by Tigris Eden
When the Celestrial’s along with the United Federated Universe’s had stepped in to offer aid and shelter, they’d given all the Pars on Earth other means to travel. It had become an unstable planet, but not uninhabitable. Aid had come too late though and it was now more than three centuries ago that the Uni-Wars started and ended, and they were still trying to rebuild. Electricity had to be rationed, water wasn’t the cleanest and needed to be filtered constantly for fear of one’s skin peeling, and there were the rays from the sun and the cosmic dust from what was left of the Earth’s only moon. Gen’s father and his people along with the Southerners had opted to stay and help New Earth heel. There were limited travel passes given to citizens on New Earth. Not just because of their species but due to the possibility that they could be carriers of a viral or bacterial infection due to the state of New Earth’s health, but in the past fifty or so rotations, the ban had been lifted. Marginally.
Xander broke her out of her thoughts and whispered in her ear again. “Semantics dear, I’m sure after you’ve taken the feeder class you’ll feel differently.”
There was only one problem with his statement. She wouldn’t be participating in the feeder classes because of her allergies. She was glad she couldn’t partake in that particular part of the curriculum. She’d instead been able to pick up an extra lab.
Xander moved past her to talk to another female that caught his interest. Their bodies brushed as he scooted in front of her to get out into the aisle and Gen held back a shiver of interest, as well as repulsion. Xander Treegold was just too full of himself. He was a user and rumored to have been matched on more than one occasion. Gen looked over and saw Douglas again and this time he was headed towards her with the Orator in tow.
Chapter 4
“Miss Blackmore, I’d like to introduce you to Grand Mistress Evangeline.” Douglas said, extending a hand which Evangeline placed in his. This was a social custom Genesis had only seen on vid feeds. She’d studied as many social mannerisms as she could before she came to the Academy and knew she was meant to kiss the Grand Mistress’ hand. She was just a little hesitant after her reaction to Adam and then Xander.
“Miss Evangeline, it is an honor.” Genesis curtsied, and gently took the hand that was offered and kissed it. No strange reaction there. Maybe it was just with the opposite sex that these things happened. Maybe it had everything to with what one could call attraction. Could she even call what she felt when coming into contact with both males, attraction?
“Very well-mannered for someone who’s been hidden away from society for as long as you have my dear. Good luck with your studies.” Gen smiled in acknowledgement of her statement. She’d been hidden away and for good reason. If the Genetics Council found out about her abnormalities, she’d be put in a cage, poked and tested, and then finally terminated. They didn’t handle exploratory science well at all. Even if it was a way to save the species.
Douglas interrupted Gen’s thought with a light tap on her arm and excused them both from the Mistress’ penetrating gaze. Evangeline made her feel like a specimen that was being dissected from the inside out. Genesis followed Douglas down a series of halls. There were huge arches intricately decorated by ivory and black wood. There was no electricity in the wing, everything was lit by way of candle light. Pictures adorned the walls, most of the art depicting scenes from Earth, other’s from other planets she’d never read about. They past door after door, until they came upon two grand staircases and walked up the first flight of steps until they reached the first landing. The stone was a blood red, found only here in Sector 12. Black veins ran through the red marble in a spider weaving pattern. If she looked at the stone for too long it almost looked like the marble pulsed with life.
“Your quarters are here, Miss.” Douglas pointed to the left, where there was a large ornate door the color of gold with the initials G.B. “This dear was your father’s room. There is no separation of genders here, so please don’t alarm the other’s by walking this stair case indecently dressed. Vaggo has made sure everything you need is available to you.” How her father had managed such extravagant quarters was unreal. They weren’t exactly poor, but they sure weren’t loaded down with credits either.
“There is also the common area which is on the floor beneath you. Should you need anything, my office is straight across from the commons.” Douglas pointed to the door down the hall from her with the initials A.R, she knew this was the room meant for Adam. “Mr. Reynard is across from you and the Treegold’s have adjoining suites now that he and Miss Bianca are matched.”
