by Rena Marks
“We have beef steaks grilling. Only, we don’t know if they’re beef.” She smiled impishly. They walked to the barbecue area, where the other families were gathered.
Titi came running, climbing up Tristan’s leg.
Tomlak was on her heels. “Here, Titi. My mom grilled you a banana.”
Tristan sat, letting the baby climb onto his lap. Lara took the chair next to him. Titi grabbed the sweet treat and began to gnaw it happily.
“Thank you, Tomlak,” Lara said. “You are such a good sitter.”
The little boy beamed before joining Kamau. Like Titi, he couldn’t seem to leave his father’s side.
“So what now?” Lara asked
“They’re gathering up their wounded. On our side, anyone who wishes to take their status can replace them. Then they’ll fire up the ship and leave.”
“Our men can go?”
Tristan nodded, but smiled at the devastation in her voice. “No one chose to leave. They already refused the promotion.”
“Then why did they fight for it?”
He looked at her like she was crazy. “The chance to kick ass.”
A droning sound filled the air.
“Here it goes,” Chastien yelled out. “Come, Rantik.” He hauled his son up to sit on his shoulders. “The fireworks will be pretty.”
Sure enough, as the ship slowly rose, a display of sparks shot off in a multitude of colors and shapes. The children clapped and chattered excitedly amongst themselves. They’d never seen anything like it. Lara smiled, not sure if they were actually clapping for the glorious display of fireworks or the fact that the bad guys were leaving.
Then the older children went to play chase, though they kept coming back frequently to make sure everything was all right.
“It’s going to take a while for them to feel safe again,” Lara murmured.
“That’s why we beat their crew senseless,” Tristan growled.
Marcie and Bajoc approached to sit with them, pulling along chairs.
“So what was that black blob-ish mess?” Marcie asked, sitting across from them. Bajoc sat next to her.
“That was a Gorgian,” Bajoc said to his mate. “They are the scum of the galaxy. Trolls. They infiltrate planets to destroy. The good news is, there were none of them left. The rest of their people will never know what happened to them.”
“How did you kill them? They were liquid,” Marcie said, and shivered as she seemed to remember the creature.
“We made it rain. The cold water slows their movement so they weren’t able to reach the village on their own. We knew we had to keep the one that attached to Lara separate from everyone else.”
“That’s why I ran to the cliff,” Lara whispered.
“Next time run to me,” Tristan growled.
“How did you know which was the creature and which was me?” Lara asked him.
“What?” He didn’t look like he really misunderstood the question. Instead he looked like he was trying to stall giving her the answer.
It raised her suspicions, and she narrowed her eyes. “We looked exactly alike. How did you know which one to kill?”
He sighed. “You are right handed. I assumed you would touch the creature with your dominant hand, therefore the being with the right arm merged must have been you. So I cut off the person with the left arm.”
Her jaw dropped.
“That’s it? That’s how you knew which hand to cut off? What if you would have been wrong?”
He smiled, the deep muscles cutting into the lines of his jaw. “I would know you anywhere, mate. I’ve known you were mine since the first moment I saw you descend the ship.”
“You did?”
He nodded gravely. “At first I thought it was just because you would compliment my coloring, with your red hair draped over my chest. Then I realized I never want anyone to see you spread over me. I want that image all to myself.”
“You are so sweet,” Lara said, ignoring Marcie’s huff. Sometimes one had to pick their battles.
“Why didn’t you give us the language upload?” Marcie asked.
“We wanted to understand you first,” Bajoc said. “So we could woo your properly. We had just decided to give it to you when the Gorgians landed.”
“You wanted to woo us?” Marcie asked.
“Of course,” he said. “You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. I’m lucky you looked my way.”
Marcie’s mouth dropped. “I think you are the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. I thought it lucky you picked me.”
She threw herself onto his lap and locked her mouth to his.
