Now we’re on the plains of Itegen, a hot, dry country about a hundred miles from Kalquor’s largest desert. It’s wild out here, with a ton of exotic animals which live only in this location. We joined a shuttle tour to see the wildlife in its native habitat yesterday. We were able to get out and view the herbivores with nothing between us, but when it came to the predators, we had to remain in the shuttle and watch them through the vid windows. We saw a pack of senilows take down a giant umtopel, which looks like a cross between a cow and a stegosaurus, if you can imagine. The senilows essentially resemble fangs with long, skinny legs. Brutal creatures. I was glad to be inside the shuttle where they couldn’t catch me.
I’d rather come across a senilow than who we ran into in the village where we’re staying. Ugh, I thought I’d seen the last of Dramok Resan. But nooooo, the big-eyed jerk came out of a shop this morning as we were passing by.
He wore a exo-skeletal brace, obviously still recovering from the spinal injury he’d suffered during the Tragoom attack on the transport. He stopped short as he recognized us.
Oses and Betra bowed, the typical respectful greeting. Betra spoke, “Hello, Dramok. It’s good to see you on your feet. Are you able to enjoy your leave?”
Resan returned their bows with a nod of his head. “Very much, thank you Imdiko.” He looked at Betra, his gaze frankly curious before looking at me between my two sweeties. “Matara Shalia. You and your daughter look well.”
His tone was impersonally polite. At least I was spared the acid of our usual exchanges. I returned the favor. “Dramok Resan. I’m glad you’re recovering.” Yeah, right. He’d better recover after what I went through to keep him alive.
“A few more days and I will be rid of the exo-brace,” he said in that same noncommittal tone. He turned his attention to Oses, and I was sure his voice warmed. “You’ve found my home village. How are you liking it?”
Oses looked around with appreciation, though I didn’t note any sights to get excited about. “It’s been a most interesting stop on our tour. The guided expedition of the plains was particularly enjoyable.”
“Did you notice any senilows? I heard their numbers have increased lately. The hunters are readying to do a cull.”
Oses’s eyes brightened. “A hunt? That would be exciting.”
“It usually is. I’m sorry I won’t participate this time. I’ve always gone out when we were due to decrease their numbers.” Resan was a regular Chatty Cathy, wasn’t he?
“I didn’t realize you were from this area.”
“My grandparents and parents live here. I am staying with them during my leave.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if I’d run into his grandmother, may the great lady live forever, jogging through town in her best gown. I somehow managed to keep my mouth shut.
Resan turned to Betra again. “I don’t suppose you hunt, Imdiko?” The assessing look was on his face again, as if he was trying to find some evidence of Betra’s rampant heterosexuality. I fussed over Anrel to hide the smirk that crept out. Resan was going to keep barking up the wrong tree until Oses was forced to kick his ass.
After a few more minutes of Resan chatting them up and ignoring me, he excused himself. “I’m due at my grandparents’ for lunch. Enjoy the rest of your leave.” He hesitated as if wanting to say more. Then he gave me a quick nod before moving on.
Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I let myself snicker. “Could he have been any more obvious?”
The guys glanced at me quizzically. “Obvious about what?” Betra asked.
I couldn’t help my grin. “Resan finds Oses interesting. Very interesting.”
They exchanged startled looks. “He does?” they chorused.
I laughed. Men can be so clueless.
October 3
Every time I think I have a favorite spot on Kalquor, I find something new to fall head over heels for. The tropical island of Erem is my latest infatuation.
At high tide, it’s not even an island. It ceases to exist when the ocean covers it for several hours. Since the water isn’t very deep and the buildings are constructed for this situation, it’s okay. It can only be accessed by boat. You can’t very well have a shuttle landing pad under the sea.
This is among the few spots on Kalquor where free-standing structures are allowed. Most of them are tiny homes and tourist suites, lined up like a string of pearls along this itty-bitty stretch of sometimes-an-island. Shops and other buildings, such as medical facilities, are on the larger nearby island of Arethu.
The place we’re staying in is typical for Erem, but I find it too exotic to be believed. The bottom floor is the main sleeping room, its walls composed of transparent material. At high tide, this room is completely underwater, surrounding the occupants with clear green water and fantastic aquatic creatures who tend to be attracted when the lights are on. At night, it is the fish – or whatever you call the things swimming here – that light up. They glow in the dark, and it is the most amazing display anyone can imagine. The first night I could hardly sleep for wanting to watch them swim around us. I know there were such creatures in the deepest parts of Earth’s oceans, but I never got to see them.
Most of the upper floor is open to the air. There is a floor and a roof, but beyond support columns, no walls for the living area and kitchen. I suppose I wouldn’t want to be here during a storm, but now the skies are a perfect blue, the water is clear, and the spit of powdery sand surrounding the suite is almost as white as snow.
