Jackson Kez - Space Diplomat Ch. 05

"To learn human? You mean your purpose is to understand humanity?"

Haeva nodded, displaying genuine enthusiasm for the first time. "I must. You are the peacemakers. We wish to make peace as well. But we find only hate and violence." Their face didn't emote, didn't change at all, but Jackson could hear the sadness in their words.

"Were you... born to meet me?" It was a blunt question, but he had to know.

"Not you. All humans. You are the first. So yes?" Their voice lilted up at the end, making it a question. "I waited sixty years. Now I learn. You teach."

Sixty years, that was around the time of first contact between the Stellar Alliance and Sela, so the Rhorak knew even then they wanted to learn about humans.

Jackson took a deep breath, he noticed Haeva imitate the movement, their chest rising slightly. It seemed their bodies were capable of slight shifts and deformations, even beyond those required for movement.

"Is that why you look human?" Jackson also wanted to ask why they looked like a beautiful woman, but that just seemed like the way things went on Genoria.

"Yes. I made this body. Many forms were considered, this was chosen." Haeva looked him up and down. "You are so rushed," they said. "Death is with you."

Jackson raised his eyebrows. "I understand you live a long time. Practically forever." When Haeva didn't say anything he took it as a cue to continue. "Well... we don't. Most humans feels that life is short."

Haeva turned her head slightly. "But it is your longest thing."

He chuckled and sat down near one of the trees, patting the sand to indicate Haeva should do the same. They mimicked his pose, sitting cross-legged. Jackson could see clearly between Haeva's legs, and he tried not to stare. Somehow despite the lack of... anything, he still found it a little arousing. The human brain works in strange ways.

"Okay Haeva," he said, "if you want to understand humanity, you gotta start with death."

"We know death," Haeva said. "One of us felt it. We have all felt it." There was no malice, no anger in their voice. Only a deep, bottomless sorrow. Then Haeva looked past Jackson, over his shoulder, and said, "She felt it too."

Jackson turned and saw Vera approaching. She was a deep ocean blue, and he could see the golden freckles of recent tears drifting inside her cheeks.

"Vera," he said, standing up. He started to walk toward her but she waved him away. Vera set the storage crate and backpack on the sand. She stared at the crate, unwilling look at Haeva. Jackson jogged to her and embraced her.

"You were told to be alone," Haeva said to Jackson, "but you bring the one we love."

Vera turned her head, hiding it in Jackson's neck. He felt her tears welling up against his skin.

"You... love her?" Jackson asked Haeva, not understanding.

"We trade memories. We exchange experience." Haeva held out one hand and touched Jackson on the shoulder with a single finger. "Like this." After a moment, they added, "Only Rhorak," and took their finger off him. "Khraesk shared love, it was their purpose."

So many things clicked into place. Khraesk, Vera's former lover, wasn't just a Rhorak, they were the Rhorak whose purpose in life was to understand love. Maybe being loved, or giving love... or making love? Khraesk had been sent to the Sela and had chosen Vera. Or Vera chose them. Either way, to be the person responsible for teaching another species by loving one of them and then to lose that...

With Vera leaning on his left side he couldn't easily put an arm around her, so he reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. She looked up at him, turquoise in her cheeks, but said nothing.

Haeva watched with great interest. "Are you lovers?" they asked.

Awkward, but Jackson smiled at Vera anyway. "Well, yeah," he said, laughing, "we haven't known each other long, but..." he looked back at Vera. "We have some similar wounds."

More tears slid down Vera's cheeks and she buried her head in his shoulder again. "Don't put me on the spot, just do your diplomat thing," she mumbled into his flightsuit.

"You say much without words," Haeva said. "I know this." They got closer. "This experience of love that we learned from Khraesk," Haeva put a hand on Vera's back and then leaned in, hugging her, "it lives on in me. The love you gave, I feel."

"Oh no," Vera said, crying freely. "Why does everyone keep taking care of me," she said, squeezing herself against Jackson. "I'm just trying to stay out of the way, please ignore me." She ran out of energy for objections and let Jackson and Haeva hold her.

Jackson was crying too, he hadn't expected first contact to go quite like this, but it also gave him hope. The Rhorak could learn. And if Haeva was any indication, they were ready and eager.

Haeva looked at him and nodded. "Tears. Common to human and Sela. Rhorak don't cry." They reached up and traced a finger slowly down their cheek, from eye to chin. "But I feel the tears."

"It sounds like you understand us pretty well already," Jackson said.

