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  Tsor-Vaal nodded. “Deeper than I have experienced before. She is unique.”

  The captain grunted, “All right, you may go.”

  Three

  She stood staring at the door, his last words – or rather thoughts – echoing in her mind.

  You belong to me… Try to understand that…

  She clenched her fists and snarled, “I belong to no one!” But even as she said it, tears sprang to her eyes. She began to tremble and sob. The last thing she remembered she was in southern California, earning her daily bread by kicking some guy’s ass who’d thought he could rape a defenseless girl in the desert. Next thing she was strapped, helpless to an operating table, surrounded by aliens, being possessed by some cosmic Viking - on a spaceship!

  It was insane, but it was real, and Katie had always believed in facing reality square on, and ready to kick it in the balls. She had always believed in UFOs – The Truth Is Out There, right? So here it was. Now she had to deal with it, kick some ass and find a way home.

  Crying would not help.

  There was a gentle ‘ping’ from the door and a sweet, submissive voice entered her mind and said, “Mistress Katie, may we come in?”

  She hesitated, then said, “Yeah…, come in.”

  The doors slid back. There were three girls, a little younger than her perhaps. Like Tsor-Vaal they were slim, athletic and had long, platinum hair, but they were smaller than him, delicate and feminine. They had pixy faces and gentle movements. They were beautiful. Really beautiful. They gave her a little curtsey and spoke with their minds, “Master Tsor-Vaal has told us to bathe you, Mistress, and then bring you food.”

  Katie grinned at them. “Mistress? Really?” She shrugged. “OK, cool.”

  The closest one had brilliant emerald eyes which she now lowered. “I am Eika, and these are Fiana and Sorka. May we take you to the bath, mistress?”

  The Bathroom was luxurious. It was made entirely of rich, polished stone that resembled tiger’s eye. The bath, which was more like a small swimming pool, was sunken into a dais which was reached by way of three tiers of four steps. Thick, white suds shrouded it, and hot water gushed in from a channel at one end.

  Eika and her companions surrounded Katie. They smiled but avoided eye contact. With small, gentle hands they removed her robe. She found herself watching Eika and thinking, “She is like a snowflake. If I were a guy she would definitely turn me on…”

  Eika flashed her a look, her cheeks colored and she smiled. Katie heard Sorka and Fiana giggle. Katie flushed with embarrassment, realizing her thoughts had been heard. She was disturbed to realize that she felt, mixed in with the embarrassment, a strange thrill of excitement. An excitement that grew as Eika, Sorka and Fiana all dropped their robes to reveal exquisite, delicate bodies, with perfect, full breasts and smooth, rounded hips.

  Sorka and Eika took her hands and led her down into the water and, as she sank down into its warmth, she felt it penetrate her muscles and ease away the strain and the fear of the last hour.

  Fear was not something Katie ever acknowledged, either to other people or to herself. Fear was a weakness. It was something that happened to others. She didn’t do fear. But now, as she closed her eyes and felt the tension seeping out of her, she admitted to herself that she had been afraid. She had experienced terror like she had never felt before in her life. Eika’s voice, as gentle as a whisper, came into her mind.

  “You do not need to be afraid, Mistress. We mean you no harm. We love you.”

  She opened her eyes. The beautiful, pixy-like creatures was watching her. They made eye contact for the first time. It was for only a moment, but that moment unleashed a storm of powerful feelings that made Katie’s heart pound in her chest. Desires, hungers and passions stirred in her belly. She spoke aloud and heard her breath trembling.

  “What is happening to me…?”

  Her heart, her mind, her soul and her skin all craved the experience. She longed for their hands to caress her, and as she thought it Eika said, “We will stroke you, Mistress.”

  She wanted to fight the feeling. She wanted to hurl them from the bath, find her jeans, her sweatshirt and her boots and escape back to California, to what was familiar and real and normal. But a stronger, deeper desire made her close her eyes and lie back. Their hands, as gentle and sweet, she thought, as snowflakes on a breeze, caressed her skin and soothed away all her fears. After a time she opened her eyes again to look at Eika. She thought, “You are beautiful.” The three of them smiled. Katie said, “Look at me. Make eye contact.”