“Wow,” Tristan whispered to Lara. “I didn’t realize Marcie was blind.”
“Shh,” Lara giggled, mostly because he didn’t seem like he was joking. “We’re sure the Gorgians are gone?”
Tristan nodded. “The Supreme Commander gifted us with what should have been in our planetary supplies, but the kit was kept from us by Serecone. A sonic wave that destroys the biomatter of Gorgians before they assimilate to a person.”
“What’d you ever do to him to piss him off?”
“I always surpassed him in contests. We became rivals. He just couldn’t let it go.”
“But now you’re done with him?”
Tristan nodded grimly. “He has lost his rank. He won’t command a vessel again.”
Tomlak came running. “Titi curled up on the grass and fell asleep,” he said.
Lara said, “I guess that’s our cue to leave.”
They followed Tomlak to where Titi lay, curled onto her belly with her diapered bottom in the air. She looked like a tiny fairy, laying on the soft swell of green grass. Carefully Tristan picked her up, rocking when she murmured in her sleep, and they walked down to their house. Lara watched from the doorway as he carefully tucked her into bed, and then she led him by the hand to their bedroom.
They didn’t need words. She just turned into his arms, and he lifted her, hands on her butt. His lips claimed hers, hot and hard. Her body turned to jelly as his tongue swept in, exploring her mouth relentlessly. By the time he lifted his mouth, they were both breathing raggedly.
“My biggest regret,” he said, kissing her between the words, hard kisses clearly conveying his need, “is that I couldn’t tell you how much I loved you. It was then that I knew we had to give you the language.”
“Tristan,” she moaned. “I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you. So big and tough, but holding so tenderly onto a squirmy baby. I would never leave you. You and Titi are my family. My world.”
“You are sure? You will not want to return to your own planet one day?”
“Nah, this one here with you is much better.”
Chapter Twelve
“Is everybody ready for takeoff? Seatbelts on?”
The offspring all yelled yes, Titi’s voice the last one. The mates to his crew sat in the rows to the right of the children.
They’d constructed the added chairs to the ship as soon as the Supreme Commander gave them express permission to visit a planet of endangered animals. The animals were left there to flourish by other Freijian patrol ships after being saved from their dying planets. The Hespriian offspring were allowed to populate their planet with whichever creatures they chose by the Freijian-Earth Council.
“When will we get there, dad?” Tarek asked.
“Well, we haven’t left yet, son,” Aello said wryly.
“It’s kind of a bummer that we can’t see the fireworks the ship makes,” Tomlak said.
“You could if you want to stay behind,” Kamau teased.
“No way, father,” he said. Next to him Tarek whispered something and both boys giggled.
“Take off in three…two…one…” Tristan commanded. The engines roared and the ship lifted. The offspring squealed in delight, especially Titi, who clapped her hands.
Lara had told the children this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit a real life zoo. A place where lots
of animals were gathered into one spot so people could see them. Except in their case, they were picking two of everything they wanted to bring home.
Like Noah’s Ark, Anita had chimed in. The rest of the females laughed. The warriors had shrugged. Some things they still couldn’t understand.
“Are we there yet?” Eelia bounced.
“No,” Tristan said, rolling his eyes. “We are not. Now, remember how this works. We descend to the planet of Frakazar. We will be escorted by the staff who live there to a rolling cart called a bus. It is important to use our indoor voices, even though we’re excited. When we board the bus, it will escort us through the planet to see all the animals. There will be a recorded voice that tells about each species of animal. After the tour, all the things we pick will be loaded into a stasis vessel and sent off into space attached to our vessel. It will follow us home. When we land, we will release the animals into the wild of the planet.”
“Why can’t we just get two of everything?” Tomlak asked.
“Some things will come as a group of more than two. They are used to feed other animals. Remember we talked about the circle of life?”
“Yes.” Some of the offspring had quieted at this concept.
“Are we there yet?” Tarek asked.
