by Beva John
“No, I mean a home library, a place where books were stored. This looks like it was a private collection. I don’t see any Quantum Physics texts or Shakespeare, so it looks like these are books from an average home.” It feels strange to be looking at these artifacts that were so common in my prior life. “How did you acquire these?”
He shrugs. “Over the centuries, scavengers have gone to Earth, looking for treasures. Some of them end up on Bataa. One of my ancestors probably bought these items in bulk.”
Like the Silver Scrapper buying me in an abandoned storage unit. I shiver and hug myself, not liking the memory.
Azaar says, “Did you have books in your nest when you were young?”
He’s polite and trying to change the subject. “Yes,” I say. “I had Nancy Drew books when I was younger, and some of the classics, like Little Women and H. G. Wells.”
Azaar looks at something on his data screen and says, “Tell me one of these stories. Briefly.”
“H. G. Wells wrote a book called The Time Machine. In it, the hero uses a machine that can travel forward or backward in time. He uses the machine to go into the future. He finds that humans have developed into two different races – a childlike one that lives in gardens on the surface of the planet and a violent race that lives in tunnels.”
Azaar says, “In ancient times, our people lived in caves and tunnels.”
“Raan mentioned that.”
“Tell me more. I find it fascinating that you humans have a story of a traveler.”
“Well, technically he remains on Earth, it is just that Earth has changed. He rescues a girl –”
“A human female?”
“Yes, but she dies at the end and he goes back in time to his life. But he plans to take another trip.”
“So he was brave. An adventurer.”
“Yes.”
“I can see why humans like this story. I might like it myself, if I can find a copy of it. Or a translation.”
I am amused that Azaar might find a human story worth reading. Until now, I have sensed that he and the other Namvires view everything human as inferior. “I found the story fantastical when I was a child, but now, here I am, waking up after 600 years to a new galaxy. I did not have a time machine, but the result is the same.”
Azaar looks at me quizzically, tilting his head to one side in a gesture that reminds me of Raan. They are brothers and look remarkably alike. He says solemnly, “I never considered your perspective before. What do you find the most amazing about your time travel?”
I smile. “The different species, the complexities of your lives. I could spend the rest of my life learning about you and your worlds and never be bored.”
He gives a little smile. “I can see now why Raan likes your company so much. You are a very interesting human, Sylvia.”
Gee, thanks.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SYLVIA
I spend several hours with Azaar, looking at various items in the warehouse and talking about them. Azaar films me and asks a lot of questions. He is particularly amused when I wear what looks like a Roman helmet and some armor from the Middle Ages. He makes me model a necklace that could have been worn by Cleopatra. “I wish I knew more about history,” I say but he says it doesn’t matter.
He says, “If it becomes important, we can do research on Earth history to provide a better description of the product.”
At this point, I blink away a few tears.
“Is something wrong?” Azaar asks.
“No, I’m just a little sad, thinking of my people who are mostly gone now. And all this stuff–” I motion to the mountains of stuff around me. “What is its purpose? At one time, it meant something to someone or was useful, but now it’s all rotting in a warehouse.”
“Not rotting, surely,” Azaar says pleasantly. “And some of it may sell. It may still give joy to a buyer.”
Spoken like a true merchant. One man’s treasure, etc.
When we get home, we are met by Raan, who puts his arms around me kisses me. “Sylvia, I have missed you.”
Azaar looks uncomfortable at this affectionate display, and Raan takes my hand. “I wish to speak with you privately. Perhaps we should go to a hotel?”
Azaar says, “There is no need for that. I will go visit our mother for the evening, giving you all the privacy you need.”
Raan smiles and bows his head in a form of respect. “Thank you.”
Once we are alone, Raan says bluntly, “I want to marry you, Green-eyes. Do you want to marry me?”
I can’t believe what I am hearing. “I didn’t think the Namvire marry.”
“They don’t, so we’ll need to go through a Brune ceremony, if you want.”
“I don’t understand.”
Raan says, “You and I, together for the rest of our lives. With whatever ceremony you deem necessary. I want a nest with you, Sylvia?”
“Is that even possible?”
“Yes,” he says happily. “I can show you viewings. I have done my research. Such situations are rare, but apparently, they are possible.”
For a moment, I am so overcome with feeling that I can’t talk. Tears fill my eyes.
“Have I made you unhappy?”
“No, of course not,” I say, hastily wiping away the tears. “I would love to marry you, but what about your family? Your friends? Such a relationship is going to be very strange to them.”
Raan says, “I don’t care. I want to be with you forever. Until death do us part.”
I know that is not a normal phrase in his vocabulary. “Have you been doing research on human customs?”
“I have,” he says proudly. “All the way home from the Kobar caves, I kept doing searches on my data screen. I understand that humans give each other rings.” He touches his name necklace around his neck. “But I hope you will accept a name necklace from me.”
I am not going to let this opportunity slip by. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” I say clearly. “Whenever, however, I don’t care as long as we’re together.”
