Unworldly Encounter Complete Series (5 page)

“I don’t…” she sighed, shaking her head and looking up at the ceiling. “Why don’t I just pour you a cup, and you can decide if you want anything else in it?” She finally risked a glance at Jan. He looked far more amused than she was.

“That seems like a good method,” he agreed. Andrea took a deep breath and pulled the carton of milk out, adding a dollop to her coffee and stirring it once more. She took a long sip, exhaling with satisfaction before she poured the second cup for Jan. Andrea picked up both mugs, and they went back into the dining room. She extended the un-doctored cup towards Jan, who sank down into the chair once more as soon as she was seated.

She watched, curious, as he sniffed at the mug for a moment and then brought it to his lips, sipping cautiously. “It is not bad—what were the things you put into your cup?”

Andrea shrugged, “Milk and sugar… they sweeten it.”

Jan smiled, “Why do you drink something that you must sweeten?”

“Because it’s full of caffeine, and it helps you think.” Andrea laughed.

Jan raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly, “May I taste yours?”
 

Andrea hesitated for a moment, partly out of possessive desire to drink the entire cup, and partly out of a sudden spurt of fear—did Jan have some kind of alien parasite, or disease, that she could catch from him?
You had him last night…you kissed him. The time for worrying about swapping bodily fluids is pretty well past.
She pushed her mug across the table towards him.

Jan sipped at her mug as cautiously as he had his own, and Andrea watched in bemused fascination as he seemed to roll the liquid around in his mouth, tasting it thoroughly. “This is too sweet,” he said, seeming to ponder for a moment. “But the richness is nice.” He hesitated for a moment before smiling broadly. “You like sweet things, I think.”

Andrea felt her cheeks burn with a blush. “Okay, let’s… let’s talk about some things.”
 

Jan nodded solemnly, taking another sip of his coffee. Andrea reclaimed her mug and drank down a little too much of the hot liquid, coughing as she got the still slightly-burning mixture past her throat. “First of all, you said you were a scientist. You were doing experiments—or something like that.”
 

Jan set his cup down. “My colleagues and I are looking for human women, this is true.” He looked down into his mug and then met her gaze again. “When you had your accident last night, my thought was that I could—that you could be the subject I brought to my superiors.”
 

Andrea raised an eyebrow, “Seriously? Was I going to have some kind of say in this?” Fear mingled with anger at the fact that Jan had said it so matter-of-factly.
 

“I would have convinced you,” Jan said. “I did convince you to—what is the term—to sleep with me?”
 

Andrea pressed her lips together as the blood rushed into her face. “We will discuss that part of this whole messed-up situation later.”
 

Jan smiled, “I think if I want to, we could discuss it now.”
 

Andrea gritted her teeth. “No, later.” She took a deep breath and another sip of her coffee, thinking uncomplimentary thoughts about kinky aliens who shanghaied helpless human women for scientific experiments. “You said I
could
be your subject?”
 

Jan shrugged, “I have changed my thinking. You would not be a good subject.”

Andrea wasn’t sure whether or not she should be offended. On the one hand, she was glad she wasn’t going to be subjected to some kind of alien probe—
oh, but sweetie, you’ve already been probed,
her mind reminded her. On the other hand…“What do you mean I wouldn’t be a good subject?”
 

Jan’s gaze slid away from her face, and an expression of distaste crossed his features. “It would not be pleasant for you,” he said quickly. “You would—you would not enjoy.”
 

Andrea felt the blood rush out of her face, out of her head, all at once. “It’s—that doesn’t sound promising at all.”

“You are…” He pondered his words for a moment before speaking again. “You are a woman of will. This is a rare thing, among my people. It is not all that common among your own people, from what I have seen.”
 

Andrea crossed her arms over her chest, thinking of the dominant, not-quite-aggressive way that Jan had come onto her the night before. “Just what kind of experiments are these?”
 

Jan took another sip of his coffee. “They are…” He pressed his lips together and set his mug down. “My superiors wish to see how human women are…sexually. The… reproduction, you understand? And the behavior. All of it.”
 

