The Journal Entries

"Does it bother you?" I asked.

"Does what?" Arraon asked, sipping quietly from a glass of what I was sure was part alcohol, part blood. It's the Uncia in him. And he loves to show off.

"Knowing that you can never really go down there except in a heavy environment suit?"

"Not really. The BCA's let me experience it as if I was there. I've come to know much about them. Their foods are fascinating. Trust me, though, that you will disagree with them. I've attended dinners where the dessert was the least tasty thing they offered."

llerkin, the world we orbited, looks like a lovely world from orbit; the colors were blue and green, the clouds fluffy. But the atmosphere of llerkin is rich in methane, ozone, and hydrochloric acid. llerkindi breathe through a hydrogen-oxygen exchange, and there isn't enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to activate the involuntary breathing response. It was completely unbreathable by any of the species intrinsic to Pendor; it was destructive to our eyes, our skin. What was damnably peculiar about it was that there was nothing unusual about the llerkin biosphere to actually produce such gases in such quantity. It lived as an anomalous legacy.

But we needed to go to llerkin; they had foolishly made war upon us, and they had sued for peace as well. The economic advantages of being a Pendorian ally were especially valuable, since they were also a close neighbor. Also, Terra was literally begging us to seal a Pax Pendori with llerkin, since we were almost perfectly situated between the two stars, and Terra's starships aren't anywhere near the quality of llerkin's.

But we're a straightforward people, and I detest doing anything where I can't be personally. The idea of negotiating with the llerkindi from inside an environment suit repulsed me.

The solution was the BCA, or BioCybernetic Android. They are a new triumph of Pendorian technology, pushing the limits of Solid Artificial Ergasynthesis and Nanotech to their ultimate. Fixing one is more like surgery than mechanics. Running both on chemical action and a microfusion plant, whatever space isn't taken up by the mechanics is taken up by the gradio and the interface hardware.

Using one, though, is easy. Basically I lie down on a biocybe couch for hours on end, and live through the BCA. I've run mine in a normal atmosphere for several hours; sat down, ate a meal, used the restroom. It's literally as if my mind had been transplanted into a body just like mine, except this body can survive on the surface of llerkin. Oh, and just to try it out, I masturbated. Guess what? Works like normal. And the really funny thing is that the orientation manual recommends it.

There's plenty of room for abuse with this technology. There are wireheads who spend forever in their own private universes, and there are wireheads who just feed themselves full of pleasure signals. I guess I'm just one of those people who's happy to be themselves.

Since the early years we've had posit technology, the ability to build organic systems and interface them with AI centers and the smaller android intelligences. But BCA's are more general purpose; they can be built to stand vacuum, or in this case, llerkin's corrosion.

And the AI's monitoring the back-and-forth intercept any pain senses, scents or tastes that wouldn't match due to alien environments. So when I visit llerkin I don't smell the acids, ammonias and ozone.

"Besides," Arraon was saying, bringing my mind back from musings, "Anni herself asked for you."

"Anni?"

"The princess Anlestin. Anni, for short."

"You're kidding," I said.

"Not at all. Although the Queen Stevves requested your presence at the signing of the treaty, I was informed by friends I have in the court that it was Anlestin who asked for you."

"Any idea why?" I asked.

"None."

---

Two hours ago, by 'my' watch, I had laid back into my couch and closed my eyes, and when 'I' opened them, 'I' was lying in a similar couch in the Pendor Consulate of llerkin. I'll stop with the 'I's. It was me, as far as I could tell. I scratched my arm and it felt right.

Arraon rose from his couch smoothly and walked over to the door. "I guess you're used to this," I said.

"I've been on llerkin for as long as six days before getting out of my couch, and I've been at it for six months. Yeah, I guess you could say I'm used to this." He scratched himself behind the ears.

"Let me?" I asked.

"What? Oh sure," he said, smiling. I reached up and scratched the back of his head vigorously, and he sighed in response.

"Better?"

"Yeah. I still don't understand why my android body itches there."

