by Zara Zenia
Jewel began to look forward to his company on the run almost as much as she looked forward to the run itself. They were the only time he dropped his aloof, formal attitude and started to seem like a real person. Occasionally, she could goad him into chasing her as he had that first day. The end result was always a fierce grappling match which left them both bruised and laughing.
They also, almost without exception, tended to end with Jewel pinned beneath him, a result she was starting to realize she wasn't exactly opposed to. She tried not to think too hard about it. It had been a long time since she'd been with anyone, and she wasn't about to break her dry spell with some weird squid alien. Not to mention, who knew what kind of weird space STDs he might have or if their genitalia was even compatible. It was one big disappointment waiting to happen, she told herself. But every time he caught her and held on just a little longer than necessary or squeezed her just a little bit closer to him than he had to, she felt an embarrassing flutter of hope.
"I'm going to miss this when I go back to Earth," Jewel said on a whim one day. After an incredibly frustrating round of elementary-level puzzles, Kay had chased Jewel through five habitat modules before he'd caught her, ending their daily exercise in a brief struggle among the white-barked trees of a night time forest. It wasn't truly night, Jewel noticed.
The sun of this planet was just so distant that even during the day, the sky was blue-black and all the stars visible. She couldn't fathom how it was maintaining enough heat to keep this forest alive. She and Kay lay side by side, collapsed in the clover-like grass, staring up at the stars.
"Why are you so eager to return there?" Kay asked. "I know you do not have any family or offspring to return to."
"Gee, thanks for the reminder," she said bitterly. "It isn't about family. Earth is my home. It's where I'm supposed to be."
"Why?" Kay asked. "What is keeping you there?"
Jewel searched for an answer and found herself struggling to come up with anything.
"It's just . . . I'm human," she said. "That's just where I belong."
Kay shrugged, clearly not understanding.
"If that is what makes you happy," he said.
Jewel looked up at the stars above her, stars she'd never seen before in a sky entirely different from the one she'd grown up beneath. She glanced at Kay, his strange, handsome features gilded silver by starlight.
"It doesn't, though," she admitted. "It doesn't make me happy."
He turned his head to meet her gaze but said nothing.
"I don't remember the last time I was really happy," she admitted. "Probably when I finished Basic. Maybe. At least I thought I was going somewhere."
"Where did you want to go?" he asked.
"I don't know." She shrugged, not sure why she was telling him this, embarrassed at herself but unable to stop. "Anywhere. As long as it was away from where I grew up. I wanted to see the world, you know?”
“It is expected for young Ra’hom to travel when they reach adulthood,” Kay said with a nod. “It is where many of us attain our first real accomplishments and determine the paths of our lives. Art, military, scholarship . . .”
“I was going to go to college at first,” Jewel said with a shrug, “I was thinking anthropology maybe. But when my mom had her stroke, I stopped going to class. My dad needed help taking care of her, and then I got a job because of the medical bills . . .”
“Bills?” Kay frowned.
“Oh, yeah, my species makes you pay for help when you get sick,” Jewel explained. “Stupid, right?”
“But that is exploitation,” Kay said, wrinkling his nose in confusion. “Who would not pay or do anything in their power if they or a loved one were sick or dying? It is not as though you could just say no to treatment.”
“My mom did.” Jewel’s voice was even, casual, her expression carefully neutral. If she could keep her reactions minimal, what had happened couldn’t touch her. “She was already in bad shape and we couldn’t afford the experimental treatments that might have made her better. We were shelling out more than we had just to get a few more months while she slipped further and further away. In the end, she just . . . put a stop to it.”
“I am sorry,” Kay said with a frown. She shrugged like it meant nothing, but the corners of her mouth pulled down involuntarily, her eyes stinging. She cleared her throat.
“Anyway, my grades tanked,” she said. “So there went the scholarships I was counting on. And I sure as hell couldn't afford tuition. So I joined the army. They said they'd pay for my degree and I'd get to travel in the meantime, but—"
She paused, souring at the unpleasant memories.
