In The Deepest Space
Chapter 6: About Freaking Time
Chapter 6: About Freaking Time
Glossary:
Mexxsssssh - Shit
ccccccicatricccccce (cicatrice) - an actual word; another name for a scar
Bella's POV ~
I stand before the silver door, ready to burst through it but scared to at the same time. He is on the other side of that door, and I don’t even know what I will begin to say to him. What should I say? What will he say?
I take a deep breath and resolve myself to the fact that this is a first for both of us. I mean, he is a fucking alien for crying out loud, and well, I’m an alien to him, too. This is new and bizarre territory, and neither of us really know how it is going to go.
Taking one more deep breath and mustering any bit of confidence I have in me, I move my hand over to the door panel and wave it in front of the “announcement” sensor. I look ahead for a second as I wait for the door to open, but it doesn’t. Now, I feel nervous. I look down at my feet and feel like I’ve been standing here a while. A little seed of rejection begins to sink in, and I decide that maybe this has all just been in my head. Maybe, he doesn’t want me at all and maybe it was just some fucking cracked out dream.
The door slides open. I have to coax myself into lifting my head up to look at him. There. Are. No. Words.
Edwaird appears to have just gotten out of the shower. He has a towel slung over his shoulder (looking very human, by the way), and his hair is wet, making it appear darker. He is wearing what appears to be lounging clothes with no shoes and no socks. Finally, I get the nerve to look him in the eyes, and when I do, the only way I can explain his expression is that he looks like he wants to consume me.
My tummy twists in nervousness and, if I’m honest, a little bit of lust. Okay, a lot of fucking lust. Edwaird steps to the side to let me walk in. The door slides shut, and he waves his hand over the locking sensor, insuring that we’ll have privacy. There is some kind of music that is playing softly, but I see neither the speakers or any kind of stereo. The only word I can find to describe the music is sensual. Both male and female sounding voices chant this “Ahn-huu-eeeen” sound and are accompanied by a variety of string instruments. I have no idea what they are; I’ve never heard anything like it.
The music soothes me a little bit, and while I’m still nervous, I’m not quite as nervous as I was when I was still staring at Edwaird’s silver door. Edwaird is over by a little pop-out mini-bar looking thing and pours something into a glass. It looks like milk and is tinged pink. I think I may throw up in my mouth a little at the thought of him drinking the Ssssoom jizz that I bathed in. He turns around holding two glasses and must notice the look on my face, because he cocks his head to the side a little.
“If that is the ‘seed of the Sssoom,’ I can’t drink that,” I advise him, nervously.
He chuckles, but it vibrates in his chest a little, almost like he growls a little bit. I think I get a little wet from it. Well hell, okay, a lot wet from it. Edwaird’s nostrils flare, and I feel my face growing crimson, remembering that he can probably smell my arousal, or taste it on my skin with his freaky ear hole receptors or something.
“Not the ssseed of the Ssssoom,
His voice is smooth, like honey dripping raw from the comb, like an invisible ribbon inside of my ribs weaving in and out, holding me together. It is deep, but not incredibly deep. Smooth, and still, there is a bit of that rumble, that growl that is able to turn me on in an instant.
Edwaird walks back over to me and holds one of the glasses out, waiting for me to accept it. His eyes never leave mine, and he waits, expectantly. I don’t want to be rude so I accept the glass from him. I lift it to my nose and sniff at the liquid. It smells sweet, almost like baked apple pie, but than again, not really. I decide to give it a try because if it smells that good, it can’t taste too horrible...right? God, I hope.
Just as I’m about to tip the glass to my lips, Edwaird reaches out and places his hand over the rim of the glass. I stop myself, and he moves my hand with the glass away from my mouth. He steps closer to me, leaving only one foot between our bodies, and he raises his glass up to my lips. I watch his eyes as he slowly begins to tip the rim of the glass, and finally, I open my mouth when I feel the room temperature liquid. Still watching him, I taste the sweet concoction.
It has a buttery texture, and as it hits all of the taste buds in my mouth, I feel different things happening in my body. Overall, I notice that I am growing warmer, and I feel like a live wire. I feel vivid and alight. Edwaird pulls the glass away and sets it on the table beside us. His eyes never leave mine, nor mine his. He then lifts his finger up to my mouth and wipes away the mustache the liquid has left behind on my upper lip. When he has wiped it all away, he raises his finger to his mouth and sucks the liquid from it, and I think I feel my knees go weak...a lot.
As I pick my glass back up from the table, he kneels down in front of me, realizing I won’t be able to reach to tip the glass to his mouth. When he kneels before me, I bring the glass to his mouth and slowly tip it. His eyes stay on mine, and I have to look away at the glass to see how much is left, then pull the glass away.
Something about both of us having consumed this drink and the fact that we offered it to each other feels so significant. I’m not sure why it should, but it does. Edwaird begins to stand up, but I put my hand on his shoulder and quickly lower myself down to my knees directly in front of him.
“
I lean closer to him and take his head in my hands to pull him down to my level. Then, I turn his head a little, and in his ear, I murmur his name, “Edwaird.”
He shivers a little and, so quickly that I barely realize it, turns to me. Our lips come together, aligning perfectly, and I feel my lips begin to tingle. I guide his head to one side a little with my hands and slide my tongue out to taste his lips. He moans against me and opens his mouth to my attentions. His breath is sweet from the drink, but there is something more to it than that. I can’t explain how he tastes, but I know it should be illegal, the way he tastes. I wonder if we will ever be able to leave this room, because I may never stop touching him, kissing him, loving him.
