"Why?" asked Angelo, desperately. "Why are you so guarded with your emotions?"
"Again, I will warn you that is private. It is the most private thing you could ask."
Angelo persisted.
"But that's the point, isn't it? That's what I'm supposed to find out. The inhabitants of the Alshain are supposed to come to an understanding about humanity and vice-versa."
"To an extent," replied Leneria through a tight-lipped scowl. "But there are boundaries."
"Fine!" said Angelo.
"Fine!" said Leneria in a tone she did not wish to take.
Angelo stormed back to his cabin.
It had been a little over two weeks. He had yet to examine the vidlogs of his predecessors. He was tempted to start with Neirna, but decided to go all the way back to the beginning.
The very first liaison had been one Captain Macy Quextil, a blue-skinned woman no-doubt descended from the Xfelsians. She was a striking, powerful looking woman. The camera turned on her and she had tousled hair and was holding a towel to her chest. She was giggling.
"Well now," she said with a smile. "The instructions were very specific regarding these records. They are only for the liaisons and we are to be as frank as we wish."
Inadvertently, she let the towel fall.
"Oops," she said with a sigh. "Well, if you're watching this, seeing a bit of my skin won't mean all that much, will it? In a word, this ship - is - heaven. I have had more men here in a few weeks than in all my years combined, even on my spring break to the pleasure planets. They are wonderful lovers, too - each of them.
"I know they've spiked the air, but I really don't care. As for their emotions - well, I don't know what to say about that. I think it's just that they've never had someone to show them. I have my eyes on Paulus, who I suspect may be particularly ready to tip over into emotions once he has the chance. But for now, I'm just having a hell of a good time - I hope you do, too."
The next entry was marked three weeks later. Macy had a colder look in her eyes - an exhausted, forlorn expression.
"I don't know what to do," she said in a tired tone. "I keep thinking I see a glimmer, but then it goes away. There's some barrier between them and emotions. I try talking to them about love and caring - and it's like I said I was into incest to a religious zealot. They just shut down and turn away. These men are so beautiful, they're all so beautiful, but without anything underneath they might as well be statues."
Her final entry was one of tears, and anger.
"I can't wait," she said, "I can't wait to get back to the real world - to real men. I don't know what I'm going to do other than grab the first man I see - any man, and take him to bed. I want to make love, I don't want to fuck. I've been fucking my brains out for three months now and I've never felt so empty. Just a smile, just a laugh while a man is inside me - that's all I want now."
Angelo started skipping through ten vidlogs and he was struck by the nearly identical pattern in each of them. Week two, euphoria. Week four - frustration. Week eight - anger. Week ten - depression. Final week, defeated resignation.
Here he was, week two, but the euphoria had already begun to flag. There were several women who lingered in his mind; Menaea, with her lush body and beautiful skin; A'nish with her dark beauty; and above all Leneria - with whom he had never shared the slightest true physical intimacy.
He pondered his situation for a while and then emerged from the liaison cabin on a mission.
He first went to the medical quarters, but Leneria wasn't there. Next, he began a search of the ship. She was nowhere to be found, yet he kept searching - turning down propositions right and left.
At last, he was able to find someone who had seen Leneria in the Center. Donning goggles, it was there that he found her. She was looking up in to the gaseous expanse, her hands and body pressed against the glass as though communing with the inhabitants.
"Can you speak with them?" he asked softly.
"Oh, hello Commander Angelo," she said. "No, we cannot communicate with them,per se. We can detect their concerns and sense a general tone - but it is only through a special interface in a separate room that we can have a coherent conversation."
"I see," said Angelo, though it wasn't quite clear.
"I can tell some of their thoughts, however, by inference. Do you see that female there?"
She pointed to large tubule to their left.
"Yes."
"She is our most proficient engineer," said Leneria. "She was a lead engineer for the Alshain and is near completion of designs for the Alshain II, a ship which will make this one seem primitive by comparison. Ah, here comes a male to help her complete her designs?"
They watched as a non-hollow cylinder drifted toward the female in question and began to slide into her opening.
Subconsciously, Angelo now found himself behind Leneria. His skin was just brushing hers, his painfully rigid member was nestled prominently against her shapely ass.
"Is he an engineer, too?" asked Angelo.
Leneria turned to look at him, pushing instinctively back against his firmness.
"The male," continued Angelo (though he was having difficulty concentrating), "is he also an engineer? So he can help?"
"No," said Leneria softly.
It seemed she was also having difficulty concentrating.
"The uh... the way we... the way they work," she said in a near whisper - her hand reached behind her to gently stroke Angelo. That contact seemed to provide some sort of anchor to help her concentrate again. "The way Aquilans think is through the energy provided by sexual contact. They think all of the time, of course, but for difficult tasks such as what she is doing - she needs that added energy."
