From: elf@chinook.halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.bestiality
Subject: Journal Entry 146/0674  [ Confession and Redemption ]
Date: 20 Dec 1994 16:41:51 GMT
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc.
Lines: 1428
Message-ID: <3d71gf$gl5@news.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: chinook.halcyon.com

Attendes, 0674

	High on a hill, with a single tree leaping out of it, I am still 
painfully aware of just how overwhelming the ring of Pendor is as it 
rises and wraps itself around the sun.  An enormous symbol of beauty 
and power, I like to feel small and insignificant here on Abornia 
plain.  I deserve it.  Far to the north stands the steel glint of the 
Arc rising from the lake it's situated over, and much closer, down 
below the hill, lies the tomb of Donna Lewis Shardik.

	I guess that after a while the pain should fade, but it doesn't 
and I hope it never does.  I'll never forget the blond hair of her 
father or the hazel eyes of her mother.  I'll never forget her soft 
voice and her innocent smile.

	I wiped the tear that had formed in my eye and sighed, leaning 
back against the tree and taking a slow bite from my sandwich.  I was 
here for more fun things than reminding myself of my lost children, 
because playing down at the bottom of the hill were my latest.  Karen 
and Yorik rolled in the grass, fighting like cubs will.  Molly sat to 
my left, watching them with an amused expression.  "They're silly," 
she said.

	"Think so?" I asked with my mouth full.

	"I wouldn't play in the grass like that."

	"Why not?" I asked, adding, "I would."

	That got a startled look from Molly, who said, "You would?  
Why?"

	"Why not?  I mean, it's fun."

	"It's childish."

	"Look who's talking," I said, amused at her "I'm mature" 
attitude.  "You're only two years old yourself."

	"I am an adult Pamthreat and I should live up to that."

	"Then you've a lot to learn."  I saw that we were about to be 
joined by Adriano, who was charging across the countryside at nearly 
sixty klick, his four powerful rear legs kicking up huge gouts of 
grass and soil as he ran.  He hadn't learned to stop nearly as well, 
and tumbled to a halt as he attempted to carry the charge up the 
hill.  I laughed; Molly gave him her disdainful look.  He picked 
himself up, shook the grass of his broad back and head and with a 
sheepish grin walked the rest of the way up the hill towards us.

	"You okay?" I asked as he approached.  I offered a hand to brush 
some of the grass off of his head, and he let me, still grinning with 
painful embarrassment.

	"I'll be okay," he said.  I laughed, and finally, he laughed 
along.  I crooked a finger at him and he came closer.  I gave him a 
hug.

	The feeling of insignificance came back to me as I realized that 
I was sitting next to what appeared to be four of the most dangerous 
predators on Pendor.  Normal Pamthreats sometimes weigh in at 200 
kilograms and average 2.4 meters in length, so they're not as large 
as tigers (still the largest of the big cats) but they're more 
powerful.  Instead of one pelvis, they have two, one in front of the 
other, and therefore four rear legs that deliver incredible amounts 
of running power.  They come in two colors- summer black and winter 
white, and in either guise they're beautiful and they're deadly.  But 
what's worse about Pamthreats is that the prides form psionic 
gestalts; what one member knows, they all know.  Combat with a 
Pamthreat pride is just plain stupid outside of Powered Armor, and 
when one learns the taste of sentient flesh, the entire pride has to 
be wiped out.

	When Karen and Yorik first came out of their tanks, I felt more 
than a little guilty about their creation.  You see, although 
officially Karen and Yorik are "Sentient Pamthreat Tleils Numbers One 
And Two" they aren't the first.  Karri had been a sentient pamthreat 
with two bodies; I'd made the mistake of using the same genetic 
sample for both of them, and they'd formed a gestalt.  When one of 
those bodies was killed during my absence with the crew of the 
erstwhile S.S. Minnow, Karri took the other body to suicide.

	And it hurt, too.  Knowing that I'd made mistakes with her that 
were just plain stupid.  Selfish.  And I'd promised her that when I 
got back to Pendor I would make a Tleil run of Pamthreats.  Only now, 
Karri wasn't here to see it.

	Anyway, Karen and Yorik ceased their tumbling and joined us at 
the top of the hill.  "Hiya," I said.

	Karen giggled gleefully, the sounds forming from deep inside her 
throat.  "Have fun?" I asked.

	"Tired," Yorik offered.  "And dirty," he said.  "I'm gonna go 
wash."  He bounded around to the other side of the tree and vanished 
in a flash.

	"I think I'll join him," Adriano said.  Molly rose, yawned, and 
said, "I'll go too."  The two of them disappeared into the SDisk.  I 
turned to Karen and said, "What about you?"

	"I want to relax in the shade first.  And I want to talk to 
you."

	I resisted the urge to pet her.  After all these years, I still 
want to pet her, treat her like an animal.  She's as sentient as I 
am, or P'nyssa, or M'Ress.  But she countered, saying, "Please.  I 
like when you touch me."

	I smiled and reached out to stroke her the length of her body.  
She purred, a deep and satisfied sound.  "Ken?"

	"Yeah?"

	"You know I can't help it when I read you like that.  I'm trying 
to damp it down, and I'm taking lessons.  But sometimes I just pick 
up on things."

	"I know.  It's okay."

	"I know you still feel sad sometimes when you're with us.  And I 
know that you've been spending more time with us than you did with 
the Mustela, watching us and talking to us.  To me.  Can you tell me 
something?"

	"Karen, if you ask me the question, you'll know the answer."

	"No.  I promise."

	"Okay."

	"Did you make me with Karri Walton's genes?"

	I thought for a few seconds.  "Yes."

	Karen's head, for that matter all Pamthreat's heads, are closest 
to the leopard's in design, if not in coloration or size, and she 
gave the Pamthreat's equivalent of a smile.  "You don't feel guilty 
about that?"

	"Not about that.  I little... melancholy, maybe."

	She nodded.  "Ken, if I tell you something important, will you 
promise to not 'fly off the handle?'"

	I laughed.  "Where did you learn that expression?"

	"From the person who asked me to tell you this secret."

	"I promise I'll try."

	"That's fair.  Carroll is pregnant again."

	"What!?" I said, nearly shouting.  "That's great!  Why would 
that be a secret?"

	"Because she didn't do the same thing you did."

	It took nearly a full minute for that to sink in.  "Why would 
that make a difference?"

	"Ken... You do not know how much I want to say 'Father' 
sometimes... Carroll hasn't had another child in so long because 
she's afraid of what happened the last time.  I'm only two years old, 
but I think I know what incorporation shock means, now."

	I nodded.  "You're right.  It does make a difference.  I 
restored something I had lost."  I sat for a few seconds and then 
said, "Did Carroll ask you to tell me?"

	She nodded.

	Time passed as we sat, my hand idly stroking her back.  She 
crawled forward in the grass and lay her head in my lap.  I smiled 
and kept petting her, feeling her body thrum with that outrageous 
purring.