“Not yet,” Tristan said, fighting to keep the growl from his voice. “We have not even left our galaxy yet. We will go into hyperdrive soon. That will shorten our time.”
“I hate to be a pain,” his mate said, loosening her seat belt and struggling to sit up. “But I have to go to the bathroom again.”
Tristan rushed to help her from her seat.
“Me too,” Anita said, and then Marcie rose.
One by one, all the pregnant females began to get up. A couple of his men leaned in to help them from their seats.
“Thanks, baby,” Lara said, kissing him sweetly. “We’ll be right back.” She and the other mates waddled slowly to the waste release center. They walked as Titi had before losing the “diapers” she’d worn.
“Da! We there yet?” His own offspring asked. Her language skills had improved dramatically under the care of the teachers.
“No, small one,” he smiled. “And you all are driving me crazy. How about if I just tell everyone when we’re almost there, instead of you all asking constantly?”
The children agreed, but he had a feeling they would slip up.
Noises down the hallway signaled the return of the mates. Lara came to stand near his side, placing his palm on her belly. Inside her, their offspring shifted, bulging across her belly.
That was the most important reason why they left. The stasis vessel that shipped the animals doubled as a medic vac. When the women began to go into labor like popping popcorn, they’d enter the medic vac to be monitored. If a delivery had issues, it would trigger alternate medical responses. It was a hospital on wheels, with robotic doctors. Even in the event of an emergency, it would place the individual in stasis.
The medic vac was another gift from their Supreme Commander. He seemed to enjoy the Ee-arth females, and showered many gifts upon their small planet to make their life easier. They were a “training” planet now, which increased their status tenfold. Many others visited to see how things were run so smoothly. Which reminded him…
“Now, remember.” He used his sternest voice to speak to the offspring. “We do not stare at creatures different from us. Like the ones that visit our planet to see how we do things do—“
“But they stare at us,” Trince said. “Like they’ve never seen purple people.”
One of the mates giggled. Tristan sighed. They were an oddity, with pink females, purple offspring, and silver males. He couldn’t wait to see how his babee looked when it came from Lara’s belly. He should probably share with her one day about the tails they used to have. He wouldn’t want her to be surprised if their son had one.
“We have manners and some other cultures are lacking,” he said proudly to Trince. “That does not mean we allow them to bring us down to their level. But there are many species who staff the planet of Frakazar. You will see a lot of differences betwen their beings and ours.” It was the teachers who brought manners to their community. He squeezed Lara, still standing next to his side. She caressed his buttocks, bringing a snicker to Bajoc who manned the station behind them, and returned to her seat.
Tristan came around to Titi, dropping to squat near her. She’d insisted on sitting on the side with the rest of the offspring, instead of near her mother. She was brave, his child.
“How are you doing, little one? Are you excited to visit Frakazar?”
She rubbed her hands together as she nodded, and gave him her infamous grin. Sadly, it was no longer toothless. His baby girl was growing up, Lara said. His mate had no idea how tragic that was for a father.
“Perhaps we can find a small pet for you to learn to care for. There is a soft, fuzzy creature called a retsli. It has a long tail that curls around your ankles, and loves to lick your toes.”
His girl giggled at the thought.
He returned to his captain’s chair, listening to the small chatters of the children, the mates discussing matters between themselves, and his men manning the instrument panels.
They descended the ship later that day, and the offspring were still excited. The pregnant mates had caught naps in the cabins to keep up their strength.
“Line formation!” Tristan growled in his drill voice.
The younglings lined up and stared straight ahead. Even Titi.
“Forward, march!”
Definitely, an army of marching offspring caused a few stares. Tristan sighed as they descended the ship and all the inhabitants stopped to stare at them. Exactly what he had been trying to teach the younglings not to do.
“May I help you, sir?” The mustard-colored humanoid had feathers that grew on top of his head instead of hair, and on the tuft of his tail. Instead of lips, he had a small beak that clicked as he spoke.
