by Lisa Lace
I walked out of the shade and pulled off my gloves, turning my face to Dobu's sun. I would just take a tiny break and then get back to the weeds.
Just then I heard a noise in the sky. I shaded my eyes with my hand and searched for the source of the sound. It was a shuttle landing at the Complex.
But there were not any shuttles due for the next two weeks, Mr. Branigan had just said. Who could be arriving? I stared at the lilac sky for another moment, then shrugged. I wasn't concerned. I would find out soon enough. As long as they didn't disrupt this wonderful new life I was making here, I couldn't care less who arrived.
DAR
I stepped out of the shuttle and frowned in consternation. There were people on Dobu.
"What in the hell is going on here, Mana?" I said, as she stepped out into the dust filled air beside me.
"I don't know, your highness. The humans were not supposed to arrive for weeks."
"And yet they are here," I said, my voice filled with frustration. I stared up at the purple sky, asking The Three for patience. I could not meet with the AEA on a planet swarming with people. No matter how much I loathed them, I would not have innocent bystanders hurt.
"Yes, sir, they are."
"Order their evacuation immediately," I said, through my clenched teeth. "When is the delegation supposed to arrive?"
"Not until tomorrow, your highness."
"Good, then there is still time to evacuate everyone. We'll have to make up a cover story. Get on it, Mana."
"Yes, sir. I'm on it, sir," she said, taking out her communicator and signaling the base.
* * *
That evening, I was sitting in my quarters in what the humans called the Complex when Mana rushed into my room without knocking.
"Dar," she said, breathless. "Our communications are down."
I scowled. Things must be really bad for Mana to be calling me by my first name during work hours. We had been childhood friends, and there was no one else I wanted as my Senior Advisor. But even with our history, she never called me Dar when we were working.
I got up and went over to her, putting my hands on her shoulders.
"Calm down, Mana. What do you mean?"
"I had everything organized for the evacuation. The humans weren't happy, but they complied. They claim that someone notified them that they could come early. Just a while ago, I called up to the supply ships."
"And what Mana? Spit it out."
"We have no communications whatsoever. I've tried every way I can think of to contact them, even Morse code. Nothing."
"But the supply ships are in orbit overhead, right? If communications are down, we'll just fix them. It's not the end of the world."
"Dar," she said, getting in my face. Her voice was almost a wail. "The communications have been severed on purpose. When I tried to get a visual of the supply ships, I realized that they were gone."
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"They're not there anymore, Dar. And we're an easy target."
"An easy target." I sat down on the nearest chair. "For who?"
She put her hand on her head and closed her eyes, the most upset I had ever seen her.
"For the fucking terrorists, of course."
* * *
Two tense days passed. We still had no communications. Mana and I had no idea what had happened to the supply ships. The evacuation had been canceled, of course, since we had nowhere to send them to and no way to talk to them if they got airborne. The humans were suspicious as always, sniffing around and wondering what was going on.
"How can we convince Branigan that everything is fine," I said to Mana as we sat in my office. "He's driving me crazy by nosing around."
"Well, everything is not fine," she pointed out.
"Yes, but it has to SEEM fine. There will be widespread panic if the humans or even the Susohnnan find out what you and I know."
"How about we have a party?" she said, fiddling with the zipper on her blue coveralls. They were standard issue, and everyone was wearing them, except me. I'm exempt from rules like that because I'm the king. Of course, I was getting tired of either staying inside or changing my clothes every time I stepped out the door.
"A party? What are you talking about?"
"People who are throwing a party aren't worried about anything. It will convince him that the situation here is secure. You are here to meet another group for negotiations. He'll see that we are setting up shop, getting comfortable. It'll give the males a chance to find mates. You're not the only one in the middle of his mating cycle, sir," she said, not meeting my eye.
"Well, fine, then. Organize a party. But I'm going."
"You can't go to a party, your highness. With the commoners? I don't think so."
She gave me a Look.
"Not as myself. I'll put on one of those ugly blue coveralls." I gestured towards her outfit and she grimaced. "I haven't shaved, so I have a beard, which is not how I usually look in the publicity shots. I'll put on one of those caps the commoners like to wear, and I'll blend right in."
She looked at me incredulously.
"You. The king. You're going to blend right in?"
"Sure. I can act like a commoner."
"As your Senior Advisor, I don't recommend this course of action, sir."
"You don't think I can pull it off?"
She looked skeptical. Turning, she walked to the window.
"Aw, give me a break, Mana. I'm tired of women falling all over me." I walked over to stand beside her at the window. The never-ending dust blew past, making everything gritty. "I know it sounds stupid. But they're just so...agreeable. To anything and everything. I'd like to hear the word no once in a while, you know what I mean?"
She turned towards me, and her look had softened.
"I guess I do. It can't be easy doing what you do, sir."
A ray of hope shone in.
"So, you're going to let me go?" I trusted Mana's decisions. If she told me it would be stupid to go, then I wouldn't go. But I wouldn't be happy. Or, I might overrule her suggestion but when I did that, it usually ended badly.
