by Nikki Clarke
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
From the Author
Kwarq
Lyqa Planet Lovers
Nikki Clarke
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Art: L.M. Byfield
Copyright © 2017 Nikki Clarke
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author at [email protected].
To my partner, whose only advice to me has ever been, “you should do it.”
Prologue
Kwarq
“Ay, they feel bad.”
My brother, Bati’s, face screws up into a sort of grimace as he exhales forcefully through his nose, his nostrils fanning wide to push out the brassy air. The sensation he speaks of is a thick, soupy agitation that rides the exhaust-filled breeze. I feel it, too. It prickles at my skin, causing the muscles in my neck to tighten, and I roll my head in an effort to discharge the tension.
A man shuffles by. The thin, woven fabric of his outerwear undulates in the city's hawkish winds. His eyes are sunken moons in his face—idle, withdrawn, and focused on some unseen destination. When his jacket brushes over the skin of my arm, there’s nothing. No connection. No warm exchange of energy. Any feelings the man has to share are being well contained. Except for bitterness. This feeling is like its own atmosphere around him.
And it's not just him. A sea of people careen down the gray, cracked sidewalks of this city on Earth called Chicago. Every set of eyes is downcast. Clothing has been pulled up over ears against the chilly air. I can’t help but view the stiff material as a symbolic exoskeleton against their kinsman.
"I can't believe this is a prime ta’ani maul destination. It kind of just feels like a big ball of angry." Bati shifts closer to me. His eyes bounce from one bitter face to another. “Everyone’s so tense and wary. It's like they're all waiting for something bad to happen."
I look away from Bati’s troubled expression and survey the men and women moving past us. “You chose it. We could have been on Qiton, basking in their sun, completing a leisurely ta’ani near the ocean.”
A short burst of air erupts from between Bati’s lips. ”I completed that ta’ani when we were barely out of childhood.”
The wispy, lyrical pitch of our native tongue hums in the grating cacophony of beeps, grinds, and twangs. The sidewalk where we stand is wide and walled by decorated storefronts. I press closer into Bati's shoulder to evade the crush of movement.
To our left, sunlight reflects off the glass of a storefront window where a woman stands smoking an electronic pipe. Her pale skin is speckled with bright red spots across her cheeks and nose. Braided strands of hair hang about her shoulders. Lips as red as blood kiss the tip of the pipe, and two indents form in the sunken hollows of her cheeks. A dense, blue-tinged mushroom of smoke plumes from between her lips to mask her face before being carried off on the breeze.
“I’ve done some research on humans. They don’t react well to the unfamiliar. We should be careful of speaking our language.”
“Why?” Bati replies looking around. “Humans speak a variety of languages.”
“Yes, but many of our sounds are foreign, unlike any heard on Earth. There’s no way someone overhearing us won’t be alarmed.” I nod discretely in the direction of the smoking woman just as her black rimmed eyes narrow on us.
“Don’t be a bore," Bati drawls back with a heavy sigh. “No one is listening. Think of it as a challenge to blend in with these angry, wretched humans. I think maybe we need a challenge. You need a challenge.”
I grunt and the breath produces its own little cloud beneath my nose. My muscles shiver beneath my skin, but not from the frigid air. The heedless surge of humans continues around us. The wind lifts their scents to form a cyclone of bitterness that fills my lungs and is quickly absorbed into my blood to be carried through my body.
“Perhaps, I need for you not to drag me across the galaxies on some stupid child’s game,” I bark back.
I flinch at the unfamiliar edge to my voice, just as Bati's eyes enlarge in shock.
“I would say that’s a good start, brother.” The joke is meant to cover his hurt, but it seeps through where our arms touch. “I want this to be fun, but if you are truly opposed, please forgive me. I only meant to celebrate with you."
I huff out the bitter air that’s clouding my senses and run a hand over my face.
“No, forgive me. It's difficult for me to close myself off from their negativity. It’s making me irritable. I should not have spoken to you that way. Ma’h qitah.”
I face my brother and wrap my hand around his neck, gripping the tightened cords between his shoulders and bringing our foreheads together. I hold him there, executing the formal gesture of apology until I feel his hurt lift away.
“Get a room and get out the middle of the sidewalk, you jerks!”
A man shoves into us, knocking me off balance. I break from Bati and twist around, a low growl rumbling in my chest. My lips pull back, exposing my teeth to the chilly air. The man’s eyes widen as he stumbles back, tripping over his feet in his haste to move away from me. When I turn back to Bati, his forehead is drawn in concern, and he eyes me cautiously.
“Perhaps, this isn’t a good idea,” he begins carefully. “Let’s go back to our pod. We can get a refund on this quest and go to Qiton instead.”
