by Robin Roseau
My greetings, human. Do I frighten you?
"No. Should I be frightened?"
Perhaps. My bite is quite painful.
It hissed, tasting the air with its tongue. Was that a snake-laugh? I couldn't tell.
"I am pleased to meet you, Dr. Fitza. Your lab is quite impressive."
Impressive? Is that the word you would use?
"And unexpected."
Many of my colleagues are not impressed. They do not understand the need to be in tune with one's surroundings to harness our full creativity.
"I believe I know just what you mean, Doctor." I glanced at Moirai for a moment then returned my gaze to the doctor. "I fear I have been rude."
Have you been here long enough to perform so poorly?
"I am not sure I have greeted you in a fashion befitting your species."
Dr. Fitza hissed and waved its tongue again.
Moirai, she doesn't seem at all startled by me. Maybe she will prove worth the great changes you forced me to perform on you.
The doctor returned its gaze to me.
Does her form please you?
"Ah. You turned her from Temier to this?"
Do you answer a question with a question?
"Do you?"
There was another hiss-tongue wave.
I will answer your questions if you agree to answer mine.
"Excellent. I believe I like you already, Doctor. Yes, her form pleases me. But I would have been equally pleased by her other form, and I regret never seeing it in person."
I believe this form is more fitting for the relationship she chooses. Yes, I did this work, although inside, she remains Temier. It is only the shell I have changed.
"Moirai has told me if I choose to become her mate, then my body will receive changes. Would you also do this work?"
Yes, although the changes you require are much smaller, almost beneath my notice. If it were anyone other than Dr. Moirai, I would be uninterested.
"Were you working now?"
Yes, yes. You must see. You must both see.
It turned around and moved back to its place at the focal point of the many screens. I shrugged and followed, Moirai immediately behind me.
Dr. Fitza then spent ten minutes explaining what it had been working on. I didn't understand a single word, but Bronze seemed quite impressed, asking questions and complimenting it on the results to date.
You are not a biologist.
"No, I'm not," I said. "But I believe even a human biologist of the highest levels of education would not understand your work."
You may not be a biologist, but you are certainly a flatterer.
"It is not flattery if it is true. Answer me honestly. Was I wrong?"
Hiss-tongue wave.
I believe perhaps you are right. But humanity will learn, in time. If you do not kill yourselves first.
Bronze hissed at Dr. Fitza for a moment or two, and then the snake looked back towards me.
It has been a pleasure, Sapphire Fletcher. I do hope you will visit me in the future.
"I would like that, although Moirai seems quite jealous of my time. She releases me from my cell only when I have been especially good."
The doctor turned to Moirai and began hissing rapidly at her. I smirked. Moirai tried to interrupt three times before finally the snake would listen. Finally, Dr. Fitza tasted the air while hissing at me.
Your words may prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, Sapphire Fletcher. You are a naughty human.
"I hope you aren't offended by my sense of humor."
Deeply. Can you not see my pallor changing?
"You seem especially colorful. It is quite lovely. Would it be very forward of me to ask to touch?"
Oh, your curiosity returns. You may touch if I may touch.
"Of course."
"Avoid the eyes," Moirai immediately counseled. "And the fangs."
I would not be so careless with my fangs!
"Ignore her. She's teasing." Then I reached out and caressed the snake, starting well behind the eyes and reaching down as far as I comfortably could. And it felt just like a snake. A very large snake.
Do I feel startling?
"While it is a feeble comparison, you feel much like some reptiles from Earth."
And then the snake moved closer, and I wasn't terribly startled when the tongue slipped out and brushed against my face. I held still for it, and then the tongue withdrew.
I have enjoyed our meeting.
"As have I."
* * * *
"Must you flirt with everyone you meet?"
As we stood in her office, I tried to judge whether she was honestly upset. I prowled around for a moment before responding.
"I was being charming. I wasn't flirting. Please don't take this wrong, but your office needs work."
"There's nothing wrong with my office."
I turned to her. "There certainly is. There isn't a single picture of me."
She growled a quick laugh then sobered. "You were flirting. Admit it."
"I think we need to decide upon a definition of flirting. And then I must know if flirting is a crime of some sort, and admitting it would make me subject to punishment. If that's the case, I want a lawyer, and I will exercise my constitutional rights besides, whether you recognize them or not."
"What constitutional rights are these?"
"The ones that mean I don't have to engage in self-incrimination." I stepped closer. "I do not believe I was flirting. Flirting implies romantic interest. I don't even know if Dr. Fitza is male or female."
"Male."
"Well, see? There you go. I don't flirt with males."
"You were flirting."
I sighed. "I wasn't flirting, but for the sake of argument, what if I were?"
"You're supposed to flirt with me."
By now I had moved well into her personal space and was looking up at her. "And I haven't been doing that all day?" I shook my hair out a little as I looked up at her. "You have your little human mating candidate alone in your office with you. You've gone to a great deal of work getting her here. You've spent quite a bit of time and effort convincing her, even if no one else does, that you find her deeply attractive. Are we going to argue about semantics, or are you going to take advantage of the situation?"
