Chapter 53
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 01, Month 09, Day 23, Hour 19, Minute 19.
She knew that today was going to be the worst day of her life.
She looked down at the still face of her dying baby. She had asked a doctor to come and see him. The doctor had come, and she had paid him in the only way she could. It hadn't lasted long. Just a few minutes of keeping her eyes closed and pretending to be somewhere else. It had been for naught. Her fears had been confirmed, her baby had The Zaich; the child disease half of the children got in the first three months of their life. There was a cure for the disease, but she would never be able to afford it. One cure potion cost over a thousand gold pieces. Even if she tried to get that by the only way she could still make money; by selling herself, a person in her position would never get paid more than three silver pieces per time. She would have to sell herself nine times to make even one gold piece. The really cruel thing about it was that everyone on the planet knew that the cure only cost ten copper pieces to make. But the government had put so many taxes on it that only the rich would be able to afford it. All in an effort to reduce the world population.
She softly touched his head, "I'm so sorry. If only I could..." She let her words trail off. If only she could do... what?
She looked around herself at the small hut that was her home; in both directions only just big enough for a grown person to sleep in without having to curl up. She knew it was of no use. There was nothing she could sell; her only positions being a cup, a plate, and the blanket her baby was lying on. The rest had long since been stolen by the people that came in at night because she couldn't afford a lock. In a way it had been a good thing that in the beginning she had stuff they could take, because it gave her a respite. But once there was nothing material left to take, they started to take other things. Her son was a result from that. But she didn't hate him for it; she loved him. And now, now the only good thing in her life was going to die.
Suddenly there were shouts coming from outside. She knew, in the shanty town part of the city shouts only meant one thing; strangers. Then she snorted. Part of the city. The shanty town actually had more people living in it than the real city that was inside the wall. For a moment she thought of getting up, but then decided not too. The only strangers could be the police forces and it was better if they didn't see you.
Rumor had it that aliens had shown up; proving that her people really weren't the only life in the universe. You didn't have to be a genius, like she actually was, to figure out that the next step was for the government to try and hide the bad parts of the society. Shanty towns were always the first target.
A soft knock came from the door, and through the holes in it she could see someone standing there. She slowly got up, not knowing what to make of it. Knocking? Nobody knocked; they took. The knock came again and she heard herself say 'enter.' Apparently even after having lived in the shanty town for five years now, some of her social upbringing was still rooted deeply inside her.
The door opened to reveal the huge frame of something she had never seen before. It moved, came closer, then it stood in front of her. Over a head taller than she was, and with the body so broad that she could easily have hidden behind it. Dressed in some black uniform, it had a gray skin color that had a slight blue tint to it; quite different from her olive skin color. And then there was the rather important detail of it actually having four arms. Then it talked.
"Greetings, I am Grakil Drakila Hiopik Shaa, of the Borg Collective. Twelfth officer to Unimatrix 01; medical drone. Your government has entered into an agreement with the Borg Collective. Medical assistance to the people is one of the first steps in this agreement. Are you Geisha Obi?"
"I... um, yes, I mean yes."
"One of your local doctors told us that you might be in need of our assistance?"
"I have nothing to pay with," she said, her care for her baby being bigger than the fear she felt for the huge person standing in front of her.
"The Borg Collective accepts a payment that everyone has; time. We help, and in exchange you agree to serve the Collective for a four year period."
'So I have to sell myself again,' she thought, totally misunderstanding exactly what kind of service was being talked about. Still, if it meant saving her baby now than there was no choice. "I accept. Whatever you want, but please, help my baby."
"It is your child and not you who needs assistance?" Grakil asked and knelt beside the little form on the floor. "The doctor told us 'you' needed help."
"Yes, for my baby. Please, if you can save him I'll do anything you ask."
"There is no need to," Grakil said while moving one arm over the still form of the child. Of course, Geisha could not know that Grakil was actually scanning the child with a built-in medical scanner.
