Ryock

Isla’s eyes widen slightly at the word forever. “Mmm. I like the sound of that, but what exactly do you mean by forever? Because it sounds different when you say it.”

“Different, how?” I ask, not entirely sure I follow her.

Even with our translators, sometimes the words we use can have different connotations to them. Sometimes they completely fail to translate a word and instead create a long static buzz.

“Like there is forever until the end of time, and then there is forever… mystical type stuff.”

“Ah,” I start. “I believe it is the second type of forever, with a good dose of the first.”

“Huh?” She quirks her eyebrows at me.

Looking down at her luscious body, I stare long at her firm breasts. The hard nipples point out at me from her chest. I want to run my tongue across them again, then lightly nibble and suck them hard.

But I fear we’ve spent enough time here at our bathing spot.

Her slender finger lifts my chin and she giggles. “You’ve had enough boobs for now.”

Purring deeply, I shake my head. “There is never enough time for your boobs, but we should make our way back to the skiff.”

Looking around us, she nods her head.

Pulling away from her, I take her hand as we walk back to where we left our clothing and the backpack. I doubt the planet will get too cold in the darkness tonight, considering the vegetation around us, but I can’t be sure that’s not the time when the predators come out of hiding.

Hefting the pack onto my shoulder, I reach out for her hand again. Watching her get dressed is never pleasant. Too much clothing for such a delicious body.

Walking back towards our escape skiff, I veer from our original path and try taking a more circular route. It’s not that anything seems amiss, but I want to see more of our surroundings now that we have food and water readily available.

If we happen to be next to a breeding ground of nesting snakes, it would be helpful to know.

“You didn’t answer my question from before, Ryock. And this doesn’t look like the same way we came,” Isla says as she prods my arm gently.

Looking around us, I move towards the deepening jungle of trees. “I wanted to get a better look around to ensure we’re the only big bads in this area.”

Chuckling, she says, “The big bads?”

“It’s never too early to establish your territory.”

I can almost feel the roll of her eyes before I look over to her beautiful face.

“You’re not going to go peeing all over the trees and dirt mounds, are you?” she asks.

“No… Is that something your earthling males do to mark territory?”

Her musical laughter makes me a little too happy in my stomach. Just the sound of it is enough to bring a smile to my face.

“No, though a lot of the animals on my world do. I don’t doubt though that some of the males would do it to their women if they could get away with it.”

“Hmph… Your world sounds quite different than mine.”

“It most likely is. Probably more the same, just in different ways. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, my dear one. From your actions, and the way you treat me, I don’t believe your society is a matriarchal one.”

“You can say that again.” She laughs, but there is little humor in it. “Even in today’s modern times, it still feels like women aren’t as valuable as men. We’re still fighting for equal pay, excluded from many things, and sexual harassment has never truly gone away.”

“Sexual harassment?” That sounds conflicting.

“Yeah, men will harass a woman sexually. Either through touching or intimidation.”

“The women of my world would never stand for such a thing. It is unheard of for a male to improperly… suggest himself to a woman. There are strict laws governing such behavior.”

“Do women force men to do things for special favors or job placement?”

“No, but there is no need to,” I say as we wind our way around a massive fallen tree.

The tree’s old, decaying body has several small caverns furrowed into its sides from animals and insects. Some of the caverns are almost large enough for Isla and I to enter. The sheer size of this tree, and those around it, speak of the jungle’s age. This must be what my planet looked like long ago before we started destroying it out of greed.

“The men of my world are to be seen but not heard. We’re mostly used for breeding purposes. We fight the wars and die in them so that our society can maintain its… normalcy, I guess is the best word for it. The Crima have ensured our society will stay the way it is as long as we do as they say. Give them soldiers and our resources, they’re happy and the women who rule our planet don’t worry too much.”

“Wait, you mean you’re bred out like a stud horse?”

“Horse is an animal, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“Unless we are shown to be gifted, like me with my healing and superior rage, men are not truly cared about. The gifted are used more heavily for breeding purposes. They breed us more than the regular males. It doesn’t always work though because the gifted are still rare.”

“So you were more of a prized horse?”

We’ve been slowly making our way towards the escape skiff in a long, sweeping path. We will probably have to backtrack some to get back, but I want to make sure I don’t see anything to worry about.

“Yes, somewhat. But it is difficult to explain,” I say, and I can feel my body tense with frustration. My people were so close to advancing ourselves past the old ways, past what had held us back for so very long.

Her soft hand grips mine as she asks, “You okay?”

Nodding my head, I look up at the sun’s location. It is falling steadily in the sky, and I don’t give us more than a couple hours before dark. “Yes. Let’s start our way toward the ship. Tomorrow we need to explore further on the other side of the skiff.”

“Okay, I’m sorry if I—” she starts to say.

“Don’t be, my dear star, it is a part of us now. You should know that your mate is considered a heretic at the very best of times.” I smile down at her. I’m not sure if it’s to take the bite out of my words or if I have become proud of the title since I found Isla.

“Heretic? Like… really? And is this ‘us’ thing a part of the ‘forever’ thing?” She asks as she makes little motions with her free hand.

It’s all connected in some way. I wish I knew how to explain it to her. Even I am confused by much of it. If only I hadn’t been removed so quickly from father’s home. If I had been able to learn more from the hidden books he kept. If I had been able to connect with the more radical fringe groups…

If, if, if.

Too many if’s in my past. And I would like to bury them there, to leave them behind. But as my father says, just because you bury something, it doesn’t make it dead.

