Post Human Ch. 02

A broad smile appeared on Niklas' face. "I know exactly where we will go next," he claimed all of a sudden. He gulped down the rest of his drink, left some money chips on the table and prepared to leave. I followed him. We walked through the illuminated streets of Berlin with clear intent for a few minutes, but Niklas refused to tell me what our target was. He came to a halt in front of an establishment with a bright neon sign reading "Pulcher Palast" above the entrance. The door was guarded by two men, an Eloquens and a Fortis. It was not hard to guess who did the talking and who was there for the muscle.

Niklas approached them casually and beckoned me to follow. "Good evening gentlemen," he greeted them. The Eloquens cast a brief glance at him then took much more time to look me over with a skeptical expression.

"Is he gonna to be trouble?" the man asked Niklas with a rough voice.

Niklas presented him a grin and a money chip. "No, he is going to be a student at the Primus academy."

"Very funny," the Eloquens remarked with not the slightest trace of humor. He hesitated for a moment before he snatched the chip out of Niklas' hand. "Ok, you can go in, but you better behave or Kul here will make sure you regret it." He indicated his Fortis colleague, who seemed thoroughly disinterested and answered with a low grunt. I nodded and followed Niklas into the building. We went through an antechamber into a large room, dominated by a round, elevated stage, with an attached runway leading to an entrance obscured by curtains. Plenty of chairs and tables were positioned around it, all of them facing the platform. Along the walls of the room there were booths with couches also placed in a way to see what seemed to be the main attraction of the place. Roughly half of the seats were occupied, almost exclusively by male guest of different subspecies. The decoration was flashy and colorful.

Niklas picked two seats at a small table. A quick glance at the menu revealed that this place offered pretty much the same drinks as the bar we had been before but at vastly higher prices. It was very obvious that the reason why people came here would appear on the stage, which was still empty at the moment. Niklas would not reveal anything. We ordered beer and waited for the spectacle to begin.

Only a few minutes after our drinks had arrived, the room was dimmed while a bright spotlight illuminated the stage. An unseen announcer demanded "applause for Serafina." Music started to play. It was a lively tune played by multiple different instruments, of a genre I couldn't quite place. Then the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes upon entered the stage. Even for a Pulcher she was absolutely gorgeous. Her bright blue eyes shone from a face with features incredibly smooth and flawless yet so memorable it was haunting. Long hair like spun gold was bound into a braid reaching down to her lower back. Her playful smile was addictive. She managed to maintain an aura of confidence while still looking sympathetic and friendly.

The woman wore a floor-length, billowing dress with long sleeves, reaching down to the floor. It showed so little skin it was almost provocative. My fantasy ran wild with what was hidden beneath those layers of fabric. She started moving in line with the music, only slightly at first, her body swaying gently to the rhythm, then faster and more pronounced, slowly evolving her act into a mesmerizing dance. She spun around herself and made quick, unseen steps while her hands drew patterns into the air, the fabric of her wide dress tracing behind each movement. It was a skillful performance and there was an undeniable elegance to it.

As it turned out, it was only the first part of the show. While the woman fulfilled a rapid rotation in the middle of the stage, which made the lower part of her dress fan out wide, she suddenly cast aside part of her cloth with a quick gesture. Once she had come to a halt again, she was facing the cheering crowd with an entirely different outfit. It consisted of a plain, sleeveless shirt with a generous neckline and a skirt ending just above the knees, leaving her arms and legs bare. This guise was much more revealing than the previous one, but in no way indecent.

Freed from the heavy garments, Serafina's moves became faster and even more impressive. The music picked up pace as well. With fluent motions she floated across the stage, performed jumps and twists with incredible agility. I had never seen a person as nimble and lithe before. At some points it looked as if she was standing in mid-air for a moment.

