The Passenger Ch. 04

Then, when I looked down, I saw one the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Her eyes had rolled up in her head, and she had her mouth open in a constant moan, wail or scream, I couldn't have said what it was. She had her hands on her breasts, mangling her nipples with her thumbs and forefingers. Sweat ran down her face, and her soaked hair was plastered against her skull. She shuddered with the force of her orgasm as it went on and on.

Her pussy was searing hot and sopping wet, and even though it kept squeezing my cock as she came and came, I had no problem thrusting in and out of her, no matter how hard her inner muscles gripped me. That gave me an idea.

I sat up, took her legs and lifted them, pushing her knees up to her chest. When they were high enough, I put them together and lifted them further, closing the lips of her pussy around my cock and tilting her pelvis back. When her knees almost touched her breasts I resumed my thrusts, and yet gods! She was so tight in this position! But she was still sopping wet, and that allowed me to withdraw my cock from her until I felt her plump pussy lips around the crown of my cock head, then plunge back in all the way, parting her tight inner flesh before me as I drilled my way mercilessly into her until I was buried inside her to the hilt, and I felt the head of my cock touch her searing-hot core ever so lightly as I bottomed out.

Her inner heat infused my cock, which now invaded her so much deeper than my fingers had, and her inner center was so much hotter than what my fingers had felt. Her voice sounded like she was trying to say something, but she was way past coherent speech, and I just kept plunging into her, pulling out of her, then drilling my way back in again. She seemed to be climaxing constantly, and the delicious feeling of her hot, slick, tight, sopping wet insides contracting around my cock, squeezing it, massaging it, caressing it, were almost too good to be true.

I felt the beginnings of a massive eruption readying itself in my groin, but I couldn't afford to slow down now. I kept at her, fucking her for all I was worth, holding her legs back and myself upright at the same time, supporting and moving myself back and forth on my knees.

My pleasure rose and rose as I rushed headlong into it, and I knew it was only a matter of seconds now. The feeling in my cock became unbearably good as her inner flesh slid across the head, the shaft, the crown... More and more and more, until finally the dam burst, and I rammed myself into her as deep as I could go while a supernova of orgasmic pleasure went off in the head of my cock. Electric currents of blue-white energy seemed to run from my balls through my shaft, bursting out the head in huge fireworks, into her inner core and out of her again, completing the circuit as I pissed her pussy full of bright, blue-white stars.

Faintly, in the distance, I heard someone scream. Maybe it was me. My cock pulsed, again and again, and I felt a huge flood of cum boil up from my groin, pour itself into the base of my cock, through it, and blasting out the tip. Spurt after spurt of hot cum jetted out of me, splattering her insides, filling her to overflowing. I have no idea where it all came from, but I emptied myself inside her, my pulsing cock pumping her full of my cum until there was no more. My balls, my legs, my stomach were wet with her juices and mine, pouring out of her in a flood, her wails of ecstasy ringing in my ears. The edges of my vision grew dark, and stars danced before my eyes. I managed not to pass out, but it was close. The pleasure engulfed me until it almost swept away my consciousness... That's how intense it was.

I couldn't say how long it lasted. When the wave finally subsided, leaving me spent in its wake, I collapsed on top of her, and her legs parted to let me through. She held me on top of her, her arms around me, as we both panted, sweating and exhausted. She was still panting, and I listened to her breathing as it slowly became calmer.

Then she opened her eyes, touched my face, and she giggled.

"You weren't kidding, about what you said last night," she said. "Your face is all wet."

I smiled. "Yes, it is."

"Yes... Harvey, that was so amazing. I've never felt anything like that... So intense..."

She closed her eyes and sighed.

"You touched me in all the right places. And then, when you went inside me... Hmmm..."

She smiled, lazily, happily, a smile of utter satisfaction.

"I could feel every inch of you. You were so big and so hard. You fill me so nicely. I can't believe...

"What?" I asked.

"I can't believe... what I've missed out on all these years."

She hesitated for a moment, biting her lower lip in thought.

"I mean," she went on, "I knew about sex, of course. But I had no idea it could be like this. It just... never happened."

She stared off in the distance for a moment. Then she smiled.

"But now that I think about it, maybe that was for the best," she said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been with you. I'm glad you're the one, and not some dork from Iota." She sighed and smiled. "You make me feel so good. You make me feel so loved. And you feel so good inside me. In more ways than one."

