Chapter 7

She shall be sportive as the fawn
That wild with glee across the lawn
Or up the mountain springs;
And hers shall be the breathing balm,
And hers the silence and the calm
Of mute insensate things.
-Wordsworth – Three Years She Grew -

The Drak planet hung in space like a yellow-brown ball enveloped in a funky haze. Murky dark blue-green patches of land peaked out from under swirling filamentous clouds like slimy scum. Marty, Ninja, Tyler and Lia wearily watched the alien planet rotate below their Lander before Marty lit the candles to plunge the craft into this foreboding atmosphere. The landing site was near a complex of complex structures where strange minuets punched up into an alien sky from castle-like buildings. Massive walls snaked around these structures like ribbons. Were they defensive?

When Marty and his landing party got out of the Lander, a party of Draks approached on platform devices that flew a meter above the dry sandy soil. Strangely, no dust arose from the ground that these vehicles traversed.
The suspended devices came to a stop only a few meters away and then slowly dropped onto the ground. The occupants jumped off their levitation vehicles and fell into a line. Most of them carried weapons, and they wore identical tight-fitting, jet-black uniforms.

One approached. "Welcome to our home place."

"Thank you," Marty said, trying to avoid any move that they would consider threatening. "This is Lia our translator, Tyler our negotiator, and Ninja our best warrior."

The Draks looked at Ninja, and it was obvious that they were fascinated with him. Perhaps they considered him a distant relative.

Marty and his crew climbed aboard the alien flyers and were treated to a swift wind-in-your-face ride to a large castle-like structure built from tightly fitted, white stones. The interior was cavernous and framed by a high arched ceiling. A legion of soldiers stood in two lines, creating a corridor for Marty and his crew to walk through on their way to what was the supreme leader seated on a Dias of polished stone.

One thing was certain: males ruled this planet, or at least that's what Marty assumed.

"Greetings people from across the stars," the leader said. "We welcome warriors to our abode."

Ninja appreciated that. He acquired an instant liking for these aliens, but he felt a lack of appreciation for his reptilian likeness. These cat-faced aliens ignored him.

On the X-4001, things were not going well for Angie. She could not imagine why her chief medical officer had summoned her for a routine physical at this critical time. Despite her misgivings, she had no choice but to comply.

"Good day, Angelina," Onuki greeted her, smiling profusely as usual. "How is your day progressing?"

"I'm not sure. I have a landing crew on an alien planet, my flag ship is under repair, and the X-3001 is inoperable. Otherwise, things are just great."

"Martin can handle the landing party," Ferris said. "And, Brian can handle repairs to his ship. Why don't you relax and allow us to check you out. Space Command gave us strict orders to examine you frequently. Your health, both physical and mental, is of utmost importance to this mission."

Angie managed a weak smile. "Well, here I am."

"Very well," Onuki said to her before she turned to Ferris. "Undress her."

Angie looked surprised. "I can do it myself."

"We prefer to do it," Onuki said, smiling.

Ferris began by carefully unfastening Angie's jacket, and when she was done, she had the admiral sit so that she could remove her shoes and socks and then her skirt.

"I hope that you're not doing this to get even for what I did to you in the gym on the Space Port."

"We were not angered by what you did," Ferris said. "We just like to undress our patients. The physical contact is most enjoyable."

Angie looked at her with concerned eyes.

On the planet, things were getting weirder. Two soldiers approached Lia, alarming her.
"Females are not permitted in Hall of Warriors in coverings," the leader explained. "Your female will be returned after she is shed of her coverings."

The men exchanged surprised looks. Luckily, Lia had handed Tyler the translator before she was escorted away. Marty had to suppress an urge to complain. Unfortunately, there are always casualties in any engagement, he thought.

The men were escorted into the Hall of Warriors and provided seats around a large round table constructed from stone. Several naked female Draks came into the hall holding vases, which they used to pour a dark colored liquid into ceramic cups in front of each male. Marty tried not to stare at them, but he did note that they had more human looking bodies, with breasts and wider pelvic areas than the females of Ninja's species. Surprisingly, their skins were not scaly as he had imagined. In fact, these alien females had smooth, almost human skin. Ninja looked at the females, but did not react to their presence despite the fact that females on the Mehen home planet were permitted to wear clothing.

