From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.furry
Subject: Journal Entry 134 / 0931 [ Involuntary Exodus ]
Date: 27 May 1996 17:11:11 GMT
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Lines: 554
Message-ID: <4ocnnf$79s@news1.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com
Seren, Narnya 13, 0931
"I'm exhausted. You know, I'm sitting down because I can barely
stand. My legs feel like rubber. My eyelids are like leaded
curtains. I'm not even sure if you understand that expression." I
rubbed my forehead with my left hand, feeling every word I spoke.
When I closed my eyes, sleep taunted me because I knew that as hard
as I tried, I was never getting to sleep anytime soon.
"I hope you can hear me. I've been awake for nearly forty-eight
hours, that's what? a day and a half, right? I used to do that all
the time in decanting operations. But in that time I've been back
and forth between the surface and some starship or other four times,
twice by shuttlecraft. The radiation is so bad getting initial
lock-on is impossible by SDisk. They say they don't know what will
happen when lock-on is lost when transit is initiated. I know, I
know, that's supposed to be impossible, but there is this pause
between lock-on establishment and transit, the time it takes
electrons to flow down three millimeters of gold, you know. The
odds are gazillions to one, they tell me, and they can't know if
it's ever happened, because they think that what'll happen is the
transit will occur in place, like, nothing will happen.
"I'm babbling, aren't I?" Click. Fffft. Flip-click. The
sounds of life-support machines making her chest rise and fall were
the only sounds in this private medical bay. Hisss. Click. A
layer of dried mucous had built up around her lips, and I reached
for the wipe to clean it off. As I touched her cool skin, I wished
that I knew what was going on behind those closed eyelids. Were we
getting to her, was there repair going on in there? "I hope we can
share a day again, someday. You have to come back." Click. Fffft.
The sounds keeping her alive echoed inside my exhaustion-sodden
brain. "You know, your mother died down there. If you don't
survive, the siss-taleek will be the ruling family.
"I, um, I went down the first time with a drop ship. We got
nuked, small one. Less than a kiloton. The armor did what it was
supposed to and everybody on the ship lived. I bet the Sinox were
real surprised with that one. An entire phalanx of us, fully armed
and very pissed.
"Except I wasn't exactly pissed. Well, I was. I'd never been
that close to a nuclear explosion before, and, I, well, I pissed my
suit. A small puddle in the left leg support. Good thing the
suit's designed for that, I guess. To deal with liquid waste, I
mean. But it smelled pretty bad--" She coughed. The sound made my
head snap up. Her hands were reaching up, trembling slightly, and I
swear the sound was something closing in on laughter. "Anni?"
More coughing. "Let me. Who's the AI here?"
"I've called the orderlies. Name's Thumper."
"Great!" I shouted. I worked on getting the choke tube out of
her mouth. "Stop moving, Anni. You're just going to make it worse.
Ease down, ease down. Can you hear me?"
She nodded. "Ha... Hi."
I smiled. "Hi," I said, tears welling in my eyes. "You had me
worried."
"I feel like... " She stopped and hunted for a word.
"You feel like shit?" I offered.
"That's one wording for it," she agreed, her voice nothing more
than a hoarse whisper. "What... what happened?"
I shook my head as two people came running into the room.
"Commander, please, give us room."
"Ken," her voice came through the bodies crushing in. "What
happened? Tell me!"
- - -
"Hi," I said.
"Did you get any sleep?"
"A little," I admitted. "Four hours or so."
"They tell me sixty percent of the population died in the
attack."
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Thank you," she said, her hand reaching out for my wrist.
"For what?"
"For saving the rest. It would have been a lot worse if you
hadn't shown up."
"That's what allies... and lovers... are for, isn't it? To show
up when the going gets bad."
She leaned her head back and sighed. "What am I going to do
now?"
"Well, there are a number of thing you have to do." She turned
and looked at me. "We must arrange a funeral for your mother. We
must arrange a new place to live for your people. And we must get
your government back on its feet."
Her hand still grasped my wrist. She squeezed it warmly.
"Thank you, Ken."
"It's not over yet."
