Playing Their Parts: A Kindred Tales Novel

by Anderson, Evangeline

  “Oh look—it’s beginning!” The Beast murmured. “See—the curtain’s rising to show the holo-stage.”

  As he spoke, the rich red curtain behind Gozeriam began to rise, revealing a massive silver disk hovering above his slimy head. The disk must be the stage The Beast was talking about, Cassie thought. She wondered if the floating camera drones projected their images directly onto it.

  “Creatures and humanoids,” Gozeriam burbled, raising his voice to be heard above the chatter. “Please direct your attention here.”

  At once, everyone fell silent and all the eyes in the room were fixed on the Slimerian.

  “We are pleased to welcome you all to this public viewing,” Gozeriam went on. “As you know, we view each day’s vids as they are finished and judge them according to their merits. When enough outstanding performances accrue, we hold a viewing so that everyone may learn by studying the successful techniques of the most talented actors. Tonight we have three very fine performances for you to view. Please pay attention!”

  Cassie doubted anyone would dare to disobey. Indeed, everyone in the room was looking fixedly at the vast silver disk above Gozeriam’s head. As she watched the disk, a small silver camera drone flew up and began to project an enormous holographic image onto it.

  She had been worried it would be herself and Stone but instead, the camera drone projected a holo of three female humanoids with puffy halos of bright pink hair around their heads. They also had bright pink, perfectly round spots on their cheeks and bright pink lips. Their nipples and outer pussy lips were the same vivid color but the rest of their naked bodies and faces were chalk-white.

  They look like clowns, Cassie decided, watching the display. Like three weird clowns!

  As she watched, the three “clowns” began to do erotic contortions, twisting themselves into pretzels and knots. At the same time, all three of them were pleasuring each other with long, pink feathers.

  They must be double jointed, Cassie thought, watching in amazement as one of the clown-girls bent her legs all the way over her head so that a second clown-girl could tickle her vulva with a feather. At the same time, she was tickling the third girl with her own feather, held between her toes. Or maybe triple jointed. Wow—how do they do that?

  The act went on for some time until Gozeriam announced, “Enough!”

  At once, the holo winked out and the camera drone that had been projecting it flew quietly back down to the stage.

  “As you could plainly see,” the Slimerian boss remarked. “The three kudza females are adept at pleasuring each other while never forgetting to give their best effort to their contortions. They exhibited excellent teamwork in this segment, for which I commend them.”

  Cassie heard a trio of shrill giggles to her left. Looking past Stone, she saw the three kudza girls sitting in a row. They all had their hands over their mouths and they were nodding at Gozeriam while giggling with embarrassed delight.

  “Thank you, your Slimefullness!” they all called in unison.

  Gozeriam nodded at them.

  “You are to be commended.” He looked at the crowd of actors. “And all of you, please do not forget when you are taking part in a scene with three or more participants, to work together as gracefully as the kudzas do. Teamwork is important!”

  The crowd clapped politely and Cassie considered how weird it was that she had basically just watched what appeared to be an erotic Cirque du Soleil performance and was now being lectured about teamwork by a huge, slimy, Jabba the Hutt look-alike.

  But she didn’t have long to reflect, because another camera drone flew up and the huge silver disk above Gozeriam lit up again. This time it was a scene from the Aqueous Tank. Two creatures that looked like seahorses with long, flowing manes were swimming gracefully around and around each other. Behind them were vividly colored sea plants waving in the currents—a beautiful backdrop for their mating dance.

  The two seahorse people—one had a white mane and the other had a long purple-black mane—swooped and dived around and around, always getting closer and closer together but never quite touching.

  At last, the seahorse person with the white mane held still and the dark-maned one swooped towards it. Long, silvery filaments began to extrude from under the dark-maned seahorse person’s belly. The filaments penetrated the white-maned seahorse person’s skin, which began to glow a luminescent blue. Then he—or she, Cassie couldn’t tell which—began to puff up until he or she was almost as round as a ball.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered to Stone. If he gets much bigger he’s going to explo—”

  Before she could finish her thought, the white-maned seahorse person burst into a thousand sparks of light and everyone assembled in the throne-room gasped at once.

