Cuculiformes 02 Pt. 01

Her wet finger ruffled her clit, which flared into intense pleasure straight through her body. She tingled, her thighs opened as wide as she could go under the bedroll without attracting too much attention, and then she let her fingers dig deep inside to where she needed them the most.

Her eyes locked on to her secret voyeur, and then rolled back into her head as she drew a sharp breath. A slow orgasm built up inside, one she kept on edge as long as she dared. The orange eyes bored into her as she gulped silently for air, trying as best as she could to not outwardly show the waves of ecstasy rippling through her body. She internalised it all, compounding her normal reactions into a supernova of sparkles that flashed across her tightly closed eyes.

She could taste the lemon now, mingled with the smell of the cream which coated her fingers. She almost giggled that she reeked of sex, and then the realization she was the first human orgasm on this new world. And then suddenly common sense came rushing back in, as striking as the cool air against her hot skin.

She quickly scanned around to see if anyone was up, or watching, but all she saw was the orange eyes locked on to her. She half sat up, just enough to reach down her legs to find her pants, and as she lay back she wriggled them up her legs. She exaggerated a roll over, getting them back over her hips, and then a flip back to get them straightened up. She slowly zipped up, and buttoned down, taking a last slow look around to make sure no one was watching, half expecting to see Rolley's dark face poking out from a random clump of grass.

The camp was quiet, the only sound and movement being the tearing of grass by the large creatures as they grazed. Brooke rolled onto her side and watched the one nearby until sleep took her.

Chapter 4

She woke to the warm fingers of the sun caressing her face. How utterly peaceful was this? And how many people in the modern universe got to experience this kind of connection to nature? A faint breeze tickled her hair, and as she rolled her head to face the sun, she caught a hint of her sexual creamy smell from last night's play trapped under the bed roll.

She smiled to herself, funny how reconnecting to a planet could bring out the most basic of instincts. Space was a place of great adventure, but ground under your feet, ah, that's how you reconnected to the primal, two legged animal that people are.

Footsteps nearby brought her back to the now, and turning over she could see Rolley approaching with a cup and his big, dumb grin.

"Wake up, sleepy head, the day's a wasting. I washed your empty cup and made a coffee for you," he said, offering it to her. She wriggled out until she was sitting up, making an effort to keep her bedroll clamped down tight unless it gave away any secrets of her nocturnal activity. She leaned over for the cup before she realized she shouldn't use 'that' hand, and instead she reached with the other, just in case.

She was glad she was in very plain work clothes, because it was obvious his eyes were scanning for any revelation of her body. It was cute and all, but she was happily married and he wasn't her type anyway. But that didn't mean a girl couldn't flirt, right? What was she doing, no, she shouldn't?

She locked her eyes onto his, and he was instantly magnetised to her. She smiled inwardly at how easy it was. She just held him there, eyes looking into each other.

"I love white women," he blurted out, then sheepishly looked away. "Shit."

Well, she better wrap this up and get on with things.

"Thanks for the coffee, it was so sweet of you," and with a slight tremble of her hand, she purposefully set it down beside her. He was still looking away. Well, here goes nothing. "Better get ready for work, hey."

Her hands took the waist of her shirt, and very slowly she lifted it over her head to take it off. Maybe it got a little stuck on the way, maybe she had to shimmy and jiggle her chest a little bit to get it over her head. Maybe the whispered "Fuck" from Rolley earned him a second, extra long jiggle before it finally came off over her head.

Her eyes drew him back from his awed staring at her chest. She had on a very plain, modest sports bra, there was nothing there he could possibly see, except that she was carrying a little extra weight. His eyes kept darting back down though, and maybe leaning back on her hands and throwing her chest out had a little to do with that.

"Ok," she said, satisfied she'd given her feminine skills an adequate morning's workout. "Want to help me up?" she asked, offering "that" hand to him.

