by Olivia Myers
"Let's go in."
He took her hand in his. She looked down at their hands, then felt the jolt and quickly kicked on her airskayt, and they were flying. He led her to one of the higher suites, where the wind almost tore her hair out of its elaborate arrangement. The room wasn’t too crowded when they landed, and the muters were on, masking the ambient noise and making it seem as though they were truly alone. They were led to their table immediately.
Rather than sitting down, he paused behind her. There was a soft pressure on the back of her hair, and she went still.
"Messy," he said laconically. She felt a tugging. Then her hair came out of its expensive knot and spilled down in its two braids. He tapped them, swung them a few times, then let go and went around the table and sat down.
He began to voc his order. She heard him pay, too.
She stared at him as if he were...Well, he is an alien.
"Um." She cleared her throat, then vocced and funded her own order. Never looking away from him, she used her hand to fan herself. She didn't remember The Aluminum being so hot. They needed to fix their temperature system.
She finally found her voice. "So...you're a Cogent. Is that right?" Like I could forget that he makes his living risking his life for the safety of regular civics.
"Yes."
"Your name is Vector."
"And yours is Larissa."
The way his voice hissed her name with that odd sibilance hypnotized her for a moment. She struggled to gather her thoughts. "And...and...you...moved to Jax-9...when again?"
"A few years back. How many more questions are you going to ask, to which you already know the answer?"
His sarcasm infuriated her for a moment. Then she burst out laughing. "Sorry. I've never used The Gallery before to meet anyone. And I've never actually...I mean, I've met hundreds of aliens...thousands...I mean...some of my best friends are...." Oh, this was bad. She was no gauche girl who bumbled at an awkward situation. Since birth, she'd hobnobbed with the most elite and powerful people in the world. What was wrong with her?
But she knew. What's wrong is you're feeling like this man has somehow reached across and slithered his hand up your thigh and pressed his palm to your sex. She felt that tight, that wet and hot and achy.
She stared at his hands resting casually on the tabletop. Looked up into his eyes. The lighting was dim, but not so bad she wasn't hooked again by their intensity.
"Let's eat first," he said. "You look hungry."
You've got that right. "Ravenous."
"Yeah, me, too. Been a long day. Long week."
"At work, you mean?"
"No. It's my leave. I have another week home, and then I'm on mission again."
"Mission? You mean you work off-planet?"
He made a dismissive movement. "All over the galaxy. Six months at a time. Two weeks back for leave. Too much stuff to take care of while I'm here."
"Sounds exhausting. I guess I can't ask what it is you do, exactly, during those six months away?"
He flashed her a tight look that barely passed for a smile and didn't answer.
So I guess that means no.
The smile did seem bizarre, as though he wasn't used to moving his face that way. His face was human, his features arranged in handsome perfection. Very natural looking. The illusion was excellent. Even when he'd touched her with his hand, there had been nothing unusual about the feel of his skin.
But it was all wrong to her. Never for one moment could she forget who—or what—he really was.
It was annoying. She didn't want to think about his alienness. It shouldn't matter to her. But it did. She just knew she'd be able to forget the whole matter if only he looked like himself. Looked like he should.
As expected, the food was delicious. She could tell from the way he scarfed it down that he didn't eat here often. And why should he? His pay would hardly allow it. Many people never patronized The Aluminum in their entire lives.
They didn't talk much during the meal. Afterward, he didn't seem inclined to linger and she wasn't, either. They airskayted out and landed not far from where they'd met outside the restaurant.
They faced each other. The night air was warm and the flight down had sent her braids flying all around. She straightened them out and took a deep breath. This time, he stood level with her, and he was far too tall for a real human. The flajec hadn't altered his height, it seemed.
He spoke first. "I'm going to kiss you. Thought you should know."
She jerked back in instinctive recoil. His eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?"
She spoke without thinking. "You're flajed. You look like a human. You..."