"Let's go."

We dressed in local clothing and went out to meet the neighbors. The main capital of llerkin, the one we were in, was called Fhan, and it was a magnificent city, laid out strictly for pedestrian traffic, no independent vehicles. Handsome, somewhat ziggurat-shaped buildings were the backbone of their architecture, and the pedestrian courseways were raised over the bases of the buildings. It struck me as strange, but I realized after a while that the construction basically forced people to interact with the weather.

"Hard to believe, huh?" Arraon said.

"What?"

"That the atmosphere is so deadly to our real bodies."

I shrugged. "Sure is pretty."

A few minutes later we saw the first llerkindi, and I was again struck by their reptilian appearance. Humanoid, tailless, but their hide was made of very fine, green scales. The scales themselves were somewhat flexible, I had been told. Being unafraid of snakes and essentially sensual, I wanted to reach out and touch them. To feel the texture of their hides.

"I know," Arraon said, reading my mind. "I feel the same way."

"I thought telepaths avoid using biocybe because the local terminals can't emulate the ability."

"I was watching your face. I know how you feel, because I feel it to. Part of my job as an ambassador."

I sighed. One of the things I'd learned was that llerkindi had expressions similar to ours; smiles, frowns, and the same. A short nod was a 'no,' however, and a full swing of the head in either direction was a 'yes.' Other differences were minor, cosmetic. They really were very much like us.

"We are reaching the station," Arraon said. He presented his ID card to the guards, who acknowledged our presence and allowed us into the complex. For the local castle the building was surprisingly undistinguished externally; it looked like any other building.

We were met by the Ambassador Sugna's chief secretary, who spoke nearly flawless Quen. "Ambassador Arraon, so pleased to see you once more."

"Mister Secretary," Arraon said in equally flawless llerki. But was it the AI who did that, or Arraon himself who spoke llerki? The secretary turned and led us further into the building, up a flight of stairs and out onto a large covered balcony.

The atmosphere gave the setting sun a coppery color which complemented the stonework of the palace. The Secretary asked us to sit and wait.

Ambassador Sugna arrived ten minutes later. I asked Jamis (our AI on llerkin) for a visual display of the language actually being spoken at any given moment, since Arraon was speaking in llerki, yet I 'saw' his lips move in accord with the Quen I was hearing. And the ambassador, who spoke no Quen himself, also moved his lips in accordance with the Quen I heard. I asked Jamis to cut it out with the lip-synching. Now the conversation was slightly less disorienting, although it was at times like watching a poorly translated foreign film. I banished the visual display from my eyes. I could pretty much tell at this point who was saying what.

"We're to dine in less than ten minutes. I hope you're ready to eat." Arraon had a slight smile.

"What's the difference?" I asked. "The BCA will handle it."

"That's not the point. Other than direct caustics, BCA translates all sensation accurately."

"Oh," I said. "What's for dinner?"

"They cook their food, Vatare', have no fear. But it is reptilian."

"Will you stop calling me that!" I said, looking up at him. It's hard to feel fierce with someone who is double my weight and towers over me by at least ten centimeteres.

"I apologize, but I must." He switched over to internal transmission; I 'heard' his voice in my head. ``They're probably listening to us; this is the royal palace, after all. Your legend precedes you, and even if you don't like it, you have to play the part.''

``I know.'' I sighed.

A few minutes later the secretary, whose name I found was Re'ahb, led us into a sumptuous dining hall, laid out in the gold lame' cloth that seemed to be the basis of much of the fashion on llerkin at the moment. I wondered if they had the kind of Social-Darwin fashion wars I'd seen on other worlds, like Terra. I must admit, though, that the color looked good on them.

I was directed to my seat, and Arraon sat across from me and to my right, further away from the head of the table. I was second to the head; I wondered who my dining partner was to be.

That was answered quickly. Anlestin. The Princess and heir to the matriarchal throne of llerkin. Although they had a more democratic system than in their past, the llerkindi had kept a monarchal head. It seemed to be working.

