RICK JOHNSON'S
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS WEBSITE

WEIR-LU OF CASPAK

by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com

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PRELUDE

The Ensign was looking over the cliffs, still awed by their majesty. Hundreds of feet high, unclimable, rising from a bottomless sea with no anchorage and stretching for hundreds of miles in either direction, a sub-continent or the largest island in the world. And totally unknown until today.

He was joined by one of the Chiefs who offered, “Beautiful sight, isn’t it sir?”

“It surely is Chief. And to think, we are the first to see it.”

The Chief glanced to the chopper being readied on the flight deck and added. “No we aren’t. The Washoe was the first, then the Marriott. Sonar found them both on the bottom, three miles down. I don’t know what sank them but whatever it was, it happened so fast neither had a chance to send out a mayday!”

With the arrogance of what the Chief called the ‘butter-bar syndrome’, the new officer, fresh from the Academy who thought he knew everything, replied, “There is a big difference between a destroyer escort, a cruiser and this Aircraft Carrier.”

“Yep, there sure is. We’ll take up a lot more space on the seabed, Sir” then saluting, he returned to the chopper to do something worthwhile. He was heard to say as he walked away, “Something inside that island doesn’t want us here.”

The flyovers had returned an hour ago and he had attended the briefing for no reason other than the Old Man wanted the new ensigns to learn fast and being a part of this mission would make or break them. The photos were astounding. An oval island some 120 miles wide by 175 miles long with a central lake that covered most of the land. One officer suggested that it was the caldera of the last of the ancient Super-volcanoes, possibly dredging from the Earth’s core so much iron that the compasses and GPS refused to work. Even the electronics were braking down and the jets failing and the radio picked up only static so they were cut off from the rest of the world. Also this may be the reason why the place had remained undiscovered for so long and the other two ships were unable to send out any messages before they had sunk..

But one of the most amazing things was the photos brought back by the one surviving jet, her companion having suffered engine trouble and crashed into the lake with no survivors. Dinosaurs. Real live dinosaurs! Every freaking man on that carrier would be famous for discovering a real live Jurassic Park.

But the downed pilot was a sad event for he hadn’t had a chance to eject and went to the bottom of the internal lake with his Tomcat.

But the decision as made to send a chopper with a small crew to place a beacon on the cliff-face, one that would allow the teams which were readying their gear a chance to find their way home and Ensign Harper would be assisting that team. It was his first real job in the Navy and he intended to do it right.

While loading the chopper, his best, which meant only, friend came to him to comment, “radar sighted a UFO landing inside last night.”

Exasperated, Harper replied, “EVERYTHING is an Unidentified Flying Object until we can identify it.”

“I may be a Flying Saucer Nut but to believe that we are the ONLY intelligent life in the Galaxy is arrogant. Besides the Reptilians from the Draco Constellation are said to have a secret base in this area.”

“Lizard-like aliens from a constellation named after a snake. Isn’t that a bit too convenient? Or have these Reptilians been talking to ancient Greek Astronomers?” he said with not a little sarcasm. “And I suppose that beautiful Blonde Amazons come from the constellation Andromeda?”

“Vega Lyrae,” his friend replied, casually. “Nordics come from Vega Lyrae. Tall, blonde, human looking. They are at war with the Reptilians.”

“You are such a freak,” the ensign added. “I have no idea of why I hang with you!”

“Because, buddy, no one else will. Your Lt is calling.”

***

It was far less than fifteen minutes later that the chopper landed on the cliff, finding a small level site with little effort which was well within sight of the USS Williams. She wasn’t the Enterprise nor the Nimitz but she WAS one of the most powerful carriers in the Pacific fleet. Why she was here in the South Pacific so close to Antarctica alone, without her normal escort vessels was known only to those higher up than he.

He watched, assisted, checked and all the while fidgeted until the LT (Junior Grade) asked, “Too many cups of coffee?”

“Yes sir.”

Laughing, “Learn from that. Better to be a bit drowsy then pee your pants in flight. Go take a leak, we’ll wait for you.”

Harper saluted then walked along the cliff, seeking a place private enough for his.. task, yet close enough to hear any recall. There she was, the Williams, her screws moving to keep her in place on this bottomless ocean with no anchorage, still a giant even as far away as she was. He was still shaking the drops free when the carrier vanished.

No, not vanished, it was as if something and reached up from below and pulled her under so fast she was gone. Even cut in half and with all her magazines blown, it would take minutes, perhaps twenty to sink and even then there would be debris. What happened was that she sat there, then ‘bloop’, she went under within a second! Shocked he almost didn’t hear the Lt (JG) running and screaming, “Run! They’re here!” then the chopper was flung.. no pulled from the cliff to strike the water and sink instantly, followed by three of the crew and the beacon. Harper ran!.

Exhausted, the Lt caught up with him and screamed, “Up! Find a tree and hide!” then he began to climb too.

Harper climbed as high as he could, finding a tree that looked like an oak but was as thick as a redwood then, hiding between branches and leaves by the trunk, he waved to the Lt, also in hiding, who pointed to the ground.

Four of them entered the clearing, the wind so cold that any reptile would have gone dormant but these ignored the cold and looked around. They were definitely lizard-like but walked erect and looked like some unholy cross between a dinosaur and a man. One even wore a scarlet hooded-robe. Finally, the robed one glanced up to point to the Lt and as the rest looked up, there was a scream and the Lt fell, no was pulled to the ground as if he had gone from rest to terminal velocity within a second. His body was pulped when it struck the sward even though he wasn’t that high. A fall that would, at most, have broken a leg, shattered every bone in the man’s body. It was as impossible as the Williams sinking and the chopper being pulled to the sea.

The dinosaurs, looking as if a velociraptor had evolved intelligence but had evolved along a path away from the reptilian, picked up the body in their claws and returned the way they had come. Harper lay there, shivering both in terror and cold and tried to not think. The Lt hadn’t fallen, some invisible force had pulled him to the ground at a speed so fast that… The chopper hadn’t fallen or been pushed, it had been pulled from the cliff going from rest to what, a hundred miles per hour instantly? And the Williams hadn’t sunk, she was pulled under. There was something underwater that had pulled the Washoe, the Marriot and now the Williams to the bottom. How long would it take the carrier to sink the three miles to the floor? No, he was thinking rationally, think like ... well think from the information… the carrier, thirty stories from keel to flight deck and another dozen of tower probably hit the sea floor within seconds. And these intelligent dinosaurs were responsible. They were unarmed as best he could see but… Harper pulled his handgun and checked the magazine. Fifteen rounds of 9mm. He hadn’t fired a handgun since the Academy and somehow he feared that his weapon would be useless against the things. Not that they were bulletproof, but that they wouldn’t be harmed.

Now the question was, what to do. He saw a saber tooth cat, lacking the stripes he thought they should possess, slink off after the beings and a part of him gladdened at the thought that they’d die.

Moments later he had climbed far enough to see a bit of what happened. The cat, easily twice the size of a Bengal tiger, had approached the group, readied to spring then froze, shivered and turned to run like a bat out of hell! The four raptors returned to searching the landing site, picking up anything that looked like it came form the chopper then one touched the ground and moved along the trail he had taken to pee. Then when he reached the still-wet rock, it leaned down, and the others joined it. He had been made!

Quickly Harper left the tree and ran! When he couldn’t run any further, he walked and when he couldn’t walk he stumbled, afraid that if he stopped for even a minute to catch his breath, the Hunters would catch him.

Then he ran into the three.

***

The three women were walking along the path, mostly quiet but responding to the blue-haired woman when she spoke. All three were savages, naked save for a bikini, made from leather or fur, each carrying a bow and knife with one also possessing a stone-headed spear. But they were a bit from being human for each bore a prehensile tail, cat-eyes, pointed ears and ape-like feet and each grew a pair of moth-like antennae from her forehead. All froze when Harper entered the glade.

This island was trying to kill him, it had murdered his ship, his chopper and crew, thousands of America’s best had been murdered by this hellish place and he had a handgun with fifteen bullets while the three before him had nothing but a stone spear and a few arrows. His decision was made instantly!

“Run!” he screamed. “They’re right behind me!”

Instantly two of the women were up a tree then the older grabbed him as if he were a child and tossed him up into the branches where he was caught by the other two. These then pulled him to a leafy branch and wrapped their nearly naked bodies around his, the one with blue hair binding his legs with her own and one arm around his face to smother any outcry. The youngest simply snuggled as close as she could and helped the trio hold onto the branches as the Hunters entered the glade to face the final woman who had picked up the fallen spear.

She watched the Hunters and they her. Neither giving ground nor advancing. It was as if two junk-yard dogs had met and each were trying to decide if the one could take the other. The woman slowly slid into a fighters ready stance, her borrowed spear at the ready as the Hunters approached, then carefully separated to pass her, giving the woman plenty of room. She turned on the balls of her feet to watch them pass on into the brush. Harper knew that had even one of the five made a wrong move, violence would have ensued and the woman would be killed.

The group remained in position for some minutes, Harper struggling to move then subsiding when the blue-haired girl choked him into submission. After that he relaxed and waited, trying to see below. Finally, the one on the ground relaxed and the younger released him to drop to the jungle floor. The blue-haired woman released him, her hand still covering his mouth and turning his face to hers, she smiled, placed her fingers over her mouth to indicate ‘silence’ and when he nodded in the affirmative, she smiled again and pushed him out of the tree!

***

Harper fell but was caught by the pair below who were obviously far stronger than was he. Then the blue-haired woman landed and they looked each other over. Harper was still wearing his flight suit, a web-belt with holster and not much else, his cap and other possessions being long lost. So he focused on the trio facing him, his hand well away from the holster at his side. These were the closest he had to allies and he wasn’t about to do something stupid to jeopardize that.

All three were of the same race in the same way that a Chinese and German are of the same human Race. But there were differences. The youngest was barely five foot tall and appeared to be maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. Her skin was white, her hair brown and in a pony-tail high on her head and her eyes, as far as he could tell through her slitted cat-eyes, blue.

The oldest, clearly the leader, was in her mid to late twenties, some inches taller, maybe 5’5” or 5’6”, very curvy with an hourglass figure that most women couldn’t achieve with a corset. Her full and large breasts were firmer than was possible and her bikini top was obviously for decency and not support. Her brown eyes were small and Harper wanted to gaze into them forever.

The middle one was of another race entirely for her skin was brown, her hair blue and her slitted eyes violet. Unlike the other two, the blue-haired woman smiled a lot and that made her incredibly beautiful. Harper judged her age at early twenties and her height at between that of the other two.

Finally the older snapped, “Myra!” and the teen girl took her spear back and left at a jog, the remaining two and Harper following at a brisk walk. Was ‘myra’ a name or a command to take point, Harper didn’t know but his eyes were torn between watching the hips of then older as she moved ahead and the chest of the blue-hair who walked alongside him, chatting to the woman ahead who rarely answered. When Harper stumbled over a branch, the blue-hair caught him then raising his face to hers, laughed, pointed to his eyes then her chest and shaking her head to indicate that he should watch the ground and not her body. The older commented to blue-hair who replied in a manner that caused the older to giggle and move on.

After what seemed like hours, though Harper’s watch had broken, the youngest ran back crying to the others. The older immediately turned and said something which caused blue-hair to grab him by the biceps. The older then knelt, pulled his web-belt apart until the plastic buckle snapped, then she tossed the belt with its attached holster and handgun into the jungle with enough force that had she been in the Olympics, the other teams would have forfeited immediately rather than be embarrassed at failing to match that throw. He was then released with the older wrapping her tail around his right wrist, blue-hair taking his left in her hand with the peculiar grip where both thumbs were around his wrist, then all four ran, Harper being more dragged than not. He remained upright only because he knew that were he to fall, one of the women would pick him up, toss him over her shoulder and carry him like a sack of potatoes, an indignity that Harper refused to endure so he forced himself to run even when exhausted.

Finally, near a stream they threw him to the ground in some tall grass and before he could even catch his breath, the three had stripped naked, jumped onto him and began to kiss, caress and fondle each other.

Now a part of Harper realized that he was now in every man’s fantasy. Underneath three beautiful women in a lesbian grope-fest, only they were using their tails instead of a penis, but the main part of him realized that he was still fully clothed. They were on top of him as if he were nothing more than a mattress and were totally ignoring him and his needs other then to keep him underneath. He was able to look past the older, whose naked genitals were over his face so close that had he a wish, he could have licked them (he noticed that they were remarkably human-looking) and see that blue-hair was excited and really enjoying herself when they slowed and the older stood to pick up the younger’s spear. Harper, still buried under the other two who continued to caress and touch each other, though slower and without the intensity of before, saw the older, still naked, holding the spear, her tail twitching as the Hunters reappeared.

Again, they stared at each other, the older woman’s tail twitching as would a cat facing another cat. Now Harper realized that there was an uneasy truce between the Reptilian Hunter and these monkey-like women, a truce that could be shattered into war if either did anything stupid… and both sides hoping that the other would commit that one single stupid act. For some minutes the Hunters watched, the older watching back, the other two still caressing and occasionally kissing, but their attention divided between each other and the Hunters, when the Hunters turned and left, the robed one carrying Harper’s belt and handgun. The older watched then rejoined her companions, still crushing Harper as he watched tails and hands do what he wished he could. With a tail like that, they needed no man and he saw the tip of the brown tail slide into the wetness of the older who moved up enough to allow easy entry.

They kissed, caressed, sucked and tail-fucked each other for long minutes until, without warning, all three climaxes simultaneously. It was obvious for blue-hair (who a lowered glance showed her to be a natural blue-hued woman) screamed as she climaxed, the others shuddered with the youngest moaning and clutching her companions.

Then they separated, climbed off Harper and all approached the stream where they began to wash themselves and each other. It was clear that the light-skinned women were finished and equally clear that the brown-skinned blue-hair wanted more but she subsided and washed her own hair.

“Excuse me!” Harper called. The three stopped and looked at him. “But what the hell is going on here?” Then as they approached, again oblivious to their nudity. No, blue-hair was showing off, smiling at his reaction to her walk and motion. The others didn’t care but blue-hair enjoyed his gaze, then spoke with some animation, pointing to Harper and then to the outside until the older woman came to a decision. She gave an order and instantly, the two obeyed.

The two younger began to search him, patting him down with blue-hair giggling as she felt his erection, pretending that the bulge was a weapon until the older said something which caused her to move on. Harper suffered the indignity only because he knew he was helpless to stop them. Then the youngest found his folding knife which she handed to the older. Older looked at it, opened it, tested the edge, then folded and returned it to Harper with a smile. “Ok, so do I get my knife back because you aren’t thieves or because you know I cannot possibly hurt you?”

This elicited a giggle from even the older who rarely smiled so he smiled back and said, “My name is Harper, Ensign Dennis Harper.”

The older said, “Myrmadon.” The younger, “Myra” and blue-hair smiled, rattled something off too quickly for him to understand so she said slowly, “Ayiesha” followed by a hug and a kiss on his cheek. Since she was still naked and he was still erect as she did so, she looked down, giggled again and separated as he covered himself with his hands.

“I’m sorry. I’m not used to this. You see, Hell I don’t know why I am telling you this since you don’t understand a word I’m saying but ThankYou for helping me.” Then he realized, “Every time those .. things came around, you piled on top of me. You were masking my scent or whatever with your bodies! You threw my handgun away to throw them off the trail! I guess I owe you more than I can repay.” He began to shake, the stress of the last day finally getting to him so Ayiesha took him by the hand and led him to the water where she removed his boots, easily unlacing them, and washed and rubbed his feet as he talked. He told them about how a satellite had discovered the island then, somehow the data had been lost, erased from the DoD computers. How the Washoe had been sent to the area to investigate and vanished, followed by the Marriott then by his own ship, the Williams. As Ayiesha rubbed his feet and Myra his shoulders, he relaxed and continued to talk, telling them about how he watched the carrier go down, his friends die and his Lt somehow being pulled to his death and carried away. He spoke of his terror and flight and even his meeting with the three, “I know this sounds strange, hell, telling you this knowing you cannot understand a word I’m saying is strange, but when I saw you three, I couldn’t let those things hurt you. I had to warn you but it seems you didn’t need my help.” He laughed at this, a sound bordering on hysteria until Ayiesha moved up, caressing his flight suit with her brown nipples (the other women had pink nipples) until she found the zipper to his flight suit. She fumbled with it a moment then slid it open, kissing him with a ‘shhh’ and pulling his hands away with her tail as she kissed his neck and ears as she undressed him.

He relaxed, not thinking, as she removed his suit then underwear then, took him into her mouth, returning him to his erect state, stopping only long enough to move back to kiss his lips, gently. He felt her tail caress his cheek as she placed his hands on her breasts and still kissing, slid onto and engulfed him, resting when she could take no more.

Harper caressed her large breasts, tight in her youth, as they kissed and he felt her vaginal muscles begin to squeeze as if she were massaging him with her kegals. Glancing around and embarrassed, he noted that Myrmadon was ignoring them as unimportant while Myra was watching intently, caressing herself and sliding her own tail inside herself, then as Ayiesha began to rise and lower herself, Myra matched her movements with her own tail, her fingers joining to massage her own clit.

Ayiesha made love to Harper, and too soon, he erupted. Ayiesha looked down, disappointed, then smiled and kissed him as he stammered, “I’m sorry. I’m under a lot of stress. I usually last longer…” but she ‘shhhh’ and kissed him, using her muscles to massage him hard again. He then rolled her over and as she lifted her legs to wrap them around his hips, he began to slowly make love to the woman, pushing her tail away as she sought to penetrate him as he was her. “Please, don’t,” he stammered, unfamiliar with that and fearing the stigma of being ‘gay’ were she to slide her tail into his rectum. She laughed, said something to Myra who laughed back, never stopping her own masturbation and Ayiesha moved her hips to encourage him to move again, her tail wrapped around his leg.

This time it lasted longer and he felt her climax a number of times, she screaming with orgasm as she climaxed again. Then she held him on top of her body, whispering soothing but unintelligible words to him as he softened and fell out. She took his face, looked into his eyes, said something that he knew meant “feel better now?” and when he replied, “Yes, thank you, I needed that.” she kissed him and hugged him tight, almost too tight for she could easily have crushed him had she wished. Then Myrmadon said something and Ayiesha pushed Harper off, jumped into the stream, crying out with the cold water and quickly washed herself, including her privates then dressed as Myrmadon handed Harper his clothes.

Not knowing if he was expected to wash too, he decided to wash his genitals and dressed quickly as the cold water caused him to shrink almost out of sight, to the amusement of Myra who looked and asked Ayiesha some question. It appeared that Ayiesha was the more experienced with Myra possibly being a curious virgin.

The group then left and continued on, Ayiesha chatting with Harper as they did. “Arabic! I recognize that from Bahrain. You were speaking Arabic just then! Damn! I wish I had learned some while I was there. Then we could speak together.”

“Ayiesha,” Myrmadon warned. Chastised, Ayiesha lowered her head and apologized then was quiet for the rest of the journey.

“What’s wrong?” Harper asked. “Are you in trouble? All because you speak Arabic? Is that why your skin is darker than theirs? Did some Arab Dhow-boat come here and you are the result? Damn I wish you spoke English. Myrmadon! It’s not her fault! If you must punish someone, punish me.”

Myrmadon stopped, looked at him, sighed, smiled a bit and spoke to Ayiesha as if she were translating for her what he said then Ayiesha stood up and kissed Harper on the cheek in gratitude. “Why do I get the idea that you and Myra understand me but don’t want me to know you do?” Although Ayiesha was quiet the rest of the journey, she was in a better mood.

***

It was dark when they reached a cave and met a man of their race. He was shorter than Harper, maybe five-ten if that, wearing a vest and loincloth from some animal and slowly roasting a large unidentifiable animal over a fire as they approached. Surprised at Harper’s appearance, Myrmadon spoke at length while Ayiesha took over the cooking, occasionally slicing the carcass and sprinkling herbs over the carcass as if she were spicing the meat. When Myrmadon was done, the man looked at Myra who spoke, then to Ayiesha who curtseyed to the man (curtsey?) and spoke as if she were pleading with him. He sighed, spoke back to her then paced for some time, thinking.

“I gather that is your chief? Or maybe your husband or father? Damn, I wish you could speak English.”

The alien male then spoke to Harper in English, “I’m sorry for the loss of your ship. Ayiesha wants me to get you home safely but I’m not prepared to start a war I cannot win and send too many of my Lanai to their deaths to save one human who should not be here.”

“You speak English! Wait! That accent. Ayiesha speaks Arabic, you English with an.. Irish, that’s it, your accent is Irish. What the hell is going on here?”

“Ensign Harper, I am His Grace, Jason Obrien, Baron Drakonis. We are on a scouting mission here to rescue some Galu prisoners. But our presence here in Caspak is tolerated only so long as we respect the technology laws and don’t interfere with their experiment. By saving you, they,” he motioned to the women, “have placed themselves and our Barony at risk.

“So here is the deal. I will do what I can to get you off this island safely but I will NOT risk my people to do so. If you want me to save you, you must help me in return.”

“How?”

“This place never existed. Your naval records will be altered to show your ships went to a different location. You never entered the island. Your helicopter crashed and you managed to get out alive but remember nothing else. You will be watched for the rest of your life and if you reveal the truth, you will suffer an unfortunate accident along with everyone with whom you spoke to keep Caspak safe.”

“What’s so important about this place that you’re willing to murder thousands of people to keep it secret?”

“Nothing actually. It’s not my place and I didn’t murder your friends. The.. well let us say that this place was created by someone who listened a bit too closely to the “Ontology Recapitulates Philogony” theory and created Caspak to test the idea. Previously, they didn’t care if you visited, the first to enter the cliffs being a German submarine during the First World War[*]. Those left without too much interference but the Billing’s mission a year later decimated the western arm of the experiment[**]. Dozens upon dozens of the local natives were killed in an attempt to rescue Tyler who had been marooned here and the experiment was threatened. So the owners of Caspak put their foot down and have been sinking any ship that finds this place to protect it.

“Ensign Harper, if your country discovers this island, the owners of Caspak will simply destroy your country to protect their interests. And since this is not the cinema or television, you won’t win. You have my offer. Take it or leave it.”

“I don’t have any choice. What do I do?”

“Nothing. I’ll contact my people and arrange for you to be picked up. Have dinner and get some sleep.”

Harper walked over to Ayiesha who had been standing next to Myra, looked into her eyes and spoke to her, “Thank you for everything. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”

“She doesn’t speak English,” Myra offered. “German, Hebrew, Arabic and our native Spanglic but not English.”

“I gather you are aliens too, those Vega Lyrans?” Receiving a blank look, he decided that they were from someplace else or native so continued on another track,” Can you translate for me, please?”

“I have been.”

Ayiesha kissed him and he asked, “If I am so dangerous, why did you risk your lives to save me?”

Ayiesha spoke and Myra translated, “Because when you were being chased and found us, your first thought was to help us. We could not abandon one who would risk his own life to save a stranger, even an alien. This is why we protect your world. Because people like you give us hope for your race.”

Harper removed his dog-tags, loosened the one on the smaller chain and handed it to Ayiesha. “Thank you. When you look at this, remember me fondly.” Then, “I don’t suppose you are single?”

Laughing, Ayiesha replied as Myra translated, “I’m only twenty-one and won’t be legal to marry until I am twenty-five. Besides, I have a lover, Tulan, to whom I hope to be betrothed in a few years[***]. But I will think fondly of you.”

“I suppose it was too good to be true. A beautiful, sexy, woman with a kind and gentle personality and she’s taken.” He sighed and kissed Ayiesha on her cheek then moved to look over the island from the cave opening.

***

Jason look Ayiesha’s hand and offered, “I’ll get him out of here. We’ll put him in a life vest and dump him in the ocean far away and send a distress call that sounds like his ship. They’ll find him safe and alive and search for the others so far away that they will never find Caspak. I know I sound cynical at times, but some humans are well worth saving. This is one of them.”

*** ***** ***

They found Harper unconscious in a raft from the Williams three hundred miles south of Hawaii. He claimed to remember nothing of the sinking despite their questioning but when he opened the leg pocket of his flight suit, he found a waterlogged picture of himself and three women, one with brown skin and blue hair, all with eyes, ears and antennae airbrushed out and looking human.

Footnotes:
[*] see: The Land that time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
[**] see: Out of time’s Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Land that Darwin Forgot by David Bozarth
[***] see: A Maiden on Barsoom by Rick Johnson

EXODUS

There were four women who entered the cave. Each was dressed as they chose in pants or skirts, some few wore make-up, all were wearing jewelry that ranged from conservative wedding rings and watches to pentagrams and crystals, one wore so much silver jewelry that the others were afraid to be near her in a lightening storm. Their ages ranged from the mid-thirties to the mid-fifties, their weights from petite to heavy. In all, they were a general cross-section of society. They also carried flashlights and backpacks, the former to lead the group into the darkness, the latter to carry their necessary gear.

The cave itself was shallow and the flashlights were needed only because it was growing dark outside, neither the New Moon nor the Sun setting at the western horizon giving any appreciable light. The iron-ore infused walls of the cave were covered with carvings, some made by long-dead Indians and others more recently by taggers, but the cave was still holy to both Indian and white pagans. The former resenting the latter for what they referred to as ‘stealing our land and now our religion with no knowledge or respect for either’. Near the back was a water seep, moss and insects taking advantage of the cool moisture, lizards eating the insects. The floor was level, mainly with dirt brought in by wind and rain though there were enough rocks to encourage careful steps or shoes.

The leader of the group was the oldest, though not the heaviest, and directed her charges to place candles around the cave and blankets on the floor. “Tonight we will invoke into ourselves the Dark Goddess. Her night is the New Moon, her sacred place a womb-like cave, her attributes being introspection and meditation. Tonight we will call unto her to give us her wisdom.”

Directing the others to sit, she lit the candles calling with each one some aspect of the Dark Goddess. With one she called the Crone of age, with another the Wise Hag, and so on, incense filling the limited confines and the people becoming high on mugwort, the four others repeating her words. Finally, the leader stood, raised her arms and as the first light of red Mars and bright Venus were observed, she called with all the power her twenty years of priestess-hood had developed, “Great Crone, come to us and give to your daughters that which we need! Free us from our bonds and reveal to us your sacred truth!”

With all five focusing their attention and energies to this goal, with centuries of belief in such a holy place, things happened….

ARRIVAL

There was a moment of disorientation and the cave vanished! Replaced with a crevice between some large boulders, a small stream running below that rock upon which the five now stood. A wave of muggy heat struck them at the same time the sun filtered through the overcast morning sky.

Before the women could react, they heard a scream and a large flightless bird, its curved beak easily the height of a person’s head, attempted to leap to their perch. The women screamed in reply though theirs were sounds of terror as the bird sought again to reach its prey.

One of them tossed her backpack into the bird’s maw, slowing it down as the bird shredded the nylon and its contents. The women fell, more than jumped, from the rock into the stream away from the predatory avian. They struggled against the waist-deep current until they reached a low area and collapsed on the grass, then one, the middle aged and heaviest one, screamed again and again, “get them off get them off get them off!”

Her leg had a bleeding scrape and firmly attached were three large leeches, easily six inches long and already growing fat as they fed.

As the leader panicked, another women hurriedly reached into her own pack and yelled, “We need salt, who has the ritual salt?” Then she found the container and began to rub a handful onto the creatures which shuddered and fell off. Their victim crawled away whimpering as the one with the salt smashed the vermin under her shoes. “We have to get out of here!” she yelled as she led her companions away from the water towards the trees.

“Where the hell are we! How did we get here?” Demanded one. “How should I know?” responded another and they argued and cried and made useless small complaints as they walked, staggered and when hearing the cry of some animal, ran blindly. One, the youngest, stumbled over a half-buried log and screamed to no one in particular, “I HATE this fucking place!” then her companions helped her to rise and they continued on in their panic.

***

It was an hour or two later, maybe three or four as they had lost track of time, when they were confronted by three large men armed with stone axes but wearing the hides of some animal. Each was hairy and their Neanderthal appearance would be considered attractive only by those who spent their time around a zoo or a biker bar, but it was obvious that the men found the women desirable, despite their ages and condition of travel. Before the women could react, each had grabbed a woman but the youngest, a small blonde whose strength belied her small size, punched her captor in the throat, kicked him in the shin and broke free to run towards the nearby hills.

The man she felled quickly took up the chase to the laughter of his companions whose prisoners scratched and screamed and kicked but to little effect.

The young blonde tripped again under a tree and rolled over expecting to be captured again when another woman dropped from the tree and stood between the blonde and the man. The newcomer spoke a strange language that the man seemed to almost understand but he growled, shook his fist and stepped forward. The woman was far smaller than the man and less human, or at least she resembled a monkey in the same way the man resembled an ape. The woman was athletic and brown-skinned and hairless save her long blue tresses and she wore a bikini of fur and carried a bow and quiver across her back. She also wore a long knife at her waist but her physical structure was what spoke more. The woman had a long hairless tail that moved as would that of a snake. As she was facing outward, facing the ape-man, no more could be determined. But the woman saw nature being enacted, smaller female monkey facing a far larger masculine ape and she knew that size would win.

The man sought to grab the new-comer but she did little more than grasp and twist his wrist in a move that the blonde recognized as an aikido wrist-lock. As the man screamed from the pain, his companions rushed to his aid. Tossing their prisoners to the ground, they ran to assist their comrade but the newcomer simply kicked her prisoner in the belly and as he fell to the ground gasping for breath, she awaited the others.

One she felled with a side-kick, the other she ducked under his arms and punched in the belly and then all three were down and unable to do more than seek to breathe. The newcomer then called to the four women and led them off into the jungle.

“What are we doing here? At least those men were human?” spoke the eldest.

“But they would have raped us, this monkey-girl saved our asses, we’re better off with her.” And so they argued but still followed despite the new-comers swift gait which led them away before their captors could recover.

Eventually their guide stopped, looked around, then squatted in the grass, making a ‘shhhh’ sound and motioning her companions to follow and hide. Immediately after, a small herd of cattle came free from the trees and crossed their path but what cattle. The cows were far larger and shaggier than any earthly cow with which the four were familiar and the bull had a size and horns that would put a Texas Longhorn to shame. As the herd continued across their path, the bull stopped and glared in their direction for a moment, then they continued on.

The woman kept her troop hid until the herd was long gone which was a good idea as two saber-tooth cats appeared and followed the herd. After all were gone, she stood, looked around carefully and led them onward, again with her quick stride. The blonde, following behind, spent more time staring at the woman’s swinging hips (having fantasies of what that tail could do) than to her own path and so stumbled often.

A few minutes later they reached a stream and the blue-haired woman allowed all to finally rest. As they drank from the fresh-looking water, they looked carefully at their guide who, after filling her belly with water, stripped naked and splashed some on her neck and chest and cheeks. She looked to be about twenty years of age but strange as her prehensile tail was, her other features were more so. Her ears, when she raised her hair to sprinkle water on her neck, were hairless and pointed. She had eyes that had a second vertical membrane that opened and closed as she faced light or darkness exactly as would the eyes of a cat. She also had two moth-like antenna growing from her forehead but other than her brown skin, her build was normally female. Her thick and untrimmed pubic hair was also blue, matching that on her head but she had no hair in armpits, arms or legs, however the women couldn’t tell if that was natural or shaved. She also wore lipstick and subdued eye make-up and had a red burn-scar on her left bicep and a similar one over her ribs behind her breast as if some burning brand had been forced along her arm into her side. They saw that her belly was flat and her breasts large and firm, two facts that immediately made the older women jealous. This girl had obviously never nursed a baby or possessed an ounce of excess fat in her life.

Although the women were not surprised at her feet, the large toe of which grew from her heel and followed the arch of her shapely foot, her hands did give them pause for she had three fingers and two thumbs, the smallest of her fingers was, in fact, the second thumb which caused her to grasp things in an unusual manner. Though undeniably beautiful she was strange to their eyes.

The stranger looked over her charges, replaced her clothing and, touching her heart, said, “Ayiesha!” Then she pointed to the eldest woman and waited. “My name is Carol,” the woman responded. Carol was easily in her mid fifties and her excess weight and stooped figure told of a life of inactivity before a computer. Her hair was moderately short and graying and she wore thick glasses and far too much silver jewelry.

“Carol,” repeated the woman and looked at the next, “I’m Jean,” said the one who had removed the leeches from her companion. Jean had long brown hair that was going to gray and needed a touch-up. Her body was once grand but her belly and hips showed that she had given up exercise. Her face, however, despite the lines of a woman in her forties, was still beautiful.

The one with scraped shin said with some disgust, “Patti,” and was easily in her forties as was Jean. However, Patti had a short mannish hair-style and was far too fat for the exertion that she had endured.

The youngest was the blonde (whose long hair was turning brown) who had almost escaped the savages and said, “Hello, my name is Kitty, and how do you do?”

“Down girl, she may be straight!” said Jean and Kitty sat in a huff. Kitty was in her thirties and still athletic. She had a pretty face and perky attitude that matched her body but like Patti, stank of tobacco and too much perfume and her make-up wasn’t surviving the rigors and humidity of Caspak.