	"Ken" she asked, "is it too much to ask you to scratch my 
belly?"

	"Of course not," I said, and she turned over, all six paws 
splayed into the air.  I rubbed her belly gently with my fingers, 
stroking up to  her throat and then back down between her nipples and 
down between her legs.  "Feel good?"

	"Go a little further down," she said.  I my strokes ran the 
length of her body, and stopped just short of her vulva.  "Further," 
she growled.

	"If I stroke further, I'll be-"

	"I know," she whispered, opening her eyes and looking at me.

	"Karen... Not now, okay?"

	She lay her head back against my leg and closed her eyes.  
"Okay," she whispered.  "But don't stop scratching.  Still feels good 
anyway."


	There is no better place to get a tan than the beach, especially 
a beach on Pendor, where the sun is always at peak, where the water 
is warm, and where there's a shower mere meters away.  I lay on a 
towel with a copy of The Dominion of Katorri, a rather trashy 
translation of a rather trashy novel from one of the less friendly 
Terran colonies.  Despite this, it was fun summertime reading, full 
of strong women making poor choices, which is the typical theme of 
the trashy novel no matter what planet you're from.

	The sound of waves, wind, and seagulls combined to hide from me 
Karen's approach, so the first I knew of her presence was a "Hi, 
Ken."

	I turned and looked back the length of the towel to see her 
staring at me with a quizzical expression on her face, a small smile 
playing on her thin, pink lips.  "Hi," I said, returning the greeting 
cheerfully.

	"I came to talk."

	"You know, Karen, of all the Pamthreats, you are the most 
inquisitive and sometimes the questions you ask are embarrassing as 
Hell.  What now?"

	She settled onto the sound and said, calmly, "Why won't you make 
love with me?"

	"Why won't I... what?"

	"'I think you heard me,' to use your own expression, Ken.  I'm 
annoyed at you.  Three times I have made serious passes at you, and 
while the first two were a little indirect, yesterday you out-and-out 
refused me, and I'm just a little annoyed."

	"Karen, you can't just walk up to me and say, 'I'd like to jump 
into bed with you,' and expect me to respond.  It's not as if I want 
to fuck every woman I meet."

	Her stare was frightening in its intensity.  "Ken, that is not 
your problem right now and you know it.  If I were anything else, you 
would sleep with me, and you know it.  There's something about 
Pamthreats, and there's something about me, that you're... I don't 
know.   But I can feel it.  Sometimes I think you're afraid of me, 
sometimes you're too guilty about me, I can't tell.  But it's 
starting to really get on my nerves."

	I sat up on the towel and brushed some sand off with the loose 
pages of the paperback.  Finally, I nodded, sighing.  "Karen, in all 
the centuries I have been doing this, I have never once excluded 
someone from my bed simply as a matter of species.  Human, Mephit, 
Felinzi, whatever.  It's never mattered to me."

	"Until now."

	I nodded.  "Until now.  Karen, I have tried; Odin knows, I have 
tried to find something in you to excite me, to arouse me.  But if 
I'm to be honest to you, I can't.  I don't."  I rubbed my forehead 
with my open hand.  "I want to.  I do."

	She nodded.  "Do you still feel a little guilty about us?"

	I shook my head.  "It's not that.  I reconciled that a long time 
ago; you're no worse off than the dolphins.  Both species need 
cybernetics to do what I consider basic things, but you're both 
species that wouldn't exist without tech anyway, so I don't let it 
bother me.  You're Pendorians, and that's all.  I need biocybe to do 
some things I consider necessary."

	"I told my problem to a friend.  He suggested I close my eyes 
and concentrate on the voice, and try to find something there.  But 
Karen, the fact that we're speaking Felin right now is part of the 
problem.  It's the only language you can really speak- it and 
Unciati.  Quen just doesn't come to you without hardware, and I know 
you've mostly avoided biomods.  So I'm stuck with this reminder that 
you... you look like, you are, a Pamthreat."

	"Are you afraid?"

	"If I was afraid, would I have stroked your belly yesterday?  
No, it's not that.  It's just that I'm not turned on by your kind."

	"Can I say something that you're going to take very personally, 
Ken?  And I think you should?  You're a bastard.  Of all the 
Pendorian races, we're the only ones you didn't make because you 
wanted to.  You made us because you thought you had to.  You had to 
hold up a promise, and in holding up that promise you didn't make 
what was wrong... you didn't make it right.  And before you make one 
more move, you should ask 
yourself why you made Karri.  Because until you know that, you're not 
fit to be Vatare'."  She rose slowly.  "I'll be going."  And with 
that she walked off slowly.


	The piano in the far corner of the bar tinkled slowly, the 
player taking his time on a rather long and depressing piece I 
recognized as something by Sakamoto.  It fit my mood perfectly as I 
sat in the selfsame booth P'nyssa had sat in all those years ago in 
when I had had to go in and drag her out.  I wasn't in a suicidal 
mood; I was far too angry for that.  It was time to get drunk, to get 
stinking, falling down, ralfing drunk.  To overwhelm the nanotech 
scavengers and saturate my cerebellum with enough ethanol to stun a 
good-sized Centaur.  I was well on my way when a finger tapped me on 
the shoulder.  "Hey, you," the  finger said.

	I followed the finger up the hand, arm and shoulder to look into 
the eyes of Carroll Lewis.  "Hiya," I said, the world taking on a 
distinct counter-clockwise spin as I tried to focus on her.

	"Can I take a seat?"

	"Ish a free universh."  The slur was far more pronounced than it 
should have been.  My diction is usually perfect until the point of 
unconsciousness.  But people expect drunks to slur their word to the 
point where speech is one long vowel movement.  
	 She settled to the floor next to the booth, her Centaur bulk 
providing a wonderful barrier to keep me in.  "What's up?" she asked 
in that playful voice she reserves for occasions like this.

	"I'm gettin' drunk!  Whas i'look like?"

	"It looks like you've gotten drunk."  Her smile was dazzling.  
"So, you want to tell me why?"

	"Because I wanna, thash why."

	"It won't help you," she said.

	"Wash tha mean?"

	"Karen will still be here tomorrow."

	"Fuck you," I said, slowly and with clarity.

	"It's why you're getting drunk, isn't it?  You spoke to her 
today, on the beach.  I saw you two from the Castle balcony.  So, do 
you want to tell Carroll what you were talking about?"

	"Makin' love."

	Carroll's face took on a look of mock confusion.  "But that 
shouldn't be a problem.  You're good at that."

	"But I don't wanna."

	"Don't wanna what, Ken?  Make love?"

	"Not with her.  I mean, I do, but I can't."  The piano picked up 
its tempo significantly.  "I mean, I want to, but I... I don't get 
excited by her, or any of the Pamthreats.  It's so... I'm so fucked 
up, Carroll.  I've made so many mistakes."  

	"Quite a few.  I remember Cammi, all those years ago..."

	"Don' remind me," I said, her image bobbing back and forth.