She snorted. When she didn't reach for me, I stepped away.
"No? All right. I don't believe I was flirting. I believe I was attempting to be charming. I'm sorry if I upset you. I will amend my behavior."
"I want you to admit you were flirting."
I fully walked away, prowling the office for a while without responding. I glanced at Bronze from time to time, and she was watching me intently. "Are you jealous? I thought you couldn't get jealous."
"I'm not jealous."
"Answer me honestly, two questions. Are you accusing me of thinking of cheating on you with a snake?"
"Of course not."
"Because you know, he's kind of long and sinuous. I imagine he gives the best hugs."
"Stop it."
"Does his species hunt as a viper or a constrictor. Cause maybe I wouldn't mind if he constricted me a little." I shook my head and sobered, my tone changing. "Seriously, Bronze."
"I said I didn't think you were considering cheating."
"Good, because..." I let my voice turn cold. "If you ever make an insinuation like that, any chance you have with me is automatically over. If you ever accuse me of cheating, or of thinking of cheating, or ask me whether I'm thinking about cheating, we are done. Period. I don't care how mated you think we are. I don't care how mated I think we are. Am I clear?"
"I didn't accuse you of anything."
"You accused me of flirting, and you seem pretty upset about it as well. So my second question is this. Are you upset with my behavior?"
"No. I just want you to admit you were flirting."
"Why is this so important to you, if you know I have no romantic interests, and you're not upset by it?"
She didn't answer.
"Bronze, you have taken me a billion and a half kilometers from my home. I don't know how many miles that is, but let's just say we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." She offered a blank expression. I decided The Wizard of Oz could wait for another time. "I am so far out of my element I can't begin to tell you. I can be reserved or I can be friendly. There's a fine line between being reserved and being sullen. I am trying very hard to make the best of this situation. So I have chosen to be friendly. If that is interpreted as flirting, it isn't intentional, and I am sorry. Tell me what you want me to change, and I'll try to change it."
She sighed. "I'm being stupid."
"Yes, I think we both agree on that."
"I don't want you to change anything."
"So I can continue to flirt with whomever I like?"
Her lips quivered. "As long as you admit it's flirting."
"Oh, for heaven's sake. Fine. I was flirting. I just kept thinking about what I wanted him to do with his tail. I couldn't help it. He's just so phallic, and you know how excited I get about anything phallic." I lidded my eyes and swayed back and forth. "Just thinking about it brings me to a swoon?"
I began staggering around the office.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking for a fainting couch. Where's one of those damned chairs when I need one?"
"Stop it."
"Maybe I should swoon into your arms. Would you consider that flirting?"
"No. Stop it, Sapphire."
"No? Because if I fake a swoon into your arms, I'll be deeply disappointed if you don't find it flirtatious." And then I did just that. She caught me easily and then I went limp so she'd have to struggle to keep from dropping me. She picked me up entirely, and I melted against her.
"Now this is definitely flirting," I said, breathing into her neck. "Tell me it feels like flirting."
"This is so far beyond flirting I don't know what it's called."
"Am I heavy?"
"No."
"Do you like it when I press my body against yours?" And then I licked her throat. "Or when I do that?"
"Yes. Stop it. I'm putting you down now."
"You better not. If I don't flirt with you, I might flirt with your desk or something. Is there anything in here to flirt with?"
She bounced me in her arms once. "Stop it."
"Aw, what's the matter?" I crooned. "Has the big, bad Temier met her match? Got your hands full with me? Oh, not just your hands, but both arms."
But I let her set me back on my feet then looked up at her. "I was flirting. I don't know how to be charming."
"I knew it!"
"So I wasn't charming? Cause I was trying to be charming."
"Sapphire!"
I giggled. "You're fun to tease. Please, introduce me to someone else. I haven't flirted with anyone in at least ten seconds, and I'm afraid I'm going to grow out of practice."
"I'm taking you home."
"I'm not going anywhere," I declared. She growled at me. "Until you flirt back."
And then I moved away from her, putting her desk between us. She eyed me. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Waiting to see what you do."
"You're awfully playful."
"I know. My moods are all over the place, and I don't seem to be able to control them. But we had our serious conversation, and it very nearly became a screaming match. I think playful is better. Don't you?"
"I suppose I do." She eyed me. "I believe if you're feeling playful, we should play a game."
"Oh, I like the way you think. We can play the flirting game."
"I think we should play the hunting game."
"Oh, that doesn't sound like a good game," I replied. "Because I'm pretty sure I know who gets to do the hunting, and who gets to be prey."
She began moving slowly towards me. "You'll like it when I catch you." She moved around her desk towards me, but I went the other way then made a dash for the door. When I got there, it wouldn't open for me, and Bronze caught me a moment later.
"You don't seem to be very good at this game. You were very easy to catch."
I struggled with her, but I wasn't even trying to get away.
"What are you going to do to me, Ms. Hunter?"