During a whirlwind of movement she carried out another drop of attire. All of a sudden she was wearing only a salacious set of slim, black underwear anymore, covering merely the essential parts of her chest and groin. The cloth, or rather the absence thereof, drew a lot of attention to her large breasts. While the shirt had kept them more or less in place during her wild performance, now they were free to bounce and jiggle with each quick move.

The dance slowed down again. So did the music. The act became more sensual and seductive. Serafina displayed the full extent of her flexibility, bending her legs at the hip in angles I would have thought impossible. Her pretty smile morphed into something challenging and lascivious. Reaching behind her head, she undid her braid with a few precise tugs. Her gold blonde hair fell free with a silken texture and just the slightest curl. It made her look even more tantalizing.

A few times her gestures implied discarding also her remaining garments, teasing the audience with a wicked facial expression. Each time she stopped just before going through with it. I was trapped in a mental paradox where I desperately needed her to present all of her body and at the same time desired to remain in this tormenting state just before experiencing the final bliss.

In the end Serafina simply turned towards the runway and walked off stage. Just as it seemed that the crowd's feverish wish would remain unfulfilled, she casually dropped both pieces of clothing at the same time while making her exit. Just before she vanished behind the curtain, she made a quick rotation and a slight bow in one fluent motion, granting just the slightest glimpse of her naked form.

I felt like going mad with lust.

"Another applause for Serafina!" the announcer requested. His demand was met with enthusiastic compliance. "She will also perform on the night stage in half an hour."

"What is the night stage?" I immediately asked Niklas, the prospect of seeing her again dominating my mind.

"Another stage in the adjacent room; similar to this one but for a different kind of performance. In essence it comes down to watching two Pulcher making love."

"Really?" I blurted out. Aroused by the spectacle I had just witnessed that idea got me very interested. Trying to sound more surprised than intrigued, I inquired: "I haven't heard of that kind of performance before. Does that belong to the common arts of the Pulcher?"

"More or less; some consider it a proper art, others think it is beneath them. It has definitely been a part of their repertoire for a long time though. For those who are not shy about their bodies it is a way to indulge in their vanity and make a lot of money while doing so. The demand is always high. The Pulcher know how to get the opposite sex excited with merely a look. After this kind of dance enough people are more than willing to pay in order to see more."

"Watching other people copulate..." I pondered aloud. "It seems more like a Fortis thing."

"It is a human thing, really. Other subspecies might not be as open and casual about it as the Fortis, but we all share the same basic desires; with slight variations of course. A friend of mine at the academy, a renowned Historian, once told me that old humanity used to make video recordings of people having sex and distribute those across the whole world through their planet-wide network. Supposedly there had been millions of such videos. We tend to think of the old humans as the advanced, sophisticated species which is above such mundane vices, but if you take a closer look they were surprisingly naughty."

I nodded contemplatively, pretending to reflect on his words, while in reality all my thoughts orbited the beautiful Serafina.

"Do you want to see it?" Niklas asked with a suggestive look, accompanied by a knowing grin.

All my instincts screamed yes but I wasn't sure how Niklas thought about it. Was this another test? Did he intend to find out whether I was a slave to my physical cravings? Or was this just another means by which he intended to bribe me into joining his experiment?

"I am not sure. I have never seen something like that."

"Well, I will give it a pass, have seen it before." Niklas rose from his seat. "I will head home but there is no need for you to do the same if you don't want to." He retrieved some chips and placed them as a small stack on the table. "This should be enough to see the show; or have a few more drinks here; or a lot more drinks somewhere else; or you can just keep it. Consider it a present. The choice is yours, you don't even have to tell me.

"Thank you," I babbled, his proposal taking me by surprise

"Remember the way back to the apartment?"

I nodded.

"Then see you there. Have fun."

Without another word Niklas took his leave. The workings of my hormone-dazzled brain must have been quite obvious to him. The fact that I wanted to go to the night stage badly and that my reluctance only stemmed from not wanting to admit it to him were probably not a difficult guess.

