18. Chapter 18
Mazorium
After a frustrating rotation, all I wanted when I walked back into the ship was to sit down with Mika and enjoy a hot mug of tea. I’d spent all day dealing with one problem after another while making no progress.
I knew rotations like this happened. There were always time periods where I wouldn’t be able to do assigned tasks. I had No Progress rotations built into the proposed work schedule I submitted with my contract, which meant I was still on track to finish within the three solar time span.
That didn’t make today any less disappointing.
It didn’t help that a storm system had moved over our area that morning.
It hadn’t rained yet, but the air was cold and damp.
A nasty wind had developed a few marks earlier that was bad enough to force me to erect shielding to keep my bots sheltered.
It took a lot to make a Talin hypothermic, but the low temperature and damp air wasn’t pleasant.
Rain began falling as I stepped into the ship, making me doubly glad I’d stopped early.
The outer hatch shut and the inner hatch opened, bathing me in warm air.
Due to the more delicate humans I cared for, I kept the ambient temperature higher than I used to.
I’d become accustomed to the cozier temperature and found it comforting.
I’d been living on this ship for many solars.
Until Mika and Nadia it never felt like home.
I didn’t expect to find Mika waiting for me at the entrance. She looked excited but also a little apprehensive. “Mika?”
“Are you done working for the day?” she asked.
“I was planning to do a few things in the lab, but that can wait,” I said. “Do you need me?”
A beautiful smile lit up her eyes. “I don’t need you, but I want you. I know you’ve been courting me as you think a human would do, but we humans don’t always follow our own rules or customs. We like to try out new things, so I thought I’d create our next date.”
I wanted her to be happy, but this made me worried that all the things I’d done were inadequate. “You don’t like the activities I’ve planned out for us?”
“I’ve loved all of them!” she assured me, putting a hand to her chest over her heart.
I’d come to learn she did this gesture when she wanted to convey sincerity.
“The picnic near the waterfall, the trip to the beach with all the beautiful shells, and watching the meteor shower were all perfect. But I feel like you’ve been doing everything.
I haven't contributed anything. I wanted to do something for you.”
Her explanation made my worries disappear. “Your enjoyment is everything to me. There’s nothing else you need to do.”
“Not even if I recreated a traditional mating ritual from Old Earth?” she asked with a look of excitement.
I was intrigued. “I would enjoy participating in your mating ritual. What do I need to do?”
She held out her hand, and I wrapped mine around her smaller, delicate one.
She led me through the ship to the room where all the outside equipment had been stored during our trip here.
I’d emptied out the room to set up the bot stations outside, but now there were three rows of chairs facing a wall.
There was a box sitting on one of the chairs in the first row and a small stack of fluffy blankets.
I looked around and found Nadia in her little movable bed, sound asleep tucked away in a corner.
“Come sit here,” Mika said, pulling me to the center row and indicating the two seats with pillows that didn’t have any barrier, such as an armrest, between them. I sat where she pointed and she sat next to me. Then she grabbed an information square from an empty seat in front of us.
The room’s lights dimmed, and the wall in front of us lit up as if it was a display. I looked behind me to find an image-caster mounted to the opposite wall.
“Normally we’d watch something called a movie from Old Earth,” she explained. “Mom said her grandparents would do it before they left Old Earth. I didn’t have any movies, but I found the first episode of my favorite Ugarian soap opera for us to watch.”
“What’s a soap opera?” I asked. It made sense to do something pleasant and recreational together, but I was surprised she’d want to engage in an activity that would pull our attention away from each other.
“Sorry, that must've been translated literally. It’s an Old Earth term that meant an episodic drama, usually containing many characters and often with complex interwoven story lines.”
“Oh, you mean an extended drama,” I said. “We have some verbal ones based on our histories that are a tradition to listen to every year. They're very moving.”
“How interesting,” she said. “I’d like to listen to them when you want to.”
“I have copies of several different versions," I said, eager to share my species’ dramatic past with her. “I’ll put together a sampling, and you can decide which one you like best.”
As we talked the vid started to play, showing an aerial view of a typical Ugarian seed pod farm. There was soft music, and words in both Universal and Ugarian appeared on the screen.
“Two years ago, the planet Riglor was colonized by two Ugarian families,” Mika read for me.
“The Solic and the Misnie were large and distinguished families, ready to work hard and care for their young. Come with us as we learn of the trials and tribulations as they try to keep a small farming colony going while dealing with darkness that would see both of them destroyed.”
My attention was captured. “What’s the darkness?”
Mika giggled. “I’m not going to spoil it for you. You’ll have to be patient.”
I understood the importance of delayed gratification, but it was hard to keep from asking Mika more questions.
Thankfully there weren't any more written words on the screen and my INT translated the words spoken by the Ugarian actors. I wasn’t an expert on Ugarians, but even I could tell these were beautiful members of their species.
They were also impeccably groomed, which I found odd for agricultural workers.
We were quickly introduced to all the matriarchs of the two families and then the most important husbands. I could already tell that one of the husbands had hidden motives.
I was so engrossed in an intense conversation between two matriarchs that I didn’t notice Mika shifting around until she covered us both in a soft blanket.
“Are you chilled?” I asked. “Do you want me to set the temperature higher?”
“Nope,” she answered, snuggling closer to me. “I want to enjoy your body heat.”
The last thing I wanted to do was talk her out of pressing herself against me.
I was still trying to avoid holding or picking her up too much because I’d read human courtship had very specific stages to touching.
The item I’d read said there were stations called first base, second base, third base, and a homerun, but I hadn’t found a description of the bases and how to achieve them.
I was close to asking her about it so I didn’t miss a step, but I really wanted to do this on my own. Now didn’t feel like the time, though.
