Out of Bounds

The Alien Games: Book Two

Ava York

Contents

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Jasek

Charlotte

Offsides: Sneak Peek

Rekker

Rogue Mate

Kazan

Charlotte

For the second time in my twenty-two years of life, I sat encased in a cage. Solid panels outside the rolled-steel bars blocked out all light. I wanted to sit in that cage even less than the first time, but that didn’t really matter.

The cage might not have been my only hope, but it was my only option.

Well, that or die. Or…return to the slave market, and what kind of option was that? Like I’d choose more slavery over another chance at freedom.

The cage rattled to a halt. My stomach leapt into my chest during a moment of freefall, then thudded as we landed heavily on something hard. Something on the cage I couldn’t see whirred and clicked and the sides of the cage fell open.

Light flooded in, blinding me. I squeezed my eyes shut, flinging an arm over my face. A light breeze and the smell of grass filled my nose. Underneath the pungent, waxy green of the grasses, hung heavier notes of dung and the musk of animals.

“I guess I should see what we’re up against this time…”

I opened my eyes to a stretch of scrubby hills and rolling plains. A mix of evergreens and the skeletal branches of a few deciduous trees cut into the skyline in the distance and I smelled the comforting wetness of a freshwater lake.

Had I not been an unwilling contestant on an alien reality show, for a moment, I could imagine I’d found my way back to Earth.

Except the grasses here come in shades of metallic red, electric blue, and iridescent green, like a beetle’s hard carapace. At least we’re near fresh water. We… I guess it’s time to meet my teammate.

I sighed, closing my eyes, and spun around. I opened them, looking past my cage to the second cage sitting behind it. I knew the cage would be there. At least, there was a second cage last season, with an alien brute inside.

A massive alien stood tall, silently staring at me.

“What are you, like seven-and-a-half-feet tall?”

He stood, unmoving, little expression on his face.

“Affirmative.”

I looked him over from head to toe. Even covered in green fur, the contours of massive muscles stood out along his back and shoulders. His well-defined abs flexed with each breath.

“Well, you look strong, so you have that going for you. How durable are you and do you always speak like a robot?”

No expression crossed his face as he replied.

“I do not understand your line of questioning. Please citizen, direct me to your nearest governmental figure.”

I sighed, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hand.

I’m too tired for this.

“Oh, boy. What’ve they saddled me with this time?”

“Answer unknown. Please citizen, direct me to—”

I held up a hand, interrupting him.

“Pause query. What is your designation?”

“JZK-1754 of the 1061st Marines division, Quislikian Ground Assault Battalion A72P.”

I blinked for a moment, letting my new reality sink in.

“That’s lovely. What about a name? What is your name—personal designation?”

“JZK-1754 of the 1061st—”

Held up my hand again and he fell silent again.

“Riiiight. I’ll call you Jasek. The rest is too long for practical purposes. Your name is Jasek. When I say ‘Jasek’, I mean you. Say it. Say, ‘I am Jasek’.”

“I am Jasek.”

Well, that’s progress.

“Great. Follow me, Jasek, don’t die, and I’ll explain.”

“Thank you, Citizen.”

Sort of progress. Maybe.

“My name is Charlotte, not Citizen. You are now a contestant on an intergalactic reality game show produced by little goblin-looking jerks called Snaughians—”

“Snaughians! I must kill the Snaughians!”

I chuckled. “Get in line, but I appreciate your sentiment. There are a lot of people who want to kill Snaughians, at the moment.”

“The Quislik created me to fight Snaughians. My Xunon brothers and I met the Snaughians and fought, but there were too many of the enemy. I was captured. Now, I am here.”

As hard as surviving the previous season of Intergalactic Love Death Match might have made me, I softened at Jasek’s naked distress.

He hides nothing about how he feels and seems to only have rudimentary social skills.

“Oof. That’s rough. I was happily running a footpath through the university park near the river early one morning when I got sucked into a bright light. Next thing I know, I’m on season 33 of Intergalactic Love Death Match.”

He stared at me.

“Season 33? I do not have a frame of reference.”

I rubbed my arm and took in our surroundings while I explained in very clear terms. I had no idea what he did or did not know so I tried to keep my responses as simple as possible.

“Season 33 was last season. You and I have the misfortune of finding ourselves ‘contestants’ of season 34. You and I are a team. We need each other to win our freedom.”

“Then I can return to the Quislik so I may serve them another day!”

He smiled, chest swelling.

“I don’t know why you’d do that, Jasek. They left you to die. I saw it on the news feeds while waiting for season 34 to begin.”

“Since leaving the gestational pods, serving the Quislik is all I know. What do I do, Charlotte?”

My breath caught in my chest.

He just lost, what seems like, everything he ever knew.

“Listen, I’m determined to win the game and get myself out of this fucking nightmare, and I need you in order to accomplish that. I’ve survived this game once already, and you admit you have no clue what to do—so, there are some things I need you to do. Listen, learn, remember, and please, try not to argue. Trust that I won’t tell you to do anything unimportant.”

Hope lit his face.

“Agreed. Thank you, Charlotte.”

Don’t thank me, yet.

“Keep up. We must find shelter, water, food, and fire. The weather seems nice enough and I smell water. Let’s try to find that. Gather wood and dry dung patties as we go.”

“I will follow you, Charlotte.”

Great. Now I have a green-furred, muscle-bound pet to care for.

We followed the smell of water, stepping high to clear the grasses. Well, I had to step high. Jasek was tall enough to step over the tufts in a normal stride.

“So, have you ever watched many Snaughian shows?”

Jasek gasped, face scandalized.

“No! I’d never consume Snaghian propaganda.”

“Okay…do the Xunon make any reality shows?”

Jasek held a branch out of my way and shook his head.

“No. The Xunon are troops.”

I stepped past him, eyes constantly scanning our surroundings.

“All Xunon are troops?”

“Affirmative.”

Surprised by his answer, my eyebrows shot up my forehead. I turned to look at him.

“No Xunon cooks? Or…librarians? Doctors? Nurses? Lawyers, even?”

“No. Xunon are manufactured by the Quislik. We are designed to be soldiers, front-line troops.”

“Interesting. The newsfeeds never said much about the Xunon, other than to say you guys are the Quislik’s troops. The Snaughian newscasters really spent most of the time laughing at the Quislik and the other species involved in that battle. If you’re manufactured…you’re saying the Xunon are clones?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“How do you learn your basic knowledge? Is there a clone school?”

“The Quislik program our memory banks with all the knowledge they have so wisely foreseen we, the Xunon, will require to accomplish our missions.”

Just imagine that… What if someone, like the Quislik, tried to dictate my mind that way…my thoughts… someone trying to define who I could be, what I could learn…

“And your mission is…?”

“To kill the Snaughians, of course. And die trying!”

I wanted to cry for him. The Quislik defined Jasek’s life around killing and dying for them without question.

He doesn’t have any experience with living. How long has he been like this? If I explain life, as I understand it, will it open his mind or simply confuse him?

“Well, that was your old mission, Jasek. Our new mission is to win this game.”

Jasek

“So, to entertain the galactic masses, the Snaughians prepared this world for the games, bought five human women, paired each with a partner, like they’ve done with you and me, and dropped them off on this world. We have to survive and travel to the Altar of Freedom. The first couple to touch the Altar wins their freedom.”

“Xunon are designed to survive.”

“That’s helpful.”

“I can kill all our rivals.”

Charlotte looked at me, cocking her head to the side.

“Let’s just focus on shelter, water, food, and fire. I don’t hate the other players. They didn’t ask to be here, either.”

“I do not understand your logic, Charlotte. The other teams are…not…rivals?”

Charlotte shrugged, walking around the roots of a fallen tree.

“The Snaughians want us and the other teams to see each other as rivals, but I prefer to get to know if someone really deserves to die before I try to kill them. We can’t know if they are rivals until we meet them.”

I shook my head. Charlotte’s conclusions escaped my understanding.

“If we are all competing for the same goal, and only one couple can win, are we not rivals by default?”

Charlotte looked thoughtful. She picked up a random stone from the ground and threw it. We watched it bounce along the ground.

“ILDM may have set it up that way, but I proved, last season, when the fans demanded I be given a second chance for surviving on my own for so long, that it is possible to find another way. One which does not involve killing people who are just trying to survive like we are.”

“This exceeds my programming, Charlotte.”

She glanced at me. A weight seemed to settle upon her.

“I guess the Quislik didn’t give you everything you needed to know, then.”

The thought exploded in my mind. Nothing in my memory banks told me what to call what I felt…or how to live without direct instruction. My chest tightened.

“I don’t understand. The Quislik know all…”

“I bet a Quislik told you that, too.”

I nodded slowly, and Charlotte bit her lip for a moment with tiny teeth, before speaking the words that would shatter my world:

“Looks like the Quislik lied.”

My head spun. I stopped in my tracks and spoke in a whisper.

“What does this mean, Charlotte?”

My quivering knees failed me and I sank to the ground. Charlotte sighed and turned. She walked back to me. Eyes wide, and more lost than I had ever been in my short existence, I turned my gaze upon her.

“If you speak the truth, I…no longer know what is real.”

Her face softened and she placed her hand on my arm. She spoke with a soothing gentleness, gesturing to the world around her with her other hand.

“This breeze is real. Those tiny horse things running around over there are real. The ground under your knees is real. I’m real. Trust me. Think of it this way, the Quislik didn’t tell you everything there is to discover, but they did design you to survive. So, really, you just need to…recalibrate.”

I was designed to survive. I can update my programming based on new information. I know Charlotte speaks the truth. My sensors detect no physical signs she lies to me. Her heartrate has remained steady, changing only with her physical movements. All the signs fall within normal, truthful parameters for known, indexed species…

She held out a delicate hand. I held out my own hand. She sighed, chuckled, grabbed my hand, and pulled me to my feet.

“I will trust you, Charlotte. Tell me what is next.”

“Same as before. Follow me. Gather fuel for the fire as we go. We want to camp closer to the lake, but not close enough to attract predators.”

I nodded, rising to my feet. Charlotte turned, walking in the direction of the source of the scent of fresh water. We walked in silence while I recalibrated my programming to take into consideration the flood of new data.

My mind slowed from its frantic, panicked state and I scanned the world around us. One of the small creatures Charlotte had pointed out earlier ran from a nearby bush, startled by our approach.

“The ‘tiny horse things’ are called yâfthîs.”

She looked over her shoulder at me, one eyebrow cocked.

“You don’t know what a reality show is, but you know what those are called?”

I shrugged, certain I no longer correctly understood the motivation behind the choices the Quisliks made for the Xunon when they created Xunon, but attempted to answer her the best I could.

“The Quislik must have thought wildlife could be important to Xunon survival.”

“Interesting. So, you must have, like...a database of information. That should be useful.”

I am still useful.

Pride bloomed in my chest. We continued to walk while my mind continued to process until my sensors detected a change in the terrain.

Charlotte said water was a priority.

“Alert, Charlotte! We approach a lake.”

“Yes, we do. Now, we just have to manage to get some water before something eats us.”

We slowed to a halt, taking in the vast body of water in the distance. Animals from many worlds drank from the shimmering lake. Birds flew through the open sky, flocks twisting and diving as if of one mind.

“Being eaten by animals is against my programming, Charlotte.”

“Few creatures I know of want to be eaten.”

“I had not thought of that, Charlotte.”

Charlotte chuckled.

“Jasek, there are so many things you’ve never thought of before. Make yourself comfortable in the knowledge that you’re about to receive an education.”

“I look forward to more system updates.”

I heard a buzzing noise zip through the air. I searched for the source, attempting to determine if the noise indicated danger. Charlotte cheered, jumping up and down. She grabbed my arms and shouted in my face.

“Yes! About time.”

“This is not an attack?”

“No, Jasek. I’m hoping it’s help.”

Two drones flew in, dropping fine backpacks on the ground at our feet, then flew away.

“I did not sense them approach, Charlotte. How did they get so close?”

“They’re cloaked. We’re being recorded every second. The recordings are broadcast, uninterrupted, to the audience around the galaxy.”

“And the Snaughians help you? I do not want help if it comes from Snaughians.”

“The Snaughians don’t help, Jasek. The viewing public pays the Snaughians to help us. Someone, or a group of someones, paid the Snaughians to send us these packs. We need all the help, and fans, we can get. Now, grab your pack, put it on your back, and let’s try to get some water without dying.”

I picked up my pack, slid my arms through the straps, and followed Charlotte.

Orders, I understand.

Comforted by a new leader, I scanned the terrain, looking for additional useful information.

“According to my calculations, our path will intersect with the lake in one galactic hour.”

She smiled at me and patted me on the arm.

“Then, we’re making good time.”

“Should we not see what supplies we have in our packs?”

“Let’s do that when we get closer to the lake and under cover. I’m hesitant to stop for long in open country like this. I learned that lesson last time.”

“You mean on season 33 of Intergalactic Love Death Match? What happened last time?”

Her smile slid off her face.

“A giant flying creature swooped down and carried off my partner.”

“That is very unfortunate. You survived, though.”

“Yeah, but I was the only one.”

As an experiment, I reached out and gently patted her arm like she had patted mine when offering comfort.

“I understand. Don’t worry, you will win, this time. You have me. The Quislik designed me to survive.”

“Thanks, Jasek. I feel so…comforted…”

“You are welcome. Query: how will we find shelter?”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I find something that will work.”

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

“You’re like talking to the automated run-around humans call ‘customer service’.”

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

My visual sensors detected a dangerous species.

“Alert! Ntàssze detected! Be advised, ntàsszes are dangerous creatures. Keep all body parts out of a ntàssze’s jaws.”

“Uhh… Thank you for that…information. Which ones are the ntàsszes?”

I pointed to a creature on a ridge in the distance.

“Wow. How tall is that…evil, death-pig thing?”

“A fully grown ntàssze can reach a height of seven feet at the shoulder.”

Charlotte shuddered and we continued walking.

“Let’s stay clear of those, for sure. Let’s hope that’s the last of the megafauna.”

“Negative, Charlotte. I detect many species which would qualify as megafauna.”

“Great.”

“My sensors have detected signs of mùdzhos, mpùteksas, dyàks…”

Charlotte laid a hand on my arm. Her touch interrupted my thoughts, halting my words.

“I get the point, Jasek. My memory…uh…Human mental databanks work less efficiently than I suspect your database works. There is no way I will remember all those names, if you list them all together like that. Humans are complicated.”

Charlotte pulled a canteen from her pack, opened it, and drank. I enjoyed soaking the sun in through the chlorophyll in my fur. I recharged as I walked, processing sunlight into energy. My feet sucked nutrients from the ground over which we walked, and my lungs rested as my body processed carbon dioxide into oxygen.

We neared the lake. Charlotte stopped short of the shore and sat on a boulder under some trees, opening her pack while she rested. She spoke as she checked her supplies.

“Looks like I’ve got a fire starter, blankets, knife, whetstone, canteens…a small camp pot. What’s in yours?”

I unslung my pack from my shoulder, setting it on the rock next to Charlotte’s pack, while she stuffed items back in. I unzipped my pack and peered in.

“I have much the same. Except I seem to have an axe rather than a pot.”

“Works for me, Jasek. Welcome to camp.”

Charlotte

I carefully stepped among the brush choking the banks of the lake. Plants much like tall bamboo, willow, and long, fibrous reeds grew in the marshy shallows. I pulled out my knife and began to harvest.

These will make some fine…wait—I should say all of this out loud for my clueless alien.

“These will make some fine tools. Baskets, mats, bowls, even walls and roof, with enough work.”

I showed Jasek which plants to collect and how. He diligently harvested, without rest, until I stopped him.

“Never take too much from any single plant. We don’t want to kill it. Also, I read some great advice in a book once. ‘Always leave enough for the bear’.”

“The Quislik did not include information on bears.”

“Large, hairy, omnivorous, dangerous animals from my home planet. We call it Earth. The point was, when gathering food, always leave enough behind for the other wildlife who might not try to eat you if they aren’t starving because you took all the food they also eat.”

“I will always leave enough for the bear, Charlotte. Though I see no bears.”

I chuckled and shrugged.

“Consider it a metaphorical bear.”

“Entry updated.”

I wonder what he means by that. Eh. As long as we survive, what does it matter? He listens. All things considered, that alone is a fucking miracle.

We trudged back to our campsite, meager as it was. We laid our harvest to the side with our packs and I turned to Jasek.

“Please bring me stones. Whatever you can find nearby. At least this large.”

I used my fingers to pantomime a shape much like a large baked potato, returning to my own concerns. I took the small pot and filled it with lake water. I had no intention of drinking it, so I only bothered to pick out the larger leaves and detritus.

When I returned, Jasek stood proudly by a pile of rocks three-feet tall.

“Will this be enough, Charlotte? I can get some more…”

“No. That is…more than enough.”

I prepped reeds and cut bamboo, explaining my plans to Jasek. I showed him some basic techniques and explained their uses. When I took Basket Weaving in college, I never thought I’d teach those skills to an alien clone on another planet.

Yet, here I am, doing just that.

By the time the fire burned to coals, I lay on a woven reed sleeping mat cushioned by my blanket. My eyelids drooped, and my blinking slowed with my exhaustion.

Tomorrow, food. The sun sets...

“It’s almost time for the broadcast.”

“What broadcast, Charlotte?”

“Every night ILDM sends each couple a broadcast drone which they use to torture us, harass us, try to convince us to do dangerous things. Sometimes they might show clips of the other couples. Mostly, though, it is an excuse for the ILDM producers to get footage of the couples arguing with Plabz and Kvorkt. They are the hosts.”

A drone zipped through the air. I patted the ground next to me and he sat where I indicated. The drone levitated in front of us. A display screen lit with the faces of two, smiling, green Snaughians.

“Welcome to the 34th season of Intergalactic Love Death Match, where five lucky couples are matched and sent to wild and exotic locations! Which couple will make it to the Altar of Freedom first? Will they survive? Will they fall in love? Will they win their freedom? Will the audience help or hinder their epic struggle across the vast continent of Tikalc on the planet Garglax II? Stay tuned and find out. Now, a word from our sponsors…”

Exhausted, I fell asleep before the introduction had even concluded. I slept hard, even with my belly empty. I woke to Jasek staring at me like a new puppy ready to be let out first thing in the morning.

“Most species find it creepy to wake up to someone staring at them.”

“Please define ‘creepy’. It does not translate.”

I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand and tried to respond coherently, though I had only just woken.

“Uncomfortable, discomfited, a negative social interaction.”

Jasek looked thoughtful through my sleep-bleary eyes.

“The Quislik believed Xunon only needed to respond to situations in one way. Kill.”

“I believe you. But now, you have new knowledge and must update your programming to accommodate the new data. I hope…”

“Ah. Excellent idea. Incorporating… Staring at people while they wake is ‘creepy’. I will remember, Charlotte.”

“Great.”

I looked around, noticing a stack of mats lying next to me. Jasek had stretched a blanket from the mats to two long poles stuck into the ground, shading me from the sun. A fire crackled in the fire pit. The smell of roasting meat wafted forth, invading my nose.

My mouth watered and my stomach growled.

“Come, Charlotte. You must be hungry. Everything in my database says a species with your specifications should be able to digest and gain sustenance from lâlùpel.”

“My body seems to think it smells safe. You’ve been busy.”

I stretched, groaning a little, and yawned. I rolled over and pushed myself upright.

“Xunon require far less sleep than humans seem to. The chlorophyll in my fur gathers energy from this planet’s star. I was able to accomplish much while you slept.”

Ok, I might be impressed…

“Ok. Maybe you aren’t useless, after all.”

Jasek laughed—as if laughing were also new.

“That was my first laugh, Charlotte.”

“You don’t say. Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”

I got to my feet and found the most private spot I could find to pee. I washed my hands in the lake, wishing I had soap and a sink. I returned to camp and ate my lâlùpel.

“They look like space bunnies.”

“What are ‘space bunnies’, Charlotte?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s delicious.”

After we ate, I lay the bones carefully on the coals.

“What are you doing?”

“Charring the bones. We’ll use it later. Right now, we could use a fish basket.”

Jasek watched me form a fish basket, copying each step. Both baskets turned out well, and we took them to the lake, picking a spot with a current. We submerged our baskets and trapped them between two rocks.

While we waited, Jasek and I explored. I poked around among the reeds, looking for anything familiar.

“I wish I knew which of these plants were edible. And palatable.”

A small movement caught my eye. I leaned closer. A little plant wriggled tiny vine-tentacles at me. It opened a small bud centered in the mass of the tentacles. To my surprise, it pushed itself to its tentacles and walked over to me.

The bud looked like a little, eyeless face. It puckered at me like a hungry baby bird, then leapt the short distance to my hand. A thought occurred to me. I grinned.

“Jasek, since you have zero social skills beyond ‘kill it’, I think it’s time to teach you some. I just found this little guy. Do you have it in your database?”

Jasek inspected the little plant crawling across my palm.

“Negative, Charlotte. None of my sensors detect toxins.”

I held it out to him.

“Hold out your hands.”

Jasek lifted his hulky arms and opened his giant fingers. The little creature leapt onto his palm. It found a bit of soil stuck in Jasek’s fur and cleaned it off.

“This is your buddy. Keep it alive. I think it’s pretty.”

“Something I’m not supposed to kill?”

“You didn’t plan to kill me, did you?”

He looked at me, as if afraid of how I might react.

“Not once you explained things.”

I chuckled.

Fair. Not like I didn’t have the same thought at first.

“I see. Let’s keep it that way, shall we? Time to check those fish baskets, Jasek.”

Jasek

I pulled my fish basket from the water the way Charlotte showed me. She pulled two large flopping fish from her basket and smiled. The profound beauty of Charlotte when happy hit me like my database said a slap on the face would feel. I checked my basket before losing myself in her radiance. My basket held no fish.

“Don’t worry. I’m certain you’ll catch some next time. Move your basket near mine. Maybe it will catch our breakfast.”

“Xunon do not require much sustenance.”

“Lucky you. Humans require much sustenance.”

Charlotte stripped a strand of long, tough grass, threading it through the fish’s gills and mouths. She tied the strand off and handed the string of fish to me.

“Carry this?”

“Affirmative. This is a simple task for a Xunon.”

We returned to camp and Charlotte taught me how to clean and prepare our catch. My little plant woke from a nap, stretched, and tentacled over to the bucket of fish trimmings. It pulled itself up the side by its viny tentacles and plopped into the bucket.

I looked in. The plant ate the fish scraps in vicious little bites.

“Have you named your pet yet?”

“No. How does one choose a name? What name does one choose? Are pet names the same as all other names?”

“Stop there.”

I ceased speaking. Charlotte’s eyebrows crept up her forehead. A deep sigh escaped her chest. The sun sunk low behind her. Her eyelids drooped and she looked…deflated.

“Well, you could name it a name you like?”

“Charlotte. I will name it Charlotte.”

Charlotte giggled.

“Oh, no, you won’t. That’s my name.”

“Yes. Of all the names I know, it is my favorite.”

“Uh…thanks. Wait, how many names do you know?”

“Charlotte and Jasek.”

Charlotte laughed. Five minutes later, she seemed to wind down, as if the tension holding her up this long finally broke.

Like when she sleeps. Don’t be creepy.

I tried to not think about watching her sleeping face through the long night. Xunon recharged through sunlight and chlorophyll-filled fur, digested foods, and the exchange of extraneous elements for needed nutrition where our bodies touch the ground, only rarely sleeping.

The Quislik had fashioned us to survive as long as necessary to achieve their objectives. We either died or were recycled when no longer useful. Charlotte groaned, pushing herself to her feet. She tidied the campsite and crawled under the blanket on her mat.

While Charlotte slept, I watched the stars pass across the sky. I watched three small moons chase a larger moon. Grasses swayed in the breeze and herds strolled by, disturbingly quiet in the night.

Feeling recharged, I pushed myself to my feet. Tiny tendrils of mycelium tore away from me where I had lain. The disturbed tendrils began to fruit. Tiny caps rose, opened, and puffed. A firm breeze ruffled my fur, carrying away the cloud of spores from the mushroom’s gills.

I prepared everything for morning just as Charlotte had shown me. I wasn’t the first Xunon dropped on a planet and left to survive. Quislik considered that to be exactly what they had created Xunon for. We were to be troops who required no resupply.

Killing things are what I had always thought Xunon were for. Breaking open buildings and starships and heads. Naming things…?

I glanced down at the plant curled up on my shoulder.

Is that thing bigger?

“What if I call you Fishguts? You seem to enjoy them.”

The tiny plant stroked my cheek with a tendril. I decided to take that as an affirmative answer.

Fishguts clung to my shoulder while I boiled some water, running it through the filter Charlotte had made from the charred bone and fine woven reeds. I refilled the canteens and sprinkled a few drops on Fishguts, who appeared to appreciate the moisture.

Fishguts curled up on my shoulder for another nap and I looked for something else to do. I took the remaining reeds and pliant branches and wove two new fish baskets. Just as I finished the second basket, the sun rose, bathing the world in light.

I closed my eyes and turned my face to the fresh rays shining down upon our camp. I stripped off my top and bared my torso to the glorious rays, soaking in the heat. My skin felt like particles of light danced in my fur. Charlotte woke. She seemed pleased with my nightly efforts, even if her cheeks reddened oddly when she saw me without my shirt.

After breakfast, we returned to the lake.

“Jasek, will you collect the fish while I look for something to make rope or twine out of?”

“Yes. I will collect the fish.”

My basket held a very large fish. I strung him on a reed and checked the next basket. It held two smaller fish. Since we already had a fish large enough for our meal, I released the smaller fish back into the lake.

Leave some for the bear.

The world around me fell quiet. Alarms blared in my head. I stood and spun in a circle, looking for a source for my apprehension. I sniffed, hoping to catch a scent I could identify. Charlotte stepped through the water with care.

I secured the fish basket with a rock and stepped in her direction. She stood, turning her head to me. Behind her, I saw two eyes flash among the brush, and in an instant my Xenon combat systems engaged.

Specially engineered sacs dumped stimulants into my system. My veins swelled. My muscles bulged. An inevitable roar reverberated deep inside my chest. Stimulants and fuel flooded my muscles. My veins felt afire.

Long bone spurs thrust forth from my arms and shoulders. I crouched, growling, staring down the eyes watching Charlotte—hunting her.

Charlotte froze. Half a smile hung crooked under her terrified eyes. She cringed back from me. Deep hurt in her eyes fought to deny the sense of betrayal blooming to life inside of her.

“Down, Charlotte. Alert!”

I leapt at her. Charlotte crouched low, covering her head with her hands. I sailed over her and tackled the fàvrath, mid-leap. Huge paws and massive, powerful shoulders wrapped around me. Wickedly sharp, hooked claws stabbed into my flesh. The fàvrath and I rolled across the grasses, locked in a deadly embrace.

Charlotte

Jasek’s sloshing steps alerted me to his approach. I stood, turning to face him. His expression stopped me cold. The face I’d come to know as gentle and naive, transformed in an instant. He crouched low, growling. Sharp bone spurs extended from his arms and shoulders. His muscles bulged.

This is the moment it all goes to hell and he attacks me just when I thought I could trust him—

“Down, Charlotte. Alert! Fàvrath!”

