“Okay,” she said, “So are you both from different planets? Are you from the same planet? Are you the same species? How did you meet Agent Hendricks? What was the evolutionary process like to get your tongue that long?”
Her questions were completely serious. At least she thought so, until Raegnor blew up with hysterical laughter. This guy really needs to stop drinking, she thought. Then again, she had barely heard him make a peep before they busted into the fizzure. Maybe it was his one way of breaking out of his shell. Everybody had his or her vices.
“Slow the train, Cap,” he said. “There’s enough about the galaxy to learn in a lifetime, let alone one night. Long story short, yes Bear and me are from different planets. No, I ain’t never seen a brute as big as him, either. I am from Ůndradandrů but when pirates murdered my parents I was taken to the planet Ky9 and raised there. Agent Hendricks recruited me and I’ve been residing on Earth for three years.”
Holy shit, Aileen thought. She really needed to go to sleep. “I’m so sorry,” she said, not knowing what to say.
“Sorry for what?” Raegnor asked.
“Sorry for your loss,” Aileen said.
“Ah,” he understood. “My loss. And I too, am sorry for yours.”
They both went silent. Her eyes were locked in the hypnotic ray of blue coming from Raegnor’s face. There was one thing Aileen could count on: pain was universal.
“As for the lug,” Raegnor continued, referring to Bearyan, “He’s from Fulgurator—or Jupiter, in your language. It is why he wanted to take this job—because you are from the same solar system, you and him.”
“How many solar systems are there?” she asked, shaking at how much more expanse existence as she knew it was.
“Oi, in this galaxy?”Raegnor asked, looking up calculatedly. “Billions.Many billions. I mean, we’re talking a hundred thousand light years here, right?” The way he spouted these facts made it obvious that it was all common knowledge to him. Meanwhile, Aileen sat clueless, wondering if she could handle some more fizzure.
“My point,” Raegnor continued, “is that if I start going into the scientific details of all this, it will be a data overload. Trust me.”
He stretched back in the chair, taking in the jumbled warble from the music device. His blue eyes closed and he opened his mouth to sing along. Aileen couldn’t identify the language but she was certain it was not of Earth. When the chorus of the song ended, there was a chain of repetitive noises. This is like techno-jazz from the future, Aileen thought. Raegnor opened his mouth and stretched out his tongue, waving it to the rhythm of the harmonic static.
Its serpentine movement entranced her—the control he had over that thing was incredible. He hadn’t yet answered why his species from Ůndradandrů need such a long tongue. She found herself sticking out her own tongue, giving Raegnor another smirk.
“You are one silly Captain, Ai,” he said, his tongue still floating to the music, his words barely more than mumbles.
“You may address me as Captain Miroki,” Aileen said sternly. Raegnor rolled his eyes. She had to stop barking orders. It was like he ignored that form of communication altogether. “My tongue doesn’t do that, see?” she asked, sticking out her tongue again. “And I don’t have a tail,” she said, jumping up and sticking her butt in the air. She shook her hips and tried moving to the music.
Raegnor stood up, sucked his tongue back into his mouth, and held his face with both hands. Shaking his head, he walked over to her. “I really think you should go to bed, now,” he said. “Even for a human, you are acting pretty weird.”
“Lighten up, stiffy,” she said, poking him in the chest, continuing her hideous dance. “This isn’t weird, this is funky.”
Funky?Seriously, Aileen?she thought. The fizzure was doing a number on her nerves. She felt an intrepid vibration from all things around her.
“Right,” Raegnor said. “Funky.” He tried to lead her out of the cockpit and to her bunk, but she refrained.
“My ship, my rules,” Aileen said. Raegnor’s blue, luminescent eyes rocked back and forth with the sway of Aileen’s body.
“You want to know the use for the Ůndradandrůan tongue, Captain Miroki?” Raegnor asked. Could he read minds like Agent Hendricks?
“I’m just fascinated by evolution,” she answered.
“I can show you,” he said, “but there is one important thing you must understand about this organ.”