  Eika met her gaze. Katie said, “Why do you serve? Why don’t you rebel?”

  The answer came immediately, “Because we enjoy it, Mistress. Not everyone is a warrior.” They all giggled at a shared thought and Eika explained, “Imagine on your planet if there were no sheep, and only pumas. It is in the order of the universe that there must be all things. Also, Tsor-Vaal is kind to us. We enjoy serving him, and now you.”

  She watched them a while, smiling. Then she asked, “Do you hear all my thoughts?”

  Eika said, “Only your conscious thoughts, Mistress. The thoughts that are in the darkness cannot be heard.”

  Katie frowned. “Why don’t you speak? Have you lost your vocal chords?”

  Their eyes opened wide and they laughed and giggled like she’d said something hilarious. Eika explained, “No, Mistress! We can speak, but it is not polite! Only men speak, in business, or in fights or war, when secrets are kept. But among friends, there is no need to hide thoughts, so our minds are open.”

  Katie made a big ‘O’ face and nodded. “I get it,” she thought. “That is very cool, and also very interesting.” They looked at her uncertainly. She smiled. Several ideas were taking shape in her mind which she didn’t want them to hear. So she said, “OK, girls, what am I thinking now?”

  She focused her mind on a plain steel wall. It was hard to hold the image, but she found that by observing the gleam, the texture and the various qualities of the metal, she could sustain it for a short while. They looked disconcerted, like she had farted at a cocktail party. She laughed out loud.

  “So?”

  They glanced at each other. Eika thought, “It was shiny, smooth, hard and cold.”

  Sorka and Fiana agreed. Katie bit her lip and observed the water in the bath. The stuff coming in was a clear, delicate green color. All the suds were gradually being drained out. She watched the flow of liquid and thought of the ocean. The mind, she thought, was like the ocean. The surface was clear and transparent. The depths were dark and secret. And there was a middle layer, where thoughts could be held in semi-consciousness. The Valhaans could read that surface, transparent layer. The rest of it, if you had the skill, could be kept from them.

  These thoughts swam, like sharks, in that middle layer of her consciousness, while on the surface she babbled in her mind about how pretty and sweet and charming Eika and her friends were. And she saw them smile with pleasure.

  Then she spoke aloud. “So, you have to do what I tell you?”

  Again that look of uncertainty. Eika said, “We want to, Mistress. It is our pleasure.”

  A flash of rebellious devilry made her ask, “What if I don’t want you to enjoy it?”

  They looked stunned and lowered their eyes. “We would still do it, Mistress…” But she caught a flcker of a thought, a glimpse of something. The Captain?

  With her mind she said, “Sorka, Fiana, dry yourselves and go get me some food. Eika, you stay and give me a massage.”

  Sorka and Fiana thought in unison, “Yes, Mistress,” and rose.

  “Wait,” she said aloud, “What are you going to bring me? I don’t want some Elorian enk-fish bladder shit…”

  They looked upset and Katie almost felt sorry for them, except that she was enjoying herself too much. Eika said, “We do not know what Elorian enk-fish bladder is, Mistress.”

  “I made it up.”

  “Oh... We sense that what you hunger for is
beef burger and fries, and a cold beer.”

  “That will do nicely.”

  Sorka and Fiana dried themselves and left. Katie stretched herself on the bed face down and Eika began, a deep gentle massage, starting at her feet.

  Katie thought, “Eika, you and me are going to be friends, right?”

  “Yes, Mistress, I would like that.”

  “Cool. So tell me, what’s the deal with the Captain?

  She sensed a moment of mental darkness. She snapped, “Don’t you shield your thoughts from me, Eika! You don’t want to get me mad. You understand?”

  “Yes, Mistress. Captain Votan-Vaal is not like Master Tsor-Vaal. He is cruel. He enjoys pain when it is another’s pain.”

  “I know the type.” A flash in her mind of the trucker she had dispatched just before she was abducted, the blood running from his busted nose, the crunch of his elbow and the smash of her boot as she kicked him in the head. She heard Eika gasp. It was a real sound. The sound of her voice.

