by Robin Roseau
"We might have swapped pillows in the night," she explained.
I wanted her. My body really wanted her.
But she was cheating, and that pissed me off.
"I thought you promised to court me, not seduce me."
"I wasn't trying to seduce you, Sapphire. But would it be so bad?"
"So you want a relationship based on sex?"
"Sex is an important part of a relationship," she said. "That's true for both temier and human."
"Trust is a more important part, Bronze, and you're deep in the red on that account."
She offered a hurt look. "After everything I've done for you?"
"After how I ended in a prison cell in Africa after being kidnapped from my home? Oh yes, you are deep, deep in the red on the trust scale. If you're serious about making this work, you will court me. You will woo me. You will teach me I can trust you. Trying to seduce me isn't how you're going to do it. So knock it off."
"I'm allowed to touch you. You even agreed. We even agreed on where I'm allowed to touch you, but I wasn't remotely near the areas that would be 'I'm trying to seduce you' areas."
"So, you want what? A five month sex fest, and then I go home?"
"No. I want you to realize you are my mate."
"I'm not your mate! I'm your prisoner. Your unwilling prisoner, I will point out."
"I haven't once touched you in a fashion you haven't enjoyed. You were moaning in pleasure two minutes ago."
"I was still ninety percent asleep and not thinking clearly. Well, I'm awake now, and I'm thinking clearly." I eyed her. "You know, if you want sex, you can have it, right here, right now. And then you can drop me back off in Minnesota on your way home."
"Sapphire, I wasn't trying to seduce you. I was touching. I thought you liked it. You surely enjoyed it last night. If I can understand what I did wrong, I won't do it again. I don't know what you want. I'm trying to learn."
"I need to know I can trust you. I need to know there aren't any secrets you're keeping from me that I should know. I need to know you'll treat me honestly. And I need time to get past how I got here. Frankly, I don't think there's enough time in the world to get past how I ended up here, but I'm trying."
"I know. I know that, Sapphire. I'm trying to help."
"I need you to be honest with me, Bronze. Fully and completely. Now would be a real good time to tell me if there's anything else I should know."
"You know there are things I can't tell you."
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about us. Have you told me everything? Or are there more surprises waiting for me."
"I've told you everything, Sapphire, or I think I have. What do you think I'm hiding from you?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."
"There's nothing, Sapphire, or if there is, it's small, and I'm just not thinking of it. If you have questions..."
I sighed. She wasn't going to tell me. "I need to shower. Is that possible here?"
"Not in the normal way. I'll have to show you."
* * * *
She asked if I wished to remain on the moon any longer, but indicated there wouldn't be additional walks outside. I was loath to begin traveling even further from Earth. Instead of mentioning that, I instead asked, "I wouldn't suppose we could stay on Earth. What could I offer you?"
"I know you do not wish to leave your home, and I understand. But that is not the way this is to be. I am sorry."
"And my opinion on the subject doesn't matter. I am going where you take me, and there's nothing I can do about it."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I bet you are." I turned away from her, and she was smart enough not to touch me. "We can stay here or leave whenever you want. I suppose I should thank you for bringing me at all. For many people, this is the trip of a lifetime."
"But it isn't for you."
"I've never dreamed of the planets and stars the way some people do. I don't have that sort of adventure bug." I turned around. "Maybe that should be a factor in your selection process."
"It is, actually. Your scores in that area were very low. But you scored so highly in others..." She held her hands palms up.
"It's the first time in my life I wish I'd thoroughly flunked a test."
She winced. I knew the words hurt her. I was lashing out in my frustration, and I felt she deserved to feel a portion of the pain she was causing me. But she didn't attempt to assure me I'd be happy.
"I require you to remain in these quarters. I will prepare our ship. We'll depart in two hours. I'll be back somewhat before that to escort you to the ship."
I nodded understanding and turned away again, not watching as she left the small quarters.
Bronze had given me access to some of the base's cameras, and like the shuttle crew had, the base crew gave me authority to manipulate two of the cameras. And so I used the visor to access the cameras, turning both of them from their study of Earth to point down into the base. Only one of them was able to provide the view I wanted, so I pointed the other back into the sky and adjusted the aim on both.
It was perhaps twenty minutes before I saw movement. The little shuttle we'd used to travel from the spaceship to the base airlock began to move. I zoomed in on it, but I couldn't see any occupants. But it moved to the back of the ship Bronze had declared as ours. After that, there was no motion, and when nothing happened, I grew bored. I told the visor to keep a small portion of my vision on the image from the camera, and I sat on one of the chairs, contemplating my future.
Bronze was true to her word. She was in the ship for an hour. She would explain later she had spent the time stowing our gear, waking the ship, running preflight diagnostics, and preparing our flight plan.
Next stop, the rings of Saturn.
I noticed movement. The small shuttle was moving back towards the base. Bronze was returning to retrieve me.
I looked around our quarters. She had taken everything except me and the things I was wearing, but I made one last check to be sure. It would be a long trip to come back if we had forgotten anything. I was sitting quietly when the door opened.