"Vatare' Shardik, how do you do," she said, and her lips matched.

"Princess Anlestin," I said. I'd kept internal lip-synch. It felt like I was speaking Quen, but the BCA's throat and mouth actually spoke llerki. "It is my pleasure."

"Your speak llerki very well," she said. I laughed, and she recognized it as laughter.

"You are too kind," I said. I looked over this princess, and I decided that she was 'cute.' She was about 170 cm, and llerkindi. Her humanoid frame was what I would call proportioned. Her skin was made up of the tiny green scales I'd come to expect. llerkindi have a slight feline muzzle, a black triangular nose at the top of it, three well-defined ridges on the chin. Her eyes were also vaguely feline, slitted top-to-bottom, and sharply pointed ears ascended in thin triangles from her hairless skull. Female llerkindi have no visible mammae, yet she had something of an 'hourglass' figure, but not too skinny. When I returned to her face I noticed her eyes giving me the same sort of assessment. When she finally noticed, we laughed again, but this time it was more strained, more embarrassed. She held out her hand. "I believe you have a custom when meeting a lady, on Pendor."

Did she expect me to... ? I guess so. I took her hand and bent over to kiss it gently. "You seem to know a lot about our customs. I know so little of yours."

"I have studied Pendor for some time."

"And me, I have been told."

She shot a glance at Arraon, who was talking rather animatedly with two llerkindi, then returned to me. "Well... Yes. Terrans, of which you once were one, have an expression: 'Power perverts.' I have to agree. You, however, seem untouched."

"There was also a Terran once who said 'It is not that power corrupts, but that power attracts the corruptible.' I don't believe that power was an issue in the making of Pendor. And before you ask, the answer to 'What was?' is 'I don't know.' Honestly. We can call it madness, desire, or love. But not power."

She blinked. "Was that a prepared speech?" she asked, with a slight smile.

"Not really. I came across that quote just a few days ago. But it should be a regular statement."

She shook her head, just a slight shake, and I recognized it for a 'yes.' "You do not like to be call Vatare'," she said.

"No."

"Why not? You are the father of Pendor."

"I just don't like it. It's become a title, and I try very hard not to assume any such mantle of leadership."

"Then what shall I call you?" she asked.

"How about, 'Kennet,' or just 'Ken?'"

"If I am to use the short form of your name, you must call me Anni."

"Very well... Anni."

"Ken." She smiled again.

A llerkindi walked in with a small bar chime and sounded a single note. "Please be seated."

We went through the whole rigmarole, sitting, standing for the Queen, sitting again. Queen Stevves was an older, significantly overweight vision of Anni herself, but she seemed calm and self-assured as she sat down and proclaimed dinner fit.

Dinner consisted of several courses, including a bluish soup, a leafy green, and what I guess would be analogous to baked amphibian. It was surprisingly good, and I had to agree with Arraon that compared to the dinner, the frozen pastry they served for dessert was pretty pale, being excessively heavy and overly sugared. And salty.

The conversation, as usual, was the most fascinating part, and I listened as intently as I could. I cursed my own restrictions; I had had the BCA limited to my own limitations, so I couldn't 'turn up' my hearing, or improve my vision. I had equipment that could do so externally, but I hadn't thought to bring them.

But it mostly centered around the economic treaty; apparently it was a faux pax to mention the humiliating defeat the llerkin Defense Force had suffered at Pendor's hands. Actually, our victory was won mostly through sheer sneakiness; we cheat. However, there were no casualties on either side, as one by one the llerkindi vessels were simply isolated and forced into statis. When it was obvious that the cause was hopeless, they surrendered.

Which was a good thing. The incident at Aib had been a sheer accident, a mistake between their mining crews and one of our expeditionary crews in a Mark 454 starcruiser.

I was forced to make polite conversation with the young nobleman on my right who was fascinated by Pendor's medical technologies and wanted to know what sort of exchanges would be made when the economics had been worked out. I replied calmly that, as Vatare', such decisions were not essentially mine to make, and that he should inquire of the ambassadorial staff.