Now I was sitting there, staring at the stack of money, weighing my options. Even with Niklas gone I was still uncertain about the matter. I peered around the room for a moment. Most guests were on the move. Either leaving the building or going where I suspected the night stage was. I was definitely not the only one who was interested. The assembling audience consisted of Eloquens, Durabilis and Callidus. Apparently Niklas was right; the show seemed to attract humans of all kinds. This was surprising because usually each subspecies had different preferences when picking a mate. Where the Fortis favored size, strength and dominances, the Callidus for example were much more concerned with the mental capabilities of potential partners, the skills in their crafts, compatible interests and similar characteristics. For the Eloquens, personality, social status and an extensive wooing process including much effort and sweet talk was very important. The Durabilis mostly bonded throughout longer time periods, which required much patience, as so many other things in their lives, but often resulted in lasting relationships.

These criteria were of course the result of Sikatis alterations and conditioning, furthering the conformity of their worker classes. But despite their successful measures there was still a basic attraction to the old ideals of the human appearance left in the population it seemed. Whether this was intentional or a flaw in the alien designs I cannot say.

For me this reasoning was enough to arrive at a decision: If the urging to watch the Pulcher was a primal human desire, a remnant of old habits from our ancestors, there was no shame in embracing them.

I rose from my seat, picked up the money and headed for the night stage. There was another bouncer there collecting the entrance fee. When I offered the demanded sum he inspected me with a skeptical look for a moment, but eventually let me in without complaint. The basic layout of the room was similar to the first one: A stage in the middle and rows of seating accommodations for the guests around it. Here however, the rows were exclusively organized into small booths for one or two persons each, separated by dividers ensuring visual privacy between adjacent guests. The general light in the room was a lot dimmer, the specific illumination of the stage on the other hand even brighter. This way people on stage could hardly see the spectators while they themselves were clearly visible. Unlike the other stage this one was not empty. Some aged furniture, including a bed, cupboard and chair had been placed there. It was supposed to depict a bedroom apparently.

I picked an isolated booth large enough to fit me with relative comfort and anxiously waited for the spectacle to begin. Soon enough Serafina entered the stage. There was no applause this time, just a tense silence. She had donned a new outfit: Plain, outworn shirt and pants, nothing benefitting her enticing attributes and certainly not what I had expected.

A Pulcher male followed shortly afterwards. Unsurprisingly he was extraordinarily handsome, but not as well groomed and dressed as the one I had seen in the bar. Like Serafina he wore simple, old garments and no accessories.

As it turned out the couple wouldn't just have sex, but incorporate their lovemaking into acting out a more substantial scene. The Pulcher were known for their rich theater culture and good acting. Apparently they would leave out no chance to show it off. The scene they played was of dramatic nature, set during the time of Sikatis rule. The two actors impersonated secrete lovers maintaining a relationship without permission of their master; a situation which was doomed to end in tragedy. The man visited his paramour in her bedroom to inform her that he had been sold off to a new master and would be forced to leave on the coming morning, putting a sudden end to their affair. What followed was an emotional dialog expressing grievance, anger and love.

The acting was quite professional as far as I could judge. My experience was limited of course. There weren't many opportunities to watch theater in rural areas. Their lines, reactions and emotions, though somewhat overplayed, felt believable and relatable. Serafina even had tears in her eyes when her lover cradled her in his arms and said his goodbye. He intended to cut their farewell short and leave, claiming that the longer they dragged this out, the more it would hurt in the morning. His spouse was not willing to let him go like that. When he intended to walk away she held him back, pulling his body back into her embrace. With a trembling voice just short of breaking she pleaded for a last night of passion neither of them would ever forget. He was reluctant to agree, but he couldn't muster the will to refuse her either.