He pointed to the floor above her and explained that there was a vid room and pool on the top floor. He also explained the entire north corridor in sector three belonged to herself, Adam, and the Treegold’s. This only brought the weight on Gen’s shoulders down harder. Sector three was where most of the councilmember’s offspring dwelled. She knew her father wanted to make sure that she had a good experience at Academy. But did he really have to ensure that she would be stuck with the lot of them? The Treegold’s and Adam, in the same hall?
Douglas turned and headed toward the bottom of the stairs. Before he completed his descent, he turned to face her.
“Your father mentioned you value your privacy and has seen to your every need. There is no reason to feel out of place here at the Academy. You will find we are not as complicated as we seem.” Douglas bowed and took the stairs quickly. Gen appreciated her father’s efforts to see to her comfort, his generosity would not go unappreciated. The first moment she had, she would call him and thank him properly.
Gen walked slowly into the suite and gaped. Her father had thought of everything. The room wasn’t overly decorated or stylish, but she had to wonder where he got the credits to give her such comforts. There were star charts and the periodic tables hung neatly on the wall in a far corner. The desk there held a state of the art vid feed. In another corner there was a small sitting area with all her favorite leather bound books from home. It was really hard to get real books anywhere these days, but her father had seen to her one true vice. She still had her outdated reader, and that was okay, it worked. The bed in the center of the room was on a raised circular platform, but not touching the ground due to the energy field that surrounded it. The bed appeared to float, but it was a stasis bed. It would help her get the most out of her sleep, and she’d wake feeling refreshed and clean. Sector 12 had no water at all that could be used to help support the growth of vegetation and as a result they could not shower or take care of their other daily habits. A stasis bed did that and so much more. It would clean her skin every day when she slept, and dispose of her other bodily functions in its waste receptacle.
Her wardrobe was filled with the appropriate clothes for the Academy’s mandated dress code. The girls were to wear skirts, bustles and corsets. Her father had seen to having stylish garnishments made with intricate designs in different colors and prints. The only time she would be allowed to wear pants was during cardiac training. Every dress had the same thing in common, chocker collars. As long as her neck stayed covered, she wasn’t matched and would never have anyone else’s mark to bear. Thank the Goddess. The showing of a woman’s life vein was an invitation to be tasted, sampled. That was not a desire Gen wished to experience.
If females were matched they could dress how they wanted. Show as much of their vein as they wanted, as their male wouldn’t allow for another male to drink of them. Others immediately knew your status buy how much of your neck was visible. It was forbidden for the females to show their necks and for males to show their wrists, unless of course you were ready to be tasted or if you were matched. In the beginning it was an issue. But now, Gen had to adhere to the proper protocols, which for her meant she needed to keep her neck fully covered and collared. Those who were matched wore no collar at all, and instead wore some sort of token from their mate around their neck, or bite marks that marred the flesh. Tasting was barbaric to Gen. She didn’t see the point of it and onl
y researched its customs for the sake of knowledge. She was unmatched and unmarked in every way and she was glad for it. Her hand instinctively went to her throat, where her pulse beat rapidly against her fingers. The collar her father had given her was thick and unpleasing to the male eye. She would never be a female that was matched and even though she knew it was for the best, a small part of her wished it wasn’t. She’d seen how some matches were love matches but other’s like Bianca Treegold and Adam Reynard were simply for political gain.
Douglas returned to her a few moments later with her schedule. The first thing Genesis noticed was the sexuality classes and the feeding class. She was supposed to have picked up another lab, but instead was in Mr. Heagler’s feeding class for beginners. Three out of the ten classes she had were based on something involving physical contact. Gen actually groaned out loud, to which Douglas raised a dark brow at her.
“Something wrong Miss?”
“I’m not supposed to have a feeding class.” Gen stated.
“The Chancellor asked to take a look at your schedule and made the necessary adjustments, miss. Shall I request a change?”
