Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 05

It all made sense, but I couldn't see New-Earth going for its complexity and what she said about how the system worked made it even more clear to me that when it came to social organisation we obviously still had some way to go.

After a while I realised that I had no way of telling the males from the females, some were slightly less, 'graceful', I suppose, than others but other than that there was nothing obvious, nothing that seemed to compare with our women's hips and breasts.

My problem had been anticipated, after about half an hour of clips showing scenes of general social and political life, and their version of the latter made ours look like a madhouse, the screen began to show more personal, perhaps family subjects. Included in that was a short piece referring to their sexuality, and that was when I got my first shock.

The males were little different to us, though what was obviously their equivalent of our penis was both shorter and thinner, not much more than a flexible tube. Testicles were merely small, rounded bulges at its base, and from what I gathered, there seemed to be no equivalent of our erection either before or during the sex act. But then their women were so differently made that they didn't need one.

For starters, unlike human women, a major portion of their genitalia was external, not internal. What I learned were their ovaries were very similar to the male's testicles, a pair of smooth, round bulges of flesh. What was translated for me as the 'receptor' was a short but telescopic member, that grew into a tube-like part when the female was ready for sex, becoming both longer and thicker than the male's penis. There was a brief scene showing a male and female coupling, they stood, the male's penis stiffened just a little and the female slipped her 'receptor' over it, then they continued standing, just holding and stroking each other. Apart from the caressing the only movement seemed to be a continuous rippling action along the length of the female's 'receptor', there was neither thrusting nor heaving, and even allowing for the educational nature of the clip, their sex act by comparison with ours, seemed almost joyless.

When whatever happened was finished and the male began to withdraw his 'penis' I noticed that the female's 'receptor' gave a few more of the rippling contractions, presumably to contain their equivalent of sperm, and that as the male then fully withdrew, the opening at the end closed tightly behind it.

I would have preferred their version of a porn-vid, if they had such things, I felt I had learned next to nothing about their love lives.

The rest of the tape showed the insides of various families' homes, scenes from everyday life and although I'm sure a sociologist would have had a marvellous time picking up the strange differences, after a while I had become so used to seeing Peta's people that I began to feel I was watching a group of unusually dressed humans, and understood her use of the word 'similar' to describe us.

Then emerald eyes returned to the screen with some closing words and by that time I felt as though I was seeing an old friend again and was almost sorry to see the eyes fade as the screen darkened. But when it returned to life, as Peta obviously began to transmit directly, there they were again, flashing brilliantly as her voice spoke to me.

'I hope that was of interest Jake. I'm sorry it could not be more comprehensive but I am sure you appreciate the reasons for that at this stage, and I did not have too much time to check and sort my data banks to find some of the things I wanted to show you.'

'I didn't realise it was you narrating Peta. Your voice sounded different. But your eyes, they're beautiful!'

'Thank you Jake.' Then, with a note of hesitancy in her voice, she asked. 'But tell me, did you find us repulsive to look at?'

No, not at all! Even in such a short period I found that I became quite accustomed to the initial strangeness of some differences, others, like your skin and especially the eyes, were positively sensual. But I have a dozen questions of course.'

'Naturally, it would be strange if you had not, and I have dozens for you too. But, for now I have just one.'

Her face, which had undoubtedly been smiling now took on a more serious look and her eyes seemed to fill the screen as she stared deep into mine.

'What's that Peta?'

'Would you join with me, in my craft I mean?'

Did she mean - 'Go and join her in her ship.' - or - 'Go and join with her, in her ship'? What was my answer to either question? 'No' to both? 'Yes' to the first and 'No' to the second? 'Yes' to both? I needed time to think about the second but none whatsoever to answer the first, so replied, as diplomatically as I could.

'On behalf of my people, I would be both thrilled and honoured Peta.'