  “Oh my God—he did it—he exploded. Or she did! Poor thing!” Cassie exclaimed under her breath.

  “Don’t worry—that’s just how Horsians procreate,” the Beast said from her other side. “Look…” He pointed at the holo. “See the little sparks? They’re actually brand new Horsians.”

  Leaning forward, Cassie saw that he was right. The tiny sparks of glowing light were actually tiny little seahorse people, swimming all around. The black-maned seahorse person trumpeted to them and they all gathered around him and followed him out of the scene.

  “Now he’ll care for them and raise them,” The Beast told Cassie. “What was once his lover and mate are now his children.”

  At that point the holo ended and everyone applauded again.

  “As you all know,” Gozeriam rumbled, “The mating habits of the Horsians of the oceans of Mugar Six are extremely private. No one has ever filmed them before, so we were highly gratified when Abidgee and Hoogart agreed to come here to Bachanalius to allow us to capture their beautiful union. We are hopeful that this vid will bring us new audiences in the oceans of Mugar Six.”

  Everyone clapped again and there was a sloshing sound to Cassie’s right. Looking way down at the end of the front row, she saw a large tank, about three meters tall, filled with clear turquoise water. In it was the black-maned seahorse person—or Horsian, she supposed—and about a hundred teeny Horsians all about the size of her pinky finger.

  What surprised her the most was the size of the alien seahorse. He was about the same size as Stone—much bigger than any seahorse she’d ever seen in an aquarium back home. He put his muzzle out of the water and bugled happily and the little seahorse babies around him frisked and splashed in the turquoise water.

  Well, they all seem happy about it, Cassie thought, watching them. Although it seemed sad to her that having sex ended in one of the partners exploding. Still, at least the other partner got lots of babies out of the deal. And since it was their way, she guessed they found it completely normal.

  “And now,” Gozeriam said, interrupting the applause. “We have a most excellent scene from a script we wrote ourselves. Please pay attention to Forbidden One!”

  Oh God, here it comes! Cassie squinted her eyes almost shut as she looked up at the silver disk holo stage. It was the same way she watched horror movies she couldn’t bear to look at fully. Beside her, she felt Stone stiffen too.

  And then, there they were—the two of them. Cassie watched as her own image was projected ten stories tall, first flogging Stone and then being flogged and “punished” in turn, and then being pleasured as her partner went down on her with obvious enthusiasm.

  Gozeriam didn’t just play a snippet of their scene either—he played the entire thing, right to the part where the director was yelling at them to cut and Cassie had to beg her partner to stop because she was exhausted.

  Cassie squirmed in her seat—she couldn’t look at Stone. It was one thing to do a sexual scene with her partner—it was something else entirely to be forced to watch it with him right beside her! Oh God, would the humiliation never end?

  At last, it was over. Or at least, the holo faded from the disk. But then they had to listen to Gozeriam’s remarks on their perfo
rmances.

  “We have seldom seen such exuberance—such creativity and voracious sexual hunger!” the Slimerian announced. “We are very pleased with our two newest actors, Mistress Cassandra and her body-slave, Stone. Please, would the two of you stand and take a bow?” he went on.

  Oh God—it just gets worse and worse! Cassie thought. But what could she do? They couldn’t refuse to bow—it would get them on Gozeriam’s bad side if they did.

  Pasting a grin that felt as real as a three-dollar-bill on her face, she and Stone stood and turned to take a bow to the audience of assembled creatures. They were greeted with clapping and hooting and various other sounds of alien approval and approbation.

  “Thank you.” Cassie nodded at the crowd. “Thank you. I’d like to thank the Academy.”

  “What?” Stone glanced down at her, an uncertain frown on his face.

  “Nothing,” Cassie muttered through clenched teeth as she kept smiling. “Just a little joke. Do you think we can sit down now?”