	"'If I get one more word from you, it's back to the tanks for 
the lot of you!'"

	"I asked y' not t' remind me!" I said, raising my voice.

	"But they're still here, aren't they?  The Uncia are still here.  
It's the past, Ken, and it was a mistake that's been corrected.  
Cammi is still himself, and you're still yourself."

	"But that... Carroll, what if I'd been serious?  I mean, that 
goes against everything I said I believed in."  The adrenaline was 
starting to kick in.  I took another slug of scotch.  "Am I that 
hypocritical?  Am I that callous and stupid?"

	She smiled gently and said, "I don't think it makes a difference 
anymore.  Pendorians are having babies and going on with their lives, 
and where they came from doesn't matter anymore.  I mean, I know I'm 
never going to be a great skier, but then I haven't got the legs for 
it, and maybe you shaped that, but what I do with myself now is my 
business."

	I smiled for a moment at the image of a Centaur on waterskis, 
and the smile carried weakly as I said, "I heard you're going to have 
a colt."

	She smiled back and said, "Yeah.  Ten months, Dr. Adnil says.  A 
girl."

	"Really?" I asked.  "And why can't you just call him 'Rhys' like 
everybody else?  He's almost family."

	"Because... I don't know.  I'm just used to calling him 'Dr. 
Adnil.'"  She paused for a second and said, "Why did you make Karri?"

	"Because I wanted to, I really did.  All that power, all that 
strength, and I wanted to talk to it, to her... to touch her."  The 
words just fell from my lips, and I was shocked as my muddled brain 
played them back for me.  The shock must have been pretty clear on my 
face because Carroll's smile just got a little wider.  "Carroll..."

	She shook her head and said, "You made every Pendorian species 
for the same reason.  Because you wanted to touch them, and you can't 
do that without their permission, and you can't get their permission 
unless they can talk to you.  Now, selfish or not, you're smart 
enough to know that you're not going to get permission unless they've 
a reason for liking you and trusting you and loving you.  And if 
everything around us is an expression of that kind of ethic, then I'm 
glad you're my father, Ken."

	"The only difference here is that, while you made the Pamthreats 
originally for all the right reasons, you made the present Tleil 
Pamthreats out of guilt-- guilt at not fulfilling your demiurge the 
way you should have, they way you always did.  I mean, you even made 
the Dragons because you wanted to be in the same world as they, and 
you made a hundred."

	I stopped her with a hand and said, "So what do I do now?  I 
feel...  I need to go find Karen, I need to..."

	"You need to sit down and sober up," Carroll said.  "You need to 
go home to P'nyssa and Aaden, who're well suited to caring for you.  
P'nyssa, at least, has seen this problem before."  Her smile was 
beautiful.  I leaned over and awkwardly wrapped my arms around her 
shoulders, tears forming in my eyes. 

	"Carroll... Thank you.  Again.  And again."  I leaned into her, 
and kissed her lips. In my drunken state I forgot about how I thought 
I was supposed to feel around Carroll, and opened my lips gently.  
Her response was the same, as our tongues met and touched softly, 
sliding over each other.  It all suddenly came back to me in a flash, 
and I reeled away from her.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

	There was a sad expression on her face, and she said, "Ken, 
you've never kissed me like that before.  What's there to be sorry 
about?"

	"Nothing," I growled.  She let it drop; I doubted much I could 
handle a second confession that night.  "No, wait."

	"Carroll, I'm going to tell you something important.  Something 
that's sort of strange, and sort of sick."  She waited.  "A long time 
ago, before I made Pendor, before I had Fawn, even, I was just a 
plain human being, wandering through human life.  I had a crush on a 
girl about my age, her name was Lisa.  I can't tell you much about 
her, except that I was sixteen and so was she, and was as infatuated 
and what have you as a sixteen-year-old can get.

	"And we started to get along.  I can't tell you what that was 
like, suddenly discovering girls, suddenly having a friend, suddenly 
having a girlfriend.  It's like nothing Pendorians, or Tleils 
especially, ever go through.

	"She was in an auto with a friend of mine, and they'd gone to a 
store just to get something to eat.  They were coming back and Mark, 
that was his name, decided to take the auto up as fast as it could 
go, and nobody was ever able to tell me what happened then, but the 
right side of the car lurched down and struck the road, and the car 
rolled and flipped over.  Neither one was wearing any restraint, and 
they both went flying from it as it spun down the road.  Lisa landed 
near me.

	"And all I remember is holding her, begging her not to die, and 
she did anyway, and I remember having to listen to it."

	Carroll was totally silent as I told her this story.  "And you, 
Carroll, are her from the waist up.  Same long black hair, same hazel 
eyes, same perfect teeth."

	Her response was anger.  "And you went through the same thing 
when Donna died, and you didn't tell me?" she said, her voice 
raising.

	"You had problems of your own."

	"And that makes it better?" she shouted, surprising me.  I've 
never seen Carroll get angry.

	"It doesn't make a difference now anyway," I said.

	"It certainly does!"

	"Carroll, she was just some girl."

	"You cared enough about her that fifty years later you made me 
in her image!"

	"And why the Hell did I do that?  What kind of Freudian 
screwball idea leads me to take that image and put it on a Centaur?"

	"Because you can't fuck one," she said sarcastically.

	"Yeah.  Because I can't fuck one.  Okay?  There, you happy?  
We've psychoanalyzed me enough to know that I made you because I 
wanted to turn some childhood crush into a virginal madonna image.  
Because I will never be able to treat you as just another friend, 
just another Tleil, just another child.  Because you were my first 
Centaur, my first sentient at all.  Because your first child died in 
my arms.  Because I thought Lisa Ann Lewis pretty enough to be given 
a second chance."  I paused for a second, then snarled, "There.  Are 
you finally satisfied, Carroll Lewis Shardik?  Are you happy with the 
answers you've gotten?"  I rose from the bench and took a step for 
the door.

	She grabbed my arm and said, "I was satisfied when I came in 
here."  Her smiled had become a little saddened.  "But now I know why 
you've always treated me differently."

	I nodded in shame and said, "Carroll, you're so different up 
here," I said, pointing to my temple, "from what I expected you to 
be.  All the Centaurs were- Hell, all the Tleils were, really, but 
you, you were the worst.  Argumentative, inquisitive.  I never got a 
fair shot with you people; I really thought that the way you were 
going you were all going to hate me.  And if you had, I'd've deserved 
it.  But you, you were on my case all the time.  'What's this', and 
'What's that,' and 'Tell me why.'"

	"Ken... "  She settled to the floor so that we were again 
eye-to- eye.  "I love you."

	"I know," I said, the tears forming in my eyes again.  "I know," 
and I threw my arms around her shoulders and cried helplessly.  "Oh, 
Gods, I know."