"Well, that crashed and burned," she finished anticlimactically. "I washed out. No degree, no career. No anything. After a while, even if I could have afforded school, it just seemed . . . pointless. I tried, I really did. It just wasn’t enough, I guess."
"I was also a part of the military," Kay said after a moment. "The Ra'hom are unified, but we still maintain certain cultural institutions of our traditional nation states as a way of remembering our heritage. The Au'ele Duelists Legion is an ancient and proud organization. They did not emphasize fighting as a unit as your military does. Every duelist was independent, devoting themselves to the mastery of their own skills, their own technique, their own glory. You could not defeat the Duelists Legion with any one strategy because no single man had the same strengths or weaknesses."
"Sounds like a mess," Jewel said. "I think fighting together is probably better."
"And yet, we were undefeated," Kay replied a bit smugly. "I myself took prize after prize in more tournaments and battles than I could count."
"So what happened?" Jewel asked. "Why are you here instead of out dueling?"
Kay was silent for so long Jewel started to worry she'd really upset him. She reached for his hand, but he pulled away.
"I washed out," he said, repeating her words. "Crashed and burned."
"I'm sorry," Jewel said, for once sincere.
"It was no one's fault but my own," Kay said, and she could almost feel his walls going up again as he retreated to the safety of aloof disregard. He got to his feet, dusting the clover from his suit and offering her a hand.
"Let us return," he said. "I have something to show you."
Chapter 8
He led her out of the habitat module, but instead of heading to the air channel in the center of the room, he turned right to follow the line of habitats.
"Aren't we going back to the guest room?" Jewel asked.
"No," Kay replied. "The Earth habitat. I have something to show you."
"What is it?" she asked as he opened the Earth habitat door in the cliffside wall and led her inside.
"I have been studying the data collected from Earth," he said. "Not just your file, but the data collected on your species, your dwellings, your aesthetic preferences."
"My aesthetic preferences," Jewel repeated with a snort. "What does that mean?"
Kay led her away from the cliff and through the trees toward the central meadow.
"I was endeavoring to learn about human homes," Kay said as they walked. "It was difficult. The computer gathers millions of exabytes of data in an instant as it passes a life-bearing planet, but it can take decades to parse all that raw data into a usable form. Some of the most basic information about your species is only just becoming available to examine. You must remember the computer is also processing data from all the other planets we have visited as well. Priority was put on your essential biology so that the ship could create your habitat and see to your basic care and feeding, but we will both be long dead before all the data about Earth is archived."
"Jeez, why so long?" Jewel asked. "I mean, I know it's doing multiple planets at once, but you would think it would be built to handle that a little faster."
"Well, Earth is also unusual for a number of reasons," Kay said with a shrug. "All of which increase the amount of data to process and the time it will ta
ke to do so. For instance, the fact that humans, intelligent life, evolved on it means a significant portion of the data is reconstructing the history and growth of your specific species. Then there is the frankly staggering amount of biodiversity on your planet. Most planets we encounter are much further along in their life cycle and only have a relative handful of major species left. As a planet matures, species die out, simplify, and specialize, especially as the environment changes or becomes harsher as the planet changes. We are used to very biologically simple worlds where a biome may have only five or ten highly resilient, highly specialized species keeping things in balance. A planet like yours, with billions of species and new ones evolving at incredible speed while old ones adapt and change continuously, with biomes supported by thousands or millions of plant and animal species—it is frankly astounding. Your planet is a window into the youth of life-bearing planets across the universe. Even without humans, the discovery of Earth would change Ra'hom science. Earth is, to use a human word, a miracle."
"Wow," Jewel said, blinking in surprise at his undisguised wonder. "But what does that have to do with what you want to show me?"
He cleared his throat.
