Work Text:
The color green, that was what he missed. He sat with hands laced in his lap as he stared out into space. It was black and peppered with white stars. It was bizarre to see the stars all standing still just like they did on Earth. After all his time on the USSS Curator, it seemed only natural for the stars to streak around and around as the space station spun, but this artificial gravity... It was something else
He put another stick of Bree-Z gum into his mouth. Supposedly it stopped that otherworldly feeling of molecular wriggling that the artificial gravity was giving him, but he wasn't so sure. Sitting and just staring at the stars... It became banal after the first week in space, never mind the first year, but at least they were /familiar./ He saw a shuttle appear from the black and watched it all the way to the station. It was an incredible craft. The shuttle bay closed and swallowed it whole.
His eyes ventured from the windows. The interior was sterile white and detailed in the non-committal style one must adopt when trying to appeal to the aesthetics of several races at once while still desiring to be extravagant. There were some holo-ads running across the ceiling. His universal translator chirped in his ear.
/`Need a hand? Call Handy'/ At the terminus of the scrolling text was an alien creature holding up a robotic hand.
He wondered if the slogan sounded more clever in its native language. He turned off the /`auto-translate text'/ feature and settled into rhythmic chewing. He could just read it if he'd opted into the brain chip interface, but he wasn't ready for *that* just yet.
Spine rigid in his seat, his eyes wandered across the things he was trying to avoid. There were so many other aliens in the waiting bay. Tall ones, flat ones, wide ones, sticky ones, robotic ones. Bipedal ones, quadrupedal ones, centipedal ones. Ones with arms, ones with tentacles. It was dizzying.
He supposed he was equally alien to all these other creatures, but he couldn't help but feel out of place. He just kept chewing his gum. With his translator set to a private channel, their extraterrestrial chatter sounded like a psych ward whose patients were all barking their own flavor of gibberish at one another. His whole row of seats was empty, and that was precisely why he had sat here.
Now, he was not prejudiced in any way, shape, or form, except for perhaps vegans and people who don't pick up after their pets when they take a shit. There were also litterers, and people who---Okay, maybe he was a little bit prejudiced, but that certainly wasn't what was going on here. He Felt like a middle schooler who had suddenly been transferred into college, except he was from across the galaxy and all his classmates were aliens.
"Hello!"
He almost swallowed his gum. Of course private channels weren't /really/ private, it just meant someone needed to purposefully connect to your channel if they wanted to talk to you, and this one most certainly /did/. He tried to play it cool. An alien probably couldn't read how nervous he was anyway---at least he hoped.
"Um, yes... H---" He cleared his throat, "Hello there."
First thing that struck him was how /green/ she was. The second thing was that---while not to imply that she was a direct descendant of the Earth phylum arthropoda---she was undoubtedly insect-/like./ And yes, she was a she---as long as the translator's voice and her soft synthfiber dress were to be believed.
Bipedal. Four arms. Two for general manipulations nearer her waist and two scythe-like arms by her shoulders for---well, manipulating /larger/ things, most likely things that might object to being manipulated. The closest resemblance was the mantis, but again, that was not to imply that she shared anything more than the resemblance. With that being said, the mouth parts, the swimming pupils, the triangular head, they were all very /mantis./ Space mantis.
He realized he'd been staring at her, and so strange while doing it that he had stopped her from talking entirely. He tried to smile apologetically, but he could just feel it came out wrong.
She glanced at the wrappers beside, "Is this your first time in an antigravity field?"
"Oh---" He glanced at the wrappers as if just noticing them, "Yes, yes it is..."
"You'll get used to it." She said sympathetically.
And that was when he noticed the fascinating way her eyes emoted. It was like a greenish film beneath her glassy eyes that she could tilt up or down, or close all together. It was like her eyelids and eyebrows all in one and on the inside instead of the outside. He was staring again, he realized.
"It's especially hard for us bipeds." She continued, "There's a lot more to throw off, right?" An affable tilt.
She sat down beside him. Without asking. An opening appeared in the back of the chair to accept her abdomen. Strange, the things that made him realize just how primitive humans were.
"What's your kind?"
The politically correct way to ask his race, he assumed. God, he hoped he was right, because his translator seemed to think it was obvious.
"Human." He grabbed another stick of gum and chewed, more to avoid the awkwardness in idleness more than anything.
"Human!" She straightened and clapped her two scythe-like forelimbs together, "I've heard about those! It was in the holopapes the other day! You just got accepted into the hegemony, right? Congratulations!"
/`Note: "day" in this context is not referring to your earth day of twenty-four hours but the standard galactic day which is derived from the time it takes for the hegemony's headquarter satellite to complete one three-hundred and sixtieth of its heliosychronous orbit around the Keltar-A system's sun which equates to approximately 1.41 Earth days.'/ The unnaturally pleasant voice chirped, /`If you would like to update your pref---'/ He pinched his collar and tried to relax.
"Th-thanks..." He settled in his chair.
"Is something wrong...?" Her antennae twitched and she tilted her triangular head.
"Oh I'm... I'm just nervous is all..." He smiled ruefully, and for all his apprehensions, it felt good to admit it. He didn't know how he could tell, but there was understanding in that insectile face.
"It's just so much so fast, you know? One day you're on a space station, then the next you're told you're not alone in the universe and that you're going to board a hegemony ship to participate in an exchange program."
The space mantis pinched her collar, "That's exciting, isn't it?"
"Maybe to you." He said, perhaps a little snappier than was appropriate, "But to me, it just makes me want to vomit. Sure I'm not the /only/ one they sent, but I'm still representing all of Earth out here!"
She brought her forelimb to her mouth and giggled---actually giggled! It hit him all at once. He could hardly believe he was watching an alien mantis lady giggle at him. He didn't even know she /could/ giggle!
"Well, for what it's worth, I think you're doing a good enough job."
"Thanks..." He sighed, and surprisingly, some of the nervousness went with it, "My name's Daniel." He extended his hand.
She grabbed his forearm with her one of her antelimbs and gave it a shake. Daniel could not hide his confusion. She pulled back.
"Oh... Did I do something wrong?"