	She held me close as I stood there, crying against her shoulder, 
and she stroked my long hair.  I smiled when I felt that.  "You 
know," I said, "I can never stop.  I'll never be able to stop.  There 
will always be one more touch I want, and I'll begin writing it down, 
and you know it will end up in the lab.  There's nothing I can do.  
And it's just going to keep on fucking up your lives, Carroll, yours 
and everybody else's."

	She smiled and said, "But that's what you're here for, Ken.  To 
make our lives more interesting.  It's not a curse, it's a blessing."

	"I only wish I felt like it sometimes."

	I hugged her close to me and she responded, holding my tightly.  
Then she said, "Well, what do you think?"

	I blinked, wondering who she meant.  She couldn't have been 
talking to me.  Then I heard a voice behind me say, "You're right.  
He can be redeemed.  It just takes the right person."

	I turned around to find myself staring at Karen Walton's big 
brown eyes.  I let go of Carroll and sank down to the floor, pulling 
her close and wrapping my arms around her neck, this time 
concentrating on the feelings of soft black fur against my cheek and 
throat and the sound of her heartbeat.  "You set me up, didn't you?"

	She growled gently and said, "Not me.  Her."  I looked back up 
at Carroll and she nodded.  I hugged Karen just a little more 
fiercely with one arm, the other trailing under her torso and 
scratching her lightly.  "Tomorrow," she said.  "Under the trees, 
just like yesterday."

	I nodded against her head, burying my face into the fur of her 
shoulder, feeling her against me and just feeling relieved.  Then I 
finally eased back and stood, going back and hugging Carroll.  "Thank 
you," I said.

	"You're welcome."

	There was a pause, the sort where I felt out of control again, 
and I said.  "Wait here."  I walked to the edge of the bar, got 
Mikhail's attention, and whispered something in his ear.  He nodded, 
went into the back room and walked out a minute later, handing me a 
small recording chip.  I carried it back and handed it to Carroll.  
"Here."

	"What's this?" she asked as she took it.

	"Carroll, twice now I've made the wrong decision about restoring 
things I wanted and couldn't have.  I don't ever want to make that 
mistake again, and since you've taken your production into your own 
hands, I want you to have that option.  Donna's genecode."

	The look was shock.  "You really want me to have this?"

	"You still have to wait at least a year to make that decision."

	"But I can... ?"

	"If you want."

	"And you won't be upset?"

	"Carroll, to be honest, I have no idea how I'll feel.  All I 
know is that this is a decision you should make, and for me to 
withhold the chip from you for five centuries is an error of truly 
Shardik-ian proportions."  She laughed, and I laughed along.  "Come 
on, let's go."  I turned for the door, and just then that last 
massive glass of scotch decided it was time to take another 
stranglehold on my brain.  "Whoa!" I said, starting to fall 
backwards.  Carroll caught me just in time. 

	"Thanks," I said.

	"Let's get you home."  She helped me to the door, Karen 
following us closely.  The three of us stepped into the SDisk at the 
edge of town and Carroll said, "Castle Shardik, please."

	The lights were low inside as we appeared inside the castle, and 
Carroll against helped me along to my home.  "I can stand," I said.

	"Not very well," Carroll observed.

	"No, but I can stand.  Karen, would you like to come in?"

	She looked off for a moment, thinking, then said, "I think I 
will.  You need the company."

	I smiled as the door opened and we walked in as a trio.  The 
lights were off, but they came up slowly as we entered.  "Hello, 
Dave!" I said.

	There was the >snap< of a silence barrier going up over the 
access to the bedroom.  "Shhh...!" he said, "They're sleeping."

	"Where?" I slurred.

	"P'nyssa's in here, Aaden's over in the other one."

	"Okay," I said, whispering.  "Sorry."  Hand over hand across the 
furniture for balance, I made my way to the refrigerator and poured 
myself nearly a quart of apple juice, downing about half that in one 
long draught.

	"Thirsty?" Karen asked.

	"Very.  Alcohol does that."

	"Must be why I never drink," Carroll said.  "Goodnight, kids.  
I'm off to bed."

	"Goodnight," I said in return.  She waved as she left through 
the door and it shut behind her.  I walked into the living room and 
sat on the floor.  Despite all the furniture I have or could have, I 
prefer sitting on floors.  Don't ask me why, because I don't 
understand it either.  

	Karen walked over to me and asked, "Are you okay?"

	"I will be."

	"Do you still feel uncomfortable?"

	"Very.  But I want to be sober when we at least try.  Because I 
do love you and I do care for you.  But right now I'm very drunk and 
very tired and I'd just like to get some sleep.  Would you like to 
join me?"

	"Would P'nyssa object?"

	"I doubt it; she likes company."

	"Even in bed?  I mean, I may be only two years old, but I know 
enough to figure that getting into bed with one of your coimelin 
without an introduction is pretty rude."

	"Come on; you can keep her back from getting cold."

	She smiled and said, "Okay."  I figured it would be; the bed's 
big enough to sleep a small army.


	Today's dawn was already a part of history when I came to 
consciousness.  The room had been darkened, and for that I was 
grateful.  I crawled out of the bed with all the enthusiasm lizards 
reserve for the dead of winter, stomping slowly to the bathroom to 
relieve myself.  I grabbed two painkillers I was at it and then fell 
back into bed.  I groaned.

	From upstairs I heard two voices speaking in Felinzi and deduced 
that Nyss and Karen must have awakened much earlier and were now 
talking like the old friends they were becoming.  I heard a shuffling 
noise from upstairs and figured they were on their way down.

	They were.  P'nyssa's feet appeared first, followed by the rest 
of her.  She landed easily on the floor next to the bed.  Karen 
followed head first, plummeting in slow-motion towards the bed.  I 
groaned as she disturbed the bed further, making my head rock in 
pain.  "G'morning," I croaked, feeling my vocal chords vibrate 
painfully.

	"Karen," P'nyssa said cheerfully, "What you are looking at is a 
miserable example of a hangover."

	"I dunno about you," I croaked, "but I think I'm an excellent 
example of a hangover."

	"That's what I mean.  You look miserable."  I groaned again.

	"What's wrong with him?"

	"His body's getting back at him for ingesting all that ethanol 
last night.  Don't worry.  In an hour or so he'll be fine.  Ken?  
Drink this."

	I turned over and looked up.  She was handing me a liter-sized 
glass full of murky water.  "Water and lots of vitamins?" I asked.

	She nodded.  I took the glass and proceeded to drain it as best 
as I could.  My body had such a craving need for water that I nearly 
succeeded in getting all of it into me.

	I sat up painfully, cursing the stiffness that was amplified by 
the pain in my head.  "I feel terrible," I said.

	"You look terrible," Karen replied.  "Does alcohol always do 
this to you?"

	"Always.  Depends on how much I drink, though.  Diphenhydramine 
is worse, though.  Takes two days to recover from that."

	"Then why would you want to drink alcohol?" Karen asked.  "There 
must be better ways of getting intoxicated."

	"There are," I said, "but there are good, traditional reasons 
for enjoying alcohol.  Don't ask me to name them.  Maybe when you're 
older."