Haeva nodded and got a little brighter. Jackson wondered if that was the closest thing they had to a smile.

Jackson said to Haeva, "We have former Councilor Tinoqa here, and she has important information for you. We had to put her in stasis, but we need to revive her."

Vera disentangled herself from the group hug and said, "I'm okay, please just help Tinoqa. I need a bit of space anyway." She moved a short distance and then plopped down, looking up at the sky.

Jackson and Haeva stood up almost in unison, and together they walked over to the storage crate. He opened Vera's backpack and pulled out the revival injection. "We're supposed to administer this to Tinoqa, and it should awaken her. We're... not sure if it will work." He opened the storage crate and stared down at Tinoqa's pale white form. There were more crystals now, bits of dried fluid caked to her exterior. It looked bad.

Haeva moved to Tinoqa and reached out, touching the Sela with both hands. "I understand," Haeva said. "Tinoqa is Rhorak."

"What?" Jackson said, almost dropping the injector. "What does that mean? She's in—"

"Tinoqa's body is not Sela. It is Rhorak."

"I don't understand." Jackson stared at Tinoqa. The crystals, the toxin, could it be the same as the strange parasitic growths on his ship? "Are you saying these crystals are... made of the same stuff as you are?"

"I say this," Haeva said, "and it is true."

Vera got up and joined them, wiping her cheeks with the back of one hand. "That must be why Tinoqa wanted to come here," she looked at Haeva, "can you help her?"

"It is not known. I can attempt. She may die."

"If you don't try," Jackson said, "she'll die for sure. Vera?"

Vera nodded. "Please, whatever you can."

"We will teach the crystals," Haeva said, pushing one hand into Tinoqa. With her metabolism essentially frozen in stasis, her body didn't yield the way it normally would. It sounded like tearing, ripping, and viscous fluid dripped from Tinoqa, flowing around Haeva's hand. "They shall learn of harmony."

Vera looked away, but Jackson couldn't avert his eyes. He needed to see this. If they couldn't save Tinoqa, she deserved someone to witness her last moments, at least.

Haeva's hand reached deep enough into Tinoqa to touch one of the crystalline growths, and a spark of light jumped from her fingers. The crystal lit up, a lime green glow permeating Tinoqa's body. Then the spark jumped into the other crystals, flowing through previously invisible channels that had formed in Tinoqa's body. Each crystal illuminated in turn, until she was shining so bright Jackson had to shield his eyes and turn his head, but he refused to look away.

"Prepare the injection," Haeva said, "the medicine will be needed."

Jackson brought the injector up and held it, applicator-down, ready as soon as Haeva gave the signal.

The crystals in Tinoqa broke apart, molding themselves into rounded disks instead of jagged stars.

"Now," Haeva said, no trace of emotion in their voice.

Tensing his arm, Jackson thrust the applicator down and into Tinoqa, and watched the murky liquid flow into her. It passed along those filament-like conduits, spreading rapidly, and color slowly returned to Tinoqa's body. First a ghostly cyan, then a more robust teal. She twitched, and something like a gasp came out of her, and she began to bleed. Tinoqa's bodily fluids leaked out of her, flowing out of the many tiny tears in her form. The crystals within her, the perfect circles flowed up and through her, seemingly without causing additional harm, and they knitted her wounds. Each one like a scab, blocking the rips and wounds. The bleeding stopped.

Tinoqa tried to speak, but no sound came out.

"You are weak, but you are safe, friend," Haeva said. "You have become something new. Out of tragedy, you are hope. You must rest. Do not speak."

Haeva turned to Jackson. Without warning, they lunged forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. Haeva's body was cool to the touch, but they clearly had some kind of body heat because they didn't feel cold. Haeva's stone-y composition made them a strange hugger, there was zero give to their body whatsoever, but the perfect smoothness and slight warmth made it feel comforting.

Despite that, Jackson didn't quite now how to react. He put his arm around them and patted their back. "Uh, thank you?" He cleared his throat. "I mean, thank you. You saved Tinoqa's life."

Haeva stepped back, their hands on Jackson's shoulders. "Humans enjoy hugs. We know this." They took another step back, letting go of him. "All are exhausted," Haeva said. "Rest. Sleep." They nodded, apparently satisfied with their interaction. Haeva pointed at Jackson, "You," then indicated Vera, "comfort her."