Ayiesha looked them over carefully then sighed and turned away, motioning them to follow as she continued on. The four argued as always about the wisdom of the act but followed anyway and an hour later she led them along the forest along the shore of a huge lake just as the rains began.

The rain was cool but refreshing as all had been suffering from the heat and humidity but the comfort of the cool rain quickly turned to discomfort as their skin temperature dropped and they suffered the risk of pneumonia. “I wonder if that monkey-girl can feel cold?” commented Patti with some irritation. “I think she’s beautiful,” replied Kitty. “You just want into her bikini,” said Jean. “Is sex the only thing you think about?”

Kitty smiled, “What can I say, I like breasts and she has some very nice ones.”

Jean snapped, “That’s what you used to say about mine fifteen years ago.”

Kitty reached over and touched her arm, “I’m sorry, you know I still love you. If I wasn’t married, I wish we could be together.”

The other two ignored this conversation, obviously having heard it many times before. Then, tired, drenched with rainwater that fought with their sweat, they broke against a wall of sticks and vines. The wall was easily twelve feet high and man-made of thick rattan tied from tree to tree, following the natural growth of the forest. Interwoven were other lengths of rattan and vines had been trained to interlace the structure adding not only strength but concealment. Ayiesha walked the perimeter, which wound from tree to tree until she found a place where the women could climb. Ayiesha then easily climbed to the summit assisted by her tail and feet. At the top she looked down and noticing the difficulty of her charges, she returned to the ground, turned away from Jean whose arms she took and wrapped them around her, one over her shoulder, the other under her armpit and, after wrapping her tail around Jean’s waist to secure her, Ayiesha climbed the wall, deposited her charge within and returned for the others, each of which was brought in save for Kitty who being younger and in better shape, managed the climb herself. The fact hat the two overweight women caused Ayiesha little trouble as they were carried impressed them all with the brown woman’s strength.

The inside was mostly covered with a rattan roof frame mostly covered with branches and vines making it hard to see from the sky or ground and in the center of the compound was a large hut with walls of grass as if the builder had seen too many shows about the South Pacific. Off to the side was a fire-pit and closer to the wall facing the lake was a man-made tunnel that led down and under the lake water, which lapped the rocks a hundred feet away.

Ayiesha motioned her charges to wait then she entered the tunnel and vanished in the darkness.

“Now what?” asked Carol. “Do we just wait or make ourselves at home?”

Patti crawled into a waiting hammock and said, “Do what you want, I’m taking a nap,” and did so as Kitty and Jean explored the building. Obviously the structure was simple but just as obviously quickly done, then comforts added as time allowed. The walls were of a rattan frame and covered with overlapping layers of grass and leaves to provide privacy and to deflect rain. The roof was peaked and made to deflect rain into pottery tanks which were currently filled with fresh water.

Entering through one of the two doors, they found the floor covered with thickly woven grass mats that provided some protection from the bare ground. The inside walls had similar woven mats stretched between the frames to provide insulation and decoration and four bed frames stretched with grass ropes and mats and thick furs were against the walls, but most remarkably was evidence of an advanced technology.

“Carol! Patti! Come here and look at this!” Only Carol entered as Patti was fast asleep and what she saw made her gasp. In a rack against one wall were steel swords of obvious foreign make. One was a katana from Japan, below it a heavy European rapier and two light broadswords, one Scottish. They also saw a couple maces, one of which Jean thought she recognized and four heavy bows and quivers of arrows. Canteens made from gourds hung from a peg and there were books made of some material that wasn’t paper as the pages could not be torn or wrinkled and all attempts to crease them resulted in the page unfolding to its original form. The language in which they were written wasn’t English though it used the Latin alphabet though some few were written in what appeared to be Arabic and Hebrew, languages the women could recognize but not read. There were other artifacts that could only be manufactured by an advanced culture, artifacts that included a flash-light that hung from the roof and glowed when Kitty turned the device to reveal an extruding glo-tube. There was even a woven shade affixed to block light from above.

In one alcove was a shower and toilet and sink of a design that resembled something found in a camping store and next to each bed a woven chest and shelves that held clothing spun from cotton and silk and even fur.

“This place looks more like a camp than a home. It’s as if Ayiesha and her three friends were here on vacation or work but planned to leave when the job was done so never bothered to make anything permanent.” Suggested Jean.

“Why do you think four of them?” asked Carol.

“Four beds. Four shelves with clothes. Unless they share, they are four.”

Looking through the shelves, Kitty added, “One man and three women. Good for him, I guess.”

At that time the door opened and in walked Ayiesha and her three companions, the newcomers were white-skinned (paler than Ayiesha) and wearing coveralls, Ayiesha still in her fur. All appeared to be of her monkey-like race though only one was a man. At the sight of him, both Jean and the man gasped, stared at each other then the man turned without a word and left the place.

The older woman, if someone as obviously ageless as she could be called older looked at Jean and demanded in English but with an unidentified accent, “What are you doing here!”

BACKGROUND

They had sent a terra-former to Earth to build SummerIsle inside a timeslip. One day the ocean was empty, the next there was an island a few kilometers across. It had a dual purpose, first to prevent the inevitable Rapture that would soon destroy the Earth and second to give war-wounded Lanai a place to recover away from the pressures of those who were overly grateful for their sacrifices. Of course the local superpowers were scared. Especially when it was discovered that much of the internet and illegal radio/television news about covert activities and illegal dealings was coming from that place. No big-name leader likes his dirty laundry revealed to the world and so many of them sought to invade and destroy SummerIsle to prevent the truth. With a technology a million years ahead of any Earthly nation, they could toss at SummerIsle everything they had forever and the few dozen Lanai on SummerIsle would still win. The only Lanai they even injured was unarmed, wearing a bikini and asking for peace when that Seal Team opened fire with automatic weapons. Black Ops teams never take prisoners or leave witnesses. Even then, she survived to help capture their sub.

BUT, killing the local soldiers would only anger the public and they wanted the public angry at their own leaders, not at SummerIsle. So orders were given to not kill, but imprison the invading soldiers. That isn’t an easy order for Lanai to follow but they did and the multitudes of soldiers captured were placed on prison isles while their families were notified, “If the soldiers are terrorists, we will execute them and mount their heads on pikes but we will leave your homes alone. If you are at war with us, then we will treat the soldiers according to the Geneva Convention but retaliate against your cities. Which is it? So long as your leaders follow their current agenda, someone will suffer. Will it be you and your children or your husbands and sons and brothers?” To date no one had been willing to make a decision and so the soldiers languish on the prison islands while the entreaties of their families go ignored by the governments those soldiers served.

What Jason needed was a vacation and while reading the memoirs of Billings and Bradley, he came across an interesting reference regarding Caspak and the capture of Ga-lu women by Weiroo men. A comment that the Winged Weiroo would kidnap human women and enslave them for a life as breeders. It was a reference that piqued his curiosity and sense of adventure. He had that same feeling when he went to Africa to find King Solomon’s mines as a teen, and the same feeling that caused him to return to the Commonwealth when the Demons returned him, changed, to Earth. It was also that same feeling that had made him risk his life a hundred times to save people he did know. It was, as he put it, “The right thing to do.”

So he collected Myrmidon and Myra for who better in a fight than the Lanai assigned to bodyguard him while on Earth. But he needed someone else. Lanai have no understanding of human emotions and could care less for the needs of his goal. They would fight and die for their Barony but for aliens, even prisoners condemned to a life as a brood-mare, they had no compassion. What Jason needed was a human who could relate.

He couldn’t find a human but he did see Ayiesha. She was born a Weir but her parents were human and she was very close to her grandfather who had been born and raised in Germany and she had never lost her compassion no matter how many battles she fought, so she had the qualities he needed. Plus she was, despite her youth, a decorated Warrior who had proven herself during three wars and numerous battles and highly sexual, as are all Weir. She was perfect IF she would go.

Ayiesha jumped at the chance. She was so bored with the beach that she’d have done anything to see something other than sand and palm trees and the occasional invasion that was stopped as easily as she would brush away a fly. After fighting the Shitai, human wars were laughably easy.

So they took a shuttle to Caspak and settled in.

Caspak wasn’t natural. It was, like SummerIsle, manufactured as a biological experiment some time ago though no one knew it that was hundreds of thousands of years or millions of years ago. The Reptilians who built the place saw Earth as their own property and planned to return soon to reclaim their world. Jason and the Barony of Drakonis was assigned to protect the planet simply because a third of the Barony came from Earth. But neither side wished a war so a truce was made. A fragile truce, but better than war. What would happen with the arrival of the reptilian fleet, no one could say. Jason’s task was to stop humanity from destroying itself. Being destroyed by another star-traveling race wasn’t in the deal.

Jason couldn’t take any high tech gear because of the treaty and non-interference pact but they managed to get a few small things in so long as they were discrete about it. Besides, to his mind, having to work and risk life and limb for the goal would be more fun than just sending in a starship to level the city and rescue the captives. It’s like fishing. Jason grew up in Ireland using all the technology they had to pull Cod out of the North Atlantic but his father said that to enjoy fishing, use a line, a hook and a beer under a tree.

So they landed in secret and built the compound under the watchful eyes of the Reptilians who secretly wanted an excuse to war. So the Weir and Lanai pretended that they were alone and used primitive tools and means to build their home. The Reptilians didn’t really care if the Weiroo were exterminated, they were just a flaw in the experiment to test if Ontology Recapitulated Philogony. For a race that had abducted entire species of Hominids and Humans from Earth and used them as a base to create the Gray Race, they were remarkably unable understand basic Terran biology. But then, the Demons who had created the Weir Race from abducted Human stock were had the same problem.

Building the compound wasn’t hard work but it put them to sleep at night and digging the tunnel kept them busy during the day. There was the occasional attack by saber-tooth cat or Dire Wolf-pack but most of the time the aliens simply climbed a tree and waited them out. An anatomy created for interstellar travel worked equally well in the forest. And eventually the Reptilians got tired of spying and left. That was when they snuck in the Digger and began the real work.

Ayiesha preferred to be kept busy hunting and farming as she was better than the others were at that. Lanai don’t hunt or fish and Jason disliked killing without reason so they let the farm-girl do that work. Besides, she would regale the group with a tale of barely escaping a smilodon or a raptor pack or an allosaurus or some other denizen of Caspak that had become extinct elsewhere long ago. Jason truly believed that she loved these hunts and would go out even when they needed no food. And Ayiesha in bed was far more enjoyable than Myra or Myrmidon who serviced Jason’s body more as a duty rather than a pleasure. A duty similar to that of a Warrior who was now a manual laborer.

Then one day Ayiesha entered the tunnel in her fur bikini that she wore outside the compound instead of her coverall uniform that they wore inside to remain clean. Jason and the Lanai were a few kilometers in and adjusting the digger for the next run when she interrupted. Curtseying, she said, “My Lord, I have something of interest to describe. I was on patrol when I found three Kro-Lu capturing four women from the outer world. The women spoke English only, which I cannot speak, so rather than misunderstand them and being unwilling to leave them to the depredations of the Kro-Lu, I rescued them and brought them here. I managed to avoid killing the Kro-lu and don’t think I was followed so when you wish, the women are in the compound awaiting your pleasure.”

The group turned the Digger off, checked the new tunnel for fractures and then left to see what the blue-haired girl had found. And that’s when Jason saw Jean. She was the person he was sent to Earth to stop from meeting ‘him’. But he never counted on loving her. When the Brits killed Kore and his children in Ireland, he went crazy and rebuilt their house on a foundation of English heads. When Jean left him for the one man Jason was sent to stop, he went crazy, turned that anger within himself. He had not only failed in saving Earth and preventing Jennifer’s birth, he had lost someone to whom he had given a piece of his soul. Her smile made his life shine, her betrayal destroyed his existence and now she was here! He had thought that he was over her when the Skylark arrived from the timeslip and Myrmidon and he rescued Myra and contacted Drakonis for rescue. He had left Earth then and made conditions for his return that he knew the Commonwealth would not meet. If he never returned to Earth, the world would be destroyed and he would die and not by my hand. She would be dead too so he would then be free to live again. But the Triads had agreed and he was stuck. He had to return to Earth, to save it and them from both the Reptilians and the Earthers themselves and like a good Warrior, he did his job.

And now she was here. Older, fatter, grayer and still beautiful enough to make his heart skip. And she was looking at his tail, his ears and eyes, even his antennae for while they were married, he had kept his Weir nature a secret from her, partly because Jean was a racist who would refuse to associate with a ‘non-human’ (she even saw Black Americans as lesser-beings) and also in keeping with the non-interference policy.

DAMN!!!!! Jason wish that the Goddess had given Drakonis profanity! When Weir swear, they must steal words from other religions that have no meaning for them and so we are denied the emotional release of obscenity. “What the hell are you doing here!” then without waiting for an answer, he turned and returned to the tunnel.

EXPLANATIONS

“Myrmidon…,” Jean started then tried again. “I don’t know. We were doing a woman’s ritual in an old Indian cave when suddenly we were here, being chased by some giant bird that wanted to eat us. Where are we?”

The women looked at the three before them, seeing the similarities and differences to Ayiesha. Myrmidon was an alien woman of the same race as Ayiesha in that she was human-like, but possessing that same three-foot prehensile tail, hairless save her head (and probably pubes too), ape-like feet, pointed ears, cat-eyes and moth-like antennae. But where Ayiesha was friendly and smiled with her entire body, Myrmadon was much sterner. She was exotically beautiful with very high cheekbones framed by long brown hair that was tied back. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties though her eyes looked older because of the wars she had fought, and she had an impressive body that most human women would pay thousands of dollars to build. One with a small waist which was offset by large breasts and curvy hips.

Her companion, obviously younger and appearing to be near the end of her teens, who had darker hair, a rounder face and smaller breasts, stood nearby observing the action with considerable interest. Both were wearing coveralls which had an extra ‘leg’ for their tails as did Jason and all were covered with sweat and dust as if they had been recently mining.

Myrmidon motioned to the other and said something in a foreign language, which caused the younger woman to run from the building. “You will know what His Grace wishes you to know when His Grace wishes you to know it. If Ayiesha returns you to the place where she rescued you, can you find the exact place where you arrived?”

Jean thought a moment and answered, “I don’t think so. We were scared and running and didn’t pay attention to anything but staying alive. Please tell me what’s going on?”

“Remain here with Ayiesha.” And then Myrmidon turned and also left the building.

Ayiesha looked at Jean carefully and critically as if she were judging a rival then walked to one wall, deliberately wiggling her hips and swaying her tail. Once there, she ignored all questions as if she was ignorant of English, then stripped naked and stepped into an alcove that had a grill for a floor. She then pulled a lever and as water poured down, washed herself with a sponge and soap ignoring the door that she had left open. Her eyes never left Jean even as she scrubbed herself, lingering over her flat and perfect belly and especially her large and firm breasts as if to say, “I am the more beautiful and have the body you can never again own. Then when done, she dried with a towel, walked to a bunk, again swinging her hips, and dressed in a lacy silk bra that was designed to be torn off for she had no need for support, plus lacy underpants, which she followed with a dress that exposed her cleavage and knees. This was followed by shoes that had thick three-inch heels and a sleeve for her tarsial toe, the result being an attempt to make an ape’s foot look sexy in pumps. She then turned away for the first time and adjusted her minimal make-up, all the time watching Jean in the mirror.

Carol finally spoke up, “Jean, what the fuck is going on here! Who are these people and how do you know them?”

“That man,” replied Jean, “is my ex-husband, though back when we were married, he was human and not like he is now. I heard stories that he was abducted by aliens, changed into what we saw and became some sort of military big-wig in space but never believed them. Myrmidon and Myra are his soldiers and lovers. I met them once but they were human too and we never got along because by then, there was too much anger between me and Jason. I have no idea of what is happening now or who Ayiesha is or how we got here.”

Ayiesha then spoke up and in very broken English said, “Myrmidon and Myra not iya Devi lovers, Iya be!” Then she sauntered over to Jean and looked her from head to toe. Apparently deciding that the older woman was no competition, she laughed and said, “You all; power, Marks, position. Then you kill Ground. Near kill Ey Devi!” And with that she turned and stalked from the hut as Jean yelled after her, “I didn’t know!”

Jean collapsed onto a chair and cried as Kitty sought to comfort her. Carol just looked at them all then left the hut to find the area deserted save for Ayiesha walking the perimeter carrying a spear. “Ayiesha!” called Carol. “I need to know what’s going on here. Who are you all? What are you doing here? How and why did you bring us here and where is here? Tell me!”

Ayiesha stopped, looked at her and wrapping her tail around the spear, she released her hand and grabbed Carol by her arms. She easily lifter the larger and heavier woman off the ground and said, “You not being here. Best all die. Save all.” Then she dropped Carol, took the spear in her hands again and continued her patrol in angry silence.

“Patti, wake up. Something’s happening.” Carol shook Patti awake.

Groggy, she barely managed to ask “what?”

“There are aliens here. Aliens from another planet. Jean’s ex is one of them. I think they plan to conquer the earth. We need to stop them.” And Carol took Patti inside where Jean just sat there ignoring everyone and Kitty looked over everything.

“Jean, tell us what you know. Are these people dangerous? How can we stop them?”

Jean looked up and said, “They are more dangerous than you can imagine. If the stories are true, he can destroy this planet and no one could stop him. I think that we are still alive only because he thinks he can get me back.”

“Explain this again. Only this time slowly.”

“Years ago I met Jason in California. He was giving a lecture that I attended. He was some Irish Patriot who was in the Air Force and he wrote me poetry. I fell in love with Jason and we got married. Then…. You know that next part. He went to war and left me behind so I got pregnant by Josh and Jason couldn’t take it and I ran away with Josh. I was angry with him. Jason that is. He didn’t fight for me hard enough or I would have stayed with him. Josh cheated on me always and I hated Jason for that. Then… I left Josh but was too angry with Jason to go back so….

“It was last year that I saw him again. I was hiking with Mark when I saw Jason and Myrmidon on a hill we planned to camp on but they were both human then. Jason got angry, grabbed Mark by the throat and was going to throw him off the cliff when Myrmidon called to him in some foreign language so Jason dropped Mark as if he wasn’t important. Jason was in his fifties or sixties by then but looked so young and fit it was as if he aged backwards.

“Then the sky opened and that space-ship appeared and crashed. They pulled Myra from the wreckage and tried to ignore me. Myra was an alien, like Ayiesha, and Myrmidon breathed in something from the ship and went into a fit of some sort. So Jason put a space suit on, entered the ship and dragged Myra out. When they recovered, they fixed the ship and tried to get it airborne. Jason told me that if Mark remained or said anything, he’d kill him and make it messy and I believed him. By then they were both carrying alien weapons of some sort and had mounted some big laser on the hull. They were afraid that the government would try to take the ship and Myrmadon casually mentioned that if the government actually took their ship, Jason would destroy Earth to stop us from duplicating their technology.

Then they got the ship in the air and floated away. I found them a couple days later in Vegas. They had landed the ship in an empty lot, put up signs announcing that they were a Special Effects company and were repairing the space ship in the open, but people thought it was some movie set.” Jean laughed at that.

“Eventually I learned that he had been taken by some alien race called the Demons, changed into an alien, what you saw, and moved to some planet across the Galaxy where he fought a big war and helped colonize an alien planet where he became their Baron or King or something of the sort. Then he was asked to return to Earth to stop us from destroying the planet. I never believed it and felt that the crash was just some movie special effects he faked to get me back.

“I couldn’t handle it and I refused to give up my anger because I never forget and never forgive so I left again and never saw him until today.”

“Then what are they doing here and how did we get here?” asked Kitty.

“I don’t know!” Jean shouted. “You think I know everything! I don’t! I don’t know who these Demons are! I don’t know what these Aliens are! I don’t know how to stop the Earth from being destroyed! I don’t know anything!”

CONSPIRACY

Myra was behind Jason not even breathing hard. When the Lanai were designed as super-soldiers to defend the Barony, Jason built them better than the Demons had when they changed humanity and created the Weir race. Jason yelled, screamed, punched the walls and through it all, Myra just stood there watching. She was less than five years old being birthed from her tank shortly before the Pirate War so she had no combat or life experience even though she looked eighteen and was better trained than any Earthly soldier. But her lack of experience prevented her from helping Jason or even understanding why he was angry. She was a Warrior, not a companion and didn’t understand sympathy so thought the ideal solution was to kill the five women right now.

Finally Myrmidon arrived and did what she knew was required. She threw Jason against a wall so hard he saw stars. Jason fought back and really tried to hurt her but Myrmidon was twenty years old and had fought too many wars and knew how to fight and that experience added to her strength that surpassed even that of Jason won out. Finally, exhausted by combat, she simply threw him to the ground, pulled his coveralls off and raped him. Wildly, passionately and violently she rode him until he climaxed. Then she held him as he cried and grew soft inside her.

Jason knew that she had faked the passion but he still needed the fantasy that someone cared for him, loved him. He knew that Myrmidon respected him as a Warrior and a leader and would gladly fight for him, kill for him and even die for him as she had before, but she was Lanai and so incapable of love for anyone other than her sisters in arms.

Through this all Myra stood taking mental notes. She had turned the machinery off and watched Myrmidon beat the crap then fuck the shit out of her Baron knowing that she should have done that herself but not knowing how.

Calmed by the exercise and emotional release the three left the tunnel, they holding his hands because he needed that closeness, then when they reached the compound, Jason asked, “Ayiesha, would you please make us some dinner? I believe that we have guests for a while so please try to avoid the urge to poison them.”

Ayiesha was the best cook of the four as Lanai don’t care what they eat and Jason had spent so many years on so many planets that he had little appreciation for good food, so Ayiesha cooked for herself and the rest simply pretended to enjoy her efforts. Now she had an audience to show off for and she hoped that they would appreciate her cooking. Still, she thought, poison would solve a lot of the new problems that had just arrived.

Jason took a shower, trying to ignore Jean though she did notice the recent scratches on his chest and bruises on his body then, when cleaned up a bit and feeling more ‘human’, he dressed and tried to make conversation with the women who were intruding on his vacation and forcing him back into the role of leader. But the questions he asked, about how they arrived, were not the ones they could answer and he refused to answer the ones they asked.

Finally Ayiesha arrived with the dinner plates and Jason finally noticed that she looked HOT! Sexy! A corpse would have wanted her. And Jason also noticed that both Myra and Myrmidon were looking especially attractive. They were even wearing lipstick and nail polish, something that Lanai never do unless required by duty for Lanai neither date nor marry so they are excused the care a human or Weir woman uses to attract a man. Jason had no idea of what or why but, like any man anywhere, figured that he’d be told why they were doing that when the time came but for now, he would enjoy the show.

DINNER AND BED

Ayiesha, the blue-haired girl, looked young but unlike the other two monkey-women, she smiled and chatted. This was someone who could be prompted to give information that the other women were too guarded to reveal. So Carol took Kitty by the arm and the two offered to help Ayiesha make dinner. Kitty was very liberal about her bed-mates and would do anything to make that girl like her and straight or gay or bi, all women liked attention. And Kitty had a talent for making people like her and open up.

Ayiesha looked at them then relaxed and said, “Please, thanks much. Dishes there.” And so Carol began her self-appointed task to teach Ayiesha English and to pump her for information. Not once did it occur to Carol to even try to learn Ayiesha’s language, which was a mistake she would not have the sense to regret.

Ayiesha, however, learned English quickly. Like all Weir, she was a natural linguist and already spoke her own Spanglic language, the German, French, Hebrew and Yiddish and even Arabic of her grandparents, plus a few non-human ones so it was simply a matter of vocabulary once she had the sentence structure figured out and accepted the almost total lack of declension and conjugation in the English language. She also had learned some from a British couple on SummerIsle and an American Naval Ensign a few weeks before so had some background already. What the women didn’t realize was that Ayiesha’s antenna also gave her some telepathic ability which was enhanced by touch. So she could hear a word, estann an image of the concept and she would rarely forget. So even listening to a conversation in which she wasn’t involved, she could increase her vocabulary and practice in her mind.

Finally, Ayiesha couldn’t take their ignorance any longer and taking Carol and Kitty aside as the meal cooked, she tried to explain, “My Lord Baron has much power, strength. You, we, show respect for him. When you see, you … this,” and she curtseyed. She made the women repeat the curtsey until they were passable then continued. “I, Myrmidon, Myra, fighters… soldiers…. Much honour given us. We have much power. I, we all curtsey to my Lord, you all curtsey to us. If one of you has power, others curtsey to her. Know this?”

Carol tried to understand, “You have a class society. Jason is your Baron and Lord so everyone has to curtsey to him and call him ‘my lord’. Ok, I can understand that. But this business of you three being warrior class and so are better than I am is hard to accept. Why should we curtsey to you just because you can fight?”

Ayiesha tried to explain. “We Warriors fight and die so you not. We give we life keep you life. Without we fight, bad invade, kill, take and eat you and children. We live and fight and die so you can live. For that sacrifice, you show us honour.” Then she pulled her shoulder strap down and revealed her left side. What Carol had originally thought was a birthmark on her arm she now saw was a terrible scar that covered her bicep and part of her ribcage. “Shitai enter Drakonis, try to kill and eat us all, try to kill My Lord and me and Myrmadon on Sothis. They kill 3 …” she ran her finger along her ribs and took the word from Carol’s mind, “ribs and lung and muscle. I near die. Myrmidon hurt too here (she touched her belly) and My Lord here (she ran her hand over her shoulder and neck). If we did not stop Shitai, all of Drakonis would be feeding Shitai young and Shitai would come to here to eat you. Many of us die to stop the Shitai from eating our family and your family. If you not honour us, why we die for you?”

Carol began to realize that much of she thought about war was wrong. She had been young when her boyfriend and brother had been drafted and sent to Vietnam, one to never return, the other scarred for life. And now here was a girl, as young as her brother but just as willing to die to make her family safe. Vietnam and every war since was, in her eyes a useless waste of humanity yet from what she heard Ayiesha say and what she learned here she could almost understand that sometimes, war was necessary and you had to treat the soldiers with respect or they’d simply stop fighting. Her brother didn’t fight for her safety, but Ayiesha did. Carol was almost crying when she stood up, curtseyed to Ayiesha and said, “I don’t completely understand but thank you for your sacrifices.”

That was when Ayiesha smiled at her and relaxed. Such a simple act that could be so important.

Carol tried to continue, “You have a class society with the nobles on top then the warriors. What next?”

“No,” Ayiesha replied. “Teachers, Priests, Warriors, Healers on top. They give we better life. Then below sellers, Merchants. Then Peasants like my family, farmers. Then last are without class. I was Peasant. Farm girl but I wanted more so became Warrior. My Lord is Baron and Warrior but still Warrior Class and not Teacher Class. Myra and Myrmidon are Lanai, made to be Warrior for all time. I fight with Myrmidon and follow Jason on Sothis. Killed together, watched friends die in our arms together. Battle-Sisters. Myrmidon and My Lord was born to be a Warrior, I chose, asked to be Warrior. I curtsey to teachers and merchants curtsey to me. My family has much pride for my life but also much fear for my soon death. But I do it to make them safe. To stop the pirates, the Shitai, to keep the Green Pirates away. For this they give me honour and for them will I die someday.”

“Then why are you here?”

“The Kris destroyed this world in your not now, our then. My Lord was sent here now to stop the Kris and save your world. But the Kris have many… much power. Many of your leaders follow the Kris hoping for power. They know the Kris will destroy all but they follow for some power while alive. We are here to stop them but cannot … make you act, be different. You choose to live or die, we can only guide and hope. SummerIsle is to give knowledge so you can choose well. We are here to protect the teachers who do this.”

“God Damn it!” she yelled. “The fucking politicians are selling us out! They don’t care who dies. They didn’t care about the boys who died in Vietnam or Bosnia or anywhere so long as they make a few bucks and now they are betraying us to some aliens for a few pieces of silver. You should just clean them all out.”

“No,” Ayiesha said calmly. “The Kris are not aliens, they are humans, Dirt people… Earthers… Earthlings. They left Earth a thousand years ago and almost destroyed us. We fought them back and now we must keep them here. But you are helping the Kris too. When you allow evil to happen, when you allow poison in the air or water, when you allow your nation to invade another, you help the Kris for that is their way. My Papay, my grandfather was Jew rescued from Dachau Death Place during your Earth War Two. He said all needs for evil to win is for good people do nothing. Good people did nothing as he was put into that … place to go to Death Place. How many times did you do nothing last moon?”

And with that Ayiesha turned away to care for the meal. She never noticed Kitty crying and Carol left to find Jean and Patti.

Jean approached Jason and asked, unable to look him in the eye, “Why didn’t you tell me you were an alien?”

He looked at her and said sadly, “You are a Southern Belle. You still think blacks aren’t human and enjoyed slavery and you won’t associate with most foreigners. Had you known about me, you wouldn’t have even talked to me. Besides, I’m not really an alien, I’m the same Irishman you think I am, ... only I was... changed by aliens to be something better than human, something that could work aboard their starships. They just didn’t understand human desires and emotions so they left those mostly alone. Unfortunately, they also enhanced my passions. I feel emotions stronger. I love more, desire harder, feel anger and hope and depression far stronger than before and that made it hurt all the more when you left.” He then looked at her and said, “I never stopped loving you, I only stopped trusting you.” and he left the hut. Kitty could hear him punching wood for a very long time, something she remembered he did to ease tension.

***

When dinner was ready, Jason called them all together. He then raised a plate of food as Myrmidon raised a bowl of drink and he recited a prayer in his foreign language, then he took a bit of food, crumbled it and tossed it into an empty bowl as Myrmidon did the same with a bit of drink. This bowl was then placed near the center of the table and Ayiesha began to serve the group their meal.

As the food was being passed around and Myra and Ayiesha added libations with a prayer, Ayiesha in Hebrew, as he continued in English. “You need to know a few things about us if you are to survive here. I can get you back home but it’ll take awhile to make arrangements. Maybe days or weeks. Until then, you must accept that you are no longer in America. Within this compound, you are on Drakonis and so Drakonian Law and Custom hold sway. Outside this compound, you and we follow the customs and laws of Caspak.

“First of all is courtesy. I expect you to be polite to my Warriors. Show them the respect that they deserve. If you want to talk about something important, excuse yourself for interrupting and curtsey to them. You also curtsey to me. Just follow their lead to me and you should do ok.

“NEVER lie or steal. If you do, you will probably have your hand or tongue cut off. Lanai don’t have many possessions but what they do have are theirs and you don’t touch another’s property.

“If you have questions, ask. We understand that you are aliens who are ignorant of our ways so we will cut you some slack, but not much. I am the only one who understand you but don’t assume that I’ll cut you any slack because of that. My first responsibility is to my people, then to my mission then, if I have time and inclination, to you. This means that you four are expendable.

“As far as what we are doing here, some women have been kidnapped and we are trying to rescue them. The kidnappers are somewhat nasty sorts and won’t hesitate to kidnap and rape you either, so be careful and don’t get out of sight of us. Our job is to protect you. And by showing us the proper respect, bowing and curtseying, you will make us WANT to protect you. Your respect is our pay for risking our lives for you.

“This is NOT a resort hotel. It’s a military camp with me the commander, Myrmidon my assistant and Myra and Ayiesha the army. No matter what you think, remember that we are military so military law rules here.

“We’ve built rain collectors and solar heaters in the trees for water but it’s limited and designed for the four of us so until we can increase the collectors, water is rationed to one short shower a day. And by short I mean that from now on, you rinse with a rag. I would suggest that when it rains, you run outside with soap and shampoo and take advantage of the water. And by the by, we make our own soap here so don’t waste it.

“Food isn’t limited as Ayiesha is a good hunter and she and I are farmers so we have plenty of meat and vegetables. I would suggest that you share the cooking and cleaning among you to take the pressure off Ayiesha. It’ll also help pay for your stay here. Also there are mosquitoes, ticks and all sorts of bugs here. Your best defense is to stink. So eat lots of garlic. It’ll keep you alive.

“Oh and finally, as you can see, there isn’t any privacy here. Soldiers don’t need it so get used to it or make your own huts. We’ll help you as we can but our primary job is digging that tunnel so we can rescue the women and if that means that we pee in public. Well, their lives are more important than your modesty. Any questions?”

The only important question that the women asked was this, “How do we know that you aren’t trying to conquer the Earth?” to which he replied, “Because we haven’t! We’ve known about Earth for a thousand years. If we wanted this planet, we would have taken it when your most advanced weapon was some oversized kitchen cutlery. Besides, we need you alive.”

“Alive?” asked Kitty. “Just what does that mean?”

Jason laughed at this. “I was born on Earth as were Ayiesha’s grandparents. Our population back home is too small to support our lands so we increase our population by inviting your people to immigrate to Drakonis. Those who do so, live a better life than they had on Earth but the catch is that their grandchildren will be Weir like Ayiesha. So at any one time, about a third of the total population of Drakonis is composed of humans who have immigrated from Earth. That’s why we need you alive. Without Earth to give us its excess people, we wouldn’t have had the resources to stop the Shitai or Morgor or any of the others who invade our lands.”

