"Have you just arrived?" I asked, indicating the containers.
"No, not really," Naari answered uncomfortably before turning an inquisitive stare to his friend.
"Megan," Khiru started, getting all my attention. My name had never sounded sexier. "Our Council has agreed to let you stay with us for a couple of days. Would you like that?"
You bet, big boy. There's nothing more exciting on my agenda than chatting with gorgeous aliens. Two days won't be enough by a long stretch, but that's a good start.
"Yes, of course, I'd be happy to."
"Good. Is there anyone waiting for you out there?"
"No, I work as a teacher, but I can dodge a day or two." It wasn't true, but the kids certainly wouldn't complain either.
"Perfect."
His relief unsettled me. He wasn't being polite, only cautious. Come to think of it, if something happened to me in this cave, no one would know. I felt I could trust these people, and my first impressions were usually reliable, but still, what would happen after two days?
I sipped more of the blue juice, then asked: "Is your Council concerned about me? Do they see me as a threat?"
Khiru sighed. "I won't lie to you. Yes, they worry you might go out and spread the news about us. Which is why we kindly invite you to stay until we leave Earth."
"You mean you're leaving in two days?" I shouted.
"Yes, we are," Naari said.
"Already? Why? How long have you been here? Aren't you going to meet our leaders? Have you seen other people before me? Oh, and how come you speak English so well?"
Even Khiru smiled at my uninterrupted flow of questions.
"Two years," he answered in a telegraphic style. "No. Kind of. And we learned it like any other foreign language. Anything else?"
I loved his grin, but his twinkling eyes were even worse. Subdued, I waited for him to continue.
"Okay," he said, "let me tell you our long story."
He slumped a bit further in his chair, prompting the same move from Naari and me.
Calmer and curious, I was ready to absorb Khiru's words religiously.
"We heard from you for the first time fifty years ago," he began. "Radio waves. It was exciting enough to discover intelligent life, but our interest became captivation when we got visuals. You looked just like us. Except for those strange audio-sensory organs of yours."
They laughed, and I felt my ears grow and poke through my hair.
"We didn't hesitate long before we decided to organize a journey to Earth. We'd been traveling our galaxy for more than two of your centuries, and were ready to go further. It took us three decades to design and build the new spacecraft and solve the technical problems of intergalactic travel, but we were extremely motivated. And when the day came, we had no problem recruiting five hundred staff members for a four-year trip."
"Four years?" I gasped.
"Yes, fifteen months to get here, two years on Earth, and then a bit more than a year to return. Actually, we almost cancelled the trip when we entered your solar system and found out your race was extremely belligerent. But we were too close by then; it would have been silly to fly back without at least taking a peek. Besides, we knew how to hide and protect ourselves in case of trouble."
"Hmm. So you've been in this cave for two years?"
"Yes, although other groups explored different regions. We tried to learn as much as we could without interfering with you."
"Do you realize what revealing your existence could mean to us?" I thought of romantic consequences like the end of war, a cure for cancer, and wealth and happiness for all.
"By the look of things, you would probably unite to fight us," Khiru snarled.
Snapped out of my daydream, I swallowed words of protest. After all, fighting them would have been a very likely option, and I wasn't one to question their strategy anyway.
"Did you find out why we look alike?" I asked instead.
"Even before our spacecraft was ready, scientists on Khyra theorized that a much older human race had spread genes on both our planets millions of years ago. If the evidence we bring back from our diggings on Earth supports their allegations, that makes us distant cousins."
Leaving me to ponder that amazing theory, Khiru went to the kitchen with Naari.
I liked the idea of seducing cousins.
At the sight of food, I realized it was late, and I was hungry. Naari handed me a bowl that held a mixture of white meat, colorful vegetables and huge yellow grains. I couldn't put a name on anything.
Naari explained that they imported food from their spacecraft, grew vegetables in the cave, and sometimes went hunting for small prey in the woods. They found it safer to stay away from the locals as much as possible.
After nibbling everything and finding it all acceptable, I devoured the salad in silence. Naari and Khiru exchanged a few words in their language. When all the bowls were empty, Khiru took them back to the kitchen and returned with a jar full of blue juice to refill our glasses. At that moment, the three other men and the girl – whose name was Swomi – joined us. They were more talkative and spontaneous, and dinner became a noisy affair.
Soon it was my turn to answer questions.
The Khyrians had had plenty of time to study Earth – they had even accessed the Internet via their own computers – but they were eager to learn more about our ways of life, our beliefs, our likes and our dislikes. Only Naari and Khiru spoke English, so they translated for the others.
General questions led to ones that were more personal.
"I was a surprise baby," I started. "My parents met in their late forties and didn't think having a child was still an option. A few years later, my mom thought she was menopausal, but she was actually pregnant with me. They were exceptionally old when they had me, but they were also exceptionally loving, and I had a wonderful childhood."
I paused to control my emotions before resuming my story.
"Our happiness wasn't bound to last, though. My dad died just before I started college. As for Mom, she's developed a fatal brain disease we call Alzheimer's, and, well, she doesn't even recognize me anymore."
