The Alien Library (6 page)

She’d felt Tendar’s appendage slide between her thighs and simply grow inside her, like a plant’s stalk. He filled her completely, then pulsed, grew hard, soft, flexed. Another bit of firmness took her ass, a loose gathering of skin encompassed her labia, her clitoris. All the while, Daniel kissed her, touched her breasts.

She felt the man’s hand stroking at Tendar, who was constantly speaking her name, praising her, murmuring words she didn’t know. Cameron fell from orgasm to orgasm, Daniel’s ear pressed to her chest, or his hand, keeping count of her heartbeat with one finger tapping gently, letting her know he watched. She heard him mutter, “All is well. Now, share, Tendar.”

What happened next was the culmination of the spell the two males had been weaving. Her eyes opened as the firmness inside her swelled. Daniel, somehow…Daniel entered her, with Tendar. Inside of Tendar, inside of her! She trembled, her mind suddenly attempting to wrest control back. Tendar wrapped arms around both of them, and she felt trapped.

She whimpered, and Daniel seemed to understand. “Relax, Cameron. No harm, I swear no harm. I am with you.”

Tendar kissed the back of her neck, ran a tongue so much longer than human around her ear. He whispered, “I am with you.”

There was an answering pulse at her molten center and she winced at a powerful ache that blossomed into wonder in the next moment. Tendar cried out, Daniel buried his face in her hair, moaning. Cameron’s body sang.

As they slowly untangled, her belly roared its unhappiness at being empty. And Daniel laughed. “Yes! Food!”

She clawed her way to the foot of the bed and caught her breath, one hand instinctively at her heart.

Tendar finally spoke. “You are stronger than you think.”

“I get that…” She gasped, chuckled, then curled into a slight ball. He ran a foot down her calf, lightly touching her, his eyes were glowing. “Let me…catch my breath, Tendar!”

He turned his face to the pillow and exhaled, forcing his leg to pull away. She slowly sat up as Daniel returned to the room. He handed her a glass of water, which she gladly accepted, then he perched at the free side of the bed, glancing from Tendar to Cameron and back. He settled on her. “Questions?”

“A million.” She drained the glass and he took it, set it to one side. “You two have done this before.”

Tendar chuckled. “She’s so quick.”

She giggled, then put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, I swear, if I’m just another notch on your collective bedpost. You know, I don’t care, it was great.”

“Yes, great.” Tendar moved his foot to touch her bare ass.

Daniel studied her. “More than that, you must sense that.”

She looked away. “I don’t know what I sense. Did I pass my physical?” She tried to joke.

Daniel stood up and joined her at the foot of the bed. “What are your misgivings? You are unsure…?

“Of course, I am unsure!” She considered pulling away from him, but didn’t have the energy. Tendar’s foot kept sending threads of heat up her back. She let Daniel set her head on his lap.

“I have no doubt,” Tendar volunteered. “Cameron, I want to give you…”

Daniel interrupted, “She must have time, Tendar. Patience.”

The Kharmon sighed loudly, but nodded. He rolled from the bed. “I’ll bring in the food.”

Cameron looked up at Daniel. “You keep interrupting him. Why?”

“He is driven, by instinct and ritual but you need more time before answering. Be patient, Cameron. We will be here for three days and by that third evening, you’ll understand.” Daniel stroked her face. “It was good for you. Your heart was content. Your implant simply watchful.”

“Watchful. Interesting word.” She closed her eyes. “It’s doing what it is supposed to do then.”

He swallowed, looked away from her. She was right, yet also wrong. She’d understand soon.

The two humans ate. Tendar drank water, but waved the food away. Cameron objected to being away from the library for three days. Daniel assured her that Theo was capable of dusting and keeping the books company. He fetched her book bag and asked to see what she carried with her. She showed the blank book to him, but asked both of them to respect her privacy and leave it alone. She did share her Whitman book with them. In the midst of reading one of her favorites aloud, Tendar spread her legs and dove between them with his mouth. The book dropped to the floor.

The first night was more of the day. When light filled the doorway, Cameron woke. She was mostly atop Tendar, who still slept. Daniel had disappeared. She carefully climbed from the bed to look for the bathroom. In the examination room, she saw Pindari leaving, Daniel lifting a cup of some steaming liquid to his lips.