I dropped to the swampy water below a split second after I heard the growl behind me. Jasek leapt. I watched his massive body move almost faster than I could see. He tackled whatever growled behind me. My eyes caught up…

Who thought saber-toothed space cats were a good idea? Oh yeah, Snaughians…

Jasek and the creature grappled, struggling against each other. Jasek’s big hand held the creature back by the neck. Seven-inch-long, knife-like canines snapped at Jasek’s face.

Giant paws armed with hooked, scythe-shaped claws tore at Jasek’s back, even as he landed a series of blows to the creature’s belly. The massive space cat yowled. It tried to leap back, away from Jasek, but he held on. The muscles of his arms strained.

Jasek twisted at the waist and arched his back. He body-slammed the creature into the marshy edge of the lake. The monster scrambled, flailing legs splashing, trying to regain its feet. Jasek leapt out of range of the sharp, three-inch long claws.

The fàvrath got enough feet under it to leap at Jasek’s throat. Jasek dodged to the side, raking the creature’s neck with a bone spur on his upper arm. The sharp edge sliced through the beast’s neck. Bright, green fluid fountained across Jasek’s fur. The creature sagged and crumpled to the floor. He turned to me, chest heaving.

“Be calm, Charlotte. I have neutralized the fàvrath. Please be aware, my database says fàvrath are pack-hunting carnivores. Where there is one fàvrath, usually there are at least three, and possibly, up to twelve more nearby.”

“I agree we should move camp and wow, Jasek! That was amazing.”

“Thank you, Charlotte. The Quislik designed me to kill with speed and efficiency.”

I sighed.

Giving the Quislik credit for everything is all he knows to do. We’re stuck together, for now, and I enjoy Jasek’s company…I suppose I might as well try to teach him how to be…more human?

“I don’t want to leave the fàvrath behind. No reason to waste the meat and that hide is too useful. Intestines, bladder, stomach, bones, and tendons, too…”

“I will be happy to carry it.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m just not certain how we’ll accomplish it. We really don’t have the time to set up a drying rack or scrape a hide—”

The buzz of an incoming drone interrupted me.

“Yes. Looks like someone sent us a gift. Would you go fetch it while I start working on this fàvrath?”

“I will retrieve the gift, Charlotte.”

“Thanks.”

I skinned the fàvrath, setting the hide aside. Jasek returned, pushing the medium-sized maglev crate ahead of him. I stopped my work for a moment. Panting, I gestured at the crate. Jasek opened it and I looked inside.

“Nice. Temperature controls. Sturdy. We’ll pack the meat in here.”

“This crate contains many supplies. How will we fit everything?”

“We repack it. Hand me that roll of butcher paper.”

Jasek handed me the only roll of anything in the crate. I sectioned the best cuts of the fàvrath, rinsing any debris off the meat and wrapping the pieces in butcher paper. I rearranged a few things until we had managed to stuff some of the meat into the crate.

I grabbed a can of aerosol Insta-tan from the new supplies, rolling the fàvrath hide open, laying it hair-side up over the crate. I shook the can and sprayed the hide. I quickly braided some of the reeds and tied them through the crate’s handle.

“Let’s get back to the campsite. We need to get our things sorted properly and move camp before the leftover fàvrath attracts scavengers.”

“Yes. The odds were quite low that we would already spend so much time here without any scavengers or more fàvrath finding us.”

“Agreed. Bring in the fish baskets. We can cook the fish while we finish packing.”

We gathered the remainder of our things and returned to camp.

“Charlotte, I have an update for your system.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“I have named my pet. The plant liked yesterday’s bucket of fish trimmings so much, I named it Fishguts.”

My face froze for a moment, then a slight smile crawled onto my face.

“You…named the plant…Fishguts…”

“Yes. It is a good name.”

I nodded.

Who am I to judge?

“Very…strong name, Jasek. Evocative.”

“Thank you. Fishguts hung onto my fur the entire fight with that fàvrath. I worried about Fishguts, Charlotte. Is that normal? My databanks—”

“Don’t have that information, do they?”

He looks so nervous.

“No, Charlotte.”

“It’s normal to worry about the health and safety of those you care for. Now, stack all the mats over there.”

I pointed to a spot on the ground near the maglev crate. Jasek turned and followed my direction without another word.

We get so much accomplished without all the arguing I’m used to. Back on Earth, everyone and their dog argues over everything.

I sorted our supplies by type, laying them all out where I could see them. I stopped, staring at the collection. Reeds and mats, baskets, blankets…gathered wood—Humans required so much to survive.

At least we’re stocked up with food.

I checked on several poles of varying lengths which I’d cut the first day. They looked like they were drying well.

“I have stacked the mats, Charlotte. What is next?”

I glanced at Jasek and pointed at the pile of materials.

“Ever heard of a travois?”

“No.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll love it.”

“What is love?”

Startled at the turn of the conversation, I forgot to breathe…and how to speak, for that matter.

This will take so long to explain…

“The most difficult thing in the universe to explain. In this context, it means…you’ll feel positive emotions.”

“Do I love Fishguts? I feel positive emotions for Fishguts.”

I chuckled and returned to my work.

“That’s good, Jasek. I don’t know if it’s love, though. Love takes time.”

Jasek

“You make love sound complicated, Charlotte.”

“Such is the human condition, Jasek. Love is complicated. Now, drag the two longest poles over here.”

She pointed to a clear area. I moved the large poles, careful not to hit anything else with their length. Charlotte selected a four-foot-long piece of pole. She placed it next to the two, fourteen-foot-long poles, the longest sections of the plants I had found at the lake’s edge. Charlotte told me they reminded her of plants on Earth called bamboo.

“Jasek, please get me a pot of water warming on the coals.”

I took the pot and walked back to the lake’s edge. I scooped a potful of water and carried it back to camp with care. Charlotte knelt near the poles. A basket of long, tough reeds laid on the ground near her hand. I arranged a small bank of coals, placing the pot atop them.

“Here, soak these.”

She handed me a handful of the reeds. I stuffed them in the pot. A few minutes later, when the reeds were flexible, I handed them back to her. Charlotte began to work. While I softened reeds, she lashed the three poles into a triangle.

Woven reeds held the poles tight. Where the poles overlapped, Charlotte had carved shallow joints and fitted the reeds together. She shook the creation, watching the lashings. Apparently satisfied with the construction, she waved a hand in my vague direction.

“Bring the crate.”

I pushed the crate over to her. She fitted the frame around it, stepped back, looked, then removed the frame. She grabbed two more four-foot-long poles and lashed them together, parallel to each other, trapping the framework in between. She moved the frame over the maglev crate.

“Lift the narrow end of this frame, Jasek, so I can strap the entire thing to the crate. That way, it’ll hold up this end.”

I finally understood what she was making.

“I understand, Charlotte.”

I lifted the yoke, the narrow end of the triangle, ‘til the wide end laid flush along the top of the maglev crate. Charlotte strapped it all together with wider, longer grasses.

“Ok, let go…”

I released my grip. The narrow yoke end of the travois hit the ground. The entire framework pivoted, but the maglev crate remained attached. Charlotte laughed. She grabbed two poles, lashing them across each other, and walked over to me.

“Lift the frame, again.”

I lifted the frame with one hand. She stuffed the newly made brace under the narrowest part of the frame. I rested the yoke atop the brace and the travois now sat level.

“Bring me, uh…three? No. Four mats. Bring me four mats…”

I lifted four mats from the top of the stack.

“No, the heaviest mats. Bring the heaviest mats. Sorry.”

I dug through the pile of mats, selecting the sturdiest, carrying them over to Charlotte.

“Thanks. Put them like this. We’re creating a bottom for this thing.”

With my help, Charlotte arranged the mats to create a flat base across the widest part of the pole triangle. She stepped back, looking at it, then nodded. She opened a hand in my direction, never taking her eyes off her project. I wondered what it looked like inside her mind.

“Thin reeds.”

I handed her some of the reeds soaking in the pot. She used them to sew the mats to the frame. I watched her technique.

“I have updated my programming. I can also accomplish this task. Would you appreciate assistance?”

“You bet I would. This is tedious, but I’d hate to do a bad job. The things we make right now will keep us alive. I learned that the hard way on the last season.”

“You are wise, Charlotte.”

Her cheeks shone.

“I don’t know if I would say that. I’ve just seen more of the world.”

“My databanks say experience contributes to wisdom.”

Charlotte chuckled, waving a hand at me.

“The Quislik included the strangest information in your memory banks. Luckily, you have the capacity to grow. The Quislik may have made you—like a human has no choice in their own parentage—but it’s up to you who you decide to turn that into. You, Jasek, decide who you are. Not the Quislik.”

“Processing. Thank you for your patience. This unit will alert you when the analysis is complete.”

Charlotte returned her focus to her task.

“Okay, let’s change the subject. What we’re doing here is technically weaving…but it’s a lot like sewing. Sewing allows one to join hides, furs, fabrics, etc. to make clothing. Which I hope to do before the ones I’m wearing fall apart.”

“Charlotte, I request that you instruct me on sewing, so I may also join hides, furs, fabrics, etcetera.”

“Sure, Jasek. We can do that tonight during the broadcast.”

“I hope to see the fight with the fàvrath on tonight’s broadcast.”

Charlotte giggled.

“I’m certain you’ll look heroic. That thing would’ve gobbled me right up.”

“Their teeth are like assassin’s knives.”

Charlotte grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at me. She pointed over to our packs.

“I harvested the teeth. You could make yourself a couple of fine knives.”

“Agreed. Teach me that, too.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened.

“I don’t know a lot about making knives. We’ll try to figure it out.”

“Thank you, Charlotte. Knife-making seems like a useful skill.”

Charlotte smiled, and we worked in silence. When we finished, we’d lashed the mats to the frame.

“And we can still access the crate on stops, Charlotte. This is well thought out.”

“Yeah. Once we get the right kind of hide, I’ll make straps. Maybe someone will put some prefabricated buckles in the next supply crate. That way, we don’t have to use new reeds to lash the crate to the framework every time we want to eat.”

We packed the remainder of our supplies on the travois atop the mats, securing it as best we could with reeds and poles. We stepped back. Charlotte inspected our work, nodding her head. She stopped and turned to face me.

“Good job. Thanks for the help. You were the best assistant I’ve ever had, actually.”

“Thank you, Charlotte. I enjoy learning. There is so much to learn.”

A crooked smile hung on her face.

“Anyway, come stand right here. You get to pull the travois.”

“Thank you, Charlotte! This will be my first time—”

“Yeah, yeah. Everything is new. Come on. I want to get to the next lake before sunset.”

“I will follow you, Charlotte.”

“Awesome. Don’t drop the travois unless you really need to kill something.”

Charlotte

I must’ve fallen asleep before Plabz and Kvorkt had stopped trolling contestants on the broadcast. Content to remain as uninteresting to the Snaughians as possible, I had watched silently. At least, I remembered nothing between then and waking, as the sun had already risen high.

Fishguts stared into my face, not that the plant had eyes. Instead, it stared at me like the Audrey character from Little Shop of Horrors, which Grandma made me watch with her that one summer she took up gardening.

And then she wondered why I wasn’t into it.

“Good morning, Fishguts.”

Jasek’s face popped into my view.

“Ah! Good morning, Charlotte. Please, see to your morning functions. I have prepared everything.”

I raised my eyebrows, hoping somehow, they’d bring my eyelids with them. They didn’t raise my eyelids, so I squinted in the light beam assaulting my face. I groaned and spent the next half hour rolling around until my bladder refused to wait much longer.

The mats on the unloaded travois had become the most comfortable hammock. The stacked reed mats provided the firm, but flexible support of a good mattress. The construction trapped and retained the perfect amount of heat while allowing adequate airflow. I stayed dry, comfortable, and asleep ‘til Fishguts, the sun, and Jasek’s tireless exuberance conspired with my full bladder to force me out of bed.

Last night was the first good sleep in…how long? Five, six months?

I shook my head, deciding it might as well have been a lifetime ago. I lost track after the third day, last season. I yawned and stretched my limbs, releasing tension amid satisfying groans. I noticed Fishguts watching me. Its little tentacles mimicked my movements. I giggled.

I crawled to my feet and got myself as ready to face the day as I could without coffee. I took in the changes around camp on my way to the fire. Jasek handed me stew in a mug the fans had sent in the last crate. I read the text across the side.

“ILDM Season 33.”

I turned the mug. On the other side, someone had printed a still shot of the giant bird carrying off my previous partner. I sighed and sipped my stew.

I’d kill for a spoon.

Fishguts ate the breakfast scraps. Jasek gave me a tour of his night’s efforts.

“I found many plants my database says are safe for you to eat. I harvested many and stored them in a fish basket I modified. I restocked our stores of reeds, grasses, and poles. I caught a few more lâlùpels. I cleaned them and tanned all the hides. I’ve packed everything except the dishes, I created large side panels for the travois, and I made you clothing.”

I sat, stunned, staring at Jasek, my jaw hanging open.

“Wow. Thanks…you did so much.”

“Xunon need little sleep.”

“So you’ve said. Repeatedly.”

Jasek breathed in deep.

“We will travel far today, Charlotte.”

“So we will. You seem much more…confident, today.”

Jasek turned and looked at me with a look I couldn’t quite place.

“Affirmative, Charlotte. I have recalibrated, as you suggested. You were very right; I can update my programming to adjust to this new situation.”

My heart melted for him.

Anyone else I knew, back when I still knew people, would have fallen apart…

“Show me this…clothing you made.”

Jasek handed me a roll of fàvrath fur. A small panel of the cloudy gray, white, and black fur with a ragged hem attached to a larger back panel of fàvrath fur by laces at the top.

“This is actually pretty cute. Not too long, either. Sorta of a mini-length, fur loincloth…”

“I worried the fur would be too hot in this weather if it was long.”

I turned the skirt around in my hands.

“Good thinking. Turn around so I can put this on. Watching people change is creepy, too.”

Jasek spun around on his heel. I stripped off the worn-out wrap I’d made last season and slipped on the fur loincloth, adjusting the laces. The tops of the panels didn’t meet, and the laces cut into my hips a little. I finished tying off the lacing at the top and took a quick look.

“Cute. Let’s do it, Jasek.”

Jasek washed the dishes in the lake and strapped the last of our supplies to the large side panels he’d made while I slept. He strapped them to the travois to create a box frame with mats lashed to the front and sides.

We set off with the rising sun at our backs, walking for miles through the scrubby plain, surrounded by herds of strange animals. I pointed to what looked like a giant wooly-coated cow. Its speckled coat looked like a rock thrusting up from the landscape. It turned its head my way, lower jaw continuously chewing.

“What’s that one called?”

“That is called a mùdzho.”

“It looks like a walking rock. The herd moving together, looks like a rock garden flowing over the hill.”

“I appreciate your human imagination.”

I pointed to a thing like a tall horse made of green leaves. Small flowers blanketed two flaps on its head which looked, simultaneously, a lot like ears and a palm tree frond.

“What’s that? And is it a plant or an animal?”

“That is a mpùteksa. They are mobile plants. They are very fast.”

“Yeah, they’re practically all legs. Wish I could ride one.”

“I will catch one for you, Charlotte.”

“Don’t you dare. I have no idea what to do with a horse on Earth, much less a…leaf horse—”

“Mpùteksa.”

“Yeah. Mpùteksa.”

With no trees or fresh water in sight, we camped on the open plain that night, transforming the back of the travois into a hammock. Exhausted and fed, I lay in my little bed under one of the blankets, struggling to keep my eyes open as the Intergalactic Love Death Match theme song played. Plabz’s grating voice emanated from the speakers.

“Welcome to Intergalactic Love Death Match. Kvorkt? Can you tell us more about what the contestants might face on Tikalc? Garglax II is still a wild planet, is it not?

“Yes, that’s exactly right, Plabz. Garglax II is a new arena. Let me tell you, this season is the wildest season yet. We have so much to look forward to. Just look at some of the wildlife our drones have caught on camera!”

A series of more and more bizarre and terrifying creatures flashed across the screen. I remembered Jasek exclaiming, happy and proud, when Kvorkt complimented my new skirt, then I must’ve fallen asleep.

Jasek

Charlotte and I trudged through endless grass. We walked East, parallel to a wide river. Herds watched us pass as they propelled ever-hungry mouths across the plains. Charlotte spoke little this morning. She looked tired. Already gaunt when we met, not even all the food I made her had put much weight on her bones.

“Would you appreciate a stop? You exhibit signs of fatigue.”

Charlotte slowed. She stopped and turned her face to me.

“We just don’t have a lot of time. We have to make it to the altar first to win our freedom.”

“Analyzing. While I search for a solution, please rest. Humans don’t recharge from the sun like Xunon or Fishguts.”

Charlotte sighed.

“Fine. I never used to feel this tired. I was in good shape...when they kidnapped me. Season 33 was rough.”

Charlotte walked to the back of the travois. I braced the neck of the travois and followed her. She sat on the very back of the frame on a thin lip of mat, drinking from her canteen.

“Last night, I learned that Fishguts is a species called syend. Kvorkt says they are highly adaptable.”

“That, I believe, but be careful believing what Plabz and Kvorkt say. They frequently lie.”

“Database updated.”

I studied the travois, my mind calculating.

“Charlotte, I believe I can reconfigure the parts of the travois to allow you to rest in it while I pull it. I do not require as much sleep as humans. I can continue to travel while you rest.”

She looked at me, silent. Her face didn’t move. I worried I had erred.

“I’d love that, Jasek. Let me get out of your way.”

Charlotte pushed herself to tired feet and sat in the grass several feet away.

“I appreciate your positive emotions.”

“What? Oh, because I said ‘I would love it’, right?”

“Affirmative.”

I unpacked most of the travois, using several poles we harvested at the last lake to reinforce the cube structure. I left vent holes at the bottom of the panels, so Charlotte wouldn’t get too hot. I secured one of the blankets on the top and repacked our supplies outside of the frame.

“I believe I have completed my task. Please, Charlotte, test the travois.”

Charlotte stood and crawled inside. She wiggled around, experimenting with her new bed.

“Comfortable, thank you.”

I nodded and returned to my position in the neck of the travois, stowing the brace and continuing our trek. Charlotte lay on her stomach and spoke.

“I really do appreciate this, Jasek. I lost a lot of weight surviving season 33. I didn’t have much to eat that last month and I only had a few days to recuperate before they brought me here.”

“How long did season 33 last?”

She paused, and I could almost hear her thinking. “Almost six months? It’s hard to tell. I lost track of the days. I don’t even know if Earth days are the same length as galactic standard days or how long days are on this planet.”

“My database included no entry for this planet, specifically. The Snaughians must have brought most of these animals here. The animals’ entries say they come from different worlds.”

“I figured as much. I’m familiar with some of those vegetables you gathered. I think they must’ve seeded Earth plants here, too. They didn’t do that last time. I guess everyone died too quickly. Maybe they decided to pay attention to our dietary requirements.”

“I appreciate that you did not die. I would be lost here without you.”

“Stop being sweet.”

Worried, I visually searched my body.

“Am I leaking sugars?”

“What? No…never mind. Don’t worry about it.”

I stopped inspecting myself and returned my eyes to the ground ahead of us.

“What did you do on Earth before the abduction?”

“I was an athlete. I ran track, actually. I also studied business, but I loved running track.”

“Running track?”

“Yes. To see how fast you can run. I was fast, in good shape. I ate good food and worked out. Maybe being in good condition like that was what helped me make it to the Altar of Freedom last time.”

“Rest as long as your body requires to recuperate, Charlotte. I want you to survive season 34, as well.”

Charlotte fell silent and I walked. Later, I glanced back. She slept, curled up on the mat. She had stuffed her pack under her head and her body rocked gently with the movements of the travois. A smile stretched my lips. I returned my focus to the rolling grasslands ahead, wondering if this was my first smile, or simply the first smile I remembered having.

So much has changed since my capture.

When I grew tired of walking, I jogged for a few galactic standard hours. We moved far more quickly at my pace than Charlotte’s, but I missed her company. Most of what she said made my mind explode—when I understood what she said—but I had learned to look forward to those mind explosions.

Each time Charlotte exploded my mind, I felt like I grew and expanded, so I recorded every interaction I had with Charlotte and Fishguts in my memory banks. I wanted to be able to savor them and reevaluate them when I had gathered enough data to understand those experiences better.

Charlotte woke near sundown and we stopped long enough to eat and watch the broadcast. Charlotte spoke to Plabz and Kvorkt like they had known each other for a long time.

Even with as much as Plabz and Kvorkt harass us, I think I detect a hint of affection for Charlotte. Can Snaughians feel affection like I do for Charlotte and Fishguts?

She returned to sleep shortly after, and I walked through the night. Near dawn, we approached what looked like a narrowing of the river we hoped to cross. Charlotte stirred and I slowed to a stop.

“I believe we have arrived at our destination, Charlotte.”

“Great. Let me pee and wake up and I’ll get back to you.”

With many groans, Charlotte crawled out of the travois and found a bush behind which to eliminate liquid waste. I wondered why she hid normal bodily functions, making a note to ask her to explain later. I braced the neck of the travois and began a campfire, warming the pot of leftovers over open coals.

Charlotte returned, sucking down the water in her canteen.

“We’ll have to boil more water soon.”

I nodded, tending the fire. Before I could reply, a drone zoomed through the air, interrupting Charlotte. It stopped in midair. Plabz and Kvorkt smiled their huge smiles at us from the drone’s display screen.

“Welcome to your first challenge! How are you feeling this morning, players?”

“I was doing great. Then I saw your face, Plabz.”

“Oh! Hahaha. Charlotte is feisty this morning, Kvorkt.”

“That, she is, Plabz. That she is. Did you know that’s why humans have become such popular contestants, Plabz?”

“Oh, yes, Kvorkt. Humans are just a joy to watch compete—”

“Get to the point, you little trolls.”

Charlotte glared at the Snaughians.

“The challenge is simple, Charlotte.”

“And, if you complete the challenge, you get a portable Insta-Bridge, by SurvivalCorp, for when you really need to cross that gap. That sounds exciting, Plabz.”

Charlotte stomped her foot.

“What’s the mission, already? Do I look like I have all day here?”

“Charlotte, Jasek, all you have to do is kiss.”

“Oh, fuck me—”

I turned to Charlotte. She looked horrified.

“Charlotte, what is a kiss?”

Charlotte

“Please define ‘fuck’, Charlotte. And ‘kiss’. I wish to comply and win our challenge.”

“This…is such a longer conversation than we have time for.”

I paced, cursing the Snaughians under my breath.

The world is crazy, Snaghians are bastards, and I hate feeling pressured into anything. It’s not like I want anything with Jasek…I mean…he’s a clone... Does he even know anything about sex? Slow down…it’s just a kiss…

“The fans are waiting, Charlotte.”

“That they are, Plabz. That they are.”

“Yeah, fuck all the way off, Snaughian scum.”

I pushed the drone out of my face and turned to stare at Jasek. I glared at him, chewing my lip. He patiently waited for me to speak. Arms crossed, I tapped my foot. Jasek opened his mouth to speak and I covered his open mouth with a hand.

“Hush. I’m thinking.”

Jasek closed his mouth. My mind ran through mazes of logic with no solutions in sight. For a moment, I contemplated how wrong all of this was. I looked at the river flow. The stick sailing downstream promised currents too strong to cross safely.

With a deep sigh, I squared my shoulders. I looked up at Jasek and waved him down.

“Kneel. You’re too tall.”

Jasek sank to his knees, bringing his face down to my level.

Wow. Now that I can see his face from this angle, he’s really quite handsome…Oh, this is such a bad idea.

“Technically, kissing is when you put your lips on someone else’s lips—”

Jasek cringed back.

“Touch mouths? My databanks say mouths are full of bacteria—”

“Yes, they are. Let me get through this—”

“Charlotte. Touching mouths is an unsanitary practice and an excellent disease transmission vector.”

Horrified, Jasek’s face seized in a grimace. I sighed. I tried to stop my eyes, but they rolled anyway.

“Jasek, please remain calm.”

“But, Charlotte! Why would anyone do such a dangerous thing?”

“Well, sometimes it’s fun. You didn’t let me finish explaining. Like, there is just so much I could say about the subject.”

I laughed.

“Sharing germs is fun?”

“Sometimes. Look, sometimes, when people like each other, they show it by kissing.”

“I like Fishguts. Do I kiss Fishguts, too?”

My mind shut down for a moment at the thought.

“I…think you have to work that out with Fishguts. It’s more than just ‘like’. Uh…it’s a special thing one does with special people.”

“Am I special?”

Jasek pointed at his chest.

“In so many ways. Stop talking and listen. It’s just a kiss to complete this challenge. I have no idea what an Insta-bridge is, but it sounds like something I really want. So, we’re going to kiss. One kiss. It doesn’t mean anything, okay?”

“I don’t even know what it could mean. I thought I knew what ‘like’ meant, and ‘love’, but it just keeps getting more complicated—”

He gulped and looked at me like I was about to eat his face.

“I know and I’m sorry. I promise it’ll be ok, but if you don’t want to try, that’s okay, too. We’ll find a different way over the river.”

Jasek grabbed my upper arms in his big hands. I gulped.

“No, Charlotte. I can kiss you. I trust you. I want to try, if you think it is safe.”

“Well, I never said it was safe…oh, fuck it.”

I grabbed his face and kissed him. Jasek’s body stiffened, his eyes flying open. I released his face and stepped back. He knelt there, frozen in place, jaw hanging slack. I worried he’d forgotten how to breathe, but remembered he was part plant and figured he’d be fine.

I turned a hard glare at the drone.

“We did it. Where’s my bridge.”

Plabz and Kvorkt laughed. A series of clips of random Snaughians laughing played across the display. The lumpy, green faces of Plabz and Kvorkt returned to the screen.

“Let’s see what the audience says, Kvorkt.”

“Yes, Plabz. Intergalactic Love Death Match is all about the fans.”

“Oh, absolutely, Kvorkt. The question is really for the fans.”

“Did you hear that? It’s up to you good, galactic citizens. Is this kiss worth a bridge?”

“Vote now!”

My stomach sank. I knew that wouldn’t be enough of a kiss for this crowd. I drew in a deep breath and eyed Jasek. He sat frozen in the same position as before. I returned my gaze to the display screen.

“Look at all those angry votes, Plabz!”

“Wow, I’ve never seen so many angry fans before, Kvorkt!”

I sighed. What was the point of waiting to find out no one in the galaxy was going to help me out of my predicament? I grabbed Jasek’s face again.

“Are you going to make it?”

He blinked at me.

“I don’t know.”

“Are you damaged?”

“Uhhh…”

“Do you think you can do it again? Or, would you prefer to find another way across the river?”

He put his hand on his forehead.

“I feel…strange.”

“Jasek, focus. Do you want to kiss me again?”

“Oh yes, Charlotte. Yes, I do.”

“Whenever you’re ready—”

Jasek kissed me. This time he moved. Hesitant at first, he stroked a big hand down my hair. My heart raced as I parted my lips. My tongue sought out his. Jasek’s tongue met mine. Our tongues danced, tasting, testing, exploring.

I wrapped my arms around Jasek’s big, furred shoulders. Our mouths, tongues, and lips met over and over. My body tingled. I melted. Jasek wrapped an arm around my waist. I ran my fingers through his fur.