He was repeatedly insistent, switching from subject to subject so rapidly he may well have been reading out of an import/export schedule.

I sighed, and I heard a slight whisper from behind me. "Maerts can be tiring sometimes, can he not?"

"Begging your pardon, Milady?" I asked, turning to Anni.

"I inquired if you were enjoying the dinner."

"Fascinating," I said.

She smiled, then turned back to her meal. "Vatare'," I heard from the front of the table. "Are you taking kindly to our hospitality? I see you and my girlchild have already met."

I thought for a few moments, then said, "Your hospitality has been more than excellent, as has the conversation of your daughter. She is a child to be proud of."

"Have you any children of your own, Vatare'?"

"I have, your highness." I launched into a long description of Rainy and Richard, of their mother and their present successes.

She listened patiently. It was, essentially, small talk. But as I was talking, I felt a cool pressure against my left thigh. I managed to get over the stutter that caused without much difficulty, and the touch went away just as quickly.

When I had a chance, I slipped a hand down onto my left leg to find a small slip of paper. I surreptitiously slid it into the wide pockets that were sewn very low on the clothes I was wearing. I wondered if that was a standard fashion, or had Arraon anticipated this?

After dinner, the event disintegrated into groups of courtiers, well, courting each other. I managed to slip aside for a moment and read the note.

It was written in perfect Quen, in a beautiful scripted hand, replete with the curls and bars that are so hard to master. It read, "If you would, please meet with Officer Neshlid after dinner. She is known to Arraon, and will direct you." It was signed simply with two barred numens, a standard Pendor symbol for 'Ann,' or 'Anni,' I guess.

I found Arraon, who pointed out the individual in question. Officer Neshlid turned out to be an aging female soldier in uniform, who led me aside.

"I am very pleased to me you, Vatare' Shardik."

"Thank you, Officer."

"Please, call me Pal." She led me through a variety of hallways to a vehicle bay, and to a two-seated metallic blue turbofan aircraft. She got into the right seat, and indicated I take the passenger's. The craft had very little engine noise, and Pal expertly piloted it out of the bay and into the air.

"Pal," I asked. "Since you are clearly Anni's discreet secretary, can I ask where we are going?"

"The Skypalace."

"The what?" I asked.

She smiled. "You will see."

After a while, she flew the little craft towards what looked like a platform hung suspended in the sky. I could barely make out in the dark the elliptical bubble above it that was apparently the source of lift. "This may be a bit rough," Pal said as she piloted it into a doorway. The vehicle bucked slightly as she flew it through the opening and brought it to a carefully settled stop. "I apologize. Shifting from flight to ground effect modes can be a bit unsettling."

"That's quite all right," I said. Pal indicated a small door and led down more hallways and stairway. The material of the Skypalace seemed to be mostly plastics and metals, but the railings of the staircases were polished wood, and when we reached one door Pal said, "Through there," and she left me.

I knocked quietly on the wooden door. "Come," was the response from inside.

I opened the door and eased myself in. The door closed behind me. "Out here," she said.

"Princess," I said.

Anlestin turned her head towards me and smiled. "You came."

"Yes," I said. "I never turn down an offer from a Princess."

"Promise?" she asked.

I chuckled. Who was in control here? "That depends."

"Do you wonder why I asked you here?"

"You'll tell me in your own time," I said.

"Come with me," she said, holding out her hand. I took it. It felt cool and dry. She led me to a window and pressed a button, and the window opened. The cold wind swept into the room, and we looked down on Fahn. "It is a magnificent view. And a coup for our scientists."

I waited. "You castle floats on gravitics, I am told. The Skypalace floats in the atmosphere because it is lighter than air. The blimp shell above our heads is completely rigid, and holds no air."

A rigid shell strong enough to hold a vacuum can be made buoyant, if the material is light enough. Just as a balloon floats on water. I blinked, impressed, and said so.

