Read Cautionary Tales Online

Authors: Piers Anthony

Cautionary Tales (20 page)

“Mmmm?”

“How do I feel about you personally? I think I love you, Medusa. You are a remarkable creature, but it's more than that. It goes way beyond mere sex. When I embrace you—” He shrugged. “But I'm being foolish. I know it. So let's get on with the business at hand. We need to get you safely out of here in the next day, so that when the exterminator comes for you, you are already back in the jungle with your own kind.”

“Mmmm?”

“Medusa, I told you! I have become foolishly attached to you. I wish I could have you with me always. I wish I could take you home to Earth with me. Hell, I wish I could marry you! You may be alien, but you're more woman than I have ever known before or am likely to know in the future. Since I know any such relationship is ridiculous, let's just forget it and get the job done.”

She nodded. They got to work perfecting her nuances of human femininity, so that she could pass long enough to get off-post. “I have gotten passes and tickets for two back to Earth,” he said. “If we are intercepted, I'll say you are my girlfriend from town, going home with me. They'll think you are a whore I have fallen for and they shouldn't check more closely. If they try to question you, I'll say you are suffering from throat congestion and can't talk now. There's bound to be confusion as they evacuate all the personnel, and corners are bound to be cut. I'm counting on that. We'll head for the spaceport, which is in walking distance. I will walk the whole way; you will disappear along the way. The moment you're alone you'll be able to throw away the stupid clothing and revert to a more natural form and be on your way. No more silly six-inch holes for you.”

“Mmmm.”

“I thought you'd never ask.” He stripped, and she stripped, and they lay on a mat on the floor and had at it in style, hugging, kissing, and climaxing. She had learned to emulate orgasm too, making it that much better for him. What he had told her was true: she had become a better woman than any real one was ever likely to be, because her whole focus was on pleasing him. Yes it was an act, but he wasn't sure that wasn't true for human women too. How many of them really cared for sex? They used it to reel men in, and the men were generally more than willing to be reeled. In this respect he and Medusa were typical.

“Oh, Medusa,” he breathed. “I think this is the last time. Tomorrow early I'll take you out, and we dare not make any mistakes. You have been great!”

“Mmmm,” she agreed, seeming pleased.

But there was a foul-up in the schedule, unsurprising considering the complications of the evacuation, and the guard for the next shift did not appear. Such things happened.

No one was watching the ward.

Erik got a wicked idea. “Medusa, I want to take you out now. Not off-post; I mean to mix and meet people, to be sure you can pass when it counts. Can you handle that?”

She nodded.

He got her properly garbed and in the wheelchair. Then he wheeled her out of the cell and out of the ward. No one challenged them. Soon they were traveling into the residential section.

“The commissary,” he said. “Everyone goes there, and no one pays attention to others. It's the perfect place to mix. We'll go buy some food.”

The commissary was like a huge department store, with sections for clothing, tools, food, and anything else the post personnel might need to buy. It was like a piece of Earth, making him feel vaguely homesick.

Medusa looked around, plainly impressed. She had of course never been exposed to this type of facility.

“Let me buy you something,” he said. “What would you like to eat? You must not eat it here, but we can take it back to the cell.”

They were entering the produce section. There was an array of apples of many colors, imports from Earth. She pointed to a bag of red ones.

“Got it,” he said, picking up the bag. He held it up to the purchase sensor, which clicked as it entered the sale on his credit report. “We now own these apples,” he said. “Anything else?

She got into the spirit of shopping. In fact she evinced the delight of a child in a candy store. They wound up with a turnip, a squash, and a hand of bananas.

Back at the cell, he watched her consume them all. Evidently they had nutrients she had been missing.

“I'm sorry I don't have the chance to teach you to read,” he said while he watched. “So you could have your own credit account and do your own shopping, back on Earth. Because I really would take you to Earth if I could, to show you to HETA, and—” He shrugged, not wanting to say openly that he longed for the kind of sex she could provide him with, that no human woman was likely to match.