“So what you’re saying is that they would be…” Andrea’s eyes widened and she hugged herself tightly. “They would…”
 

Jan looked down at his hands. “They would not—not force you. But you would be… examined. And questioned. And eventually, convinced.” Jan shrugged. “They are curious as to whether a new—species, is the word? A new species could be made, with the qualities of your kind and our kind.” Jan shrugged again, looking almost sheepish. “There is some belief among my superiors that your race is—flawed. Almost… animals.” He shook his head. “We do not view you as animals but as…” he shrugged, “We have very limited knowledge of your kind.”

Andrea shook her head. She drank down more of her coffee, her mind spinning with what Jan had told her. She frowned. “Why do they want to cross-breed humans and your kind?”

“They believe that it would be a good opportunity. Create a new sub-species, which can be used for breeding purposes; there is a—your kind has strengths that we do not have. Our scientists, they are very much believers in the idea of…” He made a sound that must have been a word, but Andrea could not even think what it could be. “The combination of species, to make a stronger one.”

“Hybrid vigor?” Jan looked at her in confusion. “Here—on this planet—we have discovered that when you combine certain animals, or plants, the offspring sometimes have the best of both their parents.” Andrea rubbed her arms to help eliminate the goose bumps she felt.

Jan nodded, gesturing to indicate that was what he was referring to.
 

“Of course, they also often end up being sterile—unable to breed.”

“Yes, this is a thing we have seen, too. But they do not… there are many humans. You do not—our kind is very different from yours. There are not so many adults for us. It would be easy, once they discover a way to—you said cross-breed—to do that with our kind and yours, and have as many as they needed.” Jan shrugged. “You do not miss your own kind, there are so many.”
 

“Yes we do!” but Andrea wondered
if she had disappeared, without a trace, how long would anyone actually search for her? If there were absolutely no leads, eventually they would give up.
“Are you saying,” she said, licking her lips, “you’ve done this before?”

Jan smiled, with something wry in his expression that told her all she needed to know.

“It was determined we could not cross-breed using your males and our females.”
 

Andrea sat back in her chair, absorbing the impact of that statement. A question filled her mind. “Are—are you male? Does gender—sex—work the same way in your society?”

Jan took a deep breath, “I am what you would consider male. I have—I have seed.” Andrea nodded slowly. “You—you took my seed last night.” Her face flooded once more with blood, and she wondered just how rapidly the blood could rush in her body without making her faint. “Your biology is different from ours.” Jan pressed his lips together.

Andrea understood that was as far as he would go in answering that question. She took a deep breath and finished off the coffee in her mug. “Okay. So you decided that I would not be appropriate for this… experiment.” Jan nodded. “So what were you saying to your colleagues a little while ago?”

Jan smiled slightly, “I told them I have not had success yet. They are not happy, but they tell me to continue the search.”
 

Andrea thought for a moment,
was Jan going to subject some other woman to the experiments he had referred to?
“So—give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just kill you, to keep you from taking one of my kind?”

“First, you could not kill me,” he said.
 

“I will bet you a million dollars that I absolutely could,” Andrea countered. “Especially now that I know just what you’re up to.”

“Second, I have changed my thinking.” He looked down into his mug and picked it up, drinking down the last of it. “This is very bitter. How did your people discover the goodness of it?”

Andrea laughed, “How most people discover things, entirely by accident.”

“That is true,” he looked up and grinned, “among my people as well as among yours.” He pushed the cup across the table towards her. “May I have more? With—what is the thing? Milk?” Andrea picked up both mugs and stood, sighing.

When she came back into the dining room with the fresh coffee, bringing the pot with her and balancing the two mugs precariously in one hand, she had still more questions for the alien. “You said that your people want to cross-breed with mine.” She eased herself into her chair. “Should I be concerned that you…” She shook her head, blushing deeply. “I—took your seed, last night?”

Jan shook his head and smiled as he sipped at the new coffee. “We are not directly compatible in that way. This is much better.” Jan set his mug down. “You also taste very sweet.”

