Alien Mate (11 page)

“You know you don’t have to,” he said, gliding into the room to wrap his strong blue arms around her.

“Why? Are you cooking?” she asked, smiling up at him.

His brows shot up, and he laughed. “Me? No, why would I do that when we have a brand new Culinary 6000?”

“A what?”

“Let me show you instead,” he said with a sexy grin. “Name a food you’d like to eat.”

45

Diana thought for a minute, chewing her bottom lip. Then her eye was caught by the purple casserole. “Lasagna.”

Kor grabbed two metallic blue plates from the cupboard and said, “Meal request. Earth lasagna for two.” A slot slid open in the backsplash that bordered the counter, and Kor slid the two plates in. The slot shut, only to reopen almost immediately with a ping. Kor pulled out the plates, now steaming with—and here Diana blinked—what looked like lasagna.

“What is that, like, the world’s fastest food delivery ever?” she asked in disbelief.

“No, just the most current food synthesizer.”

Diana looked at her steamy plate and sniffed the steam coming off of it. “You mean this isn’t real?”

“Yes and no. Samples of dishes have been analyzed at a molecular level and entered into an enormous database of foods. Using this molecular knowledge, the synthesizer recreates the meals. It is not always as exact, or should I say the food isn’t quite like something made with true ingredients. However, especially with foreign foods whose ingredients can’t be found, it’s an adequate substitute.”

Diana’s tummy growled again, and she shrugged. Fake food or not, she was hungry.

Then she thought of something—actually two things. “The food on the ship, was it synthesized too?”

Kor nodded. “That was a Culinary 5000, an older model.”

“Does it make garlic bread too?”

To her delight, it did, and while not as good as Gino’s back home, it tasted a heck of a lot better than anything she’d ever attempted to cook.
Well at least we won’t starve,
she thought happily. Diana also made a mental note to see if she could get a menu of things the Culinary 6000 could provide. A whole new gustative horizon beckoned her healthy appetite.

When dinner was over, Diana picked up the plates and carried them over to the counter to wash them, but again stopped, stymied. “Where’s the sink?” she asked, perplexed.

Kor, with a chuckle, took the dishes from her. He opened a drawer she’d thought was empty, dropped them in, and shut it. Thirty seconds later they heard a ping, and opening the drawer, Diana almost wept, for there were the spotless dishes. No more dishpan hands for her. Heck, she didn’t even have to rinse them or scrape food off.

I think I’m going to like this world. Already they have taken two chores I disliked and turned it into a
dummy-proof and laborless miracle. I love it!

But now what to do? Diana’s body felt too full from eating to make love, and she wondered what married folk did here for entertainment.

“How about a walk?” suggested Kor.

Diana eagerly agreed. She dressed quickly in a clean veil outfit that Kor produced for her from a hidden closet in the bedroom. From another hidden closet in the front hall, Kor pulled out a silvery cloak for her and a black jacket for himself. Holding hands, they walked out of their home into the cooler evening air, and for a moment Diana held her breath and stopped, absolutely stunned by her first view of a night sky so different from her own.

For one thing, three pale moons shone in the sky above her, two small and one large, each an antique white that glowed. And the stars! My God, the times she’d managed to see the ones back home—an hour or so drive out of town—they’d seemed plenty, but out here they took over the night sky, blinking and twinkling and shooting, a constant ever-changing tableau.

“Is the sky always so busy?” she asked, craning her head to watch a particularly bright star zipping across the sky.

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“Some say we live at the very edge of the universe, where worlds, stars, and even galaxies are constantly being born and dying.”

“What do you think?”

“I think the sky isn’t half as interesting as you are.”

Diana blushed in the dark, both surprised and pleased by his compliment. “I forgot to ask on the ship. Does your planet have the same time setup as us? You know days, hours, minutes.”

“Yes and no. We do have days divided into cycles. Our cycles correspond to the movement of the moons in the sky and are similar to your concept of hours, but longer. Like your planet, we also work and play when the sun’s shining and relax and sleep when darkness falls at night.”

“I feel like a child trying to learn to read time again,” Diana grumbled.

“Why not ask Alphie to teach you the things you need to know?”

“Isn’t Alphie still on the ship?”

