by Olivia Myers
Lee 5 uttered something in their language, which made them relax a bit. To Kimi's surprise, some of the women parted, revealing a Mongarian man who looked like their chief. He had the same armor, high forehead, square jaws, brawny physique, and his dark hair was also pulled back in a ponytail. But around his neck were various leather necklaces with pendants made of bones. He was obviously a leader.
The Mongarian motioned for them to follow. Kimi cowered behind Lee 5 as they walked behind the leader.
They were led to the biggest building, where there were more Mongarian men waiting. Kimi's heartbeat raced faster, knowing that they might never get out alive. Nevertheless, she had no choice but to trust Lee 5.
"I heard of what you did to several of our women," the chief said in a brusque voice.
Kimi was surprised to hear him speak their language. Obviously he was a lot more learned and civilized.
"I had no choice," Lee 5 defended. "We were under attack and they would not listen to reason."
"I understand," he answered, nodding his head thoughtfully. Kimi was again taken aback by his quick concurrence. "Those were young female fighters, more impatient and always eager for combat. I am thankful that you did not kill them."
"You are welcome," Lee 5 said.
"So why did you humans come back?" the chief then demanded. "We have occupied this part of Planet Earth for the last eight Earth-years. More of our people are arriving as the earth is healing. We don't want humans reclaiming the planet after being gone for so long. You cannot colonize here."
Kimi felt her eyes widen in fright. But Lee 5 did not show any emotion. Instead he simply replied, "I understand. We are only here to study the flora and take samples so we can use them in developing more plants back in Planet Venora where humans now reside. We want to come up with plant species that can provide us with greater health and nutrition."
He was definitely good at lying. What he said was only half-true. But of course, they could not very well admit that the ultimate reason for their special mission was to see if they could live again on Earth.
The chief Mongarian was silent for a long time. Then he shifted his eyes to Kimi and seemed to size her up. "Who is this woman?"
Instead of answering, Lee 5 turned to Kimi and seemed to urge her to speak up.
Kimi straightened and tried to be brave. But when she spoke, her voice faltered a bit. "I'm Kimi, a botanist."
"I see," the chief said. "Okay, you can do your tests, take your samples, or do whatever you want with the plants. Just don't destroy them or do damage to this planet."
"I, uh, promise," Kimi said, feeling relieved.
"However…"
Kimi and Lee 5 both stiffened, awaiting the conditions that were bound to come.
"However… I will be the one to accompany you and watch over your every move," he emphasized, looking pointedly at Kimi.
Lee 5 began to protest, but the chief raised his hand to quiet him. "That is my only condition."
Kimi felt dread spreading across her body. Now this certainly wasn't going as planned. She couldn't possibly go off with this strange, creepy man on her own!
"Yes, okay," Lee 5 finally agreed.
"What?" Kimi yelled, facing him angrily.
Lee 5 ignored her and spoke to the chief. "She has all the necessary materials now. She can go with you, and we’ll leave as soon as she is done."
Kimi wanted to slap him right then and there. After the intimate moments they had shared, he wasn't even concerned about her. He gave in without even consulting her or taking her feelings into consideration. Besides, it was his duty to protect her, too.
“Let us go,” the chief said.
After just a few minutes, Kimi found herself walking in the woodland again. After a while, she forgot about the Mongarian who had come with her. She simply savored the natural beauty of the planet—the way the leaves glistened under the radiating sunlight, the feeling of the cool mountain breeze blowing on her face, the raw exquisiteness of every new plant she set her eyes on.
With gloves on, she carefully inspected various plants and took her time to paint some with a special formulation. She would dip a thin, miniature brush into a small bottle filled with the formula and then coat the leaves, flowers, and stems of different vegetation. She would then wait a few seconds for the color or texture to change, then would record them through the gadget strapped to her wrist. She also took pictures. Based on the results, she prudently chose which samples to place in her plastic containers.
The chief quietly watched on, not disturbing her. She soon got caught up in the work she loved so much. After all, she was living her dream of being on Earth. Nothing should ruin it for her, not even the presence of menacing Mongarians.