"Go on." His voice was flat, almost deadly.
"I don't want you to touch me like that. Sorry. I don't know how to..."
She couldn't finish what she really wanted to say. ...How to say that my nipples are so tight they're aching, and I don't want your soft human fingers pinching them, I want your hand, your real hand, and your real mouth—whatever it's like. What is it like? Who are you, really, Vector Ferhan?
This time he was the one to flinch. "Right. No kiss. Got it."
And without another word, he was gone.
***
Once back at her penthouse, she began pacing as she tore off her clothes—still so damn hot—while her rational mind began to work again. His abrupt exit had shocked her, but when she mentally replayed their exchange, she winced as she realized exactly what he must have thought.
Hastily, she sent him a vocplay.
"Look, I didn't think about what I was saying. I didn't mean to imply I didn't want you to kiss me. I did. I do."
No response. She tried again.
"Vector, here's the thing. Your flaj confused me. I couldn't forget it was working all evening. Why did you use it, anyway? Nobody's going to kick you out of The Aluminum for being an alien. Well, not if you're with me, anyway. Dammit. I guess that's not what you want to hear. Surely you understand. It's your flaj that bothered me. Not you."
Nothing. She waited a bit longer. Nothing.
"Vector, stop being such a...a stubborn Resstessian. If you don't—"
"Larissa."
She turned quickly. No visplay, though, where she could see him. Just an audio voc, but at least it was a live one. The important thing was, he'd responded.
"Live," she commanded the system, changing modes herself.
"I didn't use the flajec because of the restaurant," he stated. "I used it for you."
Her jaw dropped. "Me? But why? I've seen you. I watched your bioplay. It's vis, you know. I know that you're...you're green. And all that."
"No. You do not know. You said it yourself. You've never met a Resstessian."
"Oh." She didn't know what to say, except what was in her heart. He's here for one more week and then he's gone. She acted instinctively then. Both hands went to her breasts to squeeze their naked fullness. She wished desperately he were the one doing it. Her nipples felt hard and long against her palms and she pressed so firmly it almost hurt. "Well, I don't care," she said.
The delay was long, but somehow this time she didn't get the sense he'd gone.
His voc came in a soft rumble. "You want to meet again?"
Her pulse went mad. Yes. Right this instant. I want you to airskayt here now and...and...I can't even say what I want you to do because I have no idea what you are, what you're like. But I want it inside me. Whatever you have. Her sex pulsed in twitches that made her frantic. She released her breasts, clutched her waist and squirmed.
"Yes." She took a deep breath, looked up to try to clear her airway. "I don't know my schedule for tomorrow. I have a few things I need to do in the morning, but my afternoon is free. Should I voc you again?"
"Again? That would be difficult."
Her heart fell. "Why?"
"Because," he drawled, "you didn't voc me this time."
"I didn't?" She didn't understand. They were voccing right now. What did he mean, she hadn't vocced hi
m?
"No, Larissa. You vissed."
***
By the next morning, Larissa had still not gotten over the excruciating embarrassment of last night. Every few minutes, she wondered anew what he must have thought when he'd received the visplays from her—the visplays she'd thought were simple audio vocplay messages but that had in truth captured all her visuals. Visuals of her pleading with him while pacing her penthouse, stark naked. And this time she hadn't set it to a headshot first.
It seemed she'd been more frazzled than she realized.
Frantically, she checked her settings and confirmed her worst fears; they were set to default to full body. She replayed the vis, then breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, maybe her pacing or position, most of the stream was torso catches. A butt shot here or there. But at least he hadn't seen everything.
But still. Not good. And the way she'd fondled herself. No wonder he'd been so quiet. What had he been thinking while her hands...? No. She had to stop this.
Somehow, she focused on work. Eventually, sooner than was smart, she called it a day. And vocced him.
This time she made sure.
