Mating Flight

by Mating Flight (lit)

  "Not another one of those words," he hissed.

  "You people make some strange traditions," she hissed back, forgetting everything she'd been taught by USP regarding species tolerance.

  Apparently she hadn't kept her voice low enough, because nearby council members gasped. Other voices spoke in the council chamber, commenting on the proceedings and she heard a rumbling of unease. She gritted her teeth together. This confirmation of her status was supposed to have been quick and easy. Things had certainly turned out differently than she expected.

  Kelfer looked angry now. "What about the proof of pregnancy?"

  "Our family physician will testify to the fertility of the flight."

  Dr. Rotairn stepped forward to face Kelfer and the council. "I examined this woman and found her to be pregnant with multiple fertilized eggs." The audience gasped. "The exact number of fertilized eggs will be confirmed in four days' time."

  "And was this woman a maiden prior to the mating flight?"

  "Yes. There was maiden blood present." Sheleigh cringed at being discussed like this.

  "So you have one out of three proofs ..."

  "You have my word about it," Kleet added in a cold voice.

  That seemed to stop Kelfer, and father and son stared at one another. Sheleigh imagined she could feel the pull of the genome between them.

  One of the council members spoke up loudly. "The heir must have a bonded mate. Any other relationship is unacceptable. A bonding can only occur in a mating flight. A pregnancy isn't proof that a mating flight took place."

  "Maybe he can't bind her. She's an alien, after all," another voice argued.

  Kleet faced his accuser. "You doubt my word?"

  "Your word cannot take the place of two forms of proof. Maybe if you'd provided two proofs we could allow an exception. But it would set a precedent we don't want. The status of mate is an honor and holds legal connotations. The mating flight is the only way to bind a mate for life. Persons acting dishonorably could claim their word as the only proof when they weren't telling the truth at all. Then couples would be certified as mates who weren't. No, there must be witnesses to the flight, either live witnesses or a video recording."

  "Then we'll find the recorder. Kleet, who did you use?" Kelfer demanded.

  "Voray Gallicus. He's the best recorder."

  Kelfer signaled an assistant to him. "Contact Voray Gallicus and tell him to present himself here at once." The young woman ran off to do his bidding. Sheleigh knew that a human wedding was always witnessed to make it legal. She wondered if this was the point of contention now, and she whispered her question to Kleet. He showed surprise before answering quietly.

  "Long ago, before recordings," this was said sardonically, "one witness stood at the cliff top and another was in the canyon. They testified to the flight and the joining. It's necessary, Sheleigh. Our society used to be fragile, so the mate bond was needed to bind the core of each family together. We're less fragile now, but we can't lose the mate bond. If only you'd allow them to show the recording, the council would accept you as my mate and we could get on with the day's work."

  So Kleet didn't understand her aversion to the recording, even though he'd supported her refusal. She wondered on how many other issues they disagreed, perhaps important issues. She'd made a mistake in giving her virginity to a man she barely knew just because she'd experienced passion for the first time in her life. She had held onto her chastity for thirty years, hoping for her soul mate to come along. Then she'd blown it. She hadn't been on the planet long enough to learn all the inhabitants' customs and ideals. She was a trained scientist who knew how long it took for the natives to trust her enough to let her into the intimate details of their lives and society.

  Now she was tied into the soul of the man standing next to her, but she didn't know how he felt about fatherhood and family and living with a wife. She was trapped in this alien society, but she didn't know the first thing about their rituals and the reasons for them. She was grounded on the planet and now she saw things that would have made her think long and hard before offering herself to Kleet, had she known them in advance.

  "I can't agree to allow anyone other than you and me to review the recording of what happened this morning. I'm not even sure I can view it myself."

  "There's nothing wrong with viewing a mating flight."

  "You've seen records of other flights?" Well, of course he had. She scolded herself for her dumb question.

  "Of course," he echoed her thoughts. "I've seen hundreds. The council has confirmed many mates and each pair have provided this proof."

  She couldn't stop her recoil from him before she thought of the repercussions of her actions. Then it was too late. Her withdrawal from Kleet had been noted and the nervous rumblings in the crowd began again.

  Apparently Kelfer had seen her movement, too. He signaled Kleet forward to him and Sheleigh, per force, went with him. Up close she could see that he was angry. "I believed you this morning when you said you were mated, Kleet. But this assembly doesn't believe you. They won't confirm her as your mate and I don't blame them. If I wasn't your father, I wouldn't confirm her either. She's clearly unwilling to be here. She acts like she dislikes you. You must be confirmed. Or do you want the lack of a mate to force you to be set aside as heir?"

  "No," Kleet got out between clenched teeth.

  "Then produce the recording now as proof. At this point I don't believe Voray's word that he recorded the flight is going to be enough. Sheleigh's behavior has cast doubt on everything. Give it to me," he ordered and held out his hand.

  "No!" she cried in horror. Kleet's strong grip on her arm was so painful it made her gasp.

  "Father's right. You're too alien to understand some of our traditions, but they're our traditions. We have proof and we're going to use it."

  "I won't ..." Another squeeze made her wince.