At this, Raan’s face beams with pleasure. He kisses me and I cling to him. He picks me up and carries me to our bedroom. We kiss more, and he lays me down on the bed. “I love you,” I say as I look up at him.
He says, “I never thought I would say that word to a human female, but I love you also, Sylvia.”
We kiss and I can tell that this time, Raan is different. Having committed to me, he is no longer holding back. He kisses me frantically as he undresses me and strips himself. He acts as if he cannot get enough of me – my mouth, my breasts, my pussy.
His fingers are on my folds, rubbing and circling my clit. “You are so open,” he murmurs. His fingers trace my slit. “So beautiful. So open.”
I guess this traveler isn’t going to die today, I think, and then it is hard to think at all. I just feel – the building pressure, the tension. I love the weight of him on top of me, his insistence. “You are mine,” he says as he presses two fingers inside me, mimicking what I want from his thick cock.
“And you are mine.”
I come first, shuddering with the force my climax, and then, he presses his cock into my wet depths in one hard thrust. His cock is thick and glorious, stretching me, and I have never felt so full.
Raan pulls away, withdrawing slowly and then slams into me, making the bed shake. This is better than all our prior attempts. I clutch his shoulders, my nails digging into his scaled skin, my back arching.
Over and over he claims me, making me come again.
Then his mouth is on my neck and he’s biting me on my shoulder.
I should be scared, but I’m not. It feels right and my body trembles as he shakes and I feel the rush of his seed inside me, filling me, spilling out.
He groans and collapses against me, pressing me against the mattress.
For a few minutes we just lie there, both of us spent, exhausted, happy.
Eventually, he raises himself up on his hands and surveys the bite mark
. “I have claimed you now.”
I nod. I definitely feel claimed. He has boned me so hard, I am now boneless, as soft and languid as a beanbag chair. I couldn’t walk if I tried. I would be a happy puddle on the floor.
He rubs one finger over my shoulder. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” I tell him, and then we are kissing again, but this time it is sweeter and slower, with him running his hands through my hair and kissing my breasts.
I say, “There’s something you said that you’ve said before, that I don’t understand. That I am open. What does that mean?”
He reaches down to my folds. “Your cunt,” he says as he touches it gently. “It is open to me.”
I frown. “I still don’t get it.”
Raan says, “Namvire females aren’t open. Their slit remains closed until they are aroused. It is the same with Brune females, I believe. But human females are different.”
“Yuck. Is that why human females are so popular? Because our anatomy makes us appear that we are aroused? That we’re ready?”
“I suppose,” he says, “But I am not interested in any other females, Sylvia. Just you. Only you.”
He kisses me, and I want to relax and appreciate our time together, but I can’t help but think of the other women who were in the pods with me. I say, “I want to know how Lindsey, Martha and Iris are doing. If they are okay, being treated well. Is there any way to follow up with them?”
Raan says, “Yes, I can reach out to their owners.”
Owners. God, how I hate the sound of that. Being with Raan, enjoying his love for me has distracted me, making me forget my friends. I feel guilty because I have been happy and secure and I don’t know what has happened to them. “Thank you. I will feel better if I could communicate with them.”
“I can’t promise anything, but I will see what I can do.”
RAAN
I have never been so happy. Making love to Sylvia is better than I could have imagined. I feel as if we are two parts of a whole and I look forward to starting our own nest. But first, we will need our own apartment. When I tell Azaar, he looks at me strangely. “Your own apartment? Are you planning to stay on Bataa then?”
“I am. Sylvia and I are going to start a nest. I am going to marry her.”
Azaar is shocked, but he tries to hide it with a joke. “What, is your skin blue now?”
“I know it is unconventional.”
“You haven’t told Mother this, have you?”
“No, but I will.”
“It will give her a heart attack. I think you should keep this information to yourself.”
“I am not ashamed of Sylvia.”
Azaar says, “No one is going to understand. If you want to go through some meaningless Brune ceremony to make the human female happy, do it, but there is no need to broadcast it. Let everyone think she is your pet.”
“She’s not my pet. She is going to be my wife.”
Azaar says, “You are just making trouble, as you did when you were younger. You never wanted to follow the rules. You wanted to make your own rules.”
I am tired of being called the rebel. “And what is wrong with that? I don’t want to follow rules that are ridiculous.”
Azaar says, “Just don’t tell Mother.”
“I will have to tell her eventually.”
“Then wait a few months. She still doesn’t like the idea of you owning Sylvia. She considers her a distraction and hopes that you will grow tired of her. But hopefully, in time, she may accept Sylvia. Then you can tell her about marrying her. And until then, you should work at the family business. The more income you generate, the more it will relieve our mother’s concerns that you are not yourself.”
“I don’t want to deceive her, but perhaps that is best. I will start working at the business tomorrow.” I take a deep breath. “But as soon as Sylvia is pregnant, I will have to say something.”
“Hells Canyons! Are you thinking of having nestlings with Sylvia? Is that even possible?”
I smile. “It is.”