Anrel has all the makings of a beach baby. She squeals with delight at the fish swimming about her when she’s in the sleeping room. She adores picking up handfuls of sand and throwing them at us. She loves splashing in the water even more. She even moves her arms and legs, as if trying to swim when we take her deeper. She yells at us when we make her come into the living area for meals and diaper changes, as if to protest removing her from of her natural habitat.
She sleeps soundly at night here. For that matter, so do I once I’m too tired to stare at the glowing fish. Hearing the ocean is soothing.
Not so soothing are the gorgeous men I’m with. Watching those nearly-naked bodies swim, their wet muscles gleaming, has me at a constant state of arousal. Betra and Oses are ridiculously sexy, their already brown skin taking on a deeper hue from being in the sun. I guess they appreciate what I’m showing too. Under the water, their hands are all over me, reaching inside my swimsuit. When Betra is holding Anrel, letting her practice her kicks and strokes, Oses clutches me tight, seeking my pussy and anus, as if to keep me ready to be taken at any moment. The reverse is true when Oses plays with the baby; Betra plays with me. They love driving me out of my skull.
I’m all too happy to show them how I enjoy viewing so much of them. Last night after Anrel fell asleep, we relaxed with drinks on the upper part of the suite. The three of us lounged on a monstrous hammock. It was stretched out where a wall would have been if the room had them, with Betra on the side facing the ocean, me in the middle, and Oses. He had a foot on the floor, making us swing. As we rocked, I gazed up at the thatched ceiling, then the star-splattered sky the next second. Back and forth, back and forth. The breeze played over my nude body, still damp from the quick dip I’d taken minutes before. It cooled me except for where Betra and Oses’s warm bodies touched. They stroked my inner thighs, and I was growing wetter in a certain place rather than drier.
Heaven.
Oses switched his glass of bohut from one hand to the other. He brought the fingers that had clutched his icy drink to my breast, rubbing the cold over a nipple. I squealed but didn’t fight the profound sensation that made the peak go taut. He chuckled at the reaction.
“There is only one way to finish off this perfect day,” he rumbled.
With that, he pushed the hammock so it swung far out over the edge of the room. At the same instant, he reached over me and shoved Betra off. The Imdiko’s startled yell was broken by the splash of him hitting the water.
&nbs
p; “He’s not going to be too happy with you for that,” I laughed as Oses jumped off the hammock and stilled its swaying.
His teeth flashed white in the night. “I’ll make it up to him. Maybe.”
As he took my half-finished drink, more splashes told us Betra had surfaced. “What the hell, you asshole?” his indignant voice demanded.
Oses laughed and pulled me roughly off the hammock. He set me on my feet and then turned me towards the suspended stretch of fabric. “Bend,” he ordered. When I failed to move fast enough to suit him, his hand gripped the nape of my neck and bore me down.
A few adjustments, and I was facedown on the hammock, my rear end hanging off the edge. He pushed my legs apart with ruthless demand. He searched through my folds. “Mmm, good and wet for me,” he said. “Since the day has been a long stretch of foreplay, I will be fucking you without further preparation.”
I was delighted to hear him say that. I’d been debating on whether or not to insist on quick and dirty when Oses had gotten rid of Betra.
He pressed against my ass and pussy. He shoved in with strength, driving the air out of my lungs. I fisted the hammock in my hands, my mouth gaping wide from the force of his abrupt taking. I wasn’t quite over the surprise when he started a demanding rhythm.
He used the hammock to his advantage, making it swing towards him as his hips thrust forward. I grunted with each pounding shove, my feet kicking weakly as they hovered over the floor. The friction was relentless, it was harsh, and it was wonderful. A raging fire broke out within me. I couldn’t do anything about being taken as he wanted. It was delicious to be handled that way.
Sensation rolled through me, a wave in the vast ocean surrounding us. I clenched around his lengths, feeling my sleeves engorging, tightening. My whole body quivered in reaction.
A hand gripped my hip. The other slipped beneath me, going straight to my mound. He brushed my clit, sending a tidal wave of need through me. I made a choking sound, my legs kicking straight out behind me. It was too much. The feeling was overwhelming, more than I could handle. I struggled to move, but he settled his weight on me, holding me in place. He kept stroking over my clit, sending stomach-clenching sensation to drive me out of my skull. I couldn’t escape.
He moved again, easing his weight off me and pushing the hammock so that he very nearly emptied me of himself. Then he yanked the hammock back, jerking his hips forward to impale me onto his full length. He worked my clit, bringing me up to the cusp of release, only to pull back again. He speared me again and stimulated my clit, to the brink once more. Another brutal thrust. Another. Another. And in between, toying with my clit until my every breath came out in a little scream.
Then he took me hard and fast, rubbing my clit to force me over. I blew apart in monumental climax, my senses shattered. My sex milked him as he continued to take me until he spent himself in violent jerks.
When he was done, he muttered in a low voice. I couldn’t hear him over the continued wild pounding of my pulse in my ears. I didn’t have the strength to ask him to repeat it.
He pulled free, leaving my ass and flexing womanhood empty. I wanted to complain, but I was abruptly filled again.