	"'Maybe when I'm older'," Karen said with a smile.  How many 
times had I said that to her?

	I decided it was time to stand again, feeling a little better as 
the water seeped into my brain and relieved the perceived pain of 
dehydration.  "So," I said, "who's up for a shower?"

	"I've already taken mine," P'nyssa said, "so I'm going to head 
over to Cutter's."

	"Okay, sweetheart."  I stepped over to her and gave her a close 
hug, feeling her soft and furry body against mine.  She wrapped her 
tens around me and ran the pads up and down my spine, sending 
wonderfully relaxing signals up into my head.  "See ya later," I 
said.

	She nodded, took a step back and jumped up slightly.  The 
gravitics carried her up into the main room of my domicile.

	"So," I said, looking down at Karen, who had curled up around 
one of the pillows on the bed, "would you care to join me in the 
shower?"

	She smiled and said, "I could use an extra pair of hands while 
I'm bathing."

	"Karen, everybody could.  That's what P'nyssa and Aaden are for.  
And that's what I'm for for them, too."  She smiled as I led her into 
the shower, opening the glass door for her and closing it behind me.  
"How do you like your water?" I asked.

	"Hot," she replied.

	"Hot it is."  I dialed the pressure up low, then slowly adjusted 
the temperature until it was nearly scalding to me.  "How's that?"

	"Fine," she said.  "That's just how I like it."  She dove under 
the 
needles of steam and growled, a deep and satisfied sound, as the 
water dug in under her fur.  The downside was that she now looked 
bedraggled.  I laughed and offered her soap.  She nodded.
	 I stood up momentarily to re-direct the stream towards the far 
wall.  Pouring some soap onto my fingers, I started at her shoulders 
as she lay down on the floor of the shower.  She growled softly as my 
fingers dug in deep, massaging the soap into her fur with strong 
strokes.  Her muscles bunched and rippled under my touch.  "Eyes 
closed," I said as I did the top of her head and under her chin.  In 
the back of my mind I remembered scenes from my childhood of watching 
circus animal-handlers washing the big cats the same way, feeding 
them full to make them tired and then taking the water to them.  But 
this was different, because Karen was a sentient and literate 
individual.

	As I worked my ways along her paws, images of the day Luccas and 
I had gone, alone, into the woods to deal with a 'small' pride came 
into my head.  What had we been thinking, just two humans against six 
Pamthreats?  It had been the rage of the little Centaur girl they'd 
mauled to near-death, I guess.  We should have formed a party, we 
should have worn powered armor, for Thor's sake.  Still, we had won, 
but almost at the expense of my life.  Luccas came away without a 
scratch.

	I worked my way down the flanks of her torso to her first pair 
of hindlegs, working the soap between her toes and under her claws.  
She growled softly.  I made my way to the second pair, admiring the 
gleam that water gave her fur.  My hands stroked in small circles 
over the fur of her rump, then onto her tail, working my way down its 
length to the small puff-ball at the very end, now a wet and drooping 
rat of fur.

	"Turn over?  On your side."  She complied, easing over to her 
right.  I stroked her neck and between her forelegs, taking care not 
to catch her tiny nipples under my fingernails as I did so.  She 
purred softly as I slid my fingers over the thinner fur of her belly, 
and as my  fingers slid between her rear legs the purring grew 
louder, a distinct sound over the running water.

	"Ken," she said, "turn the heat up."

	"Up?" I asked.

	"Yeah," she said.  I reached behind me and turned the cold to 
'OFF,' which turned the heat up as far as it could go.  The 
temperature soared, and I moved out of the stream of water to avoid 
getting scalded.  I returned to her and said, "Why?"

	"I dunno," she replied, breathlessly.  "I just want to feel the 
heat."

	I shrugged and returned to stroking between her hindlegs, 
working my way closer and closer to her vulva.  She smiled and 
stretched, and the way she did so was so erotic I found my cock 
responding immediately.  Which was a good sign, as far as I was 
concerned.  

	I was so busy paying attention to her I almost didn't notice her 
shifting weight until she had her head in my lap.  Her now less-than- 
cold nose nuzzled against my erection, which tickled and I giggled.  
Her tongue slid out of her muzzle and against my cock, and I steeled 
myself for a rasp that never came.  Instead, her long, pink tongue 
wrapped itself around my cock softly.

	"Karen?"

	"Hmmm?" she said, her mouth closing around my cock.  Her teeth 
were as sharp as expected, and the little prickles they sent into me 
filled me with lust.

	"What have you done to your tongue?" I asked.

	*Isn't nanotech wonderful?* she 'pathed at me, her mouth too 
busy to be a useful form of communication.

	"You variformed your tongue?"

	"Mm-hmm," she growled, adding, *I can put it back with just a 
thought, too.*

	I sighed and tried to concentrate on what I was doing, but her 
tongue was literally wrapped around my cock and rather effectively 
stroking me.  I was going to climax real soon if she kept that up, 
and said so.

	*That's what I want.*  I laughed and leaned back, accidentally 
dropping one hand into the stream of water from the wall to the 
drain.  I pulled it back quickly.

	I closed my eyes, trying not to imagine what this looked like, 
then reveling in the image of this big cat with her head in my lap 
and my erection very obviously in her mouth.  I knew I was in no 
danger from her but the very illusion thrilled me.  She stroked with 
her head, pulling her sharp teeth, designed to take down large 
animals, over the head of my cock.  The fibers of my body strained 
and hummed as she took me to the edge of ecstasy and I went over, 
screaming, shooting into her throat.

	She growled softly and fell into a coughing fit.  "You okay?" I 
asked.

	"Uh-huh," she coughed.  "Just... went down the wrong tube."

	I laughed and leaned over further, wrapping my arms around her 
head, sighing.  "Thank you," I asked.

	"You're not done, Ken.  Not yet."

	"I know.  But at least you've shown that my dick and my heart 
are both in agreement today."

	"I always thought they were," she said.  "Let's get cleaned up."  
I smiled and turned the heat back down to a tolerable level, rinsing 
off as she stepped out of the shower to dry off.


	We walked out onto the carefully tended roof of Castle Shardik a 
while later.  Ember and Rahan sat around the Oak Ring, the huge table 
set against the starboard edge of the garden, playing a game of 
backgammon.  "Hiya," I said as I set my tray down.  Breakfast for 
both Karen and me consisted of steak and eggs-- my eggs scrambled dry 
and my steak rare, her steak well-done and her eggs raw.

	"Hi, Dad," Ember said, leaning over and giving me a friendly 
kiss on the cheek.  I returned the kiss, laying a hand on her very 
large and pregnant belly.  "So how're they doing?"

	"Doing good," she said cheerfully.  "Just four more weeks."

	"Really?" I said.

	"Yep," she replied, smiling widely.  I've started to realize 
that Ember likes being pregnant.  Not as much as Rachel, but 
sometimes it seems close.