Again I heard her whistling laugh. 'I am not inviting all of your people Jake, just you. But I am glad, very glad that you agree. Now, you will find my atmosphere somewhat richer in oxygen than yours, not dangerously so but I suggest you bring a 'breather' of some kind just in case, and some of your own food and drink. We can try a little of each other's, chemically they will be acceptable to both of us but I expect we will find the strangeness, particularly that of the food, unpalatable.'

'I have a small surface vehicle Peta but the hills between us may be a little too rough, is there sufficient room to bring my ship alongside yours?'

'Not necessary Jake, I can arrange your transportation. But first I suggest you have your ship prepare that program you mentioned, detailing your arrival and so forth. It can be done whilst we are together then you can check it on your return, before I exit all the combot's systems.'

'Is that O.K. Sam?' I asked.

Her answer was a little slow in coming and when she did reply I could hear from her voice that she was still demonstrating some tenseness, but she assured me she knew what was necessary and that she would attend to it. So once Sam had started on that I took a few minutes to prepare another sub-routine for her to run after I had left the ship then, having slipped into the light suit, collected a few things I thought might be useful and hooked myself up to the 'dog', I once again went out of the ship and waited, just a little nervously to see what happened next.

I heard her voice. 'Do not be nervous Jake, there will be a fairly bright light and then you will be here, quite quickly.'

She was exactly right, one second I was standing in the relative darkness, the next I was bathed in a deep, almost violet-blue light and immediately became aware of a sensation of lift and motion. Peering down past my feet I could dimly see the outline of land passing beneath me, the shapes of the hills around me and then, after just a few seconds, felt the firmness of ground beneath my feet again, and the light shut off.

It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to re-accustom themselves to the darkness, then I saw the outline of the bulk of her ship, and that pale green light was pouring from an open hatchway, I approached and went inside.

*

Chapter 6

Peta

I was surprised to find that the air-lock looked just like an air-lock, apart from what were obviously the emergency instructions, which were in a scrolling script that reminded me in many ways of some of the Old-Earth's early Arabic writings. I was about to close the outer door behind me when I heard Peta's now familiar voice.

'No need Jake. Allow me.'

The door closed, there was a slight hiss as air was replaced and then the door into the interior opened for me and, feeling my heart racing, I stepped through it.

The first thing I saw were her eyes, those brilliantly emerald-green eyes, shining, and beneath them, her so human-like mouth, smiling.

'Welcome Jake, welcome.'

Her translated voice was of course accompanied by her own speech's melodic tones and at first I had trouble separating the two. But she had obviously anticipated that problem and made some change to a piece of equipment and from then on her own speech merely sounded like quiet, musical accompaniment to what I was hearing.

If Peta represented an average female of her species they were, as I had thought, tall. For a human male I am well above average height, and her eyes were virtually level with mine. But she was very much better dressed than I was. Standing there in the light suit, the 'dog' trailing behind me I felt a bit like a poor relation visiting some wealthy patron.

The gown, for lack of a better word, fell in shimmering folds around her, a close fitting cowl covering her head and the garment covering everything except her face and her hands. The prime colours were russets and golds but dancing through and across its surface were all the imaginable shades of green. Unlike any clothes I had seen before, there were no obvious seams or closures, the material simply hung or fitted depending on how she stood or moved.

Although I was almost overawed by the significance of our meeting and was mesmerised by her eyes, like any man, I couldn't help trying to see the body that was hidden by the flowing colours that swirled around it. But the fabric, or whatever it was, was totally opaque, and even when it flowed around her as she moved it gave no hint of the actual shape of the body beneath it.

I never did see any part of the ship other than the section she welcomed me into. As she explained and I easily understood, she was bound by even more rules and regulations than I was, but I did discover later that many parts of the ship's interior were, 'flexible' was the way the word was translated. That areas could be expanded or contracted, fittings brought into use or stored according to the pilot's need at the time. She told me that she had 'designed' the area where we were in a way that she thought would make me feel most at ease.