I remembered the drone and I froze. I pulled back, biting my lower lip. Jasek panted, his eyes half-glazed, looking at me like his brain had just melted, threatening to run out of his ears. I gulped. A blush raced across my face, burning my cheeks.

I snapped my head around and glared at the drone.

“How about that one?”

Drones streamed in, dropping gifts. Several drones transported a large, metal object I assumed was probably the bridge.

“Looks like the fans approve!”

“That was a stellar performance, wasn’t it, Kvorkt?”

“Yes, it was. Virtuoso performance by the Xunon.”

“That was fun, Charlotte.”

Jasek

The initial shock of the kiss wore off and I regained my ability to think. Amorphous, half-birthed thoughts floated through my mind, here and there with little ambition to complete themselves.

I tried to pin one of my thoughts down, but the memory ran rogue, laughing maniacally. Electric tendrils of intense sensation streaked through me from everywhere Charlotte had touched. I struggled to define the streaks as pain or pleasure.

My heart thudded. My head spun. The only thought I continually grasped was Charlotte. Everything else faded away. Processing language ceased to matter and the sensations streaking through my body settled in my cock, capturing all my attention.

I remembered reality when a laugh cut through my thoughts. Charlotte had turned red. Worry for her streaked through me. My cock relaxed and I scanned her body with my eyes, looking for a source of her condition.

“Charlotte, you have turned red. Are you experiencing a medical emergency?”

“I have no words to explain how I’m feeling at this moment. I’m going to take a look at this Insta-bridge.”

Charlotte spun away from me and inspected the large object the drones had brought.

“I also have no words to explain how I feel. There are too many things inside of me for which I have no words. I feel like I may vomit, but I don’t understand why. Am I ill from sharing germs with you?”

Charlotte sighed. I couldn’t decide if she wanted to laugh or cry, and I wasn’t certain she knew which she wanted, either.

“You seem to have turned purple in places, Charlotte. Do you require assistance?”

“Yes, but that kind of help would require a specialist and a team of shrinks just to support the team of shrinks trying to help assist me. Give me a minute to breathe, okay? Uh…how do I put it? Jasek, I’m analyzing. Like you do.”

“Acknowledged.”

Back still turned to me, she read the brochure dangling from a command console.

“Congratulations on your new Insta-bridge, by SurvivalCorp. Insta-bridge, for when you really need to…you know what? That joke sucked the first time, too. Complete with exclusive SmartFollow™ technology. Simply set your trailer’s SmartFollow™ setting to the ‘ON’ position. Access tutorials on the control console.”

She punched in a series of selections. The large rectangular box spit forth a flock of drones. They zoomed across the river, positioning themselves in intervals over the rushing current. Bright beams of light shot out from the drones, connecting them.

A glowing surface solidified within the areas defined by the grid work of glowing borders. Charlotte tested it with a foot. She tilted her head, stomping on the glowing bridge. The bridge refused to budge.

“Okay, that’s cool. Bring the travois.”

Charlotte and I gathered the various gifts the fans had sent. We stored them to open later, on one of our stops. I patiently waited in silence for Charlotte to find the words to help me make sense of the writhing mass of conflict inside me.

We crossed the bridge. Looking down into the water rushing around rocks below, I decided the kiss was worth it. Then I stopped my thoughts before I jumped back into the writhing mass of new unidentified feelings, urges, and instincts the memory of my first kiss sprouted inside of me.

On the other side of the river, Charlotte punched another series of commands into the nearest drone. The trailer rode the bridge to our side of the river and the drones all flew inside. Charlotte and I strapped the travois to the front of the trailer, rearranging the supplies.

We strapped the maglev crate to the side of the trailer, too, making it far easier to access. The trailer’s more powerful maglev system compensated for the weight without a complaint, and we returned to the trail.

We traveled in silence, stopping to eat without speaking. Charlotte seemed to have lost the ability to look at me. Fishguts happily explored our new supply train, climbing atop the trailer and soaking in the setting sun.

On that night’s broadcast, Plabz and Kvorkt played clips of our kiss from six different angles. Charlotte groaned, rolling her eyes, and curled under her blanket. I returned to walking, passing through the night among the herds.

Fishguts checked in every few hours. Sometimes we’d share a clump of good minerals my feet detected. Other times, we’d share a few drops of water. Most importantly in my mind that night, I knew I didn’t like Fishguts the way I liked Charlotte. I had no desire to kiss Fishguts, yet I couldn’t fend off the perfect memory of Charlotte in my arms.

My databanks held no clue about Xunon clones and kisses, but I had an encyclopedic knowledge of other species. I searched those databanks, noting alarming clues. Members of most social species only allow others to move so close in three circumstances—to fight, to create the intimacy necessary for social bonds, and to mate.

I suspected the kiss was part of the mating rituals…

Charlotte stirred. My heart skipped a beat, my stomach fluttering.

“Good morning, Charlotte.”

Charlotte groaned in response. I waited patiently, knowing she’d speak to me when she fully woke. I stopped the trailer. We had run out of wood in the night, so I made a fire from dried animal dung.

When Charlotte returned, she didn’t meet my eyes and her face flushed red every time our eyes met, even by accident. I gulped.

“Charlotte? Have I done something wrong?”

Charlotte sighed. She pulled a mat from our stores and tossed it beside me, sitting down on it.

“No, Jasek, you haven’t done anything wrong. The Snaughian producers of Intergalactic Love Death Match did something wrong when they pressured us to kiss.”

“Why?”

Frustrated, Charlotte waved her arms about.

“Because kissing is supposed to be something two people do because they both want to, and both understand what it means.”

“Because it is part of mating rituals?”

“Wow, yeah. How did you get to that conclusion so quickly?”

“I thought about it a lot.”

Charlotte

“Humans have…complex mating rituals.”

“Xunon have no mating rituals. As far as my databanks know.”

I pointed at Jasek, as if to capture the point I was making before it slipped away.

“See, that’s exactly the problem. You should’ve known what a kiss was before someone demanded you try it. You were entirely unprepared.”

“Charlotte…nothing could have prepared me for that.”

A surprise chuckle found its way out of my mouth. My cheeks burned.

“Thanks.”

I stared out into the distance, watching herds of alien life wander over the rolling plains. I picked at grasses and listened to the gentle crackle of the coals. My mind struggled to find the right thing to say to him next.

Every path out of this conversation my mind conjured up led to even more awkward depths. Jasek’s hesitant voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Update. I don’t like Fishguts the way I like you, Charlotte.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“No desire to kiss Fishguts?”

“Correct. I like Fishguts. I feel affection for Fishguts. Fishguts does not make me feel…this.”

Jasek gestured at his gut and I sighed.

He barely knows how to think for himself and, here, we’re already talking about mating. I could say something stupid out of thoughtlessness or frustration, and hurt him and he has yet to even grow any defenses.

Jasek handed me a woven plate heaped with roasted fàvrath, chunks of grilled lâlùpel, and a root vegetable I liked to think of as a space potato. Creamy and starchy, the purple tuber soaked in fàvrath drippings tasted delicious.

Jasek then handed me a woven bowl filled with leafy greens and berries. My mouth watered. I used the largest, sturdiest of the leaves like a tortilla. I stuffed it with chunks of meat, space potato, and some berries creating the galaxy’s first lâlùpel and space potato taco.

“Mmmm…”

He sat on the ground in front of me. Tiny rhizomes wiggled up from the soil, grabbing the ends of Jasek’s fur where the fur touched the ground. He snacked on chunks of roasted fàvrath, feeding Fishguts small bits.

I finished my tacos and pulled a four-inch length of tree root from my pack. I discovered these roots made excellent toothbrushes and tried to harvest them whenever I saw them. I stripped the bark from one end of the carefully cleaned root piece, fraying the fibers into little bristles.

I chewed the frayed end with my molars ‘til I tasted the distinct flavor of wood, then scraped my teeth with the bristled end, swirling the brush around my gums. I leaned back on my mat. The rays of the morning sun washed over the plain, a tsunami of golden light.

“The whole like-love-kissing thing is really complicated. It is difficult to explain because the answers depend on the context. I will try to explain and answer your questions as best as I can, but I’m not a Xunon Sex-Ed teacher, so…”

The concept appeared to blow Jasek’s mind again.

I really enjoy blowing his mind far, far too much.

“Are there Xunon Sex-Ed teachers?”

He spoke with such genuine hope.

“No idea. But, I wouldn’t think so. I get the impression the Quislik didn’t much care for Xunon to…breed.”

“Xunon are cloned. I remember when I first stepped out of my birthing tank. I was covered in amniotic gel. They rinsed me off and ordered me to report to Advanced Programming, where they loaded my databanks with all the knowledge the Quislik thought I needed to accomplish my mission.”

I shuddered.

“See? That’s fucked up. All I’m saying. Did the Quislik even tell you which species they engineered you from?”

Jasek shook his head. Fishguts crawled over and onto his hand. He smiled down at the little plant.

“My databanks only say that Xunon are engineered from the genes of many species, but not which ones.”

“Interesting. So, you have nothing to start with. No culture, no idea how your body works in conjunction with another body, how you reproduce, nothing.”

“I am a mystery, Charlotte. Especially to myself. Though I look forward to discovering who I can become.”

I shook my head. The implication of the atrocities the Quislik committed against the Xunon reverberated through my mind. I wondered if Jasek even had enough frame of reference to understand the depth of his context.

“The Quislik created a new lifeform when they created the Xunon. But they made life with the intent of using that life like a replaceable machine part. You’re part plant, part animal...you speak like you’re part computer…”

Jasek nodded, providing what information he could.

“Xunon are clones bioengineered from many species, augmented with Quislik technology. Part of me is cybernetic. I have processors, sensors, memory banks…”

I held up a hand to prevent him from listing every one of his body parts.

“You’re like a mad scientist’s chimera...bits and pieces of this and that thrown together.”

I shook my head, marveling at the tech level required for any species to accomplish something as complex as Jasek.

“Like they were trying to turn clones into drones. But, why retain genitals?”

“My databanks do not specify. Logic suggests they are necessary for the validity of the organic body.”

“Wow. They never intended for you to live long enough to procreate. They didn’t want you to develop but couldn’t neuter you. They must’ve never discovered how to engineer away the drive to procreate but didn’t want you controlled by any but themselves, including instinct. So they tried to program you to go and die, mission complete or not.”

“Why? Why would that be so important?”

“So you never revolted against them. If you can’t think for yourself, or past your programming, you would never have a reason to question them or their motives.”

Jasek gazed out at the horizon. For a moment, he looked lost. He flicked his eyes back to my face.

“Charlotte…what do I do?”

“Learn? I’ve already seen you learn very quickly.”

“When I have a mission. Then I will carefully study what is necessary to complete my mission.”

I leaned over and patted his shoulder.

“See? You’re already smarter than most people. You just need to set yourself your own missions. Forget what the Quislik told you was important. Decide what is important to you, now that you are improving your own dataset.”

“What if I make terrible decisions?”

“Everyone makes terrible decisions. That’s part of life. But, if you’re nervous about a decision, ask someone you trust to help you think about it. There, I’m full of good advice this morning.”

Jasek gazed into the fire, then turned to me.

“My sensors tell me you don’t lie to me. I appreciate that. This…recalibration has been difficult, but everything you have told me makes sense. I…no longer know what I would do, if I saw a Quislik now.”

A small smile spread across my face.

“The newsfeeds I saw between seasons said the Quislik were wiped out at the battle. Not that I believe a lot of what the Snaughians say. There may be no more. There is always a chance some Quislik or Xunon ended up slaves, like us.”

He nodded, gaze returning to the rolling plains. Then he grinned. Suspicious, I narrowed my eyes.

“I have made a decision, Charlotte.”

My eyes popped open.

“Oh, no. Didn’t I just tell you to ask me if it’s a good idea before deciding anything?”

“I have decided to be a good student. Teach me how to be a human—”

“Oh, Jasek. You don’t want to be human. A significant portion of the human population doesn’t even want to be human. We’re terrible and miserable. If you get to be whatever you want, be something better than this mess.”

He raised an eyebrow at me.

Wow, he picks things up fast.

“Then teach me how to earn a third kiss. I enjoyed kissing.”

I chuckled and my cheeks burned. I turned away and pushed myself to my feet.

“You turned red again. Do all humans turn red and if so, under what conditions?”

“It’s complicated.”

“You say so frequently.”

I waved him away, trying to avoid continuing the conversation. I pushed myself to my feet and tried to clean the dust from my hands.

“Let’s go. We still have a long way to go.”

“Did I kiss well?”

I chuckled harder and cleaned up breakfast.

“Charlotte, you are not answering my question.”

“Yes, you kissed well. The second kiss. You didn’t move the first time.”

His eyes opened so wide, for a moment I worried his eyeballs would fall out.

“I couldn’t breathe! My organic brain nearly exploded around the central processor! Your touch paralyzed me—”

I giggled too hard to form words, so I slapped his arm, instead, certain I had little chance of damaging him.

“I assure you, our third kiss will exceed your expectations, Charlotte.”

She laughed even harder, avoiding meeting my eye.

“I never agreed to kiss you again.”

“If we ever kiss a third time, you will love it.”

She stopped, turned to me and put her fists on her hips. She tried to look fierce, but she couldn’t deny the smile still hanging on her lips.

“Let’s change the subject.”

“Have you noticed how much Fishguts has grown?”

Jasek

We passed the remainder of the day much as we had the day before, trudging through grasses and past scraggly bushes. Flowers bloomed, splashing the plains with smatterings of reds, yellows, and bright blues.

We stopped for the evening meal. Charlotte studied the map while I cooked. I enjoyed cooking. I enjoyed work. I enjoyed Charlotte’s company.

Is that part of this love thing?

Charlotte drained the last of her canteen. She looked at it, shook it, and brought it back to her mouth. She sighed and stowed the canteen in her pack.

“We’re running low on our water supply.”

“I think I saw a spring or something marked on the map…”

I pulled the map from my pack and looked, pointing to the spring and showed it to Charlotte.

“Yeah. I think we can make that easy.”

Charlotte fell asleep during the broadcast, and I picked up camp. I walked through the night, harvesting whatever I found on the way. Nocturnal insects emerged, singing their mating cries into the cool breeze.

Yâfthî froze, watching me pass their herds. They flicked their ears, chewing incessantly, before turning their heads. Their dark silhouettes disappeared into the shadow of the moonless night. They nickered, flicking the hairy tufts of their tails and stomping their three-toed hooves in the grass.

The stars streaked through the heavens. I wondered which was Earth. I had no home planet to wonder about.

Am I the first Xunon to wonder such a thing? Will I be the last?

The sun rose behind us. I walked in the shadow of the trailer following me. Soon, I heard Charlotte stir. I stopped, turning off the trailer’s SmartFollow™ so it wouldn’t follow me around while I set up breakfast camp.

We ate and I fed Fishguts. I wondered what the syend life cycle was like. Sacs had begun to form under Fishgut’s belly, around the roots of its viny tentacles. I wondered what they were for. We ate quickly and began the day’s walk.

We pushed ourselves, stopping only for meal breaks. Charlotte fell asleep during the broadcast, as usual, and I jogged through the night. Charlotte stirred as dawn broke. I stopped and prepared breakfast.

“While I appreciate it, you know you don’t always have to cook breakfast for me.”

I shrugged, smiling at her.

“I do not enjoy remaining idle and I enjoy the task. Also, it saves time for me to cook while you wake.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that logic.”

Charlotte stopped to dig up a few space potatoes.

“I ran for some of last night. We have very little water left and I worried you would run out. We should reach the spring within two galactic standard hours. Here is the last of the potable water.”

I handed her a half-filled canteen.

“Thanks. That’s very thoughtful. That was supposed to be your portion, though. I have no desire to deprive you.”

“I absorb much moisture walking through the dewy grass early in the morning. My fur drinks the droplets my fur collects as I move through the grass.”

“You are a marvel, Jasek.”

She drank two swigs, then twisted the canteen’s cap closed. I handed her some leftover lâlùpel wrapped in a crisp leaf I remembered her enjoying before. I packed up our things and we walked, side by side. Charlotte pointed at a creature standing atop a distant ridge.

“What are those evil, pig-things called?”

“That is a ntàssze. They are solitary scavengers. Highly territorial, they only become social during mating season. The tallest measured example of the species stood about as tall as my nose.”

“Jasek, that still makes the ntàssze a seven-foot-tall death-pig-thing. A pig is an Earth animal. It’s my closest frame of reference. That’s where the database in my head will store that information, at least.”

“I understand. What about those yâfthîs?”

“Dog-sized horse-things. I remember that the giant-ass deer are dyàks, right?”

“Correct, Charlotte.”

“Ugh. I’m terrible with names.”

About two hours later, we crested a hill. A shallow bowl of lightly wooded terrain rolled out below us. A large pond sparkled and shone in the sun. A spring trickled from the hill on the far side, cutting into the terrain and filling the basin.

Herds of herbivorous animals roamed below. Hundreds of yâfthîs grazed the tall grasses on the hills, flicking tufted tails and stiff manes. Shaggy, large-bodied mùdzhos stood under the trees, whipping their long, tufted tails against their hides to dislodge small biting insects.

Deep vibrations emanated from their chests. They chewed, lower jaws in constant motion, ears flapping in the breeze. I pointed at the mùdzhos.

“What would you call those?”

“Giant-ass space cows.”

A clump of dyàks broke from the larger herd, tentatively stepping towards the water. Ears constantly swiveling, the dyàks approached the shimmering pool, stretching their long necks to drink. A bird launched itself into the air. The dyàks bolted. A cascading wave of the other species bolted in response to the dyàks’ alarm.

When no predator appeared to chase anyone down, the herds relaxed, returning to their grazing. Charlotte chewed at a thumbnail, her other arm wrapped around her body. She rocked her body side to side. I detected increased heat in her skull.

“So, as I see it, we have a problem. I thought the problem was determining how to get the water without dying. Now that I see it, I think the problem will be getting enough water quickly enough to justify braving herds of giant herbivores and whichever carnivores decide we look like fun.”

“That really sums it up, Charlotte. There is no place down there safe enough to take the time to boil the water and fill all the small containers we have. We need a better way to process and store potable water.”

“Don’t forget transportation or the fact we have no real idea when we’ll find water again.”

The buzz of several drones caught my attention. I turned my head to look. A small trailer landed next to us. Charlotte chuckled and jogged over to it. She examined the brochure dangling from one of the trailer’s handles, reading the brochure aloud.

“Economy-class Camp Base Station survival trailer by SurvivalCorp. Complete with exclusive SmartFollow™ technology. Simply set your camp trailer SmartFollow™ setting to the ‘ON’ position…blah, blah… Tell me something new…”

Charlotte gasped.

“Yes! Camp toilet, camp shower, camp burner, water filtration with a fifty-gallon capacity. And a refrigerator. This is great. We can use the temperature-controlled crate as a freezer exclusively…Oh, look! It has a meat-drying rack and a dehydrator, Jasek!”

Charlotte

A herd of giant-ass space cows, which Jasek called mùdzhos, wandered past. Big, stiff ears flapping and tails constantly flicking away swarms of biting insects, a few mùdzhos stopped to inspect us and our trailers.

“I set the new camp base trailer to follow the bridge trailer, since we attached the travois to the front of it already. It would take too long to move it all around. The brochure says we extend this hose here into any body of water to fill the tanks.”

I pointed to a hatch on the back of the camp base.

Jasek nodded, looking at it all over. “I think we should turn off the SmartFollow, too, Charlotte. I’ll push the trailers and you direct them. We’ll back them up to the lake.”

“Good plan.”

I set the SmartFollow to ‘off’, and we walked the trailers down the hill. Without the SmartFollow, gravity became a concern. The weight of the trailers dragged it downhill. The herd of mùdzhos bolted, scattering around us.

Jasek grabbed the bumper of the back trailer and dug in his heels, slowing the trailer’s descent. I turned and pushed against the travois’ yoke. The soles of my shoes slid against the scrubby grasses. The mùdzhos bucked and pitched, swinging their heads, tails cranked high. They chased our runaway trailer as we fought its descent.

The trailer ground to a slow halt at the bottom of the hill. I leaned against the travois, panting. Jasek joined me, chest heaving.

“Update, Charlotte. We should have disengaged the SmartFollow at the bottom of that hill.”

When I’d recovered enough breath, I chuckled.

“You’ll have to carefully anchor it when we get to the edge of the pond.”

I waved away biting space flies and swatted giant space mosquitoes. For a moment, I envied the mùdzhos their tails, tufted at the end with long rough hairs. I understood the beautiful simplicity of the adaptation and why so many species evolved to utilize nature’s perfect fly swatter.

Herds of animals mixed, this close to the watering hole. The mùdzhos who’d chased us down the hill trotted close, heads held high. They looked…playful and curious…like big dogs. Excitable and apprehensive, stretching long, muscular necks, they smelled our train of trailers, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

They jostled and head-butted each other, jockeying for a position to explore. I giggled at their curiosity, though their size intimidated me. Nearly as tall as I was at the shoulder, the thick horns curving around their ears pointed about level with my nose, leaving my nerves on edge.

One tentatively waved its nose at me, as if daring itself to get closer. Like a kid ringing the doorbell of the town’s ‘haunted’ house on a dare, the mùdzho stuck out it’s long, slimy tongue and licked my arm.

The tongue, thicker at the base than my knee, scraped across my skin. A laugh escaped my throat, unbidden. The rough, sandpapery surface of the tongue left a smear of thick saliva in its wake, plastering my arm hair flat.

“Why is this giant-ass space cow licking me? Do your databases say anything about that?”

“Searching… Charlotte, salt is the most likely answer. Herding herbivores in similar terrain lick salt to supplement their dietary needs.”

A different mùdzho head-butted the licker away. My foot sunk into the softer clay near the water. I stepped with great care, having no desire to slip underneath that many hooves. This close to the water, the biting insects became unbearable.

I scooped clay in a hand and coated every inch of exposed skin on which I dared smear clay. I rinsed my hands so they wouldn’t slip on the trailer’s controls. The trailer neared a good enough position and I shouted for Jasek to stop.

With movements efficient and quick, I twisted open the water-intake valve and extended the hose. I pulled out lengths, hand over hand, nodding at the hose’s end.

“Go get that in the water. Try to toss it out a bit. Make sure the end is submerged, apparently.”

“Mission accepted, Charlotte.”

Instinct compelled me to warn Jasek of ambush predators lurking under the water, like a crocodile or something. Then I remembered he’s literally engineered to survive. I relaxed, remembering he’s also programmed to complete a mission, even if he had to die to do so and that, if he survived, he’d find a way to die.

“Careful of ambush predators under the water’s surface.”

“Thank you for the alert and your concern, Charlotte.”

“And you’re never allowed to die—if you survive. I need you...to win this game.”

Why’d I have to qualify that? Why did saying ‘I need you’ send my heart racing?

I gulped.

Well…this is a…development…

Jasek dragged the hose into the pond, stepping into it like the front-line shock troop he was designed to be. Water surged around his legs with each step. I imagined clouds of silt swirling around his legs under the churning surface.

So much for being sneaky…

Jasek dropped the nozzle into the water and trudged back to shore. I pushed the start button. A light, mechanical whine emanated from the trailer. The mùdzhos jumped and ran back a few feet. Most wandered off, returning to their life’s ambition to eat all grass.

Water birds floated across the pond’s surface. A herd of dyàks strolled up to the far side of the pond, pausing a moment to inspect us. My head swiveled back and forth, scanning for large predators.

I felt a tug on my mini loincloth. I looked down. One of the yâfthî horses nibbled on my skirt.

“Where’d you come from? Cut that out.”

I nudged his nose away from my skirt with one hand. The other clutched the loincloth so the yâfthî couldn’t pull it off. My bare ass was the last thing I wanted to see on tonight’s broadcast from six angles.

The yâfthî head-butted my thigh.

“Ow! You little shit…”

“Alert, Charlotte!”

My head snapped up. A pack of fàvraths burst from cover. Every herbivore within sight turned and ran directly towards us. I slapped the red ‘Abort Operation’ button on the base trailer. The trailer sucked the hose back into storage.

Jasek ran for the travois.

“There’s no time to set the SmartFollow. Jump in the travois! I’ll run!”

Jasek ran for the travois’ yoke. I leapt at the framework, grabbing the poles and swinging up onto the travois. Jasek slid into position at the yoke and ran, dragging the trailer train behind him.

Jasek

“Mission Update, Jasek! Get us the fuck out of here, alive!”

The travois’ yoke rested against my abs, padded with furs. It braced low on my waist, allowing my arms to swing. I ran, pulling the trailers behind me. I glanced back. Charlotte clung to the top of the framework, staring behind us.

“Mission accepted, Charlotte.”

I pushed myself to run faster. My body responded. I felt my muscles loosen and my blood pound through my veins. My lungs opened up as my body transitioned into combat mode. I quickly outdistanced the larger mùdzhos, but the dyàks streaked past, little yâfthîs on their heels.

A ntàssze sprung from cover and charged. It ran up beside a mùdzho a few steps ahead of us to the left. The massive, tusked maw opened wide enough to fit my torso. The ntàssze snapped its wide mouth around the mùdzho’s head.

The ntàssze’s neck muscles bulged and back muscles rippled, wide jaws straining for a split second.

With a sickening crunch, the ntàssze crushed the mùdzho’s skull. I dodged to the right, hoping the trailers impacted none of the giant creatures running with us.

“Left! My left! Your right. Go right!”

I leaned right. The huge dyàks, taller than my head, sprinted past my left. A yâfthî stumbled directly in front of me, tumbling. I leapt, sailing over the fallen yâfthîs as it struggled to regain its feet. I could feel the trailers follow me.

“Go right—no, the other right. Left, go left! Your left.”

I leaned left. I saw a copse of trees ahead, studding a hill. Charlotte directed me from her perch atop the travois house, and I put my head down, and pushed through to the edge of the herds.

“Look out! Your right!”

I glanced right and saw a herd of running mpùteksa. A fàvrath, dagger-like teeth gleaming, leapt upon the tall creature Charlotte called a tall-ass, plant-horse thing. The mpùteksa screeched and bucked. The weight of the fàvrath clinging to the mpùteksa’s back pulled them both to the ground.

Another mpùteksa leapt away from the fàvrath in fear, slamming into the travois’ structure. I heard a sharp crack, like breaking bone. The herds raced from the ear-splitting sound. I dashed to the trees. The running herds flowed past, avoiding the trees altogether.

I slowed to a stop, chest heaving. I leaned against the thick, rough, pale blue trunk, legs trembling, letting my body recover from the sudden expenditure of calories.

“Wow, I can’t believe we survived that.”

“We make an excellent team, Charlotte.”

Charlotte’s relieved laugh bubbled into the air. Even panting, the sound warmed my heart.

“I’m starting to think we may survive, after all.”

“We must camp, Charlotte. I expended a lot of energy.”

“You just find a place to sit and rest. I’ve got camp and dinner covered. In fact, feel free to take a look at this fascinating brochure for our new base camp trailer. A lot of the amenities mean little to me, but one of them might benefit you.”

“How is Fishguts?”

“Curled up in the back and moody, honestly.”

Worried, I checked on Fishguts while my heart calmed. The not-so-little plant seemed groggy. The sacs, which had developed on the underside at the base of the syend’s tentacles, had grown larger. They pulsed and felt warm to the touch.

