by Ines Johnson
"Blueberries? Is that a fruit throughout the universe?"
"No," Chen turned to her. "My mother was human."
"Your father kidnapped her?"
"She came willingly."
"Where is she now?"
The sadness clouded Chen's eyes. "My parents have passed on to the next life."
"I'm sorry. My parents passed away to." And then, "Chen?"
"Yes, my only?"
"Is there really a next life? Will I see my parents again?"
"What lies beyond this life is another plane of existence. We cannot access it in our current state of awareness."
"Is that place Nirvana."
"No. Nirvana isn't a place. It is a state of awakening. When I touched it, when I was inside of you, it was the second most perfect moment of my life." Chen's eyes darkened as he looked down at her. "The first moment was when you took my hand to come with me."
He walked beside her, giving her space. Shanti wished he would eliminate the space. Her eyes connected with his. She knew he saw her desires, but he didn't make a move. In fact, he stopped walking all together.
Shanti stopped as well, facing him. Chen's eyes patiently searched hers, waiting. His breaths steady, his hands clasped before him.
Shanti understood what he was doing. He was waiting for her to make a move. He said he wouldn't touch her without her permission.
She saw that in this moment, she was the leader with all the power and he was waiting to serve her. She recognized that there was a warm spark in her heart, a spark that began the first moment she laid eyes on him, and grew brighter every moment she saw him after.
He'd told her to practice forgiveness, more specifically compassion; to try to understand his position. She didn't fully understand his position, but she knew without a doubt that Chen never meant her any harm; that her happiness had always been at the forefront of his mind. That was clear to her. What wasn't clear was what she wanted to do about it.
What had Hsing said to her? Her thoughts and her body language were in opposition. Before he took her lips and then her body, Hsing had said Shanti didn't say what she meant. Hsing had taken all options from her, bent her body to his will, so that she served him. Shanti hadn't protested.
Shanti stood before Chen; Chen who offered her a choice. She could take the lead and reach up and kiss him as her body demanded. Or she could follow him by giving him the word that she was willing. She couldn’t decide which bridge to cross.
Chen turned from her. He took the offer off the table and opened a door. “It is this way, my only. Come in and meet my brethren."
Chen preceded her into a doorway. The way was familiar. It was the same room she'd been in earlier, the room with the golden mist that Chen had been Tai-Chiing in. Gathered in a circle with all their heads bowed were four other Eloheem.
Shanti immediately recognized the light brown head of Niao. He grinned when he saw her. Like dominos the other three heads rose.
"Niao, you know. This is Yehfe," Chen pointed to a light purple male.
Shanti had met his counterpart on arrival. She held out her hand. Yehfe stared at it in confusion. Shanti took her hand back.
Niao giggled. "It is impolite for a grown Eloh to touch another's mate, Shanti." The little boy's lips didn't move. He'd communicated with her telepathically.
How was she to know that? Chen hadn't prepared her. She thought he'd prepared her with the blocking technique, but that hadn't worked either.
"It is working," Niao said in her mind. "I see that you are stronger. But the young have more agile minds. I can still hear some of your thoughts. I will help you. Yehfe will bow his torso. A female bows her head."
Yehfe bowed his torso to her. Shanti did as Niao instructed her and bowed her head. When she glanced at Chen, she caught him giving the young boy a nod of gratitude.
Next to Yehfe stood a light green male and the light red male she'd seen earlier. "These are Lung and Shiung."
The two males bowed at the torso and Shanti bowed her head to each in turn.
"We are honored by your presence," said the light purple Yehfe.
The door opened and Yehfe's counterpart entered. He bowed his torso to Shanti, and then he turned and addressed the other males before she could bow her head in turn. "What is the status of the energy mines?”
"It looks as though the contaminate is spreading faster," answered Yehfe. "Using chi to remove it is not eradicating the toxin. She is having trouble healing."