“Tell me,” she said, her eyelids wide with excitement.
“If this organ is handled improperly, I could die,” he said. “So the fact that I let it out around you means I trust you.”
“Wow,” she whispered. “I see. I had no idea. Well, thank you, Raegnor. That means a lot to me.”
“But that is not the use for the organ, Captain,” he continued. “Now that you understand the fragility of this organ, it is important that you understand why we Ůndradandrůans also have this appendage.” His tail drifted behind him.
“Please, Raegnor, show me,” she said. “You don’t understand; I’ve spent my life studying the physics of Earth life. Your very existence and everything about you baffles me.”
“I see,” Raegnor said quietly. “Well, in that case I will show you. However, you need to take a seat first, Captain.”
“Okay,” she said, seating herself back into the co-pilot’s chair. “Is it a fighting tactic to knock predators off their feet?”
“Something like that,” Raegnor said, dropping to his knees in front of the chair. He placed his hands on her pants and tugged softly.
“What are you doing?” she yelped, jumping up, unprepared for his action.
“I’m showing you, like you asked,” he said. “Please hold still, I have done this before. You are perfectly safe, okay?”
“Sure,” she said, never having second-guessed her safety during this demonstration. When his hands returned to her pants, she felt something tickle the back of her hair and neck. She realized it was Raegnor’s tail, circling around her neck, tighter and tighter with each curl. “Are you trying to choke me?” she gasped.
“No, Captain, I’m not trying to choke you,” he whispered, her pants halfway down her legs. “Ůndradandrůan males must secure the recipient because once the muscle is inside, I am not safe. So if you try to kill me, I have the upper hand.”
This was all taking a turn she did not expect.
“What do you mean ‘once the muscle is inside’?” Aileen demanded.
The tail around her neck was just tight enough to keep her still, but she could feel the strength behind it. He could strangle her if he wanted to. “My tongue, of course, Captain,” he said, smiling. Once the pants were off, all that remained between Aileen and Raegnor were here soft, white cotton panties. She could feel that they were already moist from her genitalia.
“Raegnor, I don’t know about this,” she whimpered. “I didn’t expect you to take off my clothes. On my planet, this type of thing is frowned upon.”
“But Captain,” he said, the fur from his tail tickling her neck. “I can smell the increase of sodium between your legs from here. That means you enjoy the experience, am I correct?”
“I—I—,” she stammered as the enormous tongue grazed her leg; she couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling back. The connection of his muscle tissue against her flesh released a chemical in her that made her brain feel high.
“I will take that a yes, my Captain,” he hissed, his tongue caressing her skin in one long trail from her knee to her labia.
“Wait, Raegnor, please, this a direct order, I…” she moaned. But it was too late. With his edged face grazing her inner thighs, his tongue had already made its way deep into her pussy. He looked into her, unblinking, with his iridescent eyes, his mouth open wide and pressing his rough lips to the outside of her groin.
The force of the tongue in her was immense and with every tiny flick from the muscle a spasm coursed through one of her limbs. First her legs kicked, then her arms wrappe
d around the co-pilot seat like a pretzel. Raegnor released his finger from the panties he was holding back and took one of Aileen’s feet in each hand. While he unlaced her boots, she looked down and was lost in the wave of blue filling the dark cockpit.
His tongue filled her deeper then anything she had ever taken inside her hot sheath. After her boots fell off, the socks came next, and soon her bare feet were in his jagged hands, high up in the air. Raegnor spread her legs wide, his tongue pressing against the edges of her orifice.
As soon as her nipples got hard and the goose bumps rose up her skin, she knew her orgasm was approaching. Raegnor tightened his tail around her neck, making it more difficult to breathe, but not too difficult. She embraced the tension that he applied, letting her know that this torrential orgasm was in safe hands—and tail.
Aileen screamed—there was nothing less she could do as her hips throttled, releasing a fountain of thick liquid onto Raegnor’s tongue. The secretion dripped down his tongue, and Raegnor smiled as it went into his mouth. Meanwhile, Aileen held on to the chair tight while his tongue swam in circles inside her—the power of the orgasm sending her body into wild flailing motions.