He leapt up, eager to please, taking her hand and single handedly dragging her up. She dusted herself off and straightened her clothes a little. "Thanks for that. Guess we better get our day started, have a good one out there." She shared a smile with him, and amazingly he turned and went without a backward glance or word.

She watched his swaggering walk for a second, happy that it was due to her, and then she focused on what she needed most right now, food.

**********

They all sat around in a circle, perched on chairs or boxes of stores, forking breakfast into their mouths. At least, as far as pre prepared, long stored, packets of stuff were concerned, it technically passed for food and therefore breakfast. The coffee, too, may or may not have actual bio coffee beans in it. But that was hardly relevant to anyone in deep space, as they didn't have the slightest choice between naturally grown or chemically produced food. The company chose what was cheapest and still passable, and shipped it in bulk.

Still, when you knew no better, the coffee was good for what it was, and the breakfast had some kind of taste, and the nutrients they needed for a busy day.

"Ok, Deb, you'll stick close to camp. The Glorias don't seem to be going far, so there's no point wandering aimlessly around looking for other megafauna out there. You've got plenty to keep studying. We have seen some flying animals around, but until we know where and if they roost, or if they concentrate in any one area, I don't want to waste your time." José looked around to make sure who was listening.

"Brooke, we found another chain of deep lakes maybe two hours drive time away, up in some mountainous country over that way." He pointed out in the direction they were roughly going. "I'll send two extra carryalls with you, plus the handlers. I'm not thrilled you're that far away, but as we've had no indications of any aggressive wild life, we'll take the chance with the extra handlers. That'll leave the rest of us a bit light on, so we'll take it easy with our exploring. It'll give us a chance to tidy the camp up before we get to the next rotation."

"I'll get the carryalls sorted, who do you want to drive the other one?" cut in Rolley, volunteering himself to spend time with Brooke.

José understood the obvious undercurrent. He'd seen Rolley talking to Brooke when she woke up, he'd better keep a little distance between the two of them, let anything simmer down.

"Actually, I want you to run some diagnostics and maintenance on the lifter before we head back into orbit, and get some diagnostics done on the sentinel." He saw Rolley was going to butt in, but he didn't give him the chance. "Then I want you to set up a maintenance program for the carryalls and start on them. I don't want any problems for the next team coming down."

They glared at each other momentarily, but he was the captain, and everything he said made sense. "Tom, you're our resident Mr Observant, I want you in our last carryall out on a long distance scout. Sit down with the maps and see where you want to go out looking. We're pretty much in vast open plains, but I did spot the makings of a forest out near where Brooke is going, so she can check that on the way back. I've set two markers on the maps where I saw two long lines of something. Could be a fault line, some kind of road, who knows. I'd like you to check those while you're out.

I'll give you a tech to take, um, look, who we got. Er, Sandkowski, you got the skills, you go along as tech observer, take notes of anything interesting worth sending a researcher back for. And you all keep your eyes out for more wildlife, we haven't encountered much yet, but there should be more.

Ok, team leaders, finish your chow and pick your people, looks like a good day to be out there."

**********

Deb piled up several containers into a small pyramid that gave her a good view over the whole camp, but by the time she had finished making it, she realized there was an even better position on the wing of the lifter.

Seated up on the extra height, she could see the camp extent clearly. A herd of Glorias drifted in and out of the camp edge through the day. They seemed completely uncaring about the presence of the aliens. From her vantage point, and her ongoing study, she could determine that there were two new Glorias in the herd, and one had disappeared. While they all had a generally similar outward appearance, there were subtle changes in their tawny coats which let her pick individuals, which she had all catalogued and named.

For the time being she stuck to referring to them in general as Glorias and Julians.

For the most part, the Glorias seemed to be a fluid herd of around twenty, mostly built around a core of adult individuals, but there were a number of floaters who came and went through the night. So far in daylight she'd only seen them wander off for some alone time, from which they always returned. The drifters came and went at night, and the night sensors indicated they were arriving from one direction and departing in the opposite, as if they were on a slow migration.