Bati's worry pierces my haze of anger. I pull in several deep breaths, forcing myself to calm. People are beginning to stare. The woman with the pipe has pulled a cellular phone from her pocket and has it angled in our direction. I don’t know why I’m reacting this way. I’ve never felt so tense in my life, but I need to keep myself together.
“No, let’s continue. We just got here. I'll adjust. I ask your forgiveness if I act out of character again.”
Bati shifts uneasily, turning his head from one side to the other.
“I don’t know, we’re already drawing looks. I think you were right. The people seem uneasy with us."
I shake my head. “No, we look human enough. Our differences are too small to cause alarm. We just have to relax. I have to relax.”
"We're too tall.”
I survey the tops of people's heads as they move past me. Now this is true. And it’s not just that we’re tall. We’re big. We tower over the humans and take up space.
Several gazes linger on
us as people pass. The human females, especially, tilt their heads this way and that, trying, it seems, to make sense of what we are. Trying perhaps to understand the symmetry of my and Bati's features or our largeness or the energy we give off.
“It will be fine. We just have to be careful of how we present ourselves.”
I shake my body out a bit, relaxing the rigidness of my posture in hopes of appearing less unfamiliar. Bati clasps my arm and gives a short nod of understanding.
“We’ll be careful. This will be a good thing. I can feel it.” His grin is mischievous. His bright blue eyes flash once again in his dark face. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the females of this planet expel a much nicer energy.”
I nod. “They do, but it is a strange energy. They’re cautious. Almost afraid. Perhaps it’s because all of the men are so aggressive. I scent their fear, but there is also an openness."
“Mm. It's warm when they pass. As if they want to be close, but also think we may hurt them."
I nod my head at his assessment of this contradiction of the human female. “It's odd.”
"It is."
I catch this energy on a nearby woman. She's standing at the corner near the street, watching us with a furrowed brow. She steps toward us and then retreats before finally edging closer and stopping a foot away. Her lips turn up in a half-smile. She lifts her hand up in greeting.
“Are you lost? Do you need help?”
She enunciates the words carefully, the way one would if they were speaking to a child. Her nervous, brown eyes shift between my brother and me.
“We are well, thank you."
Her eyebrows shoot up a second before a bright red flush spreads over her cheeks. She mumbles something and hastily walks off. When she reaches her former position at the corner, she glances back then turns away, quickly, her hand coming up to fan at her face where little clouds of air appear in front of her mouth.
“She was aroused,” Bati says, a wide, excited grin spreading across his face.
“Yes, I could tell,” I return dryly.
“Maybe there’s a chance to have some fun after all.” His eyebrows wiggle up and down, and I glance away.
"We came for the ta'ani maul, Bati, not to fool arou—“
The remainder of my words deteriorates in my throat. My elbows lock, aligning my arms at my sides as I’m assaulted by an overwhelming feeling of pleasure. It’s tender and sweet and surges through me, assertive and pure to flush out all of the negative energy of the city. I go rigid with the intensity as I’m held captive by the sheer magnificence of such an unfamiliar sensation. I focus on the source of the scent which floats from the street where a bus is just passing by.
I see her. Just the side of her face. The mud speckled window of the bus obscures most of her features, but I can see that she’s soft and delicate looking. A dark cloud of coiled hair shields me from what I know is the most beautiful face I will ever see. Her energy is a thick thread between us, stretching through the metal structure of the bus to attach itself directly to my heart. I follow the trail as the bus chugs down the street, inhaling deeply of the woman’s intoxicating scent. It isn’t until the bus has reached the end of the block that Bati’s alarmed voice seeps through the cloud of lust in my brain.
“Brother, what are you doing?”
“What?”
I shake my head as the trance recedes. I can still feel her, but she isn’t the suffocating presence of a moment ago. Bati grips my shoulder, his eyes wide, but his cheeks pulse a bright red that only my keen eyesight can detect.
I follow his gaze down to where they’re trained on my lower body. I’m hard. Extremely so. My cock strains against the thin traveling pants I wear. I can feel it thickening more than ever before, and it’s urging me to follow the presence of that woman.
I cup my crotch, shielding myself from the view of those around us, and let Bati lead me to a bench.
“Did you feel her?” My excitement is a vibrating energy beneath my skin.
Bati pushes me down and settles next to me. He glances around in search of the source of my distraction.
“The older woman?”
I shake my head. I can’t rid my mind of the purity of her energy. It feels so complete. So perfect.
“On the bus. The woman with the curled hair. It was so intense. How could you not feel it?”
“Brother, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve felt a lot of women since we arrived, they are much more open, but I didn’t experience anything just now.”