  Katie got up on her elbows and turned to face her. Their eyes locked. She was astonished again by the green depth of Eika’s gaze. She was suddenly acutely aware of their nakedness. She said, “Talk to me.” Eika swallowed. Katie could feel a trembling inside the small, delicate maiden. She realized what she was asking her to do, in Eika’s mind, was an obscenity. She smiled. Eika smiled back, a tremulous, uncertain smile, yet an excited one too. Katie said, “Talk to me, with your voice.”

  Eika licked her lips with a small, pink tongue. She lowered her gaze. Katie swung her legs off the bed and moved close to her, so their bare legs were touching. She took her hand and held it in both of hers. She said, “Talk to me, Eika, with your real voice. I want to hear it.”

  Eika’s breath was shaky. Her gaze darted about the room, but eventually it came to rest on Katie’s face, and then her eyes. She made three attempts before finally speaking in a gentle whisper, “It is so intimate, Mistress…”

  Katie reached out and touched her face. “You have such a pretty voice, Eika.”

  There was a noise from the door. Eika said, “It is Sorka and Fiana, Mistress, they have returned with your food.”

  Katie hesitated a moment, then she reached out with her mind, tentatively at first, but then with more confidence. She could sense them, feel their minds. She thought, “Come in.”

  The doors hissed and the two girls entered, bearing a tray of food and a bottle of cold beer, which they placed on the dining table. Eika rose, “I will get your robe, Mistress.”

  Katie stood and spoke out loud. “Don’t bother. I’m not going to wear a damned robe. I want my jeans, my sweatshirt and my boots. And I want them now.”

  Four

  At the docking bay Tsor-Vaal watched the last of the cases of EM plasma cannons loaded onto the shuttle. He took hold of the Krakkan commander’s two top left tentacles and they communed for fifteen seconds in harmony and trust, so that both knew that they had traded in honesty. Then he watched the commander ooze into the shuttle and depart across the void to the trading vessel riding alongside them, at ten relat’s distance.

  He turned and with a pellet of anticipation in his belly, he walked quickly back to his chambers. When the doors slid back he stopped dead, regarding the scene before him.

  Eika, Sorka and Fiana were watching in delight and amazement as Katie, dressed now in her blue jeans, cowboy boots and black sweatshirt, demonstrated Tae Kwon Do high kicks. The three maidens immediately turned and offered their master a small curtsey. Katie heard his thoughts, curt and a little annoyed. “Leave us.”

  When they had left Katie crossed her arms. She spoke aloud. “I wasn’t done explaining to them. My primitive species would consider what you just did to be rude.”

  “Why are you dressed like this? I gave you silken robes.”

  “Because I am not your plaything. You don’t get to choose my clothes and you don’t get to tell me what to wear. My body, my clothes, my choice.” She stepped up to him and pressed her finger against his chest. She said, “I have some news for you, pal.”

  She looked up into his dark blue eyes and was surprised to discover that he did not look angry. He looked curious. He was searching her mind, trying to understand what was driving her. She offered him a lopsided smile. She spoke with her mind, “Can you hear me?”

  He answered with his mind, “Of course I can.”

  “Do you understand me?”

  “Of course.”

  She spoke with her voice, “How about now?”

  She focused on the steel wall, the blind gleam of its surface, its cold, impenetrable texture. She watched his eyes, keeping her thoughts in the darkness below the surface of her consciousness, allowing him only that hard, impenetrable wall of steel.

  With a speed born of almost twenty years of hard training, she dropped into the rider stance and delivered four powerful blows to his floating ribs. Tsor-Vaal double up with a painful retching sound. Before he could recover she slammed her right knee into his face and as he staggered back she plowed into him with a charging side-kick that hurled him against the wall, sending a table and a lamp spinning across the room.

  She didn’t go after him. She did a little Bruce Lee dance, and with her mind snapped, “Get up, Tsor-Vaal, I’m going to give you a lesson in respect and good manners.”

  He sat on the floor and stared at her. A trickle of blood seeped from his nose. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. His eyes were alive with anger and excitement. He rose to his feet. She thought that he looked magnificent, but she kept it below the surface. She felt his mind push against hers. He was trying to speak to her. She said, “Not listening, bozo!” and charged.

