by Lisa Lace
Quickly I found the spacecraft that were ready for take-off. I opened one and climbed in, looking at the controls. It looked like something I would be able to fly. I went through the checklist, trying not to think about Kenna.
Finally everything was ready, and I strapped myself in. I initiated the launch sequence, and the computer began counting down to ignition.
"Ignition in 20, 19, 18…" the digital voice said.
I'm going to send back help. I'm going to send back help. I'm going to send back help. It would have to be enough. But what if the rescue didn't get here in time?
I couldn't think of anything but Kenna's face.
I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.
"10, 9, 8, 7…"
I NEEDED to make sure that nothing happened to her.
"4, 3…"
That's when the realization hit me. There was no way I was going to leave without her. I hit the abort button, and the computer stopped counting down.
I had to go back to her because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't.
KENNA
"Hey, what are you doing up here?" one of the men demanded, pointing his gun at me. I had no idea what to say, so I said the only thing that popped into my head.
"Waiting for you boys."
Did I sound sultry, or terrified? It wasn't the best choice of words, but I hoped it would keep him from shooting me on the spot.
They blinked and looked at each other. Then one of them grinned.
"Did Mackeye send you?" He looked at the other men. "Remember he said he had a whore for us?" The others nodded, and I swallowed.
Now what? How was I going to get out of this?
He stepped closer and pulled me against him. He was hard, and I supposed I was about to be gang raped. Should I run? Should I fight? Could I get one of their guns?
I began to struggle.
"Hold her for me, boys. Oh, she looks soft. I'm going to enjoy this."
I tried to run, but they all grabbed me. One held me against him, two held my arms, and two spread my legs. The one who was going to rape me first began unzipping my navy terrorist coveralls from the bottom of my leg.
Their uniforms had a weird design with a zipper that went all the way around from one leg to the other. It had been chafing me since we had stolen them from the guards. When he had unzipped enough to see I was only wearing panties underneath, he hooted.
At that moment, the man's communications went off. I guessed that after getting lost in the bush, Mackeye had decided that it would be prudent to turn communications back on. The man took his hand away from my pants to answer. He hit speaker, and we all heard the voice.
"Attention. We have spotted Shu'in. He's on the run and heading for the launch pad. All men except those guarding the prisoners are to move to intercept him immediately. I repeat..." the voice said it again. I hoped that Dar had made it to the spacecraft and was taking off right now before everyone moved to capture him.
The man who had spoken first stood up.
"Throw her in with the others. Our fun will have to wait."
Oh, thank God and The Three and whatever other deities were watching over me.
Five of them ran for the stairs. The other one shoved me roughly in the same direction.
"Let's go," he said.
I could see that his pants were still tented, and he seemed awfully irritated because he pushed me again.
"Hurry up," he said to me. Then continued muttering to himself. "Fucking Shu'in. Had to interrupt just when I was going to get some."
We got to the stairs, and I thought hard as we descended, trying to figure out a way to get away from him before he locked me up. I was no good to anyone as a prisoner. I could push him down the stairs...but not if I was walking in front of him.
I turned around on the next landing.
"What are you doing? Get going," he said.
I moved closer to him, putting my hand on his bulge.
"What...what are you doing?" he said in an entirely different tone of voice.
"Doesn't seem like we should have to miss out on the fun, just because they do," I said, trying to make my voice husky or something.
It seemed to be working because he swallowed audibly.
"Come here," I said, backing up and turning so that he had his back to the stairs.
I took his hand and put it to my breast.
"Fuck, that feels so good," he said, closing his eyes and squeezing.
What an asshole. I gave him the biggest push I could, and it sent him rolling down the stairs. I didn't stop to watch but took off running as fast as I could up the stairs. When I got to the top, I listened and could hear groaning but no movement.
I ran hard for the chute and soon I was on the main floor. I made for the door as fast as I could. As I pushed it open, I ran smack into someone entering from the other direction. He was a terrorist from what I could see on his chest because he was wearing the same uniform as me.
God fucking damn it. I had not escaped so that they could capture me again!
I slammed my fist into his stomach.
He groaned in pain, bent over. And that's when I looked at his face for the first time.
It was Dar.
DAR
I gasped because she had hit my injured ribs.
"Dar!"
"Come on. We have to get out of here."
I pulled her towards the forest.
"No, not that way. They know we went that way before. I just thought of something."
I followed her as she tore around the building, her long braid flying out behind her, to what looked like an airplane hanger. We entered through the smaller unlocked door.
"We haven't used these much. They're for going to the other forests that are quite far away."
She pulled off the cover to reveal a red ATV. I couldn't help it. I grabbed her and kissed her hard. She kissed me back but then pushed me away.
"Not now, Dar," she said, but she was grinning.
"Do they have fuel?"
"Electric," she said, getting on. "Let's go."
There was a small remote attached to the vehicle, and she pressed the button on it. The large door began to open.
"Old tech," she said. "We didn't get to bring the fancy stuff."