"This." She pulled me towards her, and I had my face lifted even before her lips descended. It was a fiery kiss, and she flicked her tongue at me besides. She held me tightly with one hand, but the other moved down to cup my ass, and once that hand was secure, the first moved to the back of my head, controlling me entirely.
I melted against her. God! She tasted amazing.
Finally she broke the kiss, and we looked up at each other. "You were wrong about something," I declared.
"Oh?"
"I'm very good at this game."
"I don't think so."
"If I got exactly what I wanted, I believe that's the definition of being good at it. Take me home. I want to play another game."
"What game?"
"The kind where you lose a piece of clothing for the rest of the evening when I win."
She laughed. "You know I'm going to win."
"We might play one of those games. We'll see."
Of course she won. We played three games, but I told her I'd unbutton the blouse, but I wasn't taking it off all the way.
Neighbors
For the next few weeks, we settled into a routine, after a fashion. As she had promised, we were rarely apart, and I didn't mind at all. I remained deeply playful, most of the time, and I happily accepted a great deal of her attention, mental and physical alike.
I learned the station. It was basically a city, a thriving city. In some ways, it was a little like New York City. There were people about at all hours of the day. Restaurants were open around the clock, but the shops aligned their schedule to match a New York time zone. But in some ways it was like a small town. Not a tiny town. There were thousands living and working on the station, after all. But it wasn't the millions of a major metropolis.
Crime was nonexistent, and at no time did I worry about my safety. Never mind that I wasn't allowed to step one toe out the apartment door without my large bodyguard at my side. I'd have felt safe even without her.
We continued my education, an hour or an hour and a half every morning, and she began giving me homework. It was still basically a survey course, but I learned a little bit about an incredibly broad range of topics, and it was all very new to me. Bronze told me that she would oversee a more formal education in the future, but for now, this was what we both wanted.
It was fascinating to see the differences in her. At work, or while teaching me, she was one person. Brilliant, of course, and very professional. I won't say cold, but maybe crisp is a good word. At all other times, she was quite different. Oh, she remained brilliant, and I found our conversations fascinating. But she was sweet and playful and in many ways almost childlike.
I asked her about that. "This is your influence," she replied. "I have not behaved like this in a very long time. I find I like it."
"Good. So do I. Is it going to last?"
"Oh, yes," she said, pulling me against her. "Forever."
A met a few more people, some in passing, some more formally. Bronze took me to the Temier section, and she arranged for some of her friends to meet us. She took me to a bench in the park, and five minutes later, two huge tigers stepped out of the jungle, gazing at us. It gave me a start, and I grabbed Bronze's arm, but then I relaxed.
"Friends?" I asked with a nod.
"That's it? You're presented with two huge tigers, and you just ask if they're friends?"
"My heart is still pounding, but it will slow down. Friends?"
She invited them over. Neither of them could understand English, so Bronze had to translate. They didn't have human names, but their colorings were different, so I referred to them as Red and Black. Neither seemed offended.
They were polite. Bronze greeted them warmly, but they mainta
ined some distance from me. Finally I asked Bronze about it. "They seem standoffish. Don't they like me?"
"They're giving you space to avoid frightening you."
"Would it be rude to ask if I can pet them?"
"They aren't pet tigers."
"I know. Would it?"
"If you ask, then it is rude if you don't allow the return behavior."
"No problem, but remind them my skin is delicate. I think they could shred me."
"They could, although they wouldn't. But I'll remind them." Then she growled and spat for a minute or two. Partway through, both of them growl-chuckled, a sound Bronze made often, so I decided they weren't too offended by my request. "Go ahead," Bronze said eventually.
I stood from the bench and approached them. They stood watching me, and I walked all the way around the pair.
"They're beautiful," I said. Bronze translated for me. I heard another growl-chuckle. I looked at Bronze. "I can't believe you gave this up. I wouldn't have."
She looked down for a moment. "It was a difficult decision."
I still hadn't touched. I moved in front of them. "Do I have to worry about looking into their eyes or anything?"
"Why would you have to worry?"
"Some..." I almost said 'animals'. "People don't care for eye contact. But I think I'm an idiot. I see this, and I have a hard time realizing these are people smarter than I am. I see them and think 'talking tiger'. I wonder if it would be easier if they spoke English. I didn't have a problem seeing you as a person who looked like a tiger."
I turned back to the two Temier. They were both sitting, watching me, mouths parted slightly and ears forward. "Will they mind if I'm curious?"
"Of course not."
As they sat, their heads were nearly at the same level as mine. They were absolutely huge. But I knelt down. "Will one of them let me see a paw?"
Bronze spoke, and then Red lifted a paw to me, claws extended. I stared. They were several inches long and appeared razor sharp. "How do you manipulate tools?" Bronze translated, and Red showed me the flexibility they had. The paw was massive, but the claws were long and sharp, and she could manipulate them in a fashion similar to my fingers. Not identical of course, but similar.
"We make our tools to fit our natural abilities," Bronze explained. "We had our own evolution with tools, and it bears little resemblance to the human evolution. We never learned to make weapons, for instance."