"No---well..." He scratched his head, "I was expecting you to grab my hand, but you got it mostly right anyway. Sorry, it's my fault."
"Oh, you don't need to apologise!" She almost sounded annoyed, but then she laughed, "You must be a new addition if the universal translators are getting your body language wrong!"
"Either that, or part of our body language is pretending you got it wrong." After he was done saying it, he was immediately stricken with the fear that it wasn't nearly as funny as he'd thought. It was an enormous relief when she gave a slight chuckle.
"I've never heard of a custom like that, but it's a big universe, isn't it?" She grabbed his hand and shook it. Her chitin was hard, and was somehow both colder and warmer than he thought it'd be, "My name's Yici, welcome to the hegemony."
Daniel smiled. Maybe things were going to be alright.
"So, what it like on..." She pinched her collar, "---Earth?"
"Hmm, it's hard to say. It's the only planet I've ever known, so it's hard to think of anything /special/ about it, but I guess it's very blue and very /green/, kind of like you. It'd been a while since I'd seen so much green, so when you came up to me it reminded me of Earth a little bit."
She laughed, scrunched up between her forelimbs, she was laughing, "Oh...! Only a few days in hegemony space and you're already flirting outside your kind!"
What? What? Was he? Was that normal? Was that something they did here? With species outside of your own? Was that something he could do? With someone like her? Did he see her that way? He didn't think so?
/`Note: "day" in this context is not---'/ Oh shut up! This is how they get people to adopt their standards, isn't it?
Daniel had missed his chance at the /`unaffected'/ window, but if he thought fast he just might make it into the /`merely taken aback'/ interval, and if he threw in some humor...
"So, in your opinion, does that reflect poorly, or positively on mankind?"
Yici bobbed like someone trying to unstick a rusty doorhandle and laughed so hard that Daniel heard the rattling chitter of her natural voice over the translator. The two mixed together into a bizarre power chord as the inky black of her pupils swam in a bowl of milk. He realized, for the second time, that she was an alien.
"Positively?" Yici ventured, "It's better to be lovers than fighters, I guess. Those types get along better, but some /definitely/ take it too far."
"I hope I'm not out here giving every Earthling a reputation as horny bastards." It still sounded like he was joking, he realized, "Uh... I wasn't actually flirting with you by the way."
"Oh, I know." She swiped her scythe as if cutting the very idea in half, "Sorry, I shouldn't be giving you such a hard time before you've even gone through your first stargate." Her mouth parts locked in a position his translator assured him was a smile.
"No..." Daniel sighed, "Thanks for being so casual with me, it's really helping me out here." He scanned the other aliens in the room and felt better about it, "Are they all as friendly as you?"
"Oh---I wish." She sagged into her seat in faux-weariness.
"Guess I got lucky then."
"Mmm, guess so!" Yici turned and stared, antennae bobbing, "Anyway, tell me more about Earth! You must like it if you thought of it when you saw me." She said with a mischievous glint.
"Eh... I'm sure you could find out more than I could ever tell you in one of the databank terminals around here. It's pretty accurate, let me tell you." Scarily accurate, actually. As in, classified information accurate.
"Oh I know that!" Another playful swipe, "I could get it all downloaded in my BCI too---if I thought it would fit with all the other stuff I've already got in there---but I want to hear it from you!"
He breathed in, and realized he was happy, "Well, where to start?"
Daniel started at his childhood, adding all the details he thought might be relevant to an alien as best he could, like the color of the sky, the color of the twilight, the look and feel of the grass, the look of the trees, the fact that grass and trees /existed/ before moving on to other things. He couldn't help but feel he was doing a terrible job with all the details, but /anyone/ would have difficulty finding the words to describe what a dog was on a conceptual level.
Yici watched and listened, her chin curiously resting in the valley between her two scissored forelimbs. She was very attentive, speaking up only to ask for clarification and nodding aptly when he was uncertain if she understood. Before he knew it, an entire hour had passed.
"It reminds me a lot of the Kentax system's planet, with all the green grass and trees, as you said, and the mammalian---" Yici stopped, "Oh---not to imply that your planet isn't /special,/ it's just..."
Daniel chuckled, "It's fine. Until about a month ago..." He paused as Yici pinched her collar, "...we thought we were the only ones in the universe, but it's about time I start accepting that we're not so special anymore."
Yici looked apologetic, but did not disagree, "I'm a little hungry. I'm going to go to the food terminal. Do you want something to eat?"
"Oh, absolutely." He was, in fact, quite ravenous. All the chewing gum hadn't helped either, "I mean, if you're offering...?"
"Of course I'm offering!" She stood up and the hole in the seat where her abdomen had been sealed itself. Incredible.
"Please, I'd love some." He smiled graciously, "I tried getting something myself, but I couldn't figure out how the damn thing worked..."
She smiled and made to turn, "Wait---!" Daniel reached out, and she cocked her head, "Just... don't get me anything weird?"
Yici laughed in a way Daniel hoped was reassuring and walked away on her thin, chitinous legs. He had seen dresses that accentuated the buttocks, but one that accentuated the abdomen was another thing entirely.
She returned not long after. Once again the seat swallowed her abdomen, "Here!" She said, handing him a parcel of food wrapped in something that was neither paper nor plastic, "I asked them to looked up Earth and synthesize something you're used to. I hope it's more accurate that that handshake."
Daniel's eyes brightened. He unwrapped the parcel and the smell hit him like a punch to the nose, but in a good way---the best way possible, actually. The roasted meatballs, the bread, the cheese and marinara the sauce. He could not believe it; it was a goddamned meatball sandwich, but in space. He didn't know how the hell their computer had come up with this, but he wanted to marry it.
"Was it a good guess?" She chuckled because she already knew the answer.
"Mmm-hmm!" Daniel hummed and nodded as a string of melted cheese connected his mouth and the sandwich. It wasn't perfect, being synthetic and all, it was... eighty percent, he decided, but it was the best meatball sandwich he had ever eaten.