She huffed out her breath.
"As if I could stop you," she said, rolling her eyes.
KENNA
"I don't trust those Susohnnan, Kenna. They're up to something, just showing up on the planet like this." Mr. Branigan coughed for a long moment, then resumed his pacing back and forth. "First they order our evacuation. Then they cancel it. There's something going on. I just know it."
"But what could they possibly be up to, Mr. Branigan?" I said, knowing he expected me to ask the question. I didn't care, though. As long as I could keep living this new life, I didn't give a flying fuck what the Susohnnan were doing.
"I don't know."
And what does this have to do with me, I thought but didn't say out loud. Mack got to the point when he darn well felt like it.
"That's where you come in, dear."
"Me?"
"As the youngest of the human women, I thought that you could help us figure out what these aliens are up to."
"You mean like a spy? You haven't trained me in subterfuge, you know."
Mr. Branigan looked at me with an appraising eye. "We had hoped that your appearance would make it harder for anyone to suspect you."
Wait. Youngest, sure. The other women that had come were in their fifties or sixties — scientists mostly. But my appearance? Did he mean pretty? Surely he couldn't be talking about me.
"Yes, yes. You'll dress up like a Susohn female and go and mingle."
"Mingle."
"At the party they have tonight."
"But won't they know I'm human?"
He made a tsking sound.
"Have you paid attention to any of the news reports? The Susohnnan are genetically identical to humans. We are all descended from the same race, Kenna. There is no way to tell the difference between one of them and one of us."
"Oh."
"Well, except their scar,"
he added as an afterthought. "They have some strange ritual that they go through. It's a rite of passage. And they are given a scar on the left hip. But no one is going to see your hip under your clothes, so you'll be fine."
I stared at him.
"Right. And what happens they discover me?"
"Well, they won't hurt you. They're a peaceful race. That's why they've had so much trouble with the AEA at Wormhole 87. They're not willing to blast them."
I made a noncommittal noise.
"If they discovered you, tell them that you wanted to have a little fun and that you didn't mean anything by it."
Well, that was true. And I could use something different. That was the only thing missing from my new and improved life: the kind of experience that a party provided. I glanced over at Mr. Branigan. He walked across the room and picked up a bag.
"Here are some of their clothes and jewelry for you to wear." He held out the bag.
He wasn't asking me. He was telling me.
I shrugged internally. So be it. I guess I couldn't complain about being ordered to go to a party. He could have ordered me to do a lot worse things.
"Sounds like fun," I said, smiling at him and taking the bag.
He looked me over for a long moment, and his gaze made me a little uncomfortable.
"Yes, well. Don't have too much fun, Kenna, dear."
* * *
When I came out of the shower, I looked into the bag Mr. Branigan had given me for the first time. I reached in and pulled out a strange silky material — the seamstress made it from Susohnnan fabric. Just holding it in my hand made me feel sexy. That reminded me of what Jaylan and Mr. Branigan had said about me the other day.
I went back into the bathroom and shut the door. There was a full- length mirror there. I bit my lip and dropped the towel.
Was that me?
Since I had left Earth, I hadn't had much time to consider my appearance. And I had been so happy here that I hadn't thought about it at all. I just hopped in the shower every morning, wrapped myself in a towel, and got dressed. I was too caught up in my new job to worry about how I looked.
But Branigan was right. During the long ride here, doctors put us in an unconscious state called stasis. Stasis enforced a fast on my body, which took a few inches off. I wasn't skinny by any stretch of the imagination, but my breasts were full and round as they had always been, and the swell of my hips seemed provocative now, instead of frumpy.
Curves, he'd said. In all the right places, he'd said. And he'd like to get his hands on my sweet...My sweet what? The thought of his hands on my sweet something made my breath come a little faster.
Maybe after this party, I would have to pop by Jaylan's quarters and see if he was up for some fun tonight, too. It had been a long time, but I was pretty sure I still remembered how to do it.
After a moment, I drew my gaze away from my surprisingly sexy body and returned to the other room. I put on my boring white underwear and bra and slipped the red dress over my head. It was long and flowed to the tips of my bare toes.
There were no sleeves and the sides of the dress were cut away, exposing the soft pale skin of my torso. There was a gold braid belt that tied around my hips and a necklace with a golden triangle on it that I fastened around my neck.
I brushed my long brown hair till it shone and then pulled it into a high ponytail on the top of my head and fastened the gold piece to cover the elastic. The straight hair flowed down my back, tickling my butt, even when it was pulled up like that. I had always thought that my chestnut locks were beautiful.
I went back into the bathroom to see the result and was shocked to see that I looked so much like one of them. I did feel as though I were a spy. I mean, maybe I was exaggerating a little bit. It's not like we were at war with the Susohn.
But they looked down on us. And they thought that our government was behind the terrorist attacks on their precious Wormhole 87. They were stuck up and thought they were better than us. And the last thing I wanted to do was spend a night among them.
