Resonance Ch. 01

Hello! First of all, thanks for coming to read my story! This is my first story on lit, so feedback is appreciated. It starts out slow, so if you're looking for just sex without plot than this isn't for you. Anyways, enough of me talking- I hope you like the story!

*****

Nothing. Nothing at all was going my way. The drivers of the left engine weren't cooling properly, space barnacles had attached under the fifth wing, and worst of all my hair had gotten stuck in the blender this morning and to detach myself from the device I had to cut it off, leaving an odd chunk shorter than the rest.

I scowl. Cutting your hair is shameful to the utmost degree- I would have rather confessed to my second mother that I was frequenting a strip club! The only upside to the wretched day I was having was that I wasn't going home anytime soon, so none of my mothers could see that my hair had been cut.

I crouch over the baryon reaction capsule in the left engine, halfway through searching everything for the cooling failure. After fiddling with and tightening several components on it, I determine that it is not the cause of my problem but that it may be about time to replace it. I sigh and pull out my notepad to write a reminder to buy a new one at the next intergalactic way station.

As I leap to my nearby ladder, I stop to catch my breath and look around the left engine room. The left engine room, contrary to the right one in the back (basically just a large crawlspace), is shaped like a large kaleidoscope- the components covering the wall reaching up and down the full half mile of the space. On the end facing up, five large translucent solar harvesters are layered; each one being a different shade of the usually invisible light range that helped crystals grow. But because I was born from the Caoko race which is famed for their unique eyesight (among other things) I could see the magnificent colors of the wavy light that got through to the inside of the cylindrical room.

That light, and the light given off by the crystals I grow on my ship to sell, are the reasons I left my home to travel across the multiverse. That, and the money. I take one last deep breath and continue my way up the ladder to the exit hatch near the top.

---

The Caoko species is known not only for their magnificent eyesight, but their renowned stereotypical characteristics. If I had to list some, they would be reclusive, short tempered, and long haired. Caoko have an interplanetary population of about 0.07%, while the rest of the 99.23% choose to remain secluded on their native planet.

Due to the nature of our biological anatomy, the line between males and females is so greatly blurred that there is no gender distinction and either of the primary "sexes" has the capability to bare children. The "sex" of Caoko, something introduced by early interplanetary explorers back in the day, is based on a set set of personality traits at the age of 10 that dictate how they identify (male or female) until the age of 35 when they may or may not be reassigned. Due to this, polygamy and what other planets like to call "homosexuality" is widely accepted and encouraged. So why am I explaining this? The reason the Caoko are renowned for their short temper is because not only is it customary for battles (or wars, depending on the size of the polygamous group) to ensue over mates but children to be stolen multiple times to be raised by an assortment of parental figures (kidnapping, murder, or betting are the most common and respected ways of taking a child).

As most other cultures see us, we are brutes and a culture based on violence and not often treated as equals among others. Other cultures considered to be more normal quickly made the Caoko outcasts to the culture of public places. Though this might be a cause for so much of the population staying on the home world, it is also a growing affect the longer my people seclude themselves.

Lastly, in my culture, it is unheard of to cut your hair. As far as our written history goes, the reason for this is hazy at best. It just is. Cutting hair is reserved for prisoners of dreadful crimes and betrayers to the Caoko culture.

Seeing as I am off-world and have a chunk of my hair missing I suspected that some staring at an intergalactic way station would ensue, but not of this magnitude. As soon I had stepped out of my ship hangar when I arrived, the gaping stares and finger pointing started.

Now, as I stand in line to buy a replacement baryon reaction capsule, even the spare parts clerk manning the booth can't help but glance behind the customer in front of me (to which he was counting out change to) to stare at his unusual guest. The man in line behind me steps on my hair which is trailing on the ground behind me and I hiss at the sharp pain in my scalp.

I turn with a withering glare as the man looks up from his mobile geothermal monitor and jumps back with a 'eep!' He garbles his hurried apologies and I turn back around. I'm not really short tempered, but when the way station population in places such as this are so disrespectful it is hard not to live up to my species' reputation.

"What would you like, miss?" the clerk says in as upbeat a voice as he can manage.

"I'm male, thank you." I hiss coolly, and he flushes scarlet red. "I would like a model T-008 baryon reaction capsule."

I wait as the clerk turns to the ancient computer on his desk and searches the digital inventory.

"um... excuse me, sir," he says pointedly, "we don't have baryon reaction capsule of that model in our new or used holding right now." He shivers as my glare becomes below zero frigid.

