The Empress looked to her husband in a silent exchange. The Emperor squeezed my hand. “All things are possible, Angel. For now, we must ascertain what can be achieved while you’re here with us. I believe you have an important destiny beyond this moment.” He tapped his sharp, painted claws on my metal collar.
These two spoke in circles, but I sensed that they could be my way out, eventually, if I served them first, above all else. Serving the Captain would get me nowhere apart from being bent over and rubbed raw. Before I could open my mouth to push for something more, music started up again.
I looked down over the edge of the disc and saw a new troop of dancers had taken the stage, both males and females. They were doing something different, like play acting. The Emperor and his wife fixed their attention on the show. Pinning down my path to freedom would have to wait a few more minutes.
Rollick grabbed my hand and pulled me across, to the side of the disk by the stage. We leaned over the edge to better watch the dancers. His twitchy claws squeezed and stroked my hand in excitement. He reminded me of the energetic children I’d seen in Earthside holovids. I’d never experienced a child in person – no one brought children to Nugene Station.
The play was interesting, but kinda boring. A reenactment of events that meant something to the Gran, but held no interest for me. The show climaxed with a dramatic scene where three actors died of faked wounds from fake gauntlet blades. One victor stood tall, and in the end, he even got the girl. A drama that had been played out in thousands of Earthside holovids. Nothing new here.
Then they started dancing again. The thrumming musical sounds and warm air flowing from a nearby ventilation duct lulled me into a doze. I lay with my chin on my arms, draped over the edge of the disc, half-asleep. Soon the little brat’s hands were touching me again, feeling the soft skin of my shoulder and back. He traced the ridges of my spine. Rollick was fascinated by my hairless anatomy. His hand roamed down my thigh and up under my skirt, feeling my ass. The Captain hadn’t given me a lick of underwear, and Rollick caught a juicy handful in his inappropriate explorations.
Still half asleep, I swatted his hand away from between my legs and told him no sternly.
A huge mistake.
The behemoth guard nearby snatched me by my hair and hauled me into the air. My feet weren’t even touching the floor. I grappled with his arm to keep from having my hair ripped out at the roots. Below me was the edge of the disc and endless black abyss. Terrified he might toss me off the side, I swung up and wrapped my legs around the guard’s arm and clung on with all my strength.
Growls, snaps and yips flew around me as the crowd and the Emperor called out to the guard. I was too busy staying alive to listen to what they were saying.
A growling ball of furious fur hit the guard’s backside and toppled us all over the edge. The guard released my hair and tried to catch the lip of the floater. My fears were realized as the yawning blackness opened beneath me to swallow me whole. Adrenaline spiked hard and suddenly time slowed to a near stop.
As the side of the floater slid past my peripheral vision, I flew into action. In a split second I climbed the guard’s falling body and leapt out to latch onto the edge of the disk with my left hand. My ribs hit hard. I heard and felt them cracking, but my desperate grip held. Growling brown fur stretched towards me and hot spikes of pain dug into my right leg as Rollick latched on my calves with his claws.
The yowling guard fell into blackness, gone, but Rollick dangled from my leg, his claws deep in my flesh. Suddenly the Emperor was there, his claws dug into my left forearm and his crushingly powerful grip held me from falling. The Emperor’s face reflected the terror I felt at seeing his son hanging from my leg. My pain switches tripped hard and euphoria flooded in. I was hurt bad enough that the sudden endorphin rush made my head spin.
Trying hard to focus past the giddy joy, I strained to bring my right knee up to reach Rollick with my right hand. I grabbed his wrist, pried his bloody claws out of my leg and tried to muscle eighty kilos of Cat one-handed. He clawed at me with his free hand, scraping my legs as I screamed with the exertion of lifting him with my right arm. Pain and euphoria flashed back and forth, over and over as his claws fought for a purchase in my legs and hips. I pulled and cursed and hooked my foot beneath him to help bring him up, but the little bastard just kept mauling me. Screaming and cursing, I jerked him into the air until the Emperor seized Rollick in his powerful grasp and heaved him up.