- - -
"My people of llerkin, I greet you today as your new queen. My
mother, beloved Stevves, was killed in the invasion of llerkin by
the craven Sinox, and many of us have pledged to someday wreak our
revenge upon the monsters that have destroyed our world and our way
of life.
"But before that happens, we must rebuild. Each of us knows
someone, or more, that we must give sacred rest to, each of us needs
a home, and each of us needs to eat. As all of you know, the Sinox
use of weapons of unprecedented radiation and poison has reduced the
biosphere of llerkin to ruin. The world that gave us birth is now
home to nobody and nothing. But we will rebuild.
"Until then, I have accepted the gracious offer of my longtime
friend, Kennet Shardik, and his people, the Pendorians, of a new
home there. There has been much dissent and hatred around this
issue, but I will brook no further discussion. It is a matter of
our survival. We need a home."
- - -
"I'm thinking about writing a book," I said as I looked out over
the valley where six hundred thousand llerkindi were now building
their houses in the shadow of their queen's new castle, Castle
llerkin. With an AI in the basement and a SDisk network, the
llerkindi were acclimating to their new homeworld with a speed and
grace that I could only describe as phenomenal. "'Exhaustion as a
way of life.'"
Anlestin looked up from her PADD just long enough to give me a
sidelong glance of amusement. "I'm probably more tired than you
are."
"Probably," I admitted. "You've been at this for nearly ten
months. How goes it?"
"How does terrorism sound to you?"
"Badly," I admitted, rolling the word around in my mouth. "Are
you saying we have some, or that we could have some?"
"Both," she admitted. "My people are slow to accept AIs into
their home, and with good reason. They shelter the reactionaries
amongst their kind, the ones who wanted to fill out a colony or,
face Crago and storm, tough it out on the surface of llerkin. They
have threatened to have me killed."
"They're free to. In fact, we need manned stations on llerkin
to construct the initial craters." I tapped the table with two
fingers, idly, looking up into the sun. "They're after you for
changing their way of life, aren't they?"
She shook hear head, a gesture that was the Pendorian equivalent
of a nod. "They blame me for the attack. For aligning with you.
They don't realize the Sinox would have killed us anyway. They
might have left us alone longer. They say that we might have had
better defenses by then." She sat up. "As if we were ever a
warlike people."
"You're preaching to the choir. People who've lost their homes
don't think straight, Anni. They don't. It's something Pendor's
going to have to live with." My face tightened into a grin. "I
hope you're not upset that I feel safer in my own land."
"It's all your land," she replied, gesturing over the valley.
"Already, we're learning Quen and some are even learning Felinzi. I
know it's a half-hour for a message to reach your home from mine by
FAL, but this isn't an FAL universe anymore, Ken. You are... what
is the phrase in your language? Lord of all you survey."
"You know better than that."
"I hope to prove to my heart that it is not the know-it-all it
thinks it is." She smiled tightly, sliding one hand forward to
reach for a glass of water, the open-sleeved cuff of the simple
blouse she wore sliding back along her arm with a soft 'schuss'.
"It will. I would never take away from you the happiness that I
can give to you," I replied. "I've already fucked up with you once,
and that was enough."
"I'm afraid, though," she said. "Afraid that someday, llerkin
will again be a peaceful and bright land, rated SL." She grinned,
and I smiled back. "I'm afraid that the children of that age will
not want to return."
I tilted my head to one side. "That is something to fear."
She reached a hand out. "I felt a drop of rain."
"I did too," I said. "We should go inside." We rose from our
chairs and made our way under the shelter of Castle llerkin, built
much like the Castle at Fahn had been before the Sinox had collapsed
it on Anni and her mother, a ziggurat-construction with her home not
at the top, but second level from there. It was an expansive, open
room. "Opulent" would have come to mind had money any meaning; the
trinkets and baubles that filled this room were, however,
inconsequential these days. Beautiful to look at, emphasizing the
lovely green skin of my hostess, the yellow of gold was muted and
quiet. The bed and bath that were centerpiece to the entire place,
hung with chiffon nets to exclude the bugs that might bother her,
were both large and unassuming.
I watched her walk, the bell-bottoms of her silken pants flowing
easily behind her. "Ken?" she asked.