Not much else was said over dinner save the usual small talk and after cleaning up and washing the dishes immediately (to keep vermin away) everyone was so tired that they all entered the hut for the night save Myra who was on watch. The four women were given extra mats and given a choice of the floor or a hammock but as the lights went out, the women could clearly see Ayiesha crawl into Jason’s bed and begin to tease him.

“Why are you here?” Jason asked in Spanglic so no one would understand. The Lanai didn’t matter.

“Because, My Lord, I want this!” she reached down and began to stroke his erection, gently.

“No, not that. And not while they are watching. Why here on Caspak?”

Sighing, but not willing to stop, she kept teasing the man as she explained, “SummerIsle is so dull and boring! It’s dull. No boys, no real sex, no dances or parties. There isn’t anything to do but play Chess and Go and soccer and sleep on the beach. If I didn’t get out, I’d go crazy!”

“Stop that! Keep your hands and tail to yourself. Then why volunteer for SummerIsle?”

She slid forward until her outer lips were against his erection, she was already wet and spoke as she slid against him without engulfing his manhood, rubbing his length along her outer lips, his head striking her clit as she did so.

“Tulan and I were practicing my fencing skills when we got the messages. Not mending fences which on my parent’s farm were ALWAYS in need of repair, what with the dragons coming down from the mountains in the Winter to eat our sheep and the rundis knocking them down in the Spring when they shed and used the fences as scratching posts. I mean he was teaching me more tricks with a sword. I know that as a Warrior I needed to know how to fight with all sorts of weapons but somehow I never liked swords, they remind me of slaughtering livestock and I gave that up when I left the farm and stopped being a peasant girl. Give me a beamer any day.

“But Tulan was being called back to Barsoom to hunt some synthetic Hormads that had been attacking his kingdom and he didn’t want me to go with him for fear I’d get hurt. Dear man, I may be only 22 and a twentieth his age but I am STILL a decorated Warrior who survived three wars and dozens of battles on a half dozen worlds. But I love him for his worry and his wish to care for me.

“My message wasn’t like his. It was how Your Grace had been called before the Triads of the Commonwealth to explain how you failed to stop the Kris from destroying Terra. You said that you were a Warrior sent to do the job of a diplomat and if they wanted you to save Terra, they needed to let you do it your way. They agreed. And when you began looking for volunteers to staff SummerIsle, you wanted to give Red-Cords the first chance and as I earned my red cord being wounded on Sothis, I had the chance to go to Terra.

“Tulan said that Terra’s technology is so primitive that their best slug-throwers wouldn’t scratch my armor and even their stealth fighters glow on our scanners so compared to the Shitai or Kizinti threats, he’d feel better with me safe on Terra. He is such a dear. Sometime I wish I were old enough to marry him.

“So I did what I always do with a difficult decision, I went to my grandfather for advice. After all, he had been born on Terra, fought for Germany during their Great World War, been imprisoned in a Concentration Camp by the Nazis during their Second World War and rescued by Colonial before they could gas him. If anyone knew about Terra and what I could expect, he would, so I took Tulan to Papay, who was never comfortable with me taking an alien for a lover but then, Papay is human and I am Weir and to him even I am an alien but I love him anyway and I know he loves me despite my physical appearance, my sexuality, my profession and my refusal to be a good Jewish housewife.

“Papay thought my going to Terra was a good idea. He said that it would do me good to see the ‘homeworld’. Only Colonists who were born there and their children called Terra the ‘homeworld’. To the rest of us, Terra is simply a really bad place where our grandparents escaped from to the loving arms of Gaea. We name our planet after The Goddess, the Terrans name theirs after dirt which says it all.

“Then Papay said that he would like to see Germany once more before he died but of course, being a peasant farmer neither he nor his children could afford to send him there. And that’s what made my decision! One of the advantages of being a Warrior is that I can use military transport and military StarGates AND bring my family with me. That’s how I could bring Tulan across all those thousands of parsecs from Barsoom to Gaea and back again and that’s how I’d let Papay see Germany again. I’d volunteer for SummerIsle and simply bring Papay with me then take some leave and accompany him to Germany.

“I was sitting at my pulse laser, naked and trying to tan my skin evenly when the Base-Commander arrived. She said that you were going off to some island called Caspak to rescue a bunch of kidnapped humanoid women and wanted some assistance. Myrmidon and Myra were going with you but you wanted someone else with more empathy and as I was the only non-Lanai on SummerIsle, she wanted me to go too. I guess that after being kept as breeding-slaves, the women would need someone who could be kinder than a Lanai who had come from a vat and don’t understand love or hate. I had fought with Myrmadon on Sothis and served with her on the Flavian so knew her well but Myra was new and inexperienced and I new nothing of her.

“Does this feel good? I think that I look very pretty down there and know I feel good, all the boys tell me so even though I am brown outside and pink inside. Wouldn’t you like for me to rise up a dozen centimeters and slide down your shaft so slowly… Ouch! You don’t need to slap my ass like that… unless you want too.

“Anyway, how could I say no? Aside from an occasional invasion by the Terrans, nothing was happening but watching the crabs and swim and sail with the occasional visitor and this promised some excitement.

“So I packed my gear, some extra clothes and make-up though why I’d need a dress and make-up on an island like this is beyond the understanding of the Lanai, but when you’ve been dressing like a Warrior for four years, you need things like this to remind you that you are still a woman. And so we left SummerIsle for Caspak.

“I’m glad I came as most of my duties are mostly dealing with food and sex, both of which I excel at. Are you certain? Can’t you feel my wetness on you? Soon you’ll have to change your bedding, it will be so soaked and really, they clean better if we mix male-seed with woman-moisture. Ok, ok!”

“And the humans?” he asked.

“The humans? You can think of someone else while I am… ok, but caress my breasts while I finish. Not just my nipples which are aching for your lips, but the sides too. I have nerves all over them.

“I was on patrol when I saw some Axe-men hunting so I followed them out of boredom.

“Well, the Kro-lu were ugly! I thought humans were too hairy with their beards and hairy chest but these looked like they had fur all over their bodies. I couldn’t imagine the smell or the stink if they wanted to mate or got wet in the rain. And these were my ancestors! Once again I thanked the Demons for changing my human grand-parents so I would be born Weir.

“About then a group of four human women from the outside broke into the open area. I don’t know who was more startled, the Kro-lu when they saw four ‘Ga-lu’ women almost run into them or the women when they saw what they thought were ‘cave men’ or me for seeing European women on Caspak. The overflight we did didn’t reveal any aircraft and the sheer cliffs were 400 meters high so they couldn’t have climbed those and even in this time, human women never traveled in remote areas without male protection.

“I was wondering what to do when the three Kro-lu captured the women. One of them, a small but feisty blonde punched her captor out and ran for freedom, which happened to be towards my tree. That was when I decided. As she passed underneath, I dropped to block her from the pursuing Kro-lu and as he grabbed for me, I used a wrist-lock to stop him. Women are only 66% as strong as a man but Weir are four times as strong as humans which made me far stronger and faster than the Kro-lu and despite his size and appearance, he was still just another human so I could easily disable him but then his companions released their prisoners and attacked me too.

“I could easily have killed them all but you insisted that we cause as little impact as possible so I felled them as gently as I could, then I gathered the frightened women and led them away before the Kro-lu could recover and give chase.

“I had to go slower than I wanted because the humans were tired and weak so as soon as I could find water, I gave them rest. I was sweating too from the humidity so stripped to wash off and looked my companions over. I tried to speak to them in Spanglic, then Arabic and was about to try French and German but they didn’t understand me and it was plain that they only spoke English which I could understand a little but still had difficulty speaking. So I introduced myself and learned that their names were Carol, Patti, Jean and Kitty. Kitty, the small blonde girl was obviously interested in me but she stank of that tobacco drug so I couldn’t get close enough to her to breathe and wouldn’t do so until she was clean and smelled decent. One of the other women stank of it as well and I wondered how anyone could tolerate the drug or those who were addicts.

“It began to rain so I deliberately led them in a way that would help them wash away most of the stink and only when most of the smell was gone did I take them to the compound. It was obvious that none of them could climb well, so I had to carry three of them over but Kitty managed to climb the wall at the easiest place. Once inside I left them and went to tell you what happened and the rest you know. I’m about to climax right now and if you put that inside here, I can have a big one and even you can. Really! I can feel you are ready to explode and I’d prefer it inside where it belongs and not wasted all over my belly and face.”

It didn’t take long for Jason to submit defeat and before anyone could fall asleep, he had flung Ayiesha to her back and was taking her fast and hard. Although Myrmidon was already asleep, Ayiesha was making so much noise that she kept everyone else awake and the act seemed to last forever.

Kitty was sitting there watching and touching herself but Jean just looked angry and tried to cover her ears.

Finally it was over and Jason fell asleep holding Ayiesha who stared at Jean then when Jason began to snore, left the bed, reached between her legs and then tasted what Jason had left inside her, making certain that Jean saw every motion. Then she wrapped a robe around herself and left the building followed by Jean and Kitty.

***

“So this was the infamous Jean. The former wife of my Baron.” Ayiesha thought. “The one who had betrayed him and convinced the Terrans to abandon and hinder his efforts to stop the Kris. Because of her, the world of Terra would die and we were forced to impose a military presence to save the planet. And from His Grace’s attitude and aura, he was still in love with her.”

She looked her over carefully and couldn’t see why. True she had a decent chest and His Grace always did love breasts but humans sag with age and His Grace likes them firm. And her cheekbones were high but her hair was graying, her hips, thighs and belly were going to fat and her aura showed a life of dissipation and corruption and too much stubbornness to allow the Goddess to shine through.

For some reason Ayiesha was jealous. Oh, it wasn’t love or affection because she truly loved Tulan and planned to marry him when she was old enough so what she shared with His Grace was simply sex, just something to do at night to relieve stress. No, this jealousy must be for the task at hand. For her he was willing to abandon the Barony and that must NEVER be!

That was why she decided to slut herself up a bit. Perhaps if she acted more beautiful than the older human, perhaps she could break this hold Jean had on the Baron and he would be free to pursue happiness elsewhere. Happiness that would ensure a Baronial Dynasty back home with the resulting security for them all. Now Ayiesha understood why His Grace had never married on Gaea. He was still unwilling to stop loving this… this Lop-Tailed Dayfly! There, she said it! Her mother would wash her mouth with soap for saying such a horrid thing but it fit!

Humans! And her Papay was like this once? Ayiesha could see some of their attitudes in her grandparents, both Arab and German but how much Drakonis had civilized them and taught them manners she never realized until now. Perhaps she could teach them how to act decently? But her grandparents spent a year on that ram-ship between Terra and Gaea and she had only days before the tunnel was finished.

EVENING CONVERSATION

Ayiesha walked over to Myra and they conversed for a moment in their own language when they noticed the two human women following. “Is there something you wish?” asked Ayiesha with a wicked smile. She had been absorbing as much English as she could as fast as she could. She still made mistakes but was doing better.

Jean refused to curtsey and just asked, “What was that all about?”

Ayiesha laughed and replied, “He’s a very good lover. I’m surprised that you let him go… oh, wait, after you left him, you would cheat on the male you left Jason for and crawl back into your ex-husband’s bed so you understand that.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Let him go!” she snapped. “You had your chance and now he belongs to us. We need him to keep us alive.” Then Myra said something softly in her own language which caused Ayiesha to stop suddenly and say, “It’s late, we all need to get some sleep.” When the two did nothing, Ayiesha took Kitty by her waist and said, “I know you want me, let us discuss it inside.” And led her away. Myra ignored this and said, “Jean, remain close to me please. I’d like to hear about you and your marriage to my Lord.” But Jean could tell that it wasn’t true as Myra ignored most of what was being said, looking around occasionally and listening to the overhead forest.

A few minutes later Myra talked softly in her language again and Jean got the feeling that she was speaking into a radio and wanted Jean there as a distraction. Then there was a scream in the woods that startled Jean but which Myra ignored, looking away. A moment later came another scream from another direction and with that, Myra yelled, “Inside, NOW!” and leapt to the overhanging frame.

Jean ran inside, terrified to find that she was alone in the dark with only the other women present, all of whom were equally terrified. “Ayiesha and Myrmidon snuck out with Jason. They were armed to the teeth and told us to hide here. What’s going one?”

“I don’t know. Myra was using me as a distraction I think. There’s something out there that’s dangerous. Damn I’m glad Jason is around here someplace. I’ve seen him in a fight and he’s good enough to protect us from whatever that thing is.”

***

Shortly, Myra dropped to the compound and reached up to grab a bound figure which was followed by Ayiesha who said something inaudible to Myra. As they carried the creature inside, Jason and Myrmidon followed with a similar creature.

“Any more?” asked Jason.

“None my Lord,” offered Myra, a sentiment that was repeated by the other Lanai.

“Ok, they seem to travel in pairs so we probably have them all. Let us see what we can learn,” and he rolled one over.

The creature looked human but that word was apparently used in a very liberal manner on Caspak for the thing was hairless, pale white and human in form but possessing of a pair of large white bat-like wings that projected from its shoulders. One leg was broken, one arm pulled from its socket and the thing was spewing bloody foam from its mouth and nose staining the white robe it wore. It also stank but that smell came from the urine and feces stain at the thing’s crotch.

Jason looked at Ayiesha who shrugged and apologized, “It was more fragile than I thought. I’m sorry.” as the thing died.

Jason took his knife and examined the ends of a leg bone that projected from its skin as Carol, Patti and Kitty turned away in revulsion. “Hollow bones like a bird. Necessary for a flying creature this size but fragile. It probably has a huge heart and … (he touched the massive chest) feel that sternum and those chest muscles. Good thing they are attached to the wings and not the arms or it would be as strong as are we.” He then turned to the second creature which was alive and save for a broken wing and some bruises around its neck, unharmed but so arrogant it made Jason look complacent by comparison.

The thing spoke in a hollow voice that belonged in a crypt and Jean wondered if this thing was what gave rise to legends of angels, demons and vampires. Myrmidon asked a few questions in its native tongue but it ignored her, speaking back in a manner that Jean felt was filled with threats.

Finally, Jason gave an order and Myra knelt, touched the creature with both hands over its bald head and shuddered. Then she took a deep breath and her face lost all expression. Myrmidon took her hand and Jason took Myrmidon’s and Ayiesha took Jason’s thus forming a chain. Then Myrmidon again asked the questions and the thing responded as if it were hypnotized. Jean saw that they were speaking two separate languages but could still understand each other. She thought it was some telepathic thing and she wished that she had paid more attention when her husband and gone into one of his dull lectures. Jean had spent the last fifteen years pretending that her ex-husband knew nothing and now she was seeing his lessons in action.

Eventually they all sighed in unison and broke contact. The thing on the ground recovered its attitude and began to wail until Myra struck it into unconsciousness. Jason turned to the women and said, “until further notice none of you go outside at night without one of us as escort.” He then said something to the Lanai who took the thing outside and down into the tunnel where they left it alone and returned to the hut.

“What is that thing?” the women asked.

“It’s called a Weir-lu or Weiroo and is native to this place. They became extinct in the outer world long ago or maybe they evolved independently here, we don’t know. It’s possible that they are the origins for angels and devils and vampires. They live on that island you see in the distance and they are the ones who kidnapped those women we are trying to rescue. Now no more questions because I am tired.” And with that, Jason stripped and dressed in his night clothing.

Ayiesha took up the spear and a bow and left to patrol while Myrmidon and Myra and Jason quickly fell asleep. Unfortunately, the other women were so upset and scared that they each had difficulty sleeping themselves and discussed the new situation for some time. The big questions remained, were they safe? Would they be returned to their homes? Were the aliens planning to conquer Earth? And mostly: How far could they go before they crossed an imaginary line and the aliens killed them as easily as they killed the winged monster?

A few hours later, Ayiesha returned from patrol and woke Myrmidon who took the spear and bow and left for patrol. Ayiesha removed her clothes and crawled into Jason’s bed then it shortly became apparent that she had aroused him and was enjoying herself on top, this time quietly.

“Doesn’t he ever get tired?” asked Carol.

Kitty replied, “Jean tells me that he was always like that. Most men brag, he doesn’t need to. He even wore me out a couple times.”

“You!?”

“What can I say, While I was with Jean, I decided to see if the stories she told were true and tried him too. He was having a hard time with the divorce and needed someone to take his mind off Jean. I kind of took advantage of him.”

Jean just rolled over and ignored them all but never was able to fall asleep.

When morning arrived, the group was awakened by birds singing and saw the three Drakonian women up and dressing but Jason was not around. In answer to their questions, Ayiesha said, “He rises early so takes the morning watch. Who is making breakfast?”

“If you have all this technology, why don’t you just fly one of your star-ships in and beam the captives up?” asked Patti.

“His Grace,” she answered, “isn’t prepared to start a war over internal problems. They don’t mind if we do it this way but once we bring a ship in, they will try to stop us.”

“Who will stop you? What are you talking about?”

“The race who built Caspak of course,” Ayiesha said.

What the hell are you talking about? What race? I thought this was just some lost land sort of thing.”

Ayiesha explained, “Caspak is an experiment in evolutionary biology. It was built long before the Barony took control of Terra so we had to respect the race that built Caspak. Don’t worry, the experiment should run to finish in a few more centuries.

“In the meantime, the Weiroo are unable to produce female children so they kidnap human women for breeding. It’s been happening for centuries only now His Grace thinks that it’s time to rescue the women and return them to their families. Since the Weiroo are an evolutionary dead-end, the Baron can justify this action. There are eggs buried by the tunnel so how about making us an omelet?”

The women looked at each other then asked, “how many are there?”

“We don’t know. There are three Weiroo cities on the island but we don’t know how many live in each city or how many women each Weiroo has. Don’t forget to add a lot of garlic, it’ll keep away the mosquitoes.”

Jean stood up and walked out. “I can’t deal with this. I just can’t. Yesterday I was a two time divorcee with a crappy life and today I find my ex is an alien who owns the Earth and is trying to stop some interstellar conspiracy to destroy the galaxy and some other alien race is using us for breeding experiments. And he still loves me but is fucking other women in front of me to hurt me and everything he told me is probably true and… I just can’t deal.”

AYIESHA’S LETTER TO HER MOTHER

Dear Momma;

I’m on Caspak like I told you about in the last letter but something happened.

I found some European women being chased by the ape-men that live here and rescued them. One of them was His Grace’s former wife who he still loves. I guess that explains why he never married on Gaea.

So I am trying to break their hold on him by being the best and sexiest and most beautiful I can. Don’t be angry with me for slutting up, as I learned that from you when you had to get that whore away from daddy. I didn’t understand why you didn’t just kill her as was your right for attempted adultery but now I do. If I kill Jean and her friends, even to save the Barony, His Grace will never forgive me. So I must be devious and steal his heart from her and give it back to the Barony where it belongs. Fortunately, it’s a lot of fun to be with His Grace and please don’t tell daddy. He wouldn’t understand what we women do to keep the men happy.

I have noticed that none of the humans are making even an attempt to learn Spanglic. They expect us all to speak in their tongue which is fine for His Grace and the Lanai because they already speak it but that means I have to learn it faster. And that means I not only link to the Lanai, but I have to probe the human’s minds for the words and that always gives me a headache.

Throughout the cooking, the humans treated me like they were higher class. Imagine, homeless and dirty, they owe their lives to me and they act like I was a serf or something. I need to calm down and relax. They are just ignorant humans who never had the advantage of a decent upbringing.

So I took them aside and tried to teach them how important it was to be polite and show respect. I told them: “My Lord has a great deal of power and authority. We all must show him proper respect. Whenever you meet him you need to curtsey to him.” I demonstrated how and found the word pass through their mind as I did so. Then I made them curtsey until they were passable. Then I continued, “Myrmidon, Myra and I are Warrior Class and we have earned the honour that is given to us. We all curtsey to My Lord and you all curtsey to the four of us. It’s the polite thing to do. And if one of you has a higher class than the others, then that person is respected also.”

I could tell that Carol was trying to understand but she got the entire class system wrong. She thought we were locked in and couldn’t rise to a higher level. She also had no idea of why she should show a Warrior respect so I tried again.

“We Warriors fight and die so you do not have to. We give our lives to keep you safe. Without us to fight, the evil races will invade, kill, and eat you and your children. We live and fight and die so you can live. For that sacrifice, you should show us honour.”

I pulled my shoulder strap down and showed my scar I received on Sothis. “When the Shitai invaded Drakonis, they tried to conquer the Barony so they could feed us to their young. I was wounded stopping them and lost three ribs and a lung and almost died as did Myrmidon who was wounded in her belly and My Lord who was also wounded.

“If we didn’t stop the Shitai, they would have conquered all of Drakonis then eventually moved on to your world, feeding us all the their young. A lot of good Lanai died stopping them and if you don’t respect our sacrifice, then why should we fight and die for you?”

I think Carol had a glimmer of understanding because she was crying when she stood up, curtseyed to me and gave me proper honour. I now realize how much that simple act means to me for Warriors don’t fight for money or fame or power, we fight for our families and the people we protect. Honour and respect is the only payment we receive or desire.

Carol still failed to understand and thought that our society had nobles on top then the warriors. So I have to try to explain that Servant Caste was the top because they gave of themselves to make our lives better, then came Merchants Caste who moved goods around then Peasant Caste like I once was who were the foundation because we were the ones who raised and grew food for all then finally the classless who worked for anyone but hadn’t yet found their own class.

I also tried to explain to her that Lanai like Myra and Myrmidon were created to be Warriors, unlike Jason and myself who had chosen that path. I also tried to show how my family was terrified that I’d die in battle but you finally respected my decision and despite your fears, I hope you all have at least some pride in my actions.

When Carol asked why I was here? I tried to tell her how the Kris had destroyed Terra and how the Triads of the Commonwealth had sent His Grace here to the past to prevent that destruction. They thought we were planning to conquer them so I had to tell them that we were forbidden to interfere, we could only educate and hope that the humans would change their ways and strip the Kris of their power.

Carol got angry at that, how her leaders were selling her lives for a little power but she thought the Kris were alien. Alien? The Kris originated on Terra and were brought to the Commonwealth a thousand years ago when the Demons abducted the first humans. It took 500 years of hard fighting to stop them and to bring peace to the Commonwealth.

The problem is that my Papay always said that the only thing that was required for evil to win was for good people to do nothing.

When dinner was ready, My Lord made the first prayer and offerings to the Gods as was his right and duty then he told them that until he could return them to their homes, they needed to learn manners and honesty and that meant to NEVER lie or steal. He then told them that we were here to rescue the women kidnapped by the Weiroo.

Then after dinner and the obligatory cleaning up to keep the vermin away, we all retired to bed save Myra who took first watch. I could see Jean watching My Lord, her former husband and I knew that unless I did something, she would enter his bed and take his mind away from his duty. So I went there first. He refused to respond at first as unlike born Weir, he held onto his Irish repressions and was embarrassed at public sex. But I teased him unmercifully. Stroking him to hardness and caressing myself first with my hands and tail because he loves to watch, then making him cup my breasts with his hands as I stroked his cheek with my tail while I kissed him and nibbled on his ears. It didn’t take long before he lost control threw me on my back and raped me right there. I do admit that it was great and I didn’t even fake the screams he forced from my throat. I don’t know how long it lasted but I climaxed at least a dozen times before he did, then as was his habit, he held me until he fell asleep. I know this embarrasses you but, momma, I so love sex. I just don’t understand why you don’t attack daddy every night.

Unfortunately, I was too excited to sleep. Great sex wakes me up so I got out of bed and noticed that Kitty was jilling herself and Jean was looking at me with such hatred I wanted to fuck My Lord again just to upset her more. But instead I took a robe and left the hut to talk to Myra.

“Myra,” I asked her, “What do you think of the humans?”

“I think that they are a danger to us all and should be killed before they force us into useless combat just to save them. Jean, the former wife of Jason, is the most dangerous. He still cares for her and might leave Drakonis for her and if he is gone, there won’t be a Baron to direct the defense. At least no one as good as he is though Clan Macgregor thinks that they should be Baron but all they want is power. No, until His Grace marries a decent woman and has heirs with his skills, we must keep him with us. I also think that these humans were supposed to help him stop the Kris and instead they destroyed his relations with the Terrans for their own egos. Were it my decision, I’d throw them out where the Smilodons eat and leave them to their fate. But His Grace wishes them alive and I rarely question his decisions though this one seems to be from insecurity and not logic.”

She looked at me and said, “I’m not old enough to do this well. I am a Warrior, not a lover. Thank you for dressing me so I could play the part of his harem. Do you think it worked? Should I share his bed with you to make them more jealous and angry? And will they try to leave?”

I replied, “I hope so. I think that if we show them that he doesn’t need her and that he is happy with us, they will give up. It’s unfortunate that Jean and Carol are the ones who helped destroy his reputation with the Terrans and prevented him from succeeding at his task. Had Jean just kept her marriage vows, Jennifer wouldn’t be born and we could be training Aradia to make this world a paradise.” Then I felt the humans watching us.

Jean and Kitty were there and both refused us honour, which I gathered as her way of trying to hurt me for what I had done with her former husband. She demanded to know what I was doing and instead of beating her for her discourtesy, I simply tried to hurt her more by saying, “Jason’s a very good lover. I’m surprised that you let him go… oh, wait, after you left him, you would cheat on the guy you left your husband for and crawl back into Jason’s bed so you understand why I would want him so often.” I really wanted her to be as hurt as she made him hurt.

Then I snapped, “Let him go! You had your chance and now he belongs to us. We need him to keep us alive.”

That’s when Myra said, “We are being observed. Two of them, one flying to the east, the other on a tree branch north. Get rid of the humans and warn His Grace.”

So I told the humans, “It’s late, we all need to get some sleep.” When they refused to move I had to take Kitty by her waist and pretend that I would allow her sex with me. That convinced her to follow and we went inside as Myra told Jean to remain outside. We needed the Weiroo to see Jean and Myra as better targets than four of us together so as they could distract the Weiroo, we could deal with them.

Once inside Myrmidon and My Lord were already dressed and armed, having estanned Myra’s telepathic call. So we warned the humans to remain inside in the dark where it was safe while we did our job.

I moved silently through the trees to the one perched and still watching Myra as Myrmidon and His Grace tried to capture the one flying. When I heard the second Weiroo scream, I knew that my companions had captured him so I launched myself onto my target before he could escape.

I manage to grab his leg which crushed in my grip and the creature screamed in pain then pulled a saber from his belt and started to hack at me as it flew away with me hanging from his crushed leg. At that time I wished that I was as fat as Jean because the Weiroo had no trouble flying with my weight. But his saber was a problem so I turned up and shoved my feet upwards. I managed to grab his sword wrist with one foot and as I sought to grasp his wing with my tail, I somehow managed to grab his dangling genitals with my other foot that had slid under his robe.

Well, any grip was good in war so I squeezed with my foot and the Weiroo just collapsed in pain as would any male who just had his cherries crushed. As we fell I twisted around so I would land on top as the fall was longer than I liked. We hit with a thud and I was afraid that I had killed him but he was still breathing so I tied him up and carried him back to the compound. I couldn’t believe how light the thing was for all its strength.

I had no trouble carrying it up the fence and handed it to Myra who carried it inside the hut. We were also followed by Myrmidon and His Grace who had another Weiroo in captivity.

My Lord asked us if there were any more but neither Myra nor Myrmidon could detect another one and neither could I so he said, “They seem to travel in pairs so we probably have them all. Let us see what we can learn from these.”

The creature looked humanoid but was hairless and had flat ears and a very pale skin and its huge eyes indicated a good night vision, possibly as good as ours though we see in the infra-red but these probably only had monochrome night vision in the human spectrum. It did have huge wings like a bat and claws for fingers and toes. The one leg I had grabbed was broken, the arm I pulled from its socket was still free and the thing was spewing bloody foam from its mouth and nose which stained its white robe. It also stank from the urine and feces. From that I knew that it was dying for animals that we killed on the farm would void their bladder and colon when they died and those muscles relaxed and I had seen enough people die to know the approach of the Lord of the Dead.

My Lord looked at me but what could I say? “I didn’t realize that they were so fragile. I guess that I broke it. I’m sorry and beg forgiveness for my clumsiness.”

He accepted that apology as the thing died, but examined the protruding leg bone with his knife and commented on the hollow bones it had. He also commented that it was like a bird which explained why it was so light. It’s a wonder that a creature so slightly built could fly away with me, much less a terrified and fighting Ga-lu woman. But I recall stories Grandpa Ali told about the Afret in the desert of Arabia on Terra. How they would terrify their victims into immobility or seduce them to wanting to go so maybe these Wieroo do the same, terrify the poor girls so they don’t fight. As fragile as are their bones, they’d easily be broken by even a human girl fighting for her life.

When we turned to the other which was still alive despite minor injuries and tried to question it but between Myrmidon’s limited understanding on the Caspak language and the Weiroo’s natural arrogance, we couldn’t get anything from it other than threats. So My Lord told Myra to link with it so she knelt and touched the thing, shuddered then relaxed as the link formed and the thing’s mind opened up.

Myrmidon took her hand and His Grace took Myrmidon’s and I took My Lord’s so we could all understand then Myrmidon questioned the thing as to the numbers of Weiroo on the island, the best way to enter the cities, where the captive women were held and if the Weiroo knew about us.

The answers were useful but not particularly helpful so we broke the link and as the thing started to wail, Myra rendered it unconscious but may have hit it too hard. So His Grace had Myra take it to the tunnel and in the morning we’d see if it survived or not. Probably even if it survived the concussion Myra gave it, we’d question it tomorrow when we thought of new information we wanted then we’d probably kill it and feed it to the lake creatures. I never understood Papay when he told me how the Germans he served with in the Army on Terra would actually care for prisoners of war and return them to their homes afterwards.

His Grace told the humans to not leave the hut at night without escort and then had to explain what the Weiroo were and that they were the things that were holding the Ga-Lu women captive. Then he turned the light out and we returned to bed. I left them and took my turn on watch but despite my efforts, I could not see, hear or estann anything other than the normal night-life. I guess My Lord was right and the Weiroo did travel only in pairs so we were lucky and I listened to the owls and night predators. Somehow it felt like home except we only had to listen for falanx packs and an occasional dragon and here we had big cats, wolves and even an occasional dinosaur.

A few hours later when I finished my tour and woke Myrmidon for her turn, the humans were still awake and radiating fear though their stink had faded so I stripped and crawled in with My Lord because I wanted to be held and comforted. Not for the first time I wanted Tulan here but without his Radium Pistol, he’d be helpless against the aerial enemy. So while laying there in his arms, I felt him harden under my hand. I hadn’t realized that I was stroking him but why waste a good thing so even though he was asleep, I climbed onto him and quietly rode him to climax. It was pleasant and slow and because this was his … third or fourth for the day, it seemed to take him forever before I felt him shudder and empty himself inside me. Then He fell asleep again and I followed. Strange how sometimes sex is fun rough and sometimes as much fun when nice and gentle.

I tried to sleep in but the humans woke me and the Lanai up. It was late and they should have awakened me earlier, but the humans asked where Jason was and I answered, “He rises early and so takes the am watch.” Then I asked which of them was making breakfast but they kept questioning me as to who the Weiroo were, why we didn’t just send a ship in to collect the women and who were the race that built Caspak.

How do you explain to such a primitive people who don’t even understand simple genetic manipulations or fusion power about how some races set up experiments on alien planets to better understand the local biology?

They expected us to stop the owners but really, Caspak belonged to them, not us and why risk a war over something that small? And can we fight a war across ten thousand light years against an enemy who has prior claims on Terra? Besides, the Caspak experiment was started before we were given authority over Terra so we had to respect their prior claims. It was unfortunate that the Ga-lu women suffered but that happens sometimes.

Then I had to explain how the Weiroo were unable to produce female children so they kidnapped human women for breeding and how His Grace thinks that it’s time to rescue the women and return them to their families. Since the Weiroo are an evolutionary dead-end and interfering with them won’t interfere with the experiment, the Baron can justify this action but if we brought in an army, it would cause an incident and even I wasn’t certain if Drakonis could win a war this far from home. Besides, if we invaded Caspak to free the Ga-Lu from the Weiroo, couldn’t we invade America and the other Terran Nations to free their people from the government that keeps them in thrall?

I wished that they would stop asking questions that they won’t and can’t understand and just make us breakfast and earn their rent. So I told them where to find the eggs and garlic and went outside for my morning prayers.

The sun wouldn’t rise over the cliffs for some hours but I knew where East was and so knelt and prayed to Allah, the Sun God and Mohammad and Ali, His prophets.

I’ll write more later when I can.

Your loving daughter,

Ayiesha.

JASON’S STORY

Jason woke up early as was his nature and took the am watch until everyone else was awake. He enjoyed the mornings, the sunrise, the birds waking up. Morning was his favorite time of the day. He felt that it just so peaceful at that time and he wished a sunrise was as beautiful as a sunset but accepted that one enjoys what the Gods give. Then he grabbed a quick meal and carried it with a binoculars and tri-pod towards the inland lake. He set the binocs in the blind they had made and was eating while watching the island looking for something that would help when he heard someone behind him. Jason figured that if it were a Ga-lu he would already be dead so didn’t panic until Jean asked him “What are you doing?”