I looked up at her but didn't move. She crossed the space to stand before me, then knelt down so our eyes were near the same level.
"Do you hate me?"
"I hate what you're doing to me. I don't hate you."
"You have agreed that I have certain rights."
"No. I have accepted that I am helpless to the situation and have stated I understood cooperation is my best path forward. Jasmine was quite clear that if I do not allow this process to progress, she will make me go through it all over again with someone else."
She dropped her eyes.
"I will say this. I do not want to go through this with someone else. I was fascinated by you when we met that first day, when you scared me, but then began to talk to me. I wanted to meet you, to get to know you. The thought that I could be friends with a talking tiger was awfully exciting."
She looked up. "But I'm not a talking tiger anymore."
"No. But that part of me is still alive and well, Moirai." I hadn't been calling her that. I'd been calling her Bronze. But she was both, and it was important I recognize and acknowledge that. "I do want to get to know you. There is much about this that is fascinating to me. If you had come to me at my home and asked me out, I would have been positively ecstatic. You could have come in either form, and I would have been ecstatic, although I admit I wouldn't be able to have romantic thoughts about you as a tiger. To me, that would feel like bestiality, and I couldn't do that."
She inclined her head in understanding.
"I find you fascinating, both physically and intellectually. My body clearly responds to your presence. I enjoy our talks. And the attention, the lengths you have gone, are exceedingly flattering. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sapphire."
"And so if I am going to get through the other side of this, I guess I'd rather it was with you than with anyone else. I believe you an
d Jasmine when you tell me what I must do. I am not at all happy about it, but I understand my role, and I understand the consequences if I do not accept my role."
Her features tightened, but she said nothing.
"I will give you your chance, but none of this was my idea. You wanted to do it this way, and so you're going to be the one doing all the work. If you do it right, then I will probably enjoy it, at least on some level. And my heart may soften towards you. And so, I do not believe you have the right to do any of this. But I understand you believe you do, and I understand I am helpless to the situation. If I want to go home, I must cooperate. If I don't, you will reset the time, and then I'm stuck out here that much longer." I sighed. "So, say what you came to say."
She looked away for a moment, then I could watch the resolve slide back into her. She turned to face me, and even through the alien expression, I could see her commitment. "I have heard what you said. You're right. I feel I have certain rights, and I believe that you agreed to the rules before we left Africa. I will follow the rules, and so will you."
"I will do my best to follow the rules. I may not succeed."
"If you do not succeed, you will remain with me until you learn to do so plus five months."
My lips tightened.
"And if you fight me about that, it will become six, then seven, then a year."
I stared. "I see."
"I will allow other fights. I cannot imagine you are able to not fight."
"For the record, I hate fighting."
"Good. Maybe you'll try to avoid it. So, I will follow the rules, and so will you."
"Fine."
"Good. Per the rules, I am allowed to touch you. Do you deny this? Yes or no."
"No, I do not deny it."
"Good. Per the rules, you are obligated to allow yourself to enjoy my touch. Do you deny this?"
"No."
"I also believe that most of the time, you enjoy my touch. Most of the time, you lean into it. Oftentimes, you encourage it. Sometimes you actively seek it, as you find my touches comforting. Do you deny any of these?"
"No."
"Per the rules, you are not a passive body. You are not only to accept my affection, but return it. Do you deny this?"
"No."
"I do not want false affection. But I do not want you to be passive, either. And frankly, you do not wish to be passive, either. Do you?"
"No."
"Per the rules, I am allowed to touch nearly any portion of your body I wish, with certain specific examples. Do you deny this?"
"No."
"Per the rules, I am allowed to kiss you. Per the rules, you are obligated to enjoy it and to kiss me back."
"Do Temier kiss?"
"Temier lick."
"I am not ready for you to begin licking me."
She smiled. "No tongue until the second month."
"Funny."
"But your words suggest the idea of my kissing you doesn't repulse you."
"Of course it doesn't repulse me! Absolutely nothing about you repulses me. It is the situation that repulses me."
The stopped her for a moment, but then she continued. "Are we clear?"
"I believe we have each been clear," I agreed.
"Good. I am going to remove your visor. I will return it to you shortly. I am not taking it away."
"It's a gift. You can't take it away."
"If you require punishment, I may be quite inventive. Taking your visor from you may be my very first choice. I have this right."
"I think if we talk about your right to punish me, what I think you intend a minute from now is going to be met with a poor response."
She nodded. "Right." Then the visor went dark and relaxed it's grip. I sat still while Bronze removed it from my face and set it aside. I opened my eyes, and she was close enough to see, but absolutely everything else was blurry.
"Tell me what you can see."
"You. You're close enough to be clear. Nothing else is."
"This is good, then. Stand." She straightened, and then she helped me to my feet. She tipped my chin up so I was looking into her face, well above me.
"I am going to touch you. At this time, I am only going to touch your bare skin, and you are currently offering little. I want you to close your eyes and tell me what feels good."