Azaar just shakes his head. “I love you dearly, brother, but I must be honest. I don’t understand what you are doing or why you are doing it. I have always tried not to judge others, but this arrangement of yours – it confuses me.”
Azaar is a good traveler, wise and honorable. He is a true brother to me. I say, “It confuses me as well, but I know it is right.” I place my hand over my name necklace at my throat. “Sylvia is part of me. She is my family now.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SYLVIA
For the next few weeks, Raan works during the day – sometimes at the family offices and often at Azaar’s apartment with me. In his off hours, we look at various apartments in the family building and choose one on the twentieth floor that looks out over the city.
We haven’t told anyone except Azaar that we are getting married, but whenever there is a family gathering, I sense a growing discontent. Raan’s family is polite, but they don’t know how to talk to me.
I am surprised one day when Irlaa offers to take me shopping to buy furniture. “You will need pretty new furniture for your new apartment,” she says.
I did not think she liked me at all, but perhaps this is her olive branch, so I take it graciously. “That sounds fun. Thank you.” I would like to be friends with Raan’s sister.
Before we leave, Raan gives me a dit disc and tells me not to spend all the money at one place.
Irlaa pats his arm. “Do not worry, brother. I am an excellent shopper. You will be amazed by the treasures we will find.”
We travel in the flying vehicles and go to a marketplace where there are hundreds of shops. Irlaa is well known and speaks comfortably with many of the merchants.
The surrounding Namvire customers look at me as if I don’t belong, often talking about me. “What is that?” “A human?” “So ugly.”
I can’t decide whether they don’t think I have a translation device or if do they not care. As we continue shopping, I notice that Irlaa is getting irritated. “You would think they had never seen a human female before. Which is ridiculous. I’m sure most of them have seen viewings.”
Great. I hate the fact that everyone thinks of porn when they think of humans.
But I am determined to be on my best behavior, so I act as if none of this bothers me, and I smile. It is no different than Jackie Robinson playing baseball or those two black students registering at the University of Alabama. I am in the minority on Bataa, and I need courage to go forward. In a way, I am a pioneer to reduce species discrimination.
I think Raan is very brave, too, to want to marry me.
Together we are going to break down the stereotypes.
At one store, Irlaa and I look at various bed pods. I say, “These are all single units. Do you have anything larger – like a king-sized bed?”
“There is no royalty on Bataa,” Irlaa tells me.
“That’s not what I meant. I would like a larger bed, one large enough for two people.”
Irlaa looks appalled. “Two people sleeping in the same bed?”
“Yes, it is what humans do.”
Irlaa shudders, obviously appalled at the thought of Raan and me sharing a bed. “But not Namvires,” she said. “Not once they are adults. Only nestlings sleep together, and even then, only when they are small.”
I imagine it is something like kittens all sleeping in a pile. “That’s all right, then,” I say. “We don’t have to have a larger bed.”
Irlaa says, “Perhaps we can find a Brune bed.”
“No, that’s fine,” I tell her. If Raan wants something larger, I’m sure he can make arrangements and buy one. I don’t want to upset Irlaa when we are finally getting to know each other.
We end up buying some couches and decorated cupboards and Irlaa arranges for delivery of the items.
As we exit the store and wait for our transportation, many people pass by us. I am jostled a bit, and then, someone grabs me around the waist and t
hrows something over my head.
Dear God. Not again, I think as I twist and reach for the gun at my waist.
RAAN
After Irlaa and Sylvia leave for their shopping trip, my mother messages me on my data screen, asking me to come to her apartment.
When I arrive there, I am surprised to see that all of my relations are there – Azaar, who looks embarrassed, Rint, and my three Uncles.
My mother motions for me to sit down. “Please, Raan,” she says. “We need to talk.”
“What is this?” They look like a row of sentencing judges in a criminal case.
Uncle Kaad says, “We need to talk to you about your human.”
I fold my arms in front of myself defensively. “Why? What is the problem?”
My mother says, “You are spending too much time with the human. Your work is suffering.”
I look at Azaar. “Is this true? You are unhappy with my work?”
“Not I,” he says.
I can tell he would rather not be a part of this Inquisition, but he is still here – most likely to keep peace with our mother.
My mother says, “If it weren’t for the human, you would still be living with Azaar.”
“Do you begrudge me my own space?”
“No, but I don’t think you should share it with human.”
“It is unnatural,” my Uncle Bolor says. Like Rint, he is a traveler of few words.
“Is he brixing her?” my Uncle Chul whispers and looks ill when Uncle Kaad nods.
I am offended that everyone has been gossiping about me. “If you want to know what I am doing, you should ask me directly. Yes, I am mating with Sylvia. I plan to marry her. Start a nest with her.”
My mother grows pale and clutches her necklaces. “You must be mad. You aren’t thinking clearly. You are destroying this family.”
“Sylvia cannot have multiple nestlings. Biologically, she will have one at a time, so she is little competition to Irlaa’s nest.”
“One child at a time is inefficient,” Uncle Bolor murmurs.
“I don’t see why this should bother anyone. It only affects me.”