He looked at her, older, fatter and grayer but still beautiful and had to struggle to remain calm. “About a dozen kilometers offshore is Skull Island where the Weiroo live. I’m watching them hoping to learn something that will assist our attack. Care to look?”

She did but couldn’t see much as the mists and fogs obscured much even though the binocs were set at a thousand power and could shift spectrum and penetrate the mists. “Those things are forcing women to breed with them? Why don’t their own people do something? Why you? And why like this when you have such a technology?”

“The locals are a stone-age people. Their technology is equal to pre-Colombian America only with horses but no metal. The Weiroo have the military advantage of steel and the tactical advantage of air superiority. The only way the Ga-lu could attack is by boat and the Weiroo take great pains to destroy any canoe that leaves the shore. Plus the Weiroo encourage the idea that they are immortal demons so the Ga-lu are terrified of them.

“As to why me? Why not? All that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do nothing. So as the Ga-Lu are helpless and I am not. It seems the ethical thing to do.”

She looked again and said to him, “You always were there to help anyone in trouble. I wish you had spent as much time with me as you did helping other people and righting wrongs. Maybe I wouldn’t have left you if you had been around more.”

He stared across the lake thinking that she was right but there were some things even he couldn’t change. “I’m a hero. Do you know what that means?

“Read Irish myths sometime. In Ireland a hero is someone who was cursed by the Gods with greatness but with that fame comes the constant demand to always prove yourself. No Irish hero is allowed to rest on their reputation, we are forced by Fate to constantly repeat our deeds, to be better and better. Remember how when I was born and they thought I would die? My Aunt who was a famous Irish Witch looked at me in the cradle and said, ‘the Horned God has a task for him and he cannot die until that task is done.’ Well, I was cursed by the Gods to be a hero and so that curse forces me to constant deeds of valour. It forced me into Africa to find King Solomon’s Mines, to climb Mt Everest on the back of a stolen Arabian stallion, to fight to free Ireland. It forced me to leave Earth and be changed by the Demons and it forced me to form the Barony and it forced me to come here and help those women. Despite what I pretend, I am still little more than a medieval Irish Noble and Hero and I cannot forget that even though it cost me more than one family. You,” he looked away, “are just the most recent, though you are the one I regret the most.

“Being the consort of an Irish hero isn’t easy and the road is full of hazards so only the strongest women can do it. But my wife needs to understand that no matter how much I love her, I have duties to accomplish and this drive to perform just as Kitty has this drive to be the center of attention which overcomes everything else. She didn’t sleep with you because she loved you, she did it because you paid attention to her and to keep that attention, she spread her legs.”

Then his voice dropped, “And you are the same way. You need attention and when I was off saving the world, you fell for anyone who gave that attention to you. I guess we are both victims of our own natures.”

She started to reach for him then and had she a little less Southern Pride or he paid a little more attention, Jason would have reacted and crushed her to his chest. But then, Myra arrived and interrupted them.

“My Lord, I think that if you have the humans do the cooking and cleaning and assist in the watch and such, we can half the remaining dig time. Ayiesha and we Lanai can take turns digging while you finish contacting the Ga-lu to prepare for the recovery of their women. That is,” and she looked at Jean with a look that could kill, “IF the humans will help.” Then Myra turned and left them alone.

Jean then asked Jason as he stood, brushed then leaves from his bare knees, and returned to the compound, “Do you love Ayiesha?”

He laughed and asked, “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Because you’ve always had difficulty having sex with strangers. You’ve never done a one-night-stand or picked up anyone in a bar. Even when I offered to bring a woman home for a fantasy, you refused. That’s why it hurt so much when you slept with your ex, because I knew that you had to still love her to bed her. You need to be in love before you can make love. I’ve seen you with her and her with you. Do you love her?”

“Of course not. She has her own lover back home.” Then he remembered and explained, “When the Demons changed us into Weir, they enhanced our strength, speed, intelligence, lifespan, everything. But they also enhanced our sex drive. Weir NEED regular sex or they suffer. If Ayiesha were to attempt celibacy, she’d suffer like a female cat in heat then die. So Weir take bed-mates to prevent this. If it wasn’t me, it would be Myra or Myrmidon. If not them, she’d use her own tail until she could find a man. No, I’m just something she needs to do to stay alive.”

“And what about you?” she asked. “When you were away from me, did you need sex or die too?”

“No, my love, I enjoy sex and miss it and get cranky and depressed when deprived but I don’t NEED it as does Ayiesha. Aside from that one time, I was always faithful to you no matter what or who.” Then lower, “I haven’t loved anyone since you.” And he strode away before she could cut his soul again.

THE WOMEN’S STORY

The four sat apart arguing as Ayiesha and Myra carved the tunnel and Jason and Myrmidon expanded the water collectors and added to the overhead concealment of the compound.

“Why should we believe them? You yourself,” she pointed to Jean, “always told us that Jason was a liar and a fraud and now we find that he isn’t even human! How do we know that he’s telling the truth about this?” demanded Patti for she was always the militant and cynical one of the group. “All we know is that there are cave-people and winged monsters here. For all we know, he could want to kidnap those animal women for himself and kill off the competition. How do we know he won’t rape us and keep us as sex-slaves?” Patti demanded.

“Jason isn’t like that,” Jean insisted. “Sure, he’s a male and will probably sniff at anything with breasts but, as bad as he is, he’s not capable of forcing anyone. He’s doing Ayiesha and probably anyone else whop wanders to his bed but he won’t go to theirs or force them.”

“How can you say that!” Patti demanded. “You were married to him and told us about his perversions!”

“I lied! OK! I was hurt and angry and still am but we’re safe from him.”

“Until we piss him off and end up outside with our throats cut by him or one of those monkey-girls.” Patti sulked.

“But what if it’s the truth?” Carol responded. “I don’t understand Myra or Myrmidon, they are so distant, but Ayiesha is friendly enough and it’s hard to believe that she could be evil.”

Kitty spoke up, “If it’s true, don’t we have an obligation to help them? Think of it! Human women being kidnapped and forced to give birth to those creatures!’

“But we only have their word for the women being kidnapped or human and really, they don’t think of themselves as being human either. So why help them?”

“I think that they are three races here, Jason is a human who was made into an alien. He still thinks and acts mostly human. Ayiesha was born that way but has human parents and so has emotions like ours but was raised in a foreign country. But Myra and Myrmidon are something else, maybe the future of what Ayiesha and Jason’s grandchildren will become. They don’t relate to us so maybe they have motives we cannot understand.”

“I’m still suspicious. We never did talk to those winged creatures. Maybe they are the good guys here. Maybe we are prejudiced against them because of their appearance. Maybe the bad guys look beautiful as a cover and the good guys look ugly because they see beauty as being inside.”

“And if we refuse to help, will they toss us outside the compound to be eaten by those saber-tooth cats or giant dogs that are wandering around?”

“They said that they’d send us home but can we trust them? We know too much and can warn the world. Will they take that chance?”

“But Ayiesha did save us from those cave-men. And they have fed us and protected us. And they could have tossed us out the first night but didn’t.”

The arguments lasted for some time with the ‘don’t trust’ faction winning but ultimately, they had to agree that if they helped, they’d live for as long as they were needed but if they refused, they would probably be driven out to die or be killed immediately. None of them trusted the Lanai for they all agreed that both Myra and Myrmidon would follow orders without question or hesitation, and their opinion on Jason Obrien wasn’t much better but all liked Ayiesha though none were certain if she was trustworthy. All three of the Alien women wanted the humans women dead. That was clear and they were alive only because Jason hadn’t ordered their deaths… yet. What they didn’t understand was Ayiesha’s relationship to Obrien. Yes, they were obviously lovers but just as obvious was her having a lover elsewhere whom she was cheating on. She was his subordinate and followed his orders but would she follow an order to kill them?

And their alien nature. Myra and Myrmidon were so alien in form and mind that it was frightening. But both Jason and Ayiesha were alien only in form. If they had advanced technology, why didn’t they use it? Ayiesha considered Jean to be a threat to her but what of the other women? And Jason appeared to accept them all even though he saw them as a disturbance. He was a male and obviously highly sexual so would he eventually want them as a harem? Or was he satisfied with only Ayiesha even though it was obvious that he could have and probably had the Lanai in bed as well?

Myrmidon approached the group and asked, “Have you decided what to do?” As always she was stern and Patti could just imagine her in a leather corset with a whip and a couple naked men on a leash. When she whispered this to Kitty, the blonde smiled and said, “I hope so. I wouldn’t mind being on her leash myself.”

Carol asked, “Do we have any choice? We’ll help.”

Myrmidon then smiled, the first smile that saw on her face and she said, “You always have a choice. Even if that choice is how you will die. In this situation, if you agree to help, we won’t call the shuttle until the task is done. And you do what we say without question or hesitation. You show us respect and we will protect you. You live as Drakonians and put away your Terran lives.”

She looked at them and they sulked but agreed. Myrmidon saw that Patti would be the trouble-maker but a good flogging would repress that. Carol would work well because she understood the value of obedience. Kitty would work but not well and would spend too much time complaining and seeking to bed Ayiesha or Jean. And Jean, well she was the problem. Left alone she would be a constant reminder of His Grace’s former life and disrupt his thoughts. Yet if they let her die, he would take revenge. They would have to deal with her constantly and try to keep them apart.

“Come with me and I’ll show you your duties.

“How you divide these is your decision. But you cook us four meals a day. A moderate breakfast and a large lunch. A moderate dinner and light supper. The cleaning must be done immediately and away from the hut to keep vermin away. Repairs to the hut and furnishings are constant. Ayiesha will hunt meat and one of us will escort and assist in vegetable and fruit gathering. But you will have to gut the kills.

“The Weiroo are probably suspicious and so always be aware of where you are and be close to dense cover. If they take you, we will be unable to rescue you until the tunnel is built and by then you will probably be pregnant with their spawn. Work well and you will find that you have more free time than I do.

“And, incidentally, the body of His Grace is for you to enjoy but only if you ask properly. I, however, am off limits to all of you.” She smiled again at this as if it were some joke.

She was showing them their duties and where things were stored and what to do with them when Kitty asked, “Have you fought in many wars? Our women don’t normally fight as combat soldiers.”

“I can see why,” replied Myrmidon. “I’m twenty years old. And have fought in four wars and numerous campaigns. I’ve been wounded three times and killed more people than I care to remember and taken a dozen heads. I was bred to be a Warrior and I do that very well. And unlike you human women, I will never marry or have children but will die on the battlefield for no Lanai has ever done anything else, though I hope to die in the arms of my battle-sisters as they have done in my arms.”

“What about your parents or your sisters?”

“I have no parents nor will I have children. I came from a vat almost fully grown and was trained in the creche for five years. I do have eleven sisters from the same vat sequence, five of whom are dead in battle. The rest serve the Barony as needed.” She looked at them and continued, “I understand that I seem strange to you because I am. I exist only because the Barony needs me to fight for it. You seek areas of similarity and friendship but do not think that we can be friends for my ways are not yours and I understand your life as little as you understand mine. I am a Warrior and I fight and will die for the people of my Barony because that is what I am. But do not feel sorry for me for this is my life and I would have it no other way.”

“But love? Can’t you feel love or want children?” Asked Kitty. “I have three of them at home and I miss them so much. Giving birth to them was the most wonderful experience of my life. I can’t imagine life without them. And sex, I know you do it, don’t you enjoy kissing and holding someone?”

“Love? I’ve seen how love has destroyed our Lord, how it is destroying him. How being away from Tulan hurts Ayiesha and how she knows that they can never be together the way her parents are. I am better off without it. I make do with bonding and loyalty and respect. These I understand and I have all three for My Lord and for Ayiesha. As for sex… I’ve experienced it often enough. And I enjoy it to an extent. Not as much as Ayiesha does but she needs a man inside her or she will die. I don’t need that. But if I never experienced sex again, I’d not miss it.

“As for children, if I wish I can donate cells and grow a ‘daughter’ in a vat and thus be a mother. But my children will be raised as was I, and we will never have that bond Ayiesha has with her parents. And I don’t miss that either.”

Carol interrupted, “What about a soul? How can you be anything but a machine without a soul?”

Myrmidon laughed then. “A soul? What makes you think I have none? All things have a soul and the Gods gave me one long before I left my vat. I call upon the Gods when I need and listen to them as They desire. When on a campaign The Gods comfort me as They do Ayiesha. And when I die, I will return to the Summerland as will you and the Goddess will place my soul into another Lanai, I hope, for I’d hate to be reborn Weir or human.

“You see me as stern and unfeeling but that isn’t so. My feelings are just more subtle than are yours and my joys are private. Alone with each other is when Lanai can be ourselves for you wouldn’t understand our joys. Now please start your work for I have duties to perform.”

Over the next few days their lives settled down into a dull routine. They awoke, argued over who would make breakfast and who would clean up after. Do whatever cleaning and repairs that were required, most of which were weaving grass into mats for walls and rugs, then they relaxed until lunch when the process was repeated for every meal. None of the Lanai or Weir interfered with this and one day Jean mentioned that it was because Jason was a Noble and the others Warriors and those types rarely cared for their servants arguments so long as the job got done. It reminded her of her life in the South, only now she was the ‘house-nigger’. This didn’t make them feel any better.

Every day shortly before sunrise a wolf pack would appear, sniff around the fence, occasionally do a bit of digging then leave for their hunting grounds. And every evening just before sundown, they would return, repeat their investigation and leave. These were the Dire Wolf that had become extinct in the outer world long ago being larger than a St. Bernard and were meaner than anything and the women watched huddled inside in terror whenever they were around.

THOUGHTS ABOUT LOVE INSIDE THE TUNNEL

Ayiesha was in the tunnel advancing the cutter to their goal meter by meter. It was one of the rare times she worked underground, her nervousness at the confined spaces reminded her of Sothis where the Twenty had spent two weeks trapped in narrow caves fighting a swarm of Shitai. They drank their own urine, ate whatever bugs that they could find and fought on long after their ammunition had been exhausted. And Jason had kept his promise to them, he got them all out alive. None were unwounded but all lived. For that Ayiesha and Myrmadon would gladly follow Jason to Hell for they had already been there. And that gave the three a bond that few could understand and none could break. It was also hot and dusty work and Ayiesha and Jason sweated far more than did Myra but then Jason had designed a better cooling system for the Lanai than the Gods had evolved for their human parents.

She stepped back as the cutter ground the earth, melted it, forced the viscous liquid into a sleeve then cooled it into a thick tunnel wall. Meter by meter it traveled on, first downward from the shore then horizontal and now it was beginning to rise. If they calculated right, it should exit somewhere in the forest outside the easternmost Weiroo city. If they calculated wrong, it could open under a hundred meters of lake water or inside the city itself or possibly inside a vein of the magma that kept Caspak warm. Ayiesha had been raised to farm and trained to fight so death by a stampeding rundi or alien laser worried her not overly much. But this digging a tunnel through solid lava not knowing what they would hit scared her. If they hit water or magma, they’d be dead before they could escape and there would be no way to fight back.

However, as bad as this job was, it was the only safe way to Skull Island. The Weiroo patrolled the lake by air and any attempt to cross by boat or air would elicit a massive air attack that no one could fight. But, “At least this job was better than dealing with the human women. Life was so much easier before they arrived,” she told Myra.

“The Gods have a habit of complicating matters to challenge us.” She replied.

“Please don’t quote religious school to me. All those sayings are well and good when I was a kid in Temple classes but the real world is different. And,” She forestalled another of her sayings, “just because the Gods have done this, doesn’t mean I have to like it. I still don’t know how to handle the humans but Jason wants them alive so…”

Myra continued as if she hadn’t said anything. She was like that sometimes. “Patti is a bitch but a harmless irritation and needs a good beating to teach her manners. Kitty is little more than a slut who spends all her time trying to bed you and Jean in a futile effort for attention that can better be earned in other ways. Carol though, has some influence. She Initiates into her army of pretend-priesthood empty-headed slaves who follow her words literally and without thinking and this includes Patti, Jean and Kitty, though I think Kitty follows Jean and not Carol and Jean follows Carol only because no one else will take her. Jean told Carol that Jason was a liar and they should avoid him and she passed the statements on to her dozens or hundreds of followers and they did as she directed without asking questions of her or of him. If we can turn her to our side, she will tell her people to assist us to stop the Kris and they will. Again without question. I don’t understand humans!

“But Jean is the danger. So long as she exists here, His Grace will be enamored with her and that risks the mission and the Barony. You need to work harder to take him away from her.”

“Me?” Ayiesha asked. “What makes you think that I can or will do that?”

Myra looked at her, her own eyes widely open in the dark, “Because you are much better than her in bed. I’ve seen you two together and you give him a great deal of pleasure. Far more than Myrmidon or I can. You are both Weir and Drakonian and have similar interests and goals. Jean is old and fat and essentially dishonest. And I understand men are ruled by their sex and you are highly sexual and sexually desirable. You can use that passion to sway him.”

The Weir looked at Lanai in amazement and asked, “It takes more than sex to sway a man. And Jason knows that I have Tulan at home. It simply won’t work that way.”

“Then why do you work so hard at pleasing him?”

She laughed, “Because it hurts Jean to see us like that, to hear our screams of passion, to know that she cannot possibly be as good in bed as I am. And I hope that if she thinks that, she will not seek his company within her body.”

She looked at Ayiesha without understanding, “Why would he seek her body when yours is so much more attractive, younger and gives him such pleasure?”

Ayiesha never understood how Myra was so young. The Islamic-Jewess was only 22 but had worlds of experience that she couldn’t. Myra was only 5 and most of those were spent in the creche so she had been in the real world only a year or so and half that with His Grace on this project and so she didn’t know much. “Jason gives me such physical pleasure sometimes I cannot stand it and go to sleep sore in throat and body. He has 200 years of experience with wives, lovers and his harem and when I am with him, I can let go and do whatever I wish without fear of embarrassment or harming him.

“Tulan, however, is a Red Man from Barsoom. He is adapted to a low gravity world and so is fragile by even human standards. I am so much stronger than is he that I always fear that I will break him during our passion. And he hasn’t the experience with women so I have to teach him almost everything. Yet, despite the fact that Jason and other men have given me so much more physical pleasure than Tulan could ever give, I would cancel all of them instantly for Tulan.

“It’s the love that makes it so wonderful. I love Tulan so much that what little he gives me or can give me satisfies me in ways that Jason or Geraldo or Caroline or anyone else can never do. You’ve been bedded by Jason and enjoyed it yet you never seek his bed unless he summons you. It’s because Lanai don’t love and so to you sex is just physical. If you loved him, then the sex would feel so much better that you’d seek it always and not care if it was good or not.

“Jean may not be as good in bed as am I because of her age and such but he does love her and will choose the emotional over the physical any day. That’s what we have to break her emotional hold over him. When he stops loving her or when he sees her as she is and not as he wishes her to be, he will stop calling her name when he is with me and he will be able to forget her enough to return his attention to the Barony.”

“And how do we do that?” she asked. “I’ve watched the Terran vids and although educational they always seem to imply that any problem can be solved by sex or a gift or by sharing adversity.”

The blue-haired woman laughed, “Vids are rarely true. They emphasize emotions and compress time and always require a happy ending with everything turning out for the best to make the viewer leave happy and with hope. If this were a vid, he and I would fall in love in 24 minutes and live happily ever after. Or Jean would realize how badly she hurt him, would run away, be attacked by a smilodon and be rescued by Jason and they’d make love and live happily ever after with her being an excellent Baron-Consort. But real life isn’t like that. He still loves her but won’t tell her that out of fear of rejection. She either loves him still but won’t tell him because of her pride or she is just jealous and wants him to prove that she is still desirable. Or one day she will wait until I leave for patrol and seek his bed to prove something to herself or to revenge herself on me or to hurt him. Or she will realize just how much wealth and power he has and all four of the humans will court him for that power and wealth.

“What he needs to see is that she cannot make him happy, that she does not love him, that all that she said was a lie and that she is little more than a slut like Kitty. Unfortunately, although he knows it here,” She tapped her head, “He doesn’t know it here,” she touched her heart. “And until he feels it in his heart and soul, she will hold his love prisoner.”

“What about his other loves? Can’t we arrange for them to be here? Wouldn’t one love cancel the other? Or at least, keep him too busy and happy to think of Jean?”

“How many women has Jason loved? His harem is just a business deal to get them business contacts and him companionship. I am something to do at night. In his life he has loved but 5 women and Kore is dead, Lujan and Lyssandra gone with other men and I don’t know where Diane is. No other woman save those have ever touched his heart as much. All others were physical like me or friends without love or else insane obsessions alone. If we could find Lujan or Lyssandra and convince them to return, apologize to Jason and devote themselves to loving him again….” There seemed to be no solution so they returned to the digging and filled the time with empty plans.

RELIGION, RECREATION AND RESPONSES

Then one morning Jean awoke early and saw her ex leave the compound naked and carrying a canteen which was unusual as he habitually slept in pajamas of some sort. Even beneath his tail she admired his cheeks, “Damn, he always did have a nice ass!” She saw him pee for a few seconds against a nearby tree then move to another a few meters away and pee again. She suddenly realized, “He’s marking his territory to keep the wolves at bay!” as he continued around the entire perimeter. When his bladder was empty, he poured some liquid from the canteen to finish the job and Jean laughed out loud thinking of how often they had felt disgust when he insisted on always peeing inside the canteen and not elsewhere. Then when the pack arrived an hour later, she was outside watching as they sniffed each tree, made their own mark then continued on. From then on she never feared the wolf pack.

Ayiesha did pray every morning at sunrise, every evening at sunset and every afternoon at noon which they learned was a concession to her Arabian mother but to whom she prayed they never asked. Every evening at dinner, Jason and Myrmidon would offer thanks to the Gods in their own language, and every evening they would somehow decide who took whatever watch by some means that none of the women understood, other than Jason always took the morning watch simply because he was an early riser. One day Carol offered to share in the meal blessing as she was a High Priestess but the Weir and Lanai just looked at her then laughed. Myrmadon said, “Being a Priestess is more than claiming the title, earn the position and perhaps I will accede to your request.”

Sometimes a 15 foot saber-tooth cat would arrive and once it tried to jump the fence. It was finally driven away by the combined efforts of all four warriors who rushed it with spears, poking at it from through the openings and from above. The women knew that had it managed to enter, they would all be killed and only the efforts of their protectors were saving them.

Every evening found Jason and Ayiesha enjoying each other in various ways to the chagrin and embarrassment of their audience. And often Ayiesha would smirk at Jean after they were done.

Every other day it rained. When it did, Ayiesha, Myra, Myrmadon and Jason immediately stopped what they were doing, stripped naked and stood in the compound under the falling water and soaped themselves and each other enjoying the unlimited shower that they couldn’t have inside. The other women watched and within a couple minutes of the first time, Kitty had stripped and joined them. Jean, Carol and Patti, however, stood under the eaves where it was dry and watched the spectacle as Carol commented, “Nice ass.”

Jean replied, “That always was his best asset.”

“I would have thought his balls would be under his tail but they are in the normal place. Somehow that big tail made me think he was… more impressive?”

“Anything looks small next to that tail but he managed to do the job very well. That … monkey-girl seems to enjoy it.” She spat the latter.

“Speaking of which, that tail of his offers fascinating possibilities.”

“Where did he get those scars on his back. It looks like someone whipped him.”

Jean answered, “I asked him one night and he said something about being a galley slave. I thought he was joking because he dated a really sick pervert of a woman once but now I’m not certain.”

“Patti, aren’t you going to join them?”

“Me? With my fat body? Next to those thin women? Look at them, They all have flat bellies and Myra is the only one smaller than a D-cup and none of them sag at all. I never looked that firm when I was starting to develop and you want me next to them? No way!”

“Give them a few years and they’ll look like us.” And the three laughed at the thought.

The afternoon of the third day, Patti finally lost her temper and demanded to know “Why the fuck do we have to share one room with you. You two rut like animals and keep us awake half the night. Why can’t we have any privacy?”

Jason smiled and answered her, “The reason you have to sleep in one room and have no privacy is because you never made any effort towards privacy. If you want a separate bed-room, build one!” It was obvious that he had been waiting for this demand and enjoyed her reaction to his answer.

“That’s it! We just build a room? Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

“Because you never asked.” She was so angry that she stomped off in frustration as the Lanai and Ayiesha laughed.

Jean then approached and said, “That wasn’t very nice.”

“Probably not but it was fun. All you had to do was ask.” Then he started to turn away..

“Wait! You are so infuriating! That’s what I hated about you when we were married. You made me ask for sailing and climbing lessons and everything else. Couldn’t you have offered sometime?”

“I burgled your business and wrote ‘I love you’ on the company bulletin board. I left roses in your car and poetry in your purse. I made you a garden and rebuilt the inside of our house for you. I did everything I could to make your life easier and spent every day trying to show you my love. But some things you needed to want badly enough to ask for yourself.”

They waited and stared at each other until finally Jean broke down, “Damn you to all the hells, … I’m asking for a separate bedroom where I won’t have to watch you with … her! May I have one please?”

Her former husband then smiled again and said, “Of course you may. How about on the west side where you won’t get the rising sun? We have poles and grass piled up already.”

Jean almost slapped him, she was so angry and frustrated. He had planned this before and was just waiting for her to break down. But she stared at him as he just smiled back. “You are enjoying this situation far to much.” She said then walked away to gather grass for her walls.

Myra approached and asked, “My Lord, why do you torment her so?”

Jason stared after his lost love, “Because she hurt me so badly. It doesn’t make me feel any better at all either, but I can’t seem to stop.”

“I never saw you as the vengeful sort.”

“You only saw me as Baron. And sometimes to prevent a future war you need to let go the angers of the past. But dealing with the Skree as a whole race whose only crime is that they wanted the technology of Dyson is different from dealing with the woman I loved so terribly much that even today, thinking of her hurts.”

He felt a tug at his shirt and, turning, saw Kitty who asked, “Can I room with Jean?” Her intentions were obvious as was Jean’s continual rejection of her public advances.

“Ask with proper manners.” He said and ignored her.

Kitty started to snap but thought better when she saw Myra’s glare. So she stood before him, tried to curtsey and asked, “Please, My Lord, may I share Jean’s room with her?”

He smiled and said, “You are asking the wrong person, that is up to Jean.”

Kitty froze then turned away and walked over to Jean with all the contempt she could muster.

“Yes, My Lord, you are definitely enjoying this situation far too much,” offered Myra as he laughed out loud and began to mark out the new bedroom.

The framing was simple and small, barely large enough for a bed and room to turn around in but the simplicity of the area caused it to be finished within an hour. He simply drove one pole into the ground a couple feet from a support pole to create a doorway, then after consulting with Jean as to the size (she agreed to sharing with Kitty), drove two more to mark the corners. Then he laced horizontal poles to form a box, then cross-members for support and a peaked roof. Once done he told Jean, “Your job is to weave grass for the walls and floor. See how we did that for a pattern. Once that is done, we’ll cut a hole in the wall so you can enter from the hut and make you a door and beds and other furniture.”

Once Carol and Patty saw this, they also asked for a room of their own but were ignored until they remembered to curtsey and ask in a polite manner. Slowly their lessons were taking effect and a half hour later, they had a room next to Jean’s. This one went faster as Jason had framed three walls for Jean but by attaching Carol’s next to Jean, he only had to frame two walls this time.

Jason wanted them small because he didn’t want to loose any more of the compound than was necessary. Plus although he felt that he was responsible for them, Jason saw no reason to make them overly comfortable. Maybe it was revenge but frankly, they were a burden to the Drakonans. Jason had to leave someone in the compound to protect them, they ate so much that the food resources were stained, they always used up all the water forcing the tailed people to wait until it rained before they could shower and they complained about everything. All in all, he was beginning to regret allowing them to remain and secretly wished that Ayiesha had left them to the Kro-lu.

***

That night Jason was on one of his rare evening watches when Myrmidon brought out a Chess set and Go game. However the Chess board had 100 squares instead of the normal 64 and the Go board was much larger than normal. Myrmidon sat with both and played Chess with Ayiesha and Go with Myra at the same time with neither getting her full attention.

Both Jean and Kitty watched the game as both enjoyed Chess and Kitty had played Go in her youth but the games moved so fast, they were lost almost immediately. Ayiesha would spend never more than five seconds planning her move and Myrmidon would simply glance at the board and move a piece then turn to the Go board where both Lanai were moving so fast that the clicking of the stones sounded like a cricket on a warm night. The games lasted only a few minutes with Myrmidon winning both, then she discussed the moves with each in their own language and demonstrating her suggestions. They then set the boards again and played another round. Jean was almost willing to ask to play the winner but realized that she was hopelessly outclassed even by the looser.

***

Carol was awakened by the nightly rain and saw Jean weaving more mats for her room. “Can’t sleep?” she asked.

“It was hard enough to watch them when I didn’t love him but now I think I never stopped. I was so angry. He came home from one of his military jaunts with bandages and all he would say was that he was accident-prone and needed to watch where they lay the garden hoses. I knew he was lying to me but he refused to tell me what happened. Then I talked to Lori. She served with him for years in the Air Force but when I asked her what happened, she got this look of horror and said, ‘I’m glad he was there.’

“When he went to work a few days later, Dan came over to talk over an accident he had and we had too much to drink and one thing led to another. I never told anyone. But when he went away again, it was so easy to do it again. I guess I figured that if Jason could keep secrets, so could I.”

Carol held her hand and asked, “Do you think he and Lori were… more than friends?”

“God No! I truly believe that aside from that one affair with his ex, he was completely faithful to me. I used to accuse him of cheating but I knew he was innocent. I just wanted him to admit to it so I could feel better about my own affairs.”

“What about now?”

“I see what he is really like as a soldier I guess. It’s a side he kept from me so I wouldn’t worry and I’m almost glad he did. I wonder how often and how close he came to not returning home.”

***

When Jason wasn’t digging the tunnel, he hid in the blind and watched the Weiroo island. He had left the binoculars set-up and would often take photos for later analysis. They knew that there were at least three cities on he island but had no idea of how many Weiroo lived in each city. Also, Jason believed, with little evidence, that they could sneak in and liberate the women on an individual basis, teach the Ga-Lu how to do that and avoid direct military confrontation. What did concern him was that if they had a big battle, Myrmidon was his best and most experienced Warrior. Ayiesha was good but not in Myrmidon’s class and Myra had never fought in her life outside a sparring ring. Four against an army that could fly wasn’t the kind of odds her preferred.

Also he worried that he’d need to leave someone in the compound to protect the women which reduced his army by 25%. More problems to worry about.

He was thus employed, trying to plan and re-plan when Myra arrived. She was wearing a dress for some reason and asked if they could talk. Jason always believed that a good commander was never too busy to talk to his people, a leader who is, generally misses vital information or looses the respect of the people he leads so he put his gear aside and listened to her.

Mostly she wanted to talk about Ayiesha and Jean and how they seemed to be competing with each other for his attention. Jason laughed at this, “Jean hates me and pretends otherwise because the alternative is banishment and being eaten by the wolves or cats. Ayiesha is pretending, for she has Tulan at home. But I will admit that she does try to upset Jean. I don’t know why though.”

About then Myra leaned forward and kissed him, not the usual kiss Drakonians give each other as friends but a kiss that was soft and pleasant and showed that she knew more than she had let on. Jason wasn’t one to refuse an offer so he kissed her back and one thing led to another. She lowered her dress and took his hands with her tail and moved them to her breasts, moving them as she discovered different places gave different sensations, then as she was kissing his neck and nibbling on his ear, she undid his shirt and stroked his skin with her fingernails. Finally when she had undressed them both, she climbed into his lap and moved very slowly as she offered to him her breasts and stroked his back, Despite the number of times that they had had engaged in sex, this was the first time that they had made love. Made love is the operative word for they had had sex often enough in the past year but it was always him calling her and she responding out of duty. This was the first time she initiated the act and Jason had to admit that it was very pleasurable.

Sometimes he liked a quickie where they both would just climax, and sometimes he liked it rough where they tore each other’s clothes off and just did it but sometimes, he enjoyed the time it takes to hug and kiss and do all the stuff that is just fun. And this was the latter.

Ayiesha looked for Jason and found him in the observation blind near the shore but he wasn’t alone. Nor was he dressed. At first she feared that he was with Jean but as she got closer she saw that the woman in his lap was Myra. And she appeared to be enjoying herself, slowly moving her hips as he kissed her neck and fondled her breasts and ass. So Ayiesha watched until she climaxed which was easy to see not only when her aura flared but her body shuddered, she held him tight and she almost moaned loud enough for the compound to hear.

Then she lay back and pulled him onto her as he continued his motions. Shortly she climaxed again then he did and they lay there a moment, with her holding him, her legs wrapped around his hips and that is how Ayiesha left them.

After they finished, laying there with her legs wrapped around his and their tails caressing each other’s cheeks, she said to him, “I enjoyed that, thank you for treating me as a lover and not as a Lanai.” Then she kissed him again, got dressed and returned to the compound. Well, life is strange sometimes, he thought.