But work was work. And I didn't have a choice. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. Maybe Jaylan would like being with an alien if I had the guts to go find him later.
* * *
"You seem very nice, but I'm not leaving the party yet." I had only been here for an hour, and these guys had been trying to chat me up for the past twenty minutes. I had enjoyed it at first, but now they were starting to bother me.
"Aw, Miss. Give a guy a break. You're looking awfully good in that dress. And your necklace says your single. You're not on your cycle, are you?"
I blushed. What? Why was this guy asking if I was menstruating? Oh, I guess I couldn't sleep with him if I was on my period. Still, it seemed like a weird thing to ask. Even for the Susohn.
"No, I'm not. But that's beside the point."
The other guy moved a little closer, making me uncomfortable. I stepped back, but I was against the bar.
"If you're not on your cycle, then we don't have to worry. We're not either."
Now we had moved from my cycle to their cycle? I was getting completely confused. Maybe Branigan should have briefed me more on their culture.
"And we don't mind sharing a female, either, do we, Sanran?"
"No, not as long as we both get some." The other man leered at me.
Okay, this was getting out of hand now. I tried to push through them, but they were big guys, and they were not moving. And one of them took it as an excuse to grope me.
I slapped him hard, feeling afraid. I didn't know anyone here, and there was no one to help me. Maybe I didn't want to be pretty if it meant I had to deal with assholes.
"Get out of here, right now," I heard a commanding voice saying from behind the two men. They turned. The looks on their faces clearly said 'Fuck off.'
"We saw her first. She's ours."
"A female belongs to no one but herself. You are disgracing the Susohnnan with your behavior."
"Yeah, well, don't tell the king," one of the men joked.
"I will not tell him. He already knows. He is everywhere."
The men were silent.
"You know what the penalty is for disrespect."
The men shuffled their feet and glanced at each other.
"We were just leaving."
"Yeah, I'm tired of this party already."
I watched as they practically tripped over themselves leaving the room. Then I turned to say thanks and was blown away.
He was tall. Over six feet. And he wore the blue coveralls but with three or four of the buttons undone, leaving a tantalizing view of his well-muscled chest. I immediately wanted to run my hands all over him.
Kenna. Get yourself under control, I chided myself.
He was staring at me too, and I suddenly realized I had forgotten my manners in the midst of ogling him. What would Gran think?
"Hey, thanks. I appreciate your help. Those guys were getting a little out of hand."
"No problem," the man said and I noticed that the hair that was curling out from under his cap was black. "They should be ashamed of themselves. No Susohn male is ever to act that way. No matter what time of the month it is. The king will deal with them."
I nodded, not knowing what to say. What were they talking about? I was too ignorant of these people to be a good spy.
I looked up at the man and realized I hadn't introduced myself. I was acting like a twelve-year-old at her first dance.
"My name is Kenna." Mr. Branigan had thought it best to use my real name — less chance of screwing up.
"Kenna. Nice to meet you. My name is Dar. Would you like a drink?"
DAR
After an hour or so of dancing and hanging out with the sweet little female, I was getting seriously horny. I had to know whether this was going anywhere or not. Because if it wasn't, I needed to set my sights on someone else. I could feel the pressure building.
But I sincerely hoped that she wouldn't say no. I had to admit that th
is Kenna had enchanted me. All I wanted was to touch her and hold her. After our last close dance that had been pushing the line of what was acceptable in public, I broached the subject.
"Kenna," I said. I like being straightforward. "Would you like to come back to my quarters for a nightcap?"
She was in the act of taking a drink, and she froze with her glass halfway to her lush, pink lips. "A nightcap?" She repeated my words faintly, and she blinked as if surprised.
"I'd like you to come back to my place so that we can..."
I paused so that she wouldn't miss my meaning.
"...get to know each other better."
She blinked and put her drink back on the bar.
"You want me to go home with you?" she said as if she couldn't believe it.
"Obviously it's your choice but I hope you'll come with me."
"Of course it's my choice." She said as if she finally believed what I was saying. "And I think I will go with you."
"You will?" Now it was my turn not to believe it. She had seemed taken aback by my proposal. But her eyes took on a distinctly seductive look, and my groin tightened at the sight.
"I most definitely will. Let's get out of here."
* * *
Mana had set up an empty set of rooms for me to use. I couldn't have an unknown female coming into my real quarters. I scanned my eyes at the door to let me in.
As soon as we were through the door, I had her up against it and was kissing her thoroughly, so she would have no illusions about what was going to go on here tonight. After a minute, I let up, and she looked at me, dazed with lust. At least, I hoped it was lust.
"Wow," she said.
"You are sure you want to do this?"
She nodded.
"Say it."
"I want to do this."
"Because if you don't want me, then please leave now. At this time of the month and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to stop at any time after this."
It was the standard speech. Susohn males were trained to be very clear about what they needed during their mating cycle. We needed verbal permission from the woman, and we needed to make sure she came first - though, really, that last one was good for any mating time.