Sister Katherine (11 page)

Katherine had to restrain the urge to stroke his unhappy face.  “What a terrible loss.  And what horror that it has reduced you to abducting innocent Earther women.”

Vadef’s gaze jerked to her face.  His eyes widened.  “Please don’t see us as monsters, Katherine.”

“I don’t.  I see desperation that leads to monstrous acts.”

Had Vadef looked miserable before?  It was nothing compared to the hurt on his expression now.  Katherine hated that she had put that emotion on his face, but she could not tell him lies just to make him feel better.  Not when he and his kind were destroying lives to save their own.   

The Kalquorians needed to own up to the truth of their actions, no matter what hopelessness had made them feel they had no choice.

Chapter 6

Simdow hurried to his quarters after coming off duty.  It had been a long but exciting day.  They’d captured General Hamilton who had the information that would allow the Kalquorian fleet to invade Earth and end this stupid war.  They’d found many women to help save his race.  Better still, he had a Matara for his own clan, an actual woman to share his life with.

He was nervous too.  Simdow had read the medical team’s reports on the Earther women they’d captured.  On the advice of the Kalquorian medical and psychological boards, the spyship’s men had begun the process of re-educating the other women to accept sex as a natural and pleasurable function of their bodies.  Most of the Earther females loathed themselves simply for being women – an abhorrent state of affairs.  They saw themselves as inherently wicked and vile, brainwashed by their religion and government from birth.  Many were now being forcibly coerced into exploring sexual release by their captors, bound and intoxicated as they were pleasured.  It seemed merciless on the surface, and Simdow felt a pang of sympathy for the women.  However, he thought he could understand the home world’s tactics in making the Earther females understand that their bodies were to be worshipped, not reviled.

Katherine didn’t seem to despise herself.  She was afraid of him and his clanmates, but so far he’d seen nothing of actual revulsion.  More than ever, Simdow was convinced he didn’t want to subject her to coerced sex.  No matter his empire’s best guess on how to cope with the Earther females’ poor self-perceptions of themselves and intimacy, he was determined not to go that route with her.

He entered his quarters to see all three clanmates sitting on the edge of the bed.  Vadef balanced a tray of food on his knees, and Miv held a cup in his hand.  They were feeding Katherine in the traditional manner of clanmates.  All paused to look up at him.

Simdow held his hands up in mock surrender.  “I know, I’m later than I said I’d be.  My apologies.”

Vadef’s smile was understanding.  “Given the situation we’re in, I suppose we can forgive you this time.”

The Imdiko put the small morsel of pilchok he held to Katherine’s lips.  She accepted it daintily, even chewing with seeming pleasure.  Simdow was glad she wasn’t fighting the Kalquorian custom of a clan hand-feeding their Matara.  He knelt at her feet and gave her a smile.

“How are you doing, Katherine?”

Miv offered her the cup and she washed the food down before replying.  “I’m all right.  Your Imdiko and Nobek are treating me very well.”  She managed a weak smile.  “Although I find this business of them feeding me rather odd.”

Simdow fought to not stroke her legs.  He ached to touch her but restrained the urge for the moment.  “You will get used to it.  It is our greatest pleasure to serve you.”

Vadef handed him a tray from the small desk.  “Miv and I already finished our meals.  Eat while we tend her.”

Simdow tucked in.  He was starved.

Katherine gently chastised him.  “Not so fast.  You’ll choke if you don’t chew.”

He was touched by her concern, especially since she didn’t trust him at all yet.  “I missed a meal with everything that’s going on.”

“Yes, you look like you’d be happier with a shovel than that version of a fork.  Slow down, Simdow.”

He forced himself to eat like a civilized man, warming under Katherine’s gentle insistence.  She was so caring.

After a few moments of not bolting his food like a ravenous zibger, Simdow said, “I checked on your little ones.”

She animated immediately.  “Are they all right?”

He nodded.  “Perfectly fine.  We found the smallest one’s toy animal and a few other activities to distract the girls with.  They are all eating and doing well.”

Katherine relaxed, but Simdow didn’t miss the sadness that drifted over her face.  “May I speak to them sometime?  A vid or com perhaps?”

Simdow thought there would be no harm in such communication.  It would reassure his Matara and might make the children happy as well.  They had been most demonstrative of their feelings towards her.  “I’ll see what I can arrange.”