I nodded and gently closed my eyes. A moment later, she began to lightly caress my cheek with her fingertips. She did it for perhaps a half minute, first using one hand, then adding the other at the back of my head, her hands large enough she could caress the other cheek with one thumb.
"You are supposed to tell me what feels nice."
"It all feels nice," I whispered. "Everything you do to me feels good."
"Does it?"
"Except when you throw me in cages. I don't care for that."
"Do you think we can think only good thoughts for a while?"
"I'll try."
She let her hands explore a little more widely. She brushed at my eyebrows. She ran a single finger across my eyelashes.
"That's okay in small amounts, but it would grow irritating easily."
She brushed a finger across an eyelid, and I pulled away from her. Her hand held me from retreating, but I broke the contact.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm learning."
"Eyes are sensitive. But one of my girlfriends used to brush me with my makeup brushes. I liked that. She could make me quiver for her without ever getting near my erogenous zones."
"I'll remember that," Bronze said with a growl-chuckle.
"I like the way you rumble when you make that noise," I said.
"I'm glad. I intend you to hear that noise with frequency, and other, similar noises."
"I bet you do," I said.
"How about your ears?"
"The makeup brushes along the outside would be fine for a minute, but then I'd be squirming to get away. Um."
"Oh, when you say 'um' I know there's something good coming."
"I'm not sure I should give you this idea."
"She would tie you to the bed, wouldn't she."
"Sometimes. That's too much, Bronze."
"I don't need to tie you."
"You could hold me."
"I can put you in the chair."
I laughed. "Making me feel more helpless isn't going to help your cause, Bronze. You've been warned. I promise you, I'll be angry. If I'm in the chair for other reasons, and you tease me for a minute or two, I might enjoy it. But that's it."
"All right. Thank you for warning me. Do you like this?" She began caressing the rims of my ear. I tilted my head to give her better access. "Oh, I think you do."
"Stop for a minute," I said. "Let me show you something." She withdrew her hand, and I opened my eyes. "Let me reach one of your ears."
She tipped her head, and I reached a hand. "Here is good." I brushed a finger along the rim. "Deep inside feels like invasion, and it will annoy me. It felt nice with the brush, but she could make it tickle, too. They could be good tickles, but she could also piss me off pretty quickly that way." Then I touched a few other places on her ear. "This is also nice. But all of this will go from nice to irritating in a hurry. If you spent five minutes doing what I'm doing right now, it is past enjoyment to annoying."
She nodded.
Then I pulled down on her head and stretched upward as if I were going to whisper into her ear. And then I did whisper. "I like this," I said. "I like feeling breath on my ear, but it also would grow irritating if over-done."
"I like this, too," she whispered back. "And you don't have to stop."
"How do you feel about this?" And then I began to nibble at her earlobe. And immediately she began panting. I nibbled for only a moment before I withdrew, returning to the flats of my feet.
"Did you just ask me to do that to you," she asked once she caught her breath.
"I was showing you a progression," I said. "But using your mouth like that is stepping things up. It is not soothing and gentle;
it is a way of telling me you are trying to seduce me. And you know I don't want to be seduced yet."
"Yet?"
"We both know if you play your cards right, you're going to seduce me. But you understand that I am human, and sex is not a commitment. You understand that, right?"
"Yes. I understand that."
"The touches you've been doing are nice. They're sweet. They aren't seduction. They're nice." Then I reached up and brushed her lips. "That's akin to a kiss, and it's another sign you're trying to seduce me."
"A kiss is not seduction."
"No, but I don't want you to do it all the time. I guess it's not seduction; it can be a way of making me ready for a kiss. It should be used sparingly."
She nodded.
I showed her a few other things I liked and told her how I felt about them. She stood still, letting me teach her.
"I think that's enough of a lesson today, Bronze," I said.
"I wish to... practice."
I laughed. "Not long. It will grow to be too much. Although I've had face massages. They can be really nice. They're better with creams than dry fingers." I smiled. "You may practice, but only another minute or two. It will grow too intense."
She brushed at my face, and I closed my eyes.
She'd been a good student, and I soon found my lips parting. I let myself get lost in what she was doing. Then she lifted my face higher and lowered hers.
I was more than ready for the kiss, and I must admit I enjoyed it immensely. Finally she released my lips, and I moved into her, leaning heavily, my head turned to the side. I wrapped arms around her, and she held me.
"I think I enjoy human style kissing," she said softly. "I have wanted to do that for a long time."
"Temier do something similar?"
"Yes, but of course different. As I said, we lick. It can be very intimate, as can kissing. Was it a nice kiss?"
"Can you read my body language?"
"Perhaps I can."
I knew my emotions were bouncing all over the place. The reality was that what she was offering was attractive, and I might just decide to accept.
Time would tell.
* * * *
Our ship had some things in common with the other alien craft I'd experienced. The main cabin was similar, although actually quite small. "The maximum capacity of this craft is eight," Bronze explained. There were two seats arranged for crewmembers, and while the configuration for them was different than the others, they had all the capabilities of the remaining six chairs.