There’s that word again.
A whimper escapes me, and Edwaird instantly stands us up. He backs me up against the wall and pins me there, pushing his body up against mine, and I can feel all of him. All. Of. Him.
And God is goooood.
I whimper into his mouth and push my body against him a little harder. He kisses me with passion, and soon, I have to pull away, panting and out of breath. He trails kisses down my neck, then stops, turning my head to the side a little. He is again searching for the holes that I don’t have. When he turns my face back to his, he doesn’t have the same confused expression he did the first time; this one, it is more like resolved acceptance.
“Exquissssite,
His lips meet mine and touch gently; as his tongue slips out to meet mine, the ship shudders, and I sway on my feet. Edwaird captures me, steadying me, then looks at me with almost with an almost devious grin. One side of his mouth twitches up crookedly, and he winks at me.
The ship shudders once more, more gently than the last time, and Edwaird takes a step away from me. As I watch him, wondering why he has moved away from me, he slowly begins to rise up off of the floor. I open my mouth to tell him something is wrong, but then I notice that I’m moving, and it is not of my own doing.
“What’s going on?” I ask in a slightly panicked tone.
“Quarrrantine.”
He is near the wall now, and when he is able to reach it, he pushes off of it, gliding through the air towards me. He grabs onto me when he is close enough to reach my body. I’m guessing quarantine means that we have contacted the Beacon and are getting ready to get off of the ship. This loss of gravity is a fun surprise.
Edwaird slowly twirls me around in the air, and I laugh out loud, unable to contain my giddiness. He smiles at me and pulls me to him, holding the back of my head and staring deeply into my eyes.
I could swim in his eyes, the color of the rarest emerald ever mined. His finger sweeps behind my ear, where, if I were his kind, my holes would be, and I shiver at his touch. Something in me tightens from the contact behind my ears which seems kind of odd, but really, there is nothing normal about any of this.
I grab onto his shirt and pull him closer to me, and our mouths come together once again. So as not to lose him with our weightlessness, I wrap my legs around his waist, locking them behind his back. I feel his arousal, and I’m relieved that it feels the same way a human male’s would.
He attacks my mouth then, and we kiss until my lips hurt. I can’t get enough of his taste, and when I can no longer breathe, I pull away and tug at the bottom of his shirt. He moves far enough away from me to allow me to pull it up. He raises his arms, and with my weightlessness, he lifts me up by my hips a little so that I can pull the shirt all the way off. I let it go, and it floats toward the middle of the room.
I take several long moments to ogle his chest. He is slightly built but has a more languid frame than I expect. His chest is smooth, and he has defined pectorals and abs but still not like body builder ripped or anything. Across the top of his pecs, where his heart is, there is spattering of golden freckles, and a lump builds in my throat. They are familiar to me. What does that mean? He allows me time to look at him, and finally, I bend my head to his chest and kiss the freckles.
When I look back up at his face, there is something there in his eyes that I can’t quiet explain. While there is definitely a look of hunger there, there is something else as well. I dare not say love, because I could never hope that he could feel that for me so soon, but it could be very close to it.
I lightly trace the pattern of the freckles with my finger and begin to trail it up Edwaird’s body, over his collarbones, up the column of his neck, to the lobe of his ear, and finally behind and over his ear holes.
“What are these called? I ask in a whisper.
He swallows thickly before answering me in a deep voice, “Flain.”
“Flain,” I whisper as I trace around the holes, then dip my finger around the groove that curves the shell of his ear.
“
“Does that feel good, Edwaird?” I purr.
“The mossssst erogenoussss zzzzone we have,
He doesn’t have to tell me twice!
I tighten my legs around his waist once again and feel his erection press against my clothed pussy. I need him, but I don’t want to rush this. Shit, I don’t even know if our parts work the same. For a second, I think that maybe I should worry about this, then decide that if we are able to bond in this way, it has to work. It’s like animals in the wild, they don’t do it if they aren’t compatible.
Do it. Now I’m a fourteen year old pubescent boy. Stop it Bella, sexy Alien sexin you up.
Edwaird kisses my neck and tries to go lower, but I’m still wearing my shirt which gives him a little trouble. I lift his face away for a second and pull my shirt over my head. Edwaird gasps when I’m revealed to him. Yeah, that’s another thing here. No bras. They took mine away when they took my other, tattered clothes.
Not only does Edwaird get an up close and personal look at the girls, but he also sees my own little spackling of freckles across my chest that splay over my heart. Yes. It would seem we have very, very similar birthmarks. Edwaird doesn’t even stare at my tits, but my birthmark instead. After he brushes his fingers over them several times, he looks up at my face and into my eyes.
“Desssstined duo,” he announces, but his voice seems to have a bit of a question in it too.
I’m just as surprised by all of this is, but I don’t know what destined duo means. Edwaird leans down and returns with a kiss to my chest. Then he begins to lick and nibble at my skin, and it is all I can do not to moan. It feels so good, and I decide I shouldn’t hold it in. I need to let him know exactly how good he feels to me.