"The substance is a pathogen," said Chen. "Much like the chemicals ammonia and phosphorous which are poisonous to us. It is spreading through the source.”
Ammonia and phosphorous? Those were the same pollutants Shanti had been trying to combat in the Chesapeake Bay. She looked down at the pool of yellow mist. "Is this stuff like a pool of water?"
All males turned to Shanti.
"Yes, my only. The energy mine is the heart of the ship. It is our fuel and food source as well as the ship's lifeblood. It was infected when we were blasted earlier."
"And you say there's a pathogen growing in it?” she asked.
"Yes," nodded Yehfe. "We are removing it with our chi, but it still spreads."
"And you said the toxins were ammonia and phosphorous? We have similar pollutions in our waters on Earth."
"I am sure it is nothing like what you have on Earth-"
Chen cut the dark purple Pakua off. "How do your people handle such a disturbance?" Chen asked.
"A lot of people ignore the problem and the flora and fauna die."
The males hung their heads. Pakua sneered as though her words had been a waste of his attention.
Shanti hesitated to tell them more. She'd been run out of her town in Maryland for her idea of preservation. The people hadn't wanted to try her way of solving the problem. It would cost them too much time and money to shift their way of thinking.
Shanti's eyes connected with Chen's. He looked at her with such trust and belief that words spilled from her mouth. "I worked in one polluted waterway, trying to save it. I had this idea..."
Chen nodded, his large eyes urging her to continue.
"Well, others wanted to scoop the pathogens out, or treat it with chemicals. But those ideas would cause more destruction. My idea was to use algae."
"Algae?"
"It’s a symbiotic organism. It eats the pathogen. Metabolizes it and then produces more energy, which sounds like it would be great for you and how you all...consume. Algae reproduces itself, so it’s a never ending solution."
The males looked around at each other. The darker Yin with doubt, the lighter Yangs considering her words. Chen's face was bright as he looked down at her. Bright with something that resembled pride.
"Chen-Na you can not be considering this," said Pakua.
Chen's eyes never left Shanti's. "I believe it might work. I will speak with Hsing."
Chapter Seventeen
"You do realize she suggested it in order to get us to return to the Earth?" Hsing regarded his brother as he pinch the bridge between his brow.
"She is warring within herself," Chen said. "She is afraid to stay because she thinks we have taken her choices, her freedom, away."
"She needs her choices taken away. Until she can state them clearly."
"She is also afraid to leave because she feels something for us. She is bound to us, and that scares her most of all. She is afraid of rejection."
"You are making as little sense as she does, Chen-Na. She cannot have it both ways. And neither can you. You cannot let her go and keep her at the same time."
"Regardless," said Chen. "Her solution is sound. The life forms she describes may be the only way we can save the Mothership."
"So you want me to turn the ship around? Return to Earth? You understand the danger in that? We got away with it once, but that Womb Rock is patrolled.”
"She will not leave us. Especially if she sees that we are giving her a choice. Trust me, Hsing-I."
"It is not
just her. The Marred Ones are still out there. Not to mention what will happen if the Neterians catch us on their precious Womb Rock. And there is always the threat of the Draconians."
The Draconians had destroyed their society with their blasts that day. Hsing and his tribe had never crossed paths with the reptilians again in all the cycles since, and they never came to learn what the reptilians’ aims in severing the Yin from the Yang were.
"None of us will survive if we lose the Mothership,” said Chen.
Hsing pinched the bridge between his brow again. After long moments of thought, he grabbed the controls and set a course to return to the Earth. He believed his brother’s words. He believed that Shanti would not leave them. More importantly, if she had a way to save the ship, it was his duty to investigate it.
Hsing scanned the Heavens for signs of other ships, be they Marred Ones or others. After the war in these heavens, the defeated reptilian race known as the Draconians fled this galaxy, but there had been word recently that they plotted another attack against the guardians of this galaxy, the ancient beings known as the Neterians.