"When would more be shipped in, then?"

"w-well, it isn't one of the items we usually restock on so you'd have to special order. That w-would take longer, m-maybe-"

"tsk." maybe I am a bit short tempered. I glare at the whimpering clerk for a moment longer and then spit out a "Thank you very much" before turning on my heel and striding away.

I get about fifteen steps before a man calls out to me and jogs to catch up. "excuse me, sir," he says as my sharp eyes catch the fraction of a second smirk as he emphasized the word sir, "I couldn't help overhearing you needed a T-008 baryon reaction capsule. I may have what you're looking for if you're willing to trade for it?"

He stands up from his bent over position he was in to catch his breath and I now notice that this man towers over my slight frame. I turn completely to face the stranger at the mention of his deal, and get a good look at him. My eyes connected with his figure and, to my surprise, I could not (nor did I really want to) tare them away. He was devilishly handsome with curly golden locks and a wide (mischievous) smile not to mention a toned frame only covered by a strange pair of pants that seemed to be remnant of the eastern nebular district. As my enraptured eyes glide back up his body I notice that he has shimmery scales.

...scales...

After the five long seconds I stood enthralled by his beauty, I recoil and flinch as I realize that he's Boccoi! The Caoko have always hated the Boccoi, their prideful nature clashing with the playful Boccoi who seemed to disrespect and ignore the Caoko at every turn. In the close to a century that the two species have interacted, they have yet to acknowledge the other for their differences and remain hostile.

None of my mothers had ever liked the Boccoi, and thus I had been raised the same. I can't help the hiss of distrust that escapes my mouth.

"Okay, Okay! I know, yes- I'm Boccoian and yes- you're Caokoan but can't we just-!" I turn and continue to head back to my ship.

"Hey! Please! Just hear me out!" The Boccoi man pleads. Seeing that I am unwavering, he runs and catches up to me, standing in my way to the hangar. "Look, you need my part, right?" he asks, the lighthearted joking tone gone from his voice. "All I ask is that you let me hitch hike a couple galaxies over- only two or tree weeks!"

Weeks?! I already haven't taking any liking to him, but he's spot on- I need that T-008 baryon reaction capsule! I stand still and look into his purple eyes. Would I rather tolerate him for three weeks or wait who knows how long for my 'special order' to be requested and transported here? I scowl.

"what's your name, Boccoi?"

"Kagaurmuroe, you?"

Ka-, Kaga-... geez, even Boccoi's names are difficult to handle!

"Ari. Now, if you're coming on my ship you're going to help with all the manual labor and chores. Also, I'll call you Kaga. This is final, understand?"

"yes, sir Ari!" he beams down at me, and it seems as though he started to go in for a hug, but reconsidered and instead said "I'll go get the baryon reaction capsule." and jogged off.

Slowly, I put my head in my hands. What. Am I. Doing? A Boccoi? I scold myself, could you have picked up a worse stray to take with you for three weeks?

---

I set Kaga up on the intercom so that I can relay launch codes from each engine room to him at the main control, and so far I had noticed that his second redeeming feature was a good memory for the long lists of numbers and instructions I barked at him over the intercom- worried about how good he would be at handling my ship. Contrary to my fears, Kaga seemed to know how to handle a ship.

Nearing the end of the day we started to wrap up our launch preparations, and I even managed to let him check the rudders on his own. As I was in the main control room at the navigation panel, asking Kaga for some information he had plugged in the system, our work pace slowed as I began to relax involuntarily around him. I thought about how much worse today could have been... At least he hadn't mentioned my cut hair all day.

"So, Kaga, how come you seem to know how to operate a ship so well? You're hitch hiking like you don't own a ship of your own...?"

"No, I have my own ship," Kaga says as he continues to plug in numbers, "Mine is just out of commission for the moment- she broke down a year or two back and it's hard to find replacement parts for a ship that old. She's stationed here while I gather everything I need. It's just to get some parts I have to travel elsewhere so I hitch hike like this." He pauses. "The reason I had that part, and know so much about operating ships, is because I work as a power systems engineer."

we work in silence for a moment.

"While we're on the topic of asking personal questions, may I ask why some of your hair is cut off? That's bad for Caokoans, right?"

Gosh darn it! And I thought I could get away with him not asking that question.

"It got caught..." I mumble.

"What did you say?"