When she was done, she straightened up stiffly and turned around to face the alien she was with. He gave her a wide grin, which made her tremble. It was rather better to see him glowering at her instead of smiling. "You seem really good at this," he commented.
She only nodded. "Thank you. Can I go back to the ship now?"
"You know the way?" he asked, stepping closer.
Kimi stepped back cautiously, her heart pounding against her ribcage. "I can figure it out. Thanks."
"I think it's best that you and I get to know each other first," he suggested slyly.
"I don't think so," Kimi replied in a harsh tone.
"Strong and brave," he remarked with a laugh. "I like that."
Kimi's eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area, trying to decide where she should run to. But before she could even make a move, the chief Mongarian had lunged at her and knocked her to the ground.
"Get off me!" Kimi screamed, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He started licking her face and neck, his thick saliva dripping across her skin. His weight restrained her from being able to move, while he tore at her clothes.
Kimi cried, pushing with all her might. He clapped one hand over her mouth, muffling her screams and protests. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
Then all of a sudden, the Mongarian was lifted up in the air. His face went from an expression of craving to one of shock and fear. He hovered above her for a few seconds before he was thrown far away. She turned her head and saw him crash into the trunk of a tree.
In a swift motion, she got to her feet just in time to see Lee 5 grabbing the chief and trying to squeeze the life out of him with his metal arms. The chief’s eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets, but he was able to wrestle back. They scuffled some more, before Kimi noticed a small army of Mongarians in the distance.
"They're coming, Lee!" she cried out in panic.
Lee 5 gave the chief a forceful kick with his metal leg, causing the alien to bend over in pain. Kimi thought she heard the sickening sound of bones cracking, but she didn’t have time to think about it. Lee 5 dragged her away from the onslaught of Mongarians.
Kimi ran as fast she could. She couldn’t even feel her legs anymore. Meanwhile, Lee 5 ran mostly backward and sideways after her, all the while shooting at the enemies.
Kimi called out a voice command to the small tablet strapped to her waist. A hologram of the area's map came out, showing a blinking light of where they were currently at. Quickly she was able to determine the direction they had to take to get back to the ship. They were only a kilometer away!
Dashing through the trees and dodging branches along the way, she finally saw the lustrous exterior of their space ship. As they got nearer, she saw their teammates rushing forward with their own guns, shooting at the Mongarians too.
Her legs were about to give way any time, but giving up wasn’t an option, and she pushed herself to run faster. A few feet before the ship, she collapsed to the ground. Raissa and Lia rushed forward to help her up and carry her to the ship while the others continued to battle with the Mongarians. There were plenty of both the male and female aliens advancing on them.
"Retreat!" Lee 5 yelled as he grabbed something from one of his pockets and threw it in the air towa
rd the Mongarians. Ned and Tim ran back to the ship with Lee 5 as the bomb went off with a piercing explosion.
Everybody piled into the ship. Raissa and Lia hit the button to close the entrance immediately just as two huge Mongarian women dove toward it. One of their hands got caught in the door, and the Mongarian yelled in pain and cursed in their odd language. Lee 5 kicked the hand away, and finally the door was fully closed.
Tim didn’t waste any time as more Mongarians seemed to pound on the door from the outside. He hurried to the cockpit and prepared to take off.
In just two minutes, the ship began moving upward. And when they were finally gliding away from the earth's surface, Kimi slumped forward, finally feeling like she could relax again.
***
Kimi spread out the samples she had gotten on the laboratory table. "Mission accomplished!" she declared happily.
Everybody else was gathered around the table. They all cheered and clapped, hugging one another. Only Lee 5 maintained his usual emotionless face, simply nodding at the others in the team to express his gratitude and support.
When the cyborg's eyes met Kimi's, they lingered a little bit longer. She almost swore there was some sort of twinkle in them, but she couldn't be too sure. At that moment, she wondered if he had saved her from the chief Mongarian because it was his job or because he was starting to care about her.
