"Well, as long as there's no cage around..."
"Oh, we've all had enough sexual thrills on this trip. Tonight, we eat, chat and laugh as good friends do. Maybe next year," she added with a wink.
As Myhre had planned, we ate, chatted and laughed a lot. Khyrians didn't give birthday presents, but they knew how to enjoy themselves, even without whips.
Myhre was her usual boisterous self. There were four Northies in the room, including one Rhysh Master, but she was the only one in command. At some point, she requested funny childhood stories, starting with one of mine.
I amused everyone with my recollection of my first school crush, a nine-year-old blond with whom I exchanged love letters during breaks. We would "post" them under a stone and retrieve them when no one was around. Our strategy worked well until a naughty eleven-year-old caught me and read my fervent declaration out loud to 200 laughing witnesses. Angry, I kicked him hard, and he was sent to the first aid room with a bleeding ankle. But it was the end of my first platonic affair.
Khiru took the floor after me.
"I must have been seven," he started. "I was attending a partnership party with my parents. The couple holding the event was very popular, and the garden of the country inn they had reserved was packed with at least a hundred guests. There were a lot of kids, too, and I was thrilled to find a boy of my age. While the adults enjoyed their meals, we explored the surrounding fields and woods. In one of the field was a nuggit tree."
Everyone smirked as if they already knew how the plot would develop.
"Nuggits," Khiru explained for my benefit, "are pink round fruits that grow on very tall trees. They're truly tasty, but also hallucinogenic, and they're mostly cultivated for the liquor that's made out of their juice. Adults say nuggit trees are high so that children don't have access to their forbidden fruits.
"But that particular nuggit tree," he continued for all of us, "was growing near a fence. By climbing on it, my new friend and I were able to reach out and shake the lower branches with a long stick. A rain of ripe nuggits fell upon us, and we ate them all one by one, as much for their candy-like taste as for the pleasure of transgressing a rule."
"By Plya, how many did you eat?" Phylla asked.
"Probably twenty."
"Oh dear!"
Myhre shook her head disapprovingly while Jova and Vhar laughed.
"What happened? Did you get sick?"
"Of course we did. My friend couldn't get up anymore. He said the ground was shaking and he was going to be sick. He had to lie down and soon began to hallucinate.
"I wasn't feeling as poorly as he did, so I decided to get help. I walked back to the inn, but as I got closer, the world started to spin around me, and I stumbled and fell every ten steps. I finally made it to the entrance to the garden. A woman shouted, 'Oh, look at that kid!' and everyone turned to see me just as I collapsed in the grass.
"Mom rushed to my side, turned me around, then screamed, ‘Plya have mercy, he's drunk!'"
"At that age, you could have had a seizure, Khiru!" Myhre scolded him. "Did they rescue the other boy in time?"
"Yes, they did, and they sent us both to a nearby hospital for a stomach wash-out. We were physically fine the next day. But I'll never forget the shame, or my dad's lecture. To this day, I've never drunk nuggit liquor!"
"Is it strong?" I enquired both with interest and amusement.
"Not really," Naari answered, "it's a woman's liquor. I'm sure you'll like it."
"Yeah," Myhre added, "let's have a nuggit party when we're all settled back home, shall we, Khiru?"
When our general laughter died, Jova started his own story.
After we had all walked down memory lane, Phylla entertained us with stories of mishaps with her clients, and Vhar explained in many details the plans he'd made for his sabbatical year. They included much flirting and traveling. Unfortunately, Vhar lived on the opposite side of the planet, but he promised he would come visit me, "to make sure you haven't forgotten any of my lessons."
Later, Naari put on music – rhythmic folk songs that I'd grown to enjoy – and we danced around, then on top of the table.