A few minutes later after she had returned to the compound, Ayiesha took her aside to ask what had happened. Myra looked at her, smiled dreamily and said, “I wanted to see if love would make the sex better but I don’t know what love is. So I thought about how much I enjoyed serving him as Baron and how I wanted no other person as My Lord and how I’d hate my life if he ceased to rule us and that seemed to work. I must admit, the physical pleasure was the same but there was something else there that made it more enjoyable. I think that I may pursue this occasionally.” Then she kissed the darker woman, thanked her for her advice, and entered the hut to clean the grass out of her hair, her hips swinging as would a human or Weir.

“Hmmm,” Ayiesha mused, “I didn’t think Lanai could be that way. If this keeps up they may even start to date or take lovers.”

***

The next day after breakfast and their usual Tai-Chi, Jason announced that as the tunnel was close enough to completion, he and Myra were going off to contact the local Ga-Lu tribe and would be back later. So with Myrmidon in the tunnel and Ayiesha off doing whatever she did during the days, the women continued to weave the walls and floors for their rooms and talk about their unique situation.

THE SMILODON

The next day Jason decided that it was time to contact the local Ga-Lu and see if they could enlist their aid. He figured that their superstitious terror of the Weiroo would prevent them from actually fighting but they if could care for the women the Drakonans rescued, this would prevent the group from having to feed a dozen more women and escort them across dangerous territory. And for some reason he chose Myra instead of Myrmidon. Myrmidon was the ideal choice with her military experience but… The two took one of the Weiroo robes, the bloody one and a saber to give as a peace offering and left towards the northeast immediately after breakfast.

Hours later they found a small Ga-Lu hunting band riding their horses shortly after lunch. They had eaten their trail rations and some berries that she found along the way, berries that Myra first fed him, then placed one in her mouth, kissed Jason and pushed the berry into his mouth with her tongue, caressing his lips as she pulled away. Obviously she was interested in another session so he reciprocated and under that tree he gently kissed her, undressed her and made love to her.

Myra was different, Jason thought. All women were different. With Ayiesha sex was a physical need. Little foreplay, lots of wild passion culminating in a mind-blowing orgasm followed by exhaustion and sleep. And Myrmadon was a duty where she did what he wanted while her thoughts where elsewhere. But Myra wanted it slow and gentle and so he enjoyed the seduction and the gentle climax that resulted. They lay there with her in his arms, her head on his chest and their tails caressing each other’s cheeks as Weir do when he asked her, “Where did you learn to kiss like that?”

She smiled at him, kissed him again and said, “I asked Ayiesha and Kitty to teach me. I thought that Ayiesha had enough lovers that she would know how a man enjoys being kissed and Kitty liked women so she should know how a woman likes to be kissed. Then it was a simple matter of practice with them until I could try my lessons on you.”

Jason began to have fantasies of watching them kiss and began to rise to the occasion when they heard the horses.

“To Damn!” cried Myra as she got up and they hurridly dressed. “Their timing is horrible.”

They managed to dress and were about to greet the Ga-lu when a Smilodon attacked the small band. The feline killed one man and horse instantly and was killing the second as the third member of the band ran off, desperately clinging to his terrified horse.

Jason ran forward, yelling to distract the cat as an arrow zipped past his ear to bury itself in the cat’s body. Its reaction was instantaneous, it left its prey and charged Jason, probably because he was yelling. This wasn’t a part of the plan. Normally big cats can be chased from their meals by a show of force and Jason hoped to cause it to back off long enough for him to rescue the man and then allow it to eat the horse but this cat hadn’t read the rulebook.

Now Jason had seen and fought cats in Africa and India. A lion will go from zero to 35 in less time than you can blink. There is no acceleration. One second a lion is asleep, the next it is charging you faster than you can believe but this cat made a lion look like a snail. It was easily a hundred meters away and then it was on top of him before he knew what was happening. Jason had no time to duck or anything, only to swing his flange mace as hard as he could. Jason had made the thing from a truck leaf spring one day when bored and kept it only because it was a comfortable weight when he didn’t feel like the elegance of a sword and now he drove it down with all the force he could.

The Gods must have liked him that day for he hit the smilodon square on the skull, driving its head down as it rolled into him.. then nothing.

Jason remembered hearing Myra call his name. She seemed to be crying for some reason but Jason didn’t understand why as he felt good! Then the adrenaline wore off and Jason was in agony. She was pulling the cat off his body and the man felt like he had been hit by a semi-tractor on a freeway which he supposed would have been easier to survive.

Myra then knelt over him checking his condition, “Don’t move, I don’t know what your damage is.” A part of Jason was glad that Lanai are programmed to be calm under stress and also programmed with field medicine so he tried to relax and let her do her job. “How’s the Ga-Lu?” he tried to ask. She glanced over and said, “I think he’s ok but will check after I am certain you are out of medical danger.”

Then she finished and told him, “Your right arm is dislocated, your neck is sprained and you have 4 cracked ribs and some internal trauma. I’ve injected you with regeneratives and pain-killers but I want to set your arm before I work on your neck. Try to relax, this will hurt.” Then she wrapped her tail around his head to prevent movement, braced one foot against his rib-cage, grasped his arm with her hands and held his upper arm with her other foot then slowly pulled and used her foot to guide his arm into the socket. Jason tried to keep quiet but it really did hurt. Then she wrapped some leather around his neck and bandaged his ribs. Only when she was assured that I was ok did she leave him for the Ga-Lu. “You are my commander, your leadership is more important so you must be helped first.”

Jason couldn’t turn his head and it hurt too much to move so he relaxed and let the regeneratives do their job and he felt helpless, a situation that he hated more than anything. A few moments later she returned to report, “The Ga-Lu is alive but barely. I’ve done what I could but he needs more skill than I possess. What do you order, My Lord?”

“Can I stand yet?” He asked with a voice even he heard as slurred.

She looked him over again and said, “Yes, if you don’t exert yourself too much, let me help.” And with her help he managed to stand up, with difficulty. His arm worked but barely and it hurt to breathe but she held him until the dizziness went away. Jason was struck with the humor of the situation. He was almost 200 but looked 30 and was almost 6 feet tall. Myra was 5, looked 18 and was 5 foot six but stronger than he could ever be. Then he saw the cat and noticed at least six arrows in its body. Her reflexes and aim were good and was apparently all that saved him.

“No, My Lord, you killed it when you crushed its skull. All I did was slow it down for you.” She said. Jason hadn’t realized that he had spoken aloud.

“Ok,” he decided, “build a travois and we’ll drag him to the compound.” Myra gave Jason the Ga-Lu’s lance to lean on. “We can heal him there and make friends. But we’d better move fast before the scavengers arrive.”

So while Jason looked over the Ga-Lu, doing what little he could in his condition, Myra built a stretcher and carefully, but not carefully enough for he cried in pain as she lifted him, placed him in the travois, tied him down, picked up her end and together, with Jason limping on the lance, headed home.

It took hours to get there. More hours than the original trip but along the way Jason healed enough to increase his speed but not enough to help Myra who was tireless. Jason was obviously hallucinating for he thought that they would have made better time had she stopped crying and turning to watch him. Unfortunately, as they approached the compound, they were smelled by the Dire Wolf pack that hunted the area. So the two tried to pick up speed as Myra estanned to contact Myrmidon.

RETURN TO THE COMPOUND

After Dinner, the women noticed that Ayiesha was nervous and would constantly watch to the north. When they asked Myrmidon, she simply said, “They are alive and returning,” and ignored them.

Kitty went over to Ayiesha whose tail was twitching like a nervous cat and while stroking her arm in her attempt to seduce the Weir, she said, “Myrmidon said that they are alive so don’t worry.”

Ayiesha then looked into her eyes and said, “All that means is that they are alive.”

A few minutes later both Warriors broke and ran for the north wall, Ayiesha leaping up and grabbing the 12’ top vaulted over. Myrmidon followed, leaping over the wall with feet to spare. Moments later the women saw Myrmidon and Myra running for the fence carrying a stretcher and without slowing, leapt the barrier and landing on the inside without jarring the body they carried. The women ran up in fear of what they would find and were relieved to see the man on the stretcher was not Jason. Jean looked up to see the Baron stagger with a stick for support to the barrier and climb it quickly followed by Ayiesha who was obviously watching for the wolf pack that approached close behind.

Once safely inside, the Warriors relaxed but the wolf pack attacked the fence, which caused the women to back off in fear. “Take him inside,” Jason ordered the women and it took all four of them to carry a burden that the two Lanai had easily leapt a dozen feet carrying.

As they did so, they saw the Warriors poke through the fence with spear buts until the wolves had been driven off. Kitty watched this and remarked, “I think that had the wolves caught them outside, I’d worry more for the wolves than for Jason or those women.”

Inside, they looked over the injured man and saw that he was very handsome in a rugged sort of manner, despite his long hair and injuries. He was dressed in the remains of a fur outfit that had seen better days though what it looked like before Myra had cut it away was unknown. The man was severely injured, badly clawed and bandaged up far too quickly. Jean, being a nurse, recognized that the injuries had been bandaged up quickly and had been jarred loose while on the move so she assisted Myra and Myrmadon in fixing the man as Ayiesha forced Jason to lay quietly. “Lay there or I’ll sit on you, and not in the way we both like,” she insisted.

Myrmadon took a medical kit from Myra and cleaned the wounds then glued them shut and injected him with something that made the man fall asleep instantly. “He should live now. Let him rest but keep watch please.” Then she sat down as Myra began to work on Jason’s back and shoulder, massaging them and injecting him with some clear liquid.

“What happened out there?” Carol asked before anyone else could.

“Nothing important. We went looking for the Ga-Lu to enlist their help in the rescue and found this one playing a bit too rough with a cat. They need a good vet-tech to trim their nails. I thought that if we brought him here, we could study his language and make friends with his people as he recovered.”

Carol looked at him and directed, “You look like you’ve been run over by a tank and no kitten did that! Are you going to tell us the truth?”

Jason looked at her and said, “No.” Then began to work the muscles that Myra was massaging. “I don’t know what was following the blood trail so we keep extra watch tonight. Stay away from the perimeter until morning.

THE WOMAN’S TALE

It was while watching the Ga-Lu rest that night when Jean asked, “What happened to that Weiroo you captured?” To which Ayiesha casually mentioned, “It died before morning. Probably from the concussion or internal injuries. We didn’t care enough for him to save his life.”

“Then what about us? You don’t like us or want us here. Will we die because you don’t care about us enough to save our lives?” She sounded both worried and angry at once.

Myrmidon placed her hand on Ayiesha’ shoulder to prevent a nasty retort and said herself after looking towards the Baron to ensure he was unconscious, “It is true that we dislike you. You are a drain on our resources. We have to worry about protecting you when we’d rather rescue the Ga-Lu women. And you are disrupting our group. We are Warriors and this is a military camp. Hi Grace is leader and gives orders that we follow and we do what we can to make his life easier so he can focus his attention on winning and keeping us alive.

“Now you three arrive, Kitty who gets in the way to be the center of attention and spends her time trying to seduce Ayiesha or Jean to get that attention and isn’t smart enough to realize that neither want her in that way.

“Carol who believed whatever Jean told her and wasn’t smart enough to seek the truth or even to ask for the other side to the argument. And who is so self-centered that she Initiated an army of sycophantic followers who kiss her feet at every opportunity.

“And Patti who is little more than a lazy bitch.

“And finally, Jean,” Jean shrank away as Myrmidon approached. “A woman who complains that men don’t love her yet cheats on every one of them and drives them away. A woman who is so bitter that she is unwilling to consider that the problem may be hers. A woman who is going fat in her age and can no longer find someone decent because she cannot live with a good man because of her self-absorption and so seeks illicit affairs with men who she knows will hurt her so she can complain about the men who hurt her.

“Ayiesha risked her life to save you and keep you alive and safe and instead of giving her honour or even thanking her, you call her ‘monkey-girl’ and ‘whore’ and ‘rutting animal’.

“You treat Myra and myself as something less because we came from a vat and not a womb and ignore our hard work to feed you and keep you safe as if somehow, being ‘human’” and she spat the word, “entitles you to special treatment.

“And how you treat His Grace, … He came to the Commonwealth alone, penniless and not even speaking the language and within a few years, he became honored for fighting the Kris, rebuilding Kentaurus, founding Drakonis and negotiating its freedom without blood being shed. Then he took this Barony and changed it from one small farm world of refugee immigrants into a nation that is a hundred light years across and is so powerful that even the Skree fear to anger us. He has fought off the Shitai a half dozen times, stopped a pirate army that survived the Commonwealth, defeated a number of invasions and came here to save this miserable ball of shit you call a planet and you return this with insults and disrespect.

“Were you at home, I’d have your heads on pikes, but we will continue to feed you, continue to protect you and tolerate your disrespect and total lack of manners simply because Jason, the man you abused and ruined, tells us to. Be glad that His Grace is a far better person than you all will ever be.”

And with that she went to Myra and sat with Jason, followed by Ayiesha who ignored the women as if they were something she didn't want to step in. All three then held hands and placed the free hands of their chain onto Jason’s skin and there they remained in silence for some time until Ayiesha and Myra left to take watch.

Myrmidon turned the lights off and then crawled naked into bed next to Jason pressing her skin against his and holding him as she fell asleep. Kitty whispered to Jean, “I think that was uncalled for. I think that they are ignoring our positive attributes and I think…”

“I think,” snapped Jean, “that you should just shut up!” And she went to her room where she spent the night crying. Kitty tried to go with her to comfort her but was driven out so sat in a corner sulking.

Carol turned to Patti in the dark and told her, “I think we have overstayed what little welcome we had. It’s time for us to leave.”

Patti laughed at this, “Where would we go? Who long would we live out there? If it wasn’t for Ayiesha, we would be prisoners of those cave-men, breeding their brats and trying to cook deer over a fire. Or we’d have been eaten by the wolves or saber-tooth tigers or whatever is out there. Hell, we don’t even know if we are still on Earth or not. No, I may be a bitch but I’m not stupid and I know that we are better off here. I also know that despite our words to the contrary, we won’t change our ways. I can promise all I want to be nicer but I’ll still be a bitch, and Kitty will still try to get Ayiesha and Jean into bed, and Jason will complain and sulk about us and wish he had the guts to toss us out but he’ll still keep us alive. And he’d do it because Myrmidon is right, he’s a better person than any of us and it’s his nature to be a good man and help the downtrodden.

“I became bitchy because of an abusive father and a couple bad marriages. I let them turn me sour against men and that’s why I became a witch. I liked the idea of a religion where we prayed to a Goddess and where men were second class subjects and I could curse anyone who crossed me. But Jason has had as many bad relationships as I had and somehow he managed to still trust women. I’d like to know how he did that. But for now, despite those … females hating us, Jason will keep his word and protect us and get us home safely because that is how he is.”

As much as Carol hated to admit it, Patti was right. They were stuck. This wasn’t some reality TV show where they were pretending to live in hardship but could quit and be sent home aboard a comfortable airplane, this was reality itself and they were stuck in a living nightmare.

An hour later, the Weiroo attacked.

THE ATTACK

A number of things happened within seconds: the weird wailing’s of the Weiroo filled the night, Myrmidon was awake and out of the hut carrying her bow and broadsword and still naked and Jean burst through the mat hanging into the main room terrified, and finally, all four women sat together, huddled and paralyzed by the sounds. Through it all, both the Ga-Lu and the Baron slept the peaceful sleep of the drugged.

The women heard screams, wailing’s and the occasional sound of steel upon steel until silence reigned. But who had won? There were only three to defend the compound which was large, though protected and the numbers of their assailants was unknown. Kitty, the bravest of the four, picked up a saber and went to the room she shared with Jean and saw the wall matting torn away from the frame. Only the framework that had been built to prevent entry or exit of a large body had prevented the Weiroo from entering.

For long minutes that seemed like hours there was silence. Kitty offered the suggestion in a whisper, “The Weiroo are night fighters. If one distracted the Lanai, the other could stab her in the back. Or they could swoop down and drag someone into the sky before anyone realized what happened and then they would be too high in the sky to risk a fall. They may have thousands ready and as good as Ayiesha is at fighting, can she or the others win against such human waves?” Patti and Carol and Jean took whatever weapons they could find and waited in the center of the hut in darkness awaiting whatever would happen.

Eventually the women began to fall asleep in the silence and dark. First Patti, then Carol and finally Kitty and Jean near sunrise.

When they awoke, or rather were woken, it was not by a Weiroo but by Myrmadon, still naked and with multiple cuts across her body, who told them that they were hungry and needed to make breakfast for the three Warriors. Then she walked over and looked at Jason.

“What happened?” demanded Kitty.

“We were attacked by six Weiroo and we killed them. Please make double size meals for we used a lot of energy last night.”

“That’s it?” Demanded Carol. “All that screaming and yelling and noise and you only say that you won?”

Myrmadon looked at her then said, “We are Warriors. We fight because we must. But we are not so insecure that we must relive the battle to impress others. It is enough for you to know that you are safe again.”

“But you’re hurt. You need attention.”

She looked at herself then laughed, “These? These are minor scratches. Superficial cuts that have already ceased to bleed and are healing. How is the Ga-Lu and Our Lord?”

Carol sighed in exasperation and said, “Ok, Jean and Patti, will you please make our protectors something to eat. Both men seem to be doing well and slept through the night. I think that they’ll live.”

“Good!” stated Myrmadon as she entered the shower and cleaned the blood and dirt from her body. It didn’t take long and when done, she dressed and left as Ayiesha entered and stripped and cleaned herself. Once dressed, she lay upon her bed and was asleep immediately.

When breakfast was ready, Myra entered, cleaned and woke Jason. “My Lord, we had an attack last night. Two Weiroo at first tried to take Ayiesha but were killed by us. Their wailings attracted four more that attacked the hut and us. It took a bit of time to kill them but we do not believe that any escaped to warn the island. Ayiesha is resting with Myrmadon on watch. I came in to report to you.”

He sat up, moved around to test his body then stood. Looking at Myra, he smiled and said, “Good work. I’ll be right out.”

He then dressed and left the hut to find both Myra and Myrmadon eating breakfast. Flies were already buzzing around the pools of blood but there were no bodies around though when he looked outside the compound, he saw eight heads resting on sharpened poles. “Eight?” he asked.

Myra replied, “Six from last night, two from the first attack. We saved their heads when we tossed the bodies to the scavengers.”

Kitty looked through the fence, saw the heads then turned white and retched. Jean said, “How could you?” And Carol and Patti turned away and ran from the sight.

“Every culture has its ways. This is ours. The heads of defeated enemies are taken and piked as a warning to others.”

Jean then looked at him and with a very cold voice, “I was beginning to wonder if I should ask you to take me back but now, I know differently. That’s obscene!”

“You are welcome to enter the tunnel with us and see how they treat their human female captives. Perhaps then you will change your mind about our ways. Regardless, you appear to be stuck here with us so I would suggest that you continue with your duties.”

Myrmadon looked at Myra and said, “I told you it would work.”

AYIESHA’S LETTER

Dear Caroline;

You’ll probably get all these letters together so check the dates and try to read them in order.

I’m still here on Terra, 10,000 light-years from home and things are beginning to get interesting. Remember how I told how that I approached His Grace in the caverns on Sothis when my Need grew so great I had to approach His Grace for sex even though the Shitai were all over? I don’t remember much about that sex other than our body armor was pinching and getting in the way and I was terrified we’d be caught and fed to the Shitai grubs…

Well, I was asked to go to some island on Terra called Caspak with His Grace and Myrmadon who I served with on Sothis and a new Lanai named Myra. It seems that some Reptilian Race thinks that they own Terra because they visited it long ago and had an outpost here. They abducted a bunch of humans like the Demons abduct humans and Weir and changed them into Alphas as a cloned slave race.

Remember the Alpha War from School? The Alpha’s have been cloning themselves so often for so long that their DNA has degraded to the point where they are almost extinct.. So they travel the Galaxy seeking Lost Colonies of abducted or transported humans and steal their DNA to increase their own diversity. They have been doing this for centuries and some human government agents on Terra allow this in the hopes of retaining power after the Reptilians reconquer Terra.

Imagine! People in Government Service betraying the very people they swore to serve! I cannot conceive of a thing, but I am told that this is common here.

Well, when the Alphas (the Terrans call them Grays or Greys or whatever their word for the color of their skin is) visited Gaea and took those Peasant Farmers and His Grace captured their ship and didn’t care about their promises of power but executed them and piked their heads as a warning. The Alphas invaded and his Grace was waiting and exterminated their fleet then sent a ship to their homeworld (I think it was called Zeta Reticuli?) and blasted one side with ten-kilo iron balls at near light-speed. It’s a nasty weapon where you drop tones of molten iron into a pool to cool into a number of sphere-like shapes of different sizes. The mines use them to crush rock so they can extract ore. We used them on the farm (the smaller ones) to crack wheat and rice husks to separate the kernel from the husk. My brothers would throw them at the scarecrows and use slings to drive away the wild falanx packs in the winter so they are common and cheap and totally safe.. unless you drop one on your bare foot that is.

Well, his Grace filled a freighter with thousands of these mill-balls and sent it to the Reticuli system protected by a Cruiser. The freighter was moving at near light-speed then it opened the hatches and braked. The ship stopped but the cargo did not and all those iron balls continued to the Reticuli homeworld at near light-speed. When they hit atmosphere, they heated up to a milion degrees and more and detonated with thousands and thousands of nuclear explosions on that side of the planet. Then the freighter moved to the other side and did it again. He almost rendered the Alpha civilization into extinction and they were only saved by their colonies. So His Grace told them to leave us alone or he’s finish the job.

Well, the Reptilians and their Alpha slaves want to reconquer Terra and His Grace has hired Vartanian mercenaries to keep them away. Really! Better them than me spending the next few centuries stuck here defending people who would treat me like a monster if they knew I existed.

Now remember in biology class when we looked at the development of the human & weir fetus? How it looks like a tadpole and a fish and so on? We always wondered if all life duplicates its evolution in its developing young. Of course, that is wrong and an illusion but the Reptilians didn’t know that and created this massive island in the Pacific Ocean on Terra and used their medicine to create a race that grows by evolving. Remember how we read about Barsoom from the Terran writer Edgar Rice Burroughs after I returned from there? Well it seems that Burroughs also wrote about Caspak but didn’t know about the Reptilians so thought it was just an aberration of Nature and a good story to rewrite.

So, this island developed an offshoot of the created Humans that have bat-wings sort of like the Angels and Devils of my religion (you pagans don’t have these do you?), both Judiasm and Islam only these are EVIL!

They don’t have females so they have to abduct human women and rape them into pregnancy. I know that it isn’t evil but desperation on their part but still, it isn’t right! So when His Grace asked me to come here to help rescue the poor girls, I agreed instantly! And my dearest Tulan thought I’d be safer on Terra than on the Frontier!

So we have this primitive compound as we had to negotiate with the Reptilians to do this. No advanced technology and no interference with their experiment. We have to act and look like Primitives and I mean real primitives! And Caroline, I look so hot and sexy in my animal-fur bikini I almost want to visit our old boyfriends just to see if they try to rip it off me and do me hard!

Well, the work is hard digging that tunnel to the wing-men island (they are called Wieroo which is a corruption of Weir-lu which means ‘winged-man’ and only sounds like Wier which is my race. His Grace joked that we were the true Weir-Lu on the island but I didn’t get the joke.) so I spent most of my time hunting and cooking. You’d understand if you knew that lanai don’t care for good food and eat whatever is before them regardless of the taste.

The good thing is that I get to bed His Grace every night! Can you imagine this! Not a quickie at a party thing or a brief affair but EVERY NIGHT!!!! Remind me to tell you about that hot spring I found with the wild strawberries and what we did there. You will absolutely die from jealousy! Jason Obrien of Clan Obrien! Baron Drakonis, First Lord of the Weir, Minister of High Justice, Guardian of the Outer Spaces and Protector of the Realms and I, little Ayiesha Penaut, Peasant and Moslem-Jew farm-girl, gets him every night! I almost am willing to get pregnant just to have his child. But it’s a good thing I cannot become pregnant until I am 25 or I’d do it and live with the shame.

The bad thing is that his ex-wife from Terra arrived through a lost stargate with some friends and I was ignorant enough to save them. Had I known who they were, I’d have let those ape-men take them to their caves to raise half-animal brats. But by the time I found out who they were, it was too late. Call the Liberatory for His Grace’s biography and reference ‘Jean’. Then tell me what you found out.

But he is still in love with her and so Myra and Myrmadon and I made this elaborate plan to keep them apart and that first night I teased his Grace so much that he threw me down and raped the LIVING SHIT out of me!!! I came so hard and often that I was sore long before he filled me. And through it all his ex-wife watched. I felt so slutty and sexy.

Then I found His Grace doing some woman at the spy-blind we made to observe the weiroo island and was terrified… but it wasn’t her but Myra. Myra is only five years which means she is fresh from the Creche. Lanai are grown in vats of six, then spend three to five years in the Creche being trained as they grow so by five, they resemble a teen-aged human but are legal adults and go immediately to their war-stations. They don’t have much of a personality for decades until they have the experience for their matrix to absorb but Myra has been advancing fast. I think it is exposure to me and the human women. So she has been practicing kissing with me and the human lesbian and this is one conversation we had.

***

“What happened out there with the Ga-Lu?”

Myra’s skin glowed in the darkness as blood rushed to her face. It was almost like she was embarrassed. “We stopped for lunch and I tried that grape-thing you told me about with some berries we found. I couldn’t imagine how something so simple could make a man so excited. But then,” her skin glowed brighter and her voice lowered, “it excited me too. I didn’t know I had such abilities. So we made love again and it was wonderfully pleasant. Not at all like the pleasure I get sparring. It was something I can’t describe.”

I was so happy for her that I hugged her then asked for more.

“Then he asked me where I learned that and so I told him how I had asked you and Kitty to teach me to kiss and pleasure a man and as I was describing how we practiced kissing, he got excited again. Do all men do that?”

I laughed at this. “I don’t know but most men seem to enjoy watching two women make love. I don’t know why as it does nothing for me but men and women are different.”

She thought about this for a moment then continued, “It’s strange but I was bred and programmed and trained for combat yet instead of fighting, I seem to want to serve My Lord in … other ways.” Her skin glowed again. “I want to dress for him and make him happy. Is this normal?”

I laughed at this. I had spent four years among the Lanai, living with them, eating with them, fighting and killing with them but I had never seen this happen. Maybe it is because Myra was so young her personality hadn’t settled in yet and she was absorbing feelings and emotions from me and the humans. I knew that Myrmadon didn’t feel this way but by the time she was Myra’s age, Myrmadon had already fought in the Morgor Invasion and killed a few thousand Morgors and by now her personality matrix had settled in.

“I think that you are learning how to love. But be careful for as wonderful as it makes you feel and I should know as I love Tulan so very much, it does hurt when we are apart and I know that it would kill his heart if he saw me with His Grace. Besides, he thinks of us as Warriors, not as women and potential mates so when this is done, we return to duty.”

“What about the fight with the Smilodon? That was your first battle? I grew up on a farm so am used to killing and butchering animals and there is always the threat of being trampled by a rundi or killed by a falanx pack or dragon but still, my first battle was traumatic and terrifying. I peed my armour I was so scared. Did you have any problems?”

She replied instantly. “Not at all. I saw the cat kill those Ga-lu and when His Grace started to chase the cat away, I saw that it wasn’t going to leave and as it charged him, I simply sent a half dozen arrows into it trying to kill it before it reached His Grace. I don’t think I had time to be frightened, I just reacted. Then I was more frightened for His Grace than for anything. I’ve been programmed to obey orders, to defend the Barony and to protect the Baron and the thought that I may have failed to save him scared me.” Her skin cooled until she was almost invisible in the dark which was a bad sign but she continued, “I failed him. He almost died because I failed to kill that Smilodon. It hurts so bad inside that I feel like there is something inside my stomach trying to dig its way out with teeth and claws. I almost wish I were dead for almost allowing His Grace to die.”

“Myrmadon said the same thing on Sothis.” I answered. “Trapped underground in those caves was the most terrifying thing I had ever done. Then when Myrmadon was wounded by the Shitai and Jason saved her by killing those two Shitai with a bayonet and then when he was wounded carrying her to safety, she was angry with herself for being helpless and allowing him to be hurt saving her. I think that is why she remains so adamant about defending him. Her job was to save him and she feels guilty that she failed. So she makes certain that it will never happen again. I think that she may believe that if she were with him instead of you, he wouldn’t have been hurt.”

Myra looked down and her skin cooled again as she said very quietly, “I did my best. I know I’m not as good a Warrior as you and Myrmadon but I really did my best to protect him.”

I hugged and kissed her and tried to comfort her, “His Grace asks for nothing more than our best. And I know that you did everything that you could. Besides, he’s still alive and isn’t that what matters?”

I tried to make light of it but Myra still felt guilty. I understand a little of that for unlike me, Myra and all Lanai had the same programming to die for His Grace and when he is hurt, it causes the Lanai to feel pain and guilt. I tried to imagine how I would feel if I watched Tulan be hurt or killed and couldn’t save him and the feelings tore me apart.

“I should have done more,” she said.

Then we heard the wings and training snapped us back to combat mode. Fortunately.

We both looked up and saw the one hovering in the sky watching us through the framework that protected us. There wasn’t enough room for it to fly through the openings so we felt safe but didn’t want it to warn the island of our existence so I was about to unsling my bow when Myra saw the other one within the compound behind the hut. “GO!” I snapped as the first creature wailed its strange cry. The thing had managed to crawl through an opening as our attention was distracted as was probably planning on entering the hut by a back way. I knew Myra could handle that and she had awakened Myrmadon who would be outside immediately so I felt no worry until a third struck me from behind.

I dropped my bow in the impact and was being carried to the roof but the Weiroo made one mistake. They were accustomed to Ga-lu women being paralyzed with fright by their appearance, cry and being carried into the air. But I was accustomed to alien races, had been engineered for space travel so heights had no effect on me and mainly, I had grown up with two older brothers who taught me the necessity of wrestling. And the Fleet taught me dirty tricks that even my brothers wouldn’t do.

So as we approached the ceiling of our compound, I twisted around, punched the creature in its upper ribs, wrapped my tail around its neck and kneed it repeatedly until it let me go.

Unfortunately for the thing, I still had a tail-lock around its neck and as I fell, I pulled it backwards which spilled air from its wings and it fell with me dangling below.

I quickly grabbed its legs with my feet and swung behind so I was now a pendulum pulling the Weiroo this way and that until we struck the ground. Once there, I righted myself and smashed its chest in with a double punch then looked around to see another one flying at me low to the ground, saber drawn.

As it reached me I drew my Long Sword I had brought from Barsoom, fell to my back and impaled it as it passed centimeters overhead.

Looking around I saw Myra break free from her captor, snap its neck then grab the frame with feet and tail, then swing down and throw a knife to another one. Normally knife throwing as little more than a sport as you need an exact distance to allow a strike but in this case, the Weiroo spun aside to avoid the blade which brought it into range of her leap and she managed to grab a wing tip, pulling it down with a scream. I lost sight of them behind the hut but another scream that could not have come from Myra told me that she was doing well.

By that time Myrmadon was outside naked and with bow and had shot two more that were outside the compound. She then yelled, “Ayiesha, bow and outside search; Myra, bow and inside guard”

I grabbed my bow and quiver, resheathed my sword then leapt the fence and ran some distance under the trees until I could see the sky. I knew Myrmadon was doing the same in the other direction so I moved from cover to cover, searching the sky for more Weiroo to kill.

I hunted for hours, searching the sky and trees to the west where they would come. Making my way to the blind, I checked the island but could see no unusual activity. A few would fly off and others would fly in but this was their usual activity. It looked like those who had attacked us were isolated couples who had simply stumbled across us and enlisted aid from others nearby. I remained at the blind scanning not only the island but the entire west, north and south but could not see any activity save the normal night animals such as bats, owls and a few smaller mammals.

Eventually Myrmadon called me in and announced the area clear and by then, Myra had tossed the bodies outside the compound for disposal. As Myra remained on guard, Myrmadon and I carried the dead to the disposal area and left them for the scavengers.

“Myrmadon,” I asked, “Can we take heads?”

She looked at me then replied, “I believe that such an act would shock the humans.” Then she smiled and we proceeded to decapitate the dead. When we returned, Myra made some poles which we placed far enough from the compound to avoid flies but close enough to see. Then we piked the heads as trophies and returned to the hut.

Myrmadon was still naked and covered with dirt so she showered first. When she returned clean and dressed, I took my turn, cleaned and then lay upon my own bed and was asleep immediately.

***

Myrmadon must have had a mean streak then as when the human women saw the Weiroo heads piked, they got scared and angry and disgusted and saw his Grace as the center. Jean, his ex, snarled at him and stalked away in anger but Myrmadon smiled and said to me, “See, I told you it would work.”

I’ll write more later, Caroline but now, His Grace needs me and I am so hot by that fight and the woman’s attitude towards our acts that if he doesn’t rape me, I will him! I’ll send details later.

Your loving blood-sister,

Ayiesha.