It was true. I had recently visited her in the retirement home where she was waiting for deliverance. Seeing her had been as disheartening as ever. She had mistaken me for a childhood friend, and got angry because I'd stolen her boyfriend. When I had left the immaculate building, I had felt like an orphan.
While I fought an outburst of nostalgia, an idea formed in my mind. But it was scary, and I didn't dwell on it. Instead, I talked about my job as an Internet teacher, a function created when the Educational Department decided it was time to guide the new generation through the intricate ways of the Web in the hope they would use it wisely, if not usefully. I can't say it was easy to convince my flock of eight-year-olds that AVoyageThroughHistory.org was more interesting than BloodAndGuts.com, but the job was fun.
When the first signs of fatigue kicked in, the girl led me to an empty bedroom on the upper floor, pointing at a shower on the way, and wished me good night as if a sleepover was the most natural thing to do.
The bedroom was small but functional, with a long bunk bed, two shelves and a closet. All the accommodations could be pulled back up into the paneled walls for storage and transportation.
As I slipped under the sheet in my underwear, someone opened the door. Khiru.
"Are you all set?"
I tugged the bedcover under my arms and wished it wasn't so thin. My nipples were practically piercing it.
"Er, yes. What–"
"Sorry to bother you, but I need to ... make sure you stay where you are."
Before his words made any sense to me, he lifted the edge of the sheet, and locked something around my ankle, then to the footboard.
"It's soft and smooth, and I left enough slack for you to toss around," he explained while he tugged me back in. "If you need anything, call me. Even in the middle of the night."
My mouth half-opened, I stared at h
im in silence.
"Sleep well," he whispered as he shut the door.
What the hell? I ripped the sheet off the bed and bent over to look at the object circling my ankle.
A cuff. A black leather cuff. No, softer than leather. It was a tight fit, and yet I could hardly feel it. The strap was an extension of the cuff, and connected it to a thick shackle locked to the bed. The restraint had a sensual feel.
I should have been angry, or scared. Instead, I was incredibly aroused.
Clearly, this was another twist of fate.
Were Khyrians into bondage? The presence of toys in this cave, during an official, if not hazardous mission, was an obvious giveaway. However, I was also prone to see hints of BDSM where there were none. To my obsessed mind, a singer wearing a corset was "on the bus;" a TV commercial featuring a woman in handcuffs was another sign I wasn't alone. What would a normal brain make of this soft, yet resistant cuff imprisoning my calf?
Perhaps I should call Khiru and ask?
This was not a good time. My seductive jailor was downstairs, in the middle of an animated discussion with Naari. They undoubtedly talked about me, and he sounded distressed.
Was he uncomfortable with the non-consensual bondage he'd imposed on me, or was I a bigger problem than I thought?
In two days, would they let me go or did they have other plans?
They didn't seem the abducting kind of aliens, although the thought had a peculiar appeal. I imagined a fake fight where they'd carry me to their shuttle, tie me to a seat and whisk me away in a flash of warp-drive exhaust. This had always been a favorite fantasy of mine, and Khiru would make a very handsome kidnapper.
But the emotional outcome of a real abduction could be devastating, both for me and for them.
The idea that I had previously discounted clamored for my attention.
Earth held little future for me. My family was almost gone. I loved my friends, but they didn't fill my life. I thought of the millions of emigrants who, centuries ago, had conquered the new world, never to return to their home countries again. Surely, I could do as well as the Mayflower Pilgrims.
Let's face it, I told myself. I was free to fly away to a new world. Heck, the first ten minutes of the journey would be worth it.
I decided my chance meeting with nice cousins living on another planet was a sign of destiny.
And so was the bondage cuff.
The only real question was whether they would allow me to come with them.
I heard the Khyrians walk up the stairs and enter their respective cubicles. Two of them passed my door. For a second, I wished one of them would come in and check on me. When it became obvious that no one would, I turned to myself to scratch the itch.
The cave had returned to its natural silence when I finally fell asleep. My underwear lay loose around my bound ankle, and the bedding underneath me was damp. I hoped they wouldn't notice.
Chapter TWO
"Put it here, Megan. Thanks."
I placed the box on the spot where Naari was pointing, and looked around at the remarkable clutter that filled my childhood cave. It was late in the afternoon, and the Khyrians had spent the day packing various trunks and moving them closer to the entrance. They had completely pulled down the rock wall between the first chamber and their secret base, and I expected them to do the same tomorrow to the pile of stones and planks that separated us from the woods. I helped them with the efficiency of a third generation butler, attentive to show them how cooperative and friendly I was.
Early in the morning, Naari had unlocked the cuff – I had put my panties back on by then – and joined me for a quick breakfast while his friends were already hard at work. But I had to wait until dinner to question him more about Khyra.
Unsurprisingly, as there were only a few planets that would be hospitable to a humanoid race, Khyra was Earth's planetary twin, only a notch smaller in size. Oceans took up three quarters of its surface, and the lands were distributed on seven continents. Its atmosphere was similar to ours, although he told me that the sky had distinctly greenish undertones.