She broke off and approached him, lifting her skirt. They had ardent sex. He could have sworn she enjoyed it as much as he did, had he not known better. Certainly she understood his desire for it, and catered shamelessly to that lust. She was a marvelous actress, emulating human mannerisms much as she did the human form.

“But of course I can't,” he said. “I must free you to rejoin your kind, and help them save themselves if they can. I'll miss you, Medusa, but I want you to be happy.”

At any rate, Medusa had passed her human-mixing test; no one had even noticed her, other than passing men whose eyes had lingered a bit too long on her blouse and legs. She had that kind of form. Erik was almost jealous of their attention.

Next day was the day. “Make or break,” he murmured. She offered him sex, but he declined with regret. “Have to get you out of here efficiently,” he explained. “Can't risk any delay.”

He wheeled her out and across the base to the checkout point. He gave his ID. “Got to take her to the spaceport,” he said. “Private officer order, you know.” Medusa inhaled and let her knees spread slightly, on his cue. Officers did have special privileges, and woe betide the enlisted man who messed with them, regardless of regulations. They did not pause to question why a whore was being let out instead of in, perhaps because of those evocative breasts and legs. Medusa was truly a sight to behold, by no coincidence.

Just like that, they were through. All the things that could have gone wrong had not, thanks to the distraction of the ongoing evacuation. Lots of people were going to the spaceport.

He wheeled her off the main trail onto a winding forest path. No one was using it today, so it was private. He stopped in a rocky glade. “I guess this is goodbye, Medusa,” he said. “I love you. I hope you think of me occasionally. I know I'll be thinking of you, back on Earth. I'll do my best to get HETA to support your cause.”

Medusa got out of the chair, and removed her clothing. She would have no need of it hereafter. She stood braced against the chair. “Mmmm,” she said, presenting her luscious bare body.

“Medusa, don't wait,” he said. “Someone could come at any time. Get away, disappear, and never look back. I'll go on to the spaceport and board for Earth. Someone else will use the second ticket. So—”

She cut him off by stepping into him. She kissed him ardently, holding him close. Then her hand snaked down to find his fly. In a moment she had hold of his rapidly stiffening member. She intended to have sex.

“But you need to rejoin your people,” he protested.

She drew her face back. “Mmmm.” This time there was a different tone.

The boulder behind her opened three eyes. A treetrunk beyond it opened another triad. So did a nearby bush. Even a mossy patch on the ground did.

“Your people!” he exclaimed, amazed. “They're here! Emulating plants and rocks along the way. I had no idea!” There were surely others along the path, who would warn them of the approach of any other humans. They had privacy of a sort. But why?

She loosened his belt and drew down his trousers. In a moment he was naked below the waist. She removed his shirt. Soon he was completely bare, with an urgently standing erection. She meant to have sex while her kind was watching.

“Oh—so they know how to do it,” he said, catching on. “So they too can emulate human women, and be with men. So that when the colonists come, your people will be able to hide among them, undiscovered.”

“Mmmm,” she agreed. She got down before him and put her face to his groin. She took the tip of his rigid member into her mouth.

“But you don't have the—” he protested, afraid for the moment that she might grind his member off.

She took him in the rest of the way. There was no grinder; it felt just like another vagina. She had rearranged that aspect of her anatomy too, at least for this occasion. She massaged him, and in moments the urgency rose and his orgasm was upon him.

Just before the climax, she removed her mouth and let him spurt into the air. That was the first time she had teased him like that.

But she wasn't finished. Now she brought him down on an eyeless patch of moss and hugged and kissed him, making him respond. She put his hands on her breasts and buttocks, then had him lick her vulva, turning him on. She was going to make him perform again, for the eyes of her people, so they could know the whole route. From foreplay through finish, from penetration through ejaculation. That bothered him on one level, but she was so ardent that he couldn't help but respond.

