by Zara Zenia
The planet was lush. It was rich with resources and filled with life, making it one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy. If a species wanted to survive it had to be the best, the smartest and the most powerful. There were things down there that would make your dinosaurs look like insects.
That's why we're so vicious and why we demolished everything. We have an instinctual hatred for others and we act on that instinct at every opportunity. Maybe we're meant to die out. I've been thinking that through a lot, and what you're saying now just confirms it.”
“No.” I turned over to face him, took his chin in my hands and turned his head, letting my pinky finger stroke through his unbelievably soft fur. “We have predators on our planet that are going extinct—tigers and rhinos are some of the most vicious creatures there are, but we still admire them for their strength and intelligence. I feel the same way about the Fiori.”
“But what about love, we don't even know what love is.”
“You love more than any of us ever could. The capacity to love is just as powerful as love itself, because when the time comes and somebody needs you, you're gonna be there for them. You'll give everything to them and you'll never betray them. Not a lot of humans that can do that.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He shifted to his human form and we turned our backs to the window so we didn't have to see Valice vanish. “Markathus, I love you, and I don't ever want you to doubt that. I know that you're self-conscious, but it's not right for you to put that kind of pressure on yourself. You're beautiful whether you're human or Fiori.”
“Lainey,” he turned over to face me, “when I first met you, I didn't understand what it meant to care about anyone but myself. I saw your smile and the way you talked to your patients and I told myself that I had to know what that instinct was. You showed me how to love.”
“I didn't understand myself either. I knew what love was, of course, but it wasn't until we started getting closer that I started to understand what it meant to share your life with somebody, or to have somebody there that I could talk to all the time. Once it got to the point that I couldn't think about anything but you, I knew that you were the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
He placed his hand on my cheek. “You're gonna live. We're gonna raise our son together.”
We languished in the silence that could only be found in space. There was no sound there, nothing through which that sound could travel. All we had was each others heartbeat and breath. That's all I'd ever need.
We lay there silently for hours, caressing one another, sometimes whispering how much we loved one another. There were plenty of times back on Earth that I thought we'd reached the height of our intimacy, like when we started walking naked around one another, or when we started sleeping together every night, but this was different. This was the first time we'd truly shared something together.
We were going to be a family, bound by love, blood and circumstance. The intimacy we shared before was just a shallow piece of what was possible. This was true intimacy. I don't think I'd ever felt more in love in my entire life.
Chapter 19
Lainey
I decided to take a look around the ship when I woke up. There were some strange rooms. One had cages and a whole host of weapons. Another had a box that must've been a printer with mechanical arms. I'd never seen Fiori technology in detail, so it was interesting getting a chance to look at all the strange devices.
On the lower level, there was a hatch at the end of the room that when opened revealed a semi-circular chamber that had been built out of transparent material. Lining the walls was a bench where I could sit and watch the stars streak past in one long, infinite line.
Every once in a while, I would catch a burst of soft blue and purple, or a blinding white light that forced me to clench my eyes shut.
I imagined that I was a futuristic explorer learning about the universe. I would've enjoyed that kind of life if I didn't have a child growing inside me. He was getting larger. I could see it.
My belly button was sticking out and my stomach was getting so large I had to lean back just to deal with the weight he was putting on my neck. I didn't know where my son was going to be born, or what his life would be like. The Fiori had already discovered the planet we were going to which meant that there was a chance they would be able to find us.
If there was any way that the Fiori could possibly access our planet, I didn't want to raise my son there, but this was where Markathus decided to take us. He was the father of my son and needed us both to survive. I could trust him.
There were no more secrets, no suspicion just two minds meeting on the same level. I couldn't question him every time he made a decision. That could put us in danger. He knew this planet, and the rest of the universe, so I would have to listen to the advice he gave me.
I heard the squealing sound of the hatch opening and he walked back in with a plate of eggs. “Madge gave us some human designs for the printer. I thought I might try them out.” He passed me the plate, along with a fork, something I hadn't seen since before I left.
I took a bite. “Oh my God. I can't believe that something so simple could be so good.”
“It's because it's native to your planet. Your body will always prefer Earth food. You're a part of the planet.”
“What do you mean?”
He took the last bite of his toast and stared out the window. “About a century ago, the Fiori made a major advance in what you'd call physics. We found that there was an energy field surrounding the body of every living thing and that energy field was comprised of the energy of everything that came together to make up the creature it surrounded.”
“I don't understand.” I took a bite of the eggs.
“So, for example, your ancestors would be part of the field because they played a part in creating you. All of your ancestor's energy would be present, and so would their ancestor's all the way down to the origins of life on your planet, where you'd find your planetary signature, so basic to your nature that it might as well be a part of your body.
As a human, your planetary signature is an integral part of your field. So you'll find aspects of it in your nature, such as your preference for Earth food or your initial xenophobic reactions.”
“Auras.”