Genesis quickly shook her head no and walked over to her desk and sat her schedule down. She was obligated to take all the classes in order to pass her marks and then become a true scientist. Even if none of these sexuality classes would be of use to her. If the Chancellor hand-picked her schedule it was for a reason. She wasn’t accustomed to their social customs, she wasn’t even sure if she’d be any good at them. To want a male so much her heart hurt, couldn’t breathe for lack of trying, only to feel complete when said male was near her? She called space shit on that. All the other symptoms females displayed in their actions for obtaining a male were ridiculous. Preening and pouting. Her father explained that pheromones were powerful. If you tacked that on to the multitude of drugs Pars now used to excite the senses, well it just all seemed like a chemical process and nothing natural. How was she going to pull off these classes with a satisfactory mark? No one would want to be matched to her anyway. No one at all. Everything she was feeling now, or thought she felt would soon vanish. They were unwanted feelings. They were primal feelings and a part of her knew it was due to the excitement and trepidation of starting something new. Another side of her felt like it was the beginning of the end of life as she knew it.
Turning towards a window in her room she walked over and noticed that it looked out onto the Sea of Valanus. There was liquid in the great sea, but it wasn’t water. It was a dark sludge of some sort. It was dense and moved like the oceans of New Earth did. Its shores jagged with rocks and gemstones that sparkled in the black sand like diamonds. It was a nice view, Gen thought to herself as she listened to the surf suck at the shores edge. It wasn’t distracting but it was peaceful. It was still early and classes wouldn’t start until the moon dipped low beneath the horizon. There was no sun here so time was not something one could easily track. Here they went by the moon phases.
Gen took the stairs three at a time and found herself near the training facility. A song of swords greeted her ears. The unmistakable clashing of metal against metal. When she turned the corner she caught sight of Xander, shirtless. Back sweating as he raised his sword arm above his head and rushed forward towards his opponent. Adam. Both males were graceful in their movements and Genesis could do nothing but stare. Xander’s back muscles flexed and bunched with each parry of his sword. His legs powerful and steady in his movements brought him closer and closer to his target. Gen could smell the sweat from both men’s rigorous activity. She could taste their aggression on the tip of her tongue, it was strong, but lacked the severity of a male who truly wish to do the other harm. Adam jumped out of the way of a particularly heavy thrust. Gen’s breath caught and both males turned in her direction eyes bright with the thrill of the fight.
“Can we help you with something?” Adam said, his breath short, chest heaving as the energy from the fight made his muscles flex.
“No, I was just familiarizing myself with the grounds. I’ll just leave you to it.” She turned to go when Adam stopped her by calling out her name.
“Genesis, you can’t walk around the grounds dressed in those garbs. Go and change out of your travel clothes and I will take you around.” It didn’t sound forced. So she took it as a good omen.
“You don’t want to do that love. Adam here is matched to my sister Bianca. She finds out Reynard took you on a tour, well, it won’t be pretty.”
Adam looked at her and then back at Xander. His face giving nothing away. Gen wasn’t here to cause trouble. If it bothered Bianca, well then she’d go by herself.
“Thank you Adam for the offer. I’ll go change and then show myself around.”
“Or I could show you?” Xander suggested.
“No, that won’t be necessary.” Gen quickly turned and walked towards the direction she came. As she made her way down the hall she heard Adam scolding Xander about minding his own business. It was her first day at Academy and she was already mucking things up.
# # #
Genesis excelled in all her classes the first few weeks of school. The two she’d dreaded turned out to be the two she excelled the most in. Both teachers loved her scientific take on sexuality and feeding. People were starting to treat her as if she were one of them. Xander had been right, after day three; everyone stopped looking at her as if she were a weird aberration, and started talking to her. Everyone except for Adam and his matched Bianca. The last time he’d spoken to her was when he’d offered to escort her around the grounds, and Xander had reminded him why he shouldn’t. Gen was finding she was more than okay with Adam and his matched alienating her. The two of them were vain and judgmental to everyone around them. Eyes harsh and assessing as if everyone at the school was beneath them. The Chancellor’s son and the chair of the Genetics Council was a match made in political heaven.