“I was labeled a heretic because I would not allow myself to be bred out like a prized animal for my regeneration gifts. I was labeled a trouble-maker when I demanded fair treatment and the end of male subjugation. I was a heretical outcast doomed and excommunicated. When I said we should break the chains the Crima had around our throats, I became a criminal.”

“Isn’t excommunicated and being labeled a heretic the same thing?”

“Yes and no.” I say as the memories of the religious court proceedings slowly pass through my mind. “Being labeled a heretic meant I could be reformed. When I pushed further, they labeled me ‘dangerous’ and ordered me to be removed from all religion on my planet. It is like… removing one’s hand. I was cut off from everyone. That I dared to speak ill of the bastard bugs… That was too much. They hunted me down and threw me to the Crima, with them given full acknowledgement of my crimes. The Crima bugs do not like it when one tries to take away their yoke.”

“I’m sorry, Ryock, that sounds horrendous. Did your family not try to stand by you?”

“No, my father was too worried about his own hide to try to save a useless son. My mother only cared about how it made the family look to others. The women of our planet are very distant to male offspring. They leave the raising of males to the fathers.”

“Wow. That sucks.”

I shrug. “It is what it is. My race will eventually fade away when the Crima no longer find them useful.”

“Tell me about us,” she says as we come in sight of the escape skiff.

The ship left a huge hole in the canopy of trees and there’s a small crater in the ground caused by our rough landing.

“We are bonded now,” I say and shrug out of the pack as we near the skiff.

“You’ve said that before, but what does it mean? Does it have anything to do with what happened back there at the swimming pool?”

“What do you mean?”

“We were one back there when we made lo—I mean had… you know…”

I notice that slip of that word again.

“While we made love? Our souls joined. It is not something I thought possible.”

Tugging my hand towards her, she stops to get my attention. “You need to start from the beginning.”

Pointing to a tree we knocked down in the rough landing, I pull us to sit down on it. “My father has a set of books that were written long before my race left the planet. They are part of why I was considered a heretic.”

“Long ago, it was thought that our souls were split into halves. One going to say… me, and the other to you. The books spoke of the desperate search for our other half. Tossed across the lands, we were forced to search for the one who would bring us true happiness. However, not all found their other half, and over time, many stopped searching.”

“So, you think we found our soulmates?”

I contemplate that word, soulmate, and find it aptly fitting.

“Yes. I believe it.”

“Why did your people quit searching?”

“In the beginning, it was easily explainable when we didn’t find our true mate. We believed that we would endlessly reincarnate in our search. Perhaps one half had died and it was a simple matter of alignment. We just needed to wait until the next cycle and we would find the one we were looking for. But as more and more searches became fruitless, we began to fade away. After a time, many didn’t even bother to search. They were content for the now, not for the eternity. It didn’t happen overnight, but slowly, through the centuries and millennia, those ways became lost and removed from memory.”

“But, what I felt back there… Was it real? Because I swear it was amazing. Scary and amazing. And so right that it was scary again,” Isla says as she shakes her head, “I know that doesn’t make sense, but it was so unexplainable when it happened that I can hardly believe it happened. If I wasn’t there, if I didn’t experience it, I doubt…”

“You would have doubts if someone had told you it happened to them,” I say as I pull her over onto my lap.

She protests at first, but when I wrap my arms around her and purr softly, she leans her head back.

“Yeah, not going to fight this right now. It’s like you’re one of those vibrating chairs that is supposed to massage the back.”

“That was part of why my people quit hoping. It became rarer and rarer for us to find someone, and it became rude to speak of it when we did because others were left without knowing the true bliss it brings.”

“Bliss. I like that word. It was so intense and so unreal, but the bliss… It’s hard to describe.”

“And the jealousy of that bliss,” I say as I inhale her scent in my nose.

She still has that slightly chemical smell to her from the soap, but I can still smell her underlying scent.

It’s intoxicating if I let myself fall into it.

“So what happened?”

“Night turned into day. Life moved on. Even now, when a pair find their soulmate on my planet, it is kept between themselves. The women will no longer take new lovers. The male will move into the house but in a servant position.”

“Can I ask something maybe stupid?” she asks quietly as we watch the world darkening around us.

“Nothing is stupid, my love.”

Her head snaps around to stare at me and I grin. “I hear your little slip ups, my dear. You may be avoiding the use of the word, but I will not. I do not fear words, nor should you.”

“Yeah… well. Shit. You see… Um.” She’s stammering and blushing, but she isn’t moving away from me, which I will count as a win in my favor.

“I see, what?”

“My question… What happens when we die if we didn’t find each other?”

“Like I said, we would be reborn to continue our search. That is why my people gave up, it seemed pointless to them. Some never found their mate, so why bother?”

“What happens now that we found each other?”

I grin. “Each time we die now, we will feel the direction in which to go. We will know intimately what the other is feeling and thinking. As I said, we are bonded forever.”

Her eyes widen. “Fuck. Wow…”

I chuckle. “It was written though, that eventually we will both pass on to new plane of existence when we both rea—

There’s a sudden squealing noise to our right and a small, furry rodent dashes out of a bush, surprising us both.

Isla jolts in my lap and gives her own squeal before we both burst into laughter.

“Okay, perhaps that’s a sign we should head in now,” she grins when our laughter dies away.

I nod my head and help her to her feet.

Once we’re both standing, I palm my blaster and eye the direction the rodent ran.

“Yes, we should head inside, but not before we catch our dinner.”