Dragging my eyes away from her I looked around me, there was not one single item that gave me any clue as to her origin, level of civilisation, capacity of the ship, nothing. The surfaces were smooth, coated with a material that reminded me of the texture of her people's skin, having a similar opalescent sheen. There were two recliners and several flat surfaced pieces in the centre of the room, down one wall were a bank of screens and what were obviously their control panels, all dead. The adjacent wall was quite blank, though I guessed that if I knew how it operated I would be able to pass through it into the rest of the ship.

The other two walls, which the recliners were turned to face, were quite obviously designed to please rather than to serve a more practical function. One was made up of a series of differently angled planes, creating segments of varying sizes, some contained objects, others what may have been their equivalent of paintings. The adjacent wall was dominated by a holo-screen, which may at other times have served a more practical purpose but which, while I was there provided nothing more than a slowly changing pattern of shapes and colours, accompanied by occasional low level musical tones.

Compared with the relatively cramped monotony of our ships, Peta's seemed like a palace.

'I hope it pleases you, that you feel comfortable here.' she said.

'It's quite wonderful Peta, I only wish our ships were as attractive as this, it looks very, very comfortable.'

She smiled. 'Good, I was hoping you would feel that way. Now, you will find that another of the similarities we have is that we both breathe air that is almost identical, as I said, ours has a slightly higher oxygen content than yours, but not enough for you to be concerned. So, you may remove your suit, you will be totally safe I assure you.'

Even though I believed her, old habits die hard and I automatically verified what she said, by checking the read-out on one of the dog's panels before I slipped the suit off. Underneath I was wearing just a coverall, and beneath that a body-stocking, fancy clothes aren't part of a scout's usual kit, so, comparing myself with the way she was dressed I continued to feel a bit like the poor relation.

But in spite of that I couldn't help noticing the way Peta looked at me, although of course I had no way of knowing what emotions the various changes in her eyes denoted, I could see that changes were happening as she looked me over.

'Please sit Jake. Leave your equipment where it is and come over here, I have made some refreshing drinks for us. Yours is adjusted to your body's slightly different chemistry but the taste may not be to your liking, if not, please say so, I can alter it in any way you prefer.'

I had absolutely no reason not to trust her, but if anything did happen to me Sam would instantly flash all our stored data to the beacon, then self-destruct, instructions I had inserted in the brief, manual programme I had set-up before I left. So I did as she asked, moved over to where she had indicated then sat and watched her as she moved gracefully across the space and produced two tall drinks from a panel that opened at her touch.

I accepted the one she gave me to try and cautiously sipped it, it was delicious! Cool, with a vaguely fruitily acidic flavour note, a little sweet, but with an underlying taste that was unidentifiable, but very more-ish. I took a second sip, looked up at her and grinned.

'Superb! Quite delicious Peta, thank you.'

My response obviously pleased her, she gave me another smile and I saw the sparkling colours in her eyes shift shades momentarily, then she sat down in the other recliner.

'Good, I'm glad it pleases you. It contains something that may relax us, assist us in the process of becoming, how should I say it, friends. Somehow I doubt that my food will be as pleasing, but we can try it, a little later. Before all that, we must talk, there are so many things we each will want to know. There are many subjects we cannot talk about of course, but I am sure there are still many, perhaps more personal things that we can share. Don't you agree?'

'Certainly.' I answered. Naturally there were things I wanted to know about, so many things. Where her people came from? What they knew that we didn't? What made them keep pushing out into the cold reaches between the stars? What lay beneath the glistening, shimmering cloth she wore? And that was just for openers. But all I could think of to say in answer was. 'But my head is so full of questions that I can't seem to sort them out. So why don't you start, after all you are used to meeting aliens, you have to remember that this, you are our, my, very first.'

Again I heard the whistling sound of her laugh. 'That is both understandable and quite reasonable. So, where to begin? Perhaps our art is as good a place as any to start.' she said, indicating the objects on the wall in front of us.