MYRA’S SACRIFICE

The heads stank and attracted flies and gave the women nightmares. How could any civilized people do this? At least when America executed criminals they did it in privacy by lethal injection so the person simply went to sleep and no one knew what was happening. And yet, Jason saw nothing wrong with this! Ayisha watched them, saw how they tried to not become sick and wondered how could such a weak-stomached people become so powerful that they could defeat her grandfather’s people twice?

So none of them would approach the North side of the compound for fear of seeing the rotting heads and confronted Jason. “That’s disgusting and even unsanitary. Take them down!” then seeing his look, backed down a bit, “Please,” Kitty added.

Jason looked at the pikes, the flies and the birds pecking at the flesh and replied, “No! It is the right of each Warrior to take trophies so I miust support my people. We don’t give medals or cash rewards and Lanai don’t loot so this is the only thing they have to show their fighting prowess. Besides, when I served in Kosovo, I found that Vlad Dracula had a good idea when he impailed 20,000 people in the path of the much larger and more powerful Turkish army. They took one look at the forest of the dead and decided that this was one man that they did NOT wish to upset. My allowing piking has convinced a lot of nations to avoid trouble and seek peace with us.”

***

Shortly after breakfast Myra approached Jason. Jean saw her nervous and it was obvious that she had made a strong effort to look attractive. She wore a dress and shoes and her make-up showed a will that needed more experience to carry it off but she came to him with lowered eyes as he sat looking over photographs of the island taken from the blind.

He was planning and re-planning his strategy. How many times could a person look over a photo of an island a dozen kilometers away seeking some detail that would give him an edge. Jason had three Warriors against how many thousands of Weiroo? Normally when you fight a war, you like to have the advantage but this time Jason felt like he was back in Ireland fighting a guerilla war against the vastly superior Brits. Same in Kosovo fighting the Turks or Macedonians or Serbs or even those Vampires in that nest near Romania or in Sothis trapped underground with the Shitai. Always, Jason has been outnumbered and had to use every dirty trick he knew or could invent to survive and win. Back then he occasionally had to sacrifice men to win the battle and he didn’t like it than and he didn’t like it now. This was no different other than his army was so small, even the loss of one could cause the failure of the mission..

She knelt before him, not looking up and placed his sheathed sword before him, then lowered her dress exposing her breasts and said, “My Lord, I have failed you! Please accept my life to atone for my failure.”

He looked up and asked, “And how, Myra, have you failed me?”

“My Lord, I allowed the Smilodon to harm you. I should have been faster and stopped it before it reached you. It should have attacked me, not you. Please understand that I am young and inexperienced. I do not wish to fail you again so please take what action you will.” Then she tied her hair into a knot to expose her neck and placed her hands behind her back, curling her tail around her wrists to hold them in place.

As Jason picked the sword up, both Kitty and Carol started to move forward to stop him but Jean saw Myrmadon holding Ayiesha back and watching with interest and so grabbed the two saying, “Wait! Watch what happens.” It was obvious that Ayiesha thought Jason would kill the girtl but Myrmadon knew better. Somehow, being able to see that before the blue-haired woman could made Jean feel a bit superior.

The Baron swung the sword and placed the sheathed blade aside then reached out to cup Myra’s chin, raising it to look into her eyes. “My dear, you haven’t failed me or anyone. Your actions to date have been correct and proper. No one could have predicted that the Smilodon would charge instead of retreat. So you used the weapons at your disposal to stop it. Had there been a few more meters between me and the beast, I am certain that you would have killed it, but that is that and we shall learn the lesson and continue on.”

He then laid the sword down, lifted her to her feet, loosened her hair to allow it to fall about her shoulders and continued. “I am very happy with your service in every way and have no doubts that I shall continue to be content with you.” Then he kissed her Fealty Scar on her wrist and her cheek and said, “Now, we have much work to do. We need to finish the tunnel, learn the Ga-lu language and prepare for the assault.”

As Myra pulled her dress up and turned away crying, Myrmadon came to her, held her and said, “He did the same for me when I failed him on Sothis. So now we are sisters in duty.” Myrmadon looked back to Her Lord and continued, “He wasn’t faking. He honestly believes that we are correct and he will never hold this against us. Let us never fail him again in any way.”

Crying, for Ayiesha loved the young Lanai, she turned to the East and prayed, “Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Manat, Ishtar and Lilith! Goddesses of my mother and of my father, I swear to You all that for his act today I’ll give all that I am and have and will be to serve My Lord in whatever way he wishes, without fear, without judgment and without hesitation. This I swear by my life’s blood and my children to come!” then she cut her wrist and allowed a few drops to flow onto the ground before the cut healed.

Carol turned to Jean and asked, “How did you know? He should have killed her! The man is psychotic!”

Jean stared at him and explained, “No, he’s not psychotic, just different. He recognizes hard work and knew that she did all that she could. You can’t fail if you do the best you can and he’ll never punish a person for doing what they feel is right.” She then looked away, “that’s why he continues to torment me. Because he knows that I know that I did wrong. I just don’t know how I can atone for my deeds.”

***

Afterwards, Ayiesha was eating lunch and making her afternoon prayers to Allah when Jean sat by her. Before she could tell her to leave, she apologized to the woman for the way she acted. “I guess I was jealous. I still have feelings for Jason and seeing you two together hurts. I’m also sorry for thinking of you as being less than human. Please forgive me.” And she held her hand out to the Weir.

‘To Damn!’ thought Ayiesha. she didn’t want to like this woman. Ayiesha tried to think that Jean is old and will be dead of age long centuries before Jason or she will even start to show a wrinkle. Ayiesha tried to remember how she hurt Her Lord and how her total lack of integrity would destroy this planet and here she was, apologizing! Unfortunately, honour forced Ayiesha to give her a chance so she took Jean’s hand and made some non-committal answer in Spanglic so she’d not understand what was said but she would think what she would.

Jean sighed and said, “I knew he wouldn’t kill Myra. You didn’t but I did. He couldn’t murder her like that, he’s too good a man.”

She took a bite of her lunch then asked to change the subject for apologizing was never Jean’s forte, “If I’m not going too far, what religion are you? Sometimes you act like a Witch and sometimes something else? I thought all Drakonians were Witches?”

Ayiesha laughed at her human inability to think things through. “Do you think that Colonial only takes Witches? Or that everyone who is brought to Gaea is forced to renounce their old faith? My mother is al-Islam, my father is a Jew. But we are a farming world and Judea and Christianity and Islam don’t work well there. Not with our Gods so distant but the pagan Gods walking the lands. So they change to fit in with the official Wiccan religion and conditions. My grandparents, my mother’s parents are Arabs, they are Sunni Moslems and try to hold the same ways as they did on Terra. But how can they Pilgrimage or pray to Mecca from ten thousand light years away? So Islam had to change into al-Islam which means ‘Circle-Islam’. We pray to the Triple moon Goddess and Their Consort Allah, the Sun God.

“The same applies to Judea where I pray to the Sun-God Jahweh, his wife Ishtar and their daughter Lilith so I can be all three at once and see no problems. It avoids the religious wars that plague your world. I am a Jewish-Moslem but accept the reality of the Pagan Faith.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘ the pagan gods walk the lands’? It almost sounds like they really exist.”

Aghast, Ayiesha replied, “Of course The Gods exist. Don’t you believe that?”

“Well, I’m supposed to. And it gives us spiritual comfort but there is a big difference between what the theologians refer to as an ‘anthropmorphic manifestation of our inner needs’ and a Real Being that rules the universe. You really believe that the Gods are physical?”

“Of course. I see them all the time. They come to the Sabbats and occasionally drop by for tea. It’s embarrassing when the Horned God visits a Jewish household and wants to talk to the HouseHead. But He IS a God so it would be bad manners and dangerous to send Him away.”

“And yet,” not believing in this concept, Jean continued, “You still pray to Allah and Jehovah who you never see.” She thought she was making a point.

“Of course. Pagans believe because they have proof. We believe because we have Faith.”

Abandoning that line of argument as useless, Jean tried something else. “And your parents?” she continued. “Are they human or Weir?”

“My parents are human like you in body but Gaean like me in thought. My mother birthed three Weir babies, myself and my older brothers and the nursing almost killed her for Weir make great demands on their mothers. The hardest parts were that we are so much stronger and smarter then are humans that as a child, we exceed our parents abilities and since we live five centuries and age only the last few decades, I will watch my parents and human friends age and die long before I do. You,” and I pointed to her, “will be dust centuries before Jason or I show any wrinkle and he is 200 years old so far.’

“After that the problems are Weir Sexuality for we Weir need sex as you humans need food.” She laughed, “Both Judaism and Islam expect me to be a virgin bride but I cannot for Weir are born with neither foreskin or maidenhead and our biology demands regular sex or we will die so Judea and al-Islam accept our Weir sexuality. I think that my sex life is what disturbs my grandparents more than my appearance. But they love me anyway in their own ways and pretend that I am still virgin.”

“What about you and Jason. Is there anything there?” She looked down in fear.

‘So that was the matter!’ Ayiesha realized. She didn’t care about being friends. She still loved him and saw her as a rival and wanted to know if she WAS a rival or someone to be pushed aside. All that talk about faith and family was a ruse to open her up so she’d tell her what she wanted to hear. Ayiesha knew that Her Lord still loved her and that she made him deliriously happy until she hurt him but…. Unfortunately, Ayiesha had to tell her the truth but could tell her a truth she didn’t want to hear and would keep her away from him.

“No, he is my Liege Lord and Commanding Officer. We sometimes share bed and body but that is because we are Weir and need sex and for me, he is my only option. Besides, I have my lover, Tulan, at home and I’d never risk that relationship by cheating on him. He accepts that I need sex and must turn to another when we are apart but when together I am with him alone.

“My Lord, however, is no longer married. So he has his harem to care for him. Plus any Lanai in the Fleet will gladly bed him if he summons. And there are many women, human and Weir in the Barony who would happily marry him for his power and position and wealth and even his love. He just hasn’t yet found someone who will be faithful and loving and understanding of him.

“As for us, it is important that he marry well, someone honest and loving so she can bear him heirs to rule when he finally dies. We do NOT want him to leave us for some whore who will hurt him and risk the safety of the Barony. He’s done that before and deserves better.”

Ayiesha’s words had the desired effect for Jean left struggling to not cry. But Ayiesha believed that she would seek his bed at first opportunity and once they bedded, he would never let her go. And the thought of him giving her immortality and youth and spending the next few centuries with that miserable selfish whore was unbearable to the Warrior.

***

Because of the expected rise in population, Ayiesha spent far too much time hunting and gathering food for the compound for the original four became eight and was now nine and in a few days would increase again. So, reluctantly, she had to take some of the humans with her to show them where to find fruit and vegetables. Ayiesha tried to teach them to hunt but only Patti wanted to do that, the rest getting sick by something as simple as gutting an animal, and Patti never could use a bow so Ayiesha gave up on them in that area and had them collect fruits and vegetables instead. Because of that, Ayiesha wondered what did these Americans eat? She had heard that they subsisted on sugar and chemicals because they had ruined their lands with pollution and chemicals and trash, but always felt that was untrue.. until now. Maybe they had no farmlands and had to grow food in vats like some fungus that was molded into the shape of a steak.

ATON, THE GA-LU

That afternoon the Ga-Lu woke up and had to be restrained by Myrmadon lest he open his wounds.

Gathering around him, Jason directed Myrmadon and Myra to start language lessons as he looked over the wounds. “Healing nicely. Should be on his feet in a couple days. As soon as we can explain why we are here, we can take him back to his people and enlist their aid.”

Then he looked at the man, touched himself over his heart and said, “I am Jason Obrien, Lord Drakonis!” Then he pointed to the Ga-lu and waited.

“Aton,” the man said.

“Aton,” repeated Obrien and smiled. “Welcome to our home, I give you bread and salt and safety for as long as you remain.” Then he handed the Ga-lu a piece of bread and some salt.

Carol said, “He didn’t do that for us!”

Jean whispered in her ear, “Can you blame him considering the way we treated them?”

Aton may not have understood the words but he recognized the tone of voice and meaning and so relaxed. After Aton ate the bread quickly, Jason told the women, “Please make our guest a meal. Something easily digested would be nice.” Then Myra began to feed him pieces of fruit and bread as Myrmadon said the English word for each and listened carefully to the Caspak word. When they ran out of words for the food, she switched to anatomy and other such things, quickly building an impressive vocabulary over the next few hours.

From then on, either Myra or Myrmadon were with Aton constantly working on language while the remaining three rotated the rest of the duties. Two would be in the tunnel, one on guard duty and when the tunnel wasn’t in operation, one would hunt and gather fruits and vegetables to feed the growing population.

The Earthly women would spend much time with Aton, flirting with him and tending his wounds and needs. The Lanai accepted this easily as their main concern was language and that required nothing more than listening to him speak. And somehow, whichever alien was with Aton, the others knew what that person had learned. The three in the tunnel would return, all would hold hands and then, through some telepathic method, would share information and learn. To the women, who learned very slowly, Patti and Carol insisting that Aton learn English, Aton was handsome and human and probably single so they tended to compete for his attention, even Kitty seeking his notice.

Myrmadon saw this as a good thing as if they recognized the imprisoned women as a part of his tribe, they would help more. Ayiesha hoped that the new guest would distract Jean from the Baron but she also noticed that with the Ga-Lu in the same room, Jason’s willingness for sex vanished unless they were outdoors away from the injured man. Finally, she and Myra began the process of building internal walls to give each of them a private room. Such work was not lost on the women who commented on it at every opportunity.

“I see that Jason wants privacy now. Is he afraid that he won’t measure up to Aton?” Patti asked. “The man is much better endowed than is your lover.”

Ayiesha replied, “Aton is Cro-Magnon, your people are Cro-Magnon interbred with Neanderthals. None of your own race would measure up to him.”

On the second day Aton was pronounced well enough to walk outside if he sat immediately. His recovery was rapid because on Caspak ‘heal fast or die’ was a law of nature and his natural recouperative abilities combined with the regeneratives meant a rapid recovery.

Privately, Ayiesha wished the same that the human women wanted in public, to see how Aton hooked naked and healthy. Although the Lanai cared nothing for their guests maleness, only that he bathed, all the women, including Ayiesha had to admit though, that Aton was very impressive naked. He was too injured to become erect even when the women would wash his genitals but that would return as he healed and what he had soft was as big as what many men possessed hard. Plus his belly was firm and hard and they could count the muscles whereas Jason’s belly was hard but slightly round as befitted an experienced martial artist.

SPARRING

It was while Aton was sitting outside the hut the first day that all watched the Warriors spar. Jean knew that her ex-husband was a good martial artist but watching the Lanai was like watching professionals in fast motion. Their speed was almost blinding and contact always resulted in someone on the ground bruised and bleeding for they rarely pulled their punches. Yet it was clear to all that if they had to rank the four, Myrmadon would be the best because of her strength and speed, Jason second because of experience, Ayiesha third and Myra last only because her sole combat experience was killing the two Weiroo a few days ago. They sat there and watched the Warriors spar in preparation for the fight with the Weiroo. They would pair off, one holding a Weiroo saber and trying to figure out how it was used by the creatures. Slash, cut, thrust, every kind of sword is used differently and once they knew the capabilities of the Weiroo saber, they could develop counter techniques. Jason even tied ropes to Myra and hung her from the lattice over the compound so the group could develop defenses against aerial attacks.

***

That night, the four laid a series of thirteen stones in a circle then after stripping naked, sat in a kneeling martial arts position. They laid four individually chosen arrows in the center and then began to intone in a lowering voice. As the sounds dropped lower and lower, they suddenly stopped and there was an almost inaudible ‘ping’ followed by the intake of the collective breaths of the Lanai and Weir. They then repeated this process again and again to no discernable end until Jean whispered to the other women who were watching, “Look at that pile of arrows in the center. Remember they put four there in the beginning but now there is a pile. Watch carefully.”

As the four in the circle stopped and breathed again, the women noticed that the pile was twice as high. After eight of these actions, all four relaxed and stood up in obvious weakness. They each collected a pile of arrows and returned to the hut where they placed their bundles into a woven basket. Jean took Jason aside and demanded, “What was that all about?”

He said with a tired voice, “Temporal replication. Every time we replicated the arrows, they doubled in number. It saves us making them individually since we don’t have a factory or starship replicator to make them.”

“Why didn’t you teach me that when we were married?”

“If I had, you’d be in prison for replicating twenties.”

“Well,” she shot back, “Maybe if you had spent more time on my ethics classes I wouldn’t have used it wrongly.”

Jason turned away saying, “I cannot teach you what you do not wish to learn.” What he wanted to say was “I pounded ethics into you until you were so sick you refused to listen and STILL you screwed around on me and gave away everything that was important to me, destroying the rest.” But some words can never be recovered so he forced himself to keep quiet.

COMPLETION

A couple days later, Ayiesha was in the tunnel with Myrmadon and Myra when they found biologicals in the wall matrix. That meant that the cutter was near the surface and was mixing plants with the soil or they had struck a buried graveyard and were mixing the dead with the soil. Ayiesha hoped for the former because no one likes to disturb the dead. It’s bad luck and the stuff of the horror vids and novels that terrified her as a child. The Lanai had no such fears and cared only that the dirty job was almost done… until Ayiesha commented, just to scare them, “What if this is the crud on the bottom of the inland lake?”

So they slowed the cutter and ran a 3-cm shaft up and five meters later reached open air. Finally, they were there! The group had dug over fifteen kilometers under the lake through solid rock and soft wet dirt and managed to avoid breaking into magma or the lake. Myrmadon ran a periscope up the shaft and saw that the opening was in a forest. She then cut a small tunnel large enough for the Warriors to use but too small for a Weiroo to fit through and Myra and Ayiesha snuck out, covered the hole and explored the area to find that thay were in a forest area less than a half kilometer from the Weiroo city. Ayiesha commented, “The Gods must have blessed our enterprise to be so close and yet so safe.” So they crept closer, took photos and notes then returned to the tunnel. Myrmadon carved a ready-room beneath the surface, leveled the floor and stored the digger there then all returned to the compound. Neither Myra nor Myrmadon had any trouble running the entire distance but Ayiesha was tired and breathing hard when they exited and needed a moment to catch her breath. Both Lanai waited for her out of respect for a fellow Warrior then they ran to the building.

After they reported to Jason, he kissed them all in thanks, of course getting their dirt and sweat all over himself but he didn’t care for the bad part was done and now the real work was to begin. “Our main plans haven’t changed much, only now that we have the humans present, we can leave a couple of them in the far room to comfort the Ga-lu women as we rescue more.” Jason offered.

Ayiesha added, “That makes me very happy as I wanted to be on the rescue team, not babysitting duty.”

Laughing, Jason ordered, “Call them all together,” and when there, he spoke, Myra translating for Aton, “We’ve got the tunnel finished. Fifteen kilometers under the lake with an opening about a half kilometer from the eastern city. What I plan is simple. We rescue a few Ga-lu women, then take them and Aton to his village. We ask them for assistance then we return to the island, rescue as many as we can and once the Ga-Lu are convinced that they can win against the Weiroo, we turn the project over them and we go home.

“Myra, Ayiesha, Jean and Kitty you go with me and Aton while Myrmadon remains here to protect the compound.”

“My Lord,” Myra began, “I think that…”

“Myra,” he interrupted, “Sit with me for a moment. Now what’s the problem?”

“I’m afraid.” She said.

He waited for her to continue but took her hand.

“I don’t want to fail you again. I’m afraid that next time I…”

Jason placed his fingers against her lips and said, “Tut, tut, tut, shhhhh. We accomplished the mission objective with zero casualties. How can you say that you failed?”

“I let you be injured, almost killed. What if..”

“My dear, you acted properly. Had you not shot the Smilodon to inure it and slow it down, instead of facing one dying cat that could be killed, we would have both been killed by a healthy feline.

“Ayiesha told me how you killed those two Weiroo. I have complete faith in you and your abilities. All I ask is that you have faith in yourself.” He then kissed her and said, “We leave tomorrow for the island.”

Myrmadon took her aside and told her, “We all have our demons which torment us. Don’t let this one affect your actions. Do what your training says to do and don’t think when the time comes, act as you acted before and all will be well.”

As the sun set, Jean approached her ex and tried to speak to him but was shushed. “Don’t spoil the moment.” He said as he watched the sunset. On Drakonis, sunsets are so relaxing and spiritual that entire towns will gather to watch one, all silent in awe.

Later when it was dark, he turned to her and asked, “What is it?”

“I’m sorry for everything I did to you. I was angry and hurt. I wanted money and adventure and thought I could be happy without either. I almost was. But I don’t know what to do anymore. My life is a ruin, my credit gone, I live in an apartment with a dozen cats and don’t trust any man. Even my body is gone to fat and gray and wrinkles and sagging. I’m ashamed to let you see me naked, especially since you have kept yourself in such good shape. I blamed you for everything and lashed out at you because I knew that you’d take it. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t see her reach for him so when he ignored her offered hand, she dropped it as he said, “Thank you. I realize how difficult that was for you and is more than I expected from you. But what matters now is what are you going to do to fix the damage?” Jason was.. confused. This was the first time in years she was willing to talk to him and all he could do was slap her down.

“What! I don’t understand what you mean?”

He sighed, then continued, “If you are driving a car and smash into someone else’s car, you don’t just say, ‘I’m sorry’ and drive away. You have a moral and legal obligation to pay for his car repairs and his medical bills and his car rental so he can get to work and the store until his car is fixed. It’s expensive and hurts you financially but it has to be done.

“Same here. You screwed me over emotionally and mentally. You ruined my reputation with the Americans. And, your having Jennifer and your attack on my rep has guaranteed that the Earth will be destroyed by the Kris.”

“How did all that destroy the Earth?” she demanded.

“When the Kris destroyed the Earth, 90% of the population of the planet died in the first 24 hours. 90% of the survivors died over the next year. Then just as the survivors were beginning to rebuild, Jennifer united the KKK, the Nazi party and the fundamental Christians into the Chicago Imperium and tried to cleanse the world of anyone who didn’t meet her definitions of religious and racial purity until she realized that it wasn’t working. So she released the terminator robots and bio-plagues and within ten years, the highest form of life on Earth was the carnivorous predatory cockroach.” He laughed then continued, “And you wondered why I’m afraid of roaches… I saw them drag down and eat some friends who I was supposed to protect on an archaeological dig in Tucson. Bad thing was that they ate him before they killed him.”

“So, my dearest love,” she thought he was sarcastic but he wasn’t, “You have to decide what is more important, your Southern Belle Ego or the survival of the world.”

Jean ran away from him then, hating him, hating herself, hating the man who had broken up her marriage but still not certain of what she could or should do. Jason just realized that this was probably one of the reasons he was still single. After two-hundred years, he had still not learned to shut up and listen to a woman who needed to talk.

That night it was Myra who shared the bed of the Baron. Ayiesha had taken her aside and told her, “Tonight, maybe you should seek his bed instead of me. Tell him that you just want to be held. Don’t worry about sex at all but lay there and let him hold you. You have no idea how comforting it is to have a strong man just hold you and let you relax knowing that he will make things right.”

THE FIRST ATTACK

Once Jason made up his mind, there was no changing it. At least not by anyone who he cared enough to listen to. Jean said that he was always like this. He would listen to advice, take notes, seek opinions but once he had decided, he was like a runaway train. So he had the women fill canteens and jugs with water and dried fruits and jerky which he sent into the rest areas of the tunnel to feed those he rescued. He also had arrows and extra bowstrings and other weapons hidden there, “just in case’. When Kitty asked, “Why extra weapons in the rest areas and not at the end of the tunnel where they would be useful, “Myrmadon commented, “You’ve never been in a running firefight and run out of ammunition.”

Then when he judged Aton capable of travel, the four of them, Jason, Aton, Myra and Ayiesha entered the tunnel in the afternoon and vanished.

“How long until they return,” Carol asked Myrmadon who was relaxing in a swing she had made.

“They want to be in position before dark. We can see Infra-Red and have excellent night vision so we have an advantage over the Weiroo who only have night vision. Even then, it’s easier to hide and sneak around in the dark.

“Assume as many hours as it takes to locate the hidden harems, convince the Ga-lu women that it is safe to leave, escort them to the tunnel and then bring them back here. Expect that the women are in poor condition due to confinement and constant child-bearing so even the five-kilometer walk between rest-areas will tire them out. So that will take some five to eight hours to return with the freed captives.

“The actual rescue is what cannot be calculated. There are unknown factors like how many harems are there. How long will it take to find them, how many Ga-lu will be willing to leave, will Aton be able to overcome his superstitious fear of the Weiroo and mainly how many will His Grace choose to rescue. If the rescues are easy, he will remain to bring out as many as possible. If difficult with much fighting, he will content himself with a few.”

She looked at the women and continued with all seriousness, “Ayiesha was chosen because neither Myra and I nor his Grace possess the abilities to comfort these women. He because of his maleness, we because of our Lanai nature. But now that you are here, he intends to take some of you with him for the actual rescue. You will be left in the end of the tunnel and as they bring the captives in, you will care for them, comfort them and escort them here. As they are returned here, you will do the same. So be prepared to repay us for all that you have taken.”

Carol and Patti looked at each other then asked, “What is it like for them, do you think?”

Myrmadon laughed at their naivety then lowered her voice and said, “Imagine being kidnapped as a teen-girl by something that you think is a devil or demon, something hideous in appearance. Then imagine that you are taken to a place where you know that you will never escape. You are locked in an underground room, never to see the sun or smell fresh air again. Then that creature rapes you again and again, daily. If you resist, it beats you into submission. You eventually become pregnant by it and he still rapes you as you belly grows until you give birth, alone, not knowing if you will live or die.

“Now it tells you that you must nurse and raise this monster, alone. And if it suffers, so will you. So you hold that thing to your breast and watch it grow to adulthood. As soon as you wean the creature, its father rapes you again and again until you are pregnant again and the process starts over, you bearing another winged monster every few years until you die.

“And if the child you bore isn’t taken from you soon enough, it will rape you, its own mother, to force you to bear children by your own son.

“And if you refuse or fight or fail to please the thing in any way, you will be beaten, tortured, mutilated for it needs only your breasts and womb and everything else on your body is useless to it and can be removed at its pleasure.

“THAT, is what those women suffer daily, and for centuries this has been happening.” She looked away then continued. “I don’t understand that inside, only intellectually but I imagine that if you dwell on the images, you will feel the matter. And you wonder why His Grace is so hard? Because this is what is at stake. Thousands of these women imprisoned in three cities and we have no hope of rescuing them all so we can only hope to do as much as we can. He will suffer for every woman we cannot save for his way is to save all which is why he is Baron.” She laughed then, “And all the while you complain about the lack of hot water, the bugs, the life you lead here and how you want a soft bed and how we don’t respect you or your ‘needs’. Wait until the prisoners arrive then dare to complain to them.” Then she looked away and refused to speak to them again.

Patti left swearing first at the Weiroo then at Myrmadon for her attitude. “How dare she treat us like that! She isn’t even human! She is some alien that came from a test-tube..”

“Shut up Patti,” demanded Carol. “There are hundreds or thousands of people in America who were conceived in a test tube so the fact that she spent a few months more than they in one doesn’t matter.

“And look at her body! Did you see those scars on her belly and side and leg? She got those fighting in wars like this and instead of retiring and collecting a disability check every month and bragging about her deeds, she goes back into the fight. She’s going to risk her life to save those women and just because she doesn’t look like us or think like us doesn’t make her any less human.”

“But he treats her better than he treats us,” she complained. “He’s probably doing her too.”

Jean answered quietly, “She’s earned that treatment more than we did. We should prepare for the refugees. Food, medicine, bedding. Whatever they need.”

That afternoon and evening, nothing happened but Myrmadon would occasionally leave the compound and once she allowed the women to accompany her to the blind where they looked at the island and the Weiroo occasionally flapping overhead. Myrmadon told them, “That activity is normal, so long as it remains such, all is well.”

When the sun set, the women became worried over the fate of the expedition but Myrmadon betrayed no feelings and continued as before. The Lanai was inexhaustible and never seemed to need sleep though in truth, she could survive indefinitely on three hours and that in the occasional one hour naps. Morning brought no change save that Myrmadon had brought in some overly large eggs that she said came from an ostrich-like bird.

By noon, even she began to show signs of nervousness which the women knew meant that something was about to happen but she refused to say anything though she would watch the sky more often and intently. When she left for the blind, she was back quickly and would only say that all was normal, then she ate lunch and returned to her ceaseless vigil.

THE RESCUE OF THE FIRST WOMEN

As was his way, Jason listened to advice from everyone then made his decision. He sent the Lanai into the tunnel with food, water and even arrows and other weapons ‘just in case’ for he knew that the women they rescued would be tired and not capable of a fifteen kilometer run and would need to rest at the side rooms they had made every five kilometers.

Then, when Aton was judged fit to travel, Jason, Myra and Ayiesha entered the tunnel to the Weiroo city. Ordinarily they would have gone at a brisk march without stops but Aton wasn’t fully recovered so had to rest at the side-rooms but after a few hours the miniature army arrived at the end and took turns at the hidden entrance looking around.

As the opening was under some thick trees where the Weiroo didn’t go for fear of loosing their flying ability in the branches, there wasn’t much to see but grass, shadows and an occasional butterfly. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful place was the home of creatures as devoid of love as the Weiroo.

While waiting for sunset, they discussed the Weiroo city and population with Aton with whom all could converse well, though not fluently. What he said was a mixture of fearful fantasy and legendary history so the visitors had to be careful what they believed of his words.

“The Weiroo,” he said, “were originally like us save that they had rudimentary wings and were only males, having no women. Thus all Weiroo ‘came from the beginning’ (something to do with their biology which avoided the full evolutionary development described in the Bradley Reports). Then the Weiroo began to steal our women and to force them to bear their monstrous children, killing all that had wings too small to bear then aloft for the Weiroo wished to fly and bred themselves to that goal.

“Once they had wings large enough to bear them, they warred with us and were driven away, finally settling on the island of Oh-oh which is where you say we are now. Since we cannot reach this island, the Weiroo are safe from attack and prey upon us unmercifully, taking our women to their island never to be seen again, forced to bear their hideous children.

“If,” and he leaned forward at this, “You can rescue some Ga-lu women and prove that it is possible, then we will rise up and help you. They dare not attack in force for we have the bow and they do not so their attacks upon us are at night and restricted to an occasional kidnapping. So I believe that once on this island in secret, we can surround their cities and destroy their vile race, returning our women to their families.”

The Drakonians understood that the Weiroo were desperate, for being unable to bear daughters, they were forced to seek Ga-lu women but their methods were wrong. And they had succeeded for so long that they could no longer think of any other way. A successful military attack would force them to re-think their views. Besides, Drakonians have always believed that if they exterminate an attacking enemy, they will no longer be able to attack again and their neighbors will think again about following such a disastrous path.

Aton did give some valuable tactical information which was that for some reason the Weiroo never used the bow which was why they had never conquered Caspak. Any attack could be driven off by a sheet of arrows. They had steel sabers but all of their tactics and fighting was to distract the enemy then attack from behind.

Jason thought about this, “Could this be an instinctual response to kidnapping women? A bow would kill the woman so they may be predisposed to avoid that for fear of genetic extinction. Mental note: abduct a few living Weiroo for examination. Maybe a gene specific sterilization plague that would prevent Weiroo births. Within a generation, the problem would be solved. Or possibly a predator virus? These can be engineered to a specific race or even a group within a race to kill only those who followed a set philosophy and not the others.”

Ayiesha’s earlier scouting had revealed that the city was small. Far less than a kilometer long and less than half that wide, its longest distance along the river which served as water, sewer and cemetery though Jason wondered what those who lived near the down river part of the city thought as they drank water contaminated by sewage and bodies. From a tall tree they had seen that there were bridges over the river and these had been connected to partially cover the river then houses built on top of this structure. But most of what they knew about Weiroo cities came from the descriptions of Bradley written as he was their prisoner some eighty years before.

From the Bradley descriptions of his stay in the main Weiroo city to the west, Jason believed that they covered the river to allow easy access to the water for disposal of bodies and sewage. They also believed that within that city many of the houses would have underground and secret chambers where they would hide the women and their young for the Weiroo killed the young of other Weiroo. Thus their children were hidden until old enough to survive at which time they were released and never seen again. The women were kept in a perpetual state of unwilling pregnancy, never to see the sun or fresh air until their deaths. Such information was limited and suspect for Bradley spent only a few days as a Weiroo captive and all that he knew came from his own observations or descriptions given to him by his Ga-lu wife.

But Jason believed that it would be impossible for every Weiroo in the city to possess a woman for all Weiroo were male and the number of normal Ga-lu women would be very small and only some of these would have been captured. So Jason thought that only the most powerful Weiroo would have captured a women and the remaining Weiroo would be their celibate children who had been cast out to the edges of the city and who lived their lives alone, hating all, even their own fathers.