“Hey good looking,” this came from Nimziri James. He was one of the nicest males at the Academy, and in his third rotation and on his way to special services branch of the Galactic Military. No one dared to get on Nimziri’s bad side, and she never understood why, he’d been nothing but nice to her since she’d arrived. He was taller than most of the males, with broad shoulders and a very fit body. Gen had started to notice more and more things about every male in the Academy. It bothered her, and when she’d conferenced with Vaggo on the vid screen last week, he said it was normal behavior for all females, and she should just try and ignore them. Easier said, but hardly done. Gen tried and tried, and failed miserably. It wasn’t all males she had this problem with, but two. It was becoming an obsession of hers and quite literally it made her feel weak. She wasn’t fickle in nature like most of the females here at Academy, but found herself at the oddest times wondering about Adam and Xander.
Nimziri had more of a familial connection with her. He made her feel more at easy and relaxed. He was also obsessed with anything that had to do with the twenty-first century, which leaked into Gens vocabulary and living quarters as well. Nim had outfitted her suite with vids from that time period. Originally called Blue-Ray discs. He’d converted a stash his great, great grand-sire had and stored them into vids. Instead of reading in her spare time she was now engrossed in vids. Movies like, 300, Immortals, and other discs from that time era. She particularly enjoyed watching the epic battle ridden movies and was set to watch a movie called Arthur based on what humans had called Knights of the Round Table. It was all educational really, well, that’s what she tried to tell herself. But she couldn’t find it in her heart to feel bad. Her time watching the movies hadn’t interfered in her work-study, and she found she enjoyed the company.
“Hello Nim. Did you complete your assignment?” Nimziri was in her sensuality class and they’d all been charged with writing something sensually pleasing about the opposite gender. At first she’d been petrified. What if her emotions got away with her? What if her classmates were able to tell who it was she speaking to. Would her body s
how signs of perspiration, nervousness, or would she shut down all together? It was her first presentation and Gen still didn’t know what the proper action was associated with this type of classroom structure.
“Sure, but I’m not going to tell you Blackmore. You’ll have to wait like everyone else. Are you hitting the nutrient bar today?”
The dreaded nutrient bar. People were starting to notice she never gathered in the lunch hall. She couldn’t. Was allergic to anything that wasn’t hydro-grown. Her father had kept to his word, and was sending her packages on a regular basis.
“No and stop asking me,” Gen tried to hide her annoyance with a playful smile, and failed.
The nutrient bar was blood from the source. She couldn’t partake in any of it. Everyone over the course of the last few days had asked her to join them, including Xander Treegold. She visibly shook at the thought. Her fangs didn’t descend naturally out of thirst, but they did ache. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, her father said she had a natural aversion to blood due to her allergies. The lunchroom was always filled with noises she’d never heard before. Like in the movies she’d been watching when a male and female lay together and connected their body’s in order to perform a sexual act. She wasn’t comfortable with that. She knew some of the older recruits would end up in darken alcoves, doing things she’d only read about, and up until recently seen on the vid screen.
“Oh come on, there isn’t a tasting until Luna. Are you scared you’ll be matched?” Nim asked playfully pulling on one her curls.
She wasn’t afraid of being matched, but she was weary about the tasting. Everyone would know she wasn’t pure. They’d taste her blood and immediately know she was an imposter. She had the exact same genetic makeup as they did, only her blood left no signature. Vaggo wasn’t able to reproduce the effect of the family lineage. He never saw it as an issue. Now it was an issue, a big issue. Pars all had blood signatures. They were family imprints or tasting lines as they were called sometimes. Tasting lines were a way of tracing back centuries to one’s sire and making sure that new lines were being formed. It also provided a pair with the knowledge of a true tasting. This was something that many Pars fantasized about.