I slowly sipped at my drink as she began to speak and noticed a slowly growing sense of well-being as I listened to the melodic tones that softly accompanied the translation. But although one portion of my brain was taking-in what she was saying about their culture, another was concentrating on her. Seeing past our differences, but also our similarities, both doing the same kind of work, facing the same dangers, alone, a long way from home.

And at a deeper level, remembering the feelings that had been aroused during the vid-disc she had showed me, feeling the strange urge to touch that opalescent skin returning.

With difficulty I dragged my attention back to what she was saying, in time to hear her say that as their tactile senses were so highly developed, their most popular art was designed to be touched, not just to be looked at. Adding, in a way that I could only describe as 'shyly', that from the very first sight of me, she had been fascinated by the texture of my hair and, in an even quieter whisper, said that she hoped that sometime I would permit her to touch it.

'Anytime Peta, anytime.' I answered automatically as I drained the last of my drink.

'You do not have, taboos, about this?'

'Not between close friends Peta.'

'I see. Perhaps another drink, a little more talk, to strengthen the closeness?'

'Yes, thank you.'

'It is, appealing?'

'The drink? Yes, it is delicious.'

'Nothing more?'

'I'm not sure I know what you mean.' I answered with a puzzled expression.

'No matter.' she said, smiling down at me as she took my glass.

As she turned and moved back to replenish our drinks I again tried, unsuccessfully, to pierce the softly swaying folds of her gown, but had to be satisfied with no more than the vaguest impression of the outline of the body beneath them.

A moment or two later she returned with fresh drinks, then as I took a sip, instead of sitting down again, she remained standing in front of me. Then, as her brilliantly sparkling eyes held mine, she reached out one arm, her hand level with my head and asked hesitantly.

'May I, just for a moment Jake?'

I nodded and sat quite still as she let her fingers brush delicately across just the very tips of my hair. Her touch was softer than the faintest breeze, so light that if I hadn't known she was doing it I doubt I would have felt it. While she did that our eyes continued to stare deep into each other's, and I was amazed to see that as her fingers slowly wafted across my head, a strange shade-shift seemed to ripple through hers.

'Aaah! It is even more stimulating than I thought.' she said with a slow smile. 'I would like to think that we might become close friends, very close friends, Jake.'

'You get that much, is it pleasure, from such a light touch Peta?'

'Indeed, and it is more than simple pleasure Jake. I mentioned that our sense of touch is one of our strongest senses, it plays an important part in our life, very important. As perhaps you may learn. If, as I mentioned earlier, there really was in ages past, some common ancestor to both our species then, perhaps deep inside you, you still carry some of this heritage too.'

'Touch is certainly very important to us, in many ways, not the least of which is in the pleasure we gain from touching the person we love. But although being touched and held is in many ways critical to the mental well-being of babies and young children, as we grow we seem to lose much of that, and the effect is nowhere near as powerful as what you seem to be able to experience.'

'Oh, but there are far deeper, far stronger levels of pleasure than that, for us anyway. What I felt then was but an upper level of pleasure, what I hope is that later we may together go deeper, that we may find a new level, one that we can share. Do you believe we could do that - and more importantly, would you object to us trying?'

Again that thought, those questions, the one I'd had when she had first invited me to 'Join with me in my ship.' Did I have the correct translation of the nuances of what she said? Was I reading into them more than she meant? If she meant what I thought she meant, would I, more importantly, knowing she was an alien, could I, or would some kind of mental block make it impossible? And if she actually meant for us to take such experimentation to its full extent, would my normally all too reliable virility literally 'stand-up' to the test?

On the other hand, if brushing her hand over my head gave her as much pleasure as I thought I had seen, and she had several even stronger levels of pleasure available to her, what harm could there be in assisting her to reach them.

I already liked her, was totally fascinated by her eyes, felt a steadily growing urge to touch her skin. And then to my surprise, and mild embarrassment, I found that the part of me I'd just had doubts about was definitely becoming aware of thoughts going on in the lower recesses of my brain. Responding to the feeling of that slowly growing arousal and in spite of the lingering doubts, I answered.