CollisionWithParadise (15 page)

Some legends never changed, Genevieve thought, recalling Earth’s own versions from Greek mythology, Plato’s writings and even the Bible,
the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose.

“They created a hybrid species of superior intellect and physique. Giant immortals.” Diaprepes beamed. “Us.”

Of course, thought Genevieve.
There were giants in the earth in those days
…
and…when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men…the same became mighty men.
She scoffed, “But, you aren’t giants. Or immortal.”

He laughed sharply, colouring as though he’d been caught lying. “Only remnants now,” he said, looking down to study his large hands. She couldn’t help a glance down to his most distracting extremity.

“What happened?” she prompted, forcing her eyes back up to his.

“At first we embraced all that was good and virtuous. Then we became less and less like the Epoptes as our genetic material became more and more diluted with native blood. We became conceited and arrogant. We lost respect for everything and polluted our world. We’d learned the skills of the Epoptes in manipulating nature and our technological prowess grew unlimited and dangerous. We’d harnessed particle and wave energy and forces, we had ships that flew in the sky and extensive communications. Driven by hubris and greed, we used our knowledge unwisely to gain more power for ourselves. It was our undoing. We became tainted by pride. We started to think
we
were gods. Then we forgot our pledges of fairness, moderation and restraint or thought ourselves above them. Ambition overcame restraint and we strove for even greater power. We enslaved and exploited the lesser and inferior natives. We used them as labourers and even as subjects for our planetary experiments.”

He shook his head ruefully then continued, “The Epoptes became angry with us and with themselves for having created us, so after selecting a few still virtuous ones for the seed ship, they flung the asteroid ring at the planet, causing earthquakes and giant tsunamis to flood the entire continent we inhabited in one day. And in a huff, they left with a few of us to another planet to start afresh.”

“Interesting,” she said, thinking how strikingly similar legends and myths were from one side of the galaxy to another.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and…the earth also was corrupt…and filled with violence
.“In the Christian Bible, our God—”

“The one you keep referring to when you are upset or startled?”

“Yeah,” she said with a wry smile, “That one. Anyway,” she continued, “Seeing the total wickedness and moral decay that humanity had fallen into, Jehovah caused a flood that destroyed all life on the world, save a chosen few…and in Plato’s writings, the god Zeus destroyed and sank the continent of Atlantis in a disastrous earthquake and flood, supposedly at the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age 11,600 years ago, because they’d become decadent and immoral…So the story goes,” she added, noting Diaprepes’ strange expression.

He made a strained smile and said quietly, “Then we are not unique, it seems.”

“No,” she agreed in a subdued voice, her gaze involuntarily drifting to where his immense cock hung between his muscular legs like a sleeping lion. “You aren’t.” She swallowed. At least his legend was plausible, given that it had been told by its survivors. What had bothered her about some of Earth’s legends, like Atlantis, was that its people had all supposedly perished in the deluge. That left no one to tell the tale. Thinking of Earth’s legends, she posed, “Do you think there may have been any survivors of your kind in your homeland?”

Diaprepes pondered for a moment. “It’s possible. They might have been travelling afar and made it to high ground. Perhaps the natives remained. They were hardy. We’ll never know unless someone travels back there some day.”

Chapter Fourteen

Genevieve was left on her own to watch the darkness of night unfold. As the light outside diminished her room glowed with its own light. Realizing that she was exhausted, Genevieve threw off her robe, wishing she could dispense with it altogether, and washed her body in the deep basin and waterfall that flowed naturally in the bathroom adjoining her bedroom. After a refreshing wash, she stepped out of the bathing basin and felt warm air flow over her from above. When she looked up, she saw a kind of tube that looked a little like an elephant’s trunk. Another incredible extension of this living house. Once dry, Genevieve returned to the bedroom and stroked the
zoch
open. After some hesitation, she stepped inside and felt the cover close over her. Despite her reservation about lying inside a living thing, the
zoch
was incredibly comfortable and soft, and she soon drifted into her first dreamless sleep.

The next morning Genevieve roused, feeling very refreshed. After showering, she left her room, looking for anyone. She found Azaes’s busty young housemaid in the kitchen, cooking. The naked girl could not speak English and they resorted to energetic sign language, facial expressions and fits of laughter. Genevieve discovered that the girl’s name was Anka and that she would make breakfast for her.

Anka was a spry and cheerful girl. Her curiosity for Genevieve lay particularly with her hair. Anka frequently took to staring at Genevieve’s long tresses, while bringing her hand up to her own smooth head.

Once Genevieve finished a wonderful meal of what she concluded was blue scrambled eggs of some fowl, roasted potatoes with a sweet green jelly and a sweet fleshy yellow fruit, Anka handed her an aromatic hot beverage and removed her empty plate. As Genevieve sipped the sweet drink, she noticed Anka lingering and turned to look at her. Anka giggled, then touched her bald head and swiftly reached out as if to pat Genevieve’s head with a look of deep yearning.

Genevieve smiled and, tapping her head, invited Anka to touch her hair. Anka hesitated, but couldn’t pass up the offer and approached nervously. Genevieve noticed that Anka’s hand trembled as she stroked her head, tickling rather pleasantly.

Anka stepped back and giggled again. She looked down and spread her legs apart to display her naked labia then pointed to her crotch. It reminded Genevieve of a little girl’s vagina, smooth, innocent and vulnerable. Anka gazed back at Genevieve with a sly grin. Genevieve laughed, understanding. Thinking it all innocent between two curious females of two alien species, Genevieve flung off her robe and spread her legs apart to show the girl her furry triangle. The girl gasped and stared. Genevieve hadn’t expected such a reaction. She also hadn’t intended to permit Anka to touch her there, but Anka simply moved and there she was, kneeling before her with hands gently cupped over her mound.