The brat flailed and kicked out at my cheek and chest with his clawed toes. He pushed off my face as he scrambled over the edge into his father’s arms. My grip slipped loose from the jarring impact and I fell into blackness. I screamed all the way down. Suddenly a floater appeared beneath me and I slammed into the floor of the disk that arrested my fall. I heard and felt my bones snap as I bounced once and flopped face down. Blessed black unconsciousness swallowed me.
Chapter 7
Something warm and furry tickled my cheek. All I wanted was sleep, rest, to never wake until the soreness went away. The warm furry made little whiny noises and cuddled up on me, like a living, squirmy fur blanket, keeping me warm and cozy. I hugged the blanket and it scooted in closer, hugging me back.
What a strange furry blanket.
The blanket growl-clicked in my ear and slowly my mind found the translation for the alien words. “Father says I owe you my life. Father is angry, but I know he will be happy to see you awake again. I can tell he likes you.”
Something warm and wet licked my face and my sore eyes peeked open to see what this furry blanket was up to. “Rollick. Can we not talk? I want to sleep.”
He made a whining noise, and tried to cuddle in closer, but he was already lying on top of me, like a Gran-shaped throw rug. He tried to say something else and I interrupted him. “Sleep, Rollick. Sleep.” I closed my eyes, hugged him close, and let myself drift back into la la land where my aches would all go away, in time, if only the royal brat would let me sleep and heal.
Somehow my clothes had disappeared. The brat didn’t seem to mind the fact that I was butt naked with his furry leg shoved up between my legs, and his furry, cute face pressed against my left breast. Awkward. I recalled there had once been a blanket, or maybe it was Rollick all along.
My aches had finally dissipated. Now I had to contend with the kink in my neck from Rollick’s lanky left arm wrapped around the top of my head. The kid had kept me warm, but he wasn’t the most comfortable blanket. “Rollick, I need to get up. I need … privacy.”
I had to pee so bad my bladder was ready to burst, and I had no idea where the hell we were, or where to find the nearest bathroom. Every time Rollick squirmed, he reminded me how badly I needed to pee.
His yellow eyes met mine with a look of pure happiness. “I must go tell Father!”
He was up and gone quick. I groaned out of the couch-bed and found a furry blanket on the floor. My naked body wrapped tightly in the blanket, I began noticing the room. The place was huge, at least twenty meters across. The floor tiles gleamed, a glossy burgundy, the walls a light, creamy color, and the couches were black. One side of the room had a large container, with a white ball on the ground. The other side of the room had three openings. I went left and found another room like this one, but with light blue flooring and darker blue couches.
I backtracked and tried another opening. Finally, I found what passed for a bathroom for the Gran. This restroom was far larger and more deluxe than the facility the Captain had attached to his cabin. A beautifully ornate shower room branched off the left with an alcove for the curvy bowl in the floor that was a Gran toilet. To the right was another area with something I hadn’t seen in over a month.
A mirror.
God, I looked like hell. My hair shot everywhere. Old blood streaked down my nose to my chin from where it had probably been broken. I let the blanket fall to see myself covered in crusty, caked blood. I must have been a horrid mess when they scraped me off that floater. I hit the sho
wer immediately and stood in the glorious hot steam while I relieved myself, letting it all wash down the drain. The hot jets of steamy wetness rinsed away the evidence of what had probably been a near death experience. I used the bottle of spicy scented soap on my hair and body to scrub down.
If only D’Anton was alive to see me now, the ordeal I’d survived. He’d probably lecture me again about how I was going to change the human race, how I was a modern miracle of genetic engineering. I didn’t feel miraculous. My gut churned with hunger pangs. That kind of hardcore healing takes food and energy.
After drying off in the hot air jets, and untangling my hair with my fingers, I wrapped up in the blanket again and headed back to the room. The Emperor, Empress, Rollick, some other youngster, and three more males awaited me expectantly.
“See Father, she is perfectly well!” Rollick barreled into me with a huge sloppy hug and almost knocked my blanket off in his excitement. I hugged him back with a smile. I couldn’t recall a time when anyone was this happy to see me. Instantly, I missed Cesar, his smile, his delicate touch, his loving eyes. I wondered if I’d ever see him again.