His mouth latches onto my nipple and gently sucks, and I practically scream out his name. Jesus God, his mouth is fucking magical. He tickles me with his tongue, making trails across my chest and over to my other nipple, but returns to the left one. He seems to favor that one, until he begins to lick and nibble down my torso.
He comes to the pants that I’m still wearing and gently tugs them down my legs. He quickly pulls them off of me and sets them free into the room, floating.
He moves to go back toward my stomach but I stop him. “Yours too. Take them off.”
He grins at me then unties his pants and pushes them off his waist and underneath his feet, where the legs twist around, doing a dance of their own in the floating room. Edwaird’s mouth resumes it’s licking, tasting, and nibbling of my skin once again, but I need him closer to me. I need to feel him against me.
I grab his arms and twist us a little. We float out into the middle of the room unintentionally, but it works because our momentum causes his back to hit the far wall. I collide into him, and this time, I can feel his rigid erection so much more, since I only have my boycut panties on and he his weird undergarment. He gasps at the sensation, and I attack his mouth once more, needing him now more than ever. I grip his hair tightly, and our tongues dance. His breath is my breath, and I whimper into his mouth. He groans loudly, and I rub up against his cock, desperate to get the friction I need.
He groans louder and moves his hand down to the top of my panties. He looks in my eyes, and I smile to let him know that I want it too. He pulls them down, and I hook my fingers into the waistband of his underwear. Rather than waiting for his permission, I pull them down quickly.
Phew, looks the same as a human male’s cock, but big. Damn big. Yum.
“Oh, God,” I mumble as we both take in the view.
I put one of my hands on his chest and the other around his neck, holding him close to me. While I keep the one hand on his neck, I trail the other hand down his torso until I feel his hip, then the wiry hair of his happy patch. Edwaird sucks in a breath, and I trace the head of his cock with my finger.
He growls loudly, and I think I could almost orgasm at just that sound. I palm the rest of him then and squeeze him gently in my hand. He loses control then and flips us around so that I am now against the wall. His fingers go between my legs as he kisses and sucks at my neck. I feel his fingers on my thigh, so close, but not yet where I need them. I feel him trace over the rectangular scar on the inside of my thigh a few times, then finally, his fingers graze the Promised-land.
He removes his mouth from my neck and looks at me. We watch each others faces as he pushes a finger inside of me, and it is all I can do to keep eye contact with him because my eyes desperately want to roll back into their sockets. I moan loudly, and he adds another finger and plunges deeper into me; I buck against his hand but, it isn’t enough.
“You. Please, just you, Edwaird,” I beg him.
He leans in and lightly kisses my lips as he pulls his fingers from me. I feel him take hold of his own dick, then feel the head of it at my entrance.
He pauses there, looking me in the eye, and says, “Misssst, mated pair.
Holy fucking rainbows! I scream at the force and pleasure. It stings a little, but as he begins to move slowly in me, the slight pain subsides. He slides in, then most of the way out, and back in. Our mouths find each other once again, and I want to crawl inside of him forever. I want him to take up residence inside of me and never ever leave.
He works me over, and I kiss his neck and trace the shell of his ear because that really affects him. I play with his cute nipples, and he pumps into me. I never want to stop, but his cock is magical. Soon, I begin to feel my tummy tighten
Edwaird is groaning loudly and whispering my name over and over again. Fuck, I am so in love with him, and whatever it is I can do for him, I will do it. And so help me God, if any woman ever looks at him the wrong way, I will rip her fucking head off. He is mine and mine only.
Edwaird speeds up his thrusting, and I think he is getting closer. I look up at his face and notice that I can see a whitish-blue halo of light around his head. All of a sudden, I begin to feel really heavy inside, like all of me is ready to burst, erupt, and I’m not sure what will be left of me. He pumps and pumps and pumps, and fuck he feels so fucking good inside of me. He grabs my leg and hitches it higher around his waist and pumps forcefully into me. I scream, tumbling into sweet, blissful, orgasmic oblivion. He pumps one more time and roars out his pleasure, continuing to pump through his orgasm until we both slump a little.
As we both try to catch our breath, Edwaird pulls me to him, holding me to his chest and running his finger around the shell of my ear. It tingles and actually makes me a slightly horny again. How the fuck is that possible? Everything about this place makes everything so raw. All of my senses are so heightened, and it is both refreshing and tiring.
I think about the alien/man that holds me to him ,and I can’t deny that I feel a sense of wholeness, completeness. The phrase “you complete me” runs through my head, and I roll my eyes at the tackiness of my own thoughts. Freaking cheesy movie lines. “You had me at hello.” Yes, he certainly did, although I’m pretty sure there was no “hello” involved. Maybe a growl. Yeah, I think there was a growl, and arm smelling. That’s my man.
So suddenly we don’t have time to prepare ourselves for it, we lose the non-gravity. There is a loud clicking sound, and we fall a couple of feet to the floor. I am mostly cushioned by Edwaird, but he grunts as he meets the floor. I quickly scramble out of his lap and whip around, crouching down in front of him to make sure he is still in one piece.
“Mexxsssssh!” he explains, and again, I have no idea what it means.
“Are you okay?” I wave my hands in front of his face frantically and pull it up to look at me so that I can see his eyes. We fell quite far.
He quickly stands up from the floor and pulls me to him, checking my body over to make sure that I’m alright. He lifts a hand and brushes it over my freckles, then leans down to kiss me there. It makes me a little breathless, and I could totally go for round two, but he pulls away.