When the tempo slowed down, Khiru insisted on a court-dance with me. Following the lascivious rhythm of the song, our bodies pirouetted around one another, swaying closer but never making contact. When the haunting lament of a flute started to rise, we stood face to face, our feet gently stepping on the floor, our shoulders and hips swirling. Following Khiru's moves as if I was his mirror reflection, I raised my hands and turned my wrists towards his, my fingers spinning gracefully like the petals of a flower. Our arms flirted together like two mating snakes undulating off the ground. The illusion of a forbidden touch gave me goose bumps and sent shivers down to my core. I had never felt more attracted by Khiru's body, a magnet to my own, and yet I constantly had to dance away from him. With each step, each flicker of the hand, the layer of desire between us grew thicker, almost palpable. When the music ended, Khiru caught my hands and pulled me against him. As his lips pressed on mine, tremors of passion shook my body, and I let out a sigh of happy relief.
When we parted, I saw Myhre had started to clean the room, and everyone was making to leave. I objected.
"C'mon, it's still early. Don't tell me you're tired."
"We're not," Naari replied, "but we're not invited to the end of the party." He looked knowingly at Khiru, who just smiled.
"Oh."
Everyone laughed at my obvious disappointment. It wasn't that I disliked the idea of a bondage scene, but I was enjoying the party and was in a mood for more entertainment, not sex.
"Well, sorry, birthday girl," Khiru said, "but it's my decision, not yours."
This was my special day; I had a right to do as I pleased. And what I wanted was more fun.
"Khiru," I started. Then Myhre caught my attention. She was shaking her head, frowning and obviously trying to silence me. Was there something I didn't know?
After parting with my friends, I followed Khiru down the corridor to the elevator. When he pressed on "5," I held my breath. The inferior deck was home to our engines and other machines. It also served as a huge garage for shuttles. I hadn't returned to that deck since the day we'd docked.
The officer guarding the entrance of the corridor to the shuttle park gave us clearance, and Khiru went straight into a pressurizing airlock. Two silver spacesuits, one definitely smaller than the other, hung on one side.
My smile was genuine.
"Sex will have to wait, I'm afraid," Khiru teased. "But I'll still manage to get you naked and wrapped up in something!"
Khiru showed me how to don the full-body suit, tightened a few straps, and helped my feet into special boots on top of it. Once he'd put on his own suit, he screwed on my helmet, then his. He checked my oxygen supply, thermal stabilizer and communication device, then he dialed a code into a mediaframe and we waited.
The spacesuit was astonishingly light and easy to move in. It was made of various layers: the external layer looked like aluminum, the one touching my skin was soft as cotton, and the space between the coatings felt like foam. The five-fingered gloves were delicate, and the helmet was no thicker than a hard resina hood. It was a wonder such frail equipment protected us from the hazards of the spatial void.
The mediaframe beeped, and a door opposite the one we'd used to get into the airlock opened onto a short, brightly lit corridor. At its end was a tall hangar with three identical shuttles, the size of a private airplane, each one sporting two seats behind the transparent front of their cabins.
If this whole alien trip is a dream, I prayed, please don't wake me up now.
Retractable stairs leaned against the first shuttle, and Khiru motioned for me to climb.
I'd always dreamed of flying in a cockpit, next to the pilot, but this went way beyond my nighttime visions.
Khiru went through the checklist and waited for the confirmation of our flight authorization. Finally, an impressive door in f
ront of us slid upward, and outer space was there for us to take.
"Ready for a ride?"
"You bet!"
The shuttle took off gently and flew its way through the door. Once we were far enough from the spaceship, Khiru powered up the engine, and we darted like an arrow. The speed was exhilarating, and so were the millions of stars around us.
After flying straight for several minutes, we made a long turn that took us back toward the ship but high above it.
"Wow! Is that real?" I gasped at the giant orange planet that suddenly occupied most of our visual field.
"Of course it's real!" Khiru laughed. "Do you think it's a big balloon we hung up there?"
"It's just too beautiful and perfect. Look at the red stripes in the middle. And the yellow whirls over there. Are these clouds? Oh! It has a moon, too. No, two!"
I rambled on and on without waiting for Khiru to reply. Although we maintained our course for a long time, the planet never grew bigger.