He then averted his eyes quickly. Impossible, she told herself silently. Once an impassive cyborg, always an impassive cyborg. He is not capable of romantic feelings, much less for someone like me!
"This calls for a celebration!" Raissa declared, causing cheers to erupt again. She went over to one of the steel cabinets in the lab and took out a bottle of champagne.
"Hey, how did that….?" Lia was not able to finish her question.
"I hid it here," Raissa interrupted. "I knew we were going to be successful with our mission."
Everybody got busy passing around glasses and drinking champagne. Somebody unearthed chocolate-flavored protein bars from the pantry. Lia clicked on the hologram computer and played upbeat music to add to the festive mood.
"We could have gotten more samples if not for those pesky Mongarians," Raissa complained. "But still, Kimi did a great job! We can study these samples starting tomorrow so that we can be ready with our reports by the time we get back."
"Cheers!" Ned exclaimed, raising his glass in the air.
Everybody else, except for Lee 5, did the same. After a short while, Kimi noticed him slipping away from the party. She went outside to look for him in the bedroom, but he wasn't there.
She went to the bathroom to wash her face because she was feeling quite tipsy already. But she found that it was locked. Her heartbeat quickened as she imagined her cyborg lover inside, stark naked and eager to please her and be satisfied too.
Suddenly, the bathroom door opened and a hand grabbed her and pulled her inside. He was in his pants only and had apparently just taken a shower. Kimi felt the familiar burning desire spreading across her whole body as she stared at his bare chest and gleaming metal arms. She breathed in his delicious scent as he leaned forward to kiss her.
It started out as a gentle kiss and she relished the softness of his lips. The kiss soon deepened, their bodies heating up together and bringing them closer. In a minute, he had taken off all her clothes, and his pants, too. He pressed against her, his lips and tongue wildly playing with hers.
The music from the laboratory continued to blare, but they were both oblivious to it as they openly moaned and groaned in great pleasure. He inserted two fingers into her and stroked them in and out of her muscled walls. She cried out with every thrust, but her voice got lost in the loud music.
Then in the cramped space of the bathroom, Lee 5 lifted her with his strong hands and spread out her legs. He penetrated her with his rigid manhood and they both went adrift in invisible clouds of sensuality. Every sound of pleasure that escaped her lips made him thrust deeper and stronger. Together they climbed to the peak, exploding in ecstasy.
Fully spent, Kimi wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his shoulder. Without releasing her, he brushed aside the strands of her long brown hair and then kissed the top of her forehead tenderly.
Kimi smiled, not knowing what to make of his tenderness. All she wanted was to embrace the team's victory and enjoy her remaining days flying through the galaxy with this sexy, handsome cyborg who excited her like no man had ever done before.
The End
Pleasure In the Stars
Natalie looked at her work friends, Jackie and Moona, and sighed as she gratefully let her suitcase bounce heavily onto the hotel bed. "My problem, you see, is that I'm shy."
"You, shy. Really?" Jackie retorted, tossing her blond curls. "Would someone who's supposed to be shy just up and claim the only bed with a magnificent view? I was the one who reserved this gorgeous suite, at the most luxurious hotel on the shore, in the most exquisite mecca of delight in this arm of the galaxy. I think I deserve the window bed at least. Look at the ocean!"
Natalie glanced out at the vast green water tinted with pink, but kept coming back to the curving, elegant lines of the domed and arched buildings on the shoreline—hotels, restaurants, theaters, and shopping. Unlike at home, here it was the man-made tourist attractions, not the natural surroundings, that drew the eye.
"Why you and not me?" Moona interjected, collapsing on the middle bed and stretching, a big smile on her wide lips. "I made the flight reservations. Do you know how hard it is to get comfortable seats on any ship headed this way at this time of year? It's right in the middle of the big pleasure season."
"New Saigon doesn't have a pleasure season," Natalie said automatically. "It's a city of perpetual pleasure, so I've heard. That's why it's always hard to book reservations here."