"I thought you wanted to learn about humanity?" Jackson asked, though in truth he knew he needed sleep, and the afternoon sun was fast becoming dusk. "We don't have much time, and I have to—"

"Time enough for sleep, Jackson," Haeva said. They walked to the other side of the oasis and sat down, cross-legged, facing Jackson and Vera. After an awkward moment, Haeva called out, "I will turn," and rotated to face away from them.

Jackson looked back at Tinoqa and saw Vera leaning over the open crate, one of her hands on Tinoqa's formless, teal body.

"Hey," Vera whispered, "you're safe now. Don't try to talk, just rest, okay?" She noticed Jackson watching and said to Tinoqa, "I need to get some sleep too, but we'll be right here."

Tinoqa didn't respond. Perhaps she was already asleep.

Vera walked to Jackson and she gestured at the base of one of the trees. Jackson sat down, leaning his back against it, and Vera sat next to him, resting on his chest.

"Jackson," Vera said quietly, "we did it."

He chuckled at her understatement. "We sure did." He put his arm around her and she snuggled closer to him. "How are you holding up?"

"I think I've worked through more emotions in the last two days than my whole life before I met you," Vera said, turning her head to look at him as she answered, "and I'm not sure if I should thank you or smack you as hard as I can."

Jackson nodded. "You can do both if it will help. It's been a wild ride." He tilted his head back against the tree, staring up at the white leaves above and the stars beyond them. By now dusk was fading into night. Sunsets were fast on Genoria. "I'm really proud of you, Vera. You haven't backed down once. You're the bravest person I know."

"Flatterer," she said, but he could feel her smiling. The way her cheeks moved, the change in her body language. It passed quickly, a moment of levity in a dark time. "I just feel like I ruined your mission, all my emotional baggage, my... history."

"Hey," he said, looking down and kissing her forehead. "I think your emotional baggage saved the mission. You taught the Rhorak love. That's empathy, compassion, selflessness... every quality needed for peace wrapped up in one experience."

"But why did I have to get my heart broken to do it?"

Jackson ached, he felt her pain like it were his own. He adjusted his posture, turning himself in the cool sands so he could put his arm all the way around her. She nestled into him, shifting her form slightly to press against his body.

"I'm sorry. It's not fair." There was nothing else he could say. She cried in his arms for a while and he tilted his head so his own tears wouldn't land on her.

Eventually, he couldn't say how long, the tears passed, and soon he felt Vera softening against him, drooping into a formless state. He kissed her forehead. "Hey," he said, "you can't fall asleep yet. Let's get a bed ready, at least."

Vera grumbled. "Fine," she said, "but I'm gonna sit here and you can do it." She slid off Jackson, pulling herself back into humanoid shape and letting him stand up. When he didn't say anything, she jumped to her feet and chased after him. "Hey! I'm not actually going to make you do it," she looked at him with a pouting frown. "Rude."

He just grinned at her. "I know. Only testing." He pulled the nanoweave blanket out and handed it to her. "Can you get that setup like a tent again?"

Vera nodded and set about it, unfolding the blanket and stretching her arms out to drape it over the parts of a few close trees. It ended up a weird shape, a sort of off-proportioned pyramid, but it offered privacy and warmth, two commodities in short supply in the desert at night.

As she worked, Jackson grabbed a dense cloth blanket and draped it over Tinoqa in the storage crate. "This should keep you warm," he said. "Thank you for trusting me, I'm glad you're okay. We'll talk in the morning, just try to rest."

Jackson disconnected the medical bracelet from his wrist, using his teeth to open the clasp. He put the bracelet on Tinoqa, setting it flat on top of her. After a few moments for it to perform basic scans, it chirped a confirmation tone and began display her vitals. Jackson tapped a few commands in, setting an alarm if any of the readings dropped too far. There weren't many metrics it could track in a Sela, but temperature and body mass seemed like good ones.

"Here you go," Jackson said, "this is going to wake us up if you get worse during the night. But... you look good. I think." He leaned closer so Vera wouldn't hear. "Honestly, I have no idea. Wake us if you need anything."

"I am grateful," Tinoqa said quietly. "And I see why Vera likes you."

"Don't waste your strength giving me compliments," Jackson said, smiling in spite of his objection.

Tinoqa didn't reply, and he took that as a good sign. He grabbed a sleeping bag from the top of the backpack Vera had been carrying, tucking in under his arm, and picked up both pillows. Without a pod, Vera would need to anchor to him or she'd flow all over the desert. He wondered how Sela had slept before they'd invented pods. Perhaps they dug small holes in the ground to keep their bodies from spreading out and sliding around. He imagined Vera's face if he dug a hole and said it was for her to sleep in and chuckled to himself. It'd be the box incident all over again.