As Raegnor’s tongue retracted from her pussy, Aileen felt the rest of her body go limp, nearly sliding out of the chair. Practically drooling, she had no control of her body and her eyes started to roll back in a sleepy bliss. Raegnor picked her up from the chair, resting her over his shoulder. He carried Aileen to her bunker, opened the hatch, and laid her inside.
“Sleep tight, Captain Miroki,” he said. “Now you will rest very peacefully.” Raegnor shut the door of the bunker and Aileen passed out.
*****
The Tower Cadet, minutes from landing on Woes Ëan, hovered in orbit while Aileen and the guys developed a plan to retrieve data from a secret base hidden in the sand. According to Agent Hendricks, there was a biological nanodevice that contained a compound able to restore the stasis of a decimated Earth. After a week with Raegnor and Bearyan, Aileen found that that they had both grown to respect and appreciate her sense of urgency for the mission. They listened to her ideas, and capped the fizzure consumption to four bottles a night.
Though Raegnor didn’t say a word about what happened the first night on the ship, from that point on he lowered the unnecessary humor, focusing on the task at hand. Earth was as much a home to Raegnor and Bearyan as it was to Aileen, and if they could get their hands on the nanodevice they would save billions of lives. It felt good to be relieved of her physical stress, and Aileen found that the orgasm actually helped her mind think more carefully and tactfully.
Bearyan’s biggest concern about the operation was one particular life form that resided on Woes Ëan. “Disgusting parasite,” Bearyan said. “Last thing you want to come face to face with. And if you do come face to face with one… run like the devil.”
Raegnor nodded in agreement, plugging the electra-cartridge into his pistol. “Last time I was here a Lysthaurus nearly nabbed my tail,” he laughed, cleaning the pistol’s barrel.
“Well, lets make sure that nobody gets nabbed this time,” Aileen said, looking from Bearyan to Raegnor. Agent Hendricks had made the mission very clear: once they were in the outer orbit of Woes Ëan they would have exactly one hour upon landing on the planet to infiltrate the base, retrieve the biological nanodevice, and escape back to the Tower Cadet. Her initial response to Agent Hendricks was that it would be impossible to do something so risky in less than an hour, but both Raegnor and Bearyan reassured her that they had it in the bag.
Aileen’s father had installed a cloaking device onto the ship, which allowed them to land on the desert planet without being seen. The view from the ground proved even more barren than the view from the top of the planet. Aileen squinted her eyes in wonder at the endless sea of grey sand.
“The base is just a few yards north,” Raegnorsaid, his blue eyes less luminescent in the bright light from the yellow Woes Ëan sky.
Aileen nodded and closed the hatch of the ship. “Do you think you can guide us there?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t, Captain,” Raegnor winked, taking the lead north.
“After you, Captain,” Bearyan replied, gesturing for Aileen to go before him. “I will cover you from back here.” That made sense, he was the biggest of the bunch and could take on any sneak attacks.
The base was closer than Aileen anticipated—they had landed surprisingly close to the small, tan stone building. That’s not a base, Aileen thought, that’s a hut.
“How many do you think are guarding this place?” she asked.
“Exactly two,” Raegnor announced.
“How do you know that?” she wondered.
“It’s kind of his thing,” Bearyan said. Raegnor pointed to his blue eyes.
“Right,” she said. “That’s convenient. What’s your thing?”
Bearyan didn’t have an answered prepared.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said stubbornly.
“Sshhh,” Raegnor whispered, ducking low to the sandy surface. “We can enter unseen, but Bearyan, I’m afraid you’ll have to hang back here.”
“Wait, what?” Aileen asked. She was relying on his brute strength.
“Too big, they’ll see him coming as soon as we clear this dune,” Raegnor said.
“I’ll wait here,” Bearyan said, “and when you return, run as fast as you can. I will stop anyone coming after you.”