He joined in feeding Katherine.  She accepted their attentions with docile quiet until half the tray was empty.

“I can’t eat another bite,” she said.  She winced and her arms folded over her stomach as if in pain.

Before Simdow could voice his concerns, Vadef said, “She will see Dr. Degorsk tomorrow about those stomach pains.  She gets them every time she eats.”

Simdow frowned at the tray.  The portions had been small to begin with, even taking into account the fact she would require so much less food than a Kalquorian male.  “You haven’t had much, my lovely.  It’s no wonder you’re so thin.  Wasn’t there medical care on the colony?”

Katherine shrugged.  “A couple of the nuns are trained in nursing and herbology.  It’s only stress.”

Miv’s brows knit together in worry, but he kept his tone unconcerned.  “You’ll find out for sure tomorrow.  Dr. Degorsk is an odd one, but he is a very good doctor.”

Simdow watched as Vadef took their trays and placed it in the dish deposit slot for return to the kitchen for cleaning.  When the Imdiko settled at Katherine’s side again, penning her in once more between them, Simdow asked, “Have you napped today?  Rested at all?”

She shook her head.  “No.  Vadef encouraged me to, but I’ve felt too wired.  I’m on edge.”

Simdow felt a bolt of guilt.  The poor girl was so uneasy, and he was about to make her more so.  Her eyes were shadowed and red with exhaustion however, so he hoped the needs of her body would overcome her stress.

He told her, “It is late night hours on your colony.  I think we’re all overdue for some sleep.”

Miv asked quietly, “Sleep only, my Dramok?”

Simdow saw his Nobek’s concern.  Miv turned slightly towards Katherine, as if to shelter and defend her with his body, though he was careful not to touch.  The little nun didn’t know it, but she had a hell of a protector on her side.

The Dramok smiled despite worrying over what the next few minutes would bring.  He’d had the opportunity to read the report Vadef had sent on the convent’s practices and the religious beliefs of Katherine’s people.  His clan would not push her, at least not nearly as much as the other women had been.  Yet, she was not going to like what was about to happen.

He told them all, “Sleep only.”

Katherine relaxed her tense posture.  Her exhalation was audible.

Simdow stood.  “But we will sleep as we normally would, as will our Matara.  We will sleep as a Kalquorian clan.”

Vadef nodded, and after a moment, Miv did as well.  They stood too.  Without further ado, the three men began stripping off their boots and duty formsuits.  Katherine’s gasp rang out.

* * * *

The men were taking their clothes off, peeling the clinging fabric from their muscled bodies.  They were making themselves naked, right in front of her.  That could only mean one thing.

Katherine’s hands flew up to cover her eyes.  “Oh dear God, please no—”

Simdow’s voice was quiet, but it still seemed to fill her ears, much as the rustling fabric sounds did.  “Katherine, there is nothing to be afraid of.  We are not going to require you to give us sex.”

That helped slow her galloping heart, but it didn’t change the fact they stripped right there in front of her.  “You’re taking your clothes off!”

“We sleep nude.  It is our way.”

The sounds of the men disrobing ceased.  Silence reigned, so absolute that Katherine could only hear her own thudding heart and gasping breaths.  The quiet pressed down, a near-discernable weight on her.  It made her feel as if she had to look.

No.  She did not want to do that.  She did not want to see the three aliens naked. 

Yet she did.

Simdow’s tone held a slight tremor.  “Have you ever seen a man without his clothes?”

Katherine tightened her fingers against her eyes, as if they would fly open of their own accord and force her to look at what she should not.  “It is forbidden.”

“If you were on Earth, perhaps.  But now you are a part of Kalquorian society.  You may look.”

“I don’t want to.”  Her voice shook.

Vadef’s voice couldn’t be more gentle.  “Because you are afraid?”

Well, what else would she be?  Katherine retorted, “Of course I’m afraid.”

“It is only our bodies.  Not knowing what we look like might be more terrifying than facing up to what your life is now.”

His words were too reasonable for her to discount.  The awful curiosity pulled at Katherine, the intrigue almost too great to bear.  She realized fear of the unknown might indeed be worse than if she got the looking over with.  After all, there was no escape from this fate of being with the Kalquorians, was there?  She was trapped.

