Journey to Tripletit

"Certainly not! Apart from safety rules which everyone has to follow, you will be an independent agent, and as an off-planet consultant, you would report only to Tri-Beta's board who could make suggestions to you, but not give you orders. The only person on Trib who could give you orders is Derek Trelawny..."

"He's on Trib?"

"Of course. He lives here, with his wife Chloe. He runs the Trelawny company from here. He travels off-planet a lot, but his home is here. Which reminds me. Your name is Ricky Trewartha. His surname is Trelawny. They sound similar. Are you related?"

"It's unlikely. Although we are both descended from Cornish miners who left Cornwall in the 19th Century. Many Cornish people have names starting with 'Tre'. If we are related, it is such a distant relationship as to be meaningless."

"OK. But you know Derek, don't you?"

"I won't say I know him. I've met him a couple of times at company events. He specifically asked for me to come to Trib. He didn't say why but the terms he offered were too good to refuse."

"Refuse? That reminds me, Ricky. You haven't said yes or no to my offer to carry you to your hotel."

"I'm slightly embarrassed, Shona. I know we've made love, but being helplessly strapped to you like a baby seems..."

"You're not a baby. You're a mature adult man. You have demonstrated that. You are a small example, the smallest I ever met, but not that small where it matters. Let me put it this way. Would you prefer to be carried by me, a friend that you have made love with, or by a complete stranger?"

"If I have to be protected..."

"You do."

"Then I accept your invitation. I'd like to know exactly what's involved before we arrive. Is that possible?"

"That's a good idea."

Shona stood up, walked a couple of steps and opened her suitcase. She struggled with the contents for a few seconds and came back with a long dress draped over her arm.

"I'll have to change," she said. "Turn your back, please Ricky."

"If I must..."

"I don't want you to see the harness before we use it. If you were to use a professional porter you wouldn't see anything until you were clamped in it. That is what I am trying to reproduce. You can turn round now."

Her dress looked nearly the same as the clothes I had seen her wearing so far. She twirled in front of me. There was a difference. A large hood hung down her back.

"Come here and stand with your back to me, please Ricky. I'll show you the facing-out version first."

I stood.

Her hands lifted me upwards into near darkness inside her dress. There were a couple of clicks and I was suspended with my back against her warm soft skin. Her middle breast was resting lightly on top of my head. The dress seemed to push me hard against her. There was a slither, followed by a thud as her dress hem fell to the floor. Was the hem weighted?

The darkness was total, just like being deep in a cave system. Shona walked around the cabin, only a few steps each way. As she moved I was pushed harder against her body. My arms and legs were sheathed in the harness. I couldn't move them except to twitch my muscles. It wasn't a pleasant sensation being deprived of sight and voluntary movement. A few minutes would be bearable, but half an hour or so to get from the airport to a hotel? That would be very annoying.

"That is what it would feel like with a professional porter." I heard Shona say through the lightproof material covering me. "It is against their regulations to use their central breast to paralyse their customer. Some might do it if paid well enough, but they shouldn't. That is why Trib women almost always meet their human partners at the airport in summer. They can greet them and give the men a pleasant ride to wherever they need to go."

Shona lifted her dress slightly. I was aware of a faint glimmer of light below me. Her hands raised me, there were sounds of a couple more clicks and my mouth was opposite her naked central breast. The dress fell to the floor again plunging me back into complete darkness. Shona's dress forcefully pushed my head against her breast. Was it designed to do that? I couldn't resist the pressure. I opened my mouth. Warm milk flooded in. I swallowed and...

I woke up on Shona's bed, tightly wrapped again. I glanced at the clock. I had lost two hours. She had changed her dress. The sun-proof dress was hanging on the door.

"Good afternoon, Ricky," Shona said. "While you were out cold I took you around the public areas of the ship three times. No one noticed that I was carrying you. A Trib woman might have guessed but you are invisible when harnessed."

"Thank you, Shona," I said. "But one thing I don't understand. I thought the middle breast induced paralysis of the larger muscles, not unconsciousness. I went under as if I had been pumped full of anaesthetic. Why?"