"Like computers?" suggested Angelo. "A computer needs extra power for the extra cycles."
"In a way."
Leneria sighed as Angelo's shaft found its way into her. Entering her from behind, she simply braced herself against the glass and the two of them kept watching the union in the tank - as they formed a union of their own.
"Too bad humans don't work that way," said Angelo. "If we could think and fuck, I'd have won the Galactic Nobel in the last couple of weeks."
"We have noticed that about this form," said Leneria with a gasp and a thrust backward against his cock. "We find it a bit frustrating that our cognitive reasoning is impaired by sexual congress. However, we have endeavored to overcome this shortcoming in our own unions."
"Yes," grunted Angelo with thrust. "I was amazed at the way Bellen was able to review some schematics while she was giving me oral pleasure."
"Indeed," agreed Leneria. "She has always been gifted in splitting her focus. Oh look, the engineer is doubtless making progress on her designs."
The pair they were watching was now in full union. The male was sliding through to one end of the female, fully emerging, then diving back through her inner cavity. With each slide a lightning-storm of electrical and chemical activity lit up the Center and the female was glowing brighter.
Half-consciously, Angelo began timing his thrusts to match those of the male. He was even removing himself and plunging back into Leneria. The aura infusing the Center was palpable and it was clear (if what Leneria said was true) that the female had climaxed and doubtless reached some sort of clear breakthrough in her ship designs.
"Oh Commander," cried Leneria. "I desire you, so."
She pulled off of him and turned to face him. She leapt into his arms and wrapped herself around him. He lifted her onto a nearby railing against a wall and began pumping with even more energy.
His body was reveling in the feeling. As had happened with their very first kiss, there was that indescribable 'more' between the two of them. Each place their bodies touched, each plunge into her moist pussy, his body practically sang in celebration. What was more, she seemed to be returning the feeling - to be experiencing it herself. More than any other Aquilan woman, she was moaning and panting at their union. Others had made some noises -
but ones akin to what someone might make at a difficult sporting match in the heat of a difficult tennis volley or the like. Leneria was moaning from pleasure and he thought he detected the slightest hint of a smile on her face.
"Fill me up, Commander Angelo," she panted, "fill me up with your beautiful cock and your delicious semen. I've been desiring it for so long. Oh. Ohhhh!"His long and powerful thrusts had at last achieved their goal. Her body began to shake as the climax arrived and she clawed at him desperate, raking her fingernails across his back.
"Oh, so beautiful, so beautiful this feels," she moaned. "Never have I... felt... oh!"
She was wracked by an even larger orgasm and now all she could do was arch her back and cry out silently, her mouth open but no sounds capable of coming out.
Once it had passed she begged him to do the same.
"Now you, Commander. Now you, let me feel your pleasure."
Angelo soon did as she asked - his body responding to her overwhelming pleasure. He didn't know how, but he was able to remain standing as volumes of cum emptied into her moist and ready interior.
"That's it, commander," she murmured. "Fill me up. How I love the feeling of you."
As his last load was finishing, he lowered his lips to hers and they began to kiss fervently. They continued doing so, even as his cock temporarily lost its stiffness and slipped out of her, sending a gush down her thighs.
"I love kissing you," he whispered. "Your lips are electric, magical."
"I love kissing you, too..." she began - and then she stopped herself short.
"What are you doing?" she said.
"Kissing you," he said, confused.
"Stop," she demanded. "We are done with coitus. There is no need for such things - they serve no purpose - these extra kisses."
"But they feel good," protested Angelo, trying to kiss her again.
"No. They don't," she argued and she pushed herself away from his embrace. "We are done. I knew this was a mistake. I knew you would try to insinuate yourself further with improper emotions."
"But..."
"Goodbye, Commander."
She left. Just like that.
Angelo turned to the tank where the tube-like female Aquilan was floating close by, her own post-sex glow beginning to diminish.
"I don't suppose you'd like to explain," he said in a wry tone.
The glowing creature had nothing to offer.
***
The next two days were ones of frustration for Angelo. As before, Leneria was now avoiding any sort of contact with him. While he did couple with two other women, it felt empty and more boring - satisfying a mere yearning from his heightened sexual state, not anything like the near-spiritual union he had experienced with Leneria.
He finally found her one day, passing her in the corridor.
"Leneria," he said, taking her wrist.
"Commander Telegin," she said, "I take it from your physical contact that you desire to copulate. I do not wish to do so with you at this time, but thank you."
She tried to pull away, but he insisted, pulling her to the side.