Hidden by the blanket covering the two of us, one of her small hands slid over my thigh. I sucked in a breath and went still.
Perhaps I’d misunderstood and it was the females who decided on when bases were achieved.
I lost track of what the Ugarians on the vid were saying as Mika’s hand kept moving. First she rubbed up and down on the top of my thigh. Then she shifted her movement so she was stroking a circle that stretched down into the area on the inside of my thigh, not far from the apex of my legs.
She wasn’t touching my mating pouch, but it was close. Did she realize what she was doing? I was wearing pants, so she wasn’t touching my plate covered skin, but it was almost as if there wasn’t any clothing between her hand and my leg. Her touch burned everywhere she put her hand.
“I was born after my parent’s families fled Old Earth,” she said, her voice low and sensual. “I never got to experience an actual theatre, but I know when couples went they didn’t pay attention to the vid.”
I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “Why didn’t they pay attention to the vid?”
“From what I've been told, it could be hard for young people to find privacy, so they’d use the darkness of the theatre to touch each other and make out.”
My heartbeat sped up. “What does make out mean?”
“It means to kiss and pet each other,” she murmured. “Everything that can be done inconspicuously without taking off your clothing.”
She was watching me closely, as if waiting for a reply, except I couldn’t make my voice work.
I wanted this. I wanted to hold her and touch her, but what if my need went too far and I upset her?
Talin sexual intercourse tended to be fast, rough, and a race to orgasm.
It was a sexuality I didn’t want to expose her to, but could I suppress it and be more human?
“Or not,” she said. A frown marred her features, and she pulled her hand away. “I thought you were dating me, or um, courting me as you put it. I guess that means something different to Talin’s than humans. I keep waiting for you to touch me, but you avoid it. Do I disgust you now?”
I sounded a loud negative rattle that made her jump. Her withdrawal pulled me out of my voiceless state.
“That’s not it at all,” I said, turning in my seat to face her. “I want you to touch me, and I want to put my hands on you. I don’t care whether we have clothes on or off. If we do this here or in our nest. I only want you to be happy.”
Her frown disappeared and was replaced with her thinking expression. “Then why are you avoiding touching me and not responding when I touch you?”
I let out a long breath and said something no Talin ever wanted to admit. “I’m afraid.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “Afraid of what?”
“What if I accidentally hurt you? Or I don’t do anything well enough? I’ve tried to do research on human sexuality, but there isn’t much available through the Committee of Pet Welfare. I want everything to be perfect for you. What if I can’t?”
An understanding smile covered her face. “Nothing is ever perfect, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good, or even great.”
“But you deserve all the best,” I insisted.
“And you deserve things too,” she countered.
She pulled the blanket that was still draped over us away and tossed it onto the front seats. Moving slowly as if giving me time to object, she climbed onto my lap. She arranged herself so she was straddling my thighs facing me.
It’d been so long since I’d gotten to hold her that an involuntary rumble of comfort came out of me. I automatically wrapped my arms around her back to keep her secure.
She cupped my cheeks in her hands, pressing gently over my aching scent glands.
“You’ve been nothing but gentle with me and Nadia,” she said. “I trust you to listen to me if I ask you to slow down or stop. If you feel uncomfortable, we can stop and talk. There’s no script you need to follow. This is between us, and we can write whatever story we want.”
She leaned close and pressed her lips to mine. At first I kept my mouth closed, but when she ran her tongue over the seam of my lips, I gasped. When my mouth opened, she pressed her tongue inside, touching mine.
This was the lip press I’d read about! We were lip pressing! This is what humans did with each other during passionate embraces. I was humbled and overjoyed that Mika wanted to do this with me.
I could understand why humans liked lip presses so much. Mika was warm and tasted sweet. Bonding oil covered her palms and trickled down my cheeks as our lip press made my heart race and blood rush to my mating shaft.
Mika ended the kiss and sat back. Dazed, I opened my eyes to find her licking her lips.
“You’re good at that,” she said.
My brain flooded with images of all the other places I could use my tongue and lips on Mika. I couldn’t possibly hurt her if I only touched her with my mouth, right?
“Hey, stop that,” she said, tightening her hands on my face.
“What?”
“I can tell you’re worrying again,” she answered. “I trust you, so you need to trust yourself.”
I needed more reassurance. “Are you sure you want to be intimate with me?”
“Oh hell yes, I’m sure,” she responded. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had sex, and the last time wasn’t that great.
I can’t get pregnant again because I asked them to fix that after I gave birth to Nadia.
I’m healed, recovered, and horny. I thought we would start doing something after we had our talk about me being your equal, but nothing happened.
” A wry smile curled her lips. “You’ve found all kinds of fun and romantic things to do, but then we don’t even kiss.
I feel like you’ve been teasing me for weeks. ”
“Is that why you set up this theatre for us?” I asked, finally understanding that all this was Mika’s way of seducing me.
“A small part was because I thought it would be fun,” she said and nodded her head to a box in the seat in front of us. “I even packed some crunchy snacks to eat while we watched the vid. Except I didn’t want to eat or watch anything, I wanted to touch you right away.”
I sounded an affirmative rumble. “I want you to touch me all you like.”
She shook her head. “This only works if you touch me back.”
I only hesitated a moment. “I will. I’ll lip press all over your body as much as you like.”
“Your hands too, Maz, and your cock. I want all of you touching all of me.”
I wasn’t prepared for her bold words, but her statement quickly changed my surprise to desire. My affirmative rumble turned to a sexual, sensual rumble that had her squirming on my lap a little.
“Oh, that’s a nice feeling,” she said, pressing her core hard against me. She shook her head and focused her gaze back on my eyes. “Promise you’ll enjoy yourself too, or we won’t be doing anything.”
“I promise,” I agreed out loud. Internally I thought, but you first!