	We ate quickly.  Karen didn't so much eat her food as she did 
make it go away.  Under her tongue, restored to its normal raspiness, 
the meat just vanished.  "Ready to go?" I asked Karen.  She assented, 
and we rose.  I kissed Ember on the cheek as I left, and she purred 
and stroked my cheek.

	"So?" I asked Karen as we leapt off the side of the Castle and 
were gently lowered to the sand of the lagoon.

	"What?" she asked.

	"Well, what do you want to do?"

	She shrugged.  "I don't know.  That's up to you."

	I sighed.  "You're going to force me to make the decisions, 
aren't you?"

	"Sure."  Her eyes smiled mischeviously.

	I thought for a moment, then said, "Have you ever been on a 
rollercoaster?"


	High summer brings the midyear holidays, and quite possibly the 
biggest is the Lithe Carnival.  The place was a constant explosion of 
sound- cheap little bellows-horns, barkers playing roles, seducing 
people into the Tunnel of Love or the Chamber of Horrors.  Children 
screaming as the eight-armed monster twists and turns, a little box 
on the end of it, kids securely strapped in.  "Once you've been to 
the Moon, you can't go back to Tilt-O-Whirl," John Glenn once said.  
Maybe so, but even on as spacefaring a planet as Pendor, literally 
billions of people have never been anywhere but the surface of our 
world.  In fact, with our transporter technologies, most people have 
never gone much faster than the speed of their own feet.

	Which is why carnival rides are so popular around here.  
Combining the sheer physical violence so well perfected by Terra with 
the safety of Pendorian engineering, the carnival is terrifyingly 
fun.

	People gave Karen and me a wide berth.  Actually, they gave 
Karen a wide berth.  Despite the common knowledge that there was a 
Tleil of sentient Pamthreats, there was still the common fear of the 
big cat.

	"What do we do here?" Karen shouted above the din.

	"We have fun!" I said.  "What do you think we do?  Come here!"  
She followed me over to the rides section at the port end of the 
place.  "That's a rollercoaster."

	Actually, it was the local equivalent.  It had no rails, just a 
cabin.  It was a gravitics-only vehicle, with a pre-programmed course 
and no compensation for the passengers.  Same effect.  And it was 
open- air.

	"What's it do?"

	"Come on!"  We walked over to the barker.

	The barker, a Mephit who had been looking slightly bored, 
started up.  "You sir, and the lovely..."

	"Lady," I said.

	"Yes, the lovely young lady, would you care to take a 
death-defying ride through the air?"  He opened his mouth a little 
wider, his tail shaking with the force of his bellow.  "Who would 
like to join them?"  A crowd was growing.  I got the feeling that the 
graviroll was an unpopular ride-- probably looked too dangerous.  
"Come one, come all!  Dare to join these two as they take the 
thrilling ride!"

	I helped Karen into my lap and held on tight around her belly.  
"Ready!" I asked.  

	"Sure!" she snarled back.

	We were joined by another couple, two Felinzi, behind us.  They 
didn't look too comfortable.  I smiled.

	The ride started out traditionally slow.  "Is this all?" Karen 
asked.

	"Wait," I whispered into her ear, nipping it gently.  She 
shivered.

	The car reached the top of the loop and began screaming down in 
a long, rollicking dive.  A loop rocked the car up and left.  I 
shouted a loud "Wheee!" as the was pulled left and right.  A motor in 
the car growled, adding the sensations of vibration and the hum of 
power to the motion.  Karen's claws dug into the vinyl covering of 
the seat, pushing her back against me.  I gripped her closer, laying 
my chin on her shoulder.  The car skimmed the grass set aside for its 
path, flew in a violent corkscrew high over the Lithe field, took a 
few more slow dips and turns, and slowed to a stop back in the berth 
next to the Mephit.

	"You okay, sweetheart?" I asked.

	"I... I think so."  She stepped out of the car carefully, 
wobbling on all six legs.  The two Felinzi behind us in the car 
looked liked they would survive.  I was grateful neither one had 
gotten sick.

	"So tell me, sir," the barker began again, "another ride?"

	"Naaah," I said casually.  "Get them."  I pointed to the crowd 
that had stopped to watch us.  Karen walked down the steps carefully, 
and when she reached the slightly tramped grass she stopped and said, 
"You really like that?"

	"Are you kidding?" I said, my smile wider than Rael Canyon.  
"That was great!"  I stopped for a second, my smile diminishing.  
"Are you going to be sick?"

	"No..." she said.  "Just want to stop... want the world to stop 
spinning so much."

	I bit back a quick joke about ringworlds and the lousy side 
effects that would result if one were to stop spinning.  "Take it 
easy," I said.  "Take deep, slow breaths."

	She took my advice and finally said, "I feel better."

	"You sure?"

	"I think so.  What's that?" she asked, pointing to a building 
labeled 'The Hall of Mirrors.'

	"Ah, that.  Well, it's the sort of thing that has to be seen to 
be believed.  Come on."

	The Hall of Mirrors was patently unfair, especially compared to 
the more traditional types.  Holograms, tranporters installed under 
the mirrorslats, gessler suggestion fields, the works.  The maze 
changed every time we walked through it, the images shifted.  
Sometimes I think the AI in charge of this built image-clean pairs 
and teleported the walkers, because at least twice I found myself 
walking out through the 'in' door.  We went through five times, the 
last two times playing games of tag.  "Gotcha," Karen growled as she 
pounced, rearing up and putting her paws on my chest, shoving me back 
against a mirror and licking my face.  Her tongue was what I had 
originally expected, hot and raspy, and after she licked my cheek I 
checked for blood.

	"You're okay," she insisted.  "Besides, you didn't shave today- 
I should check the same for my tongue."

	I laughed.  "Let's find our way out of here."  She agreed.  This 
time was easy, more suggestion that the AI was paying close attention 
to what was going on in there.

	We had a great day together.  At lunch we had corndogs.  We rode 
a few rides and spent the day, talking and getting along better than 
we ever had.  I introduced Karen to cotton candy, a serious mistake, 
as she fell in love with it instantly and proceeded to spend the 
better part of an hour licking the stuff out of the fur of her paws.

	"Having fun?" I asked.

	"The best," she insisted.  

	Some children came over to us as I sat under one of the 
concession tents sipping a pop and said, "Father?"

	There were four of them, a Human boy of about nine, a female 
Ssphynx I'd've put a little younger, and two male Mustela.  I looked 
them over and said, "Can I help you guys?"

	"We was wondering," said the Human.  "Can we touch him?"  It 
actually took me a few seconds to realize they were talking about 
Karen.

	"Well, her name is Karen, and why don't you ask her?"

	"I can do that?"  He looked a little surprised.  Karen looked up 
with a smile on her face and said, "Why don't you come over here and 
try it?"