"I was sidetracked," he admitted. "I was trying to say that I have been studying as much about your species as is available, especially about your preference in homes. I wanted to understand what you liked."
Jewel smiled, oddly touched by the sincerity in his voice.
"Why?" she asked.
"So that I could make this."
They reached the edge of the tree line and stepped into the central meadow, and Jewel saw it at once. In the center of the Earth habitat, a cabin had appeared.
It was more perfect than it had any right to be. It looked like Kay had plucked it right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. With its peaked roof and stonework front, down to the sunflowers blooming by its front step, it looked right out of a fairytale. Jewel didn't speak, just hurried toward it, half expecting it to evaporate like a mirage.
But the quaint round door with its colored glass pane opened at her touch into a cozy, comfortable home. The floors were real hardwood and the walls were warm, earthy yellows and greens. Everything, from the sunny bay window casting bars of light across the wooden kitchen table to the wide bed overloaded with pillows, to the little iron gated garden out back, was absolutely perfect.
"I hope it is all right," Kay said, following her as she explored. "My research really was extensive. I have to admit I do not even know what most of these objects are for. Honestly, what does this do?"
He gestured warily at a teapot in the kitchen hutch. By way of answering, Jewel grabbed him by the front of his robes and dragged him down into a sudden and startling kiss. His lips were cool and his skin tasted like raspberries, fortunately without the bitter battery acid tang of blood she'd experienced when she'd bitten him before. He didn't react or return the kiss, stiff and confused in her arms. She let him go after a moment, her heart racing and her face flushed with embarrassment at her foolishness.
"Thank you," she said, pulling away, eyes averted. "Really."
"Wait," he said, catching her by the hand. Not tightly—she could have pulled away. But she didn't. "Why did you do that?"
"Are you telling me that in all of your research, you never found out what a kiss was?" she teased him half-heartedly, humiliated and more or less hoping that he would just leave.
"Of course I did," he said, squeezing her hand tighter. "I am aware of your species's reproductive habits. I just want to know why you did it to me."
Jewel forced a laugh, still not looking at him.
"As usual," she muttered, "you know everything about me and I don't know anything about you. Ra'hom probably don't do anything like that, right?"
She was hoping to change the subject. They just wouldn't talk about it. It would be like it never happened. But Kay was gently pulling her closer, never hard enough that she couldn't get away if she wanted to, but with a kind of timid insistence, almost like he was begging her.
"We don't," he said softly as she let him draw her nearer, her heart fluttering in her chest like a panicked bird. "But we do something similar. May I show you?"
When she nodded, half hoping, half afraid, he put his arms around her and brought his cheek to hers, at first just barely brushing against her, then nuzzling closer, his arms tightening. He rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closed, so close that she could feel his breath. His expression was oddly strained, and when he breathed in, a long sigh, it shuddered in his chest, as though after a long suffocation he could, at last, breathe deeply.
The tendrils of his hair curled around her face, and his hand cradled the back of her neck, his every effort seeming to be to hold her closer, to be more fully pressed against her. Jewel, her eyes open, watched him in strange curiosity, caught between her embarrassment and desire. Slowly, she put her arms around him and saw him shiver as her hands slid down his back.
He's been alone on this ship, she realized. God knows for how long. How long has it been since anyone touched you?
Her self-control crumbled like a foundation of sand, and she kissed him again. He returned it now, clumsy but earnest, hungry to learn and to be near her. Her hands wandered over him, pushing beneath his robes to explore his skin. He made a sound, almost like a purr but dryer, almost an insect chirp as he suddenly pulled her up into his arms, lifting her off the ground so that he wouldn't have to bend to kiss her. Jewel locked her legs around him, practically the full length of her body against him as they kissed, and it still wasn't enough for either of them.
He carried her to the nearest flat surface, the kitchen table, and laid her down in the sunlight as he tugged off her clothing, distracted by his equal eagerness to shed his own. She helped him, staring without shame, fingers tracing the pattern of stripes that ran across his ribs and over his hips. He looked at her with equal wonder, his touch not shy as he explored.