“That’s kind of our dynamic,” Raegnor joked, tapping Aileen on the arm. She tried to smile back but found it difficult in the tense moment.
Without notice, Raegnor started toward the small base. She could barely see it in the sand—thinking whomever they were stealing from had done an impressive job camouflaging it. They both kept close and low to the sand, dashing toward the hut. Raegnor guided them around the rear of the base where there were no windows.
How can there be digital data in a place like this? Aileen wondered. It looks like there is zero electricity.
In back there was a secret door that would appear invisible were it not for a small crack indicating a rectangle. Only Raegnor could see something as miniscule as that. He looked over to Aileen, no grin this time, just the serious demeanor of a man on duty. “Are you ready, Captain?” he lipped.
She nodded.
He knocked on the back of the door. Aileen flanked left, Raegnor flanked right. Aileen felt her heart swell in her throat, waiting for a response.
The secret door latched open, sliding sideways, and two guards appeared, both clad in dark gray, chitin armor. Raegnor leapt into the air, wrapping his tail around the neck of the guard on Aileen’s right, and his legs around the neck of the guard on the left.
Snap! Snap!
The bodies of both guards collapsed to the ground, followed by a graceful landing from Raegnor.
“Wow,” Aileen said, “that was amazing.”
“No, that was nothing,” Raegnor said with a cocky gleam in his eyes. She followed him into the base where there was nothing but electra-pistols and a lone computer inside.
“Stand guard,” Raegnor said.
“Copy,” Aileen answered.
She looked at the two dead men—soldiers—aliens—whatever they were laying in the sand before her. He killed them just like that, she thought. Could she have done the same thing?
“Got it,” Raegnor called from inside.
Aileen heard the rapid fire from his electra-pistol, and smoked blistered out of the hut’s window from its wake.
“Run,” Raegnor said, hustling out of the door.
The ground beneath them began to shake. Was it some kind of aftermath from Raegnor’s gunfire? Did he go and do something stupid?
“Raegnor, what is that?” she asked.
“From the sound of it,” he said, running parallel to Aileen, “that just might be a Lysthaurus.” Over the hilly sand dunes Bearyan’s massive frame came back into view. In the empty space between Bearyan and
the other two, the sand started to sift in a downward spiral, like the world beneath them had just opened a drain.
“Run, run, run,” Raegnor yelled, picking up the pace.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” Aileen called back.
“Go faster!”
From the vacuum of sand spouted an enormous black and red worm bigger than most buildings she’d seen on Earth. In mid-air the parasite spun toward them, opening its endless mouth lined with hundreds of jagged teeth. The Lysthaurus’s body remained in the sand, and Aileen didn’t want to imagine how much more was left of him.
“Get to the ship!” Bearyan called out, leaping into the air and landing his sharp claws into the Lysthaurus’s mid-section.
The closer Aileen and Raegnor got to the ship, the further the Lysthaurus carried Bearyan away from its hole in the ground.
“We can’t leave him!” she cried.
“We won’t,” Raegnor said, leaping into the open door of the Tower Cadet. Aileen waited on the open platform, watching as Bearyan wrestled with the worm. The Lysthaurus had the upper hand, all of its weight bearing down on Bearyan, his hands on either side of the beast’s mouth.
“Come back, Bearyan!” she yelled, hoping he could hear her.
Should I go to him? she asked herself. No, there’s nothing I could do against that.
And with that Aileen heard a thunderous Clack!
Bearyan dropped the beast into the sand, its jowls cracked open, the Lysthaurus dead where it lay.
He looked over to Aileen, his mane blowing in the hot wind.
He had saved her life. She owed him everything.
Things were silent for a moment in the battle won against the Lysthaurus, until Aileen jumped back at the sound of a BOOM! in the distance. It was an explosive—some type of missile or bomb. There must have been more than just the two guards.
Bearyan ran toward the ship, and behind him she saw a white ship rising over the horizon. The ship was much larger than the Tower Cadet, and obviously had much more fire power.
THE HEALING HEART Page 110