The silent consent of her man staying at her side was all she needed. Slowly she descended before him, her hands sliding downwards over his torso, until she was on her knees and her hands at his waist. She pulled his pants and underwear out of the way to free his half erect manhood. With gentle caresses of her hands and mouth she quickly fostered it to its full glory. Even the Pulcher's genitals were ridiculously symmetrical and aesthetic. The phallus was large in relation to the man's size, but not compared to Fortis standards. Serafina stroked the shaft and licked the head with unnatural enthusiasm. Getting more and more into it she started taking the organ into her mouth and sucking on it. She took in just the tip at first but urged it deeper with rhythmic moves of her head until the whole length had disappeared within her throat. When she retreated and released the appendage, it performed a noticeable twitch, as if in appreciation to her effort.

By now there was no hint of doubt or reluctance on the man's face anymore; just pure lust. He lifted Serafina up and placed her bottom on the cupboard. With a lover's haste he peeled the woman out of her cloth, first the shirt, than the pants and finally her underwear. Once done he took a moment to admire the gorgeous naked beauty, sitting before him with a coy expression. It felt a lot like this was a deliberate pause for the benefit of the spectators, who were finally able to regard the beautiful woman in all her naked beauty. To make the scene even more alluring, Serafina slowly spread her previously closed legs, fully presenting her private parts. It was an invitation for her partner and at the same time a service to the viewers.

The male actor waited for a moment before he stepped closer and went to his knees, his head now obscuring the sight of Serafina's groin. With fingers and tongue he started indulging her. The woman's enjoyment was very evident; maybe a bit too much to be believable but that did not make it any less entertaining. She sighed and moaned, writhed and trembled, gripped her lover's hair with both hands as if holding on while she was shaken by waves of lust. Fueled by the increasingly diligent efforts of her partner, the symptoms of the woman's pleasure built up to an explosive climax. It was an inspiring display; and quite convincing. Either the guy was really good at what he was doing or Serafina's acting skills were even better than I had thought.

Once the woman's excitation had subsided, her lover let off her genitalia, gathered her up again and went to the bed. He gently laid her down onto the mattress. Serafina was on her back, thighs wide open looking up at the man above her with impatient desire on her face. He descended upon her with passionate eagerness. Their joining was a single fluid motion. His manhood found her entrance with ease, burying itself deep inside her body. Serafina arched her spine, threw back her head and let out a loud sigh. The couple remained motionless for a moment, their bodies wildly entangled. Then they started moving in a common rhythm grinding their hips together in a quick, regular pace.

Their lovemaking went on with unbroken vigor for an impressively long time. In between they switched positions a few times, providing different perspectives for the spectators with their varying points of view. They were alternating between lying, sitting and kneeling stances, showing off not only stamina but also versatility and athleticism. Impressive as it was, at times it seemed more like work than delectation.

Each movement, each shift and each turn was well coordinated between the two actors. Not a single word was needed, creating the illusion of a blind understanding between the characters. In reality they were just acting based on a fixed script of course. Maybe they also had some form of unseen signs to help match their motions. It was fascinating to watch but made the scene seem surreal and not very relatable. The show had undeniable aesthetics as well as an artful sensuality, but it lacked some of the raw, dirty and sinful aspects of the deed.

The grand finale to the spectacle was presaged by an increase in both the speed of the man's movement as well as the frequency and volume of the woman's gasps and moans. They worked themselves to a feverish peak at which Serafina let out an orgasmic scream, followed by her lover pulling out and shooting his load all over her body. A few moments later the lights on the stage were turned off abruptly, leaving the couple as a pair of faint silhouettes. It was the very obvious end to a very peculiar performance.

Shortly afterwards people began to leave. I waited until the bulk of the crowd was gone before doing the same. By the time I stepped out into the street I was still not sure how to feel about what I had just seen. It was all I had expected and hoped for, yet the result was somehow unfulfilling. After the intense buildup of desire the climax was more sobering than satisfying. The aftermath left me kind of disappointed.

There was no regret about my decision though. It was only the first out of many strange and exciting experiences awaiting me here. This city and the wide world beyond had so much more to offer. I was already looking forward to it with impatience.