She was doing this so her kind would know exactly how to handle a human man sexually, yes. But once she had done so, what further need would she have for him? Would her folk release him, knowing what he did about their potentials? He had never been sure of her feelings, but had been prepared to let her go, having done his best for her. Now he had to wonder: would she let
him
go?

She evoked his full erection, and turned her back, guiding it to her anus. He pushed in, but was not able to climax yet; it was too soon, and he was too uncertain of her motive. In a moment she drew off him, whether satisfied or disappointed he could not tell. She changed position and put her breasts to his face, letting him fondle them and kiss the nipples. She was still charging him up, playing him for the second orgasm. It was working despite his misgivings. If he had to die, this was the way he wanted to do it, in a minor orgy of fulfillment with this goddess of ecstasy. Then she embraced him full-length, putting his member to her vagina but not inside it, teasingly. She had him lie on his back, and straddled him, setting the tip of his member at her cleft, taking it in a little, then out, then in a bit deeper. Oh, the others were getting their triple eyes full, seeing every detail of the staged penetration. But now at last he was working up to his orgasm.

She felt it, being marvelously sensitive to his condition. She lay on her back and had him mount her from above. He thrust deeply into her, repeatedly, as she wrapped her arms and legs about him. He climaxed, figuratively spewing his guts out of him and into her. She kissed him while taking it all in, every last spurt.

At last he faded, sexually exhausted. The watchers had seen it all. What was next? All the eyes were closed, and there was no indication of anything other than nature. They were so good at hiding that he hardly believed he had ever seen the eyes. They must have been closely observing the passing humans all along, and never giving themselves away. Until they had shown him.

Medusa disengaged. She wiped herself up and put on her clothing, while he donned his. So this was not the end, yet.

She got back into the wheelchair. “But you don't need this,” he said. “In your natural form, whatever it is, you don't need any human artifacts.”

“Mmmm,” she said, putting her hands to the wheels and starting to move forward.

He quickly took hold of the handles in back and began pushing her along. “But Medusa, where do you want to go?” he asked, bemused. “This is the way to the spaceport.”

“Mmmm.”

Could it be? That not only were they freeing him, in the manner he had sought to free her, but that she was coming with him? To Earth?

“You want to make the case to HETA!” he exclaimed. “Demonstrating the truth of my statement. That you are sapient!”

“Mmmm,” she agreed as they came in sight of the spaceport.

This was almost too good to be true. “But what of me? Of us? You would have to live with me, to hide effectively on Earth. Because there's so much more there that you've never seen. It's like the commissary, only the size of a planet.” He remembered how much she had liked the commissary. “It would take years before you could even hope to live independently, even if you don't want to return to your home. I'd have to fake the ID and marry you, to give us cover.”

“Mmmm.”

“And you know I would want sex and more sex, all the time. Because you're simply the best sexual partner I could ever dream of. In fact the best woman I could ever get to romance. I love you! I'd be telling you that all the time, between sexual efforts. Could you stand that?”

She reached up behind her with one hand, caught his head, and drew his face down to hers. She kissed him. He felt the passion. He knew she didn't have to show it, because he was already emotionally captive and she knew it. Did she really mean it?

“You actually like it?” he asked, pleasantly astonished. “The sex?”

“Mmmm.” And it sounded like “That, too.”

Note:
When I placed “Serial” with Excessica, I learned more about that publisher. They made their money by pushing donated material. So I gave them “Juliet”, then contributed to two of their provocative erotic anthologies. “Medusa” was one of them, sex with an alien creature, as I warned in the Caution, written in December 2009. I never saw the anthology for which it was destined, Divine Matches, and remain curious what other stories it contained.

Caution: graphic degrading abnormal sex

13. Rat Bait

“This is ridiculous, Lita,” Solita exclaimed. “Your bed at night is just about the safest place you can be.”

The child was adamant. “But there's a horny monster, mommy! It will come closer tonight; I know it. It grabs my knees and pulls my legs apart and licks me. It's going to do something awful to me.”

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