She smiled, prettily. "Thank you. We are pleased with the results. I understand your technology can do the same."

"It can. But did you invite me here to discuss science?"

"Partly," said the alien princess. "I wanted to meet you, away from the court, away from Arraon... and my mother," she said, her voice dropping with a slight sarcasm. I laughed.

"Tell me," she said. "I have been reading some of your published journals, and I wanted to ask you a question."

"What question?" I asked.

"Do you find me pretty?"

I missed less than a heartbeat before I answered. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"It does to me," she said, crossing the room and sitting on the bed that I hadn't seen when I first entered.

"Well, you seem to have taken care of yourself. You seem to care about other people. And, I guess I just find you... cute."

She smiled. "Come here," she said. I walked over to her and sat on the bed next to her. She took my hands. "You often refer to yourself as a sensualist.

"When I look at you, I see a strangeness I had never thought I should see in my life. Before the incident at Aib, we did not know that there was any other intelligent life in the universe, although I was sure there was. Imagine our shock that the first vessel we meet had four different species on it. And those four were Pendorian. It took us quite a while to understand that Pendor was not the standard, but the exception. Terra we understood much easier.

"When I look at you, I see light, smooth, unbroken hide, covered in a light fur. Your eyes are round, and you have this shag on your head." Her hand reached up and ruffled my hair. I found the gesture amusing and laughed. She laughed back. "Your females have those... breasts on their chest. That is not..." she stopped. "The word was almost 'normal,' but it is normal, for you. Not for us."

I reached up and stroked her cheek with the back my hand. She pressed her hand against it and held me there.

"Do you find this touch... interesting?" she asked.

"Fascinating," I said. I moved my hand a little and she let it go, and I traced my hand down her cheek and under her throat. She closed her eyes slowly, and I noticed that her lids closed diagonally, downward, but also from her nose, outwards, as well. A low hum escaped from her, not quite a growl or purr, but not quite a moan, either.

It became obvious why I was here, at least immediately. I wondered idly if there was some political reason for my being here, such as blackmail or seduction. But Arraon also clearly knew where I was, and what could they get me on?

And there was still the tension, the newness of this. I decided there was only one way to get in, and that was to jump. I leaned over and kissed her under her chin, on her throat, gently. I felt her skin under my lips, and it could feel the slight texture as my lips slid over her scaled. She canted her head away to give me a clearer reach, and the rippling of muscles under her hide tickled me gently. My hand reached around and stroked her side. She hummed again, and this time it was more of a moan.

"I have also been told by my scientists that we are physically compatible," she said.

I laughed. As I touched her my fingers were searching for the clasps of her clothing, and when I found them I asked her "Anni, would you object if I took off your clothes?"

She chuckled. "You are too much a diplomat, Kennet. I have no nudity taboos, if that is what you wonder." I tried to figure out the clasp, confused. "Allow me," she said, reaching around her back and undoing the clasp. I shook my head. I still had trouble with normal bras; I should hardly be ready to figure out alien clasps, as well.

The golden shrift came off over her head, and she laughed. "Do you still think I am... 'cute?'"

I laughed and leaned closer to her, kissing her chin.

"We too, kiss on llerkin," she murmured, lowering her head a fraction to kiss my lips, her lips fascinatingly cool and soft. I opened my mouth just slightly and licked her lip; her response was to slither her tongue against mine. It wasn't a forked tongue, but pointy, and I'm afraid I may have been concentrating too hard on it to concentrate on her.

We parted, a gentle "aaah," breaking from both our throats, and we giggled again. My fingers stroked her bare, flat chest, feeling the scales there. I leaned down and kissed her chest, and she shivered. "Ticklish?" I asked.

"Yes.. if that word translated correctly."

"Let's see," I said, plying my fingers against her belly and tickling. She squirmed and sighed, lying back on the bed.

"More," she sighed. I scratched her chest and belly, trying to tickle her; instead she just closed her eyes and sighed. I leaned over and kissed her belly, and she shivered and put her hand on my head, twining her fingers among my long hair. "Feels soft," she said. I wasn't sure if she referred to my kisses or my hair, and it didn't really matter.