"Yes?"
"How will we repay you?"
"What?"
She walked back to me. "Look at my home," she said. "It is
much like what my people will become someday. The bed is handmade
by Pendorians, the floor designed by llerkindi artisans and yet laid
side- by-side with Pendorians. Your people are working every hour
of every day next to my own to give my people a home; your
generosity is unbelievable." She sighed, her expression falling.
"I'm scared for the price."
"But you had the right word," I said, reaching down and touching
her chin, lifting her face to mine. "Generosity. We ask nothing,
beloved Anni." I swallowed, considering my next words very
carefully. "Your people are already at risk to lose their souls to
the maw that is Pendorian culture; we take in everything and
incorporate it as a part of ourselves. I'm afraid, too, that your
people will become too Pendorian to leave, when llerkindi is
rebuilt. We are an impressive people, but it is not my wish or
anyone else's to cast every species in our image."
She 'nodded.' "Besides," I said, "You, yourself, have given me
more than enough reason to grant you all the bounty I could manage.
Anni, there was not a touch of disagreement when Paul suggested that
the llerkindi be given a home here, on Pendor. Nobody thought of
our relationship."
"Everyone thinks of our relationship," she said. "They may not
want to talk about it, but it is the key element of our lives,
Kennet. Your people see your alliance with me as a part of your
careful balancing of your personal and political lives. Mine, they
see you either as a tool I can use or as someone using me as a
tool." She smiled sadly. "I wish I knew where to place you."
"I do too," I sighed.
"I could be so much more politic with it if I did not love you."
That made my head snap up. "What?"
"What, in Zhal's name, led you to stay up in my room long after
the battle had ended?" She reached over and grabbed my hand. "That
you care for me is obvious. You called it abusing your privilege.
You know that I heard every word you spoke while I was comatose; I
was still waking up, a frightening business because I could not
move, but I was still awake and could still hear what you were
saying."
"I was... was..."
"Abandoning both your coimelin, both who were very concerned for
you, to spend time over my unmoving body." She nodded her head.
"Do you love me, Kennet Shardik?"
The words caught in my heart. I reached out to touch her cheek,
and she smiled a sad little smile as I did so. "I would if it were
permitted."
"It is."
"Only here," I sighed, pulling her closer to me. "In this
room."
She enclosed her arms, encircling my chest with them. Laying
her head against my chest, she sighed, "It is so illicit."
I reached down and picked her up, into my arms, and carried her
to her bed. "How can it be illicit?" I asked as I knelt, easily
depositing her on the covers. "Everyone in the galaxy knows we've
been lovers."
She reached up and pulled me down to the covers with her. We
lay side by side, facing one another. "It is illicit because they
assume this is merely two leaders, separated from them by the
responsibilities of power, turning to one another for simple release
of sexual desire. I know few of your people believe that, but many
of mine do." She smiled. "It is illicit because it so much more
than that; it is something we must hide from them."
"I won't hide from P'nyssa and Aaden."
"And from what you have written, you will not need to." I
noticed that when she got serious, she dropped her contractions. It
reminded me of our first meeting together. "They know that your
passions are larger than any one, or two, or more, can contain."
Her hand caressed my leg gently. "My people, though, will think
differently. At least for a little while."
"You think they'll learn the Pendorian way of doing things?"
"Quickly, yes," she nodded. I inhaled softly as her hands
caressed my growing erection through the material of my clothing. I
did miss her, it had been too long since I had last been in bed with
her. The problems of the last year had been too much for either of
us. I caressed her face with the back of my hand, feeling the cool
touch of her skin under mine.
I smiled. "I referred to you once as a 'cool alien princess.'
Now you are neither alien nor a princess."
"But I am still cooler to the touch than you," she replied, her
lips pressing against mine.
The touch was as welcome as ever. I felt the soft ridges of her
finely scaled mouth cover mine, her narrow tongue touching my lips,
my own tongue reaching out to caress and to taste hers. She had a
pointy tongue and a flavor that was completely unlike any other
species I had slept with. In a kissing contest, I could never
misplace hers, although I doubt if I could have decided if it was a
better kiss than we mammals have or not.