He peeked over to see her eating some kind of sausage, watching it disappear inch-by-inch into her machine-like mouth, pinching and crushing in many steps of an assembly line as the two finger-like appendages on either side of her mouth guided the food in. Yici caught him staring again. He couldn't really help it. He went back to his sandwich.
When she was done she crushed her wrapper into a ball and dropped it on the ground beside her. Daniel did the same thing and jerked his foot up as a little robotic arm snapped near his feet and disappeared. He drummed his fingers on his thighs and looked around.
"So..." He said, "When does the shuttle arrive?"
"Oh, it won't be long now---"
Orange light bathed the room and a low horn buzzed. He heard groans in a thousand languages. Holographic text rolled around the whole waiting lounge like police tape. Yici made an odd groaning noise that translator left as is.
"What happened?"
She stood up and brushed some food off her dress, "The stargates are down."
"What?!"
"There must have been a solar flare. Not much you can do when that happens. We'll just need to wait until it's passed and they check the machines."
"Solar flares? All the way out here?" The sun from here was even smaller than it seemed on Earth, "That's all it takes?"
"The energy balance in stargates are delicate. Believe me, you do not want a surge of electromagnetic energy to hit you when you're translating dimensions."
"Well... How long is it going to be before they're up again?"
"One, two days." She shrugged, "Maybe more. It depends."
/`Note: "day" in---'/ Daniel almost punched his neck, "Two days?! W-what am I supposed to do until then...?" He looked around nervously.
"Okay, don't panic. This happens all the time." A giant space mantis was telling him to calm down, what a world he had found himself in, "There's rooms all around the station for situations just like this."
The lounge was almost empty now, "Well where do I go to do that?"
"Do you know where the terminal for arrivals is?"
"I don't know where anything is!" He threw out his hands, "Those hegemony bots just led me here and told me to wait here and to board the ship when it shows up and that I'd get all the information I need during the flight!"
He couldn't help the nerves. He was just the station's computer technician! If he was good at dealing with this sort of thing he wouldn't have ended up in a career like computers. If it had been up to the administration, they wouldn't have sent him, but he was /chosen/ for God who knows what reason.
"I'll show you where it is then, okay?" Yici smiled, and in that moment she was an angel, a green, chitinous angel.
"Thank you." Daniel said, and meant it. He stood up and only then realized that Yici was a whole head taller than he was, "Sorry to make you go through all this trouble."
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's the culture board's fault, you know. They should've prepared you for something like this." She pointed with her forelimb, "It's this way."
"Maybe it's some kind of /test/, like they're watching me, trying to see how I'll react after being left alone." He looked for some kind of hidden camera, but with this alien technology, he doubted he could even find one.
"If they were interested in that kind of data, I don't think they'd leave you in the spaceport to get it." She said wryly, "They're just... Inattentive...?"
"Humans, not special, right."
Again, she expressed sympathy, but not disagreement, "It's a shame your first day in hegemony space had to be like this, but you'll feel a lot better once you've got your own room. They're very comfortable and you'll have plenty of time to get used to hegemony space, you'll see!"
/`Note: "day" in this context---'/ Daniel pinched his neck, then pinched the other side of his collar. A holoscreen appeared, /`Edit Preferences?'/ He gestured for it in resignation.
\scene
"What do you mean that there's no rooms?!" Daniel shouted, "How are you going to tell me that the alien space station with fucking *stargates*, self-adjusting chairs, and synthetic meatball sub sandwiches doesn't have any fucking rooms?"
The blobby, many-eyed creature behind the counter frowned, "Sir, you might think it is acceptable to use that kind of language in your own culture, but it is not okay when it comes over my translator. If you insist on saying something like that again you'll end up sleeping in the station's brig instead, understand?"
"Bu-bu-buh...!" Daniel blubbered, but deflated, "Where can I sleep...?"
The blob creature ducked down and slapped down a hefty heap of fabric on the counter, "The sleeping bag is complementary. The chairs in the waiting bay will adapt to your sleeping posture. Thank you."
Daniel sighed. Yici put her hand on his shoulder and pushed in front, "Excuse me, I'd like to extend my stay." She reached into her purse and handed the clerk her holocard.
"Certainly, and how long will you be staying?"
"Until the stargates are back online."
"Of course." The clerk pushed the chip of her holocard into a machine and handed it back, "Thank you, Madame Yici. You will be billed for the first day. If the stargates are still offline all subsequent days will be free of charge. Please enjoy your stay."
Daniel watched Yici stuff the holocard back into her purse as jealously slowly consumed his gut, "Guess we'll see each other in the waiting bay." He laughed bitterly.
"Daniel..." She started, then resolved herself, "You know what? No---it's not fair. Would you like to stay in my room?"
"Wha...?" Daniel blinked, "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, why not?" She shrugged with all four arms, "It's only got one bed, but the room's big enough for two people, and I'm honestly afraid to let you sleep out there in the waiting bay..."
"Madame, our security is---"
"Shh---!" Yici flicked her forelimb at the clerk, "So...?"
"Well..." Daniel blinked again, "I'd need to be an idiot to turn you down, I'm just surprised is all. I mean, we just met, and you've already done so much for me already."
"Oh, just say yes and get it over with." She rolled her inky eyes at him with a slight grin.
"Yes." He said, chastened, "Please let me stay in your room."
Yici took him by surprise and grabbed his hand. She pulled him down the nearly vacant halls and into to the quarters The hall smelled of cleaners. The walls stretched out in a shallow curve and kept curving until it met up with itself again. With doors to the left and doors to the right, if not for the ten-foot scaly monster stomping past, he could believe he was on Earth for a moment. A very /weird/ hotel on Earth.
"Here we are!" Yici said with a musical trill in front of her door. She opened it with her holocard and guided him inside.
Daniel it all in with wonder and relief. It definitely beat sleeping on chairs. It had that same inoffensive-yet-elaborate aesthetics of the whole station, but perhaps a /little/ more focused. For creatures his and Yici's size, he decided. The walls were patterned with reds, golds, and browns. Gone was the sterile white of the station. When she had said one bed, he hadn't expected /this/ much space. There was even a kitchen---or at least that's what he assumed it was.