"We're still pretty far, huh?" I asked, realizing that we were not going to land on it any time soon.
"It would take weeks to get there, yes. And this is as close as we'll come in the Noncha. I thought you might enjoy a better view."
"Khiru, it's wonderful. Thank you so much. This is my best birthday present ever."
Khiru initiated another big turn, then launched the shuttle into a series of loops and rolls, making me scream with excitement like a child on a roller-coaster. After his typical male showing-off, he slowed down and took the long route back to the spaceship. Despite the prospect of sex – much needed after an hour inside a sealed costume – neither of us was in a hurry to leave the vast wilderness of space. Who knew when, or even if, we'd ever do this again?
Sex was more tender than wild that night. And we both fell asleep with stars in our eyes and freedom in our hearts.
Chapter TWENTY-FIVE
One week later, another party was on the program, but this one was for the whole crew. The Khyrian year was drawing to a close. Although a calendar didn't matter much on a spaceship, events celebrating the new year started to show up on the entertainment boards.
My friends and I spent hours discussing what to do. We had just held a successful party for my birthday, so nobody felt the need for a fast repeat. Besides, Myhre and Jova traditionally spent New Year's Eve playing on their own. It wasn't unusual. The countdown to midnight could be used to add a kick to erotic games, and many partners chose to re-affirm their Northie/Southie relationship on this symbolic day.
Vhar, on the other hand, liked to spend the last night of the year experimenting with new partners, taking things one step further in the eccentricity department.
Naari would have preferred a friendly dinner followed by a theatre show on Skeda, but I didn't want to spend a whole evening with only him and Khiru. Especially after Naari's hints about a menage a trois.
That left Khiru and me, but I didn't fancy a romantic one-on-one dinner. On Earth, before the war, I used to celebrate the new year with friends. We'd go to a club and party all night. Light-headed fun was the goal, which is easy when you're a gang of pals. But how do you get drunk and sing in the middle of the street when you're a very-much-in-love couple?
Khiru found a way. I wasn't exactly drunk, much less singing, but I was in the middle of the action, and certainly light-headed.
In the late afternoon, when the Blue shift was getting a rest before all the parties, both private and public, Khiru took me to the Park; more specifically to the weeping willow that marked the entrance to the Twilight. We walked around the tree to face the trompe l'oeil wall separating both precincts, and I noticed a screen installed between the trunk and the Twilight door, hiding us from passers-by. At the foot of the wall was a large box.
I loved how Khiru always prepared his scenes in advance, making sure the equipment he needed was waiting for us. Such meticulous planning proved my fate was sealed long before I knew, and nothing I said would make a difference.
"Get undressed, Megan."
I was naked in ten seconds.
"Lean against the tree. No, further right. Arms around the trunk. I know, it's too large for your hands to touch. Spread your legs, too."
Out of the box came a puzzling kind of rope: thick, brown and stringy. There were irregular knots along its whole length, and more intriguingly, small green leaves. Was it a rope or a vine?
After Khiru had wrapped numerous coils around my body and the tree, I still couldn't tell the difference. The rope was too smooth to be an organic plant, yet too coarse to be manmade. Loop after loop pinned me to the trunk. Khiru gagged my mouth with three layers of green tape, then used more rope to restrain my head. A leaf was tickling my cheek.
He took a step back to admire me, added one more rope around my waist, and, seemingly pleased, showed me my reflection in a mirror he pulled out of the box.
The vines formed an elaborate pattern, as if they grew out of the ground and around me. I was one with the tree, or worse, imprisoned in its branches. It was a vision straight out of a horror movie. I couldn't help but shiver.
"Before I go, there's two things you should know. When you're on display, first, no one but me can have physical contact with you, and second, I'm watching the scene and will always react if something goes wrong. Understand?"
I closed my eyes to indicate I did.
"Good. Now, because you're a very sensitive being, let me help you with this."
And my eyes disappeared behind a blindfold.