"All set!" Vera said, loudly enough for him to hear but not so loud it risked waking Tinoqa. Jackson took the supplies over and lifted the nanoweave enough to duck inside. He saw Vera sitting cross legged and she smiled at him. She'd regained some of her pink-ness, but she still looked blue. And there was that turquoise color again, hiding behind her cheeks.

"Looks great, thanks," Jackson said. Exhaustion was catching up with him, fast, and he lifted his arm so the sleeping bag fell to the sand. This model had a built-in pad and unroller, so he just used his foot to tap the activator and it spread itself out, the padded bottom inflating to provide some stability and comfort.

"Wow," Vera said, "I almost feel bad making you sleep on the ground in a blanket earlier."

"Almost?" Jackson pretended to be upset. "I could try to find another box for you to sleep in."

She frowned at him, but clearly enjoyed the banter, likely because it distracted her from everything going on. "Fine, if I'd known you had one of these I would have set it up for you. Now hurry up, I'm barely staying awake." Then she blushed, a flash of hot purple in her face. She probably realized they didn't have a sleeping pod for her.

"You can anchor to me," Jackson said before she had a chance to ask.

"Aww, you remembered." She smiled at him. "That's why you're my favorite human."

"A lot of humans in your life, then?"

Vera shook her head. "Just you." It was equal parts sweet and teasing him. The dimples in her cheeks deepened and she did the little shoulder wiggle he enjoyed so much.

Jackson put the pillows down and pulled the zipper down on his flightsuit, exposing his chest.

Vera did a mock gasp. "Mr. Kez, this is highly unprofessional," she said, her eyes locked on his bare skin. "But don't stop."

He shook his head. "We're both practically dead and you're still trying to turn me on."

Vera shrugged. "You're hot, what can I say."

Now down to his underwear, and standing on his crumpled flightsuit so he didn't get any sand in the sleeping bag, Jackson stepped onto it and finally lay down. "Hop in," he said to Vera, reaching his arm out to pull the cover over the both of them once she was ready.

Vera stood up and Jackson heard a slight puffing sound as she flexed her body in some way that blew all the sand off of her. Then she sat down on the sleeping bag and lifted her feet in the air, doing the same thing with them and sending the last of the sand flying off. She flipped over and nestled into the space between Jackson's arm and his chest, putting her head on his torso. One of her hands traced lazy circles on his stomach. She kissed him, planting her lips right in the middle of his chest. Slow, gentle, and sweet.

"You're a good man, Jackson." Vera said, her voice groggy. "So warm," she mumbled, "and also hot." Her voice trailed off, but he thought she said, "a real snack," as she drifted off to sleep. He felt her shifting into formlessness, her body wrapping around him like a cocoon.

A brief surge of panic welled up in Jackson, remembering what happened when he put his arm inside her. Remembering the surge of numbness digging deep tendrils through him. He fought the urge to push her away, to break free. Deep, steady breaths. He trusted her, and she needed him to trust her, and... he didn't want this to stop. It felt so nice, being wrapped up by her.

Vera typically returned to her normal pink color when she slept, but this time there were swirls of Turquoise drifting through the cocoon. He had most of her mood colors figured out, but that one seemed to come up at the strangest times. As the panic faded, and his heart rate slowed, he didn't wonder about it for long before he fell asleep, feeling warm and cared for.

Jackson might have dreamed about a great many things during the night, but any lingering thoughts of whatever his mind came up with were quickly washed away when he awoke. A warm, wet, tightness slid over his cock, and he inhaled sharply.

"Wha—?" Jackson's eyes opened and he blinked, trying to focus. The sensation intensified, sliding up and down his rapidly stiffening morning wood. "Oh," he moaned, trying not to be too loud. "Vera?"

Jackson wasn't cocooned anymore, and when he looked down he saw a lump under the sleeping bag, right over his legs and waist. He lifted the top cover, revealing Vera, in humanoid form, her lips wrapped around his dick. She glanced up at him and giggled.

"Good morning," she said, talking with perfect clarity as usual despite having his cock balls deep in her throat. "It's early, I'm horny as fuck, and you're gonna bang me. Hard." She giggled again.

He wasn't about to complain or disagree, and he reached down for her, grabbing her hair. His hands sank partway into the top of her head and she moaned.