by B. V. Larson
“As to punishment,” Tand continued, “you’ll not be allowed to board Hammerhead for two shifts!”
I had to will my face not to react in astonishment. We looked at one another, baffled. To these people, that was a punishment as it was a dishonor to be useless. To sit around without an assignment was humiliating.
To us, of course, it was a vacation.
“Um,” I said, “what are we supposed to do in the meantime, sir?”
He made a sweeping gesture of dismissal. “Explore the ship. Sit in your pod and rot. Play with your genitals the way all primates seem to do. I don’t care.”
He left us with an air of grave disappointment, and we shared secret smiles.
“This has to be the best punishment duty I’ve ever pulled,” Samson said. “You’re some kind of genius, Leo.”
“Thanks,” I said, accepting the compliment at face-value.
“He’s no genius,” Dalton objected. “He just got lucky.”
“He seems to do that a lot,” Gwen pointed out.
She approached me while everyone watched, and she put her hands on my arm. “Hey, maybe we can take a look around together.”
“Okay,” I said, seizing the moment. “Let’s go.”
I left the others muttering in disappointment as I walked the decks. We were in mid-shift, and that was a good thing. Most of the crews were too busy with their ships to pester us. Many were starting their flight training just as we’d done a few days ago.
As we walked along, my eyes scanned the place desperately, looking for a spot where Gwen and I could be alone. She wasn’t thinking that way at all, unfortunately.
“Hey, there’s Dr. Chang,” she said. “He’s at the elevators to the reactor. You want to go down there? I want to see the cores with him.”
I snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her to me. It had been weeks since I’d last been with a girl.
“I had another idea in mind,” I said.
She pushed me away. “No way,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re even thinking of that! Besides, there are a million people watching us.”
“There’s always somewhere to go.”
Shaking her head, she retreated. I threw up my hands and sighed.
She relented long enough, looking me over thoughtfully, to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“Maybe someday,” she said. “Just not today.”
Then I watched her trot away to join Dr. Chang.
“Rejected?” asked a voice behind me.
I turned to see one of Ra-tikh’s females. She was the one with the smallest ears and the biggest butt. I’d been checking out the cat-girls now and then. It was hard not to. The truth was, they had excellent body-shapes. I wasn’t used to their faces yet, but the biggest contrast by far with any human girl was their coat of fine fur. They also had those long tails… which had begun to intrigue me.
“Who are you?” I finally asked her.
“I’m Ra-tikh’s fourth.”
“That’s your name?” I asked incredulously. “What, are you ladies—his slaves or something?”
She grew instantly angry. “You know nothing of the people of Ral, yet you make crude and offensive jokes? I’m leaving!”
“Wait,” I said. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t know what I’m talking about. Tell me about yourself.”
Pausing, she reconsidered then stepped closer to me.
“I’m Ra-tikh’s fourth,” she repeated, “but my name is Mia.”
At least, “Mia” was what her name sounded like to me. But I could hear more guttural syllables underneath the translator’s sound than I could ever hope to pronounce.
I looked into her big, remarkable golden eyes. I could certainly get used to them, I thought.
“Mia,” I said. “That’s nice. Show me around the ship, Mia.”
“You order me? I’m not part of your crew. I’m not your—”
“Hold on,” I said, putting up my hands.
That was another mistake. She put her hands up, claws out, in a gesture that matched my own as if we were going to fight.
I lowered my hands slowly. “I meant that as a request. Will you please show me around the ship? You’ve been here longer than I have.”
She looked at me warily for a few seconds then suddenly warmed up again. I was getting the idea these cat-people were all touchy and moody. They could be friends one second and vicious enemies the next. In a way, it wasn’t surprising. I’d petted more than one purring cat only to have it bite me a moment later.
“I’ll honor your request,” she said. “Walk with me.”
We moved together down the central aisle between the fighters. Each sat in a dished-out region of the deck. Many were surrounded by their crews who climbed over them, working hard. As we passed, the crews looked us over in surprise.
“You make them stare,” she said. “They know you’ve put down Ra-tikh twice. They all must know this.”
“Uh… Yeah, sure. I bet they do.”
I was lying of course. I doubted most of them knew who I was. But if a girl wanted to be impressed by me—even a cat-girl—I couldn’t very well let that go to waste.
Mia led me farther away from her crew and mine with every step. When we were close to the recycling systems, she took my hand.
Her palm felt odd. It was a little leathery in the center and decidedly fuzzy around the edges. It was a warm, small hand. I took it in my larger grip and held on.
“Behind these tubes,” she said, leading me into a dank area.
Some of the big tanks that surrounded us now were dripping. The steamy tanks warmed the air and left puddles on the deck.
When we found a private spot, she stopped me then went to look around in several directions.
“No one is here. No cameras—at least, none that I can see.”
“Okay… that’s good I guess.”
She returned to me and turned around, aiming that shapely butt in my direction. I looked at it admiringly, but I was confused.
“Mia, why’d you bring me here?”
She looked at me over her shoulder like I was some kind of idiot. “You may hold my tail. Isn’t that what you want? That’s the signal your pheromones are sending.”