“Strange how primitive cultures often talk about advances way ahead of their time.”
“I wanna go back. There's no way I can stay gone from Earth. It's a part of who I am.”
“I don't know if it's possible.”
“But I have to. You don't now what it's like. No matter where I go I feel like I just can't be comfortable. When I found out we were in another galaxy, I panicked. This isn't right.” I cradled my stomach.
“I promise you, Lainey, the first chance I get, I'll take us there and we'll buy ourselves that beach house we used to talk about.”
“Somewhere private,” I perked up, “with the deck facing the ocean so we could watch the sunset.”
“Where it's warm,” he beamed, “and we can go out on the beach without anyone bothering us.”
“You still want to…”
“I'd risk my life for that dream. My biggest regret was leaving you and giving up on it.” He said determinedly. “When I left for Valice, I used to close my eyes and imagine I was standing in front of the water with my shoes off so it could flow between my toes.”
“That's my favorite thing to do.” I pulled my legs inward. “I keep telling myself that I'm safe. I'm home because you're here, but it won't work, because my body knows I'm not home and it won't let me forget.”
He laid down beside me, turned my head and stroked my cheek. “I'm real.” He kissed me. “I'm solid.” He kissed me longer. “I'm strong.” He let his tongue linger on my lips. “I'll protect you.” He let his tongue dig just deep enough to part my lips. “And I love you.” He dove in, slammed my lips open and offered just a tease of what he could do while he used hi
s hand to lift my shift and undo my bra strap.
With one powerful exhale, both fiery and heart stopping, he had his thumbs pressing up underneath my nipples while he squirmed his forefingers up the areola so he could clamp on and watch my eyes burst open.
“Jesus,” I let my whisper draw out as the sweet pain deepened and he dug in just deep enough to evoke the perfect mixture of pleasure and burning tension.
“Mmm,” he growled softly, and threw the bra on the floor so he could move his finger around my areola freely and focus on his mouth with its delectable ability to send shock after shock every time he moved his lips.
Then he pulled his head back, caught my eyes and set me on fire by biting my bottom lip with a fierce expression that told me exactly what he wanted.
The flames traveled lower, fueled by his roaming hands and settled in the spot between my thighs. The fire had become a throbbing desire, begging to be touched.
Touch was the answer. It was the ultimate sign of trust. I needed him to know that there was no more suspicion, no more fighting or worry. He was there so I knew I was safe.
I was forced to hold back a fountain of ambrosia building up between my thighs that had grown from a puddle into an uncontrollable wave. I couldn't let it out, even when he dove in and spread his burning hot tongue over my clit.
He chuckled, causing my determination to waver. I couldn't hold it in much longer.
He sat up, stripped and flexed his arms to give me a glimpse of the human form he'd conjured. He was a God, both powerful and mysterious, one that I could spend lifetimes trying to understand, but all I wanted was for him to fill me with the thick cock sitting between his thighs.
The pulsing fire was already starting to spew liquid out. I could feel it rushing. Why did he have to keep tickling my lips, and moving his finger closer to my opening. Didn't he know that the second he pressed his finger inside…
“Ooh.” I shuddered in time with the flow of passion that rolled over my stomach, blocking out everything except for the sight of him smiling, holding his cock up.
“Oh, did you cum?” His playful demeanor set off another series of throbbing motions, this time in full view of Markathus's hungry eyes.
“I'll bet you want this, don't you?” He was furiously stroking his shaft, teasing me with it. He moved to my left while his balls jumped up and down from the frantic motion. Then he lifted his cock, sucked in air sharply and slapped my nipple with it, releasing a powerful wave of moisture that trickled down my thigh along with a jolt of golden energy that quickly filled my already overwhelmed senses.
He clicked his tongue. “You human women. You just gotta have that cock, don't you?” He slapped his cock down harder, setting off a wave that threw my head back while I whimpered. “I'll bet you like that? You want to get fucked?”
“Uh uh.” I was so excited, my voice could barely leave my lips.
“Good.” With a sharp smacking sound his cock slammed down leaving with it a red mark that stung like heaven. He moved slowly, teasing me with his sly smile until he was finally facing my crotch with his cock pointing exactly where it needed to be. He threw himself down and slammed through.
It was all his, every drop and every ridge. He took it all, because he could. He could tear right through me, use me and watch me scream, because he was the true essence of masculinity—power embodied. He knew how to move, where to press in, and just how to thrust his hips.
He'd mastered the rhythm of love and now he was playing me like an instrument, teasing the fire out of me and transforming it into a powerful blaze. It fed his relentless drilling, our screams and the sound of flesh pounding flesh, and when it entered us, our bodies caught fire and burned along with it.
He didn't stop. He didn't slow down. He wanted me to see just how much of a man he could be, and how much he loved me. We were striving toward one goal: to prove our love to one another.