“It isssss the time of our arrival,
He leans in and kisses me on the lips. Sweet, soft, and filled with passion. I think my knees could buckle, but he pulls away, then crouches down, now pussy-level. He grabs hold of my left leg and turns my knee out a little, running his finger over my rectangular scar.
“You mussssst educate me on the origin of thisssss ssssskin ccccccicatricccccce,
He offers me a clean shirt, and I slide it on. The shirt that I’d worn into the room was more fitted and offered a little more support for the girls, but it must have gotten a little wet from the drinks we’d sipped at earlier when we lost gravity. My pants are still dry, and I quickly slip them on just as Edwaird is pulling his own pants into place.
We are both fully dressed, and Edwaird grabs a bag from the floor, then makes his way over to me. He grabs my hand and waves his own over the door sensor, opening it, and we begin to walk toward the control room. To my surprise, we don’t go into the control room, instead we go to the huge docking room where we’d landed when I first arrived...who knows how long ago.
All of the others are there, and they notice us right away. The females all run over to me immediately, hugging me and murmuring things too quickly for me to hear and too slurred to understand anyway. Edwaird reluctantly lets go of my hand and walks over toward the men.
It’s odd. I think about how protective I had been with Edwaird earlier when Ah-lisss was around and how I almost wanted to rip her throat out, but now, I feel nothing like that. I feel no threats at all, only the weird tether I feel between Edwaird and I. Every time he moves further away from me, it’s like I feel like I need to move too, to never be too far away from him. I hope that the feeling will eventually subside because I get a little panicky when he steps onto a small pod and out of my sight.
The females seem to notice my anxiety and quickly pull me to the pod and allow me to climb in first. This pod is a little larger than the one I rode in when they found me and we all have a seat in the oval compartment. Emmeet is at the front, flying the pod with Roe-salie at his side. The rest of the group talks but my attention is focused on my feet, or should I say what is below my feet.
The bottom of the compartment that we are in is made of clear glass or something like it and as Emmeett maneuvers the pod out of the larger ship, I can see the planet below us as we lift up into the air. We don’t fly all that high, but it is high enough for me to be able to see a small part of the city before we pull away from it. I don’t understand why we aren’t going to their home, but my concentration is pulled from that as I see people walking around down below us. There are small hut-like treehouses that are settled in trees and on stilts alongside a small river.
I point to them and ask Edwaird who they are. “Do they live in the wilderness? Who are they?”
“No-maads. They rebuke ssssociety and the direction of the Queen. They musssst not enter the ccccity. Their failure to bow to the Queen affordsssss them immediate ending,” Edwaird explains to me.
I swallow thickly, wondering how I will be received in all of this and if I will be soon receiving my immediate ending. Anxiety begins to build in me once again, and Edwaird quickly wraps his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. Esssssme watches us and gives me a small “smile” when she notices that I have seen her. I give her a weak, pathetic smile in return, then look back to the foreign planet beneath me.
After maybe fifteen minutes, the pod begins to descend. Something slides over the glass beneath our feet, blocking the view below. We land gently, and everyone immediately stands up, beginning to grab the various items they’ve brought. After we are all settled, Essssme and Carlissss make the move to leave the ship first. Essssme gives me one more brief glance then exits. I see that Roe-salie and Emmeet exit next, then Jassspeer steps out. Ah-lissss turns to me and quickly gives me a hug, then Edwaird. They share a meaningful look that I don’t understand, but feel this weird emotion, like resolve, inside of me. I don’t have any idea why, but then remember my new bond with Edwaird.
What is he “resolved” about? And Ah-lissss?
Ah-lissss quickly turns away, bouncing out of the ship and toward her mate. Edwaird turns to me, pulling me close, and I look up at him. He looks nervous, scared, but also content. I know he is happy to have me here, I can feel it in my body and in this weird link we have, but I really want to know why he is nervous and scared.
He grazes the place on my chest where my freckles are again, and I will need to determine why he is so fascinated with that. Yes, he has a similar patch, but the are just freckles. Edwaird leans in and gives me a gentle kiss, then turns and pulls us out through the hatch.
He laughs at the surprise on my face from what I see before us.
Not what I was expecting.
Glossary:
Poo-hwhit - OF COURSE!!
Bella’s POV ~
I wake up with a start, alone and lying on a bed next to a huge window that provides a view of open space. The stars aren’t incredibly visible, their luminescence drowned out by the subtle light of a distant sun. Something courses through my veins that I can’t quite comprehend. I feel emotionally drained, like I’ve just dealt with the death of a close friend or parent -- Charlie. At the thought of his face, tears begin to slide down my cheeks, and I spend several moments to gently crying.
I won’t ever see my dad again - never be able to make him supper, drink a beer with him, or watch him twist that damn mustache of his -- and all I want right now, is to be comforted by him, for him to tell me that things are going to be okay, that I’m strong and I can make it through this. Because that is exactly what he would say...ever the optimist.
I don’t feel optimistic though. My tears flow more freely, and I lay back down on the bed, watching space go by as we travel to wherever it is we are going.
Sisla. Sisla is where we’re going. I have no idea what they intend to do with me when we get there.
All of a sudden, images begin to flash in my head, and I remember what happened in Edwaird’s room. Calling him BANO no longer feels right to me, which tells me that something major happened in there, but what?