"The Borg Collective offers free help to all children that have not yet entered puberty. With all species that the Collective knows, puberty is an adequate indicator of a person being old enough to make their own decisions. My tests have been completed. I can heal your child now, but to do so I will need to inject him with nanoprobes. These are small machines that are about the same size as your blood cells. To prevent the disease from reoccurring again I will have to program the nanoprobes to stay active for ten years. After that time your child is out of the age where it is possible to contract the disease and the nanoprobes will shut down and leave the body in the normal biological ways. Do you allow this injection?"
"Yes, sure," Geisha could only say. Grakil could have told her that he needed to do a rain dance to save her child and she would have let him do so, as long as the end result was what she wanted it to be.
"Because I am a medical drone I have special clearance, and tools, to actually inject nanoprobes with the old-fashioned assimilation tubes. But be assured that the nanoprobes are limited in function. They do not have any other information stored than what is needed to cure this disease."
"Sure, whatever you say, just please," Geisha pleaded, only to get second thoughts when suddenly two tubes shot out of one of Grakil's hands and into her baby's neck. A few seconds later the tubes were removed and her baby's skin slowly started to change from gray to the olive color that was normal for her species.
"He was at a very advanced stage," Grakil explained. "I don't think he would have lasted five more hours, but I promise you that he will be alright now."
Hearing that, Geisha collapsed and started to cry, clinging to the tall Grakil for support.
Grakil closed the two left arms around Geisha and held her in comfort while she cried for a few minutes. When she finally started to calm down again, Grakil said, "The disease will be fully cured in three more minutes. However, he is severely malnourished. I estimate that in thirty minutes he will wake up and will want to feed; a lot. Will this be a problem? We can supply artificial nourishment."
Geisha looked down at her very prominent chest with a slight blush. "No, that will be alright. He hasn't fed in over a day. I'll be more than happy for him to feed so that that will go down to normal proportions again and my shirt won't feel like it's going to rip anymore."
Grakil stood up and used a lower arm to help her up, but once they both were standing Grakil didn't let go of her hand. Grakil used a second hand to open hers and noted, "Your hands are very soft, they did not see much physical work. You have not lived here for long."
"Five years," Geisha admitted. "Since the last revolution... oh, wait, they call it 'the great revolution'."
"You lived in the city before?" Grakil asked before stepping back a little so as not to tower over the woman.
Geisha bent down and picked up her baby. When she saw that he finally reacted to the touch, tears rolled down her face again. But this time she didn't break down. Instead she smiled at Grakil who she was quickly becoming to see as her savior. "I did. I was a Minister before the revolution and lived in the administrators sector of the city."
"A Minister, yet you were not killed? The records say that every government worker higher than a desk clerk was killed in the revolution."
"That's what the records say," Geisha agreed. "But the new government knew that they really couldn't go and kill everyone. You do need some people alive to teach the new people how to do things. But yes, from the Ministers all but four of us were killed."
Something best described as a sour smile crossed her lips. "The new government had me brought before them. They went on and on about how they realized that I was one of the few that truly cared for the people, but that they couldn't be seen to agree with some of the things the old government had done. So, despite wanting my knowledge, they still had to ban me from the city and I wasn't welcome in any other place on the planet where government workers come and I could get recognized. In other words, I couldn't even go and live in one of the smaller cities with only half a million or so people in them. Shanty towns were the only option."
"What is it that you did as Minister?" Grakil asked.
"I was Minister of Urban Panning and Reforming."
Grakil looked around the hut, basically indicating the shanty town Geisha was living in, before merely saying, "Ironic."
Geisha barked a laugh. "Isn't it?"
"You must have been good at the job or else the new government would not have spared you. Data indicates that the old government, the one you were a part of, was considered an evil that had to be destroyed."
"I was good at my job," Geisha agreed, and Grakil noticed that her voice sounded like someone that was merely stating a fact, and not someone that was trying to boast.
Meanwhile Geisha continued. "It's just that it doesn't matter; not anymore. No matter what I, or the person that now has my job, plans. We've reached the point of no return. There are too many people on this world. I can't snap my fingers and have at least four billion people disappear. The new measurements, like preventing the cure for The Zaich, however cruel they are, they'll help in restricting new population. But there still are over ten billion people on this world that need room to live, food to eat. It's just too late. By the time the restriction of new born makes a difference, there won't be anything left of this planet. Now we've reached the point where all will collapse until in the end only the strongest survive and start anew. Natural selection I guess."