The tremor in Simdow’s voice had resolved into outright amusement.  “Start high, with our faces.  You’re used to looking at those.  Then work your way down.”

Katherine’s spine stiffened.  She neither appreciated that Simdow found her reactions funny, nor that he condescended to her.  She was not a child. 

Fine.  If they want me to look and see their shamefulness, then I will.  Perhaps the humiliation of it will make them behave.

Her voice tight with disapproval, she said, “All right.  I’m going to look at you.”

She slowly lowered her hands to her lap.  Then she tilted her head upward, so she wouldn’t see their nakedness right away.  She opened her eyes and stared into their faces.

Simdow was biting his lips together, his eyes sparkling with merriment.  He was as naughty and mischievous as a young boy, and Katherine gave him her most stern look.  That only seemed to make it harder for him to keep the hilarity in.

Vadef was smiling too, but it was with hopeful concern.  He didn’t want her to be afraid, she saw.  The Imdiko was as sweet as ever, but he was still naked.  Katherine couldn’t find a glare for him nonetheless.

Miv’s expression was grave.  Apprehensive.  His ferocity hid behind a mask of anxiety.  Katherine was touched by how uneasy this exercise made him feel.

Well, she couldn’t look at their faces forever.  She inched her gaze down to their torsos.

Miv wore more scars there.  On his strong, chiseled frame, they accentuated the powerful muscles rather than detracting from them.  He was a wonder of form, his chest and arms swollen with brawn.  His stomach was a fascinating study of uniform hills in double rows.  Miv’s body was the most robust she’d ever seen, daunting and yet awe inspiring all at once.

Simdow was not as imposing, though his body was filled with taut muscles as well.  He was built more gracefully, his body well-formed without the heaviness.  Seeing him and Miv side by side was like looking at a buck deer next to a moose.  Simdow displayed strength and refinement all in one stunning package.

If Miv was a moose and Simdow was a buck, then Vadef was a gazelle.  His lithe frame still possessed the lovely defined lines of muscles, but they were so much more delicately drawn than the other two.  He was not nearly as formidable as his clanmates.  In fact, he almost looked fragile in comparison.

Katherine had to restrain a snort at herself.  Vadef was the smallest male of the trio, but he was still built like a tank compared to most Earther men she’d seen.  He certainly could overwhelm her if he chose to.  She had no doubt she was no match for him, strength-wise.

Katherine readied herself to look farther down at the sinful baby-making flesh.  The men’s shameful parts were at the bottom of her vision.  So far she’d managed to keep herself from really seeing it.  Her heart pounded anew as she prepared to sully her gaze.

Forgive me this sin.  If they are to malign my body with theirs, I need to see the weapons so as to prepare myself.

Since Vadef intimidated her the least, she looked at him first.  Two lengths of flesh hung between his legs, one behind the other.  They were shaded slightly darker than the rest of his skin, and but for the difference in their sizes, they were identical.  Broadest at their bases, they tapered gradually to bullet tips.  Though somewhat large to Katherine’s worried gaze, they looked soft and blameless and utterly harmless. 

She looked at Simdow and Miv’s sexual organs.  Again, they simply hung from their groins, looking odd but not monstrous.  Katherine frowned a little.  Hadn’t these pieces of flesh been likened to battering rams?  Terrible, goring appendages designed to brutally invade the softness of woman and make her quicken with child?

Something confused her.  Her voice stronger than she expected to hear it, Katherine said, “I was told men only have one – um – one—”

Simdow chuckled as he supplied the word she couldn’t drive past her lips.  “Cock.  Or penis, if you prefer.”

His continued amusement with her discomfort made Katherine angry.  “Yes.  Penis.”  She tried not to notice how her face heated at the word.  She had every idea she’d gone as red as a lobster.  “You’re only supposed to have one.”

Miv corrected her, his voice careful.  “Earther males have one.  Kalquorian males have two.”

Katherine realized she was still staring at their private parts.  Flushing hotter still, she jerked her eyes back to their faces.  “Okay.  I knew there were some differences in our species.  I wasn’t aware that was one of them.  Will you stop laughing at me?” she said to Simdow, scowling at the repressed hilarity he was struggling to control.