As I kissed her, her other hand ran along my legs and up my thighs, touching closer and closer to my groin, and I groaned as she moved closer.

"Kennet? Did I hurt you?"

"No, no... that felt good. Keep going."

I returned to her belly, scratching and kissing her, and her hand moved ever closer to my crotch, and her hand found my balls through the material of my overly formal clothing, and she closed gently on them. "You humans have external testes. That is so different."

I looked up at her and said, "It's a design flaw."

She laughed. "That must be it." Her hand moved just a little further and found my cock, fondling me. I found the clasp on her floor-length skirt and had less trouble this time. It came loose quickly, and I found that it opened all the way down along the front. I spread it out on the bed and looked down along the length of my alien princess. She was still green, and still cute.

She moved her hand up against my chest and said, "Wait."

"Hm?"

"Let me undress you." Undress me? She nearly tore my shirt off of me. I helped her with my kilt and threw it aside as well. "Zhal," she said, a name I recognized as the local deity.

"What?" I asked.

"It... I had not expected it to be so... big."

"llerkindi males are much smaller?" I asked, looking at face.

She glanced left, a gesture I recognized as a small 'yes.' "Half as thick, but just as long."

I gently pushed her back down onto the bed. "Just because we're not built right doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves. Your scientists were not quite correct."

"Ken, tell me... are you very large for your species?"

"You mean, my cock?" She gestures 'yes' again. "No. I am actually close to the average human male. Why?"

"Just... wondering. They come much larger?"

"I have seen humans twice as large as myself," I said. "Other species can be smaller and larger. My own male lover is much larger than I."

She gasped. "I do not think... I could take such a thing. It is just so... so BIG! And Aaden Satpulov is larger?"

I nodded, laughing. "Much. That's quite a complement," I said.

"You do not think I am being silly, do you?"

"Not at all." I straddled her as she lie on the bed and began to methodically scratch her chest, a little harder than before, and she hummed quietly, enjoying it. "Tell me, Princess, why am I here?"

"Because I wanted to do something different, more different than my classmates had ever done. And I find you.. compelling."

"Are you enjoying what I'm doing?"

"Very much," she sighed. "Would you kiss me... on my... femaleness?" I smiled, and scooted down off the bed. Kneeling on the floor, my head was just a little higher than the bed. I parted her knees and kissed her hairless cunt.

The taste was, for sex, utterly different, but if I had to find a more mundane taste to compare it to, try pistachio, but without most of the sugar. Pleasant. The texture was firm, and the scaling of her hide was so fine here it was almost like unbroken skin. The color wasn't pink, but a light green fading into soft white. The shape was very different, as well; still a vertical slit, but no obvious clitoris. No inner labia, either, but a deep trough shape, at the bottom of which was her opening. The muscles on either side of her cunt gave a slightly 'terraced' texture to her flesh, of which I thought it must be rather pleasant to get inside.

She moaned softly as my tongue parted her only labia, probing inside. "Yes," she moaned. "Just inside, lick the sides, please. Just like that." I tilted my head to lick the whole sides of her inner cunt, and she squirmed on the bed, possessed of some special pleasure. "Yes, more..." she sighed.

I pushed in a little harder, parting her open with my nose and chin as I licked deeper. Her hands were in my hair, twisting as she twisted, shaking and coming, quietly and spasmodically.

I leaned up and looked along the length of her green body. Her jaw lay wide open as she gasped for a few more breaths. I crawled up along the bed to kneel beside her, and she looked up at me and smiled. "You are very good." Her voice took on an accusatory tone as she said, "You have done this before!"

"You mean, on a llerkindi?"

"Yes!"

"No, Princess. All it means is that I am enthusiastic. It comes from taking a mentor's words to heart."

"What words are those?"

"'Dear, a lady takes off her persona with her clothes and does her whorish best.' What he didn't say is that his words are lesson for males as well; too many females have told me males, too, hold back in bed."