His large, cool hands found her sex, his fingers delicate and cautious at first until she caught his wrist, guiding him to press harder, to spread her lips and stroke her, spreading moisture up, to roll his thumb against her clit. She bit her lip to hold back a moan as he leaned over her, his forehead still pressed to her temple, then dipping lower to scrape sharp teeth against her throat, making her gasp. As she opened to him, he slipped fingers within her, thumb still working over her need as he tested the heat within her.
Pleasure raced electric through her as she wrapped her arms around him, hips arching off the table into his touch. Hearing her gasps and whimpers of orgasm, he pressed kisses to her jaw and throat as though he meant to soothe her.
She grabbed his hand to stop him from moving over her overstimulated nerves. She was ready for more, and she opened her eyes, heavy and bright with lust, hoping he was ready to give it to her. He shifted back reluctantly, and Jewel's eyes dropped at last to the place between his legs.
It wasn't too different from what she was used to. She'd been half afraid she wouldn't recognize it, let alone know what to do with it. But as he moved between her legs and let it drop against her thigh, she swallowed hard, intimidated by the size, which was more than proportionate to the massive alien. It was not a smooth shaft, thankfully, but tapered and ridged. She felt herself clench in anticipation. Different as it was, she wanted it. Wanted him.
"I shouldn't," he said, breathless, and she could hear the telepathic doubling throwing a weight of meaning behind the words, heavy with shame and guilt. He thought he was abusing her, taking advantage. She reached up to touch his cheek, and his eyes closed, moving into her hand as though he couldn't help it.
"I want you," she said, and she hoped the translator loaded that with as much meaning as it had his. There was nothing to be ashamed of here.
He kissed her, really kissed her this time, initiating it himself, and it meant more than the telepathic translator could ever say about how desperately he needed her. She felt his lips against her and the slow slide of him begi
nning to fill her, his movements careful and shallow as she adjusted to him. She groaned, tingles running across her skin as she felt herself spreading open. He grew thicker the deeper he entered her, and the gradual feeling of fullness was delicious.
She covered her mouth with her hand, her breath rapid and her pulse fluttering in her walls as he slowly pressed his way into her, clearly intent on filling her completely. She shifted to put her ankles over his shoulders, letting him get deeper as she gripped the edge of the table to hold herself in place. By the time she felt his hips against the back of her thighs, she was shaking, certain she couldn't take even a millimeter more. He simply stayed there for a moment, leaning over her, his face buried in her throat, her knees practically folded to her chest, both of them catching their breath, getting used to the feeling of one another and relishing in the intimacy of being so close.
And then he moved, sliding slowly out of her all the way to the tip, leaving her feeling hollow and cold, until he crashed into her again all at once, surging forward so suddenly her back rose off the table and she shouted, pleasure like lightning running up her spine. Kay babbled something in his purring, rolling language, and the translator struggled to parse it as an apology, an inquiry if she was all right, and a string of breathless expletives all at once.
"Again," was her only answer, and he was quick to oblige, striking hard enough to rock the table and make her see stars. She hung on to him, swearing and shouting praise as he drove into her, at first in long, powerful strokes. Soon, he increased the pace to her undisguised appreciation, short, hard strokes that built pleasure like a rising drumbeat in her chest. She moved her hips in time, a primal music that, even with their disparate species, they both knew well.
Her voice rose as the pleasure spiked, and she heard him as well, animal growls and moans as his pace became more erratic and desperate. One hand was holding her thigh, gripping tight enough to bruise, not that she cared. The other slammed down on the surface of the table, and she saw his unexpected claws carving into the wood with a new appreciation for the gentleness and control he was showing elsewhere. Then he was driving deeply, and she couldn't think of anything else except how it felt like the top of her head was about to fly away.