The leader raised his cup and proposed a toast. "To the union of warriors."

"I say," Tyler said to Marty. "Do you think it wise to drink this?"

Marty smiled. "Well, I'll tell you what, Tyler. Ninja and I will drink, and if we die, you'll know not to."

Marty took a swig. "Wow! This stuff has the kick of the moonshine that my grandfather used to brew."

Ninja was also impressed. "This is the drink of warriors."

Tyler decided to follow suit and drink.

The leader looked pleased with his guests.

"We are in a quest to find the enemy's home world," Tyler said. "We believe that this world is near your world."

"We have searched for this enemy for a long period," the leader said. "We believe that they come from a distant place."

"We have a request," Tyler said. "We would like to have one of your people go with us in our search for this enemy. This person should have knowledge of the stars."

The leader consulted with his advisers before turning back to Tyler. "Our knowledge keepers are female. Do you object to a female?"

"No. We have many female knowledge keepers on our ships."

"We will give you a female as a gift. We have more than we require."

The Draks emitted hissing sounds. Was this their way of laughing?

Tyler didn't know how to take that, so he said, "Thank you."

Just then, Lia came back minus her clothing, and, surprisingly, she was not trying to hide anything. She glared at the men and dared them to say anything. The men kept their mouths shut, electing to ignore her as was the custom of the Drak males.

A Drak female was brought into the hall and presented to Marty.

"Here is your gift," the leader said. "Her name is Moto and you may do with her as you wish."

"Thank you," Marty said, looking at her and then at the leader. "We appreciate your gift."

Moto took her place alongside the human female directly behind her new owner. She and Lia exchanged looks, but neither spoke. Lia assumed that speaking in the Hall of Warriors was not a smart idea, and copying Moto, she elected to stand behind the men in a subservient manner.

Angie found herself in a similar subservient situation. She had been stripped by Ferris and was stretched out on an exam table with her knees bent and her legs spread. She felt Onuki's fingers feeling her breasts and Ferris' gloved finger probing her female business end. Here she was, the commander of the fleet, and she was being treated as if she were a specimen.

"You appear to be in good shape," Onuki said. "Your skin is healthy and your breasts are firm." She turned to Ferris. "What do you think?"

"She has been penetrated," Ferris said. "She is definitely not a virgin."

"You appear to be tense," Onuki said. "We recommend that you relax more often. Are you and Martin having relations?"

"No we haven't . . . well, not yet," Angie said, blushing.

"Surely he must find you desirable. Is he having a problem becoming erect?"

Angie's eyes widened. "I don't know. I haven't . . . I've never seen him . . . you know." Her eyes flashed with a long harbored pain. "This has nothing to do with him. I was raped repeatedly when I was young."

Onuki and Ferris exchanged surprised looks.
"By whom?" Ferris asked.

"By the wealthy rancher that I was indentured to."

"Well, okay," Onuki said, trying to defuse the situation. "I'll give you something to relieve your anxiety. Take one each day when you wake please."

"Yes, ma'am."

While this was transpiring, Marty, Tyler and Ninja were still enjoying their visit with the Draks. Along with their two females, they were escorted to an outdoor arena where males were in the process of practicing killing using slings that could propel round stones at lethal velocities. The leader informed them that this was an ancient ritual. At first the males were just shooting at targets, but then they began practicing on live targets. They allowed females a head start. Their live targets ran as fast as they could, juking and ducking to avoid a blow to their head. If they were stuck anywhere else, they were afforded a dispensation from death, but not from the horrible injuries that resulted from being struck in the back or leg. Each kill was greeted by hissing, the Drak's version of either laughter or cheers.

Marty and his crew were appalled by this blatant disregard for life, but they remained quiet. Even Ninja was disturbed by this display of useless killing, but he didn't complain. Obviously, one of the reasons that females were treated as if they were property was because there were far too many of them, but nothing justified wanton slaughter of living beings.

Lia was visibly shaken by the horrible spectacle, but Moto acted as if it was an everyday routine. Marty felt sad for both of them.