The door slid shut with a sucking seal, "So, what do you think?"
"I don't know..." Daniel looked around, "When you hear that you're not alone in the universe, you don't really know what you expect. I guess wasn't expecting something this /normal/, I guess."
Yici laughed, "We're both bipeds, it's not that strange that our needs would be similar. Some kinds prefer jellybeds, maybe that's what you were expecting?"
"I'm have no idea what I was expecting." He chuckled, "I guess we're not as different as I thought."
Her antennae bounced, "What do you mean?"
"Just, you know. That you're friendly, kind, and courteous, that kind of stuff. I was afraid we'd be totally different, like, that you wouldn't even understand the very /concept/ of kindness."
"Oh, that! Hmm..." She crossed her antelimbs and tapped her chin with her scythe, "It's really not that surprising when you think about it. The only species that make it this far are going to be highly social species."
"Huh..." She was probably right.
She sat sideways on the couch, her legs and abdomen taking up the whole cushion next to her, "Want to see if they've got any scenes from Earth downloaded into the holowall yet?"
"Holowall...?"
"Yeah, check it out---" She gestured at a menu and the walls vanished, soon replaced by a dusty alien landscape glowing under a green sunset. Daniel stared in wonder, "Earth... Earth... Ah---They've got one!" She flicked her hand.
The alien world fell away. Tress rose up on all sides. The sun shimmered through the leaves and skimmed off the waters of a clear crystal lake. Daniel clasped his hand over his mouth, stood, reached out, and bumped into the wall. Of course there was a wall there.
"You weren't lying about the green and the blue!" Yici took in the alien landscape, "It's beautiful. Wouldn't mind visiting myself one day... Are you okay...?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He rubbed his eyes, "Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've been on Earth?" Yici's antenna twitched, "It's been three years. Three years I've been on that station where our artificial gravity is spinning the whole station to throw you against the floor. And then the hegemony showed up. This is..." He touched the wall, "It's unbelievable. Thank you."
"You should be thanking the holo'grammers instead of me, but... you're welcome." She smiled, then stood up, "Make yourself comfortable! I've got to inform some colleagues of the delay, but you can use the terminal. It's got a connection to the Technosphere, so you can find just about anything on it." She left the room.
Daniel skimmed through the terminal, looking up all the information he thought might be pertinent for... cultural exchange, he supposed. Occasionally he would glance up and smile at the sylvan vista.
He heard the door slip open and suck shut, "Do you drink?" Yici asked.
"Do /you/ drink?" He asked, surprised.
She laughed, "Of course I do! We've both got brains, don't we? Alcohol does pretty much the same thing regardless of what brain it's in---though there /are/ some kinds that can't drink."
"Then yes, I drink."
"Any requests?"
"I've got one, but it's from Earth. I doubt you could make it."
"Try me."
Oh now she was just getting cocky, "Moscow Mule." He smirked, and knew he would be a winner either way.
He heard a clink, then something like /thoom/, and the next thing he knew Yici was leaning over the couch with two drinks in her hands. He accepted the drink and sipped it cautiously.
"It's a Moscow Mule!" He exclaimed, "It's a fucking Moscow Mule!" Yici winced, then shook her head ruefully.
"You know that clerk was right, you really should avoid using words like that. You never know how they're going to be translated."
"Sorry..."
"Oh, you just got here, it's alright to fuck up every now and then!" She laughed, then tilted her head back to pour some of the drink down her throat to hide her little sin. Such was the life without lips, he supposed.
He took another drink, "Forget all the other technology I've seen, /this/ one is the most impressive. But... /Real/ Moscow Mules come in a copper cup." He swirled the glass.
"Why's that?"
He paused, "You know, I'm not that sure, myself. It's just something we do."
"Hmm..." She walked around and made him scootch away from the terminal before sitting down, "Colder on the lips... The leeching of copper salts through the alcohol affecting the taste... More carbonation..." She leaned back, "Mostly tradition." She decided.
"Yeah, sounds about right. Tastes great regardless." He took another drink, "Is there anything that /isn't/ in the Technosphere?" As far as he could tell it was like the Internet, except actually right most of the time.
"I could tell you, but then I'd need to kill you." She took another drink. Daniel wondered if that line was more, or /less/ cliched in her culture, "Hey, let me try your drink."
"Okay, but I'm going to need another one. I can't remember the last time I could drink and just enjoy it."
She tiled some back and gave it back, "Little bit sour, isn't it?"
"That's the point." He demonstrated just how good it was by drinking more, "Let me try some of yours."
He sipped the brown and orange solution and took an electric shock to the spine. It was like someone had made battery acid into a drink.
He coughed, then squeaked, "Little bit acidic, isn't it?"
"That's the point." Yici smiled, followed by her own demonstration. Even the most corrupt judges would rule her the winner of that bout.
"And to think, if you hadn't come up and talked to me, I'd be out in the waiting bay curled up in a sleeping bag instead." The drink in his hand was a cold reminder, "Thank you, Yici. Really."
"I like the company, but what am I saying. I just couldn't leave you out there on your first day in hegemony space. You're worried about representing Earth, maybe I'm just worried about representing the /hegemony/."
Daniel laughed. They talked of trivial things, shared stories, laughed, and enjoyed one another's company as time passed and the drinks disappeared one after another. The forest vista shifted in the faux-breeze and the faux-sun began to set.
Somehow Yici's legs had ended up strewn across his. She leaned back, taking up the whole couch. She stared at her empty glass, turning it around and around in the light.
"Are you still afraid of /`aliens'/?"
The question took him aback. He looked into his drink, "Yeah... But not as much as I was, I think...?"
"I couldn't imagine it. I was born into it..." She shifted and sat up, "Are you afraid of me...?"
He stared at her, at her chittering mouth, her scythe-like arms, and her exoskeleton. At the proportions as familiar as they were bizarre, and the eyes that seemed to be able to see everything at once. "No..." He said, but the alcohol demanded more, "Not afraid..."
"So it's something else...? Disgust...?" Her glassy domes stared right at him.
"Of course not...!" He slurred slightly, "You're nicer than most humans! It's just... I don't know... I don't *think* I'm afraid..."