She couldn't see any obvious reason why the herd in general remained where it was around the camp. Several times per day they wandered out to the sparse trees where they emptied their bowels before they wandered back to the rest. While there, the Julians tended to bound off their backs and scamper around the clusters of flowers that formed near each tree.

The Julians seemed to be a small family unit of four individuals. They mostly spent their time on the back of any one of the Glorias, either riding on top or dangling over their rumps. She couldn't discern any reason for this. They often leapt from one Gloria to the next, but occasionally they disappeared down into the long grass before eventually reappearing with a bound onto the back of another one.

While the Glorias seemed to eat constantly, the Julians seemed to be much more energetic and playful. She'd not heard them making any noise, but the Glorias were often rumble snorting in slightly different ways. They were also doing some deep rumbling that was almost inaudible, but which her sensors were picking up. They seemed to spend a bit of time communicating with these rumbles all through the day.

The Julians took no interest in the camp either, except today one of them spent a fair amount of time playing with Brooke's bedroll. It seemed to enjoy crawling inside and playing hide and seek, and generally nuzzling around and exploring. Maybe she should have had someone interrupt it, but she was meant to be studying natural behaviour, and it was doing no harm. Aside from turning the roll over and searching through it, it wasn't doing any damage. After a while it sat atop the roll and rested, before it eventually jumped back on a nearby Gloria and returned to its normal habits.

**********

The little convoy of carryalls honed in on the camp, the lifter standing well proud of the landscape, making it easy to stay on target. There was still maybe an hour of light left, which would give them plenty of time to unpack once they returned.

José watched them pull into camp, the handlers riding shotgun, looking like hardened mercenaries in the suitably camo'd outfits and dark glasses, with their blasters cradled in their arms on guard. They all gave him a suitable military salute as they swept past, even though none of them was military or had seen any kind of military action. They stood guard over researchers, looked suitably threatening against anything coming at them, and for the most part they just gave the researchers some security they were being watched over.

Rolley turned up as they pulled in, fussing over his carryalls and inspecting them carefully, but José didn't miss the obvious glances he threw Brooke's way any chance he had. She was looking very plain in her wetsuit. She was a water researcher, so the fact she still wore the skin suit was not out of place. It was figure hugging, and for José's benefit, it at least showed off her ass once she stepped out of the vehicle.

He watched, happily entranced as she unloaded her samples. The tightness definitely showed off she had a nice ass and thick thighs, but damn the blackness of the outfit did not help. He looked around and noticed several others were watching with interest. Oh well, he couldn't blame any of them.

Once she noticed him watching, she came over to report in. They'd had a good day, and she'd brought back enough samples to keep her busy for some time. She didn't think she'd need to go back, or collect any more samples this rotation until she'd done her testing.

They chatted through a few more topics, and by the time they'd finished, they'd settled on the next rotation happening tomorrow. He had a few people in mind to go back, and a few new people to bring down. In particular he wanted to do a few more long distance expeditions, and also get the lifter to do a bit of low orbit observation before returning to the camp.

Together they ordered the handlers to pack the lifter with the samples from the various expeditions, and also figure out what restocks were required to be brought back down.

Late into the setting sun, Observant Tom's expedition returned with a roaring flourish. They were excited to be back, bringing news of finding more animals and flying creatures. While everyone crowded around to listen, Brooke walked off to her bedroll to change. Fortunately for José he kept a second eye on her, because at her bedroll she peeled off the skin suit until she was standing just in her plain black underwear.

He turned and watched her fuss over the roll, bending over until her modest panties were pulled tight across her broad rear end, the black material contrasting strongly against her pale skin.

"Fuckin' sheyit," muttered Rolley nearby.

He turned to see several people were staring at Brooke bent over, taking in the view.

Catching himself caught in the same moment, he suddenly felt embarrassed for her. "Ok guys, leave her some privacy will yas. Just look away and help with the loading."

They all turned to look at him, but he just shoved his thumb in the direction they were to be looking and then he made sure they were all looking away.