“All of our planetary computer systems are all conjoined. The Alphie persona I deal with is one specially adapted to interact with me and is accessible to me wherever a computer can be found. And by that extension, accessible to you as well. So in space or on land, we can be subjected to his debatable form of humor.”

Diana found herself quite happy to know her computer friend would still be around.

She’d quite enjoyed Alphie’s sarcasm and wit. “But how do I talk to him?”

“Just say his name in our home or on any vid comm to speak to him.”

“Vid comm?”

Kor unclipped a small box from his waist and showed it to her. Similar to an iPhone, with a screen but no buttons, Kor spoke to it. “Alphie, can we have a vid comm delivered for Diana by tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” replied Alphie, his familiar voice coming out of seemingly nowhere.

“Thanks, Alphie,” said Diana, amazed at the technology Kor kept showing her.

“I don’t understand one thing, though,” she said after Kor put the vid comm away. “If you need that to talk to Alphie, then how come when we were on Earth and those other places, you could talk to Alphie without it?”

“Ah,” said Kor, grinning. “Noticed that, did you? When in space, especially when visiting planets other than our own that aren’t as technologically advanced, we use an implant in our ear to speak with the ship computer. This prevents our technology from falling into hands that might not be ready for it.”

“Why not just use the implant all the time?”

“Well for one thing, the implant can only speak to us and hear what’s going on, as well as pinpoint our location. The vid comms can do much more than that. I’ll show you when you get yours.”

“Sounds good. But you know what I’d rather see right now?”

“What?”

“You naked in the bathroom for some
cleaning
.” And with those daring words, Diana, with a laugh, turned around and ran back up the street to their house. She laughed even harder when her new husband, with his longer stride, scooped her up as he ran past, not stopping ’til he held her naked body panting in the bathroom.

It took two attempts to get clean, but damn, it was worth it.

* * * *

47

The next morning Diana, clearing off the dishes from the little table, nearly wet herself when a slot by the floor opened up and a whirring robot zipped out.

“What the hell is that?” she exclaimed, resisting an urge to hop up on a chair and tuck up her feet.

Kor barely glanced up from his vid comm, where he browsed the news. “It’s the house cleaner.”

Diana, realizing this little tin bucket on wheels was considered normal, watched it zip around on the floor and, yes, sucked up dirt. Jane Jetson eat your heart out—she had her own collection of robots that did it all.

Kor put aside his vid comm and looked up at her. “I was thinking perhaps we’d go shopping today. Alphie says Earth women enjoy that type of excursion.”

“I’ll get dressed,” said Diana, already hurrying out of the room. She couldn’t wait to see what wonders could be found on this planet.

In no time at all, they found themselves in front of a large edifice with wide glass doors.

“Is this like a mall?” she asked, looking up at the building that lacked signs.

“I’m not sure what you mean. Inside we will find a collection of vendors with goods that we may select from.”

With an arm around her waist, he guided her inside. Diana looked around in curiosity, for instead of a venue lined by boutique fronts, they instead found themselves facing a counter with a screen sitting on top.

A face appeared on the screen, startling Diana. “Welcome to the Emporium. Please state your name.”

“Kor’iander Vel Menos and mate.”

Diana frowned at him. “I have a name, you know.”

“Yes, but no money to spend. The purchases we make today will be deducted from my credit account, hence the use of my name only. I’ve already sent in a request for you to have your account set up with funds of your own to spend.”

Diana blinked in surprise. “You did?”

“Let’s just say I had a feeling.”

“You thought right. And once I get settled in, we’ll have to talk about what I can do to bring in some more money to help out.” Seeing him about to open his mouth and probably spout something hugely male and arrogant, she shook her head. “Nonnegotiable, buddy.

Until the kids come along, I want to do my part. Humor me, okay?”

With a nod and a sigh, he agreed. A door opened to the side of the counter, and a slick-looking blue guy walked out.

Kind of looks like a used car salesman back home.
Diana had to bite her lips so as to not giggle.

They followed him into a windowless room with just one large plush bench in the middle.

Kor seemed to think this was normal, but Diana’s brow creased as she looked around.
I
thought we were shopping for furniture.
At the salesman’s urging, they seated themselves on the bench.

“What would you like to see first?” asked Kor.

Diana chewed on her lip. “Um, couches.”