###

Marty came onto the command deck and quickly took his seat at the navigational station. Angie glanced over at him and gave him a warm welcoming smile.

"How'd it go?"

"Okay," Marty said. "But, I don't think that you will be wanting to visit the Drak planet any time soon."

"Why?"

"They treat women as if they are property."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They made Lia strip. It seems that females are not permitted to wear clothing."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No. Even worse, they kill females for sport."

She frowned. "That's crazy."

"I agree, but we have to accept them the way they are if we want their help. Tyler bartered for a female who is supposed to know astronomy. We brought her up with us."

"Good. What's her name?"

"Moto. Onuki and Ferris want me to help examine her."

"At least they didn't want you to help examine me."

"Jesus, Angie, I would never do that," Marty said, sounding offended. "How'd your exam go?"

"Physically, I'm fine, but they think that I have a mental problem."

"What kind of a problem?"

"I'm a frustrated old maid."

He laughed. "You may be a maid, and you may be frustrated, but you are not old."

She laughed. "Thanks."

"What's our status?" Marty asked.

"All systems are operational. The X-3001 is still under repair. It should be ready to go in five or six days. I'm transferring one of our fighters over to the X-3001."

"Good. Brian needs all the help he can get."

Lia came on the deck and went over to Marty. "Onuki is ready to examine Moto. She wants you in Medical."

"Thanks." He offered her a soothing smile. "I hope that you weren't too pissed by your experience on the planet. I realize that it wasn't a very pleasant experience."

"That's putting it mildly. I did my part in the interests of this mission. My pride may have been damaged, but at least I didn't have to become a target for some idiot male Drak. Moto told me that it's a common practice to kill females. She is grateful that she was given to us. She senses that we are not militaristic nuts. The ironic part of all this is that the females are much more intelligent than the males. They are the scientists and engineers. All the men think of is killing."

"Sounds like your typical patriarchal society on steroids," Marty said. "Anyway, I've recommended you for a Distinguished Merit medal. You acted with honor in a very difficult situation." He saluted her.

She rewarded him with a smile. "I guess that I deserved it for what I said to you men in the elevator."

Marty rewarded her with a smile. Angie had no idea what she meant.

When Marty arrived at the Med Station, Onuki and Ferris had Moto on the examination table.
"You don't have to undress this one," Onuki told him. "She wasn't wearing any clothing."

"Yeah, you're going to have to teach her how to wear clothes. On her planet she never did. The males don't permit it."

"What do you think of her?" Onuki asked.

"She seems quite intelligent, although, it's hard to tell."

"She may be more intelligent than Honey," Onuki said.

"No kidding?"

"Well," Onuki said. "You are here to evaluate her body, not her mind."

"That's not going to be easy," Marty said, looking down at her. "She appears to be a human mixed up with a lizard and a feline." He felt her round breasts. "Her breasts are firm and the nipples are small. However, she doesn't appear to have an umbilicus. This is a contradiction." He ran a hand down her leg. "Her skin is smooth, not scaly, except around her neck and part of her face." He examined her face, moving her head from side to side. "She has feline eyes and a cute nose. I like the whiskers. Her mouth is more human, and she has cute little cat ears."

"Perhaps, you will learn more from an examination of her genitalia," Ferris said.

Marty pulled gloves on his hands and had the alien bend her knees and spread her legs. He separated her thick vulva.

"That's interesting. She has two large openings. Is one a vagina and the other for laying eggs?" He looked up at Ferris. "Is that possible?"

"When it comes to exobiology, anything is possible."

"Well," Marty said, taking off his gloves. "Whatever biological system she has, this individual deserves our respect. I, for one, am glad that I could rescue her from a very miserable situation. Take good care of her."

"You are wise, Martin," Onuki said.

On the way back to the command deck, Marty ran into Uma. "Hello, Uma," he said, teasing her with a big grin.

Uma lowered her eyes. "I am shamed by my stupid behavior. I apologize."

"Oh, come on," Marty said, smiling. "You were just trying to have fun."

She looked up at him with surprised eyes. "You are not angry with me?"

"Absolutely not," he said. "Your joke was well planned. We should have anticipated it."