In a city covering maybe a half a square kilometer, they tried to calculate the number of Weiroo but could only do a comparison based on other human societies such as Tahiti which had a Ga-lu comparable technology but had only 14 people per square kilometer. Japan, however, with massive farming and a medieval technology possessed 225 people per square mile. Medieval Europe, with a similar technology possessed only 100 people per square kilometer so as the Weiroo city had a technology similar to Medieval Earth, it was calculated between 100-200 people per square kilometer, which meant about 50-100 Weiroo in this small city.

Obviously the math was wrong as they saw far more of them than that. Either the Weiroo had long life spans or few successful enemies or the population densities added farmland to the cities. Ultimately, no one had any good idea of the numbers of their enemies.

It was guestimated from the Bradley manuscript that the majority of Weiroo society was composed of the unarmed and cast-off children of higher-class Weiroo. These would be cowards who advanced in rank by murdering other Weiroo, often by a stab in the back or a blunt club from behind. Once they had successfully murdered a number of their fellows, they would advance in rank eventually being allowed to bear weapons. A society that was based on murder as a means of advancement. No love, no wives or normal families. Only a few mass-murderers who had successfully kidnapped women for forced breeding, creating children who hated their fathers, hated each other, seeking only to murder their fellows. “Concerned, My Lord,” Ayiesha asked.

“A little. Imagine the Historians wishing to come here to study this. We’ll have a difficult time protecting them.

“Not if they are extinct,” Myrmadon added with a typical Lanai attitude.

Finally it was dark so they left the tunnel and approached the city. Jason decided to go in a group at first until they were confident in their abilities so the four started at the upriver end and snuck from tree to tree, carefully searching for Weiroo before advancing. The Weiroo had no lightings at all in their city due to their strong night vision but even those huge eyes required some light and they would loose their color vision and depend only on shape and pattern. The Weir and Lanai had a similar night vision but could also see beyond the human spectrum and so the Weiroo glowed in the dark as their bodies gave off heat. They could be seen flying about like sparks from a bonfire rising above the flames. A beautiful sight if one forgot that these sparks would gladly kill them all. The sight was, however, lost to Aton who was nearly blind in the moonless night,

Eventually they entered the city and began to search for hidden rooms. Once the group had to hide as they observed one Weiroo strike another from behind with a stone. Then it dragged the body to the river where it cut the head and wings off, tossed the body into the river and snuck off with its trophies. Here, then, was a young man rising the political ladder by removing the voters. Jason almost laughed at the thought for Drakonis had publically executed and piked the head of our first political leader only five years after he was elected simply because he had done something stupid that was seen as an Abuse of Authority. The woman, a Comanche Indian squaw from 19th century Earth, had led the riot and then been elected to the position of the man she had helped kill.

They followed that Weiroo into a nearby house where it hung the wings and head from a wall then sat and cackled with glee. The house was bare and small so the group decided to leave it alone, Jason figuring that the more successful killers there were, the fewer they would have to eliminate. Besides, he saw no evidence that this one could own women so why waste valuable time?

As they reached the center of the town, the buildings became larger and stranger and often they would follow a street only to find that someone had build a house that completely blocked the road. To a Weiroo who would simply fly over the obstacle, this was no problem and to the aliens with their bodies engineered for space travel and climbing, again no trouble but poor Aton was a ground-dwelling human and so he would have to be carried over these obstacles, an act that he found totally humiliating. Myra did find one building that looked promising and when entered, forcing the lock, she saw that it was empty but had rooms off to the side. One was filled with skulls and dried wings and chests that none of the group opened. The next room had a pole running from wall to wall which was believed to be their sleeping area as with wings such as the Weiroo possessed, they could not have slept in a bed. The final room possessed a large well which, when leaned over, revealed the sound of the river far below. The well also was too large for just a water bucket and had rungs inside for climbing. “Why such a large well opening?” Jason asked.

Believing this to be the most promising route, they all entered the well and climbed down some meters until a hidden door was seen to be ajar. Carefully pushing it open, they entered and found another room which was mostly bare but held shelves upon which were bowels and pots and the spoon-fork that Bradley had described in his manuscript. There were also whips and ropes and some chains and manacles.

They entered the only other door and found a Weiroo watching a Ga-lu woman who was surrounded by a half dozen Weiroo young in various stages of age from infancy to almost teen. Their father was feeding each a bowl of stew and the creatures were eating the stuff as if they were starving and had no concept of manners. Often they would stuff the food into their mouths so fast they would choke, spewing the half chewed meal back into their bowl, then they would simply eat what they had just choked up. The woman was a pitiful sight. She was naked and her breasts were large and full of milk but scarred from years of Weiroo talons. Apparently the infants were as disgusting as they nursed as were their older siblings. She ate her meal in silence, never looking up. Gray was seen in her hair and Jason wondered how many years she had been locked up here, never seeing the sunlight, condemned to an eternity of bearing such hideous young.

His Grace simply walked to the Weiroo from behind and snapped its neck without a word or giving it a chance to defend itself. As the body dropped, its children began to scream and wail and run about and this is what caused the woman to look up at the group. Her face started with fear then relief as she saw that they were not Weiroo, then as she realized that the aliens weren’t Ga-lu either, she returned to fear.

“Aton,” called his Grace, “Tell her we are her to rescue her and return her to her family.”

Aton moved forward and began to talk to her and eventually she calmed down a bit. Jason handed her some clothing from the outer room which she immediately clutched to herself and quickly dressed.

“We have to leave now,” said Jason with unusual tenderness. And as they turned to leave the woman snatched up the Weiroo’s sword and ..

***

Jason and Aton left the room and its contents taking the woman, then waited for Ayiesha and Myra who sealed the door and found the others down below by the river. The two groups joined up, Ayiesha still shaken and although her mind understood, she still could not look at that woman.

They followed the river until a body fell down into the water, splashing them with the force of its impact. Looking up, they found another opening in the roof and so His Grace jumped into the waist deep water, caught his breath as the cold water reached his crotch and then he looked up and said, “Myra, I’ll toss you to the ladder, recon the well.” And Myra jumped into the cold water then putting her foot into his hands, he flung her into the overhead tunnel where she grasped some rungs and climbed up into the darkness. The next trip Jason resolved to bring a grapnel and rope.

A moment later she returned and said quietly, “There’s another door here, someone just entered with a bundle. I blocked it from closing so we should hurry.” Then she dropped down and moving her weapons to her front, placed the terrified Ga-lu woman on her back. Ayiesha was flung up the well and looking down saw His Grace toss Aton up then he followed, climbing the rope that Aton had tied to a rung and tossed down.

They quickly reached the room and the Ga-Lu woman began to struggle until Myra rendered her partially unconscious with pressure to her carotid. They then entered the outer room which was similar to the first and Myra placed the woman on the floor as Ayiesha entered the inner chamber with some hesitation.

The Weiroo had dropped his bundle, released the naked girl who was far younger than expected and as she sought to crawl away from him, he cried, “I an To-Shal-doo. You belong to me. You live for me. Bear me children and you live. Fight and you suffer for I don’t need anything but your breasts and womb.” He shook his saber to emphasize his words. Then he dropped his robe to the floor revealing his pale hairless body and cried, “Come! Now will you bear me children.” And despite her efforts, he pulled her to him and struck her with a blow that rendered her half unconscious. Then tossing her to the floor, he flung himself onto her with the intent to rape her then and there.

Rape doesn’t exist on Drakonis. The men and women play at the game for everyone likes to be forced occasionally but those were games and this obscenity was real. So Myra and Ayiesha rushed past the men and each of them grabbed a foot of the Weiroo and pulled it off the poor girl.

The thing stood in its nakedness and ridiculously small penis still erect without even the benefit of pubic hair and with flapping wings began to scream. It made the mistake of raising its hand to Ayiesha so she kicked it as hard as she could in its crotch and as they heard its hip bones snap, Myra picked up its saber and cut it in half with one blow.

Then Ayiesha ran to the girl and held her as she cried away her terror. The Weir girl still couldn’t condone the first woman’s actions, but maybe now she could understand them a little bit.

They returned to the well and resumed their search finding five more Ga-lu, the last a woman far past her prime. They never again found another Weiroo with them and in two cases, the women killed her children and in the rest Aton killed them. By then it was approaching daylight so the group quit and took the captives to the tunnel. The eldest had trouble walking, she had been so crippled by her captor that Jason wase afraid that she’d not live but said that, “If she dies, she should die with fresh air in her face,” and so he carried her until they reached the edge of the city. Then they took the women in three groups into the forest, Myra taking two of them to the forest first, then Aton taking two more then Ayiesha with another two leaving His Grace with the last whom he carried.

Unfortunately as he was carrying her to the forest, a Weiroo saw them and gave chase so he ran to the trees away from the others to lead them away. Ayiesha handed her two over to Myra and began to follow to give assistance and saw Myra with her, “I won’t leave him alone,” she said so both women made their way under cover to where they believed Jason and his stalker to be. By the time they reached him, eight armed Weiroo with red and blue slashes in their robes had landed and followed him into the woods.

These were the murderers who were so successful that they could bear and use weapons and so were more courageous than the others. The two saw Jason lay the women by a tree and as they approached, he told the Warriors, “Stay with her, this won’t take long,” then he dropped his bow and quiver and moved his sword to his side and turned to the Weiroo.

For their part, they had no idea of what was about to happen as their entire life they had seen Ga-lu fearing them and they weren’t able to see clearly in the darkness but could tell that he was male and the other three, female.

“Surrender and we will kill you quickly,” they laughed, “and take your women for ourselves.”

No matter how good you are, there is always someone better than you. No matter how mean you are, there is always someone meaner. And on Caspak, right then, there is NO ONE meaner than Jason Obrien. Especially after seeing what he had this night.

He just stood there until they were a few meters away and grouped under the branches where they couldn’t fly, then he walked forward and as they raised their sabers for a downward slash, he drew and cut horizontally, then reversed, raised and cut downward. The first two saw the third fall in two pieces before they realized that their insides were also falling onto the ground. He then turned, snapped at the fourth to split its skull then thrust into the throat of the fifth. As the first two fell, Jason leapt their bodies and killed the remaining three within as many seconds. Ayiesha had seen him kill Shitai with a bayonet inside Sothis but this was her first real experience with his swordplay. He even put Tulan to shame and Tulan had carried a sword since he hatched from his egg 500 years before.

He then knelt and used their robes to clean his blade when Ayiesha saw two more land just outside the tree line. They must have not realized that the Weir weren’t Weiroo as they called out, “Are you killing your fellows? What robe do you wear?” Then His grace pulled a saber and threw it spinning towards one as he stood and ran after the weapon.

The saber struck the Weiroo, knocking him to the ground and as his companion started to rise, His Grace stabbed upward, impaling it as it rose. He then dragged the bodies under the trees and again cleaning his blade, he took a saber and beheaded and dewinged the dead, wrapping the trophies in one of their robes.

“Let’s go,” he said then stopped.

Myra said, “She’s dead. She saw the stars and breathed fresh air and watched you kill the ten and smiled happy as she died.”

He looked at her and said, “Bring her, we won’t leave her for their pikes.” And the three returned to the river where he tossed his bundle in. Then they crefully lay the woman into the river too and said a short prayer as she drifted down stream.

They then quickly returned to the trees and then to the tunnel. When they entered, Aton was there with the remaining six and asked about the last woman. “She died free,” said His Grace. “If you Ga-lu have any place for her soul to travel, she will be proceeded by ten Weiroo to pave the way.

“We also removed their heads and wings and tossed them so that if they are found, it will look like other Weiroo had murdered them. How are the rest? Can they travel?”

“I told them what to expect. They are tired but are anxious to leave.” Aton responded.

And so the four left with their charges, moving slowly and resting at every side place with Jason remaining at the rear to guard them until they exited the tunnel. Some of the women were pregnant and he knew that the midwives would either feed them Pennyroyal or report a miscarriage or stillbirth as they would. Under situations like these, there would be a lot of stillbirths over the next few months.

AYIESHA’S LETTER

Dear Mama;

It was horrible.

We entered the Weiroo city and eventually found a hidden room where the monsters had imprisoned a poor girl. She was pale and suffering rickets from lack of sunlight and the dozen monstrous offspring and the gray in her hair and scars and sores on her body spoke of the life she had endured.

His Grace walked up and killed the monster without thought and her eyes showed hope when she thought that she was safe then terror as she felt that yet another alien would imprison her. So His Grace had Aton, the Ga-Lu, to speak to her and calm her and we found her some clothing.

Then as we were taking her to freedom, Mama, it was horrible. She murdered her own children, hacking away at them with the dead-thing’s sword as if they were something vile and unclean. I ran to stop her but His Grace grabbed me and said, “Let her be, we cannot judge her for we have not suffered as she did.”

All I could do was cry and ran into the outer room where I couldn’t move. When Aton exited that terrible chamber with her in his arms, His Grace said, “We have to go now,” but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t look at the woman. Is this what we were risking our lives to save?

Finally he turned to Myra and said, “Remain with Ayiesha and when you can, catch up with us.” And he left with the Ga-lu.

Myra came to me and I flung myself into her arms. I was far older than she with almost more time in the Fleet than she had lived but right now I felt like a helpless child.

I cried to her, “It was horrible! How could a mother do that to her children? My parents are human too. Do they think of me as a monster and wish I were dead? Did my mother hate me for almost nursing her to death? I don’t….” I couldn’t continue as the images of that woman killing her own children couldn’t be stopped. I knew my grandparents saw me as an alien and did they hate me too? How could any mother murder her own children?

Myra held me a moment then said, “I never had a mother or father. No Lanai do. We don’t feel as you do but I do know something. You and Jason have taught me about love. As best I can, I love you,” and she kissed me then, “And I love His Grace, not only for what you are but for who you are. And the human capacity for love is infinite and I cannot believe that your parents could NOT love you just because you have a tail. Parents are capable of an unending love which is why His Grace went crazy and killed so many British soldiers when they murdered his wife and children. He loved them, he loves Jean despite all that she did to him and he loves us so how can your parents not love you with all the depths of their hearts and souls?”

“That women was denied everything, passion, love, family, freedom. That thing stole her from her loving parents and locked her down here for years. He abused and beat and tortured her until she went insane herself. She isn’t responsible for her actions. She needs pity and love and a great deal of medical help to heal her body and mind. We may save her body but now, when we get her home, she needs someone to save her mind and soul. We cannot do that, we can only return her to her parents who love her and hope she is eventually healed.”

Myra held me a few more minutes until I slowed my crying then she said, “We need to go. How many others are trapped down here suffering as she did? Our task is to rescue them and let others heal them. Come before we loose the others.”

Mama, I know that you almost died from carrying me in your womb. And I know my nursing almost starved you to death and my birth prevented you from ever having more children but I have to know.

Mama, do you hate me for all that? Do you wish I were human like you? Do you see in me a monster?

Please, Mama, I need to know.

Ever, no matter what,
Your loving Ayiesha.

RESTING THE CAPTIVES

Finally Myrmadon called the women together, “Get ready, they will arrive shortly. Make dinner and lay out the mats.” Then she climbed the tree which was a part of the fence and stared to the West for a long time. When she finally came down, she ran to the tunnel and helped a woman exit. The woman was middle aged but looked older due to her hardships and she was followed by Aton helping another, then three more then both Myra and Ayiesha helping two more that were obviously pregnant. Of Jason there was no sign and when Jean asked about him, Ayiesha said, “He’s watching our retreat, care for these.”

All total there were six women rescued, two pregnant, one old and the remaining young and fairly recently captured though one had the look of a nursing mother. Each was taken to the hut where they were allowed to rest as Myra touched Aton so he would understand then told the women that the captives were hungry and thirsty, a statement that Aton translated for the captives.

The women hurried to care for their charges, even Patti and as they were feeding them, Jason exited from the tunnel obviously happy and covered with blood but preoccupied. Jean wanted to fling herself into his arms but couldn’t because of her charge, the one with full breasts, who took her hand and cried. When Jean looked up, Ayiesha had a sad look and said to her, “Don’t ask. Don’t ever ask,” then she began to cry. Jean looked at her more closely and saw splatters of blood here and there and then decided that she didn’t want to know.

Jason called out, “Double the watch tonight and tomorrow. When they are able to travel, we will head for Aton’s village with them. What’s for dinner?” Then he splashed water onto his face and began to wash some of the blood off.

The women tried to find out what had happened but they couldn’t understand the Caspak language and none of the others would tell other than Myra who said, “We entered the city, killed some Weiroo, rescued some women and returned.” Sometimes the Lanai taciturnity was really irritating. At least none of them seemed to be hurt though all were covered with dirt, sweat and blood.

Then Jason climbed into the hammock and fell asleep immediately, followed by Ayiesha who climbed in next to him, wrapped his arms about her and cried until she passed out from exhaustion. Aton tried to walk around but his wounds caused him to seek the beds inside and was snoring soon after. Myra left the compound to return shortly and said something in Spanglic to Myrmadon and together, they kept watch.

“What do you think happened?” Kitty asked.

“Jason is so … distant and Ayiesha is horrified. Myra doesn’t care one way or the other. Whatever it was must have been bad. Even the women they rescued are affected.”

“Wouldn’t you be too after what Myrmadon told us?”

Carol tried to explain, “I knew someone… close to me who had spent four years in a Vietnamese prison of war camp. He looked like these women and every time I tried to ask him, he’d clam up too. Sometimes, at night, he’d scream because of the nightmares. One day after someone made some stupid comment about the war, he just walked home without a word. I found him later. He had slashed his throat with a pocket knife to end the nightmares. I don’t think I want to know. Let’s just take care of them and give them as much love and healing as we can.”

The women ate until they were about to burst then some shrank away and the youngest began to whimper, stopping only when another woman held her, rocking her until she fell asleep. All started whenever a sound happened and within the eyes of each was terror and nightmares.

Finally, the last women fell asleep and the four outsiders joined them, only to be awakened by Jason who told them, “Our new guests are hungry, would you please feed them and us.” It wasn’t a request but neither an order, simply a statement that he knew would be obeyed. Over breakfast, he announced, “Change of plans. We are going back. Myra, you have compound duty today. Aton remains here to care for his people. We’ll need more food and water for the rest areas.”

Carol interrupted, “I thought that you were only going to rescue a few then let the Ga-lu take over…” then faded away when she saw Ayiesha’s look. “It is not necessary for me to confer with you my change of plans,” he said coldly. “Jean and Kitty,” he continued, “you will go with us this afternoon.”

“But why?” Kitty asked.

“Because of you don’t, you remain here,” Jason responded. Looking around at the captives and at Ayiesha’s eyes and the determination of Myra and Myrmadon, they decided to not argue.

As they left to gather the required supplies, Kitty commented, “God he makes me so hot when he’s like that!”

Jean almost slapped her, then agreed, “That’s the man I married, but not the one I divorced.”

“Do you think he has any handcuffs?” Kitty asked. That was when Jean hit her.

After checking over the supplies, he told the human women, “We are going to move fast. It’s a fifteen kilometer hike in almost total darkness. We’ll do it slow enough to not exhaust you too much but you can rest at the end while we do our job. Figure maybe three hours on your feet. Once there, we rest until dark then the three of us leave to get the women, you two remain behind and wait. As we bring them in, you comfort them, care for them, do whatever it takes. Once we are done, or it gets light, we return here. Then the next night we repeat it with rotating personal. Every night we repeat, until all are free or until we are forced to quit.” He never asked if there were any questions, he simply stood and said, “Let’s go!”

The women carried the bundles of arrows and food because these were lighter while the Warriors carried the heavier water. Once into the tunnel, it quickly became dark and the only reason no one fell was because the tunnel was almost eight feet in diameter and had the appearance of something melting a hole then before the rock could cool, some flowed to the floor to create a sort of level surface. Regardless, the tunnel went downward at a fifteen degree slope then leveled and continued straight for miles. Jean and Kitty stumbled until Myrmadon and Ayiesha took their hands and led them on. The Weir could see in the near-dark but the humans could not though while being held, their vision improved as if they were seeing through the Weir and Lanai eyes..

After some hundreds of steps, Jean tried to count but lost track, she noticed that it wasn’t completely dark. There was a mild glow from the tunnel walls and floor. Not enough to read by but enough to see, barely. After what seemed like miles, both women could only focus on staying on their feet. The pace was fast and exhausting until they slowed, turned to the left and entered a side branch. Jason stated, “Take a short break.” Then all lowered their burdens and replaced the food and water stocks.

Jean looked over the tunnel which appeared to be exactly the same as the main tunnel save that it ended after some thirty feet, then halfway in were two side branches which ended after ten feet forming a cross-like structure. Both sat down gladly and dropped their bundles. Nearby, Jason placed a flat round object in the air where it remained floating, projecting a red light downward. He then placed another one on the ground which then projected a three dimensional map of a city. Much of the city was blank but here and there were tunnels, rooms and buildings.

Kitty told Jean, “I think we are about four or five miles in. If there are more of these at regular distances, I think we can expect two more before we reach the end. What’s going on there?”

Jean said, “I think that it’s a map of the Weiroo city. But see how only parts are shown. I think that they carry some sort of GPS recorder and wherever they went in the city was dumped into the memory. Then that computer created a map of every place they went.” She then called out, “Jason, why didn’t you use these toys in the compound? Up there everything was paper maps.”

He looked at her and ignored Ayiesha and Myrmadon who were touching various parts of the map which expanded for closer study. “These can be detected by the people who created Caspak and then they’d come in after us. So the treaty between us and them allow us to visit but require us to use only technology within the abilities of the locals. Down here, the tunnel, rock and lake shield us so it’s safe to use limited technology.”

“What happens if you just use lasers or machine guns?”

Jason thought then answered, “I am not prepared to fight a war over that which is not our concern at this time.”

She stood and yelled, “Those women are not your concern? How can you say that after all you went through to save them?”

Sighing, he thought then explained, “This is not our place. It doesn’t belong to us. It was created as an experiment in evolutionary biology. The Weiroo are either a dead end as they were on the outside world or a mistake. So if we don’t do something, the creators will simply sink the island and kill everyone, Weiroo and Ga-lu combined. So we negotiated a chance to rescue as many Ga-lu as possible.”

“What the hell gives them or anyone a right to do all this?”

“The same right that your own government has to expose their own military members to nuclear bombs to see what will happen or to deliberately infect southern blacks with syphilis to see how people die from the disease. Or enslave Africans because their skin is darker. You don’t punish the people or government that does these Mengele experiments so why complain about the creators here? Clean your own house before you complain about your neighbors.” Then he returned to the map and the three discussed the situation in Spanglic.

The mapper was inadequate for it could record only what they had seen which wasn’t much. There was an arial view from the flier that brought them in and a tree-top view of the city from one or two angles and their travel through the river-tunnel and entry into some of the houses as well as our limited travel above ground. But they were able to see a pattern in all the insanity.

The most powerful of the Weiroo lived on or near the river. As the houses moved away from this object, they became smaller and poorer. The only underground hide-a-ways that were found were near the river, the houses further from the water having no basement and so no place to hide a woman or dispose of a body. Thus murder for those on the edge of the city was far more difficult to do and hide but murders closer to the river had more hidden places and access to river disposal. Thus, they decided that they should concentrate their search along the river and not waste time on the edges of the city. This would make the task quite easier.

As for the humans, Ayiesha tried to think how they would understand but really, how do you explain interstellar politics to a nation that believes that it has the right to invade and conquer anyone who disagrees with them? The humans had never seen a planet-buster. They couldn’t understand how a fleet of a dozen Kris Battlestars had spent three days turning the surface of Hel into radioactive dust a half mile thick five centuries before. They didn’t understand that one modern Drakonian medium class battle cruiser like the Flavian to which Ayiesha was assigned could, within seconds, turn Terra into an asteroid belt. And so the only way to avoid total destruction was to respect each other’s claims and be very polite, very honest and never seek to impose your ways on another. They didn’t understand that His Grace had negotiated the rights to rescue the Ga-lu but Drakonis had to respect the ownership of the creators of Caspak or it would be war. A war that would destroy Terra and probably a dozen of their own planets long before word of their destruction was heard.

***

A few minutes later he announced the end of the break and they packed their gear and continued down the tunnel. As predicted by Kitty, they took two more breaks in similar areas, after the last, the tunnel sloped upward, then some four hours after they entered, all found a double cross-room at the end, one off each side of the main tunnel. At that point, the eight foot tunnel ended and a smaller one, slightly large enough for them to traverse reached to the surface where a camouflaged latticework hid the tunnel.

Jason peeked out, then returned to tell the group, “Sunset is just happening. When it is full dark, we three will leave and get as many as we can and bring them back here. Your job,” he looked at the women, “is to give as much comfort as possible, keep them quiet and care for them to the best of your ability. Here is food and water but be aware that they are scared, abused, tortured and totally unaware of anything other than their imprisonment.”

Myrmadon took the entrance and remained looking around until she announced that it was dark enough, then all three left the tunnel. Both Jean and Kitty tried to relax but they were, understandably scared. “What do you think will happen to us if the Weiroo catch us? Will we be like those other women?”

“I don’t know. I just hope that they,” she pointed up the tunnel, “are as good as we think that they are.”

THE SECOND RESCUE

The three repeated yesterday’s search only this time they split up. Myrmadon went with Ayiesha for the first hunt then when Ayiesha took her charge back to the tunnel, she continued on her own. When Ayiesha found a harem prison, she really don’t know what to call it, she would try to comfort the women. If the Weiroo was there, she’d kill it out of risk of discovery but really, after watching that one try to rape that young girl and knowing that every woman her had been raped repeatedly over years by the creatures, she wanted to kill them all. Once Ayiesha was able to convince them that she was serious and they would be safe, they often would kill their own children. Ayiesha never watched them do that, she would leave and wait until the nightmare was over and the woman joined her, covered with blood. She tried to tell herself that this was necessary but couldn’t believe it.

About an hour later Ayiesha arrived back at the tunnel and helped two women down the tunnel. One was pregnant, the other partially crippled. “Here are your first charges, be gentle with them. We will return with more.” And she left.

Then she was rescuing her… sixth she thought. Anyway the Weiroo fought back and actually held her off for a minute until she could beat its blade down and kill it, thanks mostly to the lessons in swordplay Tulan had given her. Then when she turned to the woman, Ayiesha saw her being raped by her own son who had taken advantage of the fight to slake its own lust, not caring if the woman was his mother or not. Ayiesha pulled it off and killed it herself in horror then stopped worrying about the young.

***

Kitty smiled to the women in the darkness and handed them a cup, “Are you thirsty? Here, sit on these mats. What can we do to help you?’ The women couldn’t understand their words but the gestures and voice calmed them a bit and they drank eagerly. The crippled woman moved to a corner and huddled there, whimpering.

Shortly, Jason arrived with three more, each terrified and as soon as he turned them over, he left.

And so it went all night, each bringing in more women until the tunnel was filled with some two dozen women of all ages and stages of pregnancy and childbirth. Many were splattered with blood and none had children, despite the obvious nature of many of them who showed the signs of recent childbirth. Finally, the three remained and Jason stated that they needed to leave before sunrise. At that time, all those sleeping were awakened and Myrmadon explained to them in their own language what they were about to do.

The trip was much slower than expected as the women were in poor shape, many requiring rest between the cross-shaped rooms. Ayiesha remained with the group and the women as Jason left to go ahead and Myrmadon fell behind. Both Jean and Kitty knew that with these before and behind, no one would be able to harm their charges and so after some eight hours, they finally reached the compound and found food and drink awaiting them.

The captives looked at the trees and sun, some touching the grass which they hadn’t seen in years. Then Jason sent Myra and Myrmadon out to find more food and shortly, Myrmadon returned with a deer and Myra with a basket of fruit and vegetables, all of which were turned over to the captives who fell to cooking the meal with relish.

It was apparent that none of the women knew each other but all were happy to be free, if only for a few minutes of sunlight. So as the sun set, both Lanai stationed themselves at the ends of the compound with Jason and Ayiesha at the cross points. Even Aton was armed with bow and rope which scared the women for the captives expected an army of Weiroo to recapture them and the human women expected a similar situation for they understood that you can’t take so many women from their captors without consequences.

When the Ga-lu women were bedded down, most wishing to sleep outside under the stars, Kitty took a meal to Ayiesha. “I thought that you might be hungry.”

“Thank you.”

Kitty wasn’t seeking Ayiesha’s presence in her bed this time, she was worried that the Weiroo would come seeking their former captives. Back when they, Ayiesha, Jason and Myrmadon were underground on Sothis, she had sought comfort from His Grace. She had asked him if they would live through the action and he laughed and said that he’d been in worse places and survived. He was right. They all lived and he got them all out without loosing anyone. So now it was Ayiesha’s turn to comfort someone else. “Aren’t you afraid that their … what do you call them, husbands or owners? Will come after them tonight?”

Touching Kitty with hand and tail, Ayiesha replied, “They who owned the Ga-lu women are mostly dead! We hid the bodies and our only worry is that the city will notice the sudden drop in population. Weiroo murder each other, taking their heads and killing their victim’s children as they take the women for themselves. We tried to make it appear that this is what happened. No, if anyone comes, it will be because a wandering Weiroo may see or hear this group despite our efforts.”

Despite their fears, no Weiroo was seen in the sky and so the night passed in peace, save for an occasional woman crying in nightmare. Some slept together, some alone, some hidden away. Each suffering their own demons.

The next day was uneventful save one of the huge Caspakian cattle wandered near so Ayiesha shot it for food. It took four arrows to kill but they now had meat for days and the Ga-Lu women kept themselves busy butchering the beast, stuffing themselves sick and taning the hide in an atempt to do something, anything normal.

The next day, Jason made another expedition with Kitty and Carol, Myra and Myrmadon and returned with eighteen women, and the day after, another six. After that he pronounced an inability to find any others and so decided to take the women to the nearby Ga-lu village.

“And how do you expect to do this?” asked Carol. “We have a half hundred women here. Are you planning a forced march across Caspak?”

“No! Most of these wouldn’t make it a dozen kilometers. Aton will choose two of the healthiest and he and Myrmadon will escort them to the village. They will then enlist the help of the tribe, bring them here and they will escort the women to their home. Then, hopefully, they will take over and rescue the remaining women in the other two cities.”

And so Aton found one who he had known earlier and chose another strong woman to whom he had been attracted and the next morning, they left for his village. They were loaded with food and drink and even some of the Weiroo sabers and robes as proof that it COULD be done. Jason fretted about the small group and debated as to if he should send one of the female Warriors with them but Aton stated, “As much as I respecty your women, I need to do this myself. You have proven yourself a courageous fighter and done the impossible but now I must convonce the Ga-Lu Tribes to cotinue your work. I can bring them here and they can see that the Wieroo can be defeated and our women be made safe. Stay here, Jason, and protect the ones that must remain. I can easily reach our lands with these two.”

“What of the saber-tooth cats? What if more Wieroo find you from the air? Can you protect tyour charges and fight off two Wieroo from the air? Please allow me to send one of my people with you, if only to comfort the women on the trip.”

Aton looked at them all, crying, weeping, trying to survive and agreed, reluctantly. “Very well, only because women need women for comfort.” And so Myrmadon was chosen to accompany the three.

The remaining women settled in as Myra protected them and Ayiesha and Jason hunted and gathered food. Eventually some of the women began to help in this by leaving the compound to gather edible foods which greatly aided the feeding of the group.

Now it was a matter of waiting.

AYIESHA’S LETTER TO CAROLYN

Dear Carolyn;

This is horrible.

All night I hunted and killed Weiroo and took the women back to the tunnel where they could be safe. Many were crippled, all near death with constant starvation, torture, rape and childbearing. I know that when I return home, I need to talk this over with a healer to somehow deal with the event. Killing Shitai was easy, they didn’t look like us in any manner and only wanted us as food But these Weiroo were humans, human shaped and I had difficulty believing that such things were happening. I had heard Papay tell me about life in the Nazi Death Camps and I read about them in the books and although I believed them, I never felt them until that night under the Weiroo city. How could anyone be so cruel?

My last rescue was a woman in labor. She had three Weiroo children ignoring her or tormenting her as she screamed in birth pains. I’ll never tell you what happened to her monstrous offspring but they had to be stopped before she gave birth. I couldn’t help her and fight them off at the same time.

I’ve never helped in a human birth but it couldn’t be much worse that pulling a rundi calf from its mother or caring for sheep as they lamb so I set up a chair and helped her and massaged her stomach until the time was near. I lay whatever I could under her but was horrified at the thing that came from her womb.

Remember how when we were ten and your Aunt gave birth and the Midwife let us watch. Then she handed us this horribly ugly shrivled pink thing that… but when we took it and held it, somehow it turned into the most beautiful baby in the Universe?

I had seen other friends give birth and saw that shriveled pink thing that was called a baby and no matter how ugly it looked at birth, all I had to do was hold it and that pink shriveled thing became the beautiful. Every time.

But this thing remained disgusting. I couldn’t see how any mother could love such a monstrosity. There was nothing the least bit attractive about it so I wrapped it in a blanket and set it on the bed and cleaned the mother as best I could. When I helped her to the door, the baby’s older brothers started to torment the infant until the oldest took it and instead of protecting its brother, tossed it against the wall.