“Uh… I still don’t understand. Are you going to pee on me?”
Then she did one of those instant switch-things, changing gears from nice to nasty in less than a second.
“You insult me? You lead me on then refuse? I am humiliated. Can you hate Ra-tikh so much that you would do this?”
“No, no, hold on. Are you suggesting we have sex?”
“Of course! Is this not the way your people mate?”
I looked around. We were in a secluded place. She was still dressed, but I knew these uniforms could be pulled open in any number of ways. They’d been built so as to accommodate various physiologies.
Realizing I had a decision to make, I took a full two seconds to make it. That’s a long time for a young guy who’s been alone for weeks.
It wasn’t the environment that was making me stop to think. To be honest, I wasn’t so sure how I was expected to perform. Clearly, I hadn’t thought this whole thing through. And what was Ra-Tikh going to do if he found out? I guess I was a bit thrown off.
I didn’t know what I’d really expected. Sure, I’d been flirting with a girl-cat, but I hadn’t expected her to be so direct.
What convinced me in the end was Mia’s questioning face. She was, in a way, very innocent. She could tell that I wanted sex, and so did she. For her, that seemed to be enough.
I suspected my cautious reaction must have been very confusing for her. Apparently, she didn’t understand that humans made a big deal out of mating. I realized just how complicated modern humans tend to make life’s simplest experiences. Mia and her kind lived in the here and now, and they didn’t understand why the monkey-types wanted to think about every angle.
“You’re very appealing to me,” I said. “But can we touch first? K
iss?”
“Kiss?” she asked.
I touched her gently, and I kissed her. She pulled back her head, eyes squinting in confusion. I think she was afraid I might bite her.
But after a moment, she came around. I taught her how to kiss. I hadn’t done that since high school.
As she got used to my kisses, our touches became more urgent.
At last, she turned around again, pressing herself toward me. By that time I was ready for anything.
What was it like? It was hot—literally hot. Her body temperature was much higher than mine. It almost burned. But it felt great, like nothing I’d imagined. I could tell she was enjoying it too.
When we were both thoroughly satisfied, I was glad I hadn’t chickened out.
=20=
After my rendezvous with Mia was over, I had time to ask her a few questions.
“Do you… do you mate like that with Ra-tikh?”
“Rarely,” she said. “I’m his fourth, as I said. He does not favor me.”
“And… is that why you wanted me?”
She looked at me seriously. “Yes. Partly. He insults me with his lack of attention. You have defeated him twice, injuring him badly the last time. I liked that,” a slow smile spread over her face. She suddenly looked like she was hunting me with her eyes as her tongue darted out to lick her lips.
“I see. Is it only by chance that there’s only one male in your group?”
“Yes, that was good luck. On our world, females outnumber males about nine to one. By the odds, there should be no males in our crew.”
“Lucky bastards,” I whistled.
“When I saw your only female spurn you,” Mia continued, “I knew I had a chance.” She sprang up, shook her tail and looked down at me happily. “Now, I will go to Ra-tikh and tell him he’s been humiliated for a third time!”
“Whoa! Hold on girl!” I said. “Just a minute. I didn’t do this to start a fresh war with your crew. I was hoping to make friends.”
“Make friends?” she laughed. “By stealing a mate? That’s absurd, and you are disappointing me. When a male steals a mate, he does it proudly after having bested another male.”
“Yeah…” I said, scratching my head. “I get that. But I can’t take you into my crew. Only five are allowed.”
She crouched suddenly beside me. Her eyes were big and intense. I noticed her pupils had become slits. It was a little unnerving.
“Yes,” she said, “an adjustment must be made. Kick out that female who refused you. I will replace her. Better yet, you could toss her into space the next time you fly your ship. It could be another accident.”
Now, at long last, I was beginning to catch on. I hadn’t quite understood why Mia was seducing me in such an insistent fashion.
Her standing in her own group was low. In my crew, she’d be the only female—or at least, that was her plan. That would make her powerful, the number one girl, instead of the fourth place finisher with the bottom rank.
My hesitation made her mad again.
“You lead your crew, do you not?” she demanded. “Decide: will you have me or that cold one who refuses you?”
“Uh…” I said, standing up. “It’s not that simple. Look, this was real nice, but I—”
She slapped me. In truth, it was more than a slap. Her claws left four bloody lines on my cheek.
“Damn, girl!” I pressed a hand to my stinging face and gave her my undivided attention.
“You want to have both of us, don’t you? Primates always have a scheme.”
“It seems to me that you were doing your share of the scheming today.”
That was the wrong thing to say. As a man, I’d always excelled at pissing off females, and Mia seemed to be no exception.
She turned to run off, but I reached for her—and grabbed her tail. How could I help it? There it was, right in my face. It was the only thing I could reach—like some kind of handle, almost.
She whirled again, her odd golden eyes blazing. I winced, fully expecting to get savaged.
“Is that it?” she asked. “You demand me again so soon? I don’t know your people, but it is unusual for a male to become so quickly aroused a second time.”