A kiss on my breast, a finger brushing my clitoris.
"Have fun."
As always, I spent the first minutes in my predicament probing the bonds and assessing potential threats. The rope/vine was tight and unbreakable, and the tree was firmly planted in the ground. I was helpless and naked, and, as I had observed in the mirror, many parts of my body, including my breasts and sex, remained uncovered.
The essential question was: was the protective screen still in place? And if Khiru had removed it, would people notice me? I was tied to the opposite side the tree. My arm was probably visible, and so was the rope, but only if people cared to turn their heads before they went through the Twilight door.
I heard various groups walk by and held my breath until the footsteps faded away. Nervously, I kept waiting for someone to discover me.
"Hey, there's a Southie tied up to the tree!"
I knew I wasn't going to be so lucky.
The temperature rose a few notches as three voices came closer.
One female.
"Look at this bondage! How beautifully done."
And two males.
"I wonder who did this."
"Has to be a pro."
"Isn't that Megan?" the woman asked.
"Mho be praised, you're right. Look at those flapping ears!"
"So it must be Khiru's work. I'm not surprised."
"Why do you think she's here? Poor girl, she must be terrified. Is this a punishment?"
"Doubt it. More like a display. Some sort of test."
"So we're just here to admire her?"
"Probably, yes."
The woman came closer and whispered to me.
"You look splendid. I hope you enjoy this."
When they left, I heard other voices comment on my bondage. They were all impressed and enthusiastic, and I felt proud to be on the receiving end of their praise. Of course, Khiru was the one who deserved the compliments, but as his partner, I felt entitled to share the honors. After all, it was my body behind those vines!
Once the word spread, nobody missed the sight of the naked Earthling "eaten alive" by the weeping willow. Occasionally voices came closer to me, but most of the time, people stayed on the path to the Twilight and stared at me from there. However, it only took one bolder spectator to change my fate. From an eye-catching object, I became a live attraction.
"Are you sure you should get that close, Frago?" I heard a young man ask.
"Nothing says I can't."
The other voice was alarmingly near.
"Here, there's a box and a note. It says: 'No direct contact or orgasms allowed.' Well, I'm sorry about that, Megan. But that doesn't mean we can't entertain you, does it? Let's see what's in the box."
"Frago, she's Khiru's girl. I wouldn't–"
"Gimme a break, Denni, he wouldn't leave this note if he didn't want us to play with her. Plus, look what he's left. Nothing to worry about. He just wants to tease her. Like this."
Something soft and light on my thigh. A feather? I didn't really care what was gliding up my leg, hips, and breasts. What troubled me was the fact that a complete stranger was turning me on. I was ashamed and excited at the same time. Frago, whoever he was, was right. Khiru wanted people to play with me. Did it also mean he expected me to be aroused by others, and didn't mind? "Have fun," he'd said.
Then let's go for it, I said to myself. I'll hide my embarrassment behind the blindfold. At least I won't have to meet these people later.
The feather lingered on my nipples.
"She responds so well. I could do this for hours."
"Well, don't. Others are waiting."
"Oh, right. Too bad. Thank you, Megan, it was fun. There you go, my good man. Sorry I took so long."
"No problem. This is everyone's fantasy, isn't it?"
A wheel that felt like it was covered in spikes rolled along my belly, then went up and down, leaving tiny electrical shocks behind.
A woman in the distance: "They were right. It's Megan."
Another one, giggling: "She's already dripping. Are you going to play with her, Leham?"
"Yep. I even brought something."
"Are you allowed to use those?"
The wheel was turning around my clit, and sweat sliding down my cheeks. The ever-growing murmur at my side and in front of me did nothing to alleviate the eager tension inside me. All the more so when the same tension was perceptible in others.
"Excuse me, sir, I was there first."
"Sure go ahead. Didn't mean to offend you."
That's the man who "brought something," I reminded myself, as more voices joined in.
Worthy of a Master: The Tale of a Perfect Slave Page 22