"Wow, you were serious that you haven't ever been here before, weren't you?" Moona asked.
Natalie shook her head and tried not to blush. It wasn’t her fault if she wasn’t particularly well-traveled. She pried open her suitcase and then stopped and stared. Had she really bought those swimsuits on some kind of crazy, impulsive shopping spree? Those dresses? What had she been thinking she was going to do while on vacation with her work friends? She wouldn't reveal that kind of skin to her mother. What made her think she could bring herself to reveal it to a bunch of holiday-goers she didn't even know?
Seeming not to notice Natalie’s blushes or discomfort, Moona continued, "Gosh, it seems like you've been working at the travel agency for ages, but it actually hasn’t been that long. Either way, I thought you'd have come here already at least once in your life. Everyone who's got even the slightest curiosity about sex or men, or men or sex, or even just sex, or just men, or women, or..."
"Moona!" Jackie said.
Moona winked. "Everyone just has to visit. I mean, it's New Saigon."
Jackie snorted. "Natalie's never come here at all—in any sense of the word! Remember? That's why we had to drag her here and why she refused to help with anything."
"I packed my own suitcase," Natalie said with dignity. She didn’t want to argue with them, but she doubted her friends would have allowed her to plan much if she’d offered. They seemed fully convinced that they knew this place so well they could plan it in their sleep.
"Only because I stood right over you until you did—and did it right!" Moona chided. "You have no idea how lucky you are, girl. We've managed to squeeze into this place during the Pleasure-Love Festival."
"Pleasure-Love Festival?" A laugh burst out of Natalie, loosening up the tightness in her gut that had been a constant companion since they'd left their home planet three days ago. "You're joking. What do they need a festival for when they're basically a city based on the industry of hedonism?"
"It's no joke. I suspect that's why the agency offered to pay for this trip. Bet you anything when we get back, they'll drill us about the whole experience at a luxury sex hotel and then have us put together a new festiv
al package."
To Natalie's amazement, Jackie proceeded to shimmy into a transparent plastic pant suit that showed off her lack of underwear. "People come from star systems all around just to experience it for themselves. You must be utterly provincial if you haven't heard the legend, girl. How does it go? If you hook up with someone of a different race at the Pleasure-Love Festival and have the absolute best sex in your life, you will fall in love."
"That's ridiculous. Why another race? Why here?"
"Well, of course it's ridiculous, but it's thrilling, too, isn't it?" Moona sighed. "Human guys are sweet, but some of these alien races are knock-your-boots-off orgasmic! Mmm. You've got to try out the bed, Nat. It's unbelievably soft."
Natalie blinked. In the almost eleven months she'd known her, Moona, who was much older than either Jackie or Natalie, had never struck her as a sensualist, but now she stretched her limbs on the velvet duvet, her slightly plump, middle-aged body clearly enjoying every movement as it sank deliciously into the plush bed. Natalie envied her the ability to abandon herself like that. Sighing again, she wondered which pocket of her overnight kit held her toothbrush.
Jackie looked at her reflection in the window as she applied makeup to her small, cupid's-bow lips. "It's not ridiculous at all. I've been here at least five times and each time, I have the best sex in my life and I fall in love. Yummy love."
"That's not love! And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy," Natalie pointed out earnestly. "If the sex is that good, of course you're going to convince yourself you're in love."
"Self or not, that prophecy's a fulfilling one, all right." Jackie smiled at her reflection. "Ready to go, girls?"
"Go! We just got here!" Natalie gasped. "I need to unpack. Brush my teeth. Shower. Rest and relax for a while." Soak in the fact that I'm really here, in a city known for decadence. Me, Natalie Ellen Hicklepat. And somehow I need to come to terms with the surreal fact that I let these fun-loving ladies talk me into this trip.
"The flight wasn't that tiring, silly. You'd think you were as old as me." Moona jumped up and began tearing through her suitcase. "Where did I put that gold strapless....Hey, did you see those three built Jargottes watching us from the back of the ship? The gray one really thought you were cute, Natalie. He kept winking at you."