“Right…” I said uncertainly, but I recovered quickly enough. “You’re just so beautiful,” I offered brightly.
She smiled, and we did it again. My legs were shaking after that, but I felt good all over—except for my bloody cheek.
In the afterglow, I reflected on this strange situation. It might well be true that the descendants of the Kher were all related, but we certainly weren’t a single people. We’d taken some pretty radical twists and turns down different evolutionary paths over the millennia. The ramifications were physical, emotional and hormonal, not just cultural. My mind was trying to grasp it all at once.
“I’ve come to a decision,” Mia said when we separated. “You make me feel good. I will enjoy being with you from time to time. I still hope to make you give up on your female, who you are clearly in love with. I will watch, and I will wait.”
She made this little speech proudly, almost as if it was some kind of ceremony. Maybe on her planet, that was how a girl stated her intentions to horn-in on a different family, or pride—or whatever.
“That’s great,” I said, not knowing how else to respond.
She stepped close to me very quickly and nuzzled into me. Her chin was tucked and her body was close and powerful, but sweet, as we embraced. She nipped my collarbone once without breaking the skin, while looking up at my eyes. Then she darted out of my reach before I could speak or grab that tail again.
Mia left me, and I let her go. She was happy, and I was happy, and that was the best possible outcome in this freaky situation.
Walking back to my own pod, I washed my face tenderly, wiping the dried blood from my cheek.
“What did you do to her, you goat?” asked Dalton.
I turned to see him wearing a dirty grin.
“Who?”
“The cat-girl. Half the ship watched you walk away with her. You shagged her, didn’t you? Did she want it, or did she fight? Maybe a bit of both?”
He came closer and put a finger to my bloody cheek, laughing. I grabbed that finger and threatened to break it.
He struggled with me. “Let it go, mate!”
“What do you mean half the ship knows?”
He ripped his hand away from mine.
“They were all watching,” he said. “We’re all on the same carrier, my randy friend. Everyone knows when these things happen. I’ve been trying to catch something with a tail myself today. One of those bird-girls seems to like me. They’re weird-looking, but I could get used to it.”
Heaving a sigh, I turned back to patching up my wounds. I’d put the magic salve on them, but we were out.
I wondered what Gwen was going to say when she heard about this.
Less than an hour passed before Gwen returned with Dr. Chang from the reactor cores. She seemed animated.
“It was amazing down there!” she told me. “I asked to see the computers that control the whole thing, but they wouldn’t let me near the touch-consoles. Hey… what happened to your face?”
From across the pod, Dalton hooted.
We glanced his way, then Gwen looked back at me. She frowned, and I looked guilty. I couldn’t help it.
“I met up with some of Ra-tikh’s crew,” I confessed.
Gwen stepped closer, touching my cheek gently.
“Are those scratches?” she asked. “Did they attack you?”
Her reaction was going my way, but Dalton wasn’t going to let such an opportunity pass. He swaggered up to us, grinning.
“You going to tell her how you beat old Ra-tikh again?” he asked me.
“One of the females attacked me,” I told Gwen.
“Because he grabbed her tail!” Dalton said, laughing.
“What?” Gwen asked in confusion. “Did she urinate on you or something?”
&nb
sp; “I bet he wanted that, too,” Dalton said.
Having had enough, I stood up and threw a punch at him. He dodged, countered, but then I caught him with a left hook, and he fell to the ground. He rolled away and got up.
Gwen watched all this, and she began to catch on. Shaking her head, she walked up to me and stared into my face.
“You had sex with a cat?” she demanded.
“Yeah…” I said. “It was her idea, though.”
Gwen was disgusted. “Eew! She has a tail and everything—how could you? Men are disgusting!”
She left the pod then, and I didn’t go after her.
“That was great!” Dalton said. “The look on her face… priceless!”
I moved toward him again, and he ducked out the door. I could hear him laughing all the way down the passages.
Another voice spoke as soon as the place had quieted. It was Dr. Chang. I hadn’t even remembered he was inside the pod with us.
He stepped out of his cubby and looked at me.
“Don’t feel shame,” he said. “These people—they’re our genetic relatives. Like Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon. We’re all brothers and sisters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was reproductive compatibility between some of the various races.”
“What?”
“I mean that she might be able to have your child.”
“Oh… That’s just grand. Thanks for putting that special thought into my head, Doc.”
“You’re welcome.”
* * *
Ra-tikh came to our fighter the next day. We’d finally rested up and served our “punishment” in the eyes of the officers.
Ra-tikh was not in a good mood. His women followed him at a safe distance. His fur was all standing up on his back like he was some kind of angry animal—which in a way, I supposed he was.
“Blake!” he called out. “I demand satisfaction!”
“What can I do for you, Ra-tikh?” I asked, stepping out of the fighter’s undercarriage. I wiped my hands on a rag and tossed it down.
Behind me, my crew drew their disruptors, but I waved them back.
“You have humiliated my crew,” Ra-tikh said.
“You talking about the battle in the pit? Or how about when Samson held your tail for you?”