“Pindari?” Cameron called out. A head turned, but hurried away. Cam tried not to feel hurt. She joined Daniel at the breakfast. “Is she upset with me?”

“Not at all. She leaves you in the care of her nephew. She loves you as her daughter, Cameron.” Daniel pulled her close and kissed her. “Tendar will sleep for several hours. He isn’t a morning man.”

“He isn’t a man at all.” She snorted.

“Semantics.” He shook his head. “Cameron. Tendar is working you through his system. Because at some point, likely the night he appointed you librarian, you infected him.”

She swallowed, suddenly feeling lost. “Infection? I’m an illness? He’ll get over me? I’m just a fever?”

Daniel was confused at the emotions he felt from her.

Her eyes filled with tears, “Oh. All those soft words. Just delirium.” She turned away and actually ran for the door.

He suddenly understood and dashed after her. He caught her at the doorway and pulled her back into the room. “No! It isn’t just that! If it were just an itch, he’d have seduced you months ago and moved on. Cameron! Quit fighting me!” He wrapped arms around her. “Listen!”

“Why?” she all but yelled at him. “Rational for using me!? Fuck ‘em and leave ‘em? Just what I need!”

“Oh, hell.” He sighed. “Listen and you’ll understand better.” He forced her back to the table where he’d examined her. She sat down, arms crossed, face furious and hurt. He sighed. This would be a difficult wall to break through. “Listen, that night, he was so delighted with discovering you. He had hosted his family and other delegates from the surrounding provinces. His troublesome brother was gone and there you were. He’s hoped, for two years, to rebuild the library, waited for a sign that the time had arrived. Mourned Justin’s loss, nursed Theo. His mother began the first library and he carries it on. You were what he needed.”

She nodded abruptly. “Yeah? So?”

“You oversaw the filling of his bath?” Daniel asked.

“I watched the other two.” She took a deep breath and the tightness along her shoulders eased. He assumed her curiosity was taking over. “I didn’t help. I didn’t touch.” She swallowed, looked away. “Hell. A hair was blown onto the surface but I got it! I didn’t touch the water! That was all it took?”

“Some part of that hair did. In the bath, I am very vulnerable,” Tendar answered from the doorway. “I opened to it, shedding the darkness of the visitors away. I was open, thinking of you and my pleasure at your intellect. Excited.”

“I’m just an infection.” Her head hung. Her legs drew up and she clung to her knees. “I want to say it was worth it. I just want to say the hell with it. I can’t!”

“Because it
is
more than that,” Daniel softly replied. “More than biology.”

“More than biology.” Tendar strode into the room and simply lifted her from the table. He bent his face and brushed lips at her forehead. “Much more. It
can
be nothing but biology. If I had embraced you quickly and risked your life but I would not. I am strong. I am Kharmon. I do not harm humans.”

She cried as he carried her back to the bed. Daniel followed and they drove her past the tears. She tried to leave the bed, fighting them with words. Words they countered with caresses, touch and kisses. Again, Tendar tried to offer her a gift. And yet again, Daniel stopped him with the word,
patience
.

The room grew dark before they finally convinced her of the purity of Tendar’s feelings. He laughed and her heart opened. She asked about his genitals. Daniel led her on an exploration. She grew brave and asked about the females.

Daniel chuckled. “Greedy.”

“No! I just wonder.” She softly stroked the softened tissue at the base of Tendar’s cock. It was similar to a mouth or to a cunt. She shook her head, she had no words to use.

“Females are predominantly receivers, as males are givers. But they are adaptable.” Tendar sighed. “Oh, that is exquisite. Such soft hands.”

She looked up at Daniel. “I hear
adaptable
a great deal. He told me about the flowers, and the death they dealt. This is a violent world.”

“In many ways, yes. It is believed…” He paused. “Are you ready to hear this?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what you want to say.” She shrugged, bent and laid her head on Tendar’s belly, letting her fingers find pleasure in simple touch.

“This world is home to neither human or Kharmon. Both were brought here. The Kharmon are more adaptable. In the beginning, they adapted better. Humans arrived mentally sharp, but many died, learning how to survive. They were always the majority and they weren’t kind. In the beginning.” He sighed.

“Used the Kharmon?” She sighed. “Of course they did.”

“Yes.” Tendar stroked her head. “Now it’s just ancient history. In time, they taught us and then they faded, losing the ability of cognition. We rose to dominate; we rose to use them. In time, we understood our charge.”