We were under attack. Ah-lissss left me in Edwaird’s room. He brought me to him in his sleep. I gasp loudly. Holy shit! The dream. What the fuck was that?
At just the memory of it, my body begins to heat up, and I feel incredibly turned on. I wonder how hard it would be to get back to Edwaird’s room from here. Apart from feeling totally horny, I feel lost, like part of me has been ripped away and stowed within arm’s reach, not close enough to grasp onto it. I see more images in my head and remember it all now, remember Ah-lisss saying something about the first mating ritual sequence being completed as I hissed and spat at them in my attempt to protect my Edwaird.
My Edwaird?
Things are seriously fucked. What am I going to do? I feel a rollercoaster of emotions. One second I want to cry, the next I’m turned on, and now, I feel anger that I was pulled away from Edwaird.
I sit up from the bed, looking around to see if I can find the bathroom, when I notice there is a pile of clothing over on the couch (kidney bean shaped, of course). I untangle myself from the sheets and move to retrieve them. There are three doors for me to choose from. I begin to walk toward the first door, but I hear a buzzing from behind me. I swirl around to see what’s behind me, but see nothing. The buzz begins again, and this time, something over by the door lights up. I walk over and wave my hand over the sensor, opening it. Essssme and Ah-lissss stand there, and I step back so that they may enter.
“
Ah-lisss gets very close to me, invading my personal space, and looks in my eyes. “Yesssss, Bell-a. I am mosssst intuitive on the mattersssss of the mating ritual, but with the attack on our sssssship, I did not sssssee it. I requessssst your utmosssst forgiveness,” Ah-lisss announces in a sort of formal way, then bends over slightly and looks toward the floor. She stays this way, and Esssme watches me expectantly.
I don’t really know what to do, so I do the first thing that comes to mind, raising my hand to pat the back of Ah-lisss’ head gently. She immediately rights herself and makes a motion almost like a curtsey.
“I own much happinessss,
My gaze bounces between Esssme and Ah-lisss confused. They both seem very happy about something, and I remember what Ah-lisss said. “Wait. You said something about a mating ritual. What are you talking about?” I look at Esssme and ask, “What arrangement?”
Essssme walks us over to the kidney bean, and we sit down. “The arrangement between yoursssself and our Edwaird. For you have mated, of coursssse.”
She says nothing more, and I think about what their words mean, what they actually mean. I don’t remember having sex with Edwaird, and while I may have really really wanted to, I didn’t. I would have remembered, but then I remember the dream. I remember the way I felt and how, even now, being away from Edwaird makes me feel a little empty inside. Well, very empty inside. I open my mouth to ask them something, but nothing comes out. The words die on my tongue as I recall the colors of the dream.
A breathy sigh escapes me and beside me, Ah-lissss makes a tinkling noise. I look over at her, and ask, “What was that? Did you laugh?”
Ah-lisss tries out my word a couple of times, “Loffff. Lafffff?”
I smile, showing teeth, and they cringe. I quickly hide them behind my hands, and repeat, “Laugh. You know. Ahahahahahahahaha. Laugh. When something is funny or amusing.”
“Ah-musssing. Yessss, huhn huhn,” Esssme says, seeming to get it now.
Esssme rises from the couch, and Ah-lissss follows her over toward the door, suddenly stopping and turning back toward me. “I musssst not forget. I retrieved thissss from the uniform we disssscovered you in,” Esssme says as she reaches into a pocket of her outfit. She hands over my iPod, and I want to tackle her to shower her with kisses. I’m so happy. Finally, something from home that I can recognize.
She hands it to me, and I hug it to my chest, elated at their gift of the return of my iPod. “Thank you so so much. Truly.”
Ah-lisss cocks her head to the side, looking at the gadget I hold in my hands....cradle to my chest.
“You are very excccited to reccceive thissss,
“Oh, sure, I mean yes. This is my iPod.”
“Ayyyye-pod? We are unfamiliar with thissss technology,” Ah-lisss says, nodding her head toward my hands.
“It stores music, and then I plug my earbuds into this hole here,” I point out the hole to them and they peer into it like it holds the answers to the universe, “and the music travels to my ears, so I can hear it.”
“Poo-hwhit!” Essssme exclaims, pulling something else from her pocket. My earbuds. She hands them over to me daintily, like if she touches them for too long, they will taint her in some way.
I accept my earbuds from her and take the plug-in end of it, inserting it into the hole. Ah-lisss’ eyes brighten, and she looks simultaneously excited and nervous. I place the left bud in my ear and hold the right one out to Essssme, but she backs away quickly, as though frightened. I offer it to Ah-lisssss, and she considers it for a few moments, looking at the offering in my hand. She looks to Esssme, then back to me, and gently takes the other earbud from my fingers. We have to stand kind of close because of the length of the cord, but she follows my lead and puts the earbud in her right ear.
I mess with the volume setting on my iPod before I find a playlist to choose a song from. I chuckle a little but keep it quiet, scroll to the third song, then hit play.
“RAH, RAH, AH, AH, AH. ROMA,
I look from the doorway over to Esssssme, dumbfounded. She has her hand raised up and covering her mouth as her shoulders shake ever so slightly. “Huhn huhn. Child. It isssss a sssstrong possssibility that you will not have your deviccce returned to you. Ah-lisssss sssseems quite fond of it. What isssss itsss function?”