"Leneria," he said in a whisper. "I don't wish to copulate, either."
"You don't?" she asked, curiously.
"No, well, I would, but I wish to speak to you," he said. "I want to talk about our time together. When we made love."
"Such a vulgar expression you have," complained Leneria. "Adding emotional overtones to such a marvelous physical act. I do recall having sex with you. What do you wish to discuss about our coupling?"
"The feeling," he said. "How wonderful it felt. That's what I'd like to discuss. It was amazing."
"Yes," she agreed. "There was a great deal of physical pleasure in the act. I thank you for that. Now, I have duties to attend to."
"No," insisted Angelo. "It was more than that. It felt good here."
He tapped his heart to illustrate.
"It felt good here, and I think it felt good to you, too. You know, emotionally."
Her eyes clouded over with darkness and she looked down.
"No, it didn't," she argued. "And how dare you make such accusations toward me. I am not some common human, Commander Telegin. Aquilans do not tangle up our physical pleasures with improper emotions."
"Why not?" cried Angelo. "Why the hell not?!"
"It is not done," said Leneria.
Just then, a very tall bronze-skinned Aquilan male rounded the corner and she pulled away and dashed to him.
"Ganling, I have an intense need for sex right now," she said, taking him by the hand.
"Very well, Leneria. I will gladly assist," he said calmly.
She sat him down in a nearby chair and was kneeling before him within seconds. Angelo could only watch in stunned silence as she brought Ganling to firmness and then mounted him.
"That's it, Ganling," she said, though her gaze was aimed directly at Angelo. "Plain and pure sex, that is all I need or desire."
Angelo turned in humiliation, not wishing her to see the shocked tears forming in his eyes.
Once he was around a corner, he stopped and gathered himself.
"Fuck it," he said to himself through gritted teeth. "If I'm going to be here, and if it is really like the others said - I might as well get the most out of it."
***
107. That was the count. One hundred and seven separate bodies out of the 160-plus women aboard. Five weeks in, and he was damned sure he was going to bed them all.
He would have been even further along, if it weren't for the lovely Menaea who kept beckoning his body with her crimson skin and supple body.
It was clear her seductive pleasure-based charms had their sway over Angelo. It was rare that a day went by when he didn't partner up with her at least once - and she seemed quite amenable to his attentions.
If she were a true human, she might have detected an odd emotional removal in his manner - but in her eyes, he was simply becoming more Aquilan with each union.
Angelo also wasn't wanting for partners. Not that there were many unwilling participants in the oversexed atmosphere of the ship, but if practice makes perfect, Angelo was practicing a great amount and his sexual reputation began to precede him.
His reserves were apparently unlimited. He was almost always erect and his time from ejaculation to firmness was generally less than a minute. Even sleep seemed less necessary. He found himself frequently waking up from stiff yearning - seeking out partners after scarcely an hour of sleep.
It was one such occasion that spurred him onto his greatest heights (or lows, as it might have seemed in hindsight). He awoke with his hand stroking a painful erection - dreamlike images of Leneria still lingering in his mind.
He sent a quick message seeking out Menaea and then started for the group sex lounge, hoping to find it full. All he found, however, were two women lingering outside and waiting for more to gather. A'nish and Ophalis greeted him courteously.
A'nish, of course, he knew from many occasions. Ophalis, however, he had yet to have sex with.
"I am pleased to see you here," said the lithe brunette. "I have heard from many that you are quite expert in sexual endeavors and have learned a great deal since you came aboard."
"Yes, I certainly came aboard," muttered Angelo.
"What was that?"
"Oh nothing," he replied. "Ah, you're here," he said to Menaea who had just arrived. "Now we can get this party started."
"Shouldn't we wait for others?" asked Ophalis.
"I think I can take more than good care of you," said Angelo. "If anyone else comes along, they can just dive in when they get here."
Within minutes of entering the lounge, Angelo was enjoying the pleasures of number 108, Ophalis, who was riding him reverse cowgirl, while he also lapped hungrily away at A'nish who sat astride his face while she stimulating Menaea.
Given the very polarized sexual origins of the Aquilans, there was little true homosexuality aboard the ship - but they had no problem with stimulating ot
hers of the same sex when awaiting a new partner.
The yearning Angelo had felt since he awakened that day soon reached the boiling point. A'nish sensed it and crawled off of him as he gasped out in pleasure. He reached around Ophalis, grabbed her tiny breasts and caressed them as he exploded inside of her. She arched her back in pleasure and leaned back into him as he continued pounding, even as he squirted. Soon, she was gasping with her own orgasm - Angelo never breaking his pace.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Erotica: Volume 1 (Sci-Fi & Fantasy Erotica Series) Page 18