow up with them use them effortlessly when they get older, while their parents may struggle. You
know, for a man with no children, you’re pretty good at understanding them.”
He shrugs. “In my old tribe, we older boys had to care for the younger ones. It is only natural.”
I can’t help reaching my hand out and grasping his. He takes mine and squeezes it gently, and I breathe out. He’s in a better mood now.
“You care a lot for younger people, don’t you?”
“In my new tribe, every young boy will feel like a member of the tribe. They will be seen.”
I let go of his hand. For some reason, I feel a sting in my heart when he mentions the tribe he’s going to found.
The rain comes in waves, varying between drizzle and some serious torrential stuff. “At least there’s no thunder,” I say. “Shall we go one more level down?”
On level eight there’s a jungle, and we just look at each other wordlessly before we go one more level down.
“Did you ever see this before, Juri’ex? That’s snow.” It’s a winter landscape with hills and valleys and lakes and woods. There are no pines, but I do see some small trees with many leafless branches. If I were the skiing type, I would rejoice. Not so far away, there’s a column of light smoke rising calmly through the still air.
“Very unusual,” Juri’ex says. “No, that type of white sand has escaped me so far.”
I take a few steps into it, and the temperature gets lower immediately. I get a couple of fistfuls and pack them up into a snowball. “It’s not sand. It’s frozen water. See? It sticks together.”
And of course, I can’t resist throwing the snowball at his chest.
It explodes against his hard muscles, and he calmly looks down at the impact spot.
Then he slowly raises his gaze and penetrates me with eyes that have murder in them. “That was very stupid.”
My triumphant grin dies on my lips when the huge, deadly warrior takes a long step towards me. I freeze, then stumble backwards as the fight-or-flight reflex kicks in and picks flight.
My rational mind is totally overwhelmed by the primal reaction to his moves, which is panic.