“It plays music,” I tell her, still slightly shocked by Ah-lisss’ reaction.
“Conccccciato. Muuuussssic. Ah-lissss will be advissssed to return your devicccce. Make your preparationssss. You may have sssssome time to yourselfff, and I will return for you sssssoon.” Esssssme turns and walks out of the room, and I’m left there standing alone, thinking about the iPod that I had for just an instant before it was taken again.
Ah-lissss’ facial expression was priceless, and I believe that I will get it back, so I don’t dwell on it. Instead, I pick the clothes back up from the bean couch and walk to the first door, waving my hand in front of the censor. I get it right the first time, finding a bathroom and wonder what the other door is, but decide I can just find out later.
I quickly get undressed and find a bristly square object that I guess could be a brush, quickly running it through my hair. There is a mirror and although I’m not sure if I want to see how horrible I look, I chance a glance anyway.
I’d been able to steal glimpses of myself here and there, but it was always in the reflection of windows, never a real mirror. Each time I was able to get a decent look at myself, it was enough to make me look away. There had been dark circles under my eyes, and I wasn’t looking so great. I guess pretty much dying and being brought back to life would do that to a person.
I barely recognize the woman that looks back at me from the mirror this time. Her skin is pinkish, she looks incredibly healthy, and her brown eyes sparkle. Her hair looks longer than I think it should. That woman is me. How can that be me?
I shake myself and turn towards the shower. There are no walls to it, only a drain on the floor; there are also no handles to turn the water on. How am I going to do this? I look around in the large space, attempting to locate some kind of a handle or button to turn the shower on. Then I see a smaller silver panel, much like the ones used to open doors in this place. I walk over to it, waving my hand in front of it, and the water immediately begins to spray out at me. Wicked!
I lean over to feel the water, but it’s quite cold. I don’t know how to make the water warmer so I examine the panel closely. I see one little red light, which must be the sensor, and nothing else. What the fuck am I going to do? I can’t take a freezing cold shower! I push on the metal plate with one hand, trying to figure something out, while I keep my other hand under the spray of the water to gauge the temperature. Nothing changes, and I’m beginning to get frustrated. I just want to relax under a hot fucking shower.
I throw one hand up in frustration, and all of a sudden, the spray on my hand gets warmer - not quite hot, but still, warmer. What did I do?
I push on it again to see if I’d hit some kind of a button or temperature sensor on the panel, but nothing works. I try to repeat my exact action the last time, finally, throwing my hand up in the air again. The water gets warmer, and I get it.
I put my hand out flat, palm up, then slowly raise it upward in front of the sensor, and the water gets much warmer, warmer, hot. BINGO! That’s fucking awesome!
I step under the spray, and unexpectedly, water starts coming at me from several different nozzles that weren’t there before. Some pulse hard, around my neck and shoulders, and some feel like rain, and still others drum out a tingly pattern on my skin.
And you know, I just can’t help it that there is one that is at eye-level with my *ahem* cooch. And you know what? It feels good. Really. Fucking. Good.
Green eyes flash in my mind along with a mess of crazy bed hair, and my hand travels south. I navigate around the 70’s bush I have from being out in space for so long without a razor and gently rub my finger across my favorite spot.
“Oh, yess. Right there.” I moan out loud. Please, God, don’t let them have video cameras or something in the bathroom.
The water continues to pulse against my pussy, and I work my finger against it, rubbing, flicking, and then pushing inside of me. I close my eyes, the water trailing over my neck and down my back, and I pretend that the caress of water belongs to my Edwaird. Yes. My Edwaird. My hand is no longer my hand in my mind; it’s his, and he pumps into me from behind me with the fingers of one hand, while his other arm wraps around my torso, fingers grazing my nipple.
In my mind, I picture Edwaird holding me, caressing me and my body begins to respond not to my hand, but to his, through my mind of course. The tension in my stomach begins to grow, and it doesn’t take long until I overflow, orgasming over his (my) fingers. I keep my eyes closed, attempting to keep him there with me in any way I can. I imagine him coming around to the front of me, looking in my eyes, and I feel like Edwaird is actually looking at me. His eyes penetrate me, and it seems like he is here with me.
I gasp and open my eyes to find that I’m still alone in the shower. I finish up my shower, not knowing where to look for soap or shampoo, so I just rinse off the best I can before stepping out of the spray. I grab an uber soft towel that is ridiculously huge, wrap it around my body, and am again faced with the shower dilemma. How the fuck do I turn it off now?
Knowing there are no buttons on the panel, I do the only thing that makes sense. Instead of raising my hand up for heat, I push my hand toward the floor in front of the sensor, reaching into it to make sure that it gets colder. It does, and I keep lowering my hand until the water turns off.
HA!
I dry myself off, quickly get dressed in the clothes they’ve given me, then use that bristly brush again. I wave my hand over the door sensor and emerge into the bedroom I slept in last night. I notice that someone was in while I was showering to make the bed, then I see my iPod resting on the kidney bean table beside it. I remember that the ring that Charlie got me for my college graduation is still in the bathroom, so I quickly go back in to retrieve it.