	Trouble was, she said it in Felin.  But the young femSsphynx 
recognized it and spoke back.  I had no trouble following the 
conversation, and eventually she did reach out and touch Karen on her 
head.  The others crowded around, and I smiled as I watched them.  I 
looked around and managed to find the parents of the Mustelakins, and 
the look on their faces was a classic 
"Oh-no-but-Father's-there-it-must-be-okay" look, and I turned my head 
away to laugh, not wanting to embarrass them.  I was interrupted from 
my private musing by a hand being waved over my shoulder.  "Ken!"

	"Dillion!" I said, looking up.  I wasn't surprised that he'd 
managed to sneak up on me like that.  The tent held at least two 
dozen strangers, reeking of the fear and excitements of the rides, 
eating foods that they would otherwise never have touched in 
centuries.  "How are you doing, old man?"

	"Old man," he snorted.  "You're older than I am, by at least a 
century."

	"So how have you been?  Still working for Richard?"

	"Of course.  What could be more exciting?  The best engineer on 
the planet needs the best robotocist, doesn't he?  And we are the 
best."

	"Glad to see you still have your ego intact."

	"And good to see yours is still going strong," he laughed, 
shaking my hand with that huge, meaty mitten of his.  For a Tindal, 
Dillion's strong.  "That one," he said, pointing to Karen, "one of 
the new ones?"

	"Tliel," I agreed, "just like you."

	Karen wandered over and said, "Hello.  Who's this?  Smells 
good."

	"She never says that about me," I said.

	Dillion chuckled and knelt down.  "How do you do?"

	I made introductions.  "Dillion, meet Karen Walton.  Karen, 
Dillion."

	"It's a pleasure to meet a fellow Tleil, especially one so 
pretty," he said.  "I hate to meet you only to run, but I've got a 
project to get to work on, and I promised Fradrake I'd have it done 
by tomorrow."

	"It was nice to meet you, Dillion."

	"And you, Karen.  Make sure you watch him, though.  A lovely 
young lady like yourself running around with Ken Shardik should be 
careful.  The man's oversexed."

	"That's what I'm hoping," Karen said.

	I must have turned several shades of bright red, because Dillion 
looked at me and said, "What was that you said, 'If you can still 
blush, your immortal soul is in no particular danger'?"

	"I said that a long time ago.  Besides, I didn't know you 
believed in souls, Dillion."

	"Don't, necessarily.  But you do.  Take care."

	"You too."  He gave Karen a half-wink and a wave as he walked 
out of the tent.

	"So," I said, "What happened to the children?"

	"Their parents came and took them?"

	"Away from you?"

	"Away from the carnival, I think.  It is getting late."

	"But carnivals are always at their best at night!"

	"I know," she said, yawning.  "But after a whole day, I've also 
learned that they're very tiring, and I think I'd like to go home."

	"Sounds good to me," I said.  Truth to tell, my feet were 
killing me.   We headed for the nearest SDisk, and Castle Shardik.

	When the lagoon SDisk deposited us on the beach, I said, "Do you 
want to take the stairs, or the local SDisk?"

	"The stairs," she said.  "I'm in no mood to go swimming."

	I nodded and summoned the stairway, a force-field construct.  We 
climbed up to the roof of the Castle and made our way to the entrance 
to the first floor.  From there we descended the grav-tube to the 
second floor, where most of the residentials were.  The tube opens up 
onto the second-floor commons, where a lone maintenance drone cleaned 
up the shattered remains of crayons strewn across the wooden floor.  
I shook my head quietly, thinking that having two three-year-olds in 
the Castle at the same time was almost too much for one cranky 
Shardik to have to bear in the morning, but I do love them with all 
my heart.  All the Castle children are wonderful, and they always 
have been.

	We passed the bright yellow door to Dave's room, across the hall 
from the door that opens up on Rainy and Richard's old bedroom, and 
reached my home.  The door opened easily and I said, "Hi, Dave!"

	"Evening, Ken, and you too, Miss Walton."

	"Thank you, Dave," she replied politely.

	"Ken, P'nyssa and Aaden have both said that you and Karen would 
probably want the evening to yourselves and have made arrangements to 
sleep elsewhere."

	I smiled.  "Well," I said, "I hope the two of them have fun."  
Inside, though, there was just a twinge of jealousy; not enough to 
make me angry or sad; I'm far too old for that kind of nonsense.  
Just enough to acknowledge that after all these years together I 
still want to be the most important person in their lives, as they 
are in mine.

	I turned to Karen and said, "Can I get you anything?"

	She looked up and said, "Water?"

	"Just water?"  She nodded, and I walked into the kitchen to dig 
out a bowl appropriate for her.  I figured the large salad bowl would 
do for  now, but it occurred to me that if I was regularly going to 
have Pamthreats as guests I was going to need some appropriate 
dishware.  "Do you want a straw?"

	"No, thanks," she said as she dipped her muzzle into the bowl, 
slurping up large gouts of water as she drank.  Some splashed over 
the side onto the carpet.  "Sorry."

	"S'Okay," I said.  "The Carpet Monster will take care of it."

	"The Carpet Monster?" she said.

	I laughed.  "When kids are growing up, they spill stuff onto the 
floor all the time.  When we have children, we put in a much thinner, 
flat carpeting that's easier to clean, not this thick shag.  Anyway, 
I used to tell them that when they spilled things they were feeding 
the carpet monster, and when it was fed enough and had grown enough, 
it would get hungry, and would come and eat them!"

	She laughed along, then said, "I wish..."

	I walked around and sat down on the floor next to her.  "Wish 
what?"

	"I wish I had children.  I mean, I understand now what you meant 
back when you told us to wait, to get to know what it meant to be 
alive before adding to the world, but I want kids now."

	I smiled and said, "You'll have to choose a father."

	"Oh, I don't know that that will be that hard.  I have a lot of 
males pawing over me."  She rubbed her head gently against my chest, 
and I reached up to touch her forehead gently, with just the 
fingertips.  "Ken," she whispered softly.  "I want this to work."

	"I know," I said in the same low voice.  "Me too."

	She looked up, and I kissed her on her black nose softly.  Her 
tongue slid out and licked my chin, rough and feline.  I hugged her 
close.  "I love you, Karen."

	She chuckled softly, "Love you, too.  And I'm sorry... you do 
smell good, at least, when you don't have alcohol on your breath."  I 
laughed.
	 There was a pause, and then I felt an odd bunching of the 
muscles in her legs, as if she were about to pounce.  She shoved me 
down onto my back and straddled me, standing over me.  "Karen, 
what..."

	"Shhh..." she growled, rubbing her nose against mine.  "Lie 
down."

	I did as she said.  I rarely argue with mischievous carnivores.  
She stepped back, walking down my supine body.  She turned around 
over my legs and sat down, square over my knees.  "Karen, what are 
you doing?"

	Instead of a verbal reply, she attacked my sneakers, pulling at 
the laces with her teeth, trying to get a good grip and shredding the 
canvas somewhat.  She managed to get it free and with a toss of her 
head threw it across the room.  She pulled off the sock, tossed it in 
the same direction.  Then she went to work on the other foot.  "If 
you think I'm going to kiss you after you've eaten my shoes, you've 
got another thing coming!" I said.