She stood up in Earth's twilight and turned to face him. Her chitinous hands moved to her chest and started at her dress button-by-button.
"Yici, what are you---?"
"Are you afraid...?" She revealed her chest, the interlocking plates of chitin, the sockets, and the hint of insectile muscle peeking between the cracks.
"N-no..."
"Are you afraid...?" Her dress splayed out around her belly, the inhumanly thin waist, the second set of arms, the complex machinery that went on inside his body, fully displayed on her outside.
"Yici..."
"Are you afraid...?" The dress dropped to the floor, revealing her bare crotch and the ball-like sockets that made up her hips. She was totally naked, and she was an incredible organism. The technical side of him could not help but marvel at all the parts.
"You're drunk."
"I'm not drunk." She opened her mouth, revealed all its working components and her slippery tongue. Chest broad, hooked arms cocked, she bared it all. She took a step forwards. Daniel leaned back, and she tilted her head, "You're afraid."
"I-I'm not...!"
"Then why are you running away?"
"You're being...!" He didn't even know, "W-what are you trying to do?"
"I'm waiting..." Another step forwards, and he didn't run, "For you to prove that you're not afraid of me."
One scythe went to his left, another to his right. They grabbed the couch and refused to let go. Her head grew closer, closer, "So... Are you afraid?"
Her face a mere foot away from his, and he realized, "I'm not."
He smiled. She smiled back. Her hands rose and settled on his chin. She drew even closer, but he turned away at the last moment.
"A-are you sure you want to...?"
"You don't like me?" She tapped his face with her antennae.
"It's not that...! It's just, we hardly know each other, and you're drunk...! I-I just don't want you making some kind of mistake!"
"Sure, let's make a mistake."
His heart skipped a beat, "We just met today!"
"What's life without a few mistakes? Mistakes are good. Mistakes are how you learn. So let's make a mistake, a really /big/ mistake." She licked his neck and he shuddered.
"Ah---! Auh---!" He protested, even now.
She rested her head on his neck, "Are you trying to tell me I've got bad taste in men...? Or are you trying to say you think I'm a slut who would sleep with anyone." She rubbed her head into him.
"Of course not---! I-It's just...!" She had him. She had him and he knew it.
His heart pounded in his ears. He squirmed. Fuck it! Fuckitfuckitfuckit! He grabbed her head and stuck his tongue into her mouthparts, between all those jaws and crushing mandibles as her finger-like appendages tapped his cheeks. It was strange, it was bizarre, and it was /incredible./ He was---as far as he knew---the first human to kiss an alien.
He came up for air, locked eyes, and went back in. Her soft, smooth hands raked through his hair as his navigated her slender neck. She pushed him down, pushed him into the couch and climbed on top of him. He saw her from below, and the twilight skies of Earth behind.
"You're not going to eat me, are you?"
"Where did /that/ come from?" She chuckled, kissed him again, and slid her hands under his shirt. He shuddered and arched his back.
"You're so soft..." She cooed as she kneaded his skin and slipped off his shirt. Her bare chest pressed against his. Another kiss, and another, different angles, different techniques, every one as good as the last.
His member ached against his pants. Her forelimbs lifted his head while her antelimbs dug into his pants. Four arms were incredible---incredible! Her probing hands searched and stroked. Closer, yes, yes---yes! He felt a finger. His cock twitched so hard he thought he was going to climax right there in his pants. He didn't. It had been too long.
Hands on his waist, she slipped his pants and underwear down. His cock jumped free, grew twice, no, /three/ times in size. It ached, throbbing in the open air, begging for her touch, and she provided. She squeezed, and pumped the alien organ experimentally.
"So that's what it looks like..." She mused, mostly to herself, "I didn't look this part up; I didn't want to spoil the surprise." She licked his cheek.
"You make it sound like you were planning this from the beginning."
"I wasn't, at least not until I realized how cute you were." She straightened, straddled his chest, her abdomen laying quite heavily on his leg.
"And when was that?"
"Not until the second drink, I think---not that I didn't like you before then, though. That was just when I realized the thing my legs were resting on was your thingy, and that got me kind of..." Horny. She didn't need to say it.
"You know, I just thought you didn't know what it was and that it would be too awkward to tell you."
She laughed, reached back, and gave his neglected member another squeeze that made his toes curl. It rubbed up the side of her abdomen, which was surprisingly soft and squishy in some places, unlike the rest of her.
"Can we even...?" He looked at her bare crotch. He knew it wasn't there, but still, she was an alien and---
"You've got a rod, I've got a hole. Think you can handle the math? Or do I need to do it for you..." There was a mischievous tilt to her eyes that he loved.
She let go of his cock, adjusted her hips, reached back, and grabbed her abdomen with both hands. She lifted it, and aimed it. Something kissed the tip of his cock. Something warm, soft, and /yielding./ She lowered it and...
"Wait...!" Daniel gasped, and almost wanted to kill himself for saying such a terrible four-letter word.
She looked at him.
"I-I want to do it." He resolved, then added bashfully, "At least at first...?" She got off his chest and motioned for him to stand, "You asked for it..." She stood on her knees, then slowly, sensually curled her abdomen to rest between her thighs. Daniel stared at the seemingly tiny hole on the end of that fat, throbbing body part.
Her mouth opened, tongue lolling as she straddled her own abdomen. She stuck her fingers into the tip. She spread it open, showed him everything inside. She let go, let it throb and wink shut, then opened it again, strands of sticky anticipation webbing the entrance.
"Too alien for you?" She asked with some whit of humor. The rapt look on Daniel's face was all too easy to read.
"No..." He breathed.
Some part of him was worried he'd find it too grotesque, but in fact, it was quite the opposite. He was so turned on he was worried he was going to go out of control. He grabbed Yici's abdomen, felt its warm, pulsing girth in his hands.
"Put it here." She pointed in her own sex as if it were an anatomical model, "It should be obvious, but don't put it here, here, or here."