I brought Fishguts some food and water, gathering the sleepy thing in my arms. I strolled out of the camp and sat in the grasses, placing Fishguts next to me while we watched the sunset as Charlotte fussed with the camp.

I laid back in the grass, letting the sun bathe me. Rhizomic, mycelial tendrils poked up from the ground and connected with my fur. I let my mind float on the breeze. A little later, Charlotte poked my leg with a stick.

I opened my eyes and smiled.

“How was your nap?”

“I feel quite refreshed, though I will require a significant number of calories to replace the energy stores I expended—”

Charlotte placed her hand over my mouth. I stopped speaking.

“Dinner is ready. You napped for like an hour or something. Hard to tell. Look, the sun is setting.”

She pointed at what we could see of the horizon behind the massive central mountain. I nodded. She stood and petted the top of Fishgut’s head, the creature’s deep red and green coloring looked far better than before our nap.

I got to my feet and followed Charlotte back to camp, searching for any incomplete tasks, in case I could help. Seeing none, I returned my mind to the next most important subject haunting me.

Charlotte filled a bowl with hot food, handing it to me and we sat to eat. Around mouthfuls, I tried once more to get a direct answer out of Charlotte.

“Avoiding speaking clearly about mating…is that part of human culture?”

Charlotte nearly choked. I gave her time to splutter and handed her a canteen filled with delicious, clean spring water.

“I’d have to say yes.”

“May I ask why? So that I may understand?”

“Uh…mating, kissing…pretty much everything connected to that group of subjects…deal with big feelings. Feelings which can make us feel as wonderful as they can make us feel terrible.”

“Yes! I understand this. I feel…big feelings.”

I gestured at my abdomen, though I had yet to understand why so many of these new feelings seemed to live in my gut.

“Calm down. It’s more complicated. Obviously, a species needs a reason to continue making more of itself, so mating is fun but mating has consequences, like babies who need care. So, it can also bring people together, but some people use it all to hurt others, so there is a risk…”

“I see. So, these big feelings inside, how I feel when I am with you, they scare you as much as they scare me?”

“Uhhhh…yes? But, here’s the problem—you have no clue what those feelings mean. Without you having a culture, I can’t explain the consequences of…exploring the subject. It’s not fair.”

“Because I have only kissed twice, I cannot understand how kissing will make me feel about you and myself later?”

“Yes! Exactly.”

“By that logic, I simply require more practice and exploration.”

Charlotte

The light of the flames lit Jasek’s face as the light of the sun faded. I chewed what was left of my thumbnail, staring at him across the flames.

“While I can’t deny that exploration and practice are, indeed, good ways to gain experience, I worry. You have no way to tell if what I say about it all is true or not...”

“I can tell if you believe it is true.”

My eyes darted to his face.

“How? You keep telling me you trust me, but how can you tell?”

Jasek shrugged and responded like he responded to so many things—as if he merely relayed facts.

“You show no signs of deception. You avoid certain subjects which fascinate me, but your body shows no signs of stress when you do answer me.”

He’s a lie detector, too…

“I don’t even know if anything I say about mating applies to Xunon and neither do you. All you knew before this was what the Quislik told you. I don’t want you to believe what I tell you for the same reasons you believed the Quislik. That’s called exploitation.”

“I know you will show me the right path because I trust you.”

The weight of teaching him crashed onto my shoulders. “That’s so much responsibility.”

“How is it different than believing you when you ask me to trust you about surviving or the Quislik?”

“Because…it's mating. Big feelings. People make strange decisions when it comes to mating…”

Jasek leaned back, a gentle smile on his face.

“I believe I understand, Charlotte. I am certain I wish to learn, but if you are uncomfortable teaching me, then I will wait until I find a willing teacher.”

Whatever they called space crickets chirped in the night. Discovering I had little thumbnail left to chew, I asked the question nagging my mind.

“Do you wish to try to simply learn about mating, or is there something more?”

“No. Learning can happen in many ways. The way I feel for you…I do not have the words. What I know of this feeling which exists inside me when I am around you…draws me to you. I may not know much beyond what you and the Quislik have taught me, but I know I like you. The rest, I do not understand, but I wish to understand.”

My heart pounded.

Well, fuck. What do I do with that?

“I think I was very fortunate to have met you, Charlotte.”

Oh, no.

“And all you want is one more kiss?”

“I’ll accept anything you offer. Are you…offering?”

My stomach flopped and fluttered.

Am I?

“I don’t know. Give me a second.”

My eyes flicked up to his. Somehow, his eyes literally smoldered.

I thought that only happened in movies.

“Take all the time you need.”

My brain whirred, thinking faster than I could keep up.

Do I dare?

“A kiss isn’t a contract. If we do this third kiss, it’s solely for the purpose of education.”

Jasek laughed and smoldered even more intensely.

“I cannot promise to not enjoy kissing and kissing you, especially.”

My cheeks burned and I felt my pussy heat, warm and slick.

“Neither can I.”

Suddenly, he knelt directly in front of me. I gulped as he held out a big hand. I took it and he gently pulled me to my feet. His swollen cock tented his pants and Jasek looked down at it.

“It happened when you told me you liked kissing me.”

I pulled his chin up and gazed into his eyes.

“We’ll get to that in a later lesson.”

He leaned in until the bulk of his massive shoulders filled the sky. His eyes gazed at me from mere inches away. I smelled his natural musk, rolling through my nose with smooth amber hints.

His lips waited, only a half inch from mine. I gazed deep into his eyes, finding not the slightest hint of hesitation or indecision. Trembling, I closed the distance between us. My lips touched his.

Electric heat rolled through me like a neon rave. The nerves in my skin woke and yearned for his touch. My core clenched. My hips rocked forward. My knees trembled and my body leaned into Jasek’s.

I wound my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his soft green fur in long strokes. He parted his lips. His tongue sought out mine. Our tongues met. We tasted each other, exploring. He slid a big arm around my waist, cupping the curve of my neck in the other hand.

Pleasure streaked through my body. This kiss felt different than all the kisses which had ever come before. Something inside of me unraveled, falling to dust at my feet, like the rust from an old chain.

Desire coursed through me as my core bloomed, dripping and throbbing. Jasek broke our kiss. We both panted as we parted, the cells in the back of my brain exploding in little firework bursts of pleasure.

“Charlotte? What is that smell? It drives me crazy…”

Jasek nuzzled down my neck, sniffing and drooling. I moaned.

“I’ll show you and teach you something new if you’ll give us just one moment. Meet me at the travois.”

I sprinted to the bridge trailer.

No fucking way they are going to record this—

I punched a series of codes into the bridge trailer’s console. The drones flew out, creating a grid work around the camp. Lights shot between them and a solid shimmering panel appeared. A drone bounced off the outside, blocked from entering the camp. I chuckled and sprinted over to my camp bed.

Jasek awaited me, face hungry in all the right ways.

“I am ready for my lesson.”

I giggled and hopped up on my bed, dangling my legs off the side. I crooked my finger at Jasek.

“Follow the smell.”

His eyes widened. His pupils focused directly on my pussy.

“I will need to inspect under your skirt.”

I opened my hands, inviting him in. With great caution, he approached, steps slow. He lifted a hand, placing it on one knee. He looked up at me. My cheeks burned. I bit my lip and nodded.

“Is this why you turn red?”

“Sometimes.”

“I see.”

He slid his thumbs up my thighs and under the ragged hem of my mini loincloth. He rolled the fur to the top of my thighs. He placed his hands on my knees, spreading me open before his gaze. His body shuddered. I shuddered.

I felt juices trickle from my swollen lips. He drew in a deep drought of my heady scent.

“I want to lick it…to taste you…”

“What’s stopping you?”

Jasek dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around my thighs. He looked close and ran a finger through my slick slit. I gasped, throwing back my head.

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?’

“No, no, no, no, you didn’t hurt me. It…felt so good.”

He ran his finger up and down my pubic bone.

“This feels good?”

“Yes! Don’t stop, just keep doing things like that. Explore... If you do a good job, I’ll make a lot of noises that are rarely intelligible words, okay? Just please, now that we’ve started—please don’t stop.”

“Mission accepted, Charlotte.”

He licked my pussy, exploring each fold with his fingers, tongue, and lips. My body shuddered and moaned. I grabbed his head with one hand. His fingers found my entrance. He lingered there, running the tips of his fingers over my soft folds.

He wiggled one finger inside. I moaned and rocked on his finger. He moved it in and out, quickly adding a second. I groaned and writhed, then his mouth found my clit. He flicked his tongue over the swollen nub, sucking it between his puckered lips.

I screamed. He rammed his fingers into me harder and harder, meeting my demanding thrusts. He lifted his face, eyes glassy with arousal.

“Charlotte, what is this called?”

“Eating me out and finger banging.”

“I love it!”

“Great! Now get back to work.”

I shoved his face back into my pussy. He sucked on my clit, his fingers squelching in the juices coating us both. Then his fingers curled, finding my G-spot. My inner tunnel clenched. An orgasm ripped through me. My back arched. I screamed, clutching Jasek’s head.

My mind flew for a short eternity, then floated back to my body. Jasek lay his face against my belly, arms wrapped around my back. I sort of laid fallen over his arm as we caught our breath.

“Charlotte! That was fun! What was that called?”

“That, Jasek, was an orgasm.”

“I love orgasms!”

“Me, too.”

I patted his head and promptly passed out.

Jasek

I arranged Charlotte on her bed and covered her with a blanket. I designed the bed area with her in mind, seeing no need to make it larger at the time. I wanted to lay with her, to hold her and listen to her soft breaths, but I had no way of knowing if Charlotte would appreciate such actions. I had yet to ask.

Charlotte is a good teacher. For our next lesson, I will show her how well I have mastered eating pussy and finger banging.

I laid in the soft grasses to watch the stars. For once, I needed the rest. Fishguts tentacled over to me, sluggish, sacs painfully swollen. It curled up next to me. A light breeze drifted by and ruffled my fur. I thought of ways to reconfigure the travois to accommodate us both inside.

I drifted off to sleep thinking of a life with Charlotte. When I woke, a new smell delighted my nose. Sweet flavors entwined with a sharp, fragrant herbaceousness to create an aroma new to my databanks.

“What do I smell?”

“A cliché breakfast from my culture on Earth. Looks like the fans appreciated whatever the Snaughians managed to film of our Sex Ed for the Xunon 101 class. They sent me a care package of Earth breakfast foods, a skillet, and some utensils.”

“I certainly appreciate your Sex Ed for Xunon classes. I promise to be a dedicated and eager student.”

Charlotte laughed, turning back to the food sizzling on the camp base’s range.

“I believe you.”

“Then I shall patiently await your next lesson.”

Charlotte turned red, again.

“I appreciate your patience. It…could be far too easy to get entirely distracted by classes—with the whole ‘mating is fun’ thing I mentioned before. We have a game to win, after all. I don’t want to lose the chance at our freedom because we camped for a week just to…educate you.”

“Only a week? I did hope for a lifelong pursuit of the subject after last night.”

Sharp laughs escaped her lips, like a bevy of startled birds flushed from a bush.

“Nobody’s saying you shouldn’t.”

She served her cliché breakfast. She handed me a heaping plate and sat next to me, pointing at the carefully separated piles of food.

“That’s a pancake. They’re good with butter and syrup. Those are breakfast sausage patties. These beauties are called bacon and I nearly cried when I saw them. The stuff in the glass is orange juice. Eat up. They only sent enough for one meal.”

We ate and I enjoyed the cliché breakfast. Charlotte seemed lighter today and more relaxed. We cleaned up the leftovers and continued our journey. Fishguts crawled atop the travois’ cage, settling in for a nap.

We trudged through grasslands scored with rocky outcrops where the toes of the mountain range north of us terminated. Brush and short deciduous trees with twisted trunks sprung up along the edges of the hard rock, where grasses struggled to grow.

“In a typical human relationship, what happens next? What is the next step? For humans?”

“Oof. That’s complicated.”

She thought hard, chewing on her nail. I attempted to refine my question.

“In a typical relationship?”

“How about in a good relationship, instead of a typical relationship? I mean, people tell me there is something called a ‘normal’ relationship—and lots of different people have lots of different definitions of what that means—but I can’t say I’ve ever found actual proof ‘normal’ exists. In reality.”

I laughed. A lâlùpel broke from cover at the sound, sprinting across a rocky expanse. I pulled my knife and tossed it through the air, skewering the lâlùpel’s head. The creature dropped into the grass. I retrieved it and skinned it as we walked.

“Nice shot.”

“I realize that I may have asked you the wrong question. I would like to change my question.”

I unsheathed my knife, made a few cuts on the lâlùpel, then pulled the hide from it in one, swift motion.

“Okay. What’s your new question?”

“Even if this is a relationship for the purposes of my education alone and, therefore, is a mock relationship for my educational benefit, should we decline the opportunity to act out healthy relationship scenarios?”

Charlotte raised an eyebrow at me on the way to the crate with the Insta-tan

“Were you a lawyer in a past life or something?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jasek. It was an Earth joke and honestly, if I have to forget things about Earth, having now been gone for so long, lawyers are a good place to start. You know, you’re kind of lucky.”

With the lâlùpel skinned, I removed the organs and placed them all in cold storage.

“How so, Charlotte?”

“You get to start fresh, to pick and choose how you want to interact with the world. You have no ingrained rules or complications. I inherited a mountain of bullshit to try to deal with and little of it makes much sense to me anymore.”

I rinsed the meat to remove any debris and placed it in cold storage as well. I washed my hands and returned to Charlotte’s side.

“So, with your experience, help me create better rules for Xunon culture.”

She cocked her head and I could see her contemplating the possibility.

“I thought Xunon have no culture.”

“Not yet, we don’t. I have been thinking, Charlotte. There must be other Xunon out there, like me, trying to live without the Quislik’s instructions. They must be so lost, like I felt when we first arrived. When we win, I would like to find them. We will need a culture. I must learn, so that I can teach them.”

Charlotte reached out and placed a hand on my arm. We slowed to a halt and gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Wow. That…that must be a huge feeling. That will require a lot of work, not that I know much about the galaxy outside of my home planet. I just picked up a few things watching the news feeds in the hospital’s recovery ward after season 33—the point is, you have a lot to learn to find your people.”

Though nervous, I took Charlotte’s hands in mine.

“When we win, I…if you don’t have anything else to do…I hoped you might help me. If you wanted to.”

Charlotte’s eyes searched my face, then a smile slowly graced her perfect lips.

“I think I might like that, Jasek. Assuming we both make it out of here alive, we’ll talk about it. It’s difficult to make any lasting commitments until we’re free.”

My heart felt like it tried to fill my chest.

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

Charlotte’s smile turned a little, as if mischief had just crawled into her mind. I braced myself for what she would say next.

“We…sorta skipped steps last night. Many couples hold hands before finger banging and eating pussy.”

I offered Charlotte my hand and she slid hers in mine. Her cheeks burned red, but she looked happy. I scouted the world around me, drinking in the rays of the day’s sun and the comfort of Charlotte’s physical contact.

New mission: help the other lost Xunon feel as happy as I do right now.

Charlotte

I stuffed the skinned lâlùpel, coated in herbs, on the base trailer’s rotisserie, setting it to roast while we walked. I wondered how Fishguts felt and crawled up the travois’ cage to take a look.

“Jasek! It looks like Fishguts formed some kind of cocoon-chrysalis thing.”

“Ah! Perhaps transitioning from one state of a syend’s life cycle to another explains all the brooding. And those sacs.”

“Fascinating. Well, looks like we’ll wait to see what emerges when Fishguts is done transforming.”

We walked far, camping in the evening sun. The day’s walk after the first good orgasm I’d had since my abduction really left my knees shaking. I barely kept my eyes open through dinner and was asleep long before the broadcast.

The next morning at breakfast, I woke slowly, mumbling and grumbling about the usual subjects.

“I’d kill for coffee. Not that pre-ground stuff, either. I mean whole beans from Nicaragua, though I wouldn’t turn down a nice Kenyan coffee, either.”

I waddled to the camp toilet on stiff legs and relieved myself.

“And a good, fine-quality camp percolator, too. Don’t forget the coffee grinder, either.”

I stripped, stuffing my clothes into the slot promising to perfectly launder the garments, started the cycle, and stepped in the shower. I slapped at the buttons, still half-blind with sleep. Water flowed over me.

I breathed deep and relaxed. My shoulders and head slumped forward as the warm water flowed over my back. I pumped some sort of soap substance and washed up, advancing the cycle. Air blew in all over my body, drying my skin.

“And a soft, really fluffy, lux towel. I miss towels.”

Jasek’s voice cut through my air of self-pity and I jumped at the sound of his unexpected question.

“Are you in distress, Charlotte? Do you require assistance?”

“I’m just homesick. There are things I miss from Earth. Like coffee and all the things that go with coffee. Now that we have the base trailer, we have a lot of what we’d need—no point daydreaming about it.”

“Why? I like to hear about it. I have no world to remember, no favorite anything, other than completing my mission, dying, and the Quislik.”

Since he asked…

“Okay then, I’d need cow’s milk, whole coffee beans, a coffee grinder. We have utensils and a couple of mugs already. We have a refrigerator. Oh, if only I had eggs, too…a fine dark chocolate, some butter— made from raw milk—honey, more bacon…and a joint!”

“Would these things make you happy?”

Jasek gazed into my eyes, smoldering again.

“Happy is relative. Nothing can make me happy about having been torn from my life and enslaved. Those things would simply help me feel more at home. You were never given half the things most species have. I was ripped from those things. I miss them.”

I shook my head, suddenly angry with myself.

“But Jasek, there are so many other things more important than a carton of eggs. A carton of eggs feeds us for a while. If I’m going to ask other people, fans—beings who I don’t even know—to spend their hard-earned money helping us, I should ask for something that’ll help us make it to the altar and our freedom.”

“This is probably true. I feel the urge to declare I will get you all of these things when we win and get out of here. Is that normal?”

I laughed, smiling, and we began to pick up camp.

“Only if you feel this urge because you care about me. Otherwise, it’s probably creepy. Unless I’ve previously rejected you, and then it’d definitely be creepy.”

“I have never desired to neglect you, Charlotte. Have I ever given you that impression?”

“No.”

A wide smile beamed from Jasek’s face.

“Then I am not creepy.”

I giggled. We packed camp and began the day’s journey, skirting the foothills, trying to stay out of the open plain and out of the thickest herds. I slowed down at the buzz of an incoming drone.

I shaded my eyes against the harsh morning sun, trying to make out the shape of the gift. It looked like another trailer.

What could they be sending?

The new trailer section landed in front of me.

“Oh, no…”

The fervent squawking of outraged chickens filled the air. I walked up to the trailer, grabbing the brochure, reading in disbelief.

“Portable, maglev small-animal coop—from Colony Master. Put all your eggs in our basket. Yikes.”

Another drone arrived, depositing a crate the size of a large suitcase in front of me. I opened the crate.

“Holy shit, Jasek! This is fucking coffee! And a percolator! And a grinder!”

I squealed, clapping my hands in delight. I felt like a kid at their birthday party.

“What are these noisy creatures?”

“Chickens. From Earth. Real chickens. They lay eggs. You’re going to love eggs, Jasek. And coffee.”

Jasek looked back and forth between the chickens and the coffee.

“Do eggs and coffee go together?”

“Sort of—Oh, no. Palbz! Kvorkt! What have you done? Who had the brilliant idea of sending me a cow? What do I know about cows? Being from the same planet does not mean I know anything about caring for cows!”

Drones deposited the cow in front of me. She looked up at me and swished her tail. Then, she spoke.

“I want to know what the fuck is going on. To whom do I complain about having been implanted with a translator against my will? Also, can someone please milk me?”

“Hello, Cow. I am Jasek. I am a being manufactured by the Quislik to serve as a front-line—”

“Fascinating. Tell me all about it after I explain how to milk me. We’re going to need a stool and a bucket, and I do mean soon.”

The cow stomped a hoof, flicked her ears with vigor, and swished her tail.

“Do you have a name, Cow?”

“The name’s Mabel. I come from a long line of Grand Champion Jersey stock. I can produce four gallons of milk a day, with the right feed and care, of course. Milk me morning and evening and I promise to refrain from kicking you in the head.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth before I could think of a more dignified reaction. The strangeness of meeting a talking cow was lost on Jasek, and he greeted Mabel with an open heart and mind.

“Greetings, Mabel. I accept your deal and I see a drone delivering a bucket and a stool. Thank you, fans.”

Somewhere I found my voice and began to babble, hoping the words tumbling from my mouth made sense.

“This complicates things, Jasek. Yeah, not certain all these gifts were sent by fans. Pretty sure we have some trolls, too.”

Jasek frowned, turning to face me. Mabel looked around, taking in her new environment.

“What are trolls, Charlotte? Why would they do this?”

Scrubbing my face with my hands I tried to figure out how to explain twenty-first century internet culture to a warrior clone.

Do I go all the way back to myths and legends? No, better keep the explanation connected to things I know he will understand.

“Some viewers didn’t like that I survived without my partner last season. And they like it less that I’ve gotten a second chance. They think I cheated or something, but, honestly, how could I have cheated? I was stuck in the season 33 arena! It’s not like I won. I’m not free. They just gave me a second chance.”

“Excuse me, Charlotte, Jasek, but do you happen to have any hay? Maybe some oats? They didn’t feed me before transport.”

We turned to Mabel. I broke the disappointing news to her.

“I’m sorry, we don’t. Have you tried the grasses?”

“I’d hoped for something more…familiar. Oh well, strange grass it shall have to be. Excuse me.”

Mabel dropped her nose to the nearest clump of grass and smelled it, taking a tentative bite and flapped her ears.

“It could use some salt. You know what, fans? I need a salt and mineral block. For my health. You can find one at any Earth feed store. And, if you don’t mind, please send along a bag of oats. Maybe a couple of bales of good hay…”

Just as I thought my brain might finally crack, a talking cow feeling like the last straw, another drone flew toward me. It dangled a large cookie tin in front of me. I took it and opened the lid. Inside lay a handful of joints and three bars of fine dark chocolate.

I cried.

“Thank you, fans…”

Jasek

We stopped long enough to make a new fire and coffee, and milk Mabel. I drank half the bucket before Charlotte made me use a cup. Drinking from the bucket seemed so much more efficient. Free of her burden, Mabel relaxed. Charlotte served me my first cup of coffee.

“I love coffee, Charlotte.”

She unwrapped a dark bar of food, breaking off a piece of the corner and handing it to me. I sniffed the food. It reminded me of the coffee. I took a bite and my mouth exploded in sensation. A sip of coffee enhanced the flavor even further.

“Charlotte, I think my mouth orgasmed…”

“It’s called chocolate. Wait ‘til you try it with the weed.”

She pulled a thin, white rolled item from the tin and lit the end with a flaming stick, breathing in a big drought of acrid, odiferous smoke and holding it in. Then she blew it out and coughed for a galactic minute.

She closed her eyes. I saw her body relax and soften around the edges. She leaned her head against my arm and offered me the smoking object.

“What does it do?”

“No idea what it will do to a Xunon, but many humans enjoy it. I was never a huge pothead before the abduction but—then I thought—and stay with me here—I thought: I’ve been abducted by aliens, forced to survive alone for six fucking months, right? Six months! Alone! Now, my boyfriend’s a clone, I have a pulsing cocoon above my traveling, reed, hammock bed. There are chickens and a talking cow, who is a lovely animal, by the way.”

“Does this pot-weed make you talkative?”

“Sometimes. Whoever sent this stuff knows what they’re doing. I wonder why it took longer to find pot than it did to find a talking cow.”

“Oh, when they loaded me into the drone delivery sling, I overheard the Snaughians mention a couple of cowgirls and the possibility of an Intergalactic Rodeo. I stopped paying attention at that point. One of the Snaughians looked at me the wrong way. I had to kick him in the chin.”

“Mabel, you’re my hero.”

“Thanks, Charlotte. If I had to be transported to an alien planet for this nonsense, I’m glad I met you, too. I don’t know how I’d respond to any cowgirls.”

Charlotte laughed. I filed the conversation in my databanks to analyze at a later date. Charlotte poured the remainder of the unused milk into the base trailer’s food preservation system. She chuckled, giddy, bouncing on her toes as she set the device.

“Just wait ‘til dinner!”

I do not know to whom she spoke, but I liked to think she spoke to me. She smiled at me. I rinsed Mabel’s bucket and filled it with water. Mabel drank the entire bucket. I hung it from the travois and hooked the coop trailer to the back of the line and we continued trekking.

Charlotte crawled into bed as the sun set. She slept more deeply than I had ever seen her sleep before. I could have continued walking, but Mabel asked to stop. She informed me she required rest at night, like Charlotte, so we camped. Mabel bedded down, laying on a grassy patch, tucking her nose back along her body and slept.

Fishgut’s cocoon throbbed where it clung to the top of Charlotte’s bedroom. I lay next to Mabel’s warm body and connected to the mycelial network under the soil. Night passed. Dew formed, soaking into my fur and quenching my thirst. Morning broke on the eastern horizon. The long shadows stretching across the plain only proved to me how far we had come.

I looked at my still sleeping family and smiled. I got up and began breakfast, making coffee the way I saw Charlotte prepare it the day before. Mabel rose, ready and eager. I scooped some oats the fans sent into a basket and strapped it to the side of the coop trailer where Mabel directed me.

She stuck her nose in and enjoyed her breakfast while I milked her. I returned to the base trailer with the fourth bucket of milk and the stool. I reserved enough milk for Charlotte’s coffee, and poured most of it into the food storage unit and picked a random item from the menu.

I returned to the fire and cooked bacon for Charlotte’s breakfast. When she woke, I heard the most beautiful moan of appreciation. That morning, when she ran back from her wash up, she ran directly for the coffee.

She took her first sip and smiled.

“Good morning, Charlotte.”

“Good morning, Jasek. The coffee is perfect, thank you.”

Mabel wandered up to the fire, one clump of grass at a time.

“I think this alien space grass makes me a little high.”

“Mabel, you’re great company.”

“Thank you, Jasek. I also enjoy your company.”

“Yeah. I heard you two talking. All night.”

Mabel stomped a hoof at Charlotte. She looked up from her grass and replied.

“I was too nervous to sleep very well and it was only this morning during the milking, anyway. No one is mentioning your snoring.”

Charlotte gasped

“Do I?”

“Not as bad as my previous farmer, but I’d see a specialist. I learned all about sleep apnea watching the farmer’s tv through the window at night.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Mabel stared into the distance for a moment.

“It’s a new planet, after all. And all I wanted to worry about at home was eating and getting milked. Maybe next month, I’d think about breeding... How will I explain this to the herd? I don’t know if I can go back after this experience. Not after they increased my brain capacity to support the translator…”

“What is there to go back to? I was born last month. I’m a clone. I was supposed to fight for the Quislik ‘til I died or was recycled.”

Charlotte choked on her coffee. When her coughing subsided, she spoke with a weakened voice.

“A month… I thought I could go back to Earth. Until I met a talking cow.”

“I thought, surely, the aliens would’ve been the deal breaker.”

Charlotte

“As it turns out, Mabel, the aliens were easier to accept than something so familiar, like an Earth cow speaking.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment. What did you make out of the extra milk anyway?”