I shake my head again, trying to make sense of what I’m feeing. “It was thrilling.”
Thrilling is a good word for what I felt. The only thing I know that can compare to the purity of the experience is the connection I have to my mother, or maybe Bati, who I shared a womb with and grew with. But those are familial emotions. This is different and more. It calls to the sexual part of me and settles over me like a warm hand. It’s almost like…
“Maybe it’s the leht.”
Bati snickers as he speaks the words I’m thinking, and as soon as he does, I know he’s right.
“It is.”
My brother’s eyebrow arches up and his mouth turns down disapprovingly. “Brother, I was kidding. Everyone is so miserable here, you probably just felt her joy.”
“No. She’s my lehti. I cannot explain it, how it feels. Even now, she could be miles away, and she is still here.” I tap my chest just over my right pectoral. It’s tight, the connection between me and the woman a tangible thing. Like a string being pulled too tight. In this moment, I know that it doesn’t matter how far away she is, I will still feel her. I also know now that even if I wanted to leave, I could not.
I stare at the humans shuffling by a few feet away. They are miserable like Bati has said. It seems almost a miracle that something so pure as I felt could even exist in such a place.
“To think. My lehti resides on this planet so many galaxies away. Here, of all places.” I cannot fight the truth of it.
Bati, too, finally nods in understanding. We both know that it’s pointless to question the leht.
“The leht knows no bounds, brother. If she is meant for you, there’s no denying it.”
“I have no intention of denying it,” I return, and I feel the truth of it all the way to my first heart.
“I knew that this trip would be good.” Bati nudges my arm, and his eyebrows jump when I look at him.
“I must go to her.”
“You must, so I will leave you, brother,” he agrees rising from the bench. “Find her, but keep in mind that we do not know the ways of humans. She may not experience the leht as you do. She may not connect.”
“I know, but I have to try.”
He nods again, but I see a tinge of worry behind his assent. If I’m honest, I also wonder if this will end as it should. As it must.
“Send word when you’re returning. Should I have our parents prepare for your arrival?”
“Absolutely.”
Bati’s lips pull back and his teeth shine brightly in his dark face.
“At least you’re confident,” he jokes as he grips my shoulder in a firm squeeze. “Good luck.”
I nod, and Bati turns and cuts swiftly through the crowd, his long gait startling people out of the way. I stand and watch him make is way down the street. He’ll be back at his pod and home in an instant. While I’ll be here, trying to convince the beautiful human woman who passed me on the bus to love me.
I walk back to the curb, inhaling deeply of the thick, smoggy air. She’s still there. Her sweet presence hasn’t faded a bit. I turn in the direction where the bus disappeared and start to jog. She’s mine, and I’m not leaving without her.
Chapter 1
Kwarq
“This movie is stupid.”
My voice is too low to be detected by the humans around me, but after an hour of watching this travesty of a film, I can hold it in no longer.
I’ve been on this planet for t
wo months, and in that time, I still can’t believe how ridiculous human movies are.
I shovel a greasy handful of popcorn into my mouth while the young teenage human on screen shivers and jerks before leaping out of his skin and transforming into a large, shaggy wolf. I shake my head when the beast cranes it’s neck back and bellows a tortured howl.
I barely manage to contain my chuckle. That’s just not good science. How in the universe would someone burst out of themselves to become a wolf, only to become a human once again? Shifting is an interesting idea, but it’s not really a thing one actually sees in the universe.
This is just one example of the many interesting ideas humans entertain. Their ability to imagine the most outlandish and amazing things has been their greatest strength as a species, I’m finding, as well as their most isolating weakness. It’s made them industrious and inventive enough to make some quick leaps in basic technology. But when it comes to inter-planetary mingling, it hasn’t helped very much.
The fact is, humans have simply thought of too many absurd scenarios for any other planet’s beings to initiate contact with them safely. They’ve made themselves nervous with all the doomsday novels and movies. All of the tales of creatures sweeping from the sky armed with laser beams to slaughter them. It’s too risky, and in the end, not really worth it. What do humans have that another species would want? There really isn’t much, so most other beings simply stay away. Officially. That doesn’t mean a few beings don’t venture to Earth for sport or the rare nefarious purpose.
Nefarious. Lovely word, terrible meaning.
I love the human languages. All of them. I’ve learned that some humans believe there to be a hierarchy among the their spoken languages, that one can be better than another, but it takes an outsider like me to realize that every language is supremely fascinating in its own right. They tell so much about a people, good or bad. The word nefarious, for instance, does not exist in my culture. We do not, as Webster says, have people or intentions that are “extremely wicked or evil.” Evil is a pointless concept where I come from. I guess one could say we have evolved without the need for it.