"Trib women have the ability to produce two types of milk from their middle breast. The easiest one is that which produces paralysis. It takes a slight effort and practice, to change to producing instant unconsciousness. That is usually a change as part of the hunting season, when Trib women are chasing and capturing Trib men.

When the men were only paralysed, they were scared stiff. They knew that being captured by a woman ended in death. Some even died of a heart attack before the woman was impregnated. The men were literally scared to death. Now that we don't need to kill them to become pregnant, it is kinder to make them unconscious. When they wake up again, the woman has gone. It will take generations before the Trib men lose their fear of women in the hunting season."

"It was certainly easier to endure than being conscious and straight-jacketed in darkness."

"I'm sorry you were out so long, Ricky. Today is the first time I've tried to produce that milk. I gave you too little the first time, and far too much this time."

"You could try again, Shona. We have a few days travelling left."

"If you want me too, I will."

"Please, Shona. I don't want to be strapped to a stranger, nor carried in darkness while conscious. But I'd prefer to wake up soon after reaching the hotel."

"I'll see if I can do that. But if the worst happens and you wake up between the spaceport and the hotel, all you need to do is open your mouth and suck."

"One thing bothers me, Shona."

"And that is?"

"If we keep practising, isn't someone going to notice that one of the passengers is missing? Me?"

Shona laughed.

"I think they'll guess where you are. Do you know why I picked you out after the lecture?"

"No. Unless it's because I'm so small."

"You are the only passenger on his first trip to Trib. There are some men who are attending a conference while the spaceship is serviced. They won't go beyond the terminal except for a tour at dusk. All the men who are disembarking are returning to Trib, to the women who have claimed them. They came to my lecture just to relieve the boredom of the voyage. They already know what Trib is like, and they have met triple tits before. I remind them of what they're missing."

"And they're jealous of me?"

"Um. Two aren't. When we were in the departure hall, two of them had head colds. The spaceship captain didn't want to take them because a cold could spread. I offered to cure them."

"How, Shona?"

"Tripletit milk cures almost everything. No man on Trib has any disease, viruses, or anything wrong with their health. So I took them into the disabled toilets one after the other, and gave them some of my milk. Not as I did to you. I just pulled out a tit and let them suck for a few seconds."

"So that's why I feel better, Shona?"

"Of course. We can't cure everything with breast milk, but that and lovemaking together can work wonders, Ricky."

"It hasn't worked on my back."

"Your back?"

"A year ago I was caught by a mine cave-in. I survived, but the skin on my back was damaged. It is still scarred and sometimes the scarring splits..."

"Show me!" Shona ordered.

I stripped to the waist and turned my back to her.

"Ouch!" Shona said. "That looks bad. If I had known..."

"But your milk can't mend skin."

"No. But... You can't work on Trib with damaged skin like that. Even Spring and Autumn sun would really irritate that unless you wore such heavy protective clothing that it would impede your movements."

"I wondered why men couldn't wear sun-proof clothing."

Shona pointed at the dress hanging on the door.

"Try to lift that dress, Ricky."

"I can't reach the hook, Shona."

"You won't have to. Just try lifting the hem a couple of feet."

I walked to the door and grabbed the hem with my right hand. The dress twitched. I used both hands. Using my full effort I could raise the hem six inches.

"What's it made of?" I asked. "Lead?"

"Not lead but a special material. We Trib women can wear it because we are so large and strong. Any male protective clothing that would be effective in Trib's sunlight would make it impossible for the man to stand up, and completely unable to walk. My shoulders take almost all the weight. All you have to endure is the inward pressure."

"Even that was hard. When I was facing you I couldn't pull my head from your breast."

"I know. Let me show you something. Lie face down on my bed, as you are. I'll avoid your back."

Shona lifted the dress down. Even for her it was an obvious effort. She spread the skirt so that she had one layer of material in her hands. She carefully placed that single layer from my thighs down to my feet. I was flattened into the mattress. I couldn't move my legs at all. After a few seconds she removed it. That was a relief.

Shona hung the dress back on the door.

"If we hadn't been due back on Trib in high summer, I wouldn't have brought that dress. I have to pay extra freight for the weight. Next time I'll leave it at home and wait at the terminal until dusk. But then I couldn't carry you to your hotel."

Shona pulled me to a sitting position facing her. She looked at me intently. Why?