“Oh, I almost forgot!”

I ran to the food storage processor, which had deposited the finished items in a small cabinet. I pulled the items out, stashing them in the freezer and fridge.

“Through the power of alien technology, tonight you shall sample one of the greatest human creations. Just wait…I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Jasek smiled, watching me handle the dinner surprise with interest.

“I look forward to dinner, Charlotte. I enjoyed the Earth cliché breakfast. And chocolate. And coffee. And your name. And eating p—”

I slapped a hand over Jasek’s mouth.

“So, another human mating culture convention: we don’t have to tell everyone about how we…mate…”

Jasek peeled my hand away, cocked his hand to the side and attacked me with logic.

“Humans do not share information about their relationships with their friends? Or exchange a list of preferences in search of compatible preferences? I had hoped to learn Mabel’s point of view as well, since I learned so much from you.”

What do I even do with that?

“No, you’re right. Everything you say is true. Let me think how to explain—”

While I frantically searched for an explanation which would make sense to someone not born and raised on Earth, Mabel swished her tail.

“Jasek, humans are silly about mating. Cattle and other members of the Bos genus are far more practical. When mating season rolls around, your calf is weaned, and you feel the need, you go out and find the biggest, ugliest, most muscular, most aggressive bull around, mate, and forget about it for another year.”

Sounds like some of my friends.

“Fascinating, Mabel, though I do not want to wait a galactic standard year between lessons with Charlotte.”

Mabel belched and flicked a dismissive ear.

“To each their own. What are the Xunon mating rituals?”

“I’m trying to decide. Xunon have no culture. Until now, none of us lived long enough.”

“In that case, Jasek, I’d be happy to teach you Jersey cattle culture. For starters, you can scratch my neck. It’s a sign of affection among friends and family.”

I chuckled. Jasek scratched Mabel’s neck ‘til she stretched her head high in the air. We walked, chatting and laughing. Mabel grazed every time Jasek and I stopped to harvest various plants. We made far less progress this way, but we enjoyed our day.

We camped when the sun began its descent beyond the horizon dominated by the central mountain, whose ever-present peak floated above the clouds. I checked on Fishguts. His cocoon had stiffened, forming an outer shell.

I wonder what’ll emerge when Fishguts completes his transformation.

I served Jasek his first slice of cheese at dinner. He proudly showed me the yogurt he made. Jasek milked Mabel while I washed dishes. We cleaned the coop and fed the chickens. The coop trailer automated water and other functions. A compartment at the front opened into a climate-controlled, storage unit stocked with chicken supplies and the egg dispenser.

When the evening’s broadcast drone arrived, Mabel bedded down. Jasek and I leaned back against her belly like a loveseat, and we all watched Plabz and Kvorkt together. I slept well, waking to the smell of coffee.

I smiled, rose, and got myself ready to face the day. To my shock, I realized I looked forward to the day. After a fun breakfast of cheesy eggs with bits of roast lâlùpel, we returned to our trek.

I spotted a herd I’d never seen before and gasped. They looked like eight-eyed space mammoths. Three trunks stripped the surrounding plants, feeding them into the beasts’ tusked mouths. Fifteen-feet high at the shoulder, each of the beasts’ steps shook the ground. A family of thirty or so individuals roamed the plain like walking mountains. I pointed.

“Jasek, what are those called?”

“My database says they are called låfdros.”

I sucked in a breath and a low, appreciative whisper escaped my lips before I even knew I made a sound. “They’re beautiful.”

“Ooh la la! Who are those handsome fellows?” Mabel tossed her head at the brutish bulls bellowing at each other.

“Those are mùdzho bulls.”

“They look like brutes, Jasek. I may like it on this planet after all. We’ll see what I think about it next month.”

I laughed and patted Mabel’s neck. Mabel’s ears flicked. Jasek sniffed the air. I heard a strange rumble. We all looked up at the cocoon. Something banged against the shell, cracking the thin, hard exterior.

Rounded shapes writhed inside the cocoon, stretching the elastic membrane from the inside. Shapes pushed against the membrane, distorting the translucent material ‘til a dark, tough-skinned tentacle punched through.

More tentacles followed the first, wiggling like a can of earthworms. They pulled themselves through, working together to rip off the remaining shell. The new Fishguts dropped onto my bed in a splash of runny, pink and yellow fluid.

Jasek leaned close to my ear and spoke.

“I’ll make you a new one.”

“Thanks. You’re the galaxy’s best new boyfriend right now, Jasek.”

“I don’t understand what that means, Charlotte.”

“I’ll explain it later. I saw Fishguts twitch. I anticipate it may be very hungry. Let’s pull out…wait, look.”

I watched Fishguts notice Mabel for the first time. It yawned, exposing a wide gullet ringed with row after row of sharp teeth. I gulped.

Fishguts came out of that cocoon so much bigger…

“Hey, Fishguts. Welcome back. I see you are much larger than before…and sharper in some places. Let me introduce you to Mabel. She’s our new friend.”

“Charlotte honey, just squirt some of my milk at the thing. It’s obviously starved after that transformation.”

Jasek leaned down, aiming one of Mabel’s teats and squeezed. The milk landed directly in Fishguts’ mouth. It swallowed, seemed to consider what to do next for a moment, then tentacled over to Mabel, stroked her face, then attached a tentacle to the teat.

“Oh my. It’s just like a machine. That’s right, drink up.”

Mabel returned to chewing her cud. I looked at Jasek, gazing down into my eyes with a smile.

“Looks like we found a use for all the extra milk.”

I nodded, thinking about what else we could feed Fishguts, since I despised wasting perfectly good food.

“Eggs too, probably.”

Fishguts crawled atop Mabel’s back and seemed to settle in. Mabel licked her nostrils to clear them.

“Works for me.”

I shrugged, sliding my arm into Jasek’s, and we walked on into the fading light.

Jasek

Clouds billowed on the horizon behind us. Lightning lit the sky in the distance. Thunder cracked among the heavy darkness rolling in across the prairie. The herds held their heads high, ears alert. Tails swished and animals bucked and pitched.

Mabel sniffed the air. She snorted, then cleaned her nostrils with the tip of her big tongue.

“It smells like rain.”

The storm front pushed air across the plain before it, advancing to the staccato beats of thunderclaps. The wind hit us, blowing Charlotte’s hair and ruffling my fur. I smelled the dry dustiness of the vast savannah clear from the air, replaced by the cool damp of inevitable rain. Charlotte shuddered.

“I think you’re right, Mabel. I may be the only one here who doesn’t like to get wet. Jasek? Would you help me replace the panels in my little bedroom? They’re covered in Fishguts’ transformation slime.”

“Yes, of course. Let me just get the replacements out of storage.”

“Thanks.”

I retrieved clean mats from storage and returned to Charlotte, who had already cut away the soiled reed mats. Thunder cracked again, rattling the trailers. Charlotte looked up into the sky.

“I don’t like the idea of being out in the open with that much lightning, Jasek.”

“Me either, Charlotte.”

Mabel mooed and shook the rain off her coat.

“We should find some trees or rocks to shelter under. We saw some nice boulders not too long ago. Maybe we can shelter under the bridge panels.”

Charlotte hugged Mabel’s neck.

“You’re a genius, Mabel.”

“Well thank you, Charlotte. I want to get out of these lowlands, too. There’s about to be a lot of water…”

We backtracked, following Mabel. The storm rolled down the valley, disgorging heavy rains. The chicken coop trailer engaged bad weather protocols, deploying an energy shield around the normally open and breezy sections, much like the energy shield generated by the bridge drones.

The ground under our feet grew slick. Charlotte slid on the slopes as we walked. I reached for her. She took my hand, pointing to her bed. I swung her up. She grabbed the cage and sat, feet dangling.

Mabel’s boulders loomed in the driving rains. We circled the trailers with the boulders, and Charlotte programmed the bridge drones to create a cage around the camp. The glowing bridge panels diverted the worst of the water away.

We made a fire, watching the rain long into the night. We tried to watch the broadcast, but the weather interfered with the drone’s reception. We chatted, ate, and picked up camp while water slowly filled the valley below.

Charlotte snored and Mabel slept, curled up with Fishguts, who stroked Mabel’s back with ever-growing tentacles. I laid on the rain-softened ground and connected with the plain’s mycelial network. The network throbbed underneath my conscious mind.

The network whispered of rains and loose soil, absorbing the energy of the lightning strikes and impending floods as the saturated soil could hold no more water. I woke in an instant, leaping to my feet.

“Charlotte! Mabel! We have to get to higher ground!”

Mabel pushed herself to her feet and Charlotte groaned, then rolled over and mumbled endearingly in my general direction.

“Whuhs goin’on?”

“We have to get to higher ground. It’s going to flood.”

Everyone scrambled, instantly alert. Charlotte ran to the bridge trailer’s console to recall the drones, then stopped, spinning around to scream at me. I barely heard her through the deluge.

“I have an idea. Jasek, get ready to move the trailers. Mabel, trust me, okay?”

“Just consider yourself my new farmer, okay? That makes my survival your responsibility…”

Fishguts stroked Mabel’s neck. I ran to the travois’ yoke. Charlotte punched a sequence of commands into the bridge trailer’s console. The drones reconfigured into a large rectangle with a bottom.

A roar filled the valley. I looked behind us. A wall of water, deeper than I was tall, filled the shallow valley like a moving wall, sweeping away any animal unfortunate enough to get caught in its path.

“Everybody inside the box!”

Mabel kicked and ran up the open ramp. Fishguts rode on her back.

“I hate seeing through the floor, Charlotte! It’s a phobia!”

“Let’s fix that later. Trust me. Jasek, bring in the trailers!”

I grabbed the yoke and dragged the trailers up the bridge-panel ramp into the shelter of the shielded box Charlotte had created. I saw the flood through the cloudy, glowing panels. Charlotte closed the ramp just in time.

The flood hit the box, but the bridge drones had anchored into the ground. The waters flowed over the top of the rectangle, submerging our party. My heart raced. Charlotte joined me and wrapped her arms around me.

She hid her face in my fur. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight. Mabel walked over and rubbed her head on me. Fishguts wrapped a long tentacle around all of us. The flood pummeled the bridge panels with uprooted trees, rocks, and everything else it swallowed up.

For twenty minutes, the waters entirely surrounded our cage. I saw lightning flash, bright against the ceiling of our shelter. I pointed.

“Look! I think the waters are receding. I saw lightning.”

“I saw it, too.”

Charlotte laughed, grabbing my face, pulling it down to her, and kissed me. She pulled back with a huge smile. A huge crash against the barrier caught our attention. A three-trunked låfdro, caught in the flood, had slammed into the barrier. Charlotte gasped, clinging to me.

Body trapped against the barrier, the låfdro thrashed against the power of the flood. Trunks flailed, searching for something to grasp. It struggled closer to the boulders. Two trunks grabbed a tree, the other grabbing onto a rock.

The låfdro heaved. One front leg found a foothold on the boulder. The flash flood waned, slowly draining around us. The låfdro pulled its massive body atop the boulders and climbed atop our shelter to wait out the remainder of the flood. Flood-deposited silt partially buried our barrier, but the bridge panels held.

Charlotte jumped into the air, cheering. She kissed me again.

“The space mammoth made it! I’m so happy! I already know how to get it off the roof, too.”

Charlotte

“All things considered, once I get that låfdro off the roof, I vote we camp here. In the barrier. Maybe open this back wall for ventilation…”

“I agree, Charlotte. Mabel, may I get you some mats to lay on?”

“Thanks, Jasek. I’d appreciate that. Maybe I can get some oats, too? Maybe a sheaf of hay?”

“I’ll get the food, Mabel.”

I scratched Mabel’s neck and fed her. We set up camp right there on the glowing bridge panel. The chickens clucked, scratching around in the extendable exercise pen. I tossed a handful of scratch and they converged, hopping and flapping.

The låfdro stomped a foot, trumpeting for her sisters. I looked up, not expecting to see underneath a giant, eight-eyed, three-trunked space mammoth. I had also never expected to be a contestant on an intergalactic survival competition either.

“Hang on. I’m coming.”

I walked to the bridge trailer’s console and reconfigured the panels. A couple of drones flew over to create a gentle ramp from the roof of the box to the muddy ground. After a few hesitant minutes of indecision and trepidation, the låfdro tested the ramp with a foot. Assured the ramp would bear its weight, the låfdro descended with slow, careful steps.

A small herd of låfdros trotted up to the drenched one exiting the ramp. They ran their trunks all over each other, trumpeting and emanating low rumbles, the adults harmonizing. A calf trotted up with a few more members of the herd.

The låfdros milled about, reconnecting their family bonds and fussing with each other’s coats. The calf explored the ramp. We left the låfdros to play and went about our chores. Mabel and Fishguts cuddled up by the fire. Fishguts fed her hay and oats, and fetched buckets of water for her with its tentacles. The plant looked much, much larger than before.

I wonder how big it’ll grow, drinking all that milk.

Jasek and I cuddled by the fire. We sipped coffee and ate sweet cakes made from a local grain and the sugars extracted from excess milk. We watched the evening broadcast and the replay of the flood and the saga of the låfdro.

We slept to the sound of rain. We spent much of the next day the same way, watching the rain and the herds migrating away from the flooded plains. Occasionally, a herd would stop for a while under the shelter of our panels.

“Mabel?”

“Yes, Charlotte?”

I pointed down at the animals loitering under the shelter of our strange little camp.

“Why don’t they just wait out the rain?”

“Oh, all this water makes the grass taste bland. I heard the farmer and the Veterinarian—that’s the animal doctor— talking to the county extension agent about it. Apparently, the rains wash all the nutrition out of the grass. Everyone is looking for better grass. I mean, I would.”

“Add that to the list of things I’ve never thought of before.”

Fair is fair. You blow Jasek’s mind, Mabel blows mine.

“Charlotte?”

“Yes, Jasek?”

“I love cake.”

I smiled and wiggled my eyebrows at him.

“You’re pretty cute when you’re happy.”

“Thank you. Fishguts is pretty cute.”

“Uh…yeah. It really seems to be doing well on that milk, Mabel.”

Mabel licked an itch on her side with her rough tongue, tossing her head back with each lick.

“Thank you, Charlotte. I’ve never nursed a plant creature before, but I am pleased with Fishguts’ weight gain. Jersey milk is especially rich and creamy. High milkfat, you know.”

“Yeah. I think I’ve put on a few pounds, too.”

I patted my hip.

“I think you are beautiful, Charlotte.”

I laughed, cuddling closer to Jasek’s big body.

“I think you’re beautiful, too, Jasek.”

“Mabel and Fishguts are beautiful, too. We’re a very beautiful family unit.”

“Thank you, Jasek. Fishguts and I think you’re beautiful, too, and I must agree that we are a very beautiful herd.”

I brought out the map and we planned tomorrow’s route. I spread it out and pointed.

“I think we should follow the mountain range to the north of us. I’m ready to get out of the open prairie.”

Jasek nodded, leaning in to look.

“Agreed, Charlotte.”

“Fishguts and I are good, either way. As long as we have hay and oats, of course.”

The rains slowed in the early hours, leaving a shallow river behind. Well rested, we rose early, before the sun. By mid-morning, we had returned to the trail.

As curious as a kitten, Fishguts tentacled around, scouring the terrain for treats to bring Mabel. I held Jasek’s hand while we watched Fishguts try to uproot a small tree in hopes Mabel would enjoy the taste of the leaves.

After lunch, we began to see small, stubby trees. By evening, we walked through a copse of towering giants among boulders.

“Looks like we found the edge of the plain at last. Look over there.”

I pointed to a shadow among the boulders. Jasek sprinted ahead to investigate. A few minutes later, he sprinted back.

“It’s a cave. It’s big enough to set up the panel cage, too.”

Mabel twitched an ear.

“I’ve never been in a cave.”

“Think of it like a natural barn, Mabel.”

“That helps, Charlotte. Well, if we’re going in, let’s do it.”

We all entered the cave. Sunlight failed to penetrate very far inside, leaving most of the chamber in shadow. I turned to the trailer.

“This camp base trailer must have some sort of external lighting…”

I heard the sound of a drone.

“Oh, no…”

I heard Plabz’s obnoxious voice from the drone’s display before the drone even stopped.

“That’s right, galaxy! Vote now!”

“What are they voting on, Plabz?”

“Good question, Charlotte! Tell her, Kvorkt.”

“Plabz! I just can’t believe this kind of excitement from the fans. As everyone but our contestants and their backward planet knows, the fans are currently in a bidding war for your next gift.”

“That’s right, Kvorkt! It’s fans -vs- trolls tonight on Intergalactic Love Death Match! Stay tuned to find out if the fans will win this interactive fan challenge, or if the trolls will secure the bid for the wildcard challenge.”

“Plabz, I’m so excited. We only get one of these wildcard challenges per game, as you know. The bidding is tight. The fans are currently ahead by about one million galactic credits. Can the trolls pull in enough last-minute donations to turn this from a golden opportunity into an instant nightmare?”

“You know what? Fuck you, Kvorkt. I never liked you.”

Jasek

Plabz and Kvorkt laughed. Charlotte fumed. Mabel belched and swished her tail. Fishguts brushed Mabel with a tentacle. On the drone’s display screen, little icons scrolled next to a rapidly diminishing timer. The timer ended. I held my breath. A series of rapid shots gave the impression the galaxy held its collective breath with me.

“And the results are in, Plabz.”

“I may die from anticipation, Kvorkt! Ha!”

Charlotte groaned and extended her middle finger at the drone. She spoke in a growl.

“Get on with it, already.”

“Well, Plabz, it’s time to reveal which team will control season 34’s Wildcard Challenge.”

“May I have the envelope, please?”

An even lumpier Snaughian waddled into the frame. He handed Plabz an envelope, then waddled out. Plabz opened the envelope and examined the results.

“And…the Trolls won!”

All the blood drained from Charlotte’s face.

“Oh, no. Quick, take cover.”

I snapped my head around, looking for any sign of danger. Fishguts crawled on Mabel’s back, shielding her with its tentacles and wide, flattened head. She scrambled over to the shelter of the parked trailers, tail twisted in the sudden rush of excitement.

A rumble ran through the ground from the direction of the entrance. I sprinted to Charlotte, shielding her body with my own. The coop trailer engaged protective protocols. Something exploded, booming through the cave.

The ceiling of the cavern cracked at the entrance. Dusty rock debris rained down from the ceiling. Then the rock gave, crashing to the floor in a deadly rain. I heard small bits impacting the other side of the trailers we huddled against.

The cave-in blocked the cavern from the sun, plunging us into darkness. My eyes adjusted, allowing me to glimpse the faint glow of highlights and contours. I rose from my protective crouch. Charlotte unfolded and stood, remaining very still, eyes wide.

“Mabel? You okay?”

“Fishguts and I are fine, Charlotte.”

“Jasek, I can’t see. It’s too dark for my eyes…wait—what’s that?”

I turned to look. Small points covering Fishguts’ head luminesced.

Mabel tossed her head, staring at Fishguts as she spoke.

“Fishguts glows, Charlotte.”

Mabel flapped her ears. Fishguts cleaned her with gentle care. I blinked in the darkness, trying to clear my vision, even if I couldn’t.

“I think I can follow the glowing, carnivorous, mobile plant, but I doubt I can make out much more.”

Jasek placed a hand on Charlotte’s shoulder, hoping to bring her at least some measure of comfort. She sounded so stressed in the dark, I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and tell her everything would be alright.

“Fear not, Charlotte. I will assist. Let me inspect the cave-in. Perhaps we can move the boulders.”

I walked over to the slope of rock and debris between us and the world above. My processors worked overtime, calculating the odds—and caloric requirements—to tunnel out this way without collapsing the entire cavern.

“I cannot gather enough of the required data to accurately predict the consequences of attempting to clear this exit.”

Mabel stomped her hoof, gathering our attention.

“Well, we’ll just have to find another way out. If we get out of this cave-in dust cloud, I can try sniffing for fresh air.”

Mabel punctuated her sentence by cleaning a nostril set in a shiny, black nose with the tip of her massive, gray tongue. She cleaned the other nostril, too, for good measure. She shook her hide, turning and walking further into the cavern on delicate, cloven hooves.

Fishguts rode Mabel’s back like a dim torch. We traveled through a series of vast chambers filled with dramatic formations, hearing little more than the occasional drip of water, the scrambling of tiny, subterranean life forms, and the sounds of our own passage.

Charlotte and Mabel’s strength quickly waned under the added stress of traveling in such faint light. I opened my mouth to call a halt when Charlotte cried out. She pointed into the distance.

“Look! A glow.”

We turned toward the faint light, hoping we’d found an exit. As we drew closer, I realized we’d simply found a chamber overgrown with glowing crystals. Exhausted, I stopped where I stood. I waved at the room around us.

“Let’s camp here, tonight. I’m fatigued after today’s excitement.”

Mabel lowered herself to the ground.

“You won’t hear me arguing with you, Charlotte. Not everyone absorbs energy from everything around them, like Jasek.”

Charlotte grabbed a handful of my chest fur, pulling me down within reach, throwing her arms around my neck, and kissed me. She let me go and spun around, waving her hands at the chamber around her.

“This was worth the cave in.”

Mabel shook her head, ears flopping. She turned to look at Charlotte and I.

“Love you guys, but I’m done for the evening. Fishguts takes good care of me, but caves are a different level of exhaustion. Goodnight. See you in the morning.”

Fishguts curled up next to Mabel, stroking her neck, settling in to rest. Charlotte crawled into her bed and collapsed. I cleaned the coop and fed the chickens, then joined them to sleep. Without sunlight to feed my chlorophyll, I needed far more time to recover.

We traveled another day through the dark. Mabel stumbled on loose rocks in the dim twilight conditions. Charlotte stumbled, too, both growing increasingly tense and withdrawn. Our mere steps sounded brash in the cavern’s austere silence.

Water stores running low, we stopped near a spring trickling from a small fissure in one wall of the cavern. We drank our fill, refilling the trailers’ reservoirs. My head spun. My mouth felt dry.

Geodes pocking the walls around the spring transformed into faces. The faces shifted again and again, finally looking like Plabz and Kvorkt, if the Snaughians were made of amethyst. I cringed back in horror and the world faded.

When I woke again, the crystalline Snaughians had disappeared. Charlotte, Mabel, and Fishguts laid around me where they fell.

I eyed the spring, then checked on my companions. They breathed regularly, with the possibility of some delicate snoring.

I set up a quick camp and started breakfast then ran a diagnostic on the water treatment equipment. A notification informed me an unknown sedative had been filtered from the water and was ready for disposal. I found the hatch for the separated sedative, and removed the small flask containing a light blue powder.

This might come in handy one day.

I stored the flask in the base’s med kit and returned to my chores.

Charlotte

My head felt like the night after a rave. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I groaned and smacked my lips, managing to crank open an eyelid by sheer force of will. Dim shadows outlined with pale highlights filled my vision. My eyes ached with the effort of straining in the near dark for days.

I had dreamt of open fields and…playing frisbee golf with Jasek, Mabel, and Fishguts back on Earth—which all made perfect sense at the time. I’d never played frisbee golf in my life. Mostly, I wanted out of the cave. I missed the sun.

I pushed myself up to an elbow, looking around. Someone had put me in my bed. I suspected Jasek. I rolled over, limbs leaden and joints sore. I panted from the exertion.

“Good morning, Charlotte.”

I cringed at Jasek’s cheerful tone, throwing my arm over my face like Nosferatu and hissing. I croaked out the single word in my mind, though my throat threatened to mutiny.

“Water.”

“Certainly, Charlotte.”

“Have some milk. Fishguts fed me something which makes my milk neutralize the anesthetic in the water.”

Jasek returned with a canteen and a mug of milk—the one with the still of my previous partner being abducted by a giant bird. I drained the canteen without stopping, trading it for the milk. I chugged that, handed Jasek the canteen and mug, and belched. I waved a hand around.

“Gimme twenty minutes.”

“I’ll start the coffee.”

“And thank Fishguts for me. Fishguts is a…good…plant.”

I woke up sometime later feeling much, much better. I sighed and stretched. My stomach growled and my bladder drove me to the camp toilet. Relieved, I sighed, throwing my outfit in the laundry to cycle. I jumped into the shower and cleaned myself up just in time to put my clean clothes back on.

With great reluctance, I switched off the base trailer’s lights. Uncertain how long we’d be in this cave system, I wanted to conserve what power we had. My eyes adjusted to sight by the faint glow of Fishguts’ head.

We ate a quick breakfast of eggs and some mushrooms Jasek swore were safe and packed up to continue our journey.

“Jasek? Maybe we should take some of that water. It could come in handy. Maybe we can infuse a javelin with it or something.”

“Oh, the water filtration system produced a vial of concentrate. I stored it in the med kit.”

“That sounds deadly. Good job. I’ll collect some water, too. No idea what that concentrate will do. It could be deadly. This way, we have both.”

I took a bottle from the base’s supplies and filled it, tucking it into one of the converted fish baskets and joined the others. We walked, chatting more than we had in days. I felt an extra spring in my step.

“I feel fantastic. What was in that milk? I feel like I drank a youth potion.”

“I don’t know what it fed me. When Fishguts first woke, and I was feeling so poorly, it tentacled around, tasting different things, absorbing a little of this and that. It ate a chicken; I hope you don’t mind. And several different clays in the area. And a few of the insectoids on the ceiling. Then this flower grew from the top of Fishgut’s head.”

I blinked, but only one thought came to my head.

“And you ate the flower?”

“Fishguts has expressed a vested interest in my continued wellbeing. I felt better immediately. Anyway, I thought maybe this cure might be in my milk, too.”

“When Mabel suggested the milk might help, I drank some, too. When It helped me, I hoped it would help you, too. Humans seem to require a longer recovery time.”

“You, Jasek, are the best alien brute ever.”

I threw my arms around Mabel’s neck and Jasek’s waist, hugging them while I sniffled and wiped away a tear.

We trudged on, through endless caverns and made much better time than the day before. My eyes saw so much better in the dark than they did when I first arrived.

Jasek took my hand in his. I gazed up into his eyes—then stumbled over a rock. I blushed and turned my attention back to the path in front of me.

“Thank you.”

“For what, Charlotte?”

“I would’ve been lost on this planet without all of you. I wanted to thank you for your part in that. Season 33 was so traumatic, I seriously wondered if I’d ever feel right about things again. Even though I’m right back in this game for a second season, this time feels so much different. This time, I’m not alone.”

“I think I understand. I was alone my entire life, until I met you. Until we met, I had never really connected with another living being.”

I chuckled and bumped his arm with my body.

“You say the sweetest things, Jasek.”

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

“You don’t have to say my name so much.”

“I like saying your name.”

I leaned my head against his arm. This time, when we camped, I insisted on constructing a privacy screen out of woven panels. Mabel laughed. I set up the ILDM version of a glamped bedroom in an alcove lit by twinkling crystal protrusions.

After dinner, I freshened up, taking Jasek’s hand and leading him to my nest of mats, blankets, and pillows made of lâlùpel hides stuffed with fragrant grasses and leaves.

“What is this surprise you have for me, Charlotte?”

“If I tell you before it happens, it won’t be a surprise.”

“I understand.”

I turned to face him. I looked up.