He was a little surprised to hear a fourth hole mentioned, but he wasn't going to dwell on it. With him standing and her kneeling on the couch the heights were almost perfect. Her hand slick with her own juices, she let her hole wink shut one last time then grabbed his sex and guided it home.
His cock kissed her entrance which twitched and swelled. It opened, wider, wider, swallowing him millimeter by millimeter as it stretched to take all of him in. He gasped, felt it slip in, sucked past the point of no return. The first human to fuck an alien, what an honor.
Inch followed electrifying inch. Yici threw her head back as he rammed her bug pussy to the hilt. He panted, trying to fight the urge to climax right then and there as heat pounded his cock on all sides, but there was more to sex than mere penetration. He dragged his cock out, felt every fold cling to him until her entrance clamped down on his cock head and refused to let him leave. Whether conscious effort or natural reflex, she had nothing to worry about. He never intended to leave.
He pushed all his inches back into her and pulled them out again. In and out, in and out, in and brain-fizzing out. He was fucking her. He heard her moan. She threw her scythes across his back and pulled him into a desperate kiss.
"Ah-fuh...! Ah-fuh...! fuhfufufufufufff...!" Yici squeezed tight, both sets of arms wrapped around his back, "Don't stop... Don't stop... You feel so good, oh /please/ don't stop...!"
In the whole of the universe, there was not a single thing short of physical instrument that could make him stop. He rammed her bug hole, felt the plump give of her abdomen on his thighs with each thrust. Snatching, he grabbed her face, fucked her hands free. Would he ever get tired of kissing her? Yici tore his hands off her face in ecstasy, weaved her fingers between his. Her three fingers fit perfectly between his four. Their thumbs wrestled for dominance. Kissing, staring, then kissing some more with both hands.
Wet, sucking slaps filled the room with rhythmic certainty. He never wanted to stop. He grit his teeth. The heat in his crotch said it had other plans. With all the will his sex-stupid brain could muster, he forced it down, but.
"Y-Yici...!" He gasped, panting, "I-I'm gonna...!"
"Don't you dare!" She snapped, flexing, arching the whole of her insectile body in pure bliss, "Don't you ffff---ucking dare...!"
That was too much to ask! That was way too much to ask! He grit his teeth until they seemed ready to crack, clenched his gut like he was trying to birth a black hole. /Slap, suck... slap, suck... slap, suck.../ How was he supposed to resist when she kept moaning like that?! It was too much! It was painful.
Her abdomen tightened, clamped down hard. She stared through him with dumb, half-lidded eyed, antennae going wild. He pulled out, slammed it back in, and felt the whole thing contract. Yici threw her head back and let out a moan that broke his translator in all its chittery glory. Her abdomen throbbed and throbbed, milking his member with rhythmic contractions.
His vision went white. The pressure in his loins exploded. He fell on top of her. Yici pulled him in and hit the back of the couch. He grabbed her buttocks and held for dear life as he pumped shot after shot of hot, sticky pleasure into her alien hole. Four, six, /ten/. The pleasure hammered him with spasms. Each time he thought it was done, her pulsing muscles would coax another twitch out of his tired cock. He drooled on her chest.
The halos of white receded from his vision. The blood pounding his ears drained away to the sound of heavy breathing. Her's and his. He winced as his cock throbbed again as it edged on masochism. He lifted his head from the puddle of droll he had left on her chest. He looked Yici in the eyes, just as exhausted, just as amorous as he, and any worries of post-coitus clarity were blown away. She was perhaps the most beautiful organism he had ever seen. They kissed again, less lust, more love.
"That was..." Daniel breathed, "Incredible..."
"You were..." She breathed, and kissed him again, "Way better than I was expecting... Sorry---that didn't come out right. You were incredible...!"
That's score one for humanity, Daniel thought smugly. He stood, wobbled, and steadied himself on tingling legs. It was like all his blood had gone to his crotch. He grabbed her abdomen. Part of him never wanted to leave, but it was just too much. He pulled out his still-sensitive member and suffered the aches as her sex refused to let go until it came out with a *pop*.
His wilting cock steamed in the air. Her hole gaped. Some of his seed rolled down her abdomen. She collected it with a finger and stuffed it back inside. Her own entrance sucked it off her fingers and with a twitch or two, her bug hole closed as if it had never opened.
He collapsed onto the couch and caught his breath for the first time in what felt like hours. He looked between his legs and smirked at the couch ruefully. He hoped it was robots that cleaned these things, because he was getting mantis juices /all/ over it.
Yici stood up and he found himself examining her like he never had before. Had he ever /doubted/ that she was the most erotic thing he had ever laid his eyes upon? That felt like a different person, even though it hadn't even been a full day since then. Her abdomen reached a little below her knees. Her abdomen... He wondered if the sex had completely rewired his brain, because now he couldn't keep his eyes off of it.
She looked at him and struck a pose in the nude, accentuating the body part she knew he was focused on, "Are you getting ready for another round?"
"Oh God no." He answered instinctively, then clarified what might be the biggest mistake in his life, "...Ask me again in a couple hours...?"
Yici laughed, "You're too cute." She leaned over and kissed him.
"You know, most guys prefer being called /`manly'/ over /`cute'/?"
"Oh, come on!" She rolled her eyes playfully, "Sticking your thingy into me is the only manly thing you've done all day. I think you should take what you can get, Daniel."
She had a point there. He watched her as she went to the kitchen and poured herself some water. Her body looked great from any angle. She came back with a glass for him too. It was only when he drank it that he realized how parched he was. Probably the alcohol and the sex, he decided.
"Ah---!" She noticed, "There's a little blood on your back from my, you know... Sorry, I tried to be careful."
Daniel reached back and touched it, "It's dry anyway. Don't worry about it. I didn't even notice." If a few back scratches were the price to pay for busting the biggest nut of his life inside of a space mantis, then so be it.
"So..." Daniel said as he finished the water, "When you said that some kinds are lovers and some are fighters, is yours...?"
She looked at him, unamused. Actually---a little amused, but mostly unamused, "Daniel, I know we just had sex, but if you ask me something like that again, I /will/ throw you out naked."
"Sorry, sorry." He flashed his hands in surrender.