So much had torn us apart and caused us to fight, that we both needed the other to show, with our tender touch and masterful lovemaking, that we could act as one and join together to create something beautiful. One thrust told me we'd have a home. Another thrust told me that we'd be safe, and every time I pressed into it, I told him that I trusted him to take care of me.
He dove his head down slowly, while I was stuck in the moment before bliss sets in, “I love you.” His kiss tore down every barrier I had, melding his passion and pleasure with my own until we felt like one, panting and sweating while he lay on top of me, staring into my eyes.
That's when I really met Markathus and found out just how similar we were.
Chapter 20
Markathus
“What does it look like?”
“I don't know. It's hard to describe a single planet, but Hermes is special in some ways. There are four continents and one large island similar to Australia. Nearly all of it is completely uninhabited unless you count animals. There are deserts, oceans and forests, as well as mountains and large patches of shallow water. For the most part, the temperatures are in line with those of Earth's, but the deserts are harsher, and it would be difficult to survive there for long, even with the proper gear.”
“And predators?”
“You learn to stay away from them. There are no intelligent species native to the planet, so they roam free. The only life you'll find are in the six major cities built on the coasts of the major continents. The population there is to be avoided. There are plenty of alien species that prey on others. They steal, kill and enslave anyone dumb enough to fall into their traps.”
“Then how are we supposed to find a place to raise our son?” Lainey asked. “We can't raise him in the wild, it's too dangerous, and if the cities are the way you describe them to be, then we'd be better of turning around and flying back to Valice.”
“They're hunting you down on Valice. This is the only place in the reaches where criminals can disappear. It might be a mess, and their cities might be crumbling, but we can live here without getting caught. That's the best I can do. It's not much, but at least the Fiori won't find us.”
“Are we really going to survive this?” Lainey asked doubtfully.
“I think so.”
“That's the most reassurance you've been able to give me since we left. I should be grateful.”
I wanted to scream at her and tell her that this was my fault. She was right, I did this to her. Now I was keeping her from her home, and forcing her to raise our child on a strange planet that even I was too scared to land on.
Hermes, like the foreign district, was inhabited by every species in the Imperium, but unlike the foreign district, they were the free radicals the Fiori couldn't control. Some were too powerful to be kept on planet. There were rumors of Titans roaming the mountains and fire beasts living underneath the crust.
One Fiori told me about creatures that roamed the cities at night killing everything they could find. I knew that all of these things and more were true. I was mortified by the possibility of raising our son there, but we didn't have anywhere else that we could go.
“My brother said that there was a hierarchy forming there that was trying to clean things up. It's possible that they've made things safer.”
“Wouldn't that just be a Fiori government?”
“Maybe, but the Fiori don't have much to do with the planet. It's kind of like our dumpster. There's not much there that we need, and sometimes relocation is easier than punishing millions of life forms. It would be a waste of time and energy to focus on them all, so we send them to Hermes and let them rot.”
I got up and walked my naked body up to the bedroom to change clothes. Then I met Lainey halfway sitting at the bottom of the stairs with her head in her hands.
“I guess I shouldn't cry. I'm not going to get anywhere unless I can learn to make the best of things.”
“I think that's the only way we can look at it.” I patted her on the back. “Come on. I'll show you the ship so that you can get dressed before we see the planet.
” She got up and gave me a hug before running up the stairs to put some clothes on.
She found me on the bridge, wearing a white sun dress with her newly sanitized body gleaming in the soft purple light of the gas giant that filled the front screens.
“We're almost there. We just entered the solar system.”
She examined every wisp of thin, swirling gas, and marveled at the hurricanes spinning past us, mesmerized by eerie beauty of it.
“What is that gas?”
“There's too many to name. For the most part they are compounds, crushed together by the planet's gravitational pull.” I pressed the ship forward, past the gas giant's moon where a race of nearly invincible spiders were said to have burrowed underneath its surface.
Once we passed it, a single dot appeared out of nothing. As we sped toward it, colors started coming into view. There was yellow, tan and white, all shading the planet with a thick sludgy atmosphere. I pushed the ship toward the southern continent where swatches of blood red and verdant green crept out from behind the toxic canopy.
The city came up easily enough on the navigation system. It was a carbon compound walled off from the red avon desert where nothing but red flowers grew, leeching the soil and all of the rain that fell there. Outside the city's walls the air would be so toxic that a Fiori wouldn't have been able to survive there longer than a few minutes even with the aid of a breathing apparatus.
“We built the city thousands of years ago hoping to colonize the planet, but it turned out to be devoid of valuable resources, so we decided to move on. The infrastructure is still sound. Carbon is almost indestructible if processed properly.”
“Is that where we're going to live?”
“I'm not sure. Ferryn setup a contact with a…”
I heard a buzzing sound and jumped out of my chair as far away from the red crown as I could get. It was sitting on the armrest, glowing white hot with a pungent, burning smell radiating off of it.