The amusement from last night was gone, however. He acted as though he'd forgotten the whole thing; his voice sounded low and tired. Almost distractedly, he agreed to her suggestion of a place to eat, and they set a time.
Then she got to work.
Her idea was crazy. But so was her idea to run a nightclub; so was asking a grumpy Resstessian out on a date in the first place. If she'd wanted to play things safe, she'd have picked the blond man with the nasal voice.
She went to the nightclub to get what she needed, not enamored of the idea of hunting down a flajec all over town. It took just a few minutes to purchase one off of one of her patrons, though the alien woman did give her an odd look.
She changed in the small suite she kept for herself for late nights. It took her longer than expected to find the instructions and apply the skin. But when it was on, she discovered the flajec was not uncomfortable—neither too tight nor too hot. It actually felt a bit loose. And breathing through it was just fine. She could see why these imports were so popular.
She walked to the mirror, faced it—and blinked.
The woman who stared back at her in the mirror was a stranger. Rather than a human with brown eyes, slightly dusky skin and long black hair, she saw a woman with cropped forest-green hair plastered slickly to her head and skin the color of a leafpearl.
So this is what a Resstessian woman looks like.
Larissa's hand went to her face, but she felt only warm human skin. The mirror belied that—it showed small, shimmering green scales everywhere her skin should be.
"More like a fish than a lizard, really," she told her reflection. As she expected, her voice was her normal voice.
Her face was not far different from her own, a bit more angular perhaps—except for her eyes. They were the same color she had seen on Vector's bioplay, rather round, a deep lake blue-green, with black vertical slits for pupils. The nose was slightly hooked. The mouth was a bit fuller—
She turned away quickly. She did not want to see any more. The suit had worked, that was all she needed to know. If she saw too much now, before even seeing Vector's true self, she feared she would not go through with this. She'd never forgive herself if cowardice made her back out. Hurriedly, she got dressed and set off.
The whole flajec thing had taken longer than she'd anticipated. She was late for her date with Vector. When she showed up at the Mudpile, nobody was waiting outside. She chewed her lower lip, then marched into the diner.
It was a very different establishment from The Aluminum. Dingy lighting, grungy walls, a long, narrow floor-plan with booths on either side, and no maître d' to speak of made the place a mood piece. But Larissa knew all the wait staff and the cooks. They always greeted her with a shout and a wave.
This time, all anybody gave her was a doubletake. As she walked down the aisle, scanning for Vector, she got the oddest looks. It made her suspect she should have taken a bit longer to examine herself in the mirror. The casual bodysuit she'd picked to wear was orange and yellow; perhaps she shouldn’t have chosen something so loud with her Resstessian skin.
Larissa finally spotted Vector in a booth facing the entrance at the very back of the diner. But he'd seen her first. He had half-risen and was staring at her. His face—human again, she was dismayed to see—displayed open-jawed disbelief.
She paused, then squared her shoulders and marched on. But she'd only taken three more steps before he was there, in front of her. Gripping her arms with the vice of his fingers.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he gritted out.
"Vector, you're hurting me." She looked around nervously.
His grip loosened, but not without his muttering, "Humans are too damn delicate." Then, in a slow and measured way, he announced, "We are getting out of here."
"What? Why? What's wrong with this place?"
"There's nothing wrong with this place. You are what's wrong. You're in a flajec skin. A Resstessian one."
"Hey, if you can wear one, I can wear one," she retorted, then quipped, "What's fair for the hegator is fair for the shegator!"
"You guys gonna sit down?" asked a server. "You're blocking the aisle."
Vector scowled. "No, we're leaving right—"
"Why, yes, we are, thank you," Larissa said hastily. She slipped past Vector, skittered to the booth she'd seen him in, and slithered onto the seat facing the wall.
She stared at the door to the kitchen and tensely listened to the sounds of the patrons and the waitservers, fearful that Vector would just leave. A moment later, he appeared at the booth and slid into his seat.