  She delivered a scissor kick to his face. He dodged at the last second, stumbling back, but as she landed she punched twice at his belly and spun into a back kick. He blocked the punches and dodged the kick, but he was clearly rattled.

  He probed again and she screamed a kiai and delivered a stinging roundhouse to his thigh with her instep. He grunted and backed away.

  She danced a little more and smiled. “You getting it yet? You beginning to understand?”

  He snarled and charged. She had never in her life experienced force like it. He was unstoppable. He rained punches, blows and kicks on her. She parried, ducked and weaved, striking back any time she saw an opening, but she could not stop him coming.

  She swung a right cross at him. He weaved and suddenly he was inside her guard. He grabbed her in a bear hug and began to crush the air from her lungs. He roared and began to laugh. She held her breath, but she knew she could not hold out forever. Yet if she exhaled, she would not be able to inhale again. She drew back her fingers to form cups out of her palms and slammed his ears. He bellowed and released her, staggering back, holding his head. She leapt and drove a thundering right into his solar plexus. His hand flashed and he had her wrist in an iron grip. He spun her around and held her from behind, imprisoned in his arms. He lifted her off the floor and again began to squeeze.

  She gritted her teeth and pummeled his legs with her heels. He seemed not to notice, crushed harder and began to walk towards the bedroom. Her eyes widened. Her heart was hammering on her ribs. She said, “What are you doing? What are you doing?”

  She could feel his mind, pushing, probing, trying to penetrate hers. She thrashed and kicked and struggled and screamed, “No no no no nooo!!!”

  The bedroom doors opened. He carried her in and hurled her on the bed. She lay staring at him. She was exhausted and her lungs ached. Her concentration was slipping. She would not be able to hold him out much longer. She remembered Eika. She said, “Talk to me. I want to hear your voice.”

  He undressed her with his eyes. He smiled. “You are primal,” he said.

  She struggled to her feet, bouncing slightly on the mattress. She said, “Fuck you. Come and get me.”

  He lunged. She fell. He fell on top of her. Next thing she was ripping off his robe and he was tearing at her sweatshirt. She pulled dow
n her jeans while he yanked off her boots. She hurled her pants across the room and he threw her boot after them. They stared at each other, naked and hungry. She snarled, “Come here you fucking beast…”

  He growled and lunged at her. She sank her teeth into his shoulder and clawed his back. He ravaged her body, biting savagely at her belly and her breasts, burying his face between her legs, feeling the silk smoothness of her thighs on his cheeks, devouring her, drinking her. She screamed, pushing hard into his mouth. The exquisite ecstasy seemed to go on forever, until she collapsed, exhausted on the bed, all her resistance spent.

  He rose over her, like a lion ready for the kill, but as her mind opened to him he paused and smiled, reading her thoughts. She watched him, smiling, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. He cocked his head, a little surprised, and spoke with words. “Eika…?”

  She grinned and nodded. She whispered, “I have never felt that before. But she is so cute, so…” She searched for the word and he said, “Servile?”

  Katie nodded. He came down over her, inhaled the scent of her skin on her neck and whispered in her ear, “Then let us share this. Let her serve us together…”

  She heard herself gasp. It was more like a whimper of pure pleasure. And as he took her mouth with his she heard the doors open. He rolled over to lie next to her, and she saw Eika standing at the foot of the bed, her eyes cast down. Katie’s breath was shaking. She said, “Speak to me with your voice, Eika.”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  “Have you ever been with a woman before?”

  Eika shook her head. “No, Mistress.”

  Katie could barely form the words. Her own terror and excitement were constricting her throat. “Does it scare you, Eika?”

  Eika nodded. “Yes, Mistress, it does.”

  She felt Tsor-Vaal’s hand tighten on hers. She said, “But I am your Mistress, and you must do as I tell you.”

  “Yes...”

  Katie turned to Tsor-Vaal. “You may only watch.” He smiled. She swung her legs off the bed and sat. She said to Eika, “Come, take off your robe and kneel in front of me, between my legs.”