"That goes both ways, my love," I said. "It feels great to be inside you. "

"Good. Because I want you to spend lots more time there."

I hugged her close, noticing how sweaty and sticky we both were. Then I sat up, suddenly worried.

"Speaking of time..." I said.

But it wasn't that late yet. Later than I wanted, but not as late as I had feared. We got up, cleaned ourselves up quickly but thoroughly in the bathroom, put on our flight suits, and left. The street in front of the building was quiet and I could see nothing suspicious, so we crossed and went into the restaurant across from the hotel. We'd better have a quick bite to eat, I decided. No telling when we might have another chance.

The restaurant was empty except for one booth. Its occupant was a big, hulking alien who almost filled the booth on his own. He was a biped, with a massive frame covered in short, dark brown fur. Deep brown eyes peered at us over a short muzzle. He wore a pair of shorts and nothing else. But then, with all that fur he didn't need much else.

"I should have known you'd be early," I said.

He stood up, muscles rippling under his fur.

"Rrrr... I should have known you'd be late," he said, smiling his good smile.

Raz, like all Gawrrans, has a good smile and a bad smile. His good smile, while it can be chilling to those who don't know Gawrrans, only reveals his upper teeth, which are white, sharp and glistening. But if a Gawrran's smile turns wider and it shows you his lower teeth as well, that means he's not smiling anymore. It means he's about to rip your throat out.

He caught me in a bear hug. No pun intended, of course. While big and furry, there is nothing ursine about a Gawrran. And the hug is pretty standard, too. Shaking hands is a very human gesture that other species usually find rather awkward, and not only because human and alien hands tend to be quite different in shape and size.

"And this must be Mrs. Yevrrrah," he said, looking at Anne. "I'm glad. The two of you will be good forrr each otherrr."

"I think you may be jumping to conclusions here, Raz," she said, smiling.

Raz shook his head.

"I don't think so. This," and he touched his short, black nose with a fearsome-looking claw, "This tells me I'm not. The pherrromones between the two of you arrre thick enough to slice."

He gave me his cut-the-crap look.

"Harrrvey, I haven't smelled that on you since you lost Lisa."

I nodded.

"I know," was all I said.

I am capable of cutting the crap when Raz really insists on it.

"Anyway, Raz, I'd like you to meet Anne Ryder, my passenger. And crew member, once we manage to get off Ursa. Anne, meet Raz, a notorious ne'er-do-well who has pulled me out of many a tight spot over the years."

"Rrrr," he rumbled. "It goes both ways, Harrrvey has saved my hide morrre than once."

Anne made the short bow, which is the custom when greeting aliens of unknown preferences. I noticed her brief, curious glance at the massive bulge in the front of Raz' shorts, and I wondered how much she knew about Gawrrans. While their genitals are built along the same lines as ours, they are far too big to be compatible with humans, in spite of what some people like to imagine. But none of that matters most of the time anyway, because Gawrrans mate for life, and they only mate seasonally, once a year. Their year, that is. Gawrr is pretty far out from its big and hot sun, and its orbit takes just under seven standard years to complete. Right now, nothing in the entire universe would be able to seduce a Gawrran.

"So," he said, "What trrrouble have you gotten yourrrself into this time?"

"It's a long story, Raz, and we need to keep a low profile. Let's just say that we're not popular right now in certain circles."

He growled softly.

"Rrrrr... I know how that feels. You know Urrrsa's attitude when it comes to nonhumans. It took me morrre than an hour just to rrrent a carrr."

I nodded.

"I do, Raz, and I'm sorry about that. But Anne and I really need to keep out of sight. In fact, we'd better leave as soon as we can."

"No prrroblem. I parrrked the carrr arrround the back. Do you need to brrring anything?"

Anne smiled and shook her head.

"No, we're traveling light. Just the clothes on our backs, nothing else."

Raz gave her a thoughtful look, then he nodded slowly, as if that made perfect sense to him. Which it probably did.

"Alrrright. Let's go back to the Prrride. You can tell me all about it therrre. Not knowing what to expect, I rrrented a utility vehicle. No windows in the back."

He smiled his good smile.

"Yourrr rrrequest seemed to indicate you might need a cerrrtain amount of discrrretion."

Anne smiled.

"You read our minds. Thank you. Raz, it's good to meet you."

* * *

"Rrright," Raz said. "So tell me about yourrr trrroubles."