“Kneel down, so I can look you in the eye.”

Jasek dropped to his knees.

“What next, Charlotte?”

“Want to learn what that does?”

I pointed at his crotch. His eyes grew wide. His cock grew hard.

“Yes, Charlotte. My cock swells when I think about you.”

I sighed, grabbing his big face in my hands.

“We start like we did before.”

Jasek cut his eyes directly to my mini loincloth. He drooled, licking his lips.

“I love eating your pussy, Charlotte.”

“I love it when you eat my pussy, Jasek.”

Jasek

“And I want to encourage you to explore your love of eating me, but I meant a kiss. What’s wrong with a kiss?”

“Nothing, Charlotte. I love kissing you, too.”

My lips found hers and as she melted into my arms, my heart raced. Charlotte threw her arms around my neck and I wrapped my strong arms around her, holding her body against me. I wanted to hold her forever safe.

I may have been born last month, and I may have little experience out in the world, but I have a deep-seated feeling that meeting Charlotte is the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

Our tongues touched, tasting each other. Little thrills ran through my body. The world around us seemed to fade. She ran her fingers through my chest fur. I moaned. My body shuddered. Her fingers awoke my nerves in their wake and I felt alive.

She pulled back out of our kiss, panting. Her cheeks shone. I smelled her heady arousal. My nose tried to follow the scent trail to the honey dripping between her legs, but she grabbed my head with a giggle.

I stopped, glancing up at her.

“Are you sure I can’t lick you? Maybe just a taste?”

Charlotte laughed. She shook her head but her smile only grew wider.

“We both know that, once you get your mouth on me, it won’t stop at a taste. Look! Today’s lesson is supposed to be about getting to know your cock. You can always eat me out later, okay?”

I stroked her folds with a fingertip.

“If you’re certain.”

I coated my finger in her dripping juices, licking her heady nectar from it. My eyes glazed and my head spun. Charlotte tugged at my pants, so I slipped them off. My cock bobbed free, bouncing in the air between us.

Charlotte’s hungry eyes followed each twitch of my cock. Transfixed by the sight, I felt her gaze take in my exposed body as she licked her lips.

“Jasek, that’s a beautiful cock. I have one question. Do you know what this is?”

She stroked my musk gland with a finger and my legs trembled. The pleasure of her touch almost knocked me over. I gasped.

“My databanks say it is a musk gland which produces a lubricating substance.”

“That’s awesome.”

Charlotte’s voice thickened with her arousal. She wiggled her hips, as if already imagining what my cock could do.

“Human men do not have those?”

“No.”

She shook her head slowly but never took her eyes from my cock.

“Will it be a problem for you, Charlotte?”

“Not at all. It’s…perfect.”

She ran a fingertip along the shaft of my cock, exploring me the way I had explored her perfect folds. Pleasure gripped me. I gasped and moaned at each delicate touch.

“Gorgeous. Lesson one…”

She licked my thick, swollen head. I couldn’t breathe and thought I might die. She watched me, a smug smile on her face. Without her touching me, I regained my ability to breathe. Panting hard, I finally managed to speak.

“What is this called?”

“A blowjob. Like it?”

“Yes, Charlotte. It feels so good…”

Charlotte took the head of my cock into her mouth. I lost the ability to speak again. She slid her tongue all over my cock’s head. My legs trembled as she took more and more of me into her mouth. I wondered how she could fit the thick flesh in there at all but dared not ask.

Finally, she slid off my shaft with a pop, stroking the swelling musk gland. A large drop of slick lubricant beaded on the tip. Charlotte slid a finger through it. She sniffed the lube, tasting it.

“Jasek! This is delicious.”

Charlotte smeared the lube along my shaft, engulfing my throbbing, stiff cock into her mouth again and stroked the shaft. My hips thrust forward. She grabbed my butt cheeks with both hands. I stroked her hair. Charlotte took me deeper.

“Oh! Charlotte! Let me eat you, too. We can make each other feel better at the same time. If I just lay—”

Charlotte pulled off my cock with another pop.

“That’s called 69. Wanna try it?”

“Yes!”

I lay on my back and grabbed Charlotte’s body, not even bothering to remove the little loincloth I made her. I pulled her core directly over my face and pulled her hips down. Hungrily, I devoured her delicious nectar, licking her slit and sucking the juices from her lips.

Charlotte writhed atop my face, moaning and rocking her hips. She grabbed the shaft of my cock and thrust it down her throat. Squeezed by her tight, wet warmth, I stopped thinking altogether.

I nuzzled my way through her swollen, dripping folds to her throbbing clit. I sucked on the nub, nibbling and licking. I wiggled a finger into her tunnel and sought out the spot I had found the last time, the bundle of nerves inside of her that pushed her to orgasm before.

Charlotte screamed around my thick cock in her throat. Her legs tensed. Her tunnel clenched on my fingers. I sucked her clit even harder. Her back arched. In one movement, my cock slid out of her mouth and she sat up.

She screamed and a gush of sweet juice flooded my face. I lapped up every drop I found. Her pussy quivered in my mouth. I finger banged her harder until Charlotte’s body convulsed. She came a second time, then her body collapsed atop of me.

I laid there for a moment, breathing in her delicious scent, slowly lapping my tongue against her public bone. Charlotte slid off me and spun on her trembling knees to gaze into my eyes. She spoke in a throaty whisper.

“Ready for part two of this lesson?”

I nodded, panting too hard to form words. Charlotte crawled atop my body, straddling my waist. She captured my eyes in her smoldering gaze, whispering the most amazing words I had ever heard in my entire life.

“Now, you’re going to shove that cock inside of me…over and over again until we both orgasm.”

I gasped at the thought, aroused beyond belief.

“Charlotte…my cock is so big and your pussy is so small and tight…will it even fit inside?”

“No idea, but we’ll both have a lot of fun trying.”

Without another word, she slid her body down mine, stopping with the thick head of my cock pushing against the entrance of her pink tunnel.

Eyes locked, I drove my cock into her. Her slick folds spread open around my cockhead, her tunnel gripping every inch. I pushed in until I filled her no more. Charlotte shuddered, breathing in tiny gasps.

“Charlotte? Are you well? Have I hurt you?”

“Oh, Jasek—you’re so big …so good…please…”

I slid nearly out of her and thrust in again. Charlotte moaned, her arms flailing. Unable to hold back a moment longer, my will broken by her tiny, begging cries for my cock, I grabbed Charlotte’s hips and pounded into her.

Over and over, I thrust. She felt amazing and I loved the look of overwhelming pleasure dancing across her face. Her orgasm built with each thrust both filling her and rubbing her clit. Her breasts hung in my face, bouncing with each thrust. Her inner walls clinched on me faster and faster.

I grabbed one of her breasts dangling over my face. We had never talked about it, but it felt so right. I drew Charlotte’s nipple into my mouth. Charlotte shouted yes and my name over and over. Her impassioned voice crying my name drove me over the edge.

I sucked the nipple as Charlotte threw her head back in a cry of passion. An orgasm ripped through her. My orgasm followed. My balls tightened. My cock swelled even larger than before. I shot spurt after spurt of cum into Charlotte’s quivering body as she moaned. Another orgasm wracked her.

Charlotte gasped. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. She mumbled, though I could only make out a few words.

“That’s fucking amazing…”

Charlotte

I woke to the comforting smell of coffee. I stretched, my body sore in all the right ways. I yawned, rolling over, propping myself on a few pillows, trying to ignore my bladder. I was so comfortable in the nest of bedding after all those fabulous, grade-A orgasms last night, I didn’t want to move.

Highlights from last night flashed through my head. Just thinking about Jasek had me wet and yearning for more.

I had sex with an alien. And I loved it. I don’t care what anyone says, that was fabulous. Ugh. I really have to pee.

I crawled out of my blankets, eager to meet the new day.

It had been a long, long time since I’d been optimistic.

I wondered if I could attribute my giddy euphoria to the great sex or if it was an after-effect of the musk-lube Jasek produced.

I swear that stuff is an aphrodisiac… And that gland! Perfect placement—I mean, like it was custom made to fit my clit!

I pushed myself to my feet, giddy over my first official alien boyfriend. I padded to the base and got myself ready for the day. I joined Jasek, Fishguts, and Mabel. Jasek handed me a mug of coffee and I kissed him so ferociously, we spilled it.

“Oh no, Charlotte. Do not worry, I will make you more coffee.”

“After last night, who cares if we spill a little coffee?”

Jasek smoldered at me, smiling.

“I very much enjoyed last night, Charlotte. I paid careful attention to the lesson. Will there be a test? Can there be a test? Where I may prove my mastery? We will need a lesson devoted to studying for the test, as well. My databanks say this is the galactic standard structure for a course of academic study—”

I covered his mouth with a hand.

“Jasek, that sounds like a lot of fun—and I very much want to return to these studies—but I need time for the coffee to kick in and I really want to get out of this cavern. We have Mabel and Fishguts to think of and I know you prefer the sun.”

Jasek smiled, stroking my hair. “You are right, as always.”

“I have an update for your system. If you agree, update our relationship status to ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’.”

“Updated. Please define.”

I sighed.

“It’s like a trial phase. We try out being in a relationship to see if we enjoy it and would like to continue on to a more serious step, like dedicating ourselves to making a life together or something.”

“Proposal accepted. Mabel! I am Charlotte’s boyfriend!”

“Congratulations. Fishguts and I are happy for you both. Speaking of, have you seen Fishguts?”

“No. We’ll help you look, Mabel.”

“Thanks, Charlotte.”

We looked around the cave for a few minutes until Jasek spotted the glow of Fishguts’ head. Jasek pointed and spoke.

“Looks like Fishguts is coming this way.”

Fishguts joined us. He petted Mabel, checking her all over. Satisfied, he turned his sightless face to Jasek and I, one of his viny tentacles motioning to us. Mabel looked at Jasek and I and spoke.

“I think he wants us to follow. Pack up while Fishguts milks me, and maybe we can get out of here.”

Jasek and I packed the camp in record time. Ever since I drank the medicated milk, I’d been able to see much better in the low light. I also felt much stronger and energetic. I wondered if the medicated milk made me hornier, too.

Eh, if it did, I’m not complaining. I’ve wanted to jump his bones since he ate me out the first time…

“Charlotte, I detect Fishguts has grown significantly since Mabel arrived.”

“It’s good to see it thriving. I can’t complain. I’ve felt great since the magic milk.”

“As have I, Charlotte.”

Packed and SmartFollow set, we followed Fishguts. Rather than riding Mabel, the plant walked on long tendrils like a spider. Extra vines explored the cave around us. Fishguts’ head swayed, following the faintest trail.

Jasek’s eyes widened. He stopped and looked at me.

“My sensors detect fresh air, Charlotte.”

A few minutes’ walk later, I smelled the familiar scent of grasses and rich topsoil, dung, and the fresh breeze. My heart soared as we rounded a corner. In the distant darkness, we saw the first rays of sunlight in days.

Tears welled in my eyes. The light grew brighter as we approached, filtering down through a hole in the roof of the cavern. I stepped into the last of the day’s dwindling rays and let the light bathe me.

Fishguts and Jasek joined me, spreading tentacles and arms respectively. They seemed to go into a trance state until the last of the day’s light faded, plunging us back into relative darkness.

Deciding it foolish to try to navigate our way up in the dark, we camped there, determined to find a way up and out in the morning. I dreamt of riding a magic carpet with Jasek, Mabel, and Fishguts.

We woke with the first rays of morning light. I ate a quick breakfast, chugged my coffee, and we packed camp. I stared at the hole. Jasek joined me and pointed at the pile of boulders under our exit.

“I could climb that and we could set up some ropes…”

“Yeah, why don’t we just make a ramp out of the bridge?”

Jasek’s mouth hung open until he snapped it closed. His eyes darted between the hole and the bridge trailer. He walked over, punched in a series of commands, and the bridge drones zoomed to their assigned places.

We walked up the ramps and out into the open air. Jasek dove into the grasses, spreading his body out wide and flat. Rhizomes wiggled up from the grass and connected to his fur. He sighed happily.

“Get comfortable. Fishguts did its best to care for me, but I need grass.”

Mabel trotted over to a succulent-looking clump and focused on grazing. Fishguts stretched out near Jasek, sinking its tentacles into the soil.

I suppose Fishguts also connects to the mycelial network, like Jasek.

“I’ll just set up camp, then.”

Jasek

The sound of drones zooming into camp brought me back to the present. I opened my eyes and pushed myself up, looking around. Fishguts soaked in daylight and Mabel laid nearby, chewing her cud. Charlotte sat next to Mabel. She smiled and waved at me.

“Feel refreshed?”

“Much.”

“Good. Now kiss me. Just a wee, little, good-morning kiss.”

I smiled and kissed her perfect lips. The wee, little kiss dragged on, as neither of us wanted to stop. Mabel cleared her throat.

“Maybe we should figure out where we are. Isn’t there a map?”

Charlotte and I broke our kiss with wistful sighs and I answered Mabel’s question.

“There is. Didn’t I hear a drone?”

Charlotte hooked her thumb at the coop.

“Chicken feed delivery. Apparently, only one camera drone managed to make it through the cavern with us, but they couldn’t detect where any of our trackers were. The cave system blocked the signal.”

“How did you learn all of this, Charlotte?”

“Plabz and Kvorkt showed up via drone shortly after you began your nap. Anyway, fan gifts they couldn’t deliver before are finally coming in. Which is great, because we were almost out of coffee.”

I retrieved the map and compass. After a few calculations, we discovered ourselves significantly closer to our goal. I pointed out a possible route with a fingertip.

“We are here, where this northern mountain range and the eastern mountain range meet near this river. We can travel along the river, here, to the northeastern land bridge connecting us to the central mountain’s island.”

Charlotte nodded.

“Looks like a good plan to me, Jasek. Mabel? Fishguts? You two ready?”

Fishguts rose from the ground and nodded its floral head. We trekked on, leaving the open grasslands behind, moving west. The ground became rougher and rockier the closer to the mountains we traveled. Charlotte and Mabel slipped on loose rocks and Fishguts even seemed annoyed, so we cut south towards the river, hoping for easier passage.

The massive herds dwindled into the past and trees grew taller as we approached the river. The ground grew marshy. Charlotte and Mabel strained, pushing through the mud, head sagging as they panted, so we adjusted our course further north.

Somewhere, between the rocky scree of the mountain range and the swampy riverbanks, we found a path which suited us all. Scrubby grass gave way to thick underbrush and deciduous trees, branches studded with new leaves.

Birds sang complex songs of love and desire, fluttering in the branches. A small, furry creature with huge eyes and six legs watched us from a branch. Fishguts snatched the creature in a tentacle faster than my eye followed, stuffing the creature in its toothy maw. It followed the creature with the tuberous root of a flower it ripped from the soil.

We passed small herds of dyàks and yâfthîs lingering among the thickening wood. Obscured by underbrush, I barely sensed their presence until we nearly stumbled over them. Fishguts snatched up a yâfthî in a tentacle. The herd scattered, disappearing among the brush in the blink of an eye.

Fishguts ate the yâfthî whole and we continued on. The day wore down and the light grew dim in the shadow of the central mountain cutting into the sky merely a few more days away.

“We are close now, Charlotte.”

“Yes, we are, Jasek.”

She slipped her delicate, human hand in mine. I held it with the greatest of care. Charlotte’s mere presence calmed me, seeding contentment within. My eyes caressed her. I sighed. She glanced my way, noticing my gaze.

“What are you staring at?”

“How perfect you are.”

“That’s the cheesiest shit—did you hear something?”

Charlotte stopped, alert. Mabel, Fishguts, and I also stopped. I listened hard, engaging all my sensors. Charlotte shivered, then crouched. I sniffed the air, testing for danger. Charlotte spoke in a whisper.

“Don’t move…”

“I detect nothing, Charlotte.”

“I just have the feeling we’re being watched.”

I snapped my gaze around us, searching the shadows among the tangle of brush and tree limbs. Fishguts’ head snapped around, too. Its viny tentacles rubbed against each other, creating an alarming hiss. It tentacled between Mabel and the danger it sensed.

Charlotte slowly backed up to Mabel. I followed, backing in on Charlotte’s other side. I heard a low growl and a swish of leaves. A fàvrath leapt from the underbrush. Mabel stomped her hooves, tossing her head.

My body shifted into battle mode. Blood and various stimulant compounds flooded my system. My bone spurs burst through my skin, extending, ready for a fight. Fishguts flailed tentacles back and forth. One wrapped around the fàvrath’s chest. The tentacle swung the attacking fàvrath to the ground.

Six more fàvraths stepped into view, circling wide with careful steps. Occasionally they snapped, rushing forward before retreating back to the pack. Charlotte held her arms wide, speaking in a deliberately soothing voice.

“No one runs. They’re trying to scare us into running, where they’ll have all the advantage.”

One of the fàvrath rushed Fishguts. Fishguts whipped the attacker with rough-barked tentacles. The fàvrath whined, scrambling back. Another leapt for the tentacle. Massive, knife-like teeth snapped on the viny appendage, slicing clean through.

Fishguts’ tentacles flailed wildly. The tip of the severed tentacle oozed a thick, viscous sap. One of the fàvrath rushed me and I lost track of Fishguts. I dodged at the last second, avoiding fàvrath teeth on my neck. I spun my body beneath the onslaught and punching my bone spurs into the fàvrath’s gut.

The fàvrath screamed, swiping my chest with wickedly hooked claws. I fell to the ground with an oof. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mabel kick one of the fàvrath in the jaw. I heard a loud crack and the fàvrath’s ruined jaw hung loose and crooked.

Fishguts gave the stunned fàvrath no opportunity to recover. Tentacles wrapped around the beast and slammed it into the rocky ground. Another fàvrath leapt at Fishgut’s head. Fishguts opened its huge maw and snapped it closed on the fàvrath’s neck.

The fàvrath that’d knocked me to the ground turned on Charlotte and growled.

Charlotte

The saber-toothed space cat roared and leapt directly at me. I squealed in terror, dropping into a crouch, and covered my head with my arms. I heard a meaty thud above me. I dared a glance. Jasek and the fàvrath grappled, locked in a death’s embrace…directly above me.

I scrambled away and to my feet. I looked over my shoulder to see if I’d cleared the zone of immediate danger surrounding Jasek and the fàvrath. Mabel mooed in alarm and from the corner of my eye, I saw Fishguts’ tentacles lift her high in the air, away from two, oncoming favrath.

Fishguts seemed to strain for a moment then suddenly some of its tentacles grew thorny spikes. The barbed, vine whips flashed through the air slashing across the back of one of the fàvrath, leaving red welts in their wake.

The fàvrath screeched, turning and fleeing into the surrounding woods. I saw Jasek punch his fàvrath directly in the mouth. The fàvrath whimpered, scrambling back. The beast limped a few steps, bleeding from the earlier gut wound.

I scrambled to my feet and ran for the trailers. A fàvrath attacked the chicken coop, biting into the wire fencing. The coop’s security protocols engaged. Electricity ran through the metal fence, zapping the fàvrath. It squealed, falling back, twitching. The coop closed up.

I slammed against the bridge trailer and punched in commands as fast as my fingers would move. Drones swept out, creating a perimeter around us. The panels lit, creating a fence shutting out most of the pack.

Fishguts grabbed two fàvraths around their waists, tossing both the scrambling beasts over the wall. Jasek punched at the fàvrath he grappled. The beast jerked its head back, trying to avoid a second hit.

Jasek adjusted his aim and sliced the beast’s throat with the sharp edge of his forearm bone spur. Thick blood gushed forth with each beat of the dying beast’s heart. Jasek shoved the creature aside. It slid to the ground, still, eyes sightless.

Jubilant triumph flooded my chest. I panted, eyes sharp and senses hyper vigilant from the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I heard a growl behind me. I spun just in time to turn a deadly swipe of a fàvrath’s paw into merely a life-threatening blow.

Three-inch-long claws meant for my neck wiped across my arm instead. Burning pain seared my flesh. I cried out, falling to the ground beneath the huge beast. It growled at me, lips peeling back in a vicious snarl. The fàvrath’s huge canine teeth seemed to fill my entire vision.

A flash of green replaced the snarling mouth. Jasek tackled the fàvrath. They flew to the side, grappling and rolling across the rocky ground. They stopped rolling when they smacked into the fence. Jasek grabbed the stunned fàvrath by the skull and smashed it into the bridge panel.

I moved my hand to check the wounds on my arm. My slick fingers came away covered in blood.

This will need stitches…first, stop the bleeding.

I hurried to the base trailer in search of the med kit. A fàvrath leapt from the trailer’s roof. I dodged to one side, hitting my shoulder at a bad angle, rolling my body across the ground. The fàvrath chased me, swatting at my whirling body.

Tears of adrenaline and fear streamed from my eyes. My heart thundered in my ears. Everything happened both too fast and too slow. A barbed vine snapped around the fàvrath’s neck, wrapping around the fàvrath’s skull and muzzle.

The fàvrath shook its head, trying to escape. It twisted, landing on its back. Four claw-tipped paws, wider than my face, flailed wildly, trying to sever any vine within reach. Jasek leapt in from the side, slamming an arm spike down into the fàvrath’s chest.

The beast stretched out one paw. Its body relaxed in death, seeming to puddle at Jasek’s feet. I scrambled back to my feet, cradling the torn arm dangling from my bruised shoulder. I jogged to the med kit as quickly as I could, speed limited by the pain of each step.

A fàvrath charged Fishguts, biting at the thick vines. Fishguts snapped its huge maw at the beast. Distracted, Mabel descended, bellowing in distress.

“Fishguts!”

Another fàvrath leapt for her. Jasek caught the beast’s back leg and jerked the seven-hundred-and-fifty pounds of angry fàvrath to the ground. The beast turned on him, but he slashed its throat with a flurry of bone spur attacks.

Blood and hair flew. I reached the med kit and opened it, spilling half the contents to the ground. I looked through the unfamiliar packaging ‘til I found a can of Insta-bandage. I skimmed the directions. A series of icons looked like a tentacled being with six eyes spraying itself just like a can of hairspray.

I popped the cap and sprayed. Foam coated my arm, hardening into a protective shell. The pain receded. I breathed in the first full breath since my wound, turning to see how I could assist in the fight.

A fàvrath growled less than a foot from my face.

“Fuck.”

I ducked. The fàvrath raked my back with its claws. Pain seared my flesh. I screamed. The world grew dim and far away. I felt the tug as the fàvrath raked the back of my thighs with another swipe.

I drew in a ragged breath. My heart broke at the thought of dying now, after I’d just found happiness. The barest, last act of my will puffed from my lips.

“No.”

I heard something heavy hit the fàvrath. Air flowed past, blowing the strands of my hair. I lived an eternity in a single blink. I felt like I slid underwater, watching the world from the other side of the water’s surface.

Jasek ran up to me. His face filled my field of vision.

Hi, handsome. You’re really cute…

My thoughts drifted. Jasek’s perfect face disappeared, replaced with an up-close view of Mabel’s nose sniffing me. Then, Fishguts arrived. It inspected me with all the care and love it had shown Mabel since it discovered she made milk.

Fishguts wrapped me in its viny tentacles then vomited a gooey, warm, analgesic goo onto my back and legs. The pain receded. I breathed a deep breath of relief and drifted off into the nothingness of dreamless sleep.

Jasek

The last of the fàvraths caught inside the fence fell. I ran to Charlotte. She lay on her stomach. Big, ragged claw marks streaked across her back and legs. Fishguts wrapped tentacles around Charlotte’s entire body. The plant vomited thick liquid over the mass of tentacles wrapped around her, smoothing the rapidly hardening substance over the outside of Charlotte’s cocoon. I stepped forward.

Mabel head-butted my back. “Don’t, Jasek! I trust Fishguts. Don’t you? After all it’s done for us?”

I sighed and nodded. Fishguts tentacled over to the travois and up to the top. Vines dragged Charlotte’s cocooned body up behind it. Fishguts settled in. Tiny leaves burst forth from its head and tentacles. They opened to the sun, rapidly growing into large, wide leaves.

I looked at Mabel. She flicked her tail. I nodded and carved a large chunk of meat off one of the fàvraths and threw it in the food-storage processor. I glanced outside the panels. The other fàvraths seemed to have lost interest, retreating to lick their wounds. I verified all our supplies were properly stored and moved as far from the scene of the fight as I could get.

Mabel and I traveled at our top walking speed ‘til the last of the light faded and the world grew too dark for Mabel’s eyes. We stopped near a rocky outcrop. I parked the trailers against the tallest of the large rocks and set up camp.

I watched the cocoon while I ate dinner. I’d used so many calories in the fight, I ate an entire fàvrath haunch myself. I threw another to Fishguts, who snatched it from my hand and devoured it in one bite.

I stroked the cocoon with a hand, wishing I could give Charlotte comfort. I spoke to her in soothing words—just in case she heard me. The evening broadcast drone arrived. I watched it, remembering little of what Plabz and Kvorkt said. When I had seen looped clips of our fight with the pack of fàvraths from every available angle four times in a row, I laid out on the grass and drifted into a deep state of meditation.

I connected to the mycelial network in the soil below, floating there on the waves of slow, deep consciousness. The network soothed me and whispered of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

I woke to the rays of the sun caressing my face. My fur drank in the light. I opened my eyes and first looked for Charlotte, hoping to see her smiling face. My eyes found her still in the cocoon.

“Good morning.” Mabel tossed her head and flicked the tip of her tufted tail.

“Good morning, Mabel. Did I miss anything?”

Mabel shook her head. “Put on the coffee, Jasek. You know how much Charlotte loves it. Maybe she’ll follow the scent back to us.”

“Do you think?”

“I don’t know, I heard it on some tv show the farmer’s wife likes to watch, but it sounded right. Besides, maybe I miss the smell.”

I smiled a little sadly and made coffee. I poured a mug and walked back over to Charlotte’s cocoon. Was she alive? Was she in pain?

The cocoon’s shell split down the middle with a sharp crack, startling me out of my thoughts.

The sides opened slowly and Charlotte tumbled out to land at my feet.

She gasped, sucking in a huge lungful of air. Her eyes opened wide, looking at me. I extended the mug, and said the only words I could think of, as insignificant as they felt, as impossible as it was for me to put the swirls of hope into mere sounds.

“Charlotte, I made you coffee.”

She blinked at me and, when she spoke, her voice cracked. “Am I alive?”

“I think so?”

Charlotte turned away and vomited a mass of translucent jelly. Fishguts stroked her head with a tentacle and she pushed herself to her feet on shaky arms. She took the proffered mug and walked directly to the shower without another word.

Sagging to the ground I tried to smile at Mabel.

“I am so happy she is well. I feared for her so much during the fight. I failed to protect her. There were just so many in the pack, I couldn’t be everywhere at once…”

“Stop, Jasek. We all worked together like a real herd and we all survived. That’s the best any herd can hope to achieve, my friend.”

Fishguts dropped the cocoon’s spent husk like a dead leaf in the winter. It stretched, crawling down to tend to Mabel’s needs. I tended the chickens, gathered eggs from the dispenser, and made breakfast.

Charlotte skipped back from the shower, pulled me down by my chest hair and kissed me. The world was right again. She pulled away, spun around, and her back.

“How does it look?”

“I detect only the faintest scar.”

“I feel fantastic, when I really thought I was a goner.”