"It got caught in a blender and I had to cut it off to get free!" I flush and turn to see him trying to hide his face and hold back a burst of laughter. I get redder as I get more angry.

"What? Something to say to me?" I spit.

"...No..." he says, still muffling his laughter.

I let it go for now, and we finish the work that was left and I show him to a cramped storage room with a blanket and some pillows where he can sleep for the next couple weeks. It's not like I was prepared to have company in my voyages, so he would have to sleep in the small cupboard-like space.

He hesitates for a moment when I show him the room (more closet), and I turn to go before I can become any more embarrassed for my ill accommodations.

"Goodnight!"

"Um, Ari...?"

I pause and turn back.

"I mean, Sir-"

"Ari's fine."

he smiles. "What time do you want me up for the launch in the morning?"

It almost seemed like he was about to ask a different question, but after a moment I decide to ignore the feeling and say "6 o'clock, and don't be late." and turn to go to bed myself. It seemed as though I had been sensing something was off all day, but it did me no good to wonder idly.

I don't really sleep in my cabin, originally built into the ship for the captain, and instead sleep in a hammock set up in the crystal vault. The crystal vault is the center of my ship and is a large sphere where I grow the crystals I sell. Through the center is the left engine with solar harvesters in the top, powering the numerous functions that keep the crystals growing. The torus shape of the vault's interior is divided into eight sections by semi-reflective vertical walls, each containing a different environment with several types of crystals.

I move my hammock through the chambers perpetually, hanging it across whatever large crystals are there. Tonight, it is in a forest of vivid cyan crystals nearly ten feet tall with smaller teal crystalline sprouts growing up and along the floors among and on them. Aside from the ultraviolet prism crystals that take up one eighth section of the torus alone, the cyan giants are my favorite. With the stressful day I had had, I am glad to sleep among the beautiful color.

Climbing down the ladder from the entrance to the hammock, I leap in the lesser gravity from crystal to crystal over to my hammock. On a large cyan giant that has grown horizontally I sit down to get ready to go to sleep. I comb my hair, ignoring the short clump, and start to hum. As I do, the crystals resonate and start to hum along with me creating a symphony from high to low and soft to quiet.

I stop as the last tangle is freed from my hair, sitting in silence as the reverberations fade away. Standing up, I unhook my utility belt and hang it over one end of the hammock, turning off the lights from my master control remote as I do so. The soft glow of the luminescent teal crystals lulls me to sleep, and by the time my mind drifts off to unconsciousness I have nearly forgotten about all the uneasy feelings I had had.

---

My eyes snap open, and I just know I should have payed attention to the feeling I had had all day yesterday. The sensation was at least twenty times stronger, and accompanied by a nagging familiar feeling that in my half asleep state I couldn't identify. Laying there I let my mind clear... it couldn't be... my eyes snap open and catch my reflection in a large crystal opposite where I can see my reflection. Immediately I realized what this feeling was- my heat. I couldn't even deny it- the sensitivity of my skin against the clothes, the buzzing energy running through me, and most obviously my normally electric blue eyes now violet.

Oh god. Oh god oh god ohhhhh god... Caokoan's heat comes once every 5 years, and it's just my luck that it's now when I'm stuck all alone with a Baccoi?!? for 3 weeks?!? Our heats make desire the sole focus for roughly a month, and it's nearly impossible to resist giving in and fucking your brains out (that might be a reason why the Caoko have so many partners and kids...). Our bodies become sex machines, going into hyper-drive and adapting our bodies to best fit the potential partners around us.

As for me now? I could already tell my mind was fogging up with lust. I had only had my heat once before, in the safety of my home planet. Sitting up with shaky limbs, I dreaded what I knew I would find but slid my pants off anyways. Reaching down, my fingers found swollen female genitalia already leaking in arousal.

"...shit..." I cursed, but it came out sounding like a moan. Unshed tears stung my eyes as I felt the temptation to masturbate there and then but barely managed to tear my hand away. "I was male, dammit..."

Getting up, I knew I had to get dressed and ready before Kaga came looking for me because I was late- yet I couldn't bring myself to put the pants I usually wore back on. Ruffling around in my bag I found a skirt, my anger seething below the surface at my lack of self control. I could not wear underwear, and to my repulsion that thought combined with how my juices would soon be dripping down my leg turned me on even more. Buckling my utility belt before I aroused myself beyond the point of no return I leaped from crystal to crystal and out the entrance to prepare for the formal detachment from the way station and subsequent launch.

To be continued...