**********

The night air was cool on Brooke's skin, probably enhanced by having spent an entire day in the sun and some of that time swimming in cold water. The climate was quite temperate and agreeable to humans. To add to that was the excitement of finding swathes of macrofauna in the water beds, and bringing back the bodies of what might have been flying insects. There were also some kind of small fish, but they didn't have the equipment or patience to catch any of them. At least she had a good mix of photos and video of them as proof.

There was going to be more than enough to study for the next couple weeks off planet, and they'd all had time to swim just for the sake of relaxing. Hopefully no one told the captain, but they all stripped down to their underwear for it, and lazily dried in the sun while she continued collecting samples. Over all the day was peaceful, productive and damn near perfect. She didn't want to go back into space, back to Hub, back to walking the same corridors from bedroom to lab and back for years on end. This life here, planetside, that's what she wanted.

She got up out of her chair, content after a full meal and a dose of heat from the fire. Taking her recharged cup of coffee, which was thanks to Rolley, she drifted away from the group to sit on a box of stores and stare at the dark distance. Two Glorias grazed nearby, a Julian on the back of each, sitting upright like a pair of kings with their orange eyes impassively watching her.

With a yawn she stretched and looked back at the fireplace. They all seemed lost in their own thoughts and conversations, and she just wanted to have a bit of a lay down and catch up. So she ambled back to her bed roll among the tall grass, set her coffee down, and crawled in.

The dark sky overhead sparkled with all the tiny stars so far away. The quiet voices murmured in the background, not quite distinct enough to peak her interest in their conversation, but enough to let her know they were still all there. One of the Glorias let out a rumble snort. There was nothing to intrude on her thoughts, except the faint smell of the coffee, or vanilla. She couldn't pick it exactly, but it was pleasant.

Her fingers undid the button on her pants, and then the zipper. With a wriggle they were down past her hips. Not too far, in case she had to get up in a hurry, but enough to pull her panties aside and let her fingers go where she needed them.

She teased herself just a little. There was more to the vanilla, it had the added sweetness of her own sexual cream. Once she realized what it was, she couldn't mistake it again. The planet was bringing out her sexual impulses, and her fingers were her key to bliss. She focused on the black sky, not thinking of anything specific except their touch and the sexual charges running through her body. With one finger sliding back and forth over her clit, and a finger from her other hand embedded in her body underneath it, tickling the matching sweet spot there, she brought herself into a slowly spreading orgasm that hardened her breathing.

She locked her eyes onto the watching orange ones, her stomach muscles shivering, trying to contain her sharp breaths and fight back her moans. Her own smell was strong, very strong, and even though her thighs were restrained by the pants, they parted as best they could to let a second finger inside to play.

It was all too much. She held her breath and rolled her eyes, letting the sparkles of orgasm fill her eyes and senses. She wanted to scream and moan and let all her sexual energy out, but she fought them back, and instead the sensations swirling through her mind intensified the more she resisted.

Her fingers continue stroking as she came down, letting the orgasmic bliss slowly diminish until she had control of her breathing and beating heart again. Self play was never her strong point, but the deep, dark sky was bringing out the mad impulses in her, and the freedom to perfect the exploration of her own sexuality.

Next to her, one of the Julians jumped down and cautiously approached, sitting within arm reach, studying her intently. She watched it back, a darker silhouette now it was down among the long grass out of the direct fire light. It dropped onto all fours, swaying back and forth, sniffing and looking around. With a quick bound it leapt up onto her bedroll, looking straight down studying her.

She had no fear of it, no more than she would of a normal house cat jumping onto her chest to look down at her. She slowly withdrew one hand to tentatively pat it, the fingers of the other still nestled inside her, lightly pressing up under her clit as she rocked them gently in and out. Julian cautiously pulled his head aside as her hand approached, and then he pushed his snout against her fingers, breathing her smell in deeply. His long tongue leapt out to taste the fresh wetness, spiralling out around her fingers to draw in all he could, his toothless mouth gumming the last of it off her fingertips noisily.