  “I imagine it would be all right,” Stone murmured.

  “Good.” Cassie gave one last wave and sank gratefully back into her seat, her cheeks flaming.

  Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would do a porno with her partner and then get a standing ovation for it. If her life got very much stranger, she was going to have to wonder if someone had slipped her a drug and she was actually sitting in a corner somewhere having vivid hallucinations.

  “Such an excellent performance,” Gozeriam burbled again. “It is so good, in fact, that we shall keep it here in our private chest for further viewing.”

  He nodded at two of his guards who pulled out a large metal chest with a domed lid. They opened it and the little silver camera-drone which had recorded their scene came whizzing down from the high ceiling, where it had been projecting their scene onto the silver disk above Gozeriam’s head.

  One of the guards plucked the ball from the air and turned towards the Slimerian, as though awaiting orders.

  “Title it, ‘Forbidden One’,” Gozeriam told her. “And tuck it carefully into the viewing chest—we shall want to see it again soon.”

  The female guard nodded and pulled out a bright pink, fluorescent writing instrument. She wrote quickly and neatly on the side of the silver camera-ball and then tucked it into the chest, among many others, before shutting the lid carefully.

  “Well, Mistress, that’s quite an honor,” The Beast purred, eyeing Cassie. “His Slimefullness never adds a new vid to his viewing chest unless he really likes it. And I have to say, I can see why he liked it.”

  “Have you ever had a vid added to the viewing chest?” Cassie asked him. She didn’t like the way the big bastard was looking at her—like she was a juicy steak and he was starving—and she wanted to change the subject. But then, he had just watched a porno starring her—which had probably given him ideas. Which made her doubly glad for Stone’s arm around her shoulders.

  “I did—once.” The Beast nodded. “It was the scene I told you about—with the girl I injected with the new aphrodisiac his Greatness was trying out? The one that makes females want pain instead of pleasure?”

  Cassie sat up straighter in her chair. The snuff film! It’s in the viewing box!

  “That’s interesting,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “And what did he name yours?”

  “Deadly.” The Beast flashed a white, murderous smile at her that made Cassie sick to her stomach. But she refused to be intimidated.

  “That makes sense, I guess,” she said. “Where does his Slimefullness keep his viewing chest, anyway? I suppose it’s always near him, so he can rewatch the vids he likes easily?”

  “It’s stored backstage, I think,” The Beast said, nodding at the female guards who were carrying the huge chest away, behind the long red curtain. “His Slimefullness likes to be able to look at his favorite vids night and day.”

  “Doesn’t he ever sleep?” Cassie asked innocently. “I mean, does he stay up on his, uh, platform there all the time?” She nodded at the rectangular platform the Slimerian was laid out on.

  “Slimerians don’t need much sleep,” The Beast said. He frowned. “I’d say he sleeps…oh, two or three hours a night, maybe. It’s pretty much the only time his guards get to rest, too. They’re always grateful to get a reprieve, since watching his favorite vids makes his Slimefullness horny and he wants to penetrate them.”

  Ugh! Cassie thought but didn’t dare to say aloud—not when she was so close to Gozeriam.

  “That’s interesting,” she said coolly. “Do you know how much longer the public viewing goes on?”

  “Oh, it’ll be over in a minute. His Slimefullness just has to dismiss us,” The Beast said. “Say, after he lets us go, what would you say to spending a little time at my place? We could, er, work on some techniques—maybe you could teach me some of your moves.” He gave her a hungry look and Cassie felt her stomach roll over in disgust.

  Stone glared at the other male, a low growl rising in his throat, as he pulled her even closer to his side.

  “Uh, without your body-slave, of course,” The Beast added, eyeing Stone doubtfully.

  Cassie wanted to say something cutting but she reminded herself again that they were trying to reel The Beast in. At some point she had to get him to follow her back to their ship, so they could take him back down to Earth to stand trial. So she made herself smile at him, even though it made her want to puke.