"Unless there were to come a Collective of alien species that offers people the chance to leave the planet and start a new life."
"A new life?" Geisha asked. "And just what does one have to do to start a new life? Does one have to buy their way into this new life?"
"In a way," Grakil agreed. "But as I said before, it is a currency everyone can pay; time of their life. If someone is interested they can join the Borg Collective for a four year contract, and they can stay longer after that time if they want. These people perform tasks for the Borg, and in return they get food, a home, off-duty time to spend as they want. In other words they get a life instead of just being alive."
"And is everyone welcome? Would I stand a chance for such a better life even though I was once part of a government the present government considers evil?"
"You would undergo a test before actually joining. Your mind would be scanned to see if you have dangerous ideas that we cannot permit in the Collective. There you would also be presented with a list of possible tasks you could do for the Collective, and you can choose the one you would like to do the most. If you don't have a clear choice you can try several jobs for a short time to see which you like before making a final choice."
"A final choice. Does that mean I won't be able to do anything else afterwards?" Geisha asked slowly, but in her mind she knew that her choice was already made. If it was possible this would be the last day she spent on the planet.
"That is not why we call it a final choice. You can ask to try something new later on. However, depending on what you choose the results can be severe."
Grakil lifted the upper left arm to indicate it. "For me I had to make this choice. I wanted to be a medical drone, which resulted in my arm being replaced by this artificial one that is filled with tools that I need for the job. Other things were replaced as well. Clearly this is not something that can be undone if I ever want to do something else."
Seeing how Geisha was looking at the arm in horror, Grakil assured, "Not every job in the Collective requires replacing body parts, but some jobs do demand it. That too is something you have to keep in mind when deciding what you want to do."
"Well, I don't know about that. I like my body just fine the way it is. But, you don't happen to have some kind of job that requires planning do you? I really loved my job, and as you can see from the fact that I wasn't killed, even the new government agreed that I did a great job. It's just like I said, there's only so much you can do if there's no room. If the only thing you can do is replace one building with another, or destroying even more of the little nature we have left on this planet."
"Did you? Destroy nature I mean."
"Sometimes," Geisha honestly admitted. "But only if I got a direct order to." Then she snorted. "By the Divine one, isn't that the lamest line you ever heard? 'I was just following orders.' I wonder how many people in history used that one before."
"A few. Tell me, if you had a situation where there would always be enough nature, but you would have to find away to build cities that flourish, where shanty towns are not an option, what would you do?"
Geisha laughed. "Nature not being of priority but a good city being the priority? Surely you're joking."
"I am not," Grakil assured.
"Well, I still think it's important, and I think that nature keeps a city looking beautiful and healthy."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "A city should be such that you can do that and still smell fresh air, and not the exhaust gases I just smelled. I would design cities in which we would coexist with nature. Where no matter what window you look out of, you'll see some green."
"In that case, I think there are a few jobs you would be interested in. If you do decide to join the Borg, you might want to ask what jobs are available in Unimatrix Zero."
"I'm interested," Geisha assured. "But what about my child?"
"You would receive family quarters and your child would grow up inside the Collective until either you leave, he grows up to where he eventually gets his own job and quarters, or he decides to leave. Why don't you think about it? Now, if you excuse me, there are other people that need my attention."
"Oh, of course. I... say, you don't happen to need a tour guide or something like that? Maybe I can come along?"
"You don't have to worry," Grakil assured, knowing only too well why Geisha was asking. "We won't forget about you. The recruiters will come through a few hours after we leave, I will tell them where to find you."
Geisha smiled. "Thanks for the reassurance, but now that I know there's another option I don't want to spend another minute here. Honest, I don't have a job and all I can do here is wait for the night to come."
She decided not to add what normally also came at night. Somehow she knew for sure that they wouldn't come anywhere near her if she was close to the huge four-armed Grakil. "If you don't mind I'll just follow you around until you leave. The sooner I'm out of this hut, the better."
