Starship Traveler Ch. 03

Xeno's voice in her head was soft, "Revekah, I am sorry this is a difficult adjustment. Would it reassure you to know that you are making the adjustment more quickly than the other humans that were brought to my planet?"

"Not really."

"Again I will say 'you will not be forced to do anything you do not want to do'. If I become aware that you are having sexual feelings, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to remain silent or do you want me to remind you of my presence?"

"Oh god, this is crazy. I don't know what got into me this morning. I just was having a dream and when I woke up I was having feelings I had not felt in so long. I just wanted to remember." Realizing she was avoiding answering his questions, she took a deep breath, "For now, if you sense me, um, touching my body, having sexual feelings, just stay quiet and as far away as possible. Don't talk to me during and don't talk to me about it afterwards. Let's just pretend I don't know you are there. It will make me feel a little better to be able to pretend that for now."

"Agreed, are you going to continue self stimulating?"

"Good lord, no. I just wanted to clear that up. I am sorry, Xeno, it is just not the kind of situation around here that gets a girl in the mood for that sort of thing. There seems to be a serious lack of wine, candles, and soft music. I feel terrified and disoriented most of the time and that is just not sexy. The very fact that something that looks like a movie monster is lurking out there, just out of my range of vision, lusting after me is not much of a turn on either."

Revekah realized somehow she was feeling guilty for not wanting to give him what he wanted, guilty about disappointing him. She wondered why she was caring about his feelings and wondered if this was that Stockholm syndrome you would hear about with captives. She was very clear in her head that he was the only source of information and reassurance about the place she was in now. A little wave of stubbornness ran through her, well he was the one who abducted her; she told herself she did not owe him anything. Then she had a sudden spasm of terror, he was listening to all this, listening to her inner dialog about her mixed feelings of dependence and anger.

"Revekah, you are not thinking or feeling anything I did not expect. I am sure there will be long periods of time where you feel very angry at me for doing this to you. I am surprised you have not already begun to hate me. It is normal to be very angry at someone who has taken a choice away from you. I did not ask you if you were willing to become my partner. I imposed that upon you."

"Don't you get angry?"

"I am capable of that emotion, but after a few thousand years of existence, one tends to come to terms with most things that cause emotional stress. I have learned patience. It takes great patience to travel between stars."

"I don't think I will ever be patient like that."

"Revekah, you are just a newborn infant, only eighty-six years old. Do not discount your capacity to learn and grow. You will learn many things."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please do me the kindness of rating and leaving me feedback. Constructive and/or critical, public or private, raving or troll; I love to hear from you.

To those who leave anonymous feedback, I regret I cannot respond to you individually. Please accept my appreciation in advance.

I would like to acknowledge and thank my editor Dani for all her help. She is a treasure.

xantu