“I said we would talk about that later.” Andrea closed her eyes, making her voice as firm as possible. She then reopened them, intending to pin Jan down with a glare.
 

“I think we should talk about it now. You already know why I found you last night.”
 

“But I don’t know that you’re not just going to up and abduct some other woman to give to your superiors!”
 

Jan shook his head. “I will not do that. I think—I am thinking—this is not a good thing to do.”
 

Andrea raised an eyebrow, “And you arrived at this conclusion because…?”

A smile formed slowly on Jan’s lips, “You are not a subject. You are my little one. My Drea. I do not wish to do these things to anyone who is like you.”

Andrea felt a little frisson at the way his voice dropped even lower, the possessive tone taking over. “Well score one for my sex skills, I guess,” Andrea said, shaking her head.
 

“It would be—you would say, bad taste? For me to abduct a female, when I know that you exist. When I want to have you.” Jan shook his head sharply. “That is a conversation for another time.” He stood, and Andrea felt her heart beating faster. “I will train you like a good Master should, and teach you to be my little one, and you will become my mate.”

Andrea pushed her chair back. “Hold on just a second—we need to talk about this.”

“You said you do not want to talk about it.” Jan laughed, “You see? I have convinced you, as I said I would.”
 

Andrea stood, stomping one foot in what she knew was a juvenile display as frustration welled up inside her. “You haven’t convinced me of anything, and I have a hell of a lot of questions for you, big boy.”
 

Jan was suddenly close to her, towering over her as he had the night before, not menacing, but definitely with an air of absolute confidence, a look akin to ownership on his face. “You may ask me later,” he told her, his hands closing on her wrists. Andrea tugged and pulled, trying to break free of his grasp. “Do you trust me, little one?”

Andrea let out an indignant scream, “How am I supposed to trust you when you—when you’re acting like an asshole who’s going to force me?” She scowled up at him. He wasn’t pulling, he wasn’t doing anything other than holding both of her wrists in his, looking down at her with a mixture of amusement and desire in his honey-gold eyes.

“I am your Master,” he said. “You have told me your safe word. You know I will make you come.” He seemed almost confused at her continued struggles to break free of his grip. “Why would you deny what you want?”

Andrea felt a flicker of inspiration, “Okay—okay. Banana. That’s my safe word, and I’m using it right now. Banana.” Immediately, Jan released her wrists, stepping back.

“What is wrong?” He did not lose an iota of his dominant demeanor, but he shifted his stance as indication he was not moving forward; he was waiting for her.

“We need to talk about this—this kink thing you have going on. Because, really…” Andrea shook her head. “Do you think…” she frowned. “Do you somehow think this is just how sex goes for humans?”
 

Jan stood still a moment, his forehead wrinkling as he parsed her words. “I have seen,” he said slowly, “I have watched the instructive videos that your kind has made. The mating ritual.” Andrea’s mouth fell open as it dawned on her what he was referring to. “The male—sometimes the female—but a partner takes the role of Master, or Mistress, and subdues the other, and they bond. And the subdued one becomes the Master’s mate, attending to his needs.” Jan paused a moment as if reviewing steps in his mind. “The master and the submissive form a mating pair.” He looked at her curiously. “This is what I have seen.”
 

Andrea sighed, sitting down once more and looking at the floor, licking her lips and trying to decide just how to approach what she needed to say. “Okay,” she said, looking back up at Jan. “First—okay.” She took another deep breath. “Human sexuality is very… complex. There are many ways that humans interact sexually, and that—you are correct—that is one way.” She sighed.
Oh my god, he watched a bunch of BDSM porn and thinks this is just how we do things here.
Her mind was reeling.
He thought they were
instructional videos.
How the hell am I going to even…?
Andrea scrubbed at her face. “What you watched, they were not for instruction; they were for… entertainment.”
 

Jan frowned, his strange eyes full of confusion, “But you enjoyed it last night—you told me what was your safe word, as the ritual demands. And you—is it came? Come, came?”