“Some understand today. Some don’t,” Daniel answered.

“This infection? A tool to manipulate the Kharmon into caring and not just using?” she ventured a guess. “Put there by the kidnappers?”

“Unknown, but if it is a tool it is a tool I cherish.” Tendar urged her lower. “Your mouth, kiss me there.”

She sighed. “I’m not very skilled with oral.”

“It doesn’t matter. Your lips contain enough skill.” Tendar arched as she did as he’d asked. Daniel sat, watching, uncertain of what Tendar allowed. He and Pindari had seen the possibility. It would protect Cameron. It would also make Tendar vulnerable.

Tendar writhed in ecstasy. A flailing hand grasped Daniel and hauled him close. As Cameron became lost in scent and taste, Tendar carried Daniel with him. The three tangled in an entirely new configuration and there was no more talk until that next morning.

Cameron sat up suddenly, a hand at her heart. She’d felt something odd.

Daniel smiled from the other side of a sleeping Tendar. “It will fade. Let it go.”

“What…?” she gasped.

He held out his hand. “Breakfast. I’ll explain.”

The fear hit her hard after the hours without it and she shivered. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. The examination room had changed. The padded table was gone. A sunken area had been uncovered. She paused and looked at it. “A bath?”

“Modified, but essentially, yes.” He gestured at the steps. “It will be warm and there are pillows and cushions. See? Our breakfast is already there.”

She carefully sat on the edge, then moved down to the second ledge. It did feel warm. She looked up at the windows. “Solar heat?”

“They focus what light is available. I’m sure you have noticed how often clouds cover the sky.” She nodded.

“Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “My heart?”

“Your heart is fine. Your implant is unhappy,” he answered. “Listen, and don’t panic. You remember I told you I have been studying medicine for centuries? I wasn’t exaggerating. I’ve been here over a thousand years.”

She blinked, swallowed, took a deep breath and decided she had no choice but to believe him. “Okay.”

“That was easy.” He chuckled. “There are no children and death is rare here. For both Kharmon and human. You feel stronger? Healthier? You sleep deep, your skin is soft, your hair?”

“No grey. Yeah, I get it.” She nodded. “I’m going to live forever?”

“I don’t know how long you’ll live,” he answered. “Much depends on that.” He pointed to her shoulder. “And being patient.”

“Okay, Daniel, enough mystery. Details, please.” She sighed.

“Humans grow healthy here. Those who arrive with minor ailments even larger ones. Limbs do not regrow but failing organs rally. Diseases disappear, damage is repaired. For the most part. The first problem was detected a few decades ago with a sweet young man, strong and vibrant. A few months after arrival, his foot simply began to die. The doctor for that province had no choice and had to amputate the leg at the knee. He saved the limb and I examined it. A series of metal pins, at his ankle. I assume put there to repair some damage.” He took a sip from a mug. “The infection began with them.”

She nodded. “Not so unusual. Was he a Thinker? Could he tell you?”

“No, and he is fine now. The doctor devised a substitute for the lower leg and he recovered.” Daniel paused. “The next was a woman. We weren’t able to save her. This was so unexpected. These difficulties. She was doing well! She showed partial thinking abilities. She sang and danced and then one day her belly swelled. I was there and I could do nothing but ease her pain.” He sighed. “I cut her body open, so angry at her death. There was something wrapped above her stomach. I later found out it was…”

“A lapband. She’d undergone weightloss surgery.” Cameron’s eyes widened as the implication filled her. “Artificial implants, they go wrong.”

“Since we lost Sollia, I have saved three others. Removed a series of staples even disconnected something called an insulin pump. I have lost one. A doctor who understood what was happening. I was traveling and arrived too late. He wrote an explanation. He had an artificial heart valve replacement. I could have done nothing.” Daniel sighed. “Your implant will have to be removed.”

She’d grown pale and swallowed, trying not to panic. “Okay, when?”

“Sex speeds the rejection. Tendar held back from you with good reason. It was fortunate that you told Pindari of the heart attack. Continue to be circumspect with partners and I will research how to see you do not suffer rejection of your implant. Until I am ready to remove it.” Daniel reached out to touch her arm.

“If I’d stayed celibate?” she asked softly.

“It would simply work slower. But the sex pushes the metabolism, in a good way. You will need to be stronger, healthier, your heart will need to survive the surgery to remove the ICD. You need the sex,” Daniel answered.