Genevieve inhaled sharply, not sure what her feelings were apart from some delight. The girl’s touch was innocent and reverent as she teased the coarse hairs into a sensual dance then gently guided Genevieve’s hand to her own naked mound.

The two women seized in sharp breaths simultaneously―

“What are you doing!?” Azaes shouted in her head in English as he barked out the foreign equivalent. He stood at the doorway, dressed in a robe for Genevieve’s benefit no doubt, staring angrily at the two naked women.

Anka flinched and jerked back. She scrambled up as Genevieve flung her robe back on and surged to her feet, face burning. She redirected her shocked embarrassment into anger, “You will please speak to me directly. I know you can speak English.”

“Very well,” he grunted. He muttered an imperative to Anka, who scuttled out of the dining room, then he turned back to Genevieve with a glower. “What were you doing to my sister?”

Genevieve swallowed involuntarily, throat suddenly dry. “Sister?”

“I would kindly ask you not to initiate interaction with any Eosians until I determine that it is safe and permissible for both parties,” he said with obvious condescension. Was he thinking of her earlier compulsive action with him? “You may influence them in ways you are not even aware. I ask you to please
restrain yourself
.”

The last words had come out rather harshly and she felt her face burn hotter then it had in a long time. It sparked a defensive anger as she recalled that the sister had instigated it all. “I initiated nothing. It was your sister.”

“You are too impetuous and unthinking. First you come uninvited, showing incredible hubris and disrespect, then you injure Eos with that abomination of a living thing.”

She assumed he meant Zac

“Now this insolent behaviour.”

Insolent!
“I had no choice!” she protested. She imagined the long scar Zac had left as it cut a swath of destruction for several kilometres. It couldn’t be helped. “If your Epoptes hadn’t damaged my ship, I wouldn’t have been forced to land it.”

“I’m not interested in excuses,” he said, waving her off.

“Excuses!” Anger flushed up her face. “Your Epoptes caused the deaths of eleven of my crewmates. I just damaged some of Eos’s ecosystem. I think we’re more than even!”

He paced the floor, throwing flustered glances at her. “You use the word ecosystem cavalierly, as though it describes a
thing
, not a living system.” He waved an arm contemptuously. “That pathetic mockery of a living sentient being you call your ship destroyed scores of our sacred forest. It will be centuries before they return to what they were.” He shook his head. “You don’t understand. You are…you are…” he trailed, clearly at a loss for a suitable description.

She swallowed, wondering what equivalent the Eosians had to “bitch”.

He waved his arms energetically, almost violently, making her blink and involuntarily recoil. “And they are not
our
Epoptes. They do not belong to us. We do not control them.”

She remembered Diaprepes saying the same thing. Perhaps they were a little touchy about that, she thought. Azaes seemed touchy about a lot of things. “Well, maybe you should,” she said sourly.

The anger in his face lifted for a moment as he studied her with new intensity. She almost preferred his anger to this uncomfortable inspection. He stopped pacing and folded his arms over his chest, tilting his head sideways, all the while studying her with a disagreeable frown. “You are the first off-worlder to set foot on Eos since we have. Why? Why?”

He was obviously muttering rhetorically, not expecting her to have any inkling of a response. “They didn’t destroy the ship,” he continued, studying her as though she was an artifact, not a person. “The Epoptes let you in. They did not destroy your living ship.”

Then, as if he came to a sudden decision, he squared his shoulders and the old glare returned. “That is all for now.”

“Wait!” she called after him as he spun around and made for the door. “I have questions too!”

“Later,” he muttered and swung to the door, cloak flying behind him. He disappeared through the winking door.

“Damn you!” she yelled with a stomp of her foot and didn’t care if he heard her through the door. She’d been locked up here like a prisoner for too long not to know why. What were they going to do with her? Was she an abomination like Zac, too? It seemed so. And yet, Azaes had helped her and nurtured her back to life, at the risk of incurring disfavour with the others of the governing
Sthanu
Circle. Why had he done that? Diaprepes suggested that it was because she was a sign. A sign of change, perhaps anticipated change? He seemed both fascinated and disgusted with her at the same time. It seemed that she’d accomplished an incredible feat by simply managing to even get on the planet, albeit it would have killed her if not for Azaes’s intervention. If it hadn’t been for Azaes’s swift aid, she would have perished within hours of her fall
—
bled to death, most likely. Her body had been broken in so many places that any number of organ failures might have accomplished the same deed.

She’d wandered Azaes’s house for a mere few minutes when he returned with a terse invitation for her to accompany him outside. It was obvious to her that this had been his intention initially, but his aroused anger at her interference with his young sister had set him off. Once he’d cooled down, he’d returned.

“Come,” he said and spun around to leave. “You need some exercise. I will show you our gardens and orchards.”

She stepped outside into the heat and halted briefly at the doorway to inhale the wonderful fragrance of the air and take in the view. Azaes’s house and buildings were perched on a hill that provided her with a wonderful vista of a meandering river valley below, populated by verdant fields in the foreground, and orchards farther down the hill. Thick rainforest bounded either side of his cultivated land. The air was alive with the shivering sounds of insects and a complicated aroma that resembled a mixture of yeasty bog, overripe cantaloupe and the perfume of honeysuckle. The enticing smell roiled inside her, feeling like the soft caress of a lover’s hand.

Azaes turned to glare at her and hiked his head to hurry her. She blinked off the seductive trance and caught up to him. He almost tripped, staring at her for a moment with a look of astonishment, and snapping his head back, nose flaring as though he detected a strong offensive smell. Then, as quickly as it came, it left and his old glower returned. Genevieve suddenly wondered, did she stink? She’d had a shower earlier this morning and she couldn’t smell herself.