"It is your choice to make," Grakil said after a moment's hesitation. Then he suggested, "If you are not hated by these people, you might actually help me, if you want."
"I'm not hated," Geisha assured. "Though I'm also not widely known. I made sure to keep my head low. I didn't want the new government to decide that it might be a good idea to kill me after all."
"I have noted that some of the people here fear me. It is understandable; it's not every day that they meet an alien. That also happens to be about four times as strong as they are on top of that. Maybe you could act as a buffer of sorts. Maybe they talk easier to you than to me."
"Sure," Geisha happily agreed.
Geisha had no idea that she was already undergoing the first test. Though the medical drones were not recruiters, they still knew what was needed by the Collective, and with Unimatrix Zero recently being created, a city planner that still had an eye for nature was a very valuable addition. Now was as good as time as any to see how this potential addition would interact with others.
"Oh," Geisha suddenly said. "Um, if I have to do some talking, I might need to introduce you, so, um, don't take this the wrong way but, um, are you a he or a she?"
"Technically I am both. My species changes sex every year. Male one year, female the next. At the moment I am male."
Geisha was clearly taken aback by that. "Change sex? Is that even possible? You mean you change all the bits, or you already have all the bits for both sexes?"
"I really should be going now, if you want to come along you might want to pack," Grakil said, and Geisha thought that Grakil was changing the subject deliberately.
"I have nothing to pack. We are ready to go," Geisha lifted the baby a bit to show who the other part of 'we' was, before continuing. "Sorry if I asked an improper question there."
"It wasn't improper," Grakil assured as he held the door open for Geisha. "That we change sex is something we are proud of. I mean, we can truly claim to fully understand the other side, since we are the other side for half of our life. Now, to answer your question, once a year we sleep for a full week, and in that time our body slowly changes, including 'the bits' as you call it."
"That sounds interesting," Geisha said, and her tone made it clear that she truly meant it. As soon as they stepped into the sunlight, Geisha noticed that Grakil's skin looked a lot bluer. She realized that the skin was actually reflecting the sunlight, which gave very beautiful streaks of blue depending on how the light hit. Geisha found it fascinating and amazing. Then she shook her head and moved to walk beside Grakil. She was surprised to see that they were actually passing quite some huts.
"There's a man with a broken arm in that hut there," She said while pointing.
"Not anymore," Grakil disagreed. "I am not the only medical drone. See the others up ahead? That is how far we are at the moment on this street. There are also fifteen other teams working on other streets in this area of the city at the moment."
"Tell me, once we are where we have to be for me to start my time with the Borg, will I be able to see you again?"
Grakil looked at her for a moment, understanding only too well what, and why, she was asking. "I am bonded, and my partner and I are already in sync. Besides, there is no need to offer yourself; that is not how the Borg operate."
"Which I translate into you are married, but what does in sync mean?"
"In sync is the term used where two Mates are in a relationship that has evolved so far that the change of the body happens around the same time, and that there will always be an opposite sex. I am male, therefore my Mate is female. In two months I will become the female, and she the male."
"And you couldn't use someone around the house?" Geisha persisted. "I can clean, and I can offer something else to you and your partner... um if the bits fit, if you know what I mean."
"The bits, as you prefer to call it, are compatible, that is not the point. The point is that you do not need to offer that. You will receive quarters, and because you have a child you will even receive family-size quarters for you and your child."
"Yeah, and what if I don't want that?" Geisha asked as she looked up at him. "I have been alone for 5 years..."
She stopped talking when she saw his eyes drift to her baby.
"The result of someone coming in one night wanting to steal. When he found nothing he decided to do something else while he was there." She shrugged. "It wasn't the first time, nor was it the last. It was just that on that occasion it stuck."
"And yet now you are offering to give yourself to me and my partner even though I told you it's not needed. And not to forget that you do not even truly know me, and most certainly don't know my partner. You also don't know what we prefer. Fitting 'bits' are less important than what is liked, and how. Yet you don't know that. We could be of a species where breaking bones is pleasurable and that this is the reason that we have four arms; to always have some extra when one is broken."
Geisha laughed. "By the Divine one, you sure have a wicket sense of humor. You aren't really that extreme, are you?"