The Empress moved forward and joined her son in hugging me. Her eyes were closed and I sensed a deep emotion in her, but I wasn’t sure. She purred in my ear. “We thank you for the life of our son. Your selfless actions inspire us all.”
I hugged her back, warmed by her praise. I hadn’t felt heroic or selfless. It had happened so fast, I was lucky to be alive. After a time of warm welcomes, the Empress released me and beckoned to the Emperor. “It is true, Grandrock. Angel is well.”
The Emperor came forward and wrapped me in his crushingly powerful embrace. It would seem I had made an impression on the royal family by almost dying. I sensed I’d reached a turning point in my life, and I couldn’t keep my huge smile off my face.
The Emperor growled low in my ear, almost a whisper. “We worried you would not survive. Seeing you well is a blessing from Lura.” He reminded me of the Captain, the way he invoked this deity Lura. The Emperor held my shoulders in his grip and turned to face the others while I struggled to keep from flashing everyone as my blanket slid down. He held his hand out to the others. “I would like you to meet our daughter, Lenka, the Royal Physicians and the Royal Cook.”
The three males inclined their heads, and Lenka moved in close, hesitant. Her father pulled her in and she wrapped her arms around me tentatively. “Father says you saved Rollick. You have my gratitude.” When she spoke, her voice was soft and quiet, yet articulate. I suspected she was a little older than her brother.
The Emperor and his daughter released me as my stomach growled audibly. He gestured to a table on the other side of the room. “My physicians would like to see you, with your permission. The cook has prepared a meal, better you eat first.”
That’s when I smelled the scents of food. I’d been so absorbed in this strange ritual of gratitude that I hadn’t noticed several dishes heaped with entrees on the table. Though the scents were alien to me, it was unmistakably edible, and my stomach twisted with need. The Emperor led us to the table and dismissed his physicians. The black couches had been thrown haphazardly around the table, setup minutes before I walked in the room.
Rollick and his sister sat on either side of me as the Emperor and Empress sat across the table. The cook dished up entrees from three large ceramic bowls onto ornate ceramic plates that he placed in front of each of us. I had no idea what any of it was, but I was ready to try it. Rollick handed me a utensil that looked something like a rounded spoon-fork, and I watched him use his own spoon-fork to eat a bit of the green stuff.
At the risk of offending them, I sniffed each entrée on the plate, and found two things smelled good enough to taste. The orange-colored dish had a salty sweet flavor that was okay. The tan-colored goulash seemed like pasta in a cream sauce, and tasted wonderfully rich.
I downed most of my plate in a couple minutes as everyone watched me eat. As the cook handed out some kind of sweet juice in cups, I noticed there were no guards in sight. I could only imagine the amount of trust the Emperor had placed in me. They made me feel like an honored guest, tended with great care and consideration.
After two more helpings of the creamy pasta, I sat back on the couch, completely stuffed. I felt awkward with nothing but a blanket tucked around me, but I had no complaints. The Emperor finished his own meal and nodded to his daughter. “Lenka, would you bring Angel something appropriate to wear?”
I glanced at his daughter as she stood from the table and slipped into the adjoining room. It occurred to me we must be in the Emperor’s private quarters, or perhaps his bedroom. Lenka returned with a beautiful black and gold belted-skirt, bra combo and brought it to me. “I think we are the same size.”
In looking at her more closely, I realized we probably were very close in size, except she had no breasts to speak of. The brassiere top was almost ornamental for Gran females, and definitely too small to cover my breasts. I nodded in acceptance of her beautiful gift and excused myself to the bathroom.
As I latched the bra strap and reached for the skirt, I sensed someone behind me. Lenka was there, staring at me funny. She helped adjust the strap better on my top while I quickly adjusted the shimmery black belt and skirt. It barely covered a few inches of my crotch, and the same in back. My thighs and half my ass were bared to the world. The tiny bra covered about a two inch circle of my nipples, leaving way too much creamy breast for the eye to see.