The blank wall in front of them immediately showed them a large picture of a sofa.

Diana shook her head. The couch looked stiff and uninviting.

Kor spoke up. “Deep-cushioned, medium-backed, with armrests and . . .” He looked at her. “What color?”

Diana thought of their bland living room. “Red,” she blurted.

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The image on the wall changed to eight couches that looked a lot more comfortable in varying shades of crimson. One in particular caught her eye, and she pointed it out to Kor.

Kor tilted his head at the salesman, and Diana had to restrain a gasp as the couch she’d selected suddenly materialized right in front of them. Kor helped her up and went to look it over, an incredulous Diana by his side. They bounced on the cushions, and Kor, to Diana’s blushing embarrassment, yanked her onto his lap to make sure it was comfortable for snuggling. Then, to make matters worse, he demanded she lie across it so he could see how she looked. Diana thought about arguing, but the light in his eyes had her captivated, and besides, it seemed their slick salesman had seen it before, as he paid them no mind.

Finally Kor said, “We’ll take it.” Then he whispered in her ear, “I can’t wait to see you naked on it later.” An instant erotic rush infused her, and she knew her cheeks were burning bright.

Diana picked out the rest of their furnishings, only hesitating a few times wondering how much it would all cost, but Kor just smiled and nodded at her to continue ’til they had furnishings and accessories for the whole house.

Shopping done, they went for food, but what a restaurant. The building floated above the clouds with windows all round in the dining area. Diana kept forgetting to eat so dazzled was she by the pillowy soft beauty of the sky around them.

At Kor’s chiding laughter, she ate a few mouthfuls of food, then found herself distracted again when she noticed how many humans sat at tables throughout the dining room. Only a few of the women were blue. The rest spanned most of the nationalities from Earth, it seemed. And then there were a few who didn’t look human or Xamian.

She leaned over and whispered to her husband, “The pink lady over there? Is she an abductee too?”

Kor winced. “I wish you wouldn’t use that term. But yes, she is a chosen one as well from a planet in another star system.”

“How come I haven’t seen more wives like her? It seems most of us are from Earth.”

“Their species doesn’t seem to adapt as well to the mating ritual. Their females tend to be very dominant.”

Diana giggled. “Don’t like being told who to marry, do they? I didn’t see that stopping you.”

“You didn’t have a four-foot dagger to prove your point.”

Diana perked up with interest. Now these were some ladies who sounded interesting.

She pestered him with questions, which he patiently answered. After their meal, they visited some more shops, a few with delicacies that couldn’t be reproduced from other planets. The hour growing late, and the dinner with his parents fast approaching, they finally went home. Fatigue made her yawn, until she walked into their living room and saw their big, new red couch. Remembering Kor’s words from earlier, she flushed with heat.

Kor came up behind her and nibbled the soft skin of her neck. “I want to see you naked on the couch. Now.”

Diana shivered. “Don’t we have to get ready to go to your parents’?”

“Not ’til I have you,” he growled in her ear. He nipped her earlobe, and Diana shuddered. “I’ve been thinking about being with you all day.” He punctuated his words with a rub, the hardness in his groin evident against her backside.

Diana’s knees trembled as she walked over to the new couch. Turning to face him, she undid the clips that held her clothes together, and they fell in a silken heap on the floor.

With glowing eyes, he regarded her, and her nipples puckered at his look. Sensual longing filled her veins. She draped herself on the couch, one leg bent with her foot on the floor, 49

exposing her to his view. His eyes immediately turned smoldering, which, in turn, made her wet. With quick strides he came to her, his impatient hands ripping his own clothing away ’til he covered her, skin to skin. He kissed her roughly, his sinuous tongue darting inside her mouth and seeking her own. His fingers found the juncture of her thighs and toyed with her, sliding into her moistness easily. She moaned and arched against him. As impatient as she, he sheathed himself between her thighs, his curved organ unerringly finding her sweet spot and stroking it. Diana wrapped her legs around him as he turned her so that he could kneel on the floor and grip her by the waist. He pumped her, his smooth, hard length welcomed by her wet cleft. She looked up and gasped. Kor watched her intently, his eyes aglow. With his wild black hair ruffled from her hands, and his vivid blue skin, he resembled a demon lover.