She drove as fast as she could in the dark all the way to the launch pad. The ATV's headlight illuminated the path in front of us.
"I've got a ship ready to go," I said, then pointed. "That one."
There were terrorists swarming everywhere in the dark. But the spotlight they had erected couldn't light up all of the launch pad at the same time. It was nighttime, and the terrorists found it difficult to distinguish us because our clothing looked like theirs.
"We have to chance it. Come on. Let's try to blend in."
We walked quickly towards the spacecraft, looking like we had urgent business. When we got to the door of the ship, I opened it. Almost there.
"Who are you?" one of the men said.
I stayed in the shadows, and I kept my cap low over my eyes.
"I was told to search the ship. Mackeye's orders. Do you have a problem? Take it up with him."
"No, no problem," the man said, looking nervous and moving away from us. I hoped the punishment for disrupting orders from Mackeye was particularly brutal.
We climbed aboard.
"Strap in. Quickly," I said, fastening my seat belts. I glanced at Kenna to confirm that she was secure and hit the launch button again. It started counting again from where it had left off.
"3, 2, 1...Ignition."
The spacecraft shuddered, and I frowned as I heard bullets hitting the outside. I prayed to The Three that they wouldn't hit anything important. The outside of the spacecraft was probably a titanium alloy, but their bullets might be tougher.
The ship hit the atmosphere and in a few seconds we were in space. I looked over at Kenna, and we stared at each other for a long moment.
"Holy shit," she
said.
I nodded.
"I know. But now we're safe."
I activated artificial gravity on the ship and undid my straps. I stood up. Kenna was getting out of her seat too. She pressed her lips together, and I saw that she had tears in her eyes.
I sighed and folded her into my arms.
"It's over. It's over," I said, rubbing her back. She wept for a moment on my shoulder. "Did they...harm you, Kenna?" I said, fear in my heart. She shook her head.
"No, they were going to but then they got an order for everyone to go find you, and they stopped. I don't know why I'm crying," she said. "We got away. They didn't hurt us."
I didn't tell her about my cracked ribs, she'd just want to fix me up. And I could work through the pain. My hand was aching too, but I ignored it as well.
"Were you afraid?"
"Not then. Well, not much. I didn't have time to be. But I am now."
She was shaking.
"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" I said, not knowing what to do. I studied her. She looked as exhausted as I felt. We had been up for nearly twenty hours.
"No. I'm just exhausted," she said, her eyes filling with tears again. I felt helpless to do anything about her fear. But I could do something about her exhaustion.
"Come," I said. We found the quarters. There were four rooms. I picked one at random. In the drawers were clean, new, standard issue clothing. We each took a set of sleepwear in our size and went to the bathroom.
After a shower and a change of clothes, I felt almost Susohnnan again. When I went back to the room I had left her in, she was sitting on the bed in her pajamas brushing out her waist length hair. My heart twisted. She was beautiful.
"You had a shower?" I said, not knowing what to say to her.
"Mm, hm."
"Well, goodnight then. I'm going to set my alarm for a couple of hours and get up then and reset this shuttle's course. They preprogrammed the destination, and I'll have to rewrite some of the code. But I think I need some sleep first."
"Okay." She put the brush down and bit her lip, not looking at me.
"Kenna?" I said. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm all right," she said but her voice sounded funny. I walked over to where she sat on the edge of the bed and squatted down. Her eyes were full of tears.
"You're not all right," I said softly.
"I'm fine." She nodded. "I'm quite fine. I'll be okay. You go. Get some rest."
She kept nodding as if she were trying to convince herself that the words she had spoken were correct.
"Do you want me to stay here?"
"No. No. You don't need to do that. We're not anything. You don't have to do anything, Dar. Honest, I'll be okay. I'm used to being on my own."
Her shaking breath belied her words. My upbringing had taught me to do one thing, but I wanted to do something else.
In school, my instructors taught that there ought to be no interaction between Susohnnan and humans. They were inferior, primitive, and to be avoided. We certainly didn't have sex with them, though I hadn't known she was human when I slept with her.
My upbringing told me to walk out of here, leaving her to cry alone.
But my conscience was telling me something else. It was telling me that Kenna had shown me a side of humans that I hadn't known existed — a side that showed that humans could be as noble as Susohnnan. That was something new I hadn't expected.
I couldn't have a long-term relationship with her, but that didn't mean she had to cry alone. Something inside me was telling me it wouldn't be okay to leave her with her fear. Her admission that being by herself was a familiar situation made her sound lonelier, not tougher.
"Come here," I said, taking her hand and helping her into the bed. I tucked her in gently.
"Thanks, Dar," she said. "Don't worry. I'll be okay."
I nodded.
"I know you will," I said, walking around to the other side of the bed and getting in. "Because I'm going to make sure of it."
"What?"
She was lying facing away from me, and I snuggled right up to her, wrapping my arms around her. She drew in a deep breath and then let it out again.
"Oh. Okay," she whispered, her voice sleepy. "If you want to."