"Ricky. Do you like me, as me? Or just because I'm the first Trib woman you've met?"

"You're not."

"I'm not? Not what?"

"Not the first Trib woman I've met. I have met a dozen or more, Shona. I have had to work with them on Earth. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be on my way to Trib."

"Did any of them..."

"No. Yours is the first Trib breast milk I've drunk. While I liked them, respected them for their courage in journeying to Earth, I wasn't attracted to them sexually. They were just far too large for a titch like me, and anyway they already had male partners."

"Would you...?" She was obviously embarrassed.

"Would I what, Shona?"

"No. Not now. Let's have a meal first while I think about whether I should ask that question, if at all."

I accepted that even if I didn't wholly understand.

We spent the next few hours in the public rooms talking about Trib and specifically about mineral exploration. I began to get an idea of why I was needed. There was a cave system near the capital. The tunnels were far too small to be explored by Trib women, but the caves were known to be extensive. Searching them for traces of minerals could avoid test drilling, or show where test drilling could be more productive.

After the evening meal Shona suddenly stood up.

"Come on, Ricky!" She ordered. "We need to settle something and now."

We went back to her cabin, back to sitting on her bed.

"Show me your back again, Ricky, please."

I stripped to my waist again. Shona picked me up and sat me on her knees, pulling my head against her clothed breasts.

"Just listen to me for a few minutes, please Ricky."

"OK."

"I am torn. I want you. But why do I want you? Is it because you are the smallest man I know? Or is it because you are Ricky Trewartha? I know you are attracted to me. Is that because I am the first Trib woman who has made love to you, or because I am Shona? Those questions are important. I think that the answers will be what I hope they are, but we won't really know until we have been on Trib for a few weeks or months. Can you follow what I'm saying, Ricky?"

"Yes, Shona. And I can give you an answer from me."

"You can?"

"Yes. I want Shona, because she is Shona. She may be a Trib woman who has made love to me, but she is a great companion, someone I have been close to but unable to touch for months, someone I want to be with for as long as possible. Does that answer help you?"

Shona's arms, already cradling me, squeezed me gently.

"Yes, Ricky. It does. But what I want to do... Do I want to do it because I can? Or because I want Ricky Trewartha?"

"What do you want to do, Shona?"

"Heal your back."

"Heal my back? But your breast milk can't do that."

"There is a way, Ricky, but..."

"But what?"

"It is only possible between people who are married or at least engaged. Almost any Trib woman would give her breast to a man in distress. Almost any Trib woman would let him penetrate her left or right slit and have great sex. We can't get pregnant that way. We don't see it as much more than Earth people would see a kiss on the cheek or a hug between friends. But..."

Shona's hand stroked my hair.

"What I want to do with you needs a commitment from both of us, your complete trust in me, and self control by me. The ultimate end of what I want to do would be fatal to you, if I didn't control my natural urges. Do you understand?"

"No, Shona. I don't understand completely. But if you want me to answer the question 'Do I trust Shona with my life?' then my answer is 'Yes.' If you want me to answer the question 'Do I want to spend my life with Shona' then again my answer is 'Yes'. I would look ridiculous going down on bended knee because I am short enough already, but I am going to ask you this question..."

I paused. I turned so that I was looking into Shona's face that showed a hint of a smile.

"Shona. Will you marry me? Please?"

Her arms pulled me close to her breasts. I could feel the tension between the fierce hug she wanted to give me, and her conscious effort to keep the hug within the limits my body could take.

I wanted to hear her answer but I couldn't speak, smothered by her breasts.

"Yes, Ricky Trewartha. I will marry you."

She opened her arms enough to let me see her smile and two tears rolling down her cheeks.

"When?" I asked. "When will you marry me, Shona?"

"When do you want to get married, Ricky?"

"Now?"

"Now!" I had startled her.

"Why not? We're on a spaceship. The Captain has the power to conduct marriages."

"Ricky." Shona's tone was serious. "How carefully did you listen to the lecture about Trib customs, especially marriage between Trib women and Earthmen?"

"I paid attention, but no more than to other parts of the briefing."