How could the Gods allow such an abomination of a race like this exist? I took her from that horrible room, both of us crying and locked the things in, smashing the lock, not caring if they starved or killed each other. As we dropped to the river, I heard a screech and their father dropped after us. I don’t know what made it angrier, the loss of its baby or of the mother who was forced to bear such things. But it drew its saber and charged me in the confines of the tunnel, the woman screaming in fear.

I wasn’t interested in anything other than saving that poor woman from this thing so as it raised its saber, I stepped in and grabbed its wrists with my hands, took hold of its feet with mine and wrapping my tail around its neck, squeezed with all my might. The Weiroo tried to rise but couldn’t get high in the confines of the tunnel so we bounced around the walls and ceiling until we struck the water. I recall the cold of the river but never stopped and as its struggles slowed, I was able to crush both its wrists and then it tried to scream in agony as I kept crushing the bones to splinters. I pulled it under water then loosened my tail as it sucked in water and tightened again. Within another moment it was unconscious so I stood up, twisted its head almost off and let it float away as I climbed to shore.

The Ga-lu stared at me as if I was something special and then threw herself into my arms in thanks. I held her for a moment then led her out of the tunnel, carrying her the last kilometer.

Carolyn, this is the most terrible task His Grace has asked of me but when I took that poor girl to safety and saw the others we had rescued, I thanked all the Gods that he chose me to accompany him. As much as the nightmares will follow me forever, I KNOW in my deepest soul that I am doing good.

Ayiesha.

LOVE UNDER THE STARS

Ayiesha wanted to go with Aton, to ensure that they arrived safely but understood why Myrmadon had been chosen. She was senior in age and experience. She was also a far better fighter than either Ayiesha or Myra so the women would be safer with her, though they wouldn’t have the feminine comfort that they needed from the Lanai. But they would be safe and that was important.

So she lay there, on the grass watching the stars twinkle through the trees and decided that she was happy to be here. She called Myra over and together they watched the stars and leaves and talked about the mission as Myrmadon and Aton prepared to leave.

“We did good here,” Ayiesha said. “It’s not always about saving the Barony.”

“Yes we did.” She looked at the half hundred women laying asleep, all scared and tormented by their past but all free. “Look at them, do you think that they understand?”

“Who?”

“The humans. Jean, Kitty and the others. Do you think they understand what we did? Or do you think they consider this as just another war to be read about in history as a footnote?”

“I saw them in the tunnel as did you. They know. Next month they may forget but for now, they understand.”

“Then why won’t they show proper respect?” Myra demanded to know.

“Because they are Terrans. They are raised to believe that the universe belongs to them.” Then Ayiesha stroked her cheek with her tail and she smiled. “They know but they don’t understand and never will. But I’m glad I came here.”

She leaned over and kissed the blue-haired Arab and said, “Me too.” Then lay back.

For a few minutes they lay there, holding hands, their tails curled together like Ayiesha would do with Carolyn, her best friend and blood-sister, on Gaea, then Ayiesha suggested, “We should thank His Grace properly.”

“How? We do our duty and he appreciates us. What can we do to show him that we appreciate him bringing us and allowing us this honour?”

Ayiesha laughed and said, “Come with me and follow my lead.” Then she rose and still holding the younger Lanai’s hand, sought out Aton and Myrmadon. “Excuse me, but before you leave, can you two take watch for an hour or so? Myra and I have a matter to attend.” When they agreed, for how could one Warrior refuse another, Ayiesha took Myra inside where she dressed her then sent her to the blind to watch for Weiroo and to wait for the Weir who then sought Jason.

He was looking over nothing in particular but Ayiesha could see the worries cascade about his aura for with the increase in Ga-lu, came an increase in his responsibilities. He had a half hundred injured civilians to feed and protect and only three Warriors to help him. He needed something to relax his mind and body so she approached, curtseyed and said, “My Lord, may I speak to you in private. I have matters that need attending.”

He looked at her, dressed and sexy and was about to stand when a woman cried in her sleep. “Can it wait a minute? I need to look over the compound before bedtime.”

Perfect! “Yes My Lord. I will await you at the blind. Please do not take long.” Then she curtseyed again and ran off.

Ayiesha met Myra at the blind and assured themselves that there were NO Weiroo anywhere, that the compound would be safe and that they would not be disturbed. Then as they heard His Grace approach, Ayiesha kissed Myra, not as a sister but as a lover. She wanted to excite her and be excited by her and when that first kiss was done, Ayiesha turned to His Grace and said, “I know that men like to watch girls together and always have you cared for our pleasure. So for an hour or so, please let us pleasure you. Watch us, please your eyes and ears, then let us please your body without worry for our needs, for this eve is yours.”

Then Ayiesha turned back to Myra and taught her how two women make love. It was wonderful for both of them and when they saw that His Grace had relaxed with the show, the two took him, lay him down and ignoring their own needs and desires, gave him pleasure until he could take no more.

As he lay there exhausted and very happy, Ayiesha lay on top of him with Myra next and as they played with his tail and .. other areas, Ayiesha said, “My Lord, thank you for asking me on this mission. I hope I served you well because saving them,” she motioned back to the compound, “is why I joined the Fleet.” She kissed him again, tenderly, caressing his lips and continued, “You choosing me and bringing me here to help made me a very happy Warrior. Thank you.”

It was some time after when they allowed him to return to the compound, each of them holding his hands and teasing him more so that when they arrived, the evidence of their work was plain to see for he entered before he entered. Then they took him to bed and Myra remained as Ayiesha took watch but really, her mind wasn’t on her duty. Oh, a part of her would always be on watch but she was enjoying the memories of the past hour. Replaying them in her mind even as she got excited. “I hope that Myra allows me some pleasure with him when she relieves me.” She laughed at this joke, “Relieves me at watch I mean. Ok, relieves me that way too.”

It is times like this that she really loved her job.

THE WOMAN’S STORY

The women from outside woke up to find that they had overslept. Or, at least, much of the compound was awake. The place was crowded beyond belief. There were over fifty Ga-lu women, Aton, the four human women, both Lanai, Ayiesha and Jason all in an area that wasn’t built for more than a dozen to be comfortable. Privacy was unknown and water was reserved for drinking with a sponge for bathing. The cooking area was working overtime, never being allowed to grow cold and gathering groups were always out seeking food. The only good thing was that the Weiroo still had no clue about what had really happened. Jean wondered what Jason would do if they were discovered. Would he try to fight the Wieroo off with a few bows or would he bring out heavy advanced weapons to defend the women and start an interstellar war that would leave the Earth lifeless. Honestly, she didn’t know but she was certain her ex wouldn’t allow any of the cave-women to be recaptured no matter what the consequences. He was never able to see the ‘big picture’ where you had to sacrifice some to save more. Or condemn some to prevent a war. No, the man would do whatever he could to help those in his charge and worry about the consequences later. It made him a poor diplomat but a wonderful leader whose people respected him and would follow him to Hell. Hell? Looking over the women in the compound, they had!

Shortly after breakfast, or rather the first shift of breakfast, Aton with Myrmadon and the two Ga-lu women he had chosen and left on their twenty mile trek. Jason calculated that it would take two days to reach the village because of the detours, predators and generally poor condition of the women and Aton’s injuries. Then a day or two to argue with the village chief and enlist their help and another day to get back on horseback. So they had five more days to remain in this crowded place. Fortunately, the Ga-lu women took over most of the cooking and food gathering, happy to live even a partially normal life. What the Warriors did was to add a new fence past the original, which took the better part of a day. They then had the Ga-lu women weave grass, leaves and vines to hide the new barrier while they Warriors built a new lattice-work ceiling for protection from above. They then removed parts of the original fence to allow access between the two and the Ga-lu would then take the extra poles that had been cut and leaning them against the barrier, made lean-tos for privacy.

All in all, the days went by with considerable boredom. Because of their imprisonment, none of the Ga-lu had any interest in their rescuer other than as a protector, which made everyone happy. Jean sulked a lot, Kitty still spent time attempting to seduce not only Jean and Ayiesha but now Myra as well, but she did have a talent for caring for the Ga-lu. And she was always with one or the other, hugging them, helping them out and talking to them even though neither could understand a word the other said. But her voice and compassion spoke volumes and the Ga-lu appreciated her consideration. Even Jason complimented her once, “Kitty, I am glad you are here. You have a talent for coforting these women that I lack and my job is easier because of you.”

Looking up, she said, “I comforted you when Jean left you. Now I’m comforting these women. I guess we all have a talent but thank you for the compliment.”

***

One evening Kitty spoke to Jean, “Why don’t you just tell him that you still love him?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not, it’s true isn’t it?”

Jean snapped, “I just can’t, ok!” Then she slumped. “Look at him. I’ve gotten old and he’s become young. Both Myra and Ayiesha are young and beautiful and have firm bodies and I’m fat and my breasts sag to my waist and I’ve done so much to hurt him. I couldn’t stand the rejection if he laughed at me.”

Shortly after, they heard a flapping and all the Ga-lu women screamed and hid leaving the two alone in the open field with a basket of berries that they had been picking. The two saw Myra and Ayiesha take positions and shoot the ones in the air while Jason left the compound to gather the women who were outside. Aparantly, this group had accidentally found the compound as they were carrying live animals such as rabbits and deer and other plant eaters with which they stocked their island for game. When they saw the Ga-lu hide, they immediately dropped their food stock and chased the women down. Three tried to grab one Ga-lu woman when Jason ran from the trees and killed them all almost before they knew he was there.

Both outer women ran under a tree hoping that they hadn’t been seen but the Weiroo landed and called to them, “Come out and give yourselves up!” it seemed to say in its hollow deathlike voice. Both had heard enough stories and backed away hoping that they would be rescued from the creature.

“I think that you dropped your basket.” Behind the Weiroo was Jason holding the basket and munching on some of the fruit as he approached the three. The Weiroo turned and snarled at the intruder who ignored him and approached the two women. “What kind of monkey-lu are you?” it called as the Weiroo drew his saber. As it was about to cut him down, Jason casually reached out, grabbed the creature by the throat, his tail wrapping around its sword hand and pulling that away until the weapon was dropped from pain and continued to walk dragging the thing along as if it were a stick he had found.

“We have too many to feed, you really should be more careful with this.” He then shook the Weiroo as a terrier would shake a rat and continued, “You should finish and return to the compound. Pity we don’t have any flour, I would really enjoy blueberry pancakes.”

He then looked at the Weiroo and said in a cold voice, “This thing and I have some matters to discuss. Too bad his companions are dead.” The Weiroo struck at him again and was shaken to near unconsciousness with the words, “Your life is mine for as long as you are useful to me and if you try that again, I’ll pull your wings off as if you were a fly!” He then dragged the creature to the blind leaving the duo alone.

By the time they returned, they saw that either Myra or Ayiesha had placed a number of fresh heads on the pikes. Neither wanted to count them as they had seen the Warriors carrying not only the freed women, but Weiroo heads as well. But they also saw a growing number of Ga-lu throwing dirt at them with obscenities and abuse, each returning all the years of torture that they had suffered.

A couple hours later Carol ran to the others and said, “Myra tied a Weiroo to a tree outside. The Ga-lu are stoning it!”

“I don’t want to see.” Jean said in a soft voice.

“But…”

“I don’t want to see!” she snapped. “Did you see those scars on the women? What those things did to them. They all deserve to die. I just don’t want to watch it.”

The remains of the Weiroo were eaten by the wolf pack that evening and by morning there weren’t even bones left.

Jean approached Jason at dinner and almost demanded an answer but stopped, took a deep breath then curtseyed as low as she could and asked, “If it pleases My Lord, could he please explain to this lowly human the purpose of allowing that Weiroo to be killed that way?’

He looked at her, then smiled and said, “Everyone needs closure. I can’t continue with my life and love again until I had closure with you. They couldn’t continue with theirs until they had closure with the Weiroo. I gave them what they needed.”

“I don’t know if you are strong or cruel. Every time I start to feel for you again, you do something like this.”

He stood and towered over her, no mean feat for he was a couple inches shy of six feet, then said, “I am responsible for all these women. A half hundred who have spent their lives being beaten, raped, tortured. Look at them! They jump at their own shadow. If the Weiroo attack, they’ll panic and scatter and run in a half-hundred directions and we three can’t defend them under those conditions. So I had to do something to bring them back, to give them some courage. And some of the self-respect that the Weiroo had stripped from them.

“This morning they were terrified slaves, tonight they are on the road to recovery. If allowing them to kill one Weiroo who was to be killed anyway gives them that, then I’ll do it. If I have to go back through that tunnel and bring back more for them to kill, I will!

Then he knelt before her, eye to eye, and asked, “Didn’t you take revenge on me after you left me for him? And don’t you want to take revenge on him for what he did to you?”

She didn’t look up but whispered, “Not in that way.”

“No, the difference is that I lived, ITS pain is over.” Then he walked away and didn’t hear her ask, “Do you still love me?” but he was gone before she realized it. She knelt there for a very long time, then got up and went to her room and cried herself to sleep.

When the Ga-lu arrived, there were a hundred of them on horseback. They circled the compound then settled under the trees and out of sight as Aton, Myrmadon and another three came to speak to the compound.

Since they spoke in Caspak, none of the women could understand them but it was clear that Jason and the rest of the Aliens could. The Ga-lu then gathered the women and gently placed them on their horses and half rode off leaving another half hundred behind. These entered the compound, set their horses in the newer, outer section then made themselves at home.

The aliens showed the Ga-lu paper maps of the city, talked to them at length and then Jason told the women, “We are going to the island. You will remain here and help care for the horses. We should be back in a day or so.” Then he took his weapons and led the Ga-lu into the tunnel.

The Ga-Lu had been raided with the knowledge that they were helpless against the demonic Weiroo. That the flying monsters were invulnerable and that at any moment their wives and daughters would vanish.

And seeing the poor wretches that had been rescued, they insisted, no demanded that they be allowed their revenge. Centuries of abuse would now be repaid or they would die trying.

THE ATTACK ON THE CITY

Unlike the time when they escorted the human or Ga-Lu women, this group of warriors did an unbroken march and were at the other end of the tunnel in two hours. It was during the march that they finalized their plans to exterminate that city. So everyone carefully snuck out and found one of the gardens that the Weiroo tended. They hid in the nearby trees and drew bows and waited for the sky to clear. When there were none in the sky, the Ga-lu shot every Weiroo tending garden and dragged the bodies into the forest as other Ga-lu swept their prints clean to leave the impression that they had flown away. They then took the bodies to the west, removed their heads, dumped the bodies into a crevice in the rocks and flung the still bleeding heads westward where they were picked up. The idea was to leave a trail of blood leading to the other village.

The group were then killing those farming two other gardens in a similar fashion when someone gave the alarm. The bodies had been discovered and all hid in the brush and trees where they couldn’t be seen. Someone saw the Weiroo point to the west and look at the blood trails then they found the stashed bodies and a large group of them flew off to the west, all armed.

The army waited for them to get out of sight and felt that it would take them at least an hour to fly the ten or more kilometers to the next city then an hour back and whatever time it took to settle affairs there. Once they were gone, the Ga-Lu entered the city and killed as many as they could in secrecy, taking the heads but leaving the bodies behind. Basically, Jason was doing what he did best, nasty guerilla warfare and turning armies against their allies.

Then as Ayiesha and Myrmadon were thus occupied with fomenting open war, Jason and Myra took another group of Ga-lu underground to show them the tunnel system and how to find the hidden breeding chambers.

The day went well for this is what the Weir and Lanai were trained to do, fight and kill. Plus there were no more women to rescue here so they could focus on killing the enemy. Finally all heard the signal that the original group was returning so everyone ran for the trees and hid as the first group, much smaller than before, returned being chased by a larger group of Weiroo. As the first landed and scattered, the second began to hunt down and massacre the white robed and unarmed Weiroo. Obrien’s plan had worked and the Weiroo were now at war with each other. Any normal person would have tried to talk but the belligerent creatures only attacked and now they were being exterminated by the middle city.

The Ga-Lu waited until the larger force left with dozens of heads hanging from their belts and waited some more. Eventually a few with colored slashes on their robes came out and gathered the rest of the city together in a nearby field where one with a fully red robe stood on a pillar and screamed at them. The group was mostly unarmed white robes and the total number of Weiroo could have not been more than a half hundred so the Ga-Lu drew arrows and fired volley after volley until they were all dead. This was the first victory against the hated winded monsters in generations and the Ga-lu cheered at the revenge they were takeing.

Then they quickly removed all our arrows, removed the heads of the dead, tossed the bodies into the river to be eaten a few kilometers downstream by the lake reptiles and made certain that there was no evidence of their presence. The Ga-Lu then searched the city for more and those few they found hiding were dispatched with sabers so by nightfall, the city was dead.

The Drakonians had managed within a week to do what the entire Ga-lu nation could not accomplish alone in centuries. They had hurt the Weiroo and saved a half hundred women in the process. So the army returned to the tunnel, made extra certain that we weren’t seen, blocked the entrance so it couldn’t be found and returned to the compound in victory.

CELEBRATION

Carol told the others, “This is the part I hate most, the waiting. Not knowing if they will return alive or in a wheelchair or in a body-bag. It’s almost like Vietnam again. And all we can do is sit here and wait.”

“Would you rather go with them? You were in that tunnel, you saw the women when they were brought in. Can you imagine what it was like rescuing them? I can’t imagine how those women stand going in again and again.”

“Myra and Myrmadon aren’t human. They came from a vat and don’t know anything else. But Ayiesha is affected terribly. She cries herself to sleep every night and has Jason comfort her.”

“How does he deal with it? Has he lost his humanity?”

“I remember when we were married, he wouldn’t watch movies about POW camps or most war movies. When I made him watch them with me, he’d have nightmares days later so I asked Lauren about it and she told me … things about his military life I didn’t want to know. It wasn’t worth it so I stopped.

“It affects him but he is burying it until it’s over. I’d hate to be around when the dam breaks and all that repressed emotions surface. I wish he trusted me enough to cry in my arms like he used to. No, he feels it, but he has to be strong for us.”

They remained around the compound and Jean borrowed a horse and learned again to ride. The horses were magnificent animals and far better than any that she had owned in her youth. But every place she went, a Ga-lu accompanied her and again she thought that perhaps she should have learned even a few words of their language.

The other women appreciated the horses but never rode them and cooking for the Ga-lu who remained was a never-ending chore.

Finally the Ga-lu and the Warriors exited the tunnel, laughing and playing around. They carried boxes of loot from the Weiroo city and some carried sabers though fortunately, none carried heads. The Ga-lu also promised with no hesitation at all, to care for the women and return them to their families if they could be found. Jason made them promise to not make them suffer for their confinement, to which the chiefs readily agreed for these women would be prized as brides because of their ability to give birth instead of laying tadpole eggs like the rest of the island. In an uncharacteristic show of compassion, Jason told them that many probably wouldn’t be able to marry for some time because of their horrors so the chiefs promised to be patient with them. And soon enough, there was a caravan of the rmaining Ga-lu women riding the horses as the men led them home.

Jason decreed a celebration and despite the lack of alcohol the hours were fun. Everyone danced, the men in lines and as a group, the Lanai joining in but mostly dancing alone. Ayiesha trying to teach the men to dance with her. Then Jean took Carol and Kitty apart and told them, “I don’t know what it is but I want to spend the night with Jason. Just me and him. I want to try again and be his wife once more. I need you to keep Myra and Ayiesha away from him so I have a chance.”

Carol interrupted, “You always said that he was bad for you, that everything he said was a lie and now you want him back?”

“Look at him,” she replied. “Aside from him being so sexy, he cared for us and the Ga-lu women, risked his life for us and made us as comfortable as he could. He may be hard and cruel when necessary but I do love him and want him to take me back.

“Ok, I lied about him! I was so angry with my life that I wanted him hurt. Now I’m finally willing to make it right. Please help me.”

Kitty interrupted, “What about the other women he’s been with. I like knowing that, tasting who he’s been with and pretending I was with her too, but you always hated what you called ‘the smell of another woman on his face.”

Jean looked down, “He did that once with he ex and apologized and tried to make it up to me and I never forgave him. Josh did it to me almost every day we were married and never cared what I thought or felt and I stayed married to him for years. I don’t think I have any more self-respect.”

Kitty and finally Carol agreed and they made plans to keep the Warriors away that night so that Jean could have a chance to recover her love and husband.

The Ga-lu celebrated a bit more, then as the party wound down, they mounted and rode off as Jason told the women, “Pack up, it’s time to go hone.”

AYIESHA’S DIARY

I’m writing this as I am on guard duty, watching the skies for Weiroo.

It’s over. There are no more women to rescue from the first city and His Grace is going to encourage the Ga-Lu to do the same to the other two cities. The last and the biggest will be the hardest as they will be warned with the deaths of the first two cities. He’d love to help but this is their war. And if we remained, we’d be interfering. No, I’m so very glad we came even though I’ll have nightmares about this my whole life. But looking at the half-hundred women we saved makes my nightmares seem like such little things.

That morning Myrmadon left with Aton and the two Ga-lu women for his village. I wanted to go along and see it myself but I was needed to help with the captives who were still suffering. I love His Grace terribly but compassionate and sympathetic he is not. Maybe it’s a human male thing or maybe he lost it somewhere along his life but all he knows how to do is hold me and that isn’t effective when looking at fifty suffering women. So I try. I hold them and let them cry and sometimes I cry with them but it seems to help us both.

I see that Jean sulked almost constantly and would run away whenever His grace was in bed with either myself or Myra so I think that she still loves him and is jealous of us. Good! If I could keep them apart, she’d not ask him to take her back and that was important. I almost had nightmares about her being his Consort and me having to curtsey to her. But the real nightmares were about what I saw in the Weiroo city. I tried to talk to Jason about it but he just told me that it was the way things were and I’d have to deal with it but he couldn’t tell me how so I needed to seek the Healers when we got back and talk to people, like my grandfather who had been in that Nazi Concentration Camp. And Myra wasn’t much better as she, being Lanai, was programmed to not be affected by these sights.

So whenever I needed to talk, I found Kitty who was very sympathetic. She didn’t understand but she listened and that helped a bit. I did notice that Kitty would not only continue to try to seduce me and Jean but she added Myra to her list of potential lovers. I’m glad she had no real desire for His Grace other than as a slave girl because keeping Jean away from him was a demanding job in itself.

What surprised me most though was how good Kitty was with the other Ga-lu women. She spoke not a single word that they could understand but she was sympathetic and held their hands and listened to them cry and somehow did everything right. I would have bedded her for no other reason than how she helped the Ga-Lu, but we never managed to be free at the same time. I do know that I needed her comfort and things felt better when I cried in her arms.

We killed a number of Weiroo that had discovered us. I believe that they were a hunting party as they carried rabbits and deer and other food animals which they dropped when we were sighted. Myra and I killed the ones in the air, His Grace the ones on the ground then he captured one alive and had Myra tie it to a tree. I couldn’t tell if it was still alive or not and didn’t want to know but when the Ga-lu saw it, they would hide, then peek out and hide again. Then one gathered her courage, threw a rock and ran. The rock missed but the fact that she threw it gave others courage and as they gathered, I turned away. I hated the Weiroo but I couldn’t watch it be killed like that.

When the Ga-Lu arrived to take the women home, His Grace insisted that they be treated well and with compassion. If they refused, he planned to take them to Gaea where their bodies could be healed, their memories washed free of the horrors they had endured and they could live a new life, among strangers but safe. Fortunately, the Ga-lu were so happy to have them back they promised to take extra care of the women. It was something about how all Caspak animals lay eggs which hatched into tadpoles which grew and changed into every animal in that animals evolutionary history. But after seven generations of this, the females, human or animals, would change and bear live young. This is what the Reptilians were exploring when they created Caspak. And these final fertile women who bore live babies instead of eggs were so important that the Ga-Lu would do anything to keep them safe and happy.

So the women were free. The men promised to care for them. The Ga-Lu nation now had a chance to rescue the other captives and exterminate their enemy and all was right with the world.

Now to focus on Jean.

RETURN TO YOUR OLD LIVES

Within an hour all had packed and were outside the compound as Jason stood watching the skies. Military training when you may have to get out of a hot zone fast helped. The women ranged from elated to sad for although their past week had been hard on them, they did have the knowledge that they had made a difference and saved lives, a situation that was rare in the cities where they lived.

The branches of a tree began to move contrary to the wind and as they watched, a shuttle shimmered into view. It was as long and wide as a small school bus though half as high. It was shaped like a cylinder with a flattened bottom, the stern was rounded and the bow possessed a flattened point with windows.

Landing, a door lifted up in the side and the Lanai almost leapt inside, followed by Ayiesha and then the human women. Jason remained behind long enough to look around and softly say, “Vacation’s over, time to get back to work.” Then he entered as the door shut.

“Please sit and fasten your belts,” said the pilot. Carol leaned over and mentioned to Jean, “Are all these Lanai women?” then the shuttle lifted off and within moments the sky turned black and they saw the Earth 500 kilometers below and filling the internal screens.

Jason pointed to the world slowly spinning below and mentioned, “We are approaching South America now. In another few minutes or so, we’ll be over SummerIsle and be landing. If you want, and promise to not upchuck, you can float around in Zero-gravity.”

Myra and Myrmadon remained in their seats as did Jason but Ayiesha unfastened and pushed herself into the cabin, turning slowly in glee. When the human women tried the same, they lost control and began to bounce around so Ayiesha grasped convenient projections with feet and tail and grasped the women and settled them against a bulkhead, “You need to move slowly and carefully. Zero-g is a lot like being underwater but faster. Watch!” And she demonstrated how to turn and move around the cabin. “This is what I was designed to do. You think we are monkeys, bred for trees but we Weir are Star Travelers and all of our anatomy was designed for this where we are freeeeee!!!!” She spun in a circle, doing cartwheels and twists until she reached out with a foot to grab a protrusion and stopped. “Sex in wightlessness is fun too! Only you need to hold onto each other as every thrust bounces you away from your partner!”

“Does that woman think of anything but sex?” Carol asked.

“I hope not,” Kitty was fantasizing about tails and floating.

The joys of this were short-lived as the pilot reminded them that they were approaching landing and to please return to their seats, which they did with the help of the passengers who reached out and pulled them back. The shuttle’s screens turned rosy and the shuttle gained weight as it reentered the atmosphere. Moments later it slowed and approached a tropical island then landed on a pad in the middle of a forest of craft.

The hatch opened again and the occupants exited to a place surrounded by other ships. One was a silvery fat raindrop a dozen stories high, others were flat but wide and there were even Earth fighters that the women recognized as being captured by the Lanai in one of the unsucessful invasions of the island. For the first time they understood why no nation had ever won a military victory against SummerIsle. Patti even commented, “The thing that the governments’ll never know is that these Lanai are not fighting us, they are playing with us. We never stood a chance.” But what the women noticed most was that their companions now looked human. Jason told them as he tapped a bracelet on his wrist, “Cloak. It disguises us so we don’t attract attention. Itches terribly though.”

A cart drove up and as the Warriors tossed their gear into the back, all climbed aboard and drove off, arriving later at the military area. They could see the ocean in the distance and a couple sailboats at dock which caused Ayiesha to say, “I see the ‘Life Song’ is back here. I should go say hello to Barney and Mabel after I’m washed. They’ll be surprised at how well I learned my English.”

“Ayiesha,” directed Obrien, “Would you please show our guests to the showers and get them cleaned up.” Again, it wasn’t a request but an order to which she curtseyed and replied, “Of course My Lord.”

“I’ll also have their clothes cleaned and mended.” Then he walked off.

“This way please. I’ll be happy to have a real shower finally. You can use as much hot water as you want and here is soap, shampoo, tooth cleaning supplies, take whatever you need.” And she showed them a cabinet filled with almost everything a woman would need save make-up and feminine products for Lanai used neither.

Although there was no privacy in the shower, the water was hot, the pressure strong and there was enough of each to keep them there for some time. Ayiesha took a moderate shower, cleaning herself well then said, “There is a Jacuzzi next door, I’ll be there if you need me,” and then walked out drying herself with a towel.

When the human women finally were done, they dried themselves and regretted the lack of a blow dryer but sought Ayiesha after wrapping the towels around themselves. She, they found laying naked in the tub with bubbles rising all over. “One of the great joys of life,” she said. “We don’t have these on my parent’s farm.”

As the women joined her, another Lanai entered and placed their clothes on a nearby table then left. “Where is Jason?” Jean asked. Then a moment later, “And Myra and Myrmadon?”

“Lanai aren’t comfortable among humans. They fight for you but would rather not have to associate with you and your… quirks. His Grace probably has other business. I don’t even know if he is still on the planet. He has problems with you four.” She then leaned over the edge and picked up a large bottle from which she poured a bubbly liquid into five glasses, “Ballatore champagne, His Grace sent it over for us. I think it tickles my nose,” and she giggled as she drank. “Lanai don’t drink and fortunately, the Prophet Ali voided out Mohammad’s prohibition against strong drink so I have no problems with getting a bit tipsy to celebrate. We did good there. Even you. Be proud of the lives you helped save.”

Jean looked down at the glass and said, “We had this at our wedding.”

“Perhaps you should remember why you left him, not why you married him. It’s time to let him go. You had your chance and now he belongs to the Barony. He needs a real wife, one who will bear the Barony heirs, one who will love him, respect him and support his decisions even if she doesn’t like them.” Ayiesha took a drink, sneezed, giggled then continued, “You aren’t strong enough or ethical enough to be Baron-Consort.” Then she drained her glass, closed her eyes and relaxed as the bubbles washed away her aches.

“So this is one of those ‘If I love him I’ll let him go’ things?”

Ayiesha looked at her with shock then laughed, “You Terrans say the stupidest things. ‘if you love him set him free…’ No, Jean,” and she leaned forward, “If you love him, become the women he needs and get him back!

“My Lord’s first duty is to the Barony. He fights to protect us all. He doesn’t RULE four dozen star systems covering 75,000 cubic light years, he SERVES that land. He lives to make it safe and free and will die defending that freedom and safety. And for that sacrifice we give him power and position and wealth. But he uses that power and position and wealth not for himself, but for the Barony.

“If you would be his consort, then you must accept that you will always be second in his life and that his first duty is to us, his people and his land. And you must accept that your duty is to support him and to bear US heirs, not him. He may father your children but they belong to us. And in return for this sacrifice we will give you power and position and wealth too.”

She stood there with open mouth then finally, “I know you hate me, so why tell me this? Why help me?”

“I don’t hate you, I hate what you did to him and I hate what his love for you is doing to him. He cannot concentrate on protecting us while you are a constant reminder of the pain you all caused him. Myra and I did all that we could to keep his mind on his duty, to make him forget you and STILL he called your name when he was thrusting himself inside me! He needs your situation resolved. Either show him what you truly are, a selfish whore who will fuck anyone who pays with a smile or become the woman he thinks you are. Until you do one or the other, he will never be free.”

“I told him I was sorry!” she insisted.

Ayiesha laughed at this, “You Terrans think that all you have to do is say ‘i’m sorry’ and that makes everything ok. If you burn a person’s house down, do you say ‘i’m sorry’ and leave them in the ashes or do you take responsibility for your actions and rebuild their home, replace their possession and feed and house them until these are accomplished? You destroyed My Lord! ‘I’m sorry’ won’t fix that, you need to repair the damage and until you do….”

She leaned back, poured herself another glass and continued. “Personally, I think you are exactly what you are, a self-centered whore whose public image is more important than anything, including My Lord, the survival of this planet or even the Gods Themselves. I don’t mind telling you how to get him back because I know that you won’t do it and THAT information justifies all my efforts to keep you apart these days.”

Angry, Jean snapped, “If I’m a whore, what are you? You re cheating on your boyfriend with my ex-husband, your boss, for god’s sake. We see that as wrong and illegal.”

Instead of fighting back, Ayiesha sipped again, rubbed her wet hair with a smile and explained. “Don’t judge us by your standards. We are NOT human and we are NOT Terran and we are NOT Americans. We are Weir of Drakonis and so the only judgment is by our own laws and customs.

“But, for your information, I don’t CHEAT on Tulan. When we are together, I am completely faithful. But Weir NEED sex or we die. That Need brought Tulan and myself together when I was to kill him as an alien Prisoner of War but offered him his life if he would fuck me. We fell in love. But anyone who dates a Weir must accept that we Need sex and if they aren’t around, we are forced by biology to seek it elsewhere. And there is nothing to prevent me from enjoying my Need. His Grace has that same Need as I do and Tulan knows this. He may not like it but he accepts it or he leaves me.” She smiled at the woman, “And we are still together and he has asked my parents for permission to court me.

“Not long ago, you would have been stoned in public for cheating on your husband, but today, no one seems to care. Morals change over time and culture and I refuse to bow to your morals.

“Besides, among us, a woman cannot be courted until she is eighteen and cannot marry until she is twenty-five. So Tulan is allowed to court me, but we cannot become betrothed for another couple years. Until then, we are both free to bed whomever we wish.

“You, however, made vows of fidelity, vows in your Temple and vows to your Gods that you so casually ignored and violated.”

Jean dressed in tears but was unable to find him anywhere and after an hour, she was taken to another shuttle and were returned to the cave where it all started and left alone, their cars still in the places were they had been parked.

END

To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717

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