Her hands pulled open the buttons on my shirt, touching my skin.
I replied by reaching up and touching the ears that ascended upwards
from her head, ending in seemingly razor-sharp tips of cartilage.
She giggled as I stroked the insides that led down from the tip and
across her hairless head to the other ear, stroking it as well with
one fingertip. "That tickles!"
"I thought you said you weren't ticklish."
"I have changed my mind!" Her giggles obscured what she was
saying, but I understood the gist of it. I didn't stop until her
hands reached into my pants and closed around my erection.
"Ow!"
"Now, I have your attention."
"Quite literally," I said, smiling.
"You still have not corrected this design flaw," she purred,
stroking one sharp fingerclaw over my testes sac.
The strong sensations made me gasp for air. "No, and I don't
think I will. I'm used to it the way it is."
"But others of your kind can withdraw it."
"Yes," I said, squirming slightly. "They can. It's for
defense, not for regular use. Heat... reduces the flow of male
hormones. Dammit, Anni, you've been reading my memoirs again!"
"Of course," she said. "Why should I not?" Her lips pressed
against mine again as she held tight to my manhood, holding me
firmly in place. I kissed her face, her cheeks. I kissed her chin
with its three distinct ridges. I tasted the smooth-scaled texture
of her throat, feeling each polished scale flow over my tongue,
feeling her inhale and exhale as I touched her. It was so good to
know she was still alive. It was so good to confirm it.
Her hands released my scrotum and began digging at her own
clothing. "Let me," I said, reaching out to help her. I found the
clasp, and moments later we discarded her clothing off the side of
the bed. Mine quickly followed.
Anlestin had put on a little weight, which was to be expected;
her mother had been a very large woman. Anni had been determined,
however, to maintain something of a lighter figure, and to that end
she exercised daily. It showed in the lines of snaking sinew and
muscle that rippled under her arms and in her thighs as she coiled
and curled around me on the bed. The soft, vaguely feline muzzle,
topped with tiny black nose, was enigmatic in its expression as she
dropped her head into my lap and took the head of my cock into her
mouth.
"Ohhh..." I sighed softly. The sensation of her mouth around my
cock made me shiver gently, and her thin tongue wrapped itself
around the shaft. She took more of it, slowly feeding it to
herself, caressing just the head before progressing down further.
More disappeared into her; my hands caressed her back, feeling the
broader scales there under my fingertips, looking down to see her
head bobbing slightly in my groin, sucking down my cock.
She was as good as she had ever been, but I doubted she could
still go long enough to make me come; males of her own species were
smaller than humans and she often complained that sucking my cock
made her jaw hurt.
But while she was at it, it felt wonderful. I shivered as her
snaky tongue explored the tiny hole at the head of my cock, and then
she again engulfed the entire shaft. "Oh, Anni," I sighed. "You're
getting better at that."
She raised her head to look at me and smiled. "I have been
without you, Ken, but I have not been living a life of celibacy."
"I didn't expect you to." I reached down and pulled her chin
towards me. We met about halfway, kissing again. I shivered as her
hand closed around my cock, pumping slowly.
I reached down, but she pushed me down to the bed instead and
knelt over my head, the hairless slit of her cunt just centimeters
from my lips. "Kiss me."
She spread her legs further apart, bringing her just within
reach of my lips, and I kissed softly. Shaped differently from the
mammalians that made up my own species, her cunt was little more
than an elongated funnel, protected by protruding ridges of slightly
thicker hide. Inside these ridges, I knew, were very sensitive.
I kissed her hard, feeling her cunny open up more, and licked at
the insides, tasting her strange, sweet flavor. I think I described
it once like pistachio, only without so much sugar. That's still as
close as I can describe it. I lapped at her, and small droplets
collected along the soft ridges. I licked those up as well. She
moaned as her hands pulled at my cock. She was insistent on making
me come with just her hands, and she was going to succeed. I had
trouble keeping my attention on her sweet cunny. Her fingers were
insistent, however, and as I plunged my tongue into her cunt I came,
groaning loudly. I felt my semen rain down onto my stomach as I
came, shooting in short arcs of white.