"The institution of marriage is only a few decades old on Trib. Until we had contact with Earth we had no need for marriage. A Trib woman hunted and caught a man, used him, he died and the woman was pregnant. We had relationships, sometimes for years, but an Earthman could not make a Trib woman pregnant without dying as immediately after a successful impregnation, or even after an unsuccessful attempt.

He could have mind-blowing sex with his partner, or with other women, but couldn't normally make them pregnant, no matter what they did together. Only the Trib woman could decide that she wanted to be pregnant and sacrifice the man to make that happen."

"Ouch! That IS a poor basis for a marriage."

"It changed when a man found a way to make a Trib woman pregnant and survive the experience. It requires the man to have complete trust in the Trib woman, and for her to exercise control over her hereditary instincts. Now marriage is possible, but on Trib terms. A marriage between a Trib woman and an Earthman is what you might call an 'open' marriage.

She can offer a breast and sex to any Earthman. If he accepts it is not seen as anything more than a kiss on a cheek would be regarded on Earth -- a friendly greeting, no more than that.

He can accept a breast and sex from any Trib woman. He shouldn't actively seek sex from another woman but if he does, it is accepted as a minor matter as long as it isn't several times from the SAME woman. That might end the marriage.

But the marriages are temporary, dissolvable by mutual consent at any time. They only have meaning on Trib. If the Earthman leaves Trib, the marriage can end, or if he is intending to return, suspended. It can be renewed on his return or forgotten about if the partners have moved on. There are no recriminations at the end of a marriage. A marriage on Trib has no financial consequences. Each partner is expected to support themselves and if they share an apartment, they share the bills as if they were flatmates, not married."

"Shona. We on Earth have a very old expression that applies to travellers between cultures. It starts 'When in Rome...'. Have you heard of it?"

"No, Ricky. And I don't understand why you need to ask that."

"It's important to this discussion and to us. I'll explain. The full expression is 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do: when not in Rome, do as the locals do.' You have been following that advice when on Earth."

"I have? I don't think I did."

"Milk from your breasts heals most illnesses. Yes?"

Shona nodded.

"It is part of your culture on Trib that any woman seeing an Earthman in distress would offer him her breast or sex?"

"You know it is."

"When you were on Earth, there were many men around you with illnesses, worried, hurt, unhappy... You didn't offer them a breast. Why not?"

"Oh! I see your point, Ricky. I wasn't on Trib, so Trib's customs didn't apply. I couldn't physically offer my breast to every man I met on Earth so I offered it to none. It wasn't an Earth custom."

"Exactly. What I am getting at is that a marriage on Trib between an Earthman and a Trib woman is governed by the customs of the planet. But we're not on Trib, are we?"

"No. We'll be there in a couple of days, but we're on a space ship."

"And what culture do the people on this space ship observe?"

"A sort of Earth culture, modified because we are crammed together in a small space. We're more friendly, more polite to each other, and more tolerant."

"But this is an Earth space ship. We are on it. I, an Earthman, have asked you, a Trib Woman, to marry me and to my delight, you have accepted me."

Shona squeezed me gently.

"Yes, you did and I have."

"On a ship governed by Earth culture. I have offered and you have accepted a marriage by the laws of Earth, not Trib. For life. 'For richer for poorer, till death do us part'. Are you prepared to marry 'When in Rome' Shona? For life? Because that's what I want."

Shona was stunned. She sat still for a minute or so.

"Ricky, is that what you offered when you asked me to marry you?" She sounded shocked.

"Yes, if you'll have me."

"But we'll be living and working on Trib. What then?"

"When in Rome still applies. On Trib we will observe the local customs. But if and when we leave Trib, we'll still be married for life. Do you want to reconsider your answer, Shona?"

I held my breath, almost unable to bear the tension as Shona hesitated. She didn't take long but it felt as if time had stopped.

"Yes, Ricky," she said slowly. "I want to marry you under Earth customs, to have and to hold," Her arms squeezed me against her breasts, "and all the rest -- for life."

"Thank you, Shona. When?"

"Now is good. How?"

"We go to the ship's purser, explain what we want, and he will make an appointment with the captain."

It wasn't as easy as that. It was the first marriage the captain had ever done. He had to consult his captain's manual. The purser found that we had an Anglican minister on board, and he agreed to help the captain.