"I don't know, and that is the point. What we might find tame, you might find extreme, or the other way around. What pleases us might bore you."
Now she shrugged again. "I'm not averse to sex, and I have an open mind. I'm willing to try new stuff and I'm not a prude. I just want to be the one to decide if I want to have it at that moment. But it's not even that. We drifted to sex because of compatibility, but it's a lot more than that. It's... look, I don't have any friends. Everyone that I knew was killed five years ago. Family, the same, because they were part of the governmental circle as well. I want this new start that the Borg are offering, but at the same time I want to be part of a family. If you don't want me because I would intrude in your family; that I can understand and then forget I ask. Especially since I would be bringing a baby along. If you think taking my offer of sex is wrong then please forget I mentioned that part and I will promise that I will never bring it up again. If me living with you is somehow illegal in the Borg, again forget about it. But don't turn down my offer because you think it's better for me. Let me decide what's best for me."
Before Grakil could answer they reached the other people of the Borg party and one of them came closer. This person also had a gray skin with a blue sheen that reflected in the sunlight, creating beautiful streaks of blue that seemed to dance over the face. Because this person was coming at them from the opposite direction, the sunlight was directly caressing the angular face. Making it seem as if thousands of small gems were imbedded in the skin and reflecting the light. This person also had four arms, but this time there was no question whether this person was a man or a woman.
This was a woman alright; the most beautiful woman... the most beautiful creature period... that Geisha had ever seen. The woman was a little shorter than Grakil, but still a little taller than Geisha, and her body was only half as broad as the bulk that Grakil had. There was a prominent pair of breasts that just begged for eyes to drift. Even despite being covered by the black uniform, it was clear to see that the entire body existed out of sensual curves and lines that flowed gracefully into each other from the face down to the feet.
The woman was absolutely stunning and Geisha couldn't help but notice that a shot of desire had traveled straight to her groin. "Oh my," She could only whisper.
"My partner," Grakil explained.
Geisha looked up at him in surprise. "And you want to tell me that in two months time you'll look like that, and she'll look like you?"
"Our bodies look slightly different after every change. But in general, yes, you can say that I am an average example of the male of our species while my Mate is the average example of the female."
"There's nothing average about her. She's the most beautiful being I have ever seen. You aren't bad on the eye either, once I got used to the fact that you're so broad and tall that I can go hide in your shade."
"What do we have here?" Grakil's partner asked.
"Beloved, this is Geisha Obi and her son, who, I guess, is not yet named if I understand local tradition. Geisha Obi, this is my partner Shaa Hiopik Drakila Grakil, of the Borg Collective. Eleventh officer to Unimatrix 01; medical drone. You will notice that our names are the same, just in reverse order. As is tradition with our species, once we bond our names are combined and moved around according to certain customs which would take about one hour to explain."
"And I ask again, what do we have here?" Shaa asked. "Why are she and her child accompanying you, beloved?"
"She wants to join the Borg and decided that now was as good a time as any to join up. She also has other interests."
Without further explanation Grakil lifted his upper right arm and placed two of his four fingers against the side of his partner's face. After a moment Shaa's eyes got wider as her eyes drifted from her partner to Geisha.
"I see," Shaa finally said after the link between the partners was ended by Grakil lowering his arm. "Follow me," the vision of beauty ordered. Geisha couldn't help but do as she was told when Shaa turned and walked to one of the many huts.
As Shaa entered she explained, "The people that lived here have joined the Collective. They too did not want to wait for recruiters and they went to the recruitment area. We will not be disturbed."
She closed the door behind the three of them before turning around. "Hand your child to Grakil."
Geisha didn't even hesitate. The man had saved her son, she gladly trusted him with her child again. She looked how the big man carefully took her son and walked out of the hut, leaving Geisha and Shaa alone.
"Don't move," Shaa suddenly commanded when Geisha took a step towards the door. "Don't worry, they are outside. This is a woman to woman thing; no man allowed, no matter how young they are."
Shaa looked at Geisha in silence for a moment before suddenly ordering, "Strip." When she saw how Geisha's eyes got wide at the command, she added a powerful, "Now."