"You are a wonderful man," Uma said, her eyes tearing. "I am afraid that Angelina is going to punish us for our bad behavior."

"Let me talk to her. Maybe I can get her to let you off with a warning." He came closer so that he could whisper. "Speaking off the record, we men like the attention, even when it's in the form of a practical joke."

Uma laughed, het eyes still glistening with tears. "You are teasing me, Martin."

He laughed.

Instead of going to the command deck, he went to his quarters. Before he could relax, his request bell sounded.

"Come in."

Angie entered and plopped down in a chair. "I have a problem."

"Just one problem?" Marty said, taking a seat on the couch opposite her chair.

"I don't know how I want to punish the women for what they did to you."

"How about not doing anything," he suggested.

"I don't get it. Weren't you angry?"

"Yeah, at the time we were, but we've gotten over it. I've discussed this with Tyler and Jean-Michael and we decided that we don't mind what they did. We definitely don't want them punished for just having fun."

"I take it that you enjoyed it," she said, smiling.

"I guess that's it. This mission is beginning to result in a lot of tension among the crew. They need to relieve it in some manner or it will get too much to endure."

"I know," Angie said, sounding serious. "I believe that the long jump resulted in a spate of mental problems that even Onuki can't alleviate. It also doesn't help that we just fought a terrible battle, and it appears that we may have to fight even worse battles. I think that the crew is frightened of what could happen."

"Well, I know one thing for sure: losing our tempers won't help the situation."

He didn't get an argument from Angie.

###

Marty looked at each individual seated around a conference table on Deck 2 and thought that he was at an alien convention. Honey sat to his left. Next to her sat Masai, Moto and Rosie. Karl sat to his right.

"The purpose of this meeting is to determine what our next destination should be. Keep in mind that our mission is to find the Dragon aliens' home world."

"The first thing we should discuss is what Moto thinks," Karl added. "Her people have explored the local space near their planet."

"Let me ask this," Marty said to Moto. "We're you aware of Masai's people?"

"We knew of them," Moto replied. "But they were not a threat."

"What about other nearby stars? Are any of them inhabited by intelligent life?"

"There are no such species within 40 light years," Moto said. "There is a star 27 light years from here with a planet that supports life."

"Our astronomers have detected this planet," Masai said. "It produces no electromagnetic waves in the micron range."

"This star system has been visited by Dragon ships," Rosie said. "Perhaps, they are using it as a base."

"The star in question is a G0 V class dwarf with a higher luminosity than our sun," Karl said. "I doubt that it's the Dragon home world."

"Agreed," Marty said. "But, I think that we should check it out." He turned to Moto. "Have your people experienced disappearances?"

"I do not understand."

"Do some of your people vanish without a trace?"

"This is not disclosed, but many females suffer this fate. We have attributed this to males, but males only kill us in ceremony, not in secret."

Marty and Karl exchanged concerned glances.

###

Jean-Michael smiled at Marty and Tyler, who were seated around his table in the recreation room on Deck 4, "The women are enjoying a swim. We should take their clothes like they did ours."

Marty shook his head. "Forget about it. First, one of those women is the Admiral. Second, don't you think that they thought of that possibility, and third, we don't want to be put on report. It wouldn't look good on our records." He smiled. "Besides, we men can take a joke."

"It was just a thought," Jean-Michael said. "There is the possibility that they want us to play their game."

"You may be right," Marty said. "The Admiral didn't seem upset about it."

The three men looked up from their cards when Ninja entered the room.

"Good evening, gentlemen," he said with a minimum of hissing. "I have a question for you, Martin."

"I'm listening."

"This Drak female, do you think that she would be possible for me."

"Ah, an affair of the heart. I am a poor choice for advice about the fair sex, my friend. My record with females is abysmal. However, Moto is an interesting female. As you know, the males of her world treat females as if they were property. Breaking through that cultural wall may be difficult. Perhaps, you have an advantage: you are not a Drak male."

Ninja digested this for several seconds before replying. "Thank you, Martin."

He went off satisfied. Obviously, humans were not the only bored species on board.

After a few minutes, Angie, Uma, Anna, Brigit and Lucia came out of the dressing room.