I lay there, panting for just a few seconds before I slid my
tongue back into the slit of her cunt, suckling at her juices and
licking at the walls. She groaned as I reached up and wrapped my
arms around her thighs, holding her in place as she quivered, her
orgasm getting closer. Her hands rested on the bones of my pelvis
as she pressed herself to my mouth, determined to get everything she
could out of me.
And I gave what I could. Her thighs quivered about me, her body
grew tense and her breathing ragged. Each little pant seemed to
catch behind her lips, then explode outward. Her hands, still
pressed to the horns of my pelvis, shook intermittently. "Closer,
Ken," she sighed. I took that as a hint and pressed in further. I
was already tired; the orgasm she had pulled out of me had exhausted
me even before she had begun to make her demands on my mouth. I
pushed in, licking in long strokes to taste her asshole, then back
to finding her cunt, baring my teeth slightly to almost scrape along
the opening.
Her hands suddenly clenched against my sides, her slight claws
digging into my skin as she came, groaning softly. "Oh, yes," she
sighed. "Yes." Her body shuddered as she came once, and again
seconds later. I kept licking, counting five hard gasps as she
came. Or maybe it was just one long orgasm with peaks every five
seconds or so.
Slowly, she raised her hips off of my face. This was a good
thing because she was quickly reaching the point where she couldn't
hold herself up and I was quickly reaching the point where I
couldn't breathe anymore. I suppose it's a great way to go but
even after a millennium I was not ready to go.
She fell over, dropping onto the bed with a sigh. "Zhal," she
sighed, curling up against me, her head against my chest. "You are
wonderful, Ken. Thank you for helping me forget, again."
I caressed her back, scratching at the soft, green scales.
"You're very welcome, Anlestin. May I confess something to you?"
She looked up, her slitted green eyes exploring me. "You can
always tell me something."
"When I first saw you, three centuries ago, I coveted you. I
wished you lived on Pendor, where I could reach you if I wanted." I
reached down and scratched her buttocks, feeling the combined
wetness of her cunt and my mouth against my fingers. I tend to be
something of a "neatness" person about my body; being covered in
such wetness bothered me a little, but I was so relaxed and happy to
be holding her close that I could ignore it for a while. "Now that
I have you here, I don't get any joy out of it." I frowned, looked
away. "The circumstances are too horrible to justify."
"You are not to blame for the Sinox attack," she said, stroking
my cheek. "You know that."
"I know," I said, licking at her fingers, tasting them. One was
still covered in a thin, drying layer of my semen, and I licked it
off dutifully. "I know better than to wish for the impossible." I
raised my head and looked down at her. "Now that you're queen, are
your advisors pushing you to marry? Bear heirs, that kind of
thing?"
She rolled to the edge of the bed and reached over the side,
picking something out from underneath and tossing it to me. It was
a towel, slightly moistened. "They are. I suppose I will look into
it someday soon."
"Any suitable suitors?" I asked as I wiped myself clean. She
watched, apparently amused that she had successfully anticipated my
needs after making love. For the first time since walking indoors,
I noticed that what had been a few drops had become a hard, summer
storm; the outside world had gone from green and blue to hazy grey,
obscured by sheets of rain. A wind blew past the arched windows,
distorting the trees and tossing about torn leaves.
"Some." She smiled. "Many. Some of them are better in bed
than yourself, even." She laughed at my hurt expression. "Merely
different, beloved Shardik."
"I know what you mean," I said, pulling her close and kissing
her lips. Our tongues touched gently, caressing one another like
older lovers. "I can stay the night."
"I would like that," she sighed.
"Reeds?"
"I heard. I shall notify the Shardik Household."
"Thank you," I said.
"It is another thing to get used to," Anni sighed. "The ever-
present servant of information."
I nodded. "One more thing."
"Are you hungry?"
I thought about it; it didn't take much thinking before my
stomach announced in no uncertain terms that food was a good idea.
"I am. Should I cook?"
"Will you?" she asked, looking up. "If I show you the kitchen,
can you make those little pastry things filled with cheese?"
I laughed. Somehow, Anni always has that little girl within
her. "Sure. Lead the way."
--
"Journal Entry 134 / 0931 [ Involuntary Exodus ]"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
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