Hesitantly Geisha did as she was told; pulling the long shirt, that came down to her knees and that was her only piece of clothing, off her back and letting it drop to the floor.
Shaa took her time to circle Geisha, clearly taking in every curve of her body.
"I'm filthy, I know. But," Geisha started, only to be interrupted.
"I wouldn't expect anything else considering where you are living. Filth is irrelevant; we can clean that up. I'm looking at what is under the filth."
After four slow circles around the naked woman, Shaa finally stopped in front of her again, her eyes resting firmly on Geisha's large breasts. "You are still feeding your child?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
Understanding the question only too well, Geisha explained, "He hasn't eaten today because he was sick so I have a lot stored. Once I've stopped feeding in one month time, they'll return to normal size and be about one third the size they are at this moment, half of what they normally are if he does eat."
Being daring, Geisha took one of Shaa's hands and folded the fingers to form a cup. "That'll fit in one month."
Shaa took hold of Geisha's hand before Geisha could lower it again and brought it to one of her own uniform covered breasts. "Something like this?"
"Something like," Geisha agreed, not daring to move her hand away, or do more than just feel for that matter. "Well, a little smaller actually."
"Good. When Grakil is a woman she tends to have breasts that are bigger than mine, while I normally have around this size. It would be interesting to have something smaller to play with."
Shaa removed the hand from her breast and Geisha let it drop to her side again.
"Hmm, I must admit that I'm not dead set against having a little plaything in our quarters," Shaa admitted. "And you are aesthetically pleasing. You realize that you will never be equal to me and my partner? We are bonded; you would merely be extra fun."
"I'm not looking to become equal. What I do want is a home. A place where I am welcome, where I and my son can be a part of a family."
"Get dressed," Shaa ordered before asking, "You will respect the hierarchy of our home, unconditionally?"
"I will respect it, or move out," Geisha assured as she pulled the shirt over her head again. "But I'm the mistress over my own body. You can ask, and I'll probably give. But you'll never be able to order me to give, unless we're playing and I allow it."
Shaa nodded her head; apparently Geisha had said the right thing. "At the moment changes are made on Unimatrix 01... the ship where we live... and there are a lot of free quarters. The quarters beside ours happen to be free; we will put in a request for you and your son to get them. Then we take you in on trial. If it works out we will request that your quarters will be added to ours when we take you into our family fully. If it doesn't work out, your quarters will stay yours. Either way, the bedroom for your son will be in those quarters. Sensors for monitoring him will be installed, as well as a temporary door between quarters. Just like your child, you also will have a bedroom in those quarters. But if you are a good little plaything we will allow you to sleep with us, unless we want to be alone."
Geisha nodded, not minding at all that she might not get to spend every evening with them. It would give her time to concentrate on her child.
"You don't have to work for us," Shaa continued. "And we don't command what you do with your free time. However, you did offer yourself to us, and I take you up on that offer. You will be our plaything, but you will never be used disrespectfully, and we will not let you go... unsatisfied. You said that you want to be the master over your own body, that we can ask and you will probably give. Very well, we will ask, you may decline. But choose the times that you decline wisely, because if you decline every time it would soon become boring."
Geisha let her eyes drift over Shaa's black clad body, and just the thought that she would be allowed to touch this stunning creature for more than just a quick touch through the uniform sent her pulse racing. "I really don't think that will be a problem," She assured with a shaky breath.
Shaa stepped closer and softly tilted Geisha's head up until they were looking eye to eye with their noses almost touching. "One last thing. We all serve the Queen, but in the privacy of quarters there is only one decision-maker in the families of our species; the female. Whether it is me, or my partner at that time. The female is the one that makes all final decisions. You may be a female but since you are not part of the Alpha bond of the family, you will always be outranked. You can present your case to the Alpha female and she will listen, but the Alpha female's word is binding and complete. If you object you have two choices. You can nevertheless accept her decision, or move out."
"Does that involve the job I will do for the Borg?" Geisha asked in a whisper. There was such an intensity in those brilliant blue eyes that Geisha knew that she would do almost everything this woman would ask of her. "You have incredible eyes. If you look at me like that for much longer I'll come," she heard herself say in that same whisper, and as she said it, she knew it to be the truth.