"If you guys want to use the pool, it's free," Angie said.

"Thanks," Marty said. "We could use a refreshing dip, right guys?"

Jean-Michael and Tyler nodded.

She smiled at him before exiting the recreation area.

"I smell a trick," Marty said. "But, I think that we should still play their game."

"Surely, they're not going to steal our clothes again, are they?" Tyler said.

"Nah, that would be too obvious," Marty said. He stood up. "Well, guys, let's go for it."

The entire swim session went without incident. Angie didn't interrupt, their clothes weren't stolen, and nobody waited for them to come out.

Marty bid his buddies a good evening and headed back to his quarters. He found Angie slumped in a chair in the common room with a sour look on her face.

"Are you still having problems, Admiral?"

"I'm just feeling down," she said, glancing up at him. "How did your swim go?"

"Fine. However, we were expecting a practical joke the entire time."

"I'm sorry. I didn't feel up to it. I'm still thinking about what Onuki told me."

"What was that?"

"She wanted to know if we . . . you and I had . . . you know. I told her that we hadn't and she wanted to know if you could achieve an . . . you know, and I told her I didn't know . . . you know."

Marty smiled. "I'll tell you what, Admiral: let's get you out of your uniform and see wat happens."

Her excited fingers started working on unfastening her jacket, but Marty took her in his arms and locked lips. She managed to get her jacket off while he worked on her blouse. He pulled it down but in the process they fell onto the couch. She loosened her skirt and was attempting to pull it down while he was working on her bra, all the while breathing hard, moaning and sweating.

"I am very sorry about this, Angie, but Dr. Takuya wants you to come to the Medical Station. She says that it's very important."

"Jesus, Delphi, I'm trying to get laid here."

"I apologize, Angie."

She got up, pulled her skirt back up. "Tell her I'll be right down." She put her blouse back on. "I'm sorry, Marty. We'll have to continue this later."

He just grinned at her. "Do you want to see what happened?"

"No, no," she said, putting her jacket back on. "I believe you."

His laughter followed her out of the common room.

Angie rushed off to the Med Station and found Onuki and Ferris waiting.

"This had better be important," she told them.

"You look upset, Angelina," Onuki said. "Did we wake you from sleep?"

"No. I was within seconds of following your advice, doctor."

Onuki and Ferris exchanged surprised glances.

"We are most sorry," Onuki said, bowing. "We did not know."

"That's okay," Angie said, smiling. "There's always the next time."

Ferris put on a professional face. "The reason why we called you is that one of your blood tests was flagged by the computer. It shows a high progesterone level."

"Is that because of the jump?"

"Perhaps, but we must reduce the levels or you will suffer unwanted symptoms."

Angie developed a scowl. "Like what?"

"You could begin lactating."

"My breasts do feel tighter," Angie said, touching them.

"Undress her," Onuki ordered Ferris.

Shit!

###

Marty rubbed his face in an attempt to remain awake. George had excused himself to go get some shut eye and Honey had gone down to the engines to do whatever she does with the engines. He was alone.

Not for long. Angie stumbled onto the deck and sat in her command chair.

Marty looked at her for a few seconds before saying anything. "What did Onuki want?"

"Oh, she said that my hormones are out of control. I'm lactating."

"Well, if you're pregnant, it wasn't my fault."

"I'm not pregnant, silly. I'm just suffering the symptoms of it."

"Are you going to want me to milk you?"

She gave him a disgusted look that morphed into a tease. "You wish."

"Hey, Masai enjoys it."

"I'm sure that you enjoy it, too."

"Well, yes, it is very pleasurable."

Angie grinned. "Maybe, it would be fun. How do you milk a female?"

"Same way that you milk a she-goat. You pull and squeeze the nipple. It's all in the wrist action."

"You're crazy."

"Yeah, crazy like a fox."

She didn't laugh, instead laying her head on the instrument dashboard. "I don't feel very well."

Marty messaged her neck. "You need to relax. You're uptight."

"I'm okay. I just need to get this damn mission over with."

"I know," Marty said. He felt sorry for her. She was enduring a lot for the benefit of many.