She shivered. “My heart is sure. My ICD is uncertain.”

“I will be near.” Daniel shivered. “It is hard, but I will be near.”

“Why is it hard, to stay close by?” Cameron watched the physician.

“I’ll…we’ll explain tonight.” Daniel shook his head and looked cheerier. “You can help me, by searching out more information on the placement of your implant. How the leads function, every detail you can discover.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “A thousand years, wow. Are there many of you?”

“No, a handful. I am the only Thinker from that era.” Daniel took a bite of a cinnamon roll. “This is nice. So few things taste new but the chocolate dusted atop this adds a complex dimension.”

It was a deliberate change of topic. Cameron let it go. She took up a roll and ate it, her mind trying to shuffle all of what she’d learned in the last several days together into some sense. She closed her eyes, wondering why she wasn’t tired. She slept, but not very long. And she’d never seen Daniel sleep. “Daniel?” she spoke before thinking. “Do you ever sleep?”

“Very little. I rest, relax, recreate but actual need for sleep is spare for me.” He smiled crookedly. “I miss the escape sometimes. I can deliberately induce dreams but it isn’t the same.” He focused upward, at the light from the windows. “The longer you live, the less you sleep.”

“I like sleep.” She crossed her legs. “It is an escape, you’re right. A chance to avoid thinking. I get tired of thinking.”

“You can learn how to find blankness,” he told her. “Much of your mind rests as you shelf books, I imagine.” He fidgeted.

“Do the rest forgo sleep? In time?” She slid over next to him, taking his free hand. “Daniel?”

“They sleep less from necessity and more by choice,” he answered. “I’m sorry, I am restless.”

“For days, you have calmed my fears. Can I help you with yours?” She wanted to offer something to him.

He smiled. “I wish it were possible. Tendar will request you accept his gift, at least one more time. You’re not ready, Cameron. Advise him to be patient.”

“I can do that. What gift? And why am I not ready?” She paused. “No, how can I help you, Daniel? First.”

“You can’t,” he answered. “But it is appreciated that you ask. And no, you do help simply by being near. In two days, Teemin arrives, with his associates. We will devise strategy to protect you tonight.”

She stared at him, then framed a question she though he’d answer. “If Thinkers are so rare and so valuable how does Teemin sustain threat? This is Tendar’s home, his estate, his family and why me, in particular?”

Daniel took a deep breath. “Teemin is a threat to all Thinkers. You are an unregistered Thinker. In basic terms, you are unclaimed. He could claim you. He will attempt to do so. Pindari wants to hide you. Tendar wants to claim you first. I would…I’m not sure what I want to do.”

“I thought Tendar already claimed me.” She sniffed. “I am his librarian. What else needs to be done?”

“Your group yielded ten Thinkers, registered. Tendar wasn’t slated to keep any. The harvest arrives at different estates, every five years. Usually a hundred at a time. Parlani lives in the mountains. Tendar sent her three. Teemin manages a large farming interest. He got three. Thandin is a coastal administrator and handles a fishing fleet. Four went to him. You hid and were left behind. Tendar will argue you were for him.” Daniel paused. “Teemin’s three have faded. It is suspected he poisoned them. He arrives here to charge that Tendar cheated him, to demand Tendar replace the Thinkers.”

Cameron nodded. “All right, that is dastardly. It must haunt Tendar that he damaged them? Poisoned? Can you help them?”

“Perhaps. It is doubtful that he will actually return the three Thinkers. If he did, I might.” Daniel shrugged. “The problem is you. Teemin will wander. He will see the library and the progress you’ve made. Tendar has spread the story that Theo is recovered.”

“Theo can’t sustain that.” Cameron snorted. “Why not simply claim me? No!” Her eyes narrowed as her blood rose at the thought of being claimed by anyone. “Tendar said I am not a slave. I am not property! I belong here! It’s my decision!”

“Say that to Teemin and he will delight in tearing you away.” Daniel watched her pace in the small confine of the tub floor. “Cameron, there are legalities. Traditions and a governing body that dictates. Thinkers are divided up because each province has needs. If they clung to each other, everyone would suffer. Slaves? No, not according to Tendar. But Teemin would clap chains on you. Since he cannot, he will use the legal system. Tradition is on Tendar’s side.”