"You have a valid point," Shaa said, never letting up on her strong gaze. "We will consider the job you select to do for the Borg a matter for outside the quarters, which means that all of it is your own decision. However, do feel free to ask us our opinion or advice. That it's your decision doesn't mean that our advice is no longer any good. Do you have any more questions?"
"If it means that you keep looking at me like that I'll think of something," Geisha whispered before starting to ramble and panting at the same time. "When will we go to my new home? How much time does one have for themselves in the Borg Collective? Can you use all four arms at once to do different things? Will you let me make love to Grakil? Can I make love to him like I'm used to? How does,"
"Geisha, you can make love to him like you are used to, and you will also know how to please me. I will let you make love to him. But,"
"But?" The question was not much more than a soft breath of air. By now Geisha was shaking slightly and was literally squeezing her legs together because it felt as if Shaa's gaze was traveling directly to her groin.
"But, I'm the Alpha female at the moment, and that means that I get the first go at our new plaything. Today starts your new life. And the first orgasm of your new life is for me. Come for me, now."
Geisha melted under the intensity of Shaa's gaze, and her body followed the command immediately. The only part of Shaa that was touching Geisha were her two lower hands that were holding the woman up, yet Shaa prolonged the peak by nothing more than the intensity of her gaze. Finally she relented when she heard Geisha beg a soft 'please.'
"You could have looked away," Shaa accused after looking up at the ceiling. Her lower arms were still holding Geisha up so she used her upper arms to pull the woman close into a tight hug.
"I couldn't, it's not my place to do so. Grakil's gaze was not so intense, is this only you?"
"It is a female thing. Once we go through the change Grakil will be able to do that, and I won't. But don't worry, as men we have some abilities I am sure you will like... a lot. I think that you will be a wonderful little plaything for us; I think we'll keep you. I'm glad that you are so eager to find your place. I never had a plaything before, but I think that I would really like her to want to find her place without challenging the Alpha."
"I will, I promise. I want to be part of a family, not lead it. I promise, I promise, I promise. Let me in and I'll be yours... yours and Grakil's. Your plaything, yours to use."
"Ours to ask if we can use, you mean?"
Geisha smiled broadly at the correction. "Yes, completely and totally yours to do with whatever you want, once you asked. And talking about that, can I return the favor now?"
"You already did."
"But I didn't do anything to you," Geisha noted.
"That's what you think. You just wait until we get home and we will show you in what different ways a woman of our species can be pleased. Welcome to the family, my lover. You will never be my partner, but you already are my lover."
Then Shaa sighed. "But, it is time to get going. Officially my partner and I are on duty. So," Suddenly she raised her voice and called for Grakil, who entered mere moments later with Geisha's son in his arms.
"Grakil, we are supposed to be on duty here, and you come and distract me with matters like this. We will work two extra hours to make up for this lack in duty."
"But we spent only half an hour on this," Grakil objected, but his grin told them that he was just performing his task of offering a different view to the decision-maker.
"We should not have been doing this even for a minute; the extra time is to make up for that." Then she looked at the baby and moved an arm over him. "He is well enough to be fed. Now is a good as time as any since this hut will give some privacy. Geisha, feed our youngest family member."
Geisha hesitated for a moment before agreeing that now truly was a good time to feed. It was probably the most privacy she would have in hours and her breasts were so full that they were hurting. She pulled off her shirt once more and groaned when the rough fabric scraped over nipples that were still sensitive from her peak. She took her son from Grakil's hands and was surprised to see that Grakil moved back to the door while Shaa took up position at the small window. Both stood with their back to her. It took Geisha a moment to realize that they were not as much standing with their back to her as that they were facing in the direction where any potential threat could come from while she fed her child.
With an ache of joy in her heart she realized they were protecting her, and were probably willing to give their lives to protect the newest members of their family. It was funny how someone could go in one hour from thinking that it was the worst day of her life, to thinking that it was the best day of her life.
And as her son started to feed, silent tears rolled down Geisha's face. She had family now.
She was safe.
She was protected.
She was home.
Continued...