\scene
Daniel woke up to an armful of space mantis chitin. She wasn't much to cuddle on account of her hard exoskeleton, but simply having her in his embrace was better than any pillow.
"Are you awake?" Yici cooed.
"Yes..." He groaned and smacked his lips, "How long have you been awake?"
"A while, but you had a big day yesterday, so I didn't want to wake you." She shifted, "I'm sorry, but you're going to need to let go of me now."
"Damn."
She stood up, stretched---he couldn't stop from watching---and preened her antennae and forelimbs in a way he hadn't yet seen. She made for the couch, and for a moment he was afraid she was going to get dressed, but she sat down in the nude. She fiddled with the console with the dutiful seriousness that could only come from doing actual /work/.
"Are the gates back up?" He asked from the bed.
"Nope."
He was, to his surprise, happy to hear that. He stayed in bed a while longer. He was still tired, and there was no point in disturbing her when she was trying to work. He closed his eyes, and the next time he opened them he saw Yici looking over him.
"Whu---?" She kissed him. Space mantis kisses were more familiar than human kisses at this point.
"Good morning." She smiled, "It's not healthy to sleep so long."
"How long was I sleeping...?" He looked for a clock, and to his surprise,
actually found one, "Damn, I still can't read these things."
"It's been about three Earth hours."
"You looked it up."
"I did." He grabbed her head and pulled her into another kiss. She smirked, "Now get up, I know for a /fact/ it's unhealthy for your kind!"
"Stargates...?" He rubbed his eye.
"Still down---" She squinted slyly, "Wait, you're smiling!"
"Well, it means I get to spend more time with you, doesn't it?" He sidled of the bed and felt his junk in the breeze.
"It does...!" She trilled, "But I've got some business in the Keltar-A system, so hopefully it doesn't take too long." She noticed the look, "Oh, but don't think you're not making my time here /much/ more pleasant."
She walked away, abdomen swaying and bouncing, "Do you want anything to eat?"
"Yes please." He hopped out of bed.
She stood at the counter and fiddled with the terminal. He walked up behind her and put his hand on her abdomen. Her two antennae went rigid and her inky black pupils swam back to look at him behind. He wasn't quite used to that yet.
"Don't you think you should eat first?" She chided, but something in her eyes told him she was feeling it too.
"Nnn..."
He didn't feel like the last vowel was necessary before falling into her abdomen and hugging it as he pressed his face into her back. She grabbed the counter, leaned her butt back, and stared at him with head still forward. His equipment was ready and rearing to go. Her two long forelimbs reached back to lift her abdomen, but Daniel pushed them away. He wanted to lift it himself.
It was heavy, fat, and bent around where we was lifting it with delightful heft. He lined up his cock and shoved it in. It was the second time, and he hoped he never got used to the way it sucked on him. He pounded her, confident he could go for even longer without a dry spell of three years in space weighing down his balls this time.
His primitive brain said it was strange to be fucking someone almost a full arm's length away from the rest of their body, but his higher functions knew the truth, it was /extremely/ arousing. He felt his own thrusts jiggle through her abdomen as he humped her like mad. His arms ached, and suddenly the whole thing flopped out of his hands and to her knees, parting from his cock with a mournful *pop*. Mantis juices leaked on the floor.
Daniel withered under the gaze that said, /`I told you so'/. He reached for it again, and Yici seized his hand. She bent him back into a kiss like the end of a dance and then lifted him into the air for another deep kiss, but she didn't put him down. She was /carrying/ him. She was far stronger than he had assumed. His back hit the bed. Yici bared down on him.
"After all that effort to get you out of bed, here I am throwing you back in..." She giggled, licked his neck, and climbed on top of him, "By the way, if I was forced to choose, I'd have to say that I prefer being the one in control."
Daniel nodded sheepishly. Her hands pinned his to the bed. Her forelimbs reached back and lifted her abdomen, mantis juice already spilling down his crotch. Their sexes kissed, then his slipped inside hers with a gasp that made his toes curl. No---still not used to it.
She rocked her hips, lifted her abdomen, and slammed it back down again. She quickly found the rhythm. With her forelimbs and the natural muscles in her abdomen she navigated the length of his shaft with blissful ease. Up down, then a little flick, up down, and another flick. He knew why she loved this so much, she was aiming his cock right where she liked it.
He bucked his hips, squeezed her hands. They wouldn't relent. A drip of spittle landed on his face, her tongue lolling, eyes staring at nothing as she focused on perfecting the rhythm. He breathed hot, short breaths. Every time he felt the weight of her abdomen drop on him he let out a little moan. Yici looked at him and smiled. Even as the pleasure twisted his face, she never let up her assault.
"Are you getting close?" She rubbed her bare crotch on his stomach.
"I'm almost...!"
Without warning she learned forward and went at a speeds he thought only a horny teenager's hand could manage, forelimbs practically a blur as she pumped at an insane pace. It was only the tenth, eleventh pump---maybe even the twentieth for all he knew---before the climax wracked his entire body.
His cock throbbed at the same moment her abdomen contracted and convulsed, milking his seed and drawing all into the deepest parts of her bug pussy. Yici fell on her side and took Daniel with her. Arms suddenly free, he grabbed her abdomen---felt it throb---and somehow pushed in even deeper, still cumming. If he still had any left over from his time on that dreaded space station, it was all gone now.
He collapsed. His cock slipped out of her hole. None of his semen even made it on the outside this time. Panting, he stared at the sky, the holowalls still set to Earth. Then he looked at Yici. She was looking at him.
"I might be in love with you." Daniel said in the afterglow, "Is that okay?"
"You are so cute." Yici pulled him into her embrace, wrapped him tight in all her arms. She kissed him deeply, and he was happy, but secretly wanted her to answer.
Her antennae twitched, "Oh..."
"What?"
"The stargates are back online."
He balked at her, "But you said it would take one to two days, it hasn't even been a full day yet!"
"Usually it takes longer." She released him, "You should get dressed."
"Don't we have some time until the ship arrives?"
"No, it was probably just waiting on the other side of the gate until it came back online. It's probably already here."