  "You chose to come here to our planet. You chose to mate with me. Accept the consequences of your actions." His words were coldly spoken with authority, and she cringed inwardly. Who was this man really?

  Kleet signaled one of the guards from this morning forward and took a small disc from him. Then he handed it to his father. They stepped back from his father's seat and Kelfer handed the disc to someone else.

  Sheleigh tugged futilely against Kleet's hold on her arm, but his grip was vise-like. She wouldn't watch it, couldn't watch it, and couldn't stand the thought of everyone else watching it. Oh, God!

  A large screen in the front wall lit up and in vivid and clear Technicolor, shot from below the cliff edge and a little behind them, she saw her naked self leave the cliff with Kleet behind her. Their limbs spread. The recorder zoomed in to a close-up of her loins and she was mortified to be able to tell, even from this angle, that her vulva had been spread beforehand. Kleet's penis approached her vagina and impaled her forcefully. She could tell that even in the recording. There were murmurs of satisfaction from the crowd and she died inside with shame.

  The picture remained close up on their mating loins for a number of minutes, until the thrusting stopped and Kleet's testicles jerked with orgasm. There were more murmurs of satisfaction as it was clearly proven that he ejaculated into her body during the flight.

  The angle panned out slowly to a wider view of first their faces and then Kleet's arms wrapped around her under her breasts. His wings were spread out wide. Both of them were clearly recognizable. They were proven mates now, not that she'd be able to face anyone in this room again. His own father had ... she gulped. Kelfer had seen what no father-in-law should ever see!

  There were positive murmurs and someone near Kleet offered him congratulations.

  The recording ended, to her intense relief. Kelfer rose. "Kleet has provided two out of three items of proof. Do you confirm Sheleigh O'Brien as his mate? Those who vote yes?"

  There was a loud barrage of yes's.

  "Those who vote no?"

  There were several of those and she felt
Kleet stiffen.

  "Give your reasons for a refusal to confirm," Kelfer commanded.

  She heard someone climb to their feet in the first section of the room and a man spoke up. "She's clearly an alien. How do we know her physiology even allows a mating bond?"

  "Our laws say nothing about the mate having to be our species. You cannot vote no on that basis."

  "We're a lawmaking body. Clearly this issue of alien physiology is important to the ability or inability to bind a mate. The status of mate is too important not to have an unbreakable physical connection between the male and female. My objection, while not legal, is valid, doubly so in the case of the heir. If you don't allow my vote of no, I'll simply abstain."

  "Your objection is duly noted, Morfran. We'll debate this topic at length today. I note your abstention in the voting." The man sat down with a flurry of noise.

  A woman close to them stood up next. "I hadn't thought about the issue Morfran raised when I voted no. But now, perhaps, his objection is the reason for mine. I don't believe they are bonded as mates. I saw a mating, yes. She is pregnant, yes. But she doesn't act as though she's bound to him. In all my years of verifying mate status, I've never seen less affection and more hostility in a mate-candidate coming before us. I believe Morfran may be right. The heir did not bind this alien in our rituals."

  Kelfer remained silent while the room buzzed with whispers and murmurs. "Your vote of no is duly noted, Salaine."

  A burst of comments died out suddenly as another man rose to his feet. His objection was similar to Salaine's and was accepted. Two more people stood and their objections echoed Salaine's. Their negative votes were tallied as well.

  "With four voting against and one abstention, Sheleigh O'Brien is confirmed as the heir's mate." Kleet let out his breath. The group was loud and effusive as they rose and surrounded her and Kleet, offering congratulations and comments. She kept her gaze on people's chins, not wanting to see their eyes. She nodded as people made comments to her. She couldn't have spoken a word if she'd tried. She wanted to escape this room and these people, this building and this planet. She wanted to go home, where a bride wore white on her wedding day and was treated with reverence. This had been the worst day of her life.

  Finally they were in the hall outside the council room. She tore her arm from Kleet's and stalked away from him. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care. He roughly grabbed her arm and spun her around.

  His face was mottled an angry red. "Where do you think you're going like that?"

  "Away from you. How could you do that to me? How could you shame me that way? You've degraded and humiliated me."

  "I've given you the highest honor our society has."

  "No! I'm mortified. I feel dirty. I've never been treated this poorly in all my life."

  "Everyone records their mating flights. We used to have witnesses for each flight, but it's hard climbing in the cliffs. Now it's simpler to record the event and play it to witnesses. We all do the flights, view the flights and confirm the mates. That's the way it's done here ..."

  "It's obscene."

  "No one thought our flight was obscene. They approved my entry into your body and me giving you my seed. They approved seeing us in flight together. That was truly beautiful. I liked seeing my wings spread out above our mating bodies. I'd like to have a frame of that scene enlarged."

  "That's sick."

  "You say you didn't see anything beautiful in what we did. But you certainly seemed to like it while it was happening. That close-up shot of me thrusting in and out of your tight body was a very pleasant memory for me."

  "Shut up."

  "It's interesting what you'll let me do to your body as long as I don't talk about it and no one else sees it."

  "You're not going to be doing anything to my body ever again."