“We’re scheduled for a tour, compliments of the Freijian and Earth council.”
“Of course, sir. I will be your guide. My name is Cluxcli. If you will walk this way, there is a special double-decker bus waiting.”
They followed him out onto a paved parking lot. Tristan picked up Titi, as she was lagging behind.
“This is your driver, Blearsh.” Their driver had four arms and six legs. When he walked, each leg took a turn, so it looked like he rolled across the terrain. He held out all four arms to the first four children, so they could each shake a hand. He continued down the line of giggling children.
“All aboard,” Blearsh announced, and took the driver’s seat. The tour bus was open, so the children were out in the fresh air and sunshine.
“Their sun and planet is red,” Lara whispered. “You don’t think the children will burn, do you? Perhaps we should have brought sunscreen.”
“No need, ma’am,” Cluxcli said. “We are in a specially engineered bio-dome. Otherwise, life on this planet would not be sustainable.”
“Oh.”
Tristan helped her up into the bus, and the three of them sat together on a long bench with Titi closest to the window. She rubbed Lara’s belly and mumbled, as if she wanted her baby brother to know where they were.
Then she squealed.
“Did you feel that, sweet pea? He wants to rub you, too,” Lara laughed, as her stomach shifted again.
“On your right is the mokatree species. It is typically characterized by its pink private parts. As you can see, they are rather large compared to a normal species. The female mokatree is known for sitting on a branch to let her rather large pink bum hang off. Just when she catches the male’s attention, she will turn to sneak him a peek of her rather large, buxom mammary glands. In retrospect, the male mokatree will swing from branch to branch, slapping his testicles to get as much blood flow to his erection as possible. It makes for a more impressive sight should a female turn and catch a glimpse of his enormous eggs and sausa
ge.”
The mates were uncharacteristically quiet. Anita’s mouth hung open until Tomlak asked, “Mom? Is enormous eggs and sausage breakfast? Is he bringing her breakfast?”
Anita muttered something inaudible.
“Moving along to your left is a water-bound creature, beneficial for those of you with a high percentage of water-based planets. It is not the prettiest of creatures, however, it does eat algae so your waters are kept cleaner. This creature is also interesting because of the way it procreates. The female ties the male up in a special underwater web and bites body parts off him until he impregnates her. Once pregnant, she is happy enough to let him go. Depending on how long he takes to put out, he could scramble away missing one fin…” his voice lowered dramatically, “…or all four.”
Little Reese eyed his mother’s pregnant belly, and then looked over at Bajoc’s hands and feet.
“The Supreme Commander thought this trip would be a good idea?” Lara whispered.
Tristan nodded. “He has never had offspring, mate. None of our species does. I feel sorry for him.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“This next species is particularly interesting,” Cluxcli droned. “Do you see how unusual it looks?”
The creature stood on the side of the road, watching them as they slowed to a stop. It had a slew of unmatched features. An arm. A wing. A beak. Some body parts were smooth, others had fur, still, patches of feathers grew on other portions. It was a hodgepodge of body parts, a Frankenstein of mismatched pieces.
“This species is highly unusual, and one of a kind. Each one that is born is completely different. It is the only species known that can breed with anything. Hence, the slew of characteristics and traits in one body.”
“Breeds with anything?” Lara asked.
Cluxcli jumped right on that opening. “Yes! It’s fascinating. They’ll hump anything they come across. See the alligator snout? If you could see the skin on the bottom of its feet, you would see his soles are covered with it. That was a creature from Earth that we had in the swamps here. To our surprise, this creature’s mother attacked the alligator. We thought she was eating him, but she was simply eating him out,” he snickered at his own joke. “This one was born not long after. Of course,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “not a lot of planets want this one around. It is called a stalkernomsesis and lives up to the name. Do not bend over on the beach without looking around you. Some live in trees, so look up also.”