Her relief was short-lived. Vector leaned forward with his arms on the table and stared at her. It didn't matter that his eyes looked human; they had an alien intensity as they fixed her and she could not move. She could not even blink.
"You are playing with something you do not understand."
Each velvety word was a sensual blow in her belly. Somehow she managed to draw a deep, shuddering breath. Her mouth opened. "Vec-Vector. Stop looking at m-me—"
Instantly, his gaze slid away. It released her enough for her to catch her breath and put one hand low over her stomach, where something disturbing fluttered, sweet and dangerous.
He addressed the wall and spoke very deliberately. "Larissa. Let me try to put this more clearly. If you don't go into the bathroom right now and take off that flajec, my sprayseed will shoot right through my damn clothes—these pants, the flajec, all of it."
"What do you mean, your spray—oh! Your sprayseed." If she got what he was saying, and she thought she did, he was talking about his male ejaculate. Through his clothes? How fascinating....
His chest was moving up and down, and his palms covered his face. "Go. Now."
He looked to be panting, but there was no color or sweat on his skin—of course not, it was fake. She reached across the narrow table and touched his cheek. Even through the skin, she could feel his heat. It was excessive. What would it be like without the barrier? Would it burn her?
Touching him was a mistake. She realized it even before his gaze arrowed back to her and she was transfixed again, paralyzed except for the sharp twisting in her loins that answered to that look.
"I want you in that bathroom. I want you out of those clothes, leaning on the sink. And if you don't do it in the next twenty seconds, Larissa, then I will drag you under the table and fuck you before thirty have passed. Now do you understand?"
She did not hesitate. She practically airskayted out of that booth and into the bathroom next to the kitchen. By then she was panting, too. Her bodysuit fell to the floor. That left just her Resstessian skin. She hesitated. Did he want it on or off? Surely she had to take it off if he were going to—
The door opened and shut. She whirled around. Vector loomed hugely in the tiny, dank room as he looked her up and down.
His nostrils were flaring, a sign she did not know how to take. Was he angry or—
"Take it off!"
"Right, sure," she said warily. "But it took me forty-five minutes to get this thing on. I don't know if—"
It didn't take him forty-five. It took him one and a half—with his hands shaking.
"What about your own flajec?" she demanded as she stood before him nude, as human as the day she was born. "Are you going to take that off? Because I think you really should."
Wordlessly, still wearing all his clothes, he grabbed her ass, spreading the plump cheeks apart to drag her up his body so her naked legs were forced to wrap around his hips and her arms to cling to his shoulders.
She was about to protest that it felt weird to be held like this until it occurred to her that standing shoeless in a public bathroom wasn't much better. She realized then that his entire body was trembling, sending vibrations through her own body that hit all the way to her spine.
"So, Vector, I guess you won't believe this, but this isn't normal for me," she mumbled against his chest.
The low, guttural noise that came from him was not any word she knew, more of a rumbling groan.
"Uh, maybe I should just..."
One finger unceremoniously pushed into her sex.
"Tell me if I hurt you," he ordered, adding another finger. "I can't just stop, but the sooner you tell me..."
"It doesn't hurt," she choked. Heat exploded in her cheeks. No, if anything, whatever he was doing with his fingers in there felt too good.
"Where's your...ah, there it is." His thumb had found her clit, and Larissa almost fell backward as her arms let go of his neck. He caught her with a lightning movement.
"Stay!" he hissed fiercely. "Don't let go. Focus. Remember, you idiot, I'm not human. Every time I've had a human woman it's gone bad. Their bodies are so damn different. So pay attention. I want updates."
"Wh—what? What do you mean, updates?" He had to be insane. There was no way she could tell him what his touch was doing to her. It was all she could do to cling to his neck and shoulders and hope she didn't melt into a puddle while she squirmed against his diabolical fingers. If this was what he did when he didn't know human female anatomy all that well, she could only imagine what he did to women of his own race....