The Neterians had once stationed their minions, the Grey Reticuleans, on the rock humans knew as Mars. There was no sign of life from the red rock. But that didn't mean the gray minions weren't lurking somewhere in the abyss. The Eloheem had to be vigilant on this foolhardy errand.
Hsing left the command in Pakua's capable hands. Sometimes the pressures of ensuring the safety of all the members of his tribe weighed him down so heavily. He had shouldered the weight of the fate of his tribe for such a long time; long before he was ready if he admitted it -which he would never.
He was barely a male full grown when his father handed him the command, joined the other adults, and lead the Marred Ones away from their children and the Mothership they all knew would protect and sustain them. From that day on it was Hsing's responsibility to keep everyone safe. His decisions could cost everyone their lives or their deaths. He had to be decisive, clear, unwavering.
Hsing felt the pressure in his shoulder blades. He reached behind his head and pinched the place below his neck. The ache didn't abate.
Marching down the hallway, he sensed her before he saw her. A trilling laugh touched his ears. Hsing picked up the pace. The sound was pleasing, not as pleasing as when she moaned her pleasure while he was inside of her.
He spotted Shanti down the hallway walking with Niao. A sullen Nse trailed the two. Nse perked up when he saw Hsing. Niao and Shanti wiped the grins off their faces when they spotted him barring their path.
“It appears you are getting your wish, little one. We are returning to Earth."
"You are not leaving us, Shanti?" Niao reached for her hand and grasped it in his own. "Are you?" His large eyes implored her.
Shanti hesitated before she spoke. "I have something that will help the ship. We're going back to get it."
Niao gave a sigh of relief. Along with his brother, he turned and bowed to Hsing, and then the two were off.
"Do you ever speak the truth with your pretty mouth, little one?"
"You're an asshole. How's that?"
"I do not have one. But I can see you would like me to play with yours."
Shanti took a step back.
"The act seems a waste of time in terms of breeding and pleasure. Most of your pleasure centers are located in your vagina. But I am curious enough to explore."
"What if I told you I don't want you to touch me unless I say so?"
"I would tell you that you are a liar."
"That's what Chen pledged to me."
"Chen knows well what you want, as I do. He placates you. That is not in my nature." Hsing caught a strand of her hair.
"Fuck you, Hsing."
Her nostrils flared and her pupils dilated. Beads of sweat formed on her temple. One bead raced down past her ear to her cheek.
"I like this word." Hsing clasped his hand behind her head and ran his tongue up her neck, meeting the bead of sweat. He gulped it down. "Does it mean what I think it means?"
"Let me be clear," her voice was as shaky as her hands. Both failed to push him away. "It means leave me alone."
In Shanti's mind, Hsing felt the sensations of his tongue making trails all over her body. He sensed her mind clouding, felt her body tremble with need. Hsing saw Shanti's mind take his tongue to the dark, intimate place between her legs.
"So, it means what I think," he said.
Hsing watched, amused, as she tried repeatedly to shove the image from her mind. It kept coming back stronger, more detailed. That was the way when the mind and body were out of accord. Without harmony, there was no defense. Hsing had easy access to both her mind and her body.
He hoisted Shanti up against a wall. Her legs immediately wrapped around his waist. When she realized what she was doing, she squirmed to get out of his hold. Hsing pressed his torso into her wet heat.
"You want to leave, Shanti?" His fingers dipped into her garment until he found the hot, wet proof he sought.
She let out a strangled cry.
"Go on, Shanti. Leave."
Her eyes blazed into his as she panted her desire.
"Unwrap your legs from me and I will move my hand."
Her eyes ignited so bright Hsing nearly had to look away from them. Her anger fueled her desire, licking the flames higher.
Hsing licked his lips. Shanti's eyes followed his tongue. He rolled her throbbing bud between his thumb and forefinger.