“I worried for you very much, Charlotte. I do not enjoy seeing you hurt.”

“Aww. You’re so sweet. Let’s eat and get on the road while I still feel great.”

We finished breakfast, packed up, and walked toward the mountain dominating the western skyline. We trudged uphill most of the day, ascending a gentle slope up the central mountain’s foothills.

Charlotte held my hand. We chatted and laughed. Fishguts napped most of the trek, only climbing down from his perch as the sun began to sink. The shadow of the central mountain stretched across the world ahead, plunging us into a premature twilight.

After the caverns, though, the early twilight seemed almost bright as day to my eyes. We heard a magnificent crack ahead of us, a boom we felt rumbling through our feet. I looked up the mountain. Charlotte whispered at me.

“What was that?”

Thousands of small birds streaked from their evening perches among the branches and into the air. A few larger birds cawed at us, as if in warning.

“I don’t know. It must’ve been big, though.”

Mabel shook her hide. Charlotte shuddered and looked at me.

“Maybe Plabz and Kvorkt will make themselves useful tonight and tell us.”

Mabel snorted.

“Don’t bet on it with those two.”

Charlotte

The sun set while we walked, the light fading. We stopped and set up camp under the stars twinkling overhead. We ate well and settled in to watch the broadcast, but for all Plabz and Kvorkt’s cryptic hints, they never gave us details of the other couples.

They didn’t last season, either. Not until someone died…

I smiled, feeling certainty deep in the core of my being, that no one had yet perished this season. Joy and anxiety bubbled to life inside me. I felt joy that the other women still lived, but the implications…

Only one couple can win. Those are the rules. What if another couple gets there first? Yeah, but we bent the rules before. The collected outrage of the fans—the money to be made from such vigorous audience engagement… There’s always a way. We just have to find the pressure point…

“Jasek? Mabel? Fishguts? I hate the…it just kills me to think of leaving any of you behind. Or any of the other humans kidnapped for this sick game. If we don’t win, I’d enjoy making a life in this world with you three…but I can’t stand the thought of being first and leaving anyone behind.”

Mabel flapped her ears.

“I could make a life here. Those mùdzho bulls will make strong calves and I have Fishguts to care for me. We’d carve out a nice spot on the plains, I think. Set up a more permanent homestead. I’m certain we’d get tourists. Like that dinosaur movie the farmer’s grandkids watched every time they visited.”

I chuckled and patted Mabel’s neck.

“That’d be a nice retirement plan for Jasek and I, but I imagine you’re an intergalactic celebrity now. You could write a book. Go on a speaking tour…”

Mabel tossed her head and bucked.

“That’s funny, Charlotte. More likely, Fishguts and I set up a temple compound and people make pilgrimages there hoping to be healed. We’ll need security. Interested?”

I laughed. Jasek gasped and turned to me.

“Garglax II could become the Xunon’s first home world, Charlotte. Mabel and Fishguts can have their temple. You and I will found the Xunon’s first dynasty, teach them to love, and find them mates.”

I cackled.

“So, that makes me Charlotte the First, Queen of the Xunon of Garglax II. Kind of bulky.”

“Cows are sacred in many places. Becoming the High Priestess of the Order of Fishguts, the Syend wouldn’t be the worst gig. We could sell souvenir cheeses.”

“I’d buy souvenir cheeses, Mabel. If only Snaughians gave away planets as consolation prizes.”

Mabel swished her tail.

“It’s fun to dream. Especially when we really have no idea what could come next. Dairy cattle prefer a predictable schedule.”

“I understand that. This human also prefers a more predictable schedule, too.”

We settled in for the broadcast just in time for me to fall asleep in the middle. Honestly, I already lived nearly six months with only Plabz and Kvorkt to talk to last season and I got enough of them the first night. Staying awake to listen to more of their bullshit no longer seemed so important.

I woke to the smell of coffee and breakfast. A huge smile spread across my face. I bounded up to my feet and got myself ready for the day, joining Jasek and Mabel. Fishguts explored the local plants.

I accepted my coffee with a kiss.

“Charlotte, I have been calculating.”

“Have you, Jasek?”

“Yes. I believe the best way to accomplish your goal will be on the other end of the land bridge which we should reach tomorrow. I believe we are here, on the map.”

“What goal? And, how does the other side of the land bridge help accomplish said goal?”

“To get everyone out of here. Fantasies of what we could do if we don’t win are fun…but I want to get us all out of here. I was born a tool, a manufactured part, designed for exploitation by the Quislik. I have never been free, Charlotte, and I want to know how freedom feels.”

Mabel waved her head in the air.

“Maybe that’s why Jasek and I get along so well, Charlotte. I understand exactly how he feels.”

My heart softened for both of them.

“And the land bridge part of your plan? How does it fit in?”

“It looks like the easiest place to intersect with the other couples.”

I took another look at the map.

“True. It also looks a lot colder. This human will need cold-weather gear—”

The sound of incoming drones startled me. The first delivered a crate. Jasek opened it.

“Oh look, Charlotte, cold-weather clothing—”

The second drone poured some foul-smelling liquid into the crate. It ate through the cold-weather clothing, the crate, and some of the ground beneath. A third drone delivered an envelope. I opened it. The sound of mocking laughter exploded from inside in a puff of glitter.

Jasek cringed back. Mabel shook her head and Fishguts stroked my back with a viny tentacle. I croaked the only word I could muster.

“Trolls.”

I cleaned myself up for the second time that morning, though glitter is impossible to really get off. I must have sparkled. We packed camp and left. After my initial anger cooled, I gathered supplies, crawling up into my travois bed and began to sew an outfit out of the furs, though I knew it would take forever.

The sound of multiple drones caught my attention. I glared in their direction. We came to a stop and watched several drones deliver another trailer. I read the brochure out loud.

“The fully automated SewSmart by ColonyMaster. Just provide the raw materials and customize your selection…”

I chuckled happily—perhaps a little maniacally—and stuffed furs and reeds into the SewSmart’s collection bay. The bay cycled closed. I poked through the design selections, choosing warm, furry pants, boots, and a cloak.

“It says it’ll be complete in six hours. Mabel? Do you want a coat, too?”

“I think I would. Let me see the options.”

Mabel walked over. We designed a fur coat for her.

“Three hours, Mabel.”

“That’s fine, Charlotte. I won’t need it ‘til tomorrow, by my estimation anyway.”

We returned to the trail, camping with the setting sun. I gazed into the distance, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Jasek

Charlotte made a nest of mats, blankets, and pillows next to the fire that night, claiming the travois bed was now far too cold. She taught me a new aspect of a mate relationship, an activity she called ‘cuddling’. She slept, snuggled in her blankets and my fur. Though I required much less sleep than Charlotte, I dared not move until she rolled over.

I covered her with one of the larger hides, then rose to do my self-assigned nightly chores. I picked up camp, did the chores, and tried to feed the chickens. Mabel called out to me before I opened the coop.

“Fishguts seems to be off milk, for now. It’s moved on to the chickens. Apparently, it likes feathers and eggs.”

“I’m sorry, Mabel.”

“What? Why? I don’t mind. It takes a lot of energy to make this much milk. Calves come and go. It’s the natural cycle of life. Besides, I’m feeling the urge, if you know what I mean. It’s about that time for me. One of those bulls has been tracking me for a couple of days, too. I’m not sure a bull would understand my relationship with Fishguts, so I’m happy he’s willing to stay behind. Can you imagine trying to mate with Fishguts threatening your bull?”

“Oh, then congratulations. And, no, I cannot imagine that, but I will take your word for it.”

Mabel licked her nose then gently head-butted me.

“Thanks. I look forward to calving the first Jersey- Mùdzho cross.”

“Isn’t a mùdzho bull a little…big? Won’t the calf be too large?”

“No, don’t worry about that, Jasek. My body downsizes the calf in the womb and, because Jersey cows have natural, sloped hips, I can easily birth even a large calf. Any calf up to around a hundred pounds at birth, but few calves are ever so large. I’ll be fine.”

“How did you learn so much about all of this?”

“Well, I’ve heard the farmer and the county extension agent talking about it all for years. After the translator and the brain boost they gave me to support it—I think they thought it was a great joke—I looked through all those memories again. I understand all the things they said now.”

“What a fascinating experience, Mabel.”

The night passed and the sun rose, yet again, into the sky. Long morning shadows shrank before the sun’s advance. Charlotte woke and got herself ready for the day. She joined us, hugged Mabel’s neck, then curled up in my lap and kissed me.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Charlotte. How did you sleep?”

“Nice and snug ‘til you got up to do chores. I missed you.”

I chuckled, holding her close. With a reluctant sigh, Charlotte got to her feet. She spoke, voice a swirling mass of simultaneous hope and trepidation.

“Today, we reach the land bridge.”

We drank our coffee, ate breakfast, and packed camp and returned to our journey, spirits high. Deciduous trees gave way to towering, conical, needle-leaved evergreens. Grasses yielded to higher-altitude scrub and lichens. A lake spread to the horizon on our left. The smaller rocks of the rolling foothills became large, hard boulders.

Charlotte wore her new outfit, furred leggings over new, long, sturdy, leather boots. She wore her mini loincloth over her hips, covering the ensemble with a long, fur coat fitted at the waist and buttoned at the front.

“Jasek, how do you feel about darts? As a technology. You know, like medicated darts…”

“My database holds extensive files and I meet all the requirements to excel attacking with darts. Why do you ask?”

“I just thought about sleeping darts. You know, made with the sleepy-water extract. Fighting that pack of fàvraths really scared me. With so many attackers and no fixed defenses, it could’ve gone so much worse—”

Jasek wrapped an arm around my shoulders, hoping to comfort her.

“It was bad enough without thinking of what might have been, Charlotte.”

“I’m not obsessing, Jasek. I want to develop a strategy which may improve our chances in another encounter. We don’t know if more fàvraths lurk ahead, around one of these boulders—”

Something far too close roared. Everyone froze in a half-crouch. My eyes darted here and there, looking for a hint of the noise’s source. Mabel stomped the ground, tossing her head.

“I don’t like that sound one bit, no, I do not—”

Something massive crashed through the trees. It leapt from the brush. Needle leaves and broken bits of branch flew through the air. A fengkshá, as tall as I at the shoulder, and at least seven-hundred pounds heavier, roared. Drooling spit flew through the air.

“Giant-ass, bear-dog thing! Why? Things were interesting enough without all your fucking ‘help’, you trolls!”

Everyone ran. The fengkshá chased us. Fishguts leapt atop the trailers and scrambled to the SewSmart trailer. The plant whipped barbed tentacles across the fengkshá’s face. Fishguts’ barbs failed to scratch the fengkshá’s tough hide.

Charlotte, Mabel and I ran, trailers SmartFollow-ing behind. I glanced back. Fishguts scrambled to the base trailer, grabbing the med kit. I stumbled on a rock, forcing me to tear my eyes away. Charlotte began to pant, her speed flagging. I held out a hand to her.

“Charlotte!”

She glanced at me, seeing my proffered hand, and took it. I swung her up onto the travois, turning my head back to the trail ahead and Mabel and I raced. I glanced behind, again. Fishguts ingested various compounds we’d collected through our journeys.

We made it to the land bridge, just out of the fengkshá’s reach. The fengkshá slowed, believing us caught, waiting for our energy to wane before charging in to make a kill. I glanced back just in time to see the fengkshá leap for the last trailer.

Fishguts pulled a small bulb from its head, tossing it directly in the fengkshá’s mouth. The beast bit down, crushing the bulb. A thick substance splashed all over its sharp-toothed maw.

The fengkshá slowed. Our caravan pulled away. The fengkshá shook its head, falling further behind. It roared in rage then sprinted for us more swiftly than ever before.

Charlotte

The enraged fengkshá roared behind us, gaining ground with each shuffle of its feet. Fishguts attacked the beast’s ears and eyes with barbed tentacles, since its barbs had failed to cut the fengkshá’s tough hide. The beast snapped at the vines, running blind

The fengkshá slowed, shaking its massive head. It roared. Saggy lips hung around its wide-muzzled face. It sounded drunk. The beast fell behind once more. Jubilation rose inside of me. Tentative at first, the giddy excitement grew with each passing second.

“I think we mad—”

A tentacle shot out of the lake south of us, interrupting my words of premature victory. I gasped, dropping my jaw. Words tumbled forth.

“What the actual fuck?”

Jasek screamed over his shoulder.

“Alarm, Charlotte! Extreme alarm! Keep all body parts away from slàr at all times! Do not feed slàr. Report all slàr infestations to authorities immediately by decree of Quislik Command.”

Keeping all body parts away from that thing sounded like a fine idea to me.

“Is that what the tentacle attaches to? A slàr?”

The tentacle wrapped around the fengkshá. The slàr snatched the drowsy beast into the air. A massive, beaked mouth rose from the water. Eyes the size of monster-truck hubcaps inspected the drowsy fengkshá.

The giant beak opened. The slàr shoved the fengkshá into its gullet and swallowed the beast whole. The slàr began to slither back into the lake’s depths when it sighted our fleeing party.

I glanced at Mabel. Her chest heaved with labored breaths. Her tongue hung out of the side of her mouth. I glanced at Fishguts. It tracked the tentacle of the slàr unfurling in our direction. We couldn’t run forever.

“Fishguts! Help Mabel!”

Fishguts’ head whipped around and it tentacled over to Mabel. Viny tentacles wrapped around her body, lifting her into the air. The tips of the vines soothed Mabel’s exhausted body. It placed her atop a trailer. The vines released her body and wove themselves into a safety restraint.

I glanced at the slàr once again. The unfurling tentacle grew slow and limp, collapsing to the rocky shore.

“Jasek! Look! Slow down and look!”

Jasek jogged to a stop. Chest heaving in heavy pants, he turned his head. The slàr laid strewn across the land bridge behind us. I laughed, kissing Jasek on the lips, then laughing again. I turned to Fishguts.

“You fed the fengkshá the sleeping potion concentrate, didn’t you?”

Fishguts stroked Mabel lovingly. Jasek gasped.

“So, when the slàr ate the fengkshá—”

“It got a dose of knockout juice, too. Mabel? Make Fishguts extra-good milk tonight.”

“I always make premium milk, Charlotte, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

We camped in the shadow of the mountain, using boulders to block the wind. The temperature dropped rapidly. Towering waterfalls cascaded down the steep slopes of the central mountain, robbing the air of any warmth.

The terrain became hard, the streams covered in a thin layer of ice. We hacked through the ice with a hatchet and refilled our water stores, then worked on processing more hides into clothing, blankets, and tents. We harvested more reeds and turned Mabel’s excess milk into fine cheeses.

We traveled hard through the less-than-welcoming terrain for the next two days, trudging through light snows. We gathered and processed what supplies we could at every stop, wondering how we would ever manage to scale the mountain towering above us.

We circled the central mountain counterclockwise in a westerly direction, searching for the beginning of a path up, hoping we’d run into another couple. As the sun set on the third day, Jasek pointed ahead and shouted.

“I think I see a structure ahead.”

I shaded my eyes with a hand. A brisk wind blew the fur on my lâlùpel-fur hat. I made out a smudge against the foot of the mountain ahead. As we drew near, I made out a rock wall, at least one parked trailer, and a hearth.

I jumped into the air, grabbing Jasek, pulling his mouth within reach, and kissed him.

“We did it, Jasek! We found a camp.”

I turned and ran for the first signs of human civilization I’d seen in nearly a year. Someone had stacked firewood neatly near the large hearth.

“Looks like whoever built this must be elsewhere. What do you think?”

Before Jasek replied, Mabel interrupted with a stomp of her hoof.

“I think someone should make a fire while we’re talking about it.”

“Good point.”

I petted Mabel, then lit the fire. Fifteen minutes of work and a nice glob of fàvrath lard, and flames crackled on the hearth. Fishguts brought Mabel a bucket of water, extra oats, and two sheaves of hay. She thanked him and bedded down in her fur coat to rest to the side of the hearth.

“I think you’re right that they are elsewhere, Charlotte, though I suspect the couple will soon return. They left many supplies behind, stored neatly.”

“Now that you mention it, Jasek, I think you’re right.”

We maneuvered the trailers to help block the wind and make them easily accessible, and began to craft, adding to our supplies. Fishguts tended to the chickens, finding a use for every bit of trash or waste. The syend even consumed cracked eggshells and coffee grounds.

Jasek cooked while Mabel and I chatted. I stared at the camp, impressed with how much it already felt a little like home.

“Charlotte, I think the other couple must have livestock, considering the configuration of those fence panels.”

“You think so? I wonder what they have. I wonder which human it is.”

“Did you know the others well?”

I shook my head at his question.

“No. We exchanged basic information and a few names for a few minutes, but I only remember that two of them are sisters.”

Mabel flopped her ears.

“I can’t wait to see how the other humans respond to a talking cow.”

I laughed so hard, I nearly peed myself. Jasek and Fishguts stared at me, but I waved away their concern.

“I hadn’t thought of that, yet. This will be epic.”

Jasek handed me a plate of food and a mug full of coffee. I chugged a canteen full of water, then ate.

“Charlotte?”

“Yes?”

“We could shield this camp from the wind better with the bridge panels, can’t we?”

“That’s a great idea, Jasek. I’ll get on it after I finish my meal.”

Jasek

Using the bridge panels, I created a semi-circular wall extending from the rocks against which the camp had been built. I used others to create a peaked roof. Light snow drifted through the air. I created a second roof over a portion of the livestock pens, too.

We left the pen’s gate open and Mabel moved in. Fishguts filled the hay rack and poured oats into a fish basket I converted into a feed trough. We used one of the deeper crates we had received as a water trough and Fishguts set up the coop near the livestock pens. I set the coop to homestead mode and the coop transformed into a large structure with a large exercise yard.

“When the Xunon establish a home world, ColonyMaster will be my first source of colonization equipment. This is a well-designed unit.”

I held my breath, hoping the ColonyMaster endorsement paid off. Mabel tossed her ears. I leaned over to Jasek and whispered low, hoping the drones wouldn’t hear me.

“And that move, my dear Jasek, is called ‘kissing ass’.”

“I did not realize that was something to kiss…”

The sound of incoming drones interrupted me and I grinned at Mabel, then explained.

“If I can get us supplies by giving my honest assessment of a product, I believe all have won. Even if the chickens were a tempting draw for predatory activity, I can’t complain about the eggs.”

The drones dropped the new trailer. I read the brochure.

“Congratulations on your new, portable lumber mill by ColonyMaster, for when you really need that wood. Charlotte, system update. We now have a lumber mill. I will park it beside the animal trailer. This will be useful.”

Charlotte looked at the brochure, muttering.

“Who writes this shit?”

We set up the camp base trailer to the side of the trailer which the other couple left behind. I peeked in to see what supplies it held.

“Mabel! This looks like it has supplies for animals. Brushes and halters and such…”

“Ooh! Bring me a soft-bristled brush, will you? Show Fishguts how to use it. It’s been forever since I got a proper bath or brushing. All that loose hair itches.”

I showed Fishguts how to brush Mabel. It seemed excited–for a giant carnivorous plant. Charlotte started a haunch of fàvrath roasting over the fire and we unloaded the travois. We worked through the day, sorting supplies, dismantling the travois into its constituent components, and repairing damaged mats and panels.

Exhausted from our efforts, we stopped for coffee and a snack. Charlotte and I wandered out into the sun while we sipped from our mugs. I turned and stared up at the mountain, looking for a route which would accommodate our future passage.

“What the… Hey, Jasek. Take a look. What is that smudge out there in the snow?”

I looked, shielding my eyes from the sun with a hand.

“Uh…two deformed dyàks…being chased by…two, juvenile fengkshás.”

That doesn’t sound right…

“Deformed dyàks?”

“They are running hard directly for us. One is far ahead of the others… Not deformed! A human rides the lead dyàk. Her partner rides the second. He is nearly my height. Blue scales…”

Charlotte called out to Mabel over her shoulder.

“Mabel? No offense, but let me do the talking, okay? Ease the other human into the concept of a talking cow? Also, any chance you can soothe Fishguts? Things may get tense…”

My heart pounded and I rubbed my palms against my sides.

These may be my first friends…or will they attack? Do they wish to cooperate? They will arrive within minutes. Will we meet as friends? Or do they mean to attack? Will we—

Charlotte’s hand on my arm cut through my racing thoughts. I blinked, gazing into her eyes. She smiled up at me.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

I nodded and returned my gaze to the other couple. The lead dyàk slid to a stop before us in a flurry of snow and dancing, cloven hooves. The human stared at us, her face a tangle of bittersweet disappointment and joy. She sighed, panting, and dismounted.

“Hi. I’m Emily. Give me a few minutes to get the dyàk situated, okay? Then we’ll talk.”

“Hi, I’m Charlotte. I remember you from before. Listen, before you do that, we should really talk about the incoming fengkshás?”

Emily waved away Charlotte’s concerns.

“Don’t worry none ‘bout the cubs. I’ll introduce you proper…”

“There’s more, though.”

Emily stopped and turned her entire attention to Charlotte. “All right. Shoot.”

“Huh?”

“Tell me. Shoot it at me. Give it to me.”

Charlotte grinned. “You’re from Texas, aren’t you?”

Emily laughed, slapping her leg. When the laughter eased, she hooked a thumb at her mount. “Tell me what’s more important than getting this dyàk unsaddled, Charlotte.”

“I have a mobile, autonomous, carnivorous plant, like something out of a video game, and a talking Jersey cow.”

Emily blinked. “Hot damn, you do pack a wallop. Here, hold these. I’ll be right back.”

Emily handed Charlotte the dyàk’s reins and walked out to meet her companion. Charlotte stared up at the dyàk, who stood as tall as I at the shoulder. The dyàk leaned down and smelled Charlotte’s hat, face, and cloak. Charlotte giggled and petted the dyàk’s neck. The dyàk tried to eat one of the baskets.

“Hey! Stop that. Get your nose out of that basket…”

Emily returned and took the dyàk’s reins before Charlotte could finish scolding the dyàk.

“Okay, Ralkor has taken the cubs on a walk for a few minutes. Let me get this dyàk put up.”

“Hello, Emily. I am Jasek. I am a clone, a lifeform manufactured as a disposable soldier by the Quislik, a civilization recently destroyed by the Snaughians. Charlotte teaches me many things. Will you teach me how to help with the dyàk as I do not yet have such skills?”

Emily blinked at me, flicking her eyes to Charlotte. Charlotte’s face turned red. A grin curled Emily’s mouth and she held out a hand to me.

I stared at it, considering.

“Charlotte? Emily seems to want to hold hands. Is this a normal interaction when one first meets a new person?”

Charlotte put her hand on my shoulder, rubbing a small circle. “She doesn’t want to hold your hand the way we hold hands. She wants you to…put your hand up like hers and just go with it.”

I raised my hand, mimicking Emily’s. She took it and shook, then let go.

“That’s called a handshake. It’s a greeting. Nice to meet you, Jasek. You’re gonna have to tell me all about it over dinner.”

Emily showed me how to handle the dyàk, unsaddle it, brush it, and put it up. It trotted into the pen where Mabel stood eating hay.

Emily stared at her with an expression I couldn’t read, tilting her head to the side. “Hello. I’m Emily. They tell me you talk.”

Mabel didn’t look impressed, but was very polite. “Hello, Emily, I’m Mabel.”

Emily nearly danced up to Mabel. “Aren’t you just the most amazing miracle, Mabel. And such a beautiful Jersey, too.”

She rubbed all over Mabel, muttering sweet things. Then she saw Fishguts and stopped.

Charlotte waved her hand at the plant who leaned down to take Emily’s measure. “Emily, meet Fishguts. It doesn’t speak, it does whatever it wants, and I trust it with my life. Also, eat or drink anything it tries to feed you. Trust me.”

Charlotte

“Now, there’s something you don't’ see every day…”

I held my breath.

Emily inspected Fishguts. Fishguts inspected Emily. Emily reached out, slow and calm, laying a gentle hand on Fishguts’ head.

“You…are magnificent. Look how beautiful you are.”

Fishguts seemed to relax, as if Emily had cast upon the plant a spell with her words. She spoke low, stroking Fighguts’ leaves and head and inspecting his vines. Fishguts, in turn, stroked Emily’s hair with a viny tentacle.

Then it turned its attention to the dyàk. It offered the dyàk a tentacle to smell. The dyàk snuffled at it, then pulled its head toward away and toward the full hayrack. A tentacle grabbed a sheaf of hay and offered it to the dyàk.

With introductions successfully made, we retired to the fire pit where Emily, Mabel, and I chatted about our adventure. We laughed and hugged. Jasek watched each moment, recording, analyzing and learning the patterns of group social dynamics. We all turned our heads when Ralkor returned.

“Time to introduce the rest of the family.”

Ralkor entered, leading a dyàk, followed by the two juvenile fengkshás who followed him in. He gestured to two, giant, bear-dog things.

“These are the cubs.”

The giant blue warrior shook his head. “Emily, those aren’t cubs anymore. They’re five-feet tall at the shoulder—”

Mabel interrupted Charlotte’s sentence. “I wonder… during transport, I heard the Snaughians laughing about accelerated growth darts… Apparently, they’d hoped any tamed wildlife would quickly grow too big to control and maybe eat a few of you.”

“Sounds like the Snaughians to me. Hi, I’m Ralkor. I was a gladiator before this.”

“Hello, I am Jasek. I am a clone, a manufactured being desi—”

“Jasek, remember when we talked about not having to tell everyone everything? When you first meet people, keep it short and simple.”

“Thank you, Charlotte. I love Charlotte. She is teaching me social skills.”

Jasek stuck out his hand and Ralkor chuckled, accepting his hand and shaking it.

“Well met, Jasek.”

Charlotte smiled, patting Ralkor and me on our arms, and spoke. “Maybe you can teach Jasek about making friends, Ralkor.”

“Uh…I haven’t had a friend since I was abducted from my home world as a child...”

“That’s okay, Ralkor. I have never had a friend. I was grown in a Quislik laboratory last month.”

Emily ran her hand through her hair. “Then y’all can learn together. Let’s see what happens when Fishguts meets the cubs.”

Jasek and Ralkor looked excited about Emily’s suggestion and the prospect of making friends. Emily waved at us and we all followed her back to the pens. At the sight of the fengkshás, Fishguts rubbed his vines together in a hiss. I held my breath.

“Sit.”

Emily pointed to the ground. The fengkshás followed her command and sat. She looked at Fishguts. The fengkshás scented the air, sniffing at Mabel. Mabel chewed her cud. They sniffed Fishguts’ vines.

One of the fengkshás rolled into the barbed vines and scratched its back. The other tackled the first. Fishguts pushed one fengkshás’ shoulder. The fengkshá swatted back. Emily nodded her head.

“That’ll do.”

She retrieved three large chunks of meat from one of her trailers and tossed them to Fishguts and the cubs, then we all retreated to the hearth.

“Would you like some coffee?”

“Charlotte! You have coffee? Did you hear that, Ralkor? Charlotte’s brought coffee!”

I made coffee and Jasek made eggs. We drank milk and ate cheese and chocolate, and finally I brought out one of the joints I’d saved for the right day.

This was not just the right day, it was the perfect day. I lit it and passed it around.