  The smile melted from his face and he became stony with anger. "Rebuffing me again, Sheleigh? I thought we got past that this morning."

  Her face contorted with regret. Oh, if only she'd stayed in her apartment this morning. This is where wanting illicit sex got her. "I'm going home. I assume you have work to do here?"

  "Yes. You're going to our home, my family's?"

  Again her face twisted. She wanted her apartment and the other humans. She wanted her parents' home on Earth. "Yes."

  He lowered his face to hers, but she turned her face away. There was a stilted pause, then he moved away from her. "I'll see you later."

  She watched him enter the council hall, where those assembled were going to discuss alien physical compatibility and whether aliens could be mates or not. Nobody asked her whether she was compatible because nobody would believe her. Kleet hadn't even wondered about that before he flew her ... or had he? Had he discussed it at length with his father before deciding he would try it and see what happened? If they hadn't become mates, would he have walked away and left her pregnant? She shuddered. Or maybe she wouldn't have gotten pregnant if they hadn't become mates. That made sense. Physical non-compatibility should be across the board.

  Everyone in that room had seen how physically compatible she and Kleet were. Her face burned again as she remembered seeing up close and enlarged Kleet's cock thrusting in and out of her body. As she'd watched the recording, she had felt again the sensations she was viewing, hardly able to believe that it was her and Kleet on the screen. He'd had the gall to remind her how good it had been and that she'd enjoyed it. The nerve of him.

  She spun, but when she would have taken the exit she always took as a visitor, the guard gently guided her towards the lift for government officials. She didn't look in his face during the ride to the roof, because he had seen the recording too. Lefair had also seen it. There was no one in the household she could face without shame.

  Chapter Eight

  Sheleigh wavered between anger and shame, her mind seething with potent emotions, as the air transport winged its way toward Kleet's home. Only after they'd been airborne several minutes did she begin to try and find the source of her discomfort. What was this tearing need inside her? Was she hungry? She hadn't had anything to eat today. Was she airsick? That could always be true. Then she remembered it was the mate bond feeling the separation from Kleet. He'd said they could go small distances, but his home was several miles away. Had he forgotten?

  She began to pant and sweat. Her hands curled into claws. She didn't want to go back there. She needed privacy for awhile to settle her shattered emotions. She didn't want to spend the day in a strange office somewhere in the government building under the scrutiny of strangers who might have viewed the recording.

  She shoved her fist against her mouth and bit her knuckle. She would not be chained to him this way. She closed her eyes and in her mind she began to chant, "I'm biologically different from them," over and over. Soon she felt the tight coil inside her begin to relax. It's mind over matter.

  "My lady, we're here."

  She exited the transport and descended into the warren of the residence. She was relieved to be alone, and more relieved to remember which suite of rooms was Kleet's. She changed into casual clothes, carefully putting away the green silk. She gave the fabric a loving caress. This was a part of Earth--of its history, its industry, its culture and its natural world. There were no silk worms here to make real silk. A synthetic replication was the best this planet could do. This silk was as alien here as she was.

  She left the silk in the quiet darkness of the closet and stepped out into the glaring reality that was her new life. She was hungry, but had no idea where the kitchen was or what types of food might be in the kitchen. Since she didn't usually cower, she took the hydrolift to the main floor and began searching. She found a room with long polished flat surfaces that proclaimed "kitchen" in her mind. She looked into glass-covered recessed cubbies and found one where the temperature was much cooler. A refrigeration unit. It had multiple levels and she found glass pitchers of different colored liquids, one of which smelled pleasantly fruity. Sh
e opened various containers and tried to identify the contents by smell. She knew the Averans ate meat, fish and fowl. Many humanoids were omnivores. The Averans were part raptor, which were carnivores.

  She knew what meat, fish and fowl usually smelled like. One container smelled familiar, so she got it out. She needed bread and then she could make some sort of sandwich. She couldn't remember if she'd ever had bread at an Averan meal. Bread was a grain product, but this planet didn't have a lot of flat space to grow grain. She searched anyway. She found a dark, flat loaf of something that had the consistency of bread. Now for a knife, glass and plate. She knew what those things looked like, but didn't know where they were kept. An intense search located what she needed. Twenty minutes after she arrived in the room she sat down to eat. Living in this house would give a new meaning to the phrase, "scavenging for food."

  She huffed a weak laugh, and then sobered. This wasn't what she'd intended when she signed on for this mission. She had two doctorate degrees, she loved the study of emergent societies and the sociological interactions of other species. Where could she use all that education after her work here was completed? She couldn't follow her team to their next assignment. Neither could new societies be brought to her for study. All those years of school were for nothing. Yet, if she hadn't earned those degrees she wouldn't be sitting here now in her mate's home with a belly full of babies. It was a catch-22 situation. She rubbed her lower abdomen in apology to the babies.

  "Bonding to the children, Sheleigh?" Lefair's gentle voice broke into her reverie.

  Sheleigh looked up to see her mother-in-law enter the kitchen. "I still can't believe there are babies in my body, even though the doctor confirmed it. Everything happened so fast this morning. Today is the only time I've ever been intimate with Kleet." She blushed.