"There's nothing I want more," I whispered back, drifting off to sleep immediately.
* * *
I woke up sometime later completely disoriented. I hardly remembered my name, never mind where I was and what I was doing there. It was so dark I couldn't see. But I could feel. And what I felt was a warm, soft body pressing against me. There was a female in my bed.
I felt more than half-asleep, but my hands knew what to do. My hand slid under her shirt and found her breast bare. I took it in my hand, feeling the weight of it and how the nipple puckered at my touch. I felt my erection get even harder.
My hands explored every bit of skin I could reach. I kissed her shoulder and neck. Then I dipped down into her pants — she wore nothing underneath, and I cupped her mound of curls. Yes, please.
Drawing in a deep breath, I slid my finger into her folds. She was wet and slippery. I felt her breath hitch and knew that she was awake now, but my hands didn't stop for a moment.
"Want me?" I murmured in her ear, awake enough to know I needed to ask.
"Yes," came her strangled response.
I pulled her pants down and then my own. Her full bottom pushed against my hardness. I needed to do this.
I found her opening and lined up the tip of my cock against it. I pressed more firmly and the resisting flesh split, allowing me to sink into her.
The female moaned, pushing back against me as I filled her, burying myself to the hilt. Her panting breaths, as I began to thrust, fueled my desire. My hand dropped to her clit and began rubbing lightly. I rocked into her faster and felt my orgasm start to build.
She goes first.
I held off my climax, keeping a steady pace of thrusting and rubbing the tight nub between her legs.
She thrashed against me.
"Yes," she muttered. "Yes, please, Dar."
Finally, I recognized the voice.
It was Kenna's.
I was making love to Kenna.
At that moment, shattered by her orgasm, she cried out my name, her muscles clenching around me. Her ass pushed back against me, taking me as deep as she could.
No.
I couldn't be doing this.
But it was too late. I stiffened and felt myself coming inside of her. The ecstasy washed over me, followed by intense guilt.
After a long moment, I spoke. I had to come clean.
"Kenna. This shouldn't have happened. I was half-asleep. That's my only excuse. I...I don't want to lead you on."
She turned towards me just as the room began to lighten. The lights were set to mimic the sun. I gazed into her eyes.
"I'm sorry," I said.
She leaned in and kissed me, hot and seductive, and my body leaped to life again. How could she have me wanting her again only minutes after having had her? She pulled back then, so she could see my eyes. Tilting her head, she smiled only a little sadly and said, "I'm not."
I got up out of bed quickly and went to the view screen, pulling the sheet with me to wrap around myself. I stared out at the stars feeling disgusted with myself. It was wrong what I had done. If I didn't want to be with Kenna, then I should stay away from her. If our relationship was impossible, then I should stop sleeping with her. She was not my toy.
As I looked into space to get my bearings, I felt disoriented. Something was wrong. I hit a button to see the stars on the other side.
No.
I switched views again.
No!
"Oh, fuck," I said.
"What's wrong?" Kenna said from the bed.
I turned around, and she was watching me, a concerned look on her face.
"These are not the right stars."
I ran my hands over my face.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't recognize these stars at all. That's what I mean."
"So?"
I tapped at my watch and waited impatiently for it to update.
"No," I moaned.
"What?" she said, getting apprehensive now.
"We've been asleep for fifteen hours."
"So what, Dar? What's going on? Please tell me. I've never been off Earth before I came to Dobu. I don't know anything about space travel."
I swallowed. I needed to tell her. I was ashamed that I had let this happen. But she deserved the truth.
"Before I lay down with you last night, I forgot to set the alarm. I was going to reset the spacecraft's trajectory because it was pre-programmed, and I didn't know where it was going."
"Oh," her eyes were big.
"So, I didn't reprogram the coordinates and now..."
"Now...?" She waited.
"We're completely lost. I don't even know which quadrant we're in. I've never seen these constellations before."
Part 3: Inferno
KENNA
Seriously? Are we lost in space? It figures. Only something like this would happen to me.
"There must be something we can do," I said, sitting up. He looked at me, then quickly glanced away, and I realized that my breasts were bare. I pulled down my shirt that was bunched up under my armpits. Then I stood and pulled up my pajama pants. I still felt relaxed from the intense orgasm I had just had, which made me less worried about exposure than I would usually have been.
He didn't answer me, only paced back and forth. I watched him and marveled again at how handsome he was. His hair was short — black as the depths of space outside on the view screen. His eyes were so dark that a girl could get lost in them. Under the standard issue pajamas, I knew that his chest was hard and muscled, and I wondered what sort of exercises the king of the Susohnnan did to have a six pack like that. I tried not to think about the other parts of his body that did such delicious things to me.
He had a point when he said we shouldn't be. I agreed with him entirely. When I held the idea of being in a relationship with him in my mind, it was so complicated.
He was the fucking king of Susohn. And I was a nobody human with no education, no job anymore, and no future. I would never fit into his world. Why would he want to fit into mine? Just because we were good in bed together, didn't mean that there was anything else.