I hesitated as I looked at myself in the mirror. If I moved the wrong way too fast, I would flash everyone an eyeful of pussy in this outfit. On Nugene, my underwear was less revealing than these clothes. I studied Lenka for a hint of her thoughts. She was still staring at me strangely. “It is very beautiful. Thank you. I think I need something more to cover myself. What do you think?”
She walked around me front and back, and moved my skirt around. I tried to ignore the fact she was checking me out a little too thoroughly for comfort. Her eyes squinted up with pleasure as she faced me in the mirror. “You are very mature for one so young. Are you pregnant?”
I felt trapped for a moment, thinking this girl knew the dirty secrets of what the Captain and I had been doing in his cabin. Then it occurred to me she referred to my chest. I lifted up my breasts. “You mean these? These are normal. Human females always look like this.”
Without warning, she felt me up, squeezing my nipples and all, perhaps looking to see if I might leak some milk for her. My face colored red in my embarrassment, but I let her do her worst and kept my mouth shut. A little bit of touchy-feely exploration wasn’t going to kill me.
Suddenly she backed away and put her hands down. “Are you in adulthood, fully mature?”
I nodded.
She looked uncomfortable. “I thought … I thought you were much younger. Forgive my intrusions.” She jetted out of the bathroom and left me wearing the most revealing clothing I’d ever owned. I sighed. I had to find a way to override my modesty around the Gran. They seemed to have no real physical boundaries and were far less conscious of nudity than humans.
Of course, they were covered in fur. I was butt naked with almost nothing to wear.
Chapter 8
I held still and quiet, despite the poking, prodding and probing of the Imperial Gran physicians. Standing with my hands out, completely nude, in a small room – a doctor’s examination area, the Emperor watched as his physicians inspected every part of my body, inside and out. I understood that the Emperor didn’t mind seeing me on display, and had probably already seen me naked, bashed and bloody, but I minded. The probe one of the doctors slid up my ass wasn’t helping.
I had no idea what they thought they were accomplishing. Obviously I was in good health.
I waited for the Emperor’s eyes to catch mine, and tried to be as polite as possible. “I am well. Is this necessary?”
His eyes crinkled in amusement. “Forgive them. They only wish to learn about your species, to und
erstand your anatomy. Your rapid recovery is far beyond our own healing arts.”
My anatomy was doing just great, apart from the intrusive thing in my butt, which they had left there for at least ten minutes. I sensed something unspoken in the Emperor’s intense scrutiny. “You have nothing to fear from me. I only want to help create a trade arrangement and obtain my freedom. I would never hurt your son, and I wish no ill towards the Gran.” Thoughts of returning to Cesar filled my mind. He was my ever-present beacon of hope, the light in my darkness.
The Emperor watched me shudder as they pulled out their nasty little probe, and then stepped up to take my hand. “Humanity, and you specifically, are a great mystery. Your actions have proven you can be trusted. Before we go any further, my physicians needed to ensure there was nothing dangerous on your body.”
What, some kind of biological weapon? Why didn’t he do this in the first place? What was he thinking now?
His alien eyes held me, and I saw a contemplative, intricate intelligence therein. This could be the key to my freedom, and a new standard of relations between the Gran and humanity. The Emperor could return me to Cesar with a casual wave of his hand.
Ironically, I think he saw me as the key.
“The Traders Guild has handled human relations poorly. It is time the Gran reconsider our dealings with your people. You and I take the first step towards a new understanding. You will join me in my home where we can learn about each other. My physicians have certified biological compatibility within close quarters.”
I didn’t need the Emperor’s physician for that. Captain Cronin and his cock had spent countless hours certifying my compatibility. Not to mention the Emperor’s son and his fascination with smothering me.
The Emperor waved off his physicians. “My son has bonded to you. My daughter will likely do the same. I believe we share mutual interests, and hopefully time will prove me correct. Now, regarding the officer who escorted you, Captain Cronin. I have heard strange reports of your time aboard the Trading Guild ship with the Captain.”