We were sitting in the cabin of the Starman's Pride, which was berthed at one of the space port's inner tiers. That had made it a little trickier for us to get to the 'Pride without being seen, and I felt a little nervous about that. There was no way Raz could get the car right to the ship, and we'd had to walk for a minute or two. I had no idea how many hidden automated surveillance points we'd passed. Facial recognition systems being what they are these days, it wouldn't take more than one to set off any alarms. But there was nothing we could do about it.

"Well," I began, "To make a long story short--"

"Rrrrrr... No," he rumbled. "Give me the full verrrsion."

Anne smiled.

"With all the juicy details?"

"Feel frrree to edit cerrrtain porrrtions."

He gave her the growling sort of hiccup that serves him as laughter.

"You know, sometimes I wonderrr what it is like to be able to mate wheneverrr you want to. It must be distrrracting."

"Sometimes," Anne said. "But it's worth it."

"I'll take your worrrd for it. Harrrvey?"

I nodded. Time to cut the crap.

"Right. It all started with my previous trip, which was a financial disaster. I needed a contract, and I needed it badly. So Deke Ryder offered me one--"

He growled.

"Deke'Rrryderrr. Harrrvey, how many times have I told you not to trrrust that piece of excrrrement?"

I sighed.

"Not often enough, it would appear. And I'm sorry about that. But I really needed a contract and he had one for me, so I took it. It was that or go bust. The contract was for a shipment of environmental control modules to Ursa, to be delivered to a company known as Vergence Sigma."

"Verrrgence," Raz said softly. "I've hearrrd of them. They prrractically own Urrrsa."

"Apparently they do. Anyway, the contract included a technician to accompany the cargo and assist Vergence with it after delivery. Anne is that tech."

Raz looked at her for a few moments.

"This was some verrry special environmental contrrrol harrrdware, then?"

Anne shook her head.

"Not really. As far as I knew it was all fairly standard."

"Then why was yourrr assistance rrrequirrred?"

Anne shrugged.

"I wasn't sure. But my boss pays me to do what he tells me to do, so..."

Raz nodded.

"I underrrstand. Instrructions arrre to be followed, not questioned. Harrrvey, continue."

"When we approached Ursa, we received instructions to land at Vergence's private docking facitliy. We did, and that's when things started to get funny."

I thought for a moment, trying to get everything straight in my mind. I had to say enough, but not too much.

"Anne had been having fainting spells on the way here," I continued carefully. "I was worried about it, but there was little we could do on the way to Ursa. We were going to have her checked out by a medic as soon as we landed."

Raz took a deep breath and gave me a penetrating look, but he said nothing.

"By then Anne and I had made plans for the future," I said, "We intend to continue together, as a crew." I looked at her and smiled. "And yes, maybe more than that. But when the Vergence reps learned that Anne intended to leave with me as soon as her assignment with them was complete, they got very nervous and a couple of heavies took us into the building. At that point Anne passed out again."

Raz took another deep breath.

"And?" was all he said.

"The big man there was a guy named Brax. He shot me with a paralyzer of some kind. I came to in one of heir labs with a neural block on me so I couldn't move. By then they had the Slowboat unloaded and the shipping containers open. As it turned out, we hadn't been hauling environmental control hardware at all. The containers had AI units in them."

"Rrrrrrr?"

Raz' face doesn't register much in the way of expression, but he was clearly surprised.

I nodded.

"Yes. Apparently Vergence Sigma is into proscribed AI technology in a big way. And they clearly had no qualms about putting us at risk of spending the rest of our lives in some penal colony."

Raz smiled bad smile.

"Clearrrly not."

"No. Anyway, I exchanged some pleasantries with Brax, which was the best I could do with his neural block holding me paralyzed from the neck down. He then left us with a lab tech, who had a look at Anne and did what he could to help her. Whatever he did woke her up, and the first thing she did was knock him out."

Anne shrugged.

"He was creepy. He freaked me out, and I guess that surprised him. So I whacked him and I got lucky. He fell and hit his head on the table."

I nodded.

"Anne released me, and because the lab tech was more afraid of Brax than he was of us, we were able to force him to help us escape. We got off the Vergence compound in the back of his car, pretending to be droids--"

"Drrroids?"

"Yes. Apparently, Vergence implants these AI units into droids that are impossible to tell from biological lifeforms to the untrained eye, and they field-test these droids off-site. It's hard to get more illegal than that. But it looks like they have enough clout on Ursa to make their own law."