“So, we’re running from the fengkshá, right? And Fishguts throws the sleeping concentrate into the thing’s mouth. It starts to go down when a—what did you call it, Jasek?”

“A slàr. Alert! By decree of Quislik command, all slàr are to be eradicated on sight.”

“Right, so this slàr tentacle comes out of the lake and snatches up the fengkshá and eats it. I'm stunned, and I thought we were saved five seconds ago when the fengkshá collapsed.”

“Oh, no. That’s terrible…” Emily covered her mouth with her hand.

“So, we run some more. Then the slàr passes out from the fengkshá it ate!”

“Was it dead?”

“Maybe. But we didn’t have anything to kill it. I’m afraid to ask for too much. I have trolls…”

Emily leaned forward. “Wanna blow it up?”

“The slàr?”

Emily nodded and wiggled her eyebrows. “Fuck. Yes.”

We passed out in a pile before the fire, Emily and I on the mattress and Jasek and Ralkor slept on the ground next to us. Mabel, Fishguts, and the dyàks slept bedded down together. The cubs slept wherever they finally ran out of energy, and I fell asleep three seconds into the evening’s broadcast, like usual.

The next morning, we reconfigured the trailers and used the travois as a base to create a kind of maglev barge large enough to accommodate all of us. We rigged the entire thing so the dyàks could pull it like a horse and carriage.

Mabel chose to remain at base camp and Fishguts stayed with her and the chickens. The rest of us used bridge panels to fence in the cubs while we were away, so they didn’t go chasing our slàr bait. After I took the first real shower in longer than I cared to remember, in Emily and Ralkor’s sanitation trailer, we all climbed aboard and set off.

We traveled through light snow for the remainder of the day. The dyàks moved quickly through the difficult terrain, making our journey quite pleasant. As the sun sank, we set up camp at a safe distance from the land bridge, eager for tomorrow’s fun.

We woke with the dawning sun. After a quick breakfast, we sculpted our lure. Emily demanded to speak to her fans and a camera drone buzzed down to face her.

“Listen up, fans. Who’s ready to blow up another slàr?”

Drones streamed in. I gasped. One delivered a drone with a remote. We attached that to a large crate full of explosives and fashioned a cane framework around it, tying leftover scraps of hides and chunks of meat to it. We tied ropes around spare leg bones and hung them from the bottom.

Emily handed me the explosive’s remote detonator. I stared at the big, red button with a sudden hunger..

I whispered a thought. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been the one holding the button, the one in control.”

Emily handed Jasek the drone’s remote and he maneuvered it across the distance to the land bridge.

Ralkor leaned over to Jasek. “Make it wander around. Like an animal coming to the edge of the lake for a drink.”

Jasek wiggled the direction stick on the remote. The drone twitched right, then left. A huge tentacle thrust from the water, splashing the land bridge. I squeaked. Tentacles wrapped around the crate, trying to squeeze the life out of the slàr’s prey. The slàr’s body slid up from the waters, thrusting the explosives into its beak.

Gleefully I mashed the red button.

The slàr, and the land bridge where it lay, disintegrated. Slàr, rock, and flash-boiled lake water fountained a hundred feet in the air. I screamed, bouncing in excitement. Giant tentacles flew into the orgy of chaos.

When the dust settled, liquefied, steaming slàr coated what remained of the land bridge. Where the slàr had lain, the land bridge was no more. Waters from the lakes on both sides of the bridge rushed into each other, melding into one.

I threw back my head and laughed. Jasek stared at the ex- slàr, jaw slack. Emily threw her hat in the air.

“Yeehaw! Let’s party!”

Jasek

Ralkor and I harvested trees while Emily and Charlotte stripped branches from the trunks. We used the dyàks to drag the trunks to the lumber mill to process, storing the finished lumber atop the sanitation trailer, as it was the largest of the trailers we had.

When we felt we had harvested enough, we returned to base camp, using the lumber to fashion two huts. Emily and Ralkor took one and Charlotte and I took the other, setting up a little bedroom.

Exhausted from our day, we ate, watched the broadcast, argued with Plabz and Kvorkt as a team, and drifted to our separate huts. Charlotte collapsed back on the pile of mats, blankets, furs, and pillows we had collected on our journey.

Arms spread wide, she sighed, a happy smile spreading across her face. I stripped down and lay next to her, body propped on an elbow and gazed into her eyes. She wiggled in the blankets, biting her lip.

“What? What are you staring at?”

“You. I was wondering about something.”

“Wondering about what, Jasek?”

“I believe we forgot something very important.”

Concern creased her forehead. She lay a delicate hand on my furry arm.

“What could we have forgotten? I’m sure I’d checked everything…”

A grin tugged the corner of my mouth.

“We had a…very informative study session for the test… I wondered when we might expect to test my progress.”

Charlotte laughed.

“Lesson one: begin with a kiss, yes?”

She tried to say ‘yes’ through her laughs. I stroked my hand down her hair, cupping the back of her head in my fingers. Charlotte gasped. I leaned in, bringing my lips close to hers, looking into her eyes. I trembled, both drawn deeper and afraid I’d fall into those depths forever.

We exchanged hot, quick breaths, then she grabbed my head and kissed me. Mutual desire burned away whatever barriers I had thought stood between us. Our lips parted. Hungry for more of her, my tongue sought out hers.

Charlotte moaned. Her body writhed in slow undulations of her hips. Her body pressed against mine in delicious waves. I slid my hand down her neck, dragging the thumb along her throat. My hand strayed to her breast. I stopped there, to explore the soft, round fullness.

I stroked the areola and tweaked her nipple. The fleshy nub crinkled from my attention, extending into a beautiful little peak. I brought it into my mouth and sucked. Charlotte cried out. Her hips rocked, rhythmic and seductive.

Heady musk wafted up from her core until my head spun with the aroma. The scent of her arousal awoke a burning desire deep within me. My cock throbbed. The musk gland at the root of my shaft swelled.

Charlotte’s heavy-lidded eyes watched my every move. She ran her fingertips through my belly fur. Lube beaded at the tip of my musk gland.

Charlotte spoke in throaty gasps. “And what is lesson two?”

“Oh, Charlotte. Lesson two was one of my favorite lessons. I don’t know how I lived before eating your pussy and I don’t like to go a day without lapping up every drop of your precious nectar…”

Charlotte’s swollen mound muffled my words because I stuck my face directly into it, wrapping my arms around her thighs and nuzzled in her precious folds. Each of her moans encouraged me, spurring me to please her more.

I lapped and licked the nectar dripping from her. She slid her fingers over the tip of my musk gland and I gasped as tendrils of pleasure streaked through my flesh. She spread the lube over my cock, wrapping her fingers around my thick shaft, and stroked.

I groaned and mumbled into her heat.

“Lesson three: 69.”

She licked the length of my cock. I moaned and wiggled a finger into her clenching tunnel. I lapped at her clit, stuffing another finger in her and sucking her swollen nub. Charlotte’s body clenched on my fingers. I sucked hard and pounded her with my hand.

Charlotte screamed on my cock. A flood of her juices coated my face. I lapped up every drop, as if I were lost in the desert and she, my oasis. Charlotte pushed me up. I leaned back. She flipped over onto her hands and knees.

She waved her ass in my face, her perfect petals framed by her perfect thighs. I stroked a fingertip through the dripping folds. Charlotte smiled at me.

“Jasek, I want you. Please…”

With requests so reasonable, how could I ever tell her ‘no’? Why would I ever tell her ‘no’?

I knelt behind her, gripping the shaft of my cock and positioning it at the entrance of her tunnel. She moaned and leaned back onto me in a small sway of her hips. I gasped as my cock’s head popped inside of her.

“Charlotte, what is this called?”

She groaned, rubbing against me. “Doggie-style.”

“I love doggie-style.”

“That’s great news.” She pushed back, a fraction more. “Now stuff that monster in me and pull my head back by my hair.”

“This won’t hurt you?”

“Not as long as you grip the hair tight at my scalp. Let’s stop talking about it and try it. You’ve loved every other lesson…”

I slid my hands into her hair at the base and curled it into a fist. I pulled her head back.

Charlotte made the most encouraging little sighs and whimpers. Then I slid my cock deeper. With slow, deliberate, deep thrusts, I filled her.

Her hips rocked back onto me, over and over, her ass slapping against my thighs. My sack slapped against her clit. A deep growl rumbled up from my chest. I thrust deeper as my scent gland slammed into her dark star over and over.

With each deep thrust of my cock, my musk gland pressed into her back door. Charlotte slammed herself back against me. Our knees slid. She braced a hand against the wall, crying out with each thrust of my thick cock. Each time I speared her, my musk gland swelled, pressing deeper and deeper into her dark star.

Charlotte’s inner tunnel clenched on my cock and she cried out, slamming back into me one last time. With a roar, I filled her with pump after pump of hot cum. Lube poured from my musk gland, filling her backdoor, too.

Charlotte collapsed beneath me. Her body twitched. Her legs trembled. She panted in short, quick gasps. Sweat glistened along the contours of her body, pooling in the curve of her lower back. My own chest heaved, drawing in massive lungfuls of air.

Charlotte chuckled, and I pulled her closer. “What exactly could possibly be funny about this situation?”

“You get an A on your test.”

Charlotte

Most of us rose with the sun the next morning, but apparently Ralkor and the fengkshá cubs preferred to sleep in. Fishguts had already tended to Mabel, the chickens, and the dyàks by the time coffee brought my brain online. We sat near the hearth, eating lâlùpel stew and biscuits.

Finished, Emily stretched out her legs, leaning back on her elbows. “Teach me to make baskets, Charlotte.”

“Any time,” I shrugged. “Teach me to ride a dyàk.”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

Easy, she says. “Not when you’re never even ridden a horse—”

A mischievous grin lit Emily’s face. “If you can ride that hunky clone, you can ride a dyàk—”

“Somebody was riding something last night,” Mable snorted. “You humans take forever to mate. Bulls? Less than a minute and you’re good for the year.”

Emily laughed and I shuddered. “I’ve no desire to wait a year for more of Jasek…”

Her eyes widened.“Ooh, is he super eager? Mine’s all ‘I want to study you and become the best at pleasing you’ and stuff.”

“Yes! He talked me into ‘educating him for the good of his species’.”

Emily cackled.

“And, Emily? Here’s the thing, it’d be just the worst if they weren’t so sincere!”

“I’d thought of writing a book of all the cheesy shit Ralkor says.” Her expression softened. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it. And him. But it's still funny”

Mabel tossed her head. “The real question is; how do we get everyone up the mountain? It sure looks like a long way up. And how do we get all you humans together? And all our stuff up those cliffs? These hooves aren’t made for mountain climbing. I’m not a goat.”

Emily leaned back, propping her boot on a crate we used as a coffee table. She removed her hat and wiped her brow with an arm. “I’ve thought a lot about that. I started this game trying to find my sister. All I’ve thought about is how to get us all out.”

I shook my head, denying even the possibility of abandoning someone to this planet. “I can’t stand to leave anyone behind. No one should have to be enslaved by those little goblins. Jasek and I talked about it. If we can’t leave, we think we can make a life here.”

“Fishguts and I feel the same,” Mabel added. “Though it would be difficult to return to the life I had before the translator, I hate the idea of being stuck here without a choice.”

Emily nodded and returned her hat to her head. “You are unique, Mabel. A species of one.”

Mabel looked thoughtful. “I hadn’t thought of myself like that before. I suppose I’m not a Jersey cow anymore…not like the other cows in the pasture. Back to the subject. I will have plenty of time to contemplate after this ILDM mess if settled.”

“Ralkor and I estimate we’ll need at least three base camps on the way up and planned spots for small camps in between. It’ll take many trips to take up everything we’ll need to ascend.”

Emily ticked off points on her fingers. “We’ll need enough food, fuel, clothing, medical supplies, feed…and we’re much safer doing so as a group. In case of emergencies.”

“That’s…a really good plan, Emily.”

“When you’ve had to move as much livestock as I have and worry about things like food, shelter, and water for them on long trips, planning to ascend a mountain ain’t so bad.”

We built up the base camp in preparation for the arrival of more couples and prepared for the first ascent. Ralkor and Jasek took the cubs hunting early in the morning, cutting more trees for lumber that afternoon.

Emily and I made a few more huts, processed hides, and made lâlùpel fajitas with some vegetables Jasek swore were safe to eat and some tortillas Emily talked a fan into sending us. We laughed and talked. I showed Emily the basics of basket weaving while Jasek and Ralkor sparred.

They laughed between the rough and tumble contests of strength and endurance, and despite the raw potential violence of them both, I had to smile.

They looked like they were having so much fun. Just pure fun, doing something they excelled at.

The day drew to a close and night settled in. We watched the broadcast, cheering on Emily’s intergalactic cowboy fans.

Jasek and I made sweet love and fell into a deep, peaceful slumber, until a sound in the dark of the night startled me awake.

I nudged Jasek, though he’d already woken. He leapt to his feet, throwing a fur cloak over his naked body, and ran out of the hut.

I put on clothes and my cloak before running after him. In the distance, I saw a light flashing. Emily cussed, running from her hut while still pulling on her second boot.

“Charlotte! What’s goin’ on?”

“You know as much as I do.”

Emily nodded. “All right. I’ll get a dyàk.”

Emily ran for the animal trailer, grabbed handfuls of things I couldn’t identify, and ran to the dyàk pen. Jasek and Ralkor didn’t wait. They ran out into the snow. Mabel scented the air.

“I smell a human and…I’m not sure what the rest is, other than at least one creature. I smell blood, Charlotte.”

The figures in the distance grew closer, but I made out a few details. Emily rode past on the dyàk, missing me by a hair. Powdery snow puffed into the air from the dyàk’s cloven hooves. The dyàk shrunk into a tiny, barely distinct blob as it rode into the early morning haze.

“Who do you think it is?”

“I don’t know, Mabel.”

“Do you think they’ll work with us, too, the way Emily and Ralkor have?”

“I can only hope so.”

* * *

It’s time for couple three to enter the ring!

The alien I've been paired with is huge. Angry. And not nice at all.

Everything I dislike, even if he is the handsomest man I've ever seen.

Alien. Whatever.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to work together to survive this game.

With every day that passes, I see a little bit more past the wall he's built around himself.

Arrogant, bossy. Sure.

But now there's something more.

Strong arms and a rock-hard striped body. Gentle fingers, a well-hidden tenderness, and an overwhelming hunger for my touch.

Suddenly it's not just my life under constant attack.

How can I protect my heart?

Click to get it now, or keep reading for a sneak peek!

Offsides: Sneak Peek

Zelgor

I beat against the rolled-pipe bars of my cage. The solid side-panels encasing the cage’s bars popped, unlocked, and fell to the ground. Diffuse light dappled everything in sight. Having spent most of my life on starships, the scents of planet-side life overwhelmed me.

I closed my eyes as my body adjusted to the scents swarming my nose.

I hate planets.

My initial nausea began to ease as my nose adjusted. I opened my eyes. Before me stood a being whose species I had never before seen. She tilted her head, staring at me.

“What are you staring at?”

One of her eyebrows shot up her forehead. Though unfamiliar with the expression, a sinking feeling crawled into my stomach. She blinked, jutted her chin at me and spoke.

“Are you unwell?”

I shrugged.

I do not want to be here for many reasons I don’t really want to tell a stranger.

“I do not appreciate being forced down the well.”

She chewed her lip, shook her head and shrugged.

“I’m not familiar with the phrase ‘the well’.”

“A planet’s gravity well. I thought everyone knew what that meant.”

She straightened her head, long, black hair swaying. Something had changed in her, tickling my instincts.

“I was only recently abducted from my home planet, which had no idea any life existed anywhere other than our home planet. If you were me and only a handful of your species had ever left their planet of birth, would you know what that meant?”

“Oh.”

I paused to consider that for a moment.

She just found out her species isn’t alone in the universe, yet she seems so calm.

She placed a delicate hand on her chest, where her throat dipped just a little.

“Hi. I’m Lena. A Human.”

“Captain Zelgor of The Snaughians’ Bane. I am a Kirtax!”

I slapped a hand on my chest, standing proud. Lena looked me over, head to toe.

“The Snaughians’ Bane?”

“My starship. Well, it was my starship.”

“What happened?”

I tried to ignore the way her hair swayed when she cocked her head, as if trying to see me from a different perspective. I dismissed how quickly the motion caught my eye.

“Mercenaries the Snaughians hired disabled my ship. They boarded us. I tried to fight them to the death and go down with my ship, but I guess they captured me. Everything since, until a few minutes ago, is a blank…”

“Yeah, I woke up the same way. I think we were sedated for transport. Lumpy, green bastards bought me and injected a translator before I blanked out, but I remember glowing tubes that look a lot like Humans imagine stasis tubes would look.”

I sighed, settling into my resentment. I nodded and answered.

“Yes, Snaughians. Their species’ culture has no redeeming qualities.”

“We are definitely talking about the same, evil little shits, then.”

I nodded.

“Excrement, yes. Living, breathing, walking excrement.”

She nodded.

“Now we are both contestants.”

“What do you mean, contestants?”

She shrugged.

“I only know what the other Humans said right before my cage transported me here. One of them, Charlotte, said she’s been a contestant before. She said we’re contestants on season 34 of Intergalactic Love Death Match—a reality show put on by the Snauhgians.”

“The only thing I hate more than planets are Snaughians.”

“Well, that gives us one thing in common. Anyway, Charlotte also said, and I quote, ‘The Snauhgians, those little goblins, also bought five alien brutes. You and your partner are supposed to work together to survive. The first couple to touch the Altar of Freedom wins their freedom.’ I suppose that makes you one of the brutes.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, I guess.”

Perhaps I am a brute. Big, strong, tough…

My chest swelled a little at the thought.

Lena smiled. While I appreciated the effort, her smile strained her features. She looked around, drawing in a deep breath. Flying, biting insects discovered I existed and attacked en masse. I slapped at myself.

“Agh! I hate planets! Uncivilized! Unsanitary! How can anyone stand this many insects?”

Lena sighed. She walked over to a tree with blue, needle-like leaves. She dug through the strange, very large, full bag hanging from her shoulder. She pulled out a knife, unfolded it, and slapped it into a small branch. The knife stuck.

“You didn’t really expect to cut that off, did you? Your knife is far too small…”

Lena glared at me. She grabbed a fist-sized rock from the ground and pounded it against the knife. The branch fell. She folded the knife and slipped it into a pocket in her pants. She picked up the branch and offered it to me.

“Why would I want that? It’s…dirty…”

“The smell of the leaves will help drive off the insects you were complaining about. Just rub the leaves on your skin.”

I shuddered. Lena sighed again and pinned me with a look.

“Listen, Zelgor—”

“Captain Zelgor—”

“I enjoy people interrupting me with petty bullshit about as much as you enjoy Snaughians.”

“Just get to your point.”

“We. Need. Each. Other. To. Win.”

“What’s your point?”

“Don’t you think a little cooperation might be called for, then?”

“Sure.”

“Great. Then, take this branch and rub it on yourself or don’t. I don’t care, but we have got to make a shelter before dark. It’s already too cold for me and it will only get colder tonight.”

“I’m quite comfortable.”

Lena’s eyes disappeared into the back of her head for some reason I could not fathom.

“Good for you…”

She turned, dropped the branch, and walked away!

“No one has dared walk away from me for years! I am a Captain!”

Lena froze, mid-step. She turned, facing me. Her arms lifted. Her hands balled into fists and rested on her hips. Her shoulders began to creep up. Her shoulder muscles rippled. Danger wafted from her mere attitude.

“Captain of what, exactly?”

“I told you, the starship, The Sn—”

She held up her hand, palm to my chest, fingers splayed wide. Shocked, I fell silent. She looked side to side, up in the air, behind her, and under a rock at her feet.

“Funny how I don’t see your starship anywhere. You were a captain. Now, you’re a survivalist, or we’re dead. So, stop all this terribly unattractive whining and help me.”

, I failed to birth a single thought, reply, or comeback. Frustration, and grief over the loss of my ship, crew, battle, and war stoked the rage building inside of me.

“You don’t even know where we’re supposed to be going!”

She replied over her shoulder.

“Of course I do, Captain. We are looking for a good place to shelter. We’ll figure out the rest after that.”

“That’s vague. Are you trying to annoy me?”

I watched her head shake as she walked further and further away.

“Not at all. In fact, you seem to have the monopoly on annoying people.”

Lena disappeared behind a tree.

“Come back here, Human!”

“Just keep up, Mr. Whiney-Pants.”

The lush forest around us swallowed the sound of her footsteps.

Lena

We’re gonna die.

I pushed through the forest, looking for a good place to shelter. Behind me, Captain Zelgor crashed through the underbrush. My neck and shoulders tensed. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and lost.

Why? Why someone like…him?

“Human? Human, wait! I thought you said you couldn’t win without me.”

“That is how I understand the game to work, Captain.”

He caught up. He walked beside me. His head snapped back and forth, trying to look everywhere at once. I glanced his way. He scrubbed his thick’muscled neck, bared chest, and face with the branch I had cut for him.

“So, how did this Charlotte survive? If you win your freedom at the end of the game, why is she in a second season of Intergalactic Love Death Match?”

“Uh…she said she was the only survivor of the season and made it to the Altar of Freedom. The fans demanded she be saved, so they gave her a new partner for this season.”

“Well, that makes more sense.”

To my relief, Zelgor fell quiet while we walked.

“What supplies do you have on you, Captain?”

Zelgor patted himself, taking stock.

“This is my combat flight suit…”

“Is it rated for space travel?”

“Of course it is, Lena. It’s a combat flight suit.”

I stopped in my tracks. Zelgor stopped after a few steps and looked back at me.

“I understand you are unhappy with your current situation, Captain. I am also unhappy with my current situation. You don’t want to be here with me. I don’t want to be here with you, but—”

“How can I be happy—”

“Act like I’m an idiot again, Captain, and I leave you behind to make it on your own. I’ll just get out of this the same way Charlotte did, and, maybe, I get a more cooperative partner in season 35.”

The orange-and-red-striped alien scowled, his eyes darted around the forest surrounding us.

“I…apologize.”

“As I was saying, Captain, neither of us want to be here. That, however, is no excuse to be a big jerk. I already told you my home planet has no idea other life exists outside of our planet. Therefore, I don’t know what everyone else in the galaxy knows.”

Zelgor sniffed. “Yes, it is rated for space travel. There are a few blades and a very basic survival kit.”

I stopped in my tracks. “You have a basic survival kit and you’re just now mentioning it?”

“The last thing I knew, I was on my ship fighting mercs! The next minute, I wake up in a cage, Lena, to discover I have been captured, enslaved, and humiliated by my people’s mortal enemy. My flight suit wasn’t at the top of my mind.”

I sighed.

“That’s understandable. What’s in your suit’s survival kit?”

Zelgor shrugged his massive shoulders. As my initial irritation faded, I began to notice details…like the fact Zelgor had to be nearly seven-feet tall.

“I don’t know if I have ever looked…”

Zelgor twisted around and detached a small pack from his flight suit’s thigh and handed it to me. I opened it and looked inside.

“Well, it looks like we have a compass…ooh! That’s a survival blanket. That will be nice…basic first aid supplies… Nice. Between that and my purse, we might survive. I just wish we had a larger blade.”

“I have a couple of knives in my suit.”

Zelgor detached two knives with six-inch blades from his suit’s outer calves, showed me, then snapped them back in place. I nodded, repacked the suit’s emergency kit and handed it back. Zelgor reattached it to his thigh and we continued searching for the right place to camp.

Feathery, light-green leaves caught my eye. I stopped and looked again.

“Zelgor…I think I recognize that plant.”

I crouched and worked the plant out of the ground.

“Are we on your home world?”

“Not a chance. Earth only has one moon, but I can see two in this planet’s sky.”

“Then how did your plants get here?”

I shook my head, ripped the plant out of the ground, and held up a beautiful, gigantic carrot.

“Absolutely no clue. I’m just grateful.”

I stuffed the carrot in my purse and watched the ground far more carefully as we walked, hoping to spot more plants I recognized. I could feel Zelgor brooding beside me. I spotted a tell-tale white substance dripping down the trunk of an evergreen.

I paused to examine the dripping sap with care. I grabbed a thin branch from the ground and snapped it into smaller lengths. I took one of the stick sections and dragged it through the sap.

Viscous, sticky…

I smiled and gathered large blobs of the sap on several sticks. I pulled a gallon-sized baggie from my purse and placed the sappy sticks inside. I left the bag unzipped so the sap could harden, and carefully stuffed it in my purse.

“What are you doing? Why are we wasting time playing with this tree? Is this a Human thing?”

I cut a glare Zelgor’s way.

“Do you want to survive, Captain?”

“Of course—”

I waved my purse in his face.

“Then we need supplies. Do you see any stores around here?”

“Well, no…”

“Then we will have to do what we can with what we have on us or with what we can find. This resin is going to blow your mind.”

“What does that even mean? Speak plainly.”

I sighed and continued, certain he would follow me, even if uncertain I really wanted him to.

Just have to make do with what you have to work with, even if it's a planet-phobic, Kirtaxian Captain.

“It’s glue, Captain. Unless your suit dispenses glue, I’m going to continue believing we are fortunate to have found it.”

“Oh. I guess glue will be helpful, after all.”

To my great relief, Zelgor fell silent, again—though his expression reminded me of a storm on the horizon.

What I am going to do with him?

Click to get it now!

Rekker

Rekker wasn't expecting to be matched.

On the eve of being sent to retrieve a mysterious artifact, he's sent something just as enigmatic.

A human woman, lush and curved.

His mate.

Even worse, she wants nothing to do with him.

His blood burns for her, but the need to make her happy overrides everything.

He'll find a way to set her free, even if it means he'll be alone. Forever.

But when danger comes from an unexpected source, they're thrown together. And when his mate turns to him, he'll protect her.

Keep her.

Claim her.

Lila Kanes never wanted any thing but a quiet life on her family farm. She certainly didn't want to be claimed by a massive alien mate.

Thrown into the stars, she'll do whatever it takes to find a way home.

Back to Earth.

Back to her family.

She couldn't possibly want to stay with the hot, horned alien with the amazing body, who made her feel like the most precious thing in the universe, could she?

Right?

Rekker is the first book of the Warriors of Vaznik, a stand alone series in the Warlord Brides universe. There's no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA for each couple!

Click here to keep reading Rekker, book one of the Vaznik Warrior Mates!

Rogue Mate

Science fiction romance is the destination of the Rogue Star…. Hop on board!

Our rescuers are a group of pirates. Or smugglers. They're not exactly answering questions, either.

More importantly, they're giant, golden skinned aliens...

And their rogue of a captain seems very interested in the little human commander.

Me.

Rogue Mate is the first in the Rogue Star science fiction alien romance series. Click now to start the adventure!

Kazan

A mate is the last thing on my mind.

Especially one as sassy as the human female they say is my match.

Even if her lush curves call for my touch, and her fiery spirit is equal to my own.

I will endure the thirty days demanded by the Protocol.

But with every look, every word, I can feel us bound closer together.

Will I be able to leave her, even for her own safety?

Kazan is the first book of the Jorkan Protocol Mates. Click now to spend the night with this perfect steamy, funny science fiction romance escape. There's no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA for each alien warrior and his mate!

Copyright © 2021 by Ava York

All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.