"But..."
"It's first come first serve on those ships, you know. If you don't hurry up it'll end up like that time you tried to get your own room."
"But that ended with me sharing a bed with you." He recalled fondly.
"Yes..." She admitted patiently, "But this time it'll end up with your being stuffed into a lilliputian-class cabin and by the time you disembark you'll end up looking like a Tetris piece."
"Damn..." He sighed---wait, Tetris? Whatever, it wasn't important. He rolled out of bed---and how terrible it was---and put on his discarded standard-issue Hegemony Uni-fit Space Suit. It smelled a little, but fortunately they had managed to avoid getting any strange fluids on it.
He put it on with a disturbing sense of finality to it, "Are you staying here...?" He asked over his shoulder.
"I've got some things to take care of." She said, appeared by his side, and started dressing as well.
"Right..." He wondered if he would ever see that body again.
\scene
Daniel sat in his seat, drumming his thighs. His whole row was once again vacant, and though he didn't feel as anxious at the sight of all the other species on board with him, he would still prefer if the whole row stayed that way. Say one thing about his race, they seemed to fit better than most he saw.
It was a lot like an airplane, but he was assured that as soon as they entered hyperspace the harnesses would collapse and the passengers could use the room as a general lounge or move to their rooms if they preferred. He sighed. Someone sat down next to him. So much for that---
"Yici---?!" He squawked.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She giggled, "Are you that surprised to see me on the same ship as you? You think I just loiter around waiting areas for ships I'm not going to board"?
"No, I just wasn't thinking." He admitted dryly, "...Does that reflect poorly, or positively on mankind?"
"Well---I'm willing to overlook it just this once." She smiled, then grunted, "You've really got yourself squeezed in here..."
"Sorry..." He couldn't stop himself from smiling.
"It's fine. I got on late so we'll be taking off soon."
"What's hyperspace like?"
"Hmm..." Her antennae wriggled, "I'm not sure if the way it feels to me is the way it'll feel for you, but it kind of makes me feel like my eyes are in my feet."
"I see...?" What did that even mean?
The ship lurched. He looked around in shock, saw out the window. Signal lights flashed and they drifted towards a ring, and then his body turned to soup and his brain landed in his backside.
\scene
Daniel could hardly believe the scope of the spaceport. Being the hub all interstellar travel in the hegemony, it was obvious is was going to be big, but /this/? Gone were the limp-wrested, multicultural decorations and in were towering statues and florid curlicues. It wasn't meant to appeal to every race and culture, it was meant to appeal to /one/: the hegemons. Everything was decorated, everything was on a scale beyond comprehension, and everyone was acting like it was totally /normal./
Yici walked beside him. He had more or less learned the purpose of his mission on board the hegemony shuttle ship. He was going to meet some figures, visit a few planets, exchange cultures, and share his opinions with Earth. That was it.
/`Cultural exchange'/ He thought wryly, even though he had exchanged more than cultures last night---temporally at least. Despite having spent what felt like three days in hyperspace, Yici assured him that almost no time had actually passed.
"There it is!" Yici pointed at the door where he was supposed to wait for his representative to contact him.
"So you're leaving?"
"Don't give me that look." She stroked his neck and he shuddered. They hadn't done anything on board the ship---Yici was too proper for that, obviously, but he wished they had, "Here's my contact, line me any time you want as long as it's between... Well it explains everything in there already."
She dropped a chip into his hands and he didn't have the heart to tell her he had no idea how it worked. He'd need to ask someone else.
"I'll see you again, right...?"
"Well that's up to you, isn't it?" She teased, "As long as you behave yourself it's likely Earth will get travelling rights."
"Great, more pressure..."
"You'll do fine!" She assured, held his hands in hers, and pecked him on the cheek, "See you later!" She disappeared.
He sighed, not hopelessly, there was plenty of hope. He had enough hope to eat for breakfast every day until he got back to Earth. He was just sad to see her go. He knocked on the door, got no response. It shot open. He looked around, and decided to walk inside.
The room was clean and had the stink of bureaucracy, the decorations infused with that queer kind of art that seemed to demand respect rather than appreciation. He grabbed a chair, gave it a spin, then sat down. He twiddled his thumbs. He wondered if there were any hidden cameras. With nothing better to do, he tried his hardest to find one. They were hidden well, it seemed.
The door shot open and startled him straight. He leaned forward, curious and also dreading what manner of creature was going to appear through that door to show him through space. He fell backwards, stunned, speechless.
Yici walked in, eyes averted awkwardly, holding a stack of papers in front of her face, "So, I didn't know this before I left, but..." She sat down at the rather important seat at the head of the room, "It seems I'm one of the ambassadors for humanity's integration into the hegemony..."
"You work for the hegemony?!"
"Yes." She tried to look dignified, but could not achieve it in a way that would work on someone who one days ago had pounded her raw. She gave it up quickly.
Daniel squinted at her, "...Was this some kind of a test...?"
"What?!" She slammed her hands on the desk and shot up, "You think I'd sleep with someone as part of a test?!"
"No---! Sorry---! Forget I said anything!" He surrendered, and they both looked away awkwardly, "So... this isn't going to create some kind of conflict of interest, will it?"
"No..." She sighed.
"Are they going to give me another ambassador?"
"It's unlikely they even care." She rolled her eyes.
"So can we still...?"
"Yes, we can." She shook her head in bitter amusement, and his heart leapt ten thousand somersaults. He laughed. Long live the Hegemony!
\scene
Somewhere out in space, a beak-faced alien tapped his foot to the smooth music permeating the lounge. His oily drink percolated like a witches brew. He took a drink and swallowed, staring at device in his hand. A new holopape issue appeared, running with the headline, /`Earth finalized as Hegemony subsidiary after year of deliberation.'/
Pictured was a snapshot of a tall Sal'itis woman shaking hands with all of Earths leaders lined up on one side of a ceremonial plinth, dressed smartly in her blue and red ambassadorial uniform. There was one human standing behind her on the hegemony side sharing the same uniform. He was smiling.
The alien shrugged, flicked off the holopape, and gulped down the last of his drink.