I knew without looking that it was Betra, and not because he was dripping from his impromptu swim. I was too well acquainted with his body – particularly his cocks – to not tell him from Oses.
Being tossed into the ocean hadn’t dampened his ardor any. His thrusts were as powerful as the Nobek’s, shoving into my engorged sheaths. A fresh surge of desire stampeded through me. I was on the verge of coming again.
He reached for and found my clit, as Oses had. He pinched hard and held the sensitive nub in a vise grip. Again, I had no escape. Again, climax roared through me, throttling me from within. Betra kept slamming against me, his hold on my clit not relenting. Another orgasm swelled up and broke over me. I wailed.
He released my clit, and circulation returned in a blinding rush, bringing violent sensation. He shoved his cocks in deep, and I was off again. I jerked as if struck by lightning.
On and on, he fucked me. He positioned me where he wanted, took me as I bucked helplessly beneath him. Orgasms brutalized me until he’d taken all I could give. Only when I lay completely spent, unable to twitch, did he let go, his seed joining Oses’s within me.
After a while, we lay on the hammock again, drinks in hand, our pulses gentling as Oses rocked us once more. A perfect end to a perfect day.
October 7
We are at the end of our tour. Tomorrow we return to the capital. It has been a wonderful trip, and I’m sorry it’s at an end.
We are on a river cruise, the third day of it. Each morning, we stop off in a city and sightsee. Then we’re on board by dinner and heading to the next port. The ship is nice, though our cabin is a tad cramped. That’s okay. There’s plenty of room on the deck, and the scenery is spectacular. We’ve observed old ruins from when the earliest Kalquorians lived and were not so worried about keeping the environment in its natural state, rolling hills of crops, temporary bazaars where merchants set up for arriving tourists, colorful fishing boats, and endless beaches.
I’m curious to discover how Cifa’s ocean liners stack up against the river cruisers. That’ll make an interesting comparison.
I got excited during breakfast. We were enjoying local fare from the last port, prepared by a chef who works on board the cruiser. Anrel was in my lap, having a bottle as I ate. She finished it off, and after she burped for me, she yelled, “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma.”
I gasped. “She said ‘mama’!” I was beside myself with delight.
The expression on his face told me Betra hated to burst my bubble. He ventured, “I think she’s just babbling, Shalia.”
“It sounded like ‘mama’ to me,” Oses muttered grumpily, as if Betra was putting her down. “Anrel is very smart.”
“She’s smart, but most Earther babies don’t speak their first words until they’ve reached a year. If I remember correctly, Kalquorian babies don’t speak until ten months.”
As if to prove his point, Anrel unleashed a stream of “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.” Oh wow. She’s attempting to imitate sheep. I deflated.
I gave her precious cheek a kiss. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. You’re still smart.” She burbled happily, not worried about her inability to hold a conversation.
I didn’t know how well she’d travel for this tour. I thought we wouldn’t be able to do a lot with her along, and that was fine. As long as I got to spend time with Betra and Oses before they left, I was counting it as a win.
But Anrel has been a terrific traveler. Her sunny disposition has rarely flagged. Oses and Betra cared for her nearly as much as I have. We missed out on little we wanted to do. Anrel wasn’t a hindrance at all.
She’s a hit wherever she goes. Kalquorians are excited to see her, to ask me about her. She seems universally adored. The only troubling reactions I’ve seen have been the occasional Kalquorian women turning away with sad looks on their faces. Anrel is often a reminder of the daughters they can’t have. Seeing them always dims my joy. I feel for them.
Overall, however, this has been a vacation for the books. I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe Oses and Betra leave in a few days.
I’m not going to think about that, not until I have to. I insist on enjoying myself and them until the last possible second. I’ll be happy in the here and now.
October 9
We’ve returned to the Matara Complex, having gotten in late last night. We’re all lying around, relaxing after our tour. Betra and Oses are watching some violent game called kurble on the vid. They’ve set a wager since they’re fans of opposing teams. The winner can do rude acts to the loser in the transport’s pleasure club when they’re under way again. Betra’s team is ahead by two scores. He’s grinning ear to ear, and Oses is growling.
Anrel is playing on her cushioned floor mat, chewing her colorful toys in turn. Every now and then Betra, who is also lying on t
he floor, picks her up and has her swoop through the air the way she loves. Her giggles make us all smile.
I’m doing my best not to dwell on how fast the time is flying past. I’m hanging out on the lounger, editing vid of our trip for the guys to keep and enjoy. A few minutes ago, I tried to com Candy, forgetting she’s off with Nobek Stud Man. I wonder how that’s going.
Two more days. Damn it. I hate that they’re leaving so soon.
Betra’s com went off. It was his mother. We’re all to gather for a farewell dinner tomorrow. Anrel and I are to be there or else. Or else what? Betra gave me a frightened glance that may or may not have been a joke. “You don’t want to know.”
Shalia's Diary Omnibus Page 172