Shanti cried out. Her legs tightened around him, her hands dug into his shoulder blades. The action of her hands on his tense shoulders relieved the pressure his own hands couldn't reach earlier.
Hsing reached into his robes and withdrew his member. Without ceremony, his petals unfurled. He ripped the garment covering her sex and thrust into her. Shanti's body shook from her head to her toes. Her arms clung to him.
"You want to return to your life on Earth?"
Hsing set a relentless pace, pounding her into the wall. She dug her nails into his back.
"You think you can be parted from me?” he said. “You would not last a day beyond my presence. I am in your blood. I feed the ache within you."
Hsing pumped her harder. Every worry of the day falling from his shoulders with each thrust. He felt himself lightening and at the same time filling.
"I will let you go to your planet,” he said. “I will let you return to your home. But you will come back to me."
Hsing felt her swelling around him. He knew that she was close to orgasm. He felt himself opening to receive the burst of energy from that alternate plane of existence. The back of his spine tingled in anticipation of it.
"I crave the sounds you make when you approach Nirvana. There is a note you hit."
Hsing changed the angle of his thrust. Shanti's pitch went higher as her inner muscles clenched around him, all resistance gone as her vagina, her legs, her arms clutched to him for dear life. The sense of awakening washed over him, but it wasn't enough.
"No, that is not quite the note I was looking to hear." While she still clenched around him, Hsing changed the angle of penetration again and pounded into her even harder.
A second orgasm tore through Shanti, nearly bending her backwards. Her voice went deeper, a guttural moan.
"Yes," Hsing sighed as he let the waves of peace wash over him. His whole body became attuned to hers. "That is the sound."
Though she shook in his arms, Shanti held her head high and looked into his eyes. Hers were blazing with a mix of desire and anger. "Fuck you, asshole," she whispered.
Hsing smiled. He felt his entire being light up for this defiant, little creature. He ran a finger over her brow. "You can go home, Shanti."
The haze instantly cleared from her eyes to be replaced by something close to dread. It was clear to Hsing. Just as he could never stay away from her, she could not stay away from him. He pulled her closer, and she allowed him deeper into her still quivering, warm heat.
"But yo
u will come back to me," he said softly.
He felt her relax into his touch. She allowed him to support her entire weight, seeming to know he would never let her fall, that he would shoulder all of her burdens.
"You will come back to me." Hsing removed his hand from her brow. He turned, carrying her still attached to his member. His petals soothed the dull ache of the pounding he'd just given her, preparing her for more.
"Now," he said as he marched down the hall and into her room. "Let us see about this asshole of yours."
Chapter Eighteen
They made a U-turn at Pluto and were now speeding past Mars. Shanti had seen the planets lined up in a row in pictures, but the illustrations did not do them justice from what she saw up close and personal.
The colors of each planet were like none found on Earth. Pluto wasn't gray, it looked like steel. The azure sight of Neptune made a shiver run down her spine. But then she realized it wasn't the sight of the planet. It was something else.
Shanti shifted in her seat. She felt a throb from her core all the way up her backside. The throb was not one of pain or discomfort. It was an awareness, a reminder of what she'd been doing a few hours ago.
A deep chuckle sounded behind her.
Shanti ignored Hsing's laughter, which was easier than ignoring the effect he had on her. Since when in the hell had she become so hard up that she let a dude manhandle her like that?
Well, he hadn't exactly manhandled her. Her body had been open to everything he'd done to her. Even now, when she should feel used and abused at the pounding he'd given not one but two of her openings, both ends of her craved more. She just didn't want to crave more.
Her fingers gripped the edge of the seat. Her thighs pressed together as she squirmed on the seat's cushion. She stared defiantly ahead, not giving Hsing the satisfaction of acknowledging him or his amusement at her mental and physical state of disconnection.
Shanti took a deep breath and reached for clarity. She could admit to herself that she was attracted to Hsing. Obviously there was something inside of her that wanted to, even enjoyed, bending to his will.