  “Of course. But I have a better idea,” she purred. “Why don’t you meet me a little later on and we can go to my ship? I have some, uh, special equipment I bet you’d like to try out on me. And of course, there’s more privacy that way.”

  The Beast’s fake-gold eyes lit up with a hungry glow.

  “That sounds fucking perfect, Mistress. When do you want to meet?”

  “When is his Slimefullness usually asleep?” Cassie asked. “We’ll want to be able to sneak out of the palace without anyone seeing us,” she added.

  “Between the hours of one and three is when he usually snoozes,” The Beast said, nodding.

  “Good! Then you can meet me at two,” Cassie told him. That should hopefully give her and Stone time to destroy the Pain Fruit plants and grab the snuff film while everyone else was asleep. Then Stone could wait out in the ship while she lured The Beast outside. And then…

  And then we’ll go home, Cassie thought to herself. The thought made her sad for some reason—not because she liked this crazy porn palace, of course. But because she and Stone would have to go back to just being friends.

  But that was how her partner wanted it and that was how it was going to be, Cassie told herself stoically. There was nothing she could do to change it—nothing at all.

  Forty-Six

  “I do not like the idea of you being alone with The Beast,” Stone growled, the moment they were back in their room. “You swore to me that you wouldn’t be.”

  “He’s not going to come if he thinks you’re there!” Cassie protested. “Besides, this gives us time to destroy the Pain Plants and scoop up the snuff film. Then you can go hide in the ship and once I lure him out there, we slap the cuffs on him and take off.”

  Stone frowned.

  “It sounds like a perfect plan. Except the part where you are alone with the Beast.”

  “Stone…”

  “All right, all right.” He sighed. “I know we agreed this would be your part of the mission. But I don’t like the way he looks at you, Cassandra—as though you were something delicious to eat.”

  “Believe me, I don’t like it either—he’s repulsive.” Cassie shivered. “But we have to do our job, partner. And there’s no way he’s coming out to the ship with me if you’re anywhere he can see you.”

  “Is that all this is? Just a job to you?” Stone suddenly gathered her into his arms and looked at her intently.

  “Oh, well…” Cassie was flustered. “I mean, that’s what we agreed, right? That we would get the job
done and then go back to normal once we got back to Earth?”

  “Yes.” He sighed deeply. “We did agree that. We will go back to being partners and friends only for the rest of our lives.”

  It was on the tip of Cassie’s tongue to ask if her partner wanted to change his mind. To say that if he wanted to be more than friends, she would certainly agree.

  But what if she was wrong? What if Stone looked at her like she was crazy for suggesting such a thing? What if he had no interest in being more than just friends?

  I’d feel like a fool, Cassie thought ruefully. And things would be awkward between us forever afterwards.

  No, she couldn’t risk it. She would just have to accept that her handsome Kindred partner was only ever going to be her friend and that was it.

  “Come on,” she told Stone, wriggling out of his embrace. “Let’s talk about how we’re going to do this. What if the door to the plant lab is locked—can you get us in?”

  “I believe I can but I’ll need you with me, in case we are discovered,” Stone said. “A body-slave never goes anywhere without his Mistress.”

  “All right.” Cassie nodded. “Let’s game it out. Now what if we do get caught?”

  And she lost herself in the planning, trying to put her feelings for her partner away—far from her, where they belonged.

  Forty-Seven

  The lights in the aphrodisiac lab were dimmed when they arrived. No surprise, thought Stone, since it was almost one in the morning.

  “You ready for this, partner?” Cassandra asked, looking up at him.

  Stone nodded. “Absolutely.”

  In the pocket of his tight leather body-slave trousers, he had a tiny tin, no larger than his thumbnail. Inside it were a colony of microscopic Nigelian rot-mites. All he needed to do was get close enough to the Pain Fruit plant to open the tin and slip it into the soil. The rot mites would do the rest. In less than twenty-four hours, the Pain Fruit plant would be wilted and dead.