"Rrrrr..."

He took another deep breath.

"Biological lifeforrrms... That's an interrresting way of putting it, Harrrvey."

"Well, that's the distinction, isn't it?" I said. "Not to digress, but the whole discussion about the nature of AI emergence revolves around the nature of consciousness and identity, and it gets fairly existential. I mean, if an AI is self-aware and conscious and intelligent and unique, then how does it differ from you and me? Consciousness is consciousness, and life is life, right? We don't really know how it works and why, so we may as well accept it for what it is."

He thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"You do digrrress. Continue."

I shrugged.

"When we were clear of the Vergence complex, we left the lab tech locked in his own car. Given his fear of Brax and his cronies, I'm hoping he'll make a run for it. I laundered his credit chip in one of the spaceport fringe dives. We spent the night in the hotel you found us at, and we contacted you this morning."

I took a deep breath.

"Problem is, they still have the Slowboat. I know on which field where they parked her, but they'll be sure to watch her. The minute we walk in there, they'll nail us."

" Rrrrr. I see the prrroblem."

He turned to Anne, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"So, Anne." he began. "You have decided to join Harrrvey as a crrrew memberrr the merrrchant fleet? Surrrely he has told you about what yourrre in forrr? Borrredom, worrrking strrrange hourrrs, hanging arrround in spaceporrrt barrrs trrrying to securrre a new carrrgo..."

Anne nodded, looking amused.

"He did."

Raz gave her one of his penetrating looks.

"So?"

"So why am I crazy enough to want all that? Simple. I want to be with Harvey."

Raz slowly shook his head.

"Being able to mate wheneverrr you want must be rrreally interrresting."

"It's not like that."

"Rrreally? So you only kept yourrrselves amused in otherrr ways during the flight?"

"If you must know, yes, we did," she replied. "We talked a lot, we got to know each other, and we fell in love. But until last night we never..." She glanced at me, suddenly blushing. "But that's between Harvey and me."

"Stop grilling her, Raz," I said, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with where this was going. "We're asking for your help, not for an interrogation."

He took a deep breath, then smiled his good smile.

"This is not interrrogation, Harrrvey. If it werrre, therrre would be claws involved."

"Thanks, Raz,' I said dryly. "You're a real friend."

He gave me another penetrating look, which I ignored.

"How much fuel rrreserrrve did you have left afterrr landing?"

I shrugged.

"The usual, about twenty percent or so. Why?"

Instead of answering me, he turned to Anne.

"Has Harrrvey begun teaching you how to fly the ship?"

Anne shook her head.

"We haven't really had the time," I said.

"Rrright. Harrrvey, I have an idea, but it rrrequirrres that she know at least some of the prrrinciples. So we will begin therrre."

He stood up and walked to the front of the 'Pride's crew cabin.

"Come, Anne. You must familiarrrize yourrrself with the contrrrols."

I raised my eyebrows at him. Raz doesn't have any eyebrows, so the gesture was probably wasted on him, but I did it all the same.

"Are you sure we need to do this right now, Raz?"

"Yes," was all he said.

I managed not to sigh as I got up. Raz can be like that sometimes. But then so can I. And at the end of the day it was his ship, his bridge, and therefore his call to make.

For the next two hours we took Anne through the flight controls. Fortunately, most ships have the same basic layout and the controls are usually labeled in Interworld, which is the lingua franca of space these days. She picked it up quickly.

"Not bad," Raz said when she had dealt with the basics. "Now we will rrrun a few simulations."

He set up a series of simple in-space maneuvers, involving basic operations like turning the ship, minor course corrections and maintaining speed while flying through a simple star system's gravity well.

"You worrrk on these, Anne," he rumbled. "And to make it interrresting, we will let you do these on yourrr own. While you do that, Harrrvey and I will see to ourrr carrrgo."

He got up as the computer beeped to indicate the start of the first simulation. I watched Anne enter the course data into the computer. Then I felt Raz' paw on my shoulder. The way his claws pressed into my flight suit, lightly but insistently, made me get up and follow him without comment.

Raz walked aft, ahead of me, through the passage leading to the cargo hold airlock. The 'Pride is an older model that still has an unpressurized cargo hold, with an airlock between the hold and the crew compartment. Payload is shipped in pressurized containers, and if you need to get into the hold during flight, you'll need a pressure suit. Both airlock doors were open, now that we were in port.