	"Not your shoes," she growled around the other sneaker as she 
threw it, "your feet."

	"What?"

	"Like this," she said, curling around my feet and opening her 
jaw wide.  Her breath was hot and humid as her teeth closed, sharp 
and delicate, on my right foot.  Her tongue reached out and ran 
across the sole of my foot.

	I exploded with laughter.  "No!" I shouted, and she ignored me, 
tickling me mercilessly with her variable and soft tongue, making me 
shake and scream.  "Karen! Please!" I begged as she dug in further, 
shifting her toothy grip a little so her tongue could get at the very 
sensitive parts of my arch, between the toes.

	"KARRRREENNNN!!!!" I screamed.  "DAMN YOU!!!!"  I squirmed, 
reaching for her, but what I could reach was unticklish.  I had to 
find something to distract her!  She shifted feet, working on the 
other, which wasn't quite so numb.  "PLEEAAASSSEE!" I screamed, 
shaking and trying to kick, but her massive weight effectively held 
me down.  I was half-afraid I was going to wake up the whole 
household.

	Finally she stopped.  Even without stimulus, my giggles went on 
for at least a minute, maybe two.  She looked up over herself and 
smiled   at me.

	I raised myself up on my elbows and looked her in the eye.  
"That was MEAN!" I said.

	"But it was FUN!" she replied, giving my foot a playful lick.  I 
groaned in response.  She stood up and walked over so we were face to 
face, nuzzling my cheek with her cold nose.  "It wasn't that bad, was 
it?"

	My response was to grab her by the shoulders and wrestle her to 
the ground, onto her back, straddling her quickly.  She looked up at 
me as I said, "There must be something on this side of you that's 
ticklish!"

	"I wouldn't do that," she said, waving her left forepaw at me, 
all four major claws extended.

	"Aw, you wouldn't claw me, Karen.  After all, who would you find 
to do this?" I asked, pushing myself back a little and taking one of 
her tiny nipples in my mouth and sucking down, gently.  She growled 
with pleasure, the sound thrumming through her body and into my 
groin.  I smiled, nipping her gently, playing with the tiny bud of 
flesh with my tongue and teeth.  Her growls grew into a deep purr.  I 
pushed back further, until my butt hit her first pair of rearlegs.  I 
realized this wasn't going to work, and said so.

	"Get those big pillows on your couch," Karen said.  I got up off 
of her, walked over to the couch and grabbed all of the pillows, not 
just the big ones.  I stuffed them under her, making a small cradle 
of cushions for her to lie on.  I kneeled next to her and said, "Now 
what?"

	"Take off your clothes."  I complied, throwing them aside to 
join my sneakers.  "Now," she said, "touch me like you did at the 
tree."

	I smiled, slowly stroking along the length of her body, from her 
throat down between her legs to just short of her cunny.  She growled 
as I teased her with my fingertips.  I had to sway my whole torso to 
reach down between her rearlegs.

	I cuddled up close to her, my knees and thighs pressing against 
her middle, feeling her hard pants and deep growls through my skin.  
I leaned over and found a different nipple this time, pressing my 
chest against her as I did so.  Her forepaw awkwardly fell on my back 
and caressed me slowly, the pads feeling special and new against my 
skin.  My right hand explored all the way down between her legs, 
running over the ruff of fur that surrounded her vulva, trailing down 
to her anus and up the base of her tail.  I couldn't reach much 
beyond a few cents of the tail, but on the way back, I stopped over 
her cunny, just as I had tried this morning in the shower, sliding my 
index finger past the criss-crossed fur and sliding into her almost 
circular vulva, diving into her and coming back wet.

	I crawled further up onto her body, working my way down her 
length, nipping her gently through the fur as I did so.  She growled 
louder, as I slid down, between her four rearlegs, in what would have 
been a classic '69' position had we been even remotely proportional.

	As it was, when I ran my tongue over her small and swollen cunt, 
her head was at least half a meter from my sex.  But I didn't mind- 
my attention was on her, and my intent was to make her growl louder.  
Her body underneath me purred like a motorcycle, the fur and 
vibration tickling my balls and sending waves of satisfaction through 
me.  Her legs shuddered with every lick, and her breathing sped up as 
I dove into  her cunny, licking and nibbling.  She growled, "Get 
inside me, please," as I licked.  

	I turned to look down the length of her body and said, "Now?"

	"Now," she said.  "Like this."

	I slid off of her, crawling around to her butt.  I cupped her 
rump with both hands, stroking and caressing her.  My erection was 
more than ready this time, and I said, "Ready?"

	"Yeah..." she hissed.  I leaned forward, taking my cock in hand 
to correct the aim, and slid forward, pressing the head against her 
vulva.  She growled as I pressed, and when it slid past her lips and 
home she let out a roar that must have awoken the rest of the castle.  
I leaned forward, pressing myself against her, wrapping my arms 
around her middle again.  She growled, her body arching, twisting in 
response to my thrusts.  Her paws quivered as I pounded her, my sex 
slick with her Pamthreat juices, the air thick with Pamthreat growls.

	I was pounding harder, my cock feeling like stone, so hard it 
almost hurt as it slid into her tightness.  Her size was so great 
that even though I was lying atop her, my knees where on the ground, 
providing leverage and force.  She had long since stopped purring, 
occasionally letting small growls escape her, mewlings almost, and as 
I got closer to my orgasm I could see her head whipping back and 
forth.

	Her mewls got louder and closer together, until they were one 
long whimper of pleasure as I kept my steady rhythm, feeling that 
familiar rise in my groin, that pressure.  She let out one long peal 
and followed it with a loud roar, her body shuddering ever more 
violently as she came.

	That did it for me, and I roared out my success as I came inside 
her, feeling my cock pulse into her, against the warm and textured 
walls of her cunt.

	I collapsed on top of her.  She rolled to her left, 
unceremoniously dumping me onto the carpet.  A thought came to my 
mind as I lay there, trying to recover, and I giggled.

	"What's... so... funny?" she asked between pants.

	"Here we are," I said into the shag, "Easy pickin's for the 
Carpet Monster."

	She laughed, and I laughed along as I crawled up to her head, 
kissing her on the forehead.  Her tongue, raspy and hotter than 
usual, licked my throat as I did.  "I did good?" I asked.

	"You were wonderful.  Thank you, Father."

	I laughed.  "You're very welcome.  Feel up to moving 
downstairs?"

	"Grrr.... Yeah," she said, groggily rising to her feet.  "If 
we're going to take a shower," she said.  "I don't like sleeping with 
this sticky feeling, and I've still got cotton candy on my paws!"  
The last part came out in a pitiful mewl.  I laughed.

	"Okay, gorgeous.  Let's go clean up."  She led the way down the 
gravwell, to the shower and to bed.

--
"Confession and Redemption"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al. 
are copyright (c) 1989-1994 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  Distribute freely 
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