Although I just left the bathroom just a minute ago, when I walk back in, it is totally dry. This really doesn’t seem possible because it was soaking wet in here, since there aren’t any walls to the shower. I shake my head in disbelief and grab my ring from where I left it, returning to the bedroom.
I don’t really know what to do or where to go from here. I don’t know my way around the ship very well yet or how they would feel about me wandering around alone, so instead, I begin to move around the room, inspecting all of the little artifacts, books and paintings. The books are all printed in lettering that resembles the ancient Greek alphabet but is slightly different. There are little whistles that seem to be carved from the bone of an animal, but the most intriguing thing is that the bone is green, actually green, not dyed to look that way. I see the shell of something, and it looks like a turtle on Earth would.
I hear the buzzing sound again and quickly walk over to the door to open it. I step back, knowing it will be Essssme and Ah-lissss again. To my surprise, Roe-salie also walks into the room behind them. She is looking at me very funnily, and I want to ask her if something is wrong. My track record with Roe-salie has not been the greatest in my short time on this ship, so I hold my tongue. Still, something about her expression makes me feel like she is accepting me in her own way. I don’t know why she would do that so suddenly, because I’ve done nothing differently.
“Greetingssss, Bell-a,” Essssme and Ah-lisss say at the same time. Roe-salie says nothing, only walks past me, and as she does, her ear holes slide open. I quickly look away, not wanting to be caught staring, instead looking to Ah-lissss. She is lifting my hair up and inspecting it, then holding her finger against it like she is measuring it. Maybe it isn’t just me; maybe my hair has grown significantly since I’ve been here, or even within the last two days.
Ah-lissss notices me watching her and looks up at me, dropping the strand of hair and doing that strange “O” face she makes. I think it is her smile or something.
“
Just as I open my mouth to thank Ah-lissss for returning it to me, I hear the beat a familiar song. We turn into the open doorway of the room we met in the last time, and there is no possible way that I will be able to contain my laughter this time.
There are no words to explain the sight in front of me, and while I wonder how they extracted it from my iPod, I don’t dwell on the question for very long. I feel Roe-salie move up along side of me and lean close to my ear. I wonder if she is angry for what my music has done.
“He refuses to let us turn this off. Jasspeer wrote a program to adapt to your deviccccce and transssssferred the data over.” She nodded toward Emmeet, who was dancing on top of a table and wearing a ridiculous red scarf around his head. “My mated one hassss not felt sssso animated for ssssome time. I musssst offer you my gratitude,
This time, I don’t even try to hold in my laugh. It erupts out of me loudly, and I have to admit that as unladylike as it is (not that I’ve ever been ladylike), I snort. What makes it completely impossible for me to contain myself is that not only is Emmeet dancing - with his preggo fanny pack and all - but Carlissss is also dancing, doing what only I can describe as the Egyptian.
Having heard my laughter, Essssme looks over at me, smiling and showing her teeth (ha, they do show their teeth), then announces, “LOFF!”
I nod at her and move further into the room. Roe-salie follows behind me, and as the dancing goes on, I wander around the room, Roe-salie trailing close behind, almost like a puppy would follow his owner. What the hell? I eventually come to a stop over by the bean couch and sit down. The song is coming to an end, and Emmeet goes over to play it again. Essssme stops him.
I feel my hair being played with, realizing it is Roe-salie, and all I can wonder is what the fuck? She practically hated me before, and now, she is treating me like her Barbie doll. I remain still, letting her play with it because, if I’m honest, it feels kind of good.
Emmeet finally starts to get down from the table, but as he crouches to lower himself from the table, he farts. At the same time, everybody in the room says in some announcing kind of way, “POOF!” Now, the fact that they announce farts like this is absolutely hysterical, but even funnier is that when they say it, all of their voices take on a kind of synthesized sound.
I laugh so hard that my gut hurts. I laugh so long that I cry. When I look up, everyone is staring at me funnily. Finally and in all seriousness, Essssme says, “Loff,” again.
I rein it in, wiping my tears away, and wait for our meeting to begin. Then, I notice that Ah-lissss is sitting alone on her chair. Jasspeer is not in the room for our meeting.
“Where is Jasspeer?” I ask.
Esssme looks at Ah-lissss, then at me, and explains. “Jasspeer is in the control room. He musssst be there for we are nearing Sssisla. He mussssst communicate with our Beacon ssssso that we may return home.”
“Wait. What is the Beacon?” I ask, totally confused.
“The Beacon controlssssss the admittancccce and exxxxit to our planet. It isss the only way that we can protect our planet from outsssside attacksssss. The Beacon will only sssspeak with one soul per ship, for the protection of the ssssecret,” Essssme continues.
“What’s the secret?”
“The sssecret isss the code. It isss a ssspecial pulse or radio current that issss sssingular to our ssssship and our ssship alone. Jasssspeer mussst communitcate the messsssage with the Beacon reccccceptor to announccce who we are. Only in thisss way will we be granted admittancccce to our home.”
I nod along, processing all that she has said in my mind. With every new explanation she gives me, more questions pop up. I feel kind of guilty for giving her the third degree, but hey, I’m learning.
“So...” I look over at Ah-lissss, hoping my next question won’t bother her, “what happens if for some reason, your communicator for the ship is gone or you can’t find him?” I watch Ah-lisss, seeing her swallow thickly but saying nothing.
“There mussst always be a Beacon communicator, for if we have none, we would be losssst here, left to fall in the deepesssst space. Should we not have a communicator, we request to replaccce them.”