“And you are on my side.” Tendar gazed down at them. He slid to the edge, then on down to the next ledge. “Teemin will not have you, Cameron. My mother’s sisters will back me up, Pindari and Parlani. They are powerful women.”

“Your father will support Teemin,” Daniel countered.

“You hold my mother’s confidence. Three females to one male? My father is delusional. He is weak and drinks too much,” Tendar answered. “You will speak for her? Stay and speak for her?”

Daniel shivered. “You know what you are asking?”

“Yes,” Tendar replied.

“I don’t,” Cameron spoke up. “Your mother disappeared but Pindari said she wasn’t dead.”

“She isn’t.” Daniel stood up. “No, I can’t. It’s been too long.” He bowed his head. “I’m sorry. I need to leave.”

“Patience, Daniel. This is a time of miracles.” Tendar set the platter of pastries out of the tub. He looked at the edging. “A waste of a bath.”

“My bath, my waste,” Daniel whispered. “Cameron.”

She sighed. “I want to understand.”

“I know,” Tendar answered. “We all crave explanations. We seldom receive them. We learn to live with lowered expectations.” He sounded more lucid than he had for the last several days. He peeled Daniel’s arms open and led the man to her. He still shivered. She opened her arms and embraced him. For the next few hours, he and Cameron warmed Daniel. Tendar led Cameron in touching, kissing and in seeing Daniel wrapped in care.

They were easy with each other. The mad passion of two days earlier remained, but approached with more familiarity. The anger of the day before transmuted to consideration and gentleness. Tendar fell asleep on the second ledge, his back to the inside. Cameron glanced up at him and smiled. “He is like a lizard.”

“Most astute of you.” Daniel chuckled.

“Is that where they herald? From reptiles? But not cold blooded.” She sat up and gazed at his back. “I can faintly see iridescence.”

“It seems likely.” The physician watched her kneel and reach up to trace the prominent backbone of the lazing Kharmon.

Her finger paused at the small of the back. “What…?”

“Cameron!” Daniel’s voice caused her to jump. “Don’t touch there, damn! He is relaxed with you.”

“What is it?” She pulled her arms back, but took a step closer to Tendar. She bent to examine the spot, “It’s a hole?”

“Hell.” Daniel stood next to her. “The Kharmon are nearly impossible to hurt, to damage, to kill. That is the one spot where they are vulnerable. Each are born with it, unprotected. A blow there, a dusting of poison, a needle, all will kill them. Can you see the darker area to the left?”

Cameron brushed at the spot. “A darker green, almost blue?”

“Yes. Teemin nearly killed him. He claimed an accident. He didn’t know that Pandra-i had already gifted her son with a dragon scale shield. Her protection saved Tendar’s life.” Daniel wrapped an arm around Cameron.

“Does Teemin have one?” she softly asked. The scale in question hung loose. “Is it falling off?”

“No. It is allowing the living fissure to breathe. Cam, this is so rare! Tendar?” Daniel touched his hip. He found the view unnerving.

Tendar sighed. “My father gave Teemin his scale. But it isn’t perfect. As mine is. He slowly rolled to his back, then sat up. “Cameron. Daniel. My friends, my lovers, my family. Pindari has promised me a final meal for our retreat that I will enjoy. I will be ready to eat, soon.”

He began to toss the cushions out of the sunken bath. “I want to see this used properly. The water still flows?” He raised his frills at Daniel, who nodded. “Good. You two should shower.”

“Why? If it’s going to be a bath. Oh,” Cameron climbed from the tub. “Just for you. Selfish, decadent clod.” She snorted and headed for the bathroom. She’d seen the shower there.

Daniel paused. “I can’t…”

“Patience, Daniel.” Tendar winked at the doctor. “Go, shower and I’ll take care of this.”

“You look better. Are you ready for the assembly to arrive?” Daniel asked, fighting the urge to fidget.

“I will be.” Tendar pushed him from the bath. As soon as he’d gone, Tendar moved fast, wiping the bath down. He had the water running, welcoming Pindari into the room before Cam and Daniel returned. Daniel stood, stunned at the cook’s presence.

Cam simply hurried over to Pindari and embraced her. “You are not upset with me?”

“Of course not.” Pindari smiled at her. “Here, stand next to me. You look happy, Cam.”

“I am. I’m not so frightened anymore. Or just shed many of the personal fears,” Cam admitted.