One interesting difference: Khyra had two moons. Mho was the bigger "male" moon; Plya, its female companion. They had been assigned genders at the dawn of time when Khyrians saw them as gods watching over their lives. Women prayed to Plya for love and fertility. Men summoned Mho for strength and success. The moons spun on different orbits, but from the ground, they appeared to be searching for one another, constantly teasing and eluding each other. When they seemed to meet, Khyrians rejoiced in huge celebrations. When the planet separated them and only one satellite was visible, they feared the wrath of their unhappy gods.
Although the moons gradually lost their religious attributes, they remained the recipients of many superstitions and wishes. Even for those immune to their mysterious powers, the ballet in the sky was a source of entertainment and visual delight.
Fourth in line in a solar system that included thirteen planets, Khyra revolved around an orange-tinted sun that was much older than our own bright yellow star. None of the other planets originally bore life, but the Khyrians had succeeded in "khyraforming" their two closest neighbors, and scientific communities now thrived in permanent settlements. One century ago, they'd discovered the key to galactic travel, and searched their corner of the cosmos frenetically for many decades, never finding anything more interesting than dust, metal or hope-raising ice. Until they heard our radio shows.
Khyra had had its share of wars, Naari explained, but the planet had enjoyed peace for almost two hundred years. It was united in a single confederation with a centralized governing board, the Global Council, overseeing universal rules. Khyrians had also come to speak one common language, although many dialects persisted.
"That sounds like a wonderful place to live," I hinted.
But Naari only nodded, avoiding eye contact. Either he didn't know what they'd do with me, or he didn't want to tell me. I strongly suspected that Khiru had stayed away from me all day for the same reasons.
I now wanted to go to Khyra more than ever. I wanted to see the two moons, travel in space, and live in peace. There was also Khiru, and the promise of bondage games. I'd sneak into their shuttle if I had to…
I hardly slept that night, too worried about what fate awaited me the next day and too excited by the mysterious cuff around my ankle again. I also wondered if the school had tried to contact me after my no-show for the day. Would they send the police to my apartment? Had any of my friends called me?
When my too-active brain eventually shut down, I was awakened by Swomi, dressed in shiny gray coveralls. She motioned me to get dressed and join them downstairs as quickly as possible. I checked my watch: 4:00 a.m. No wonder I wasn't rested.
I stepped out and almost lost my balance when I saw my cubicle was the last one left on the first floor and only three remained standing on the ground. They had dissembled and packed all the panels of the beehive while I was sleeping, and were obviously waiting for me to get up to finish the work.
When I walked down to meet Naari and Khiru, Swomi disappeared into the passage leading to the first chamber.
Before I could ask anything, Khiru spoke.
"We're leaving in one hour, while it's still dark. We'd like to thank you for your help and..."
They were letting me go, and he was giving me the thank-you-and-goodbye speech I didn't want to hear. I was hardly listening, but clearly saw the headband he produced from behind his back. It looked like a thick strap of black leather, with a command panel on one side where silver dots and symbols blinked.
"We feel we can trust you not to say a word about us to anyone, but others disagree. They've asked us to take the necessary precautions. This," he lifted the headband higher, "is a brain controller."
Brain. Controller. Finally, something worthy of panic.
"Now, don't worry, all we want to do is erase your memories of the last days. The only risk is you might forget a bit more than intended, like what you d
id right before you met us, but other than that, it's a very safe device. If you'll let me–"
"No, wait!" I pushed his arm away. "I don't want to go back. I want to go with you. I want to go to Khyra. Please?"
They exchanged meaningful glances.
"That wasn't part of our plan," Khiru said.
"So what? Plans change. Look, I have no family, no big future, nothing important to go back to. And I've always dreamed of traveling through space."
"We may never come back to Earth, at least not our generation. This is likely to be a one-way trip."
"No problem. I don't intend to come back either."
That was a bit of a lie, but my longing to leave was stronger than my fear of being homesick.
"And how do you know you'll get used to our way of life? Our customs, our rules are quite different from yours. Women, for instance–"
"Just tell me: is it worse than living here?"
"No!" Both of them heaved their eyes to the ceiling.
An honest and convincing reply.
"Then, please take me with you," I said, lowering my voice to a more humble level. "I have nothing to lose and everything to gain." Then, an interesting bait sprung to mind. "And so do you. You want to study our origins, see if our genes match? Forget your fossils, you can experiment on my fresh DNA."
I must have said something smart because the vibes started to stir in the opposite direction.
"I suppose, yes," Khiru said noncommittally. "I could try to convince our Council. But if they agree, there'll be no time for you to pack any personal belongings."
Like I cared. Their DVD standards were probably incompatible with ours anyway.
"And you won't be allowed to say goodbye to anyone, either."
Hi, Mom! I'm leaving Earth for another planet.
As I shrugged to indicate my consent, Khiru made the call that would determine my fate. For such an important decision, it didn't take long. In fact, his conversation was so short, I wondered whether the Khyrians had anticipated my request and already knew how to answer it.
Worthy of a Master: The Tale of a Perfect Slave Page 2