“And how do you do that?” I fire back.
“We would ssssend out our dissstressss ssssignal. When they ressspond, if they ressspond, we requessst a new communicator, then we go through a processs to prove whom we are,” Essssme answers, not seeming bothered by my questions.
“So, if you still have your communicator, but for some reason, they forget the signal or code or whatever, then what do you do? Can you get a new signal?” I ask, totally intrigued.
“Yessss. It isss basically the same process if we have to assssign a new communicator. The difference isss if we still have our original communicator, the signal replacccement is much fasssster.”
I nod and settle into the couch a little more, thinking over all the information and processing it as quickly as I can. If Jasspeer is already preparing to communicate, then we must be close.
“Just how close are we?” I ask, suddenly feeling a little panicky, my stomach starting to hurt a little.
Ah-lissss answers me this time. “Jasssspeer just made his first attempt at contact with the Beacon. If we calculate it in your time measssurement, we will arrive in closssse to two daaaays.”
I nod my head and relax into the couch again. The feeling in my stomach is getting worse, and I begin to worry that something is wrong. Needing to take my mind off of it, I remember I wanted to ask about Emmeet.
“Oh! Okay. So, how is it that the males are the ones who carry a child? Where I’m from, the woman are impregnated by the men and carry the child to term. Not the other way around.”
All the while this has been going on, Roe-salie has still been standing behind me and playing with my hair. I reach back to touch it, feeling some sort of twist or braid, and she slaps my hand away. I rest it back in my lap, picking at my already short fingernails and waiting for an answer.
“There issss one thing you musssst undersssstand about ussss,
Essssme leans over, their ears touching gently, and he continues. “Before we are mated, you would ssssee that as malessss, we act foolissssh. No matter what age we mate, we will not begin to have valuable wissssdom and prudencccce until the time of our full mating. All of our kind will mate, assss there issss ‘one’ for all of ussss. The meeting of our mate can take a very long time, but it will come.”
“How long did Edwaird wait?” I feel myself glowing crimson, embarrassed and slightly nervous about admitting that I am his “one.”
“Only sssslightly longer than I waited, and he isss changing fasssst. Thisss is the reasssson for hisssss need of continuoussss ressst.” Carlisss tells me, looking me in the eye.
Something about the way he explains it all makes me think of a soul mate. While it can be called a myth on Earth, it seems real for them. I give them my name for this. “Soul mate.”
Essssme looks at me. “Ssssoul mate?”
“Yes. The ‘one’ for you is a soul mate to me, but for me, or where I’m from, it doesn’t always happen.”
At my admission, there is a gasp in the room, and they shake their heads like this is a huge travesty. I shrug my shoulders, and a sharp twist goes through my gut. It passes quickly, though, and I push it aside, figuring I have gas.
“So why do I feel so protective of Edwaird? I mean, the way I was earlier, when you came to retrieve me from his room after the attack, that is not me!” I explain, hoping that they don’t think I’m some vicious bitch.
Ah-lisss answers this time. “
“How can you tell that?” I ask, feeling a little more flustered and incredibly embarrassed now.
“Our reccceptors sssense the change in you. There are waysss for usss to recognize the changessss, like sssmell and the color around you,” Ah-lisss answers again.
“Wait, so you can like, see my aura?” Okay, now I’m just in awe.
“Aura? Isss that what you call it? For usss, the name issss the Misssst, but yesss, we can sssee it,” Ah-lisss says then goes to stand over by the door. She keeps looking at me funnily, almost expectantly, and I don’t really know what to make of it.
I remember the one question that I really want to ask. “Oh! So, how exactly does the pregnancy with the male carrying the baby work?” I ask.
Essssme says something, but suddenly, I can’t hear her. I mean I can hear that she is speaking, but I can’t focus on anything except the feeling inside of me. I feel as though someone has wrapped a set of heavy chains around my waist from the inside and is slowly pulling on them, beckoning me forward. I stand up and begin to pace, feeling like a caged animal and notice that their discussion has stopped while they watch me. Roe-salie again follows me, and I growl at her. She backs off a little, going to stand over by Esssme, who whispers something to Carlissss.
Then, I hear my name being said, in a whisper.
“
I look at the intercom, but no one else seems to have noticed it. I wonder why they didn’t hear that. The sound of water rushing in my ears starts, dull, then begins to get louder, and I hear the “
Just as I’m beginning to feel so agitated and nearly torn in half by this invisible chain, I find myself next to Ah-lisss, by the door. She looks in my eyes, and all of a sudden I understand she knows exactly what is going on with me. At the same time, I realize I fucking heard Edwaird calling my name in my Goddamn head. This shit is fucking weird.
Ah-lisss gets it; she grabs my hand, pulling me from the room, and we begin to run. I run as though my life, or his, depends on it, and I pray to God that that is not the case. Everything here is so new, so it could mean anything. As we get closer to him, my body begins to feel less and less like it is going to shatter.
That is when I notice a bit of anger seeping into my thoughts and as soon as I notice it, Ah-lisssss stops abruptly and drops my hand.
“You feel it,
With that, Ah-lissss turns around and begins to run back toward the control room. I’m left facing his shiny door, finally feeling only love, devotion and total fucking lust.
Did I just say love? Oh yes, yes I did.