She laughed. "Your mentor is right. Perhaps I should meet him?"

"He mentored through his writings to a generation of Terrans, Anni, and I'm afraid he is no longer alive."

"I am saddened."

"Don't be," I said, tilting her head up by the chin to kiss her. "We've got more important things to think about right now."

"That is very true. And this is one important thing," she said with an impetuous grin as she dove towards my crotch, taking my cock into her mouth. This was a more familiar feeling; there are only so many ways to design a mouth, and she sucked me down wonderfully. Her tongue was very long, and I realized that it must have been mounted more forward in her mouth, because she was managing to wrap a significant length of if around my cock as she slid back and forth.

I stretched my legs and lay back along the bed, noting that llerkindi used pillows as well, although these were more cylindrical in design. Like her to me, I reached out to stroke her hair and instead touched her hairless head, running my fingers along what looked like dangerously pointy ears. They were actually quite flexible.

She stopped, sat back and looked at me. "I am sorry, Ken... You are just so big. I am not used to opening my mouth that wide, and my jaw hurts."

"Aww..." I said, mock-pouting. "C'mere," I gestured, and she crawled over to me. I reached up and gently rubbed her jaws where I thought the muscles that ached would be, but she took my hands and moved them lower and back a few cm. "There," she said.

I smiled and rubbed. "Better?"

"Yes." She developed a slightly puzzled frown, and I said, "What's wrong?"

"I want you to get inside me. I want to be fucked by you. But I doubt I can take it."

"I'm more worried that if you do take me, you'll never be satisfied with your own males again."

"I do not think that's a concern. I will always be interested in my own males. You are an interesting diversion."

"Thank you for being so honest," I said, without sarcasm.

"Thank you," she replied, leaning in away from my fingers to kiss me. "Stay here," she ordered, turning around and padding on all fours to the other end of the bed, and the dresser. She pulled out a small bottle, labeled but unreadable to me, and I wasn't about to ask Jamis to do any translating now.

It suddenly occurred to me that 'I' wasn't really 'here.' Funny how I'd never noticed. I decided to stop noticing now. As far as I was concerned, I was still me, and I was here, staring unabashedly at the cute green ass of Princess Anlestin.

The thought made me smile. She crawled back to me and said "Lie down." I complied with her wish and lay down on my back. She straddled my legs and took my cock in her hands, stroking it insistently. I noticed, oddly, that she had no fingernails, and decided to file it away for later inquiry.

She tipped the bottle over and poured some of the clear liquid onto my cock, stroking it into my skin. "This should make it easier," she said, crawling awkwardly towards me. She let go of my cock. It slapped loudly against my belly, and she settled down on top of it, parting her labia with her hands so that my cock lay sandwiched between them. She slowly stroked back and forth over my belly, and the sensation was mind-wrenchingly good. I couldn't get over her sexy she looked, this reptilian female, sliding over my cock and undulating as she did so.

Her moans were hot and loud, and after a few minutes she said, "Are you ready?"

"It's 'Are you ready?'" I replied. She looked at me quizzically. "Are you ready?" I asked.

Comprehension dawned on her face, and she nodded. She raised herself up off of me and said, "Hold yourself," with a tone both breathless and imperious. I reached down and grabbed the base of my cock, pointing it straight up. She lowered herself onto me, holding her labia apart with her hands until my cock had entered her measurably deep outer cunt, and she let go of herself to place her hands on my chest, to hold her up.

She began to push down, and I could feel my cock bending. With one hand she held me in place, pushing down further, and she said, "I am going to get you inside me even it is my last act ever!"

"Take it slow," I said in an ordering tone.

"I want it," she said, and her voice was thick, heavy with lust.

"Then take it. Think about opening. Relax," I said, and I felt her vaginal opening loosen, tighten, loosen against the head of my rigid cock, and as I slid in the portal itself was so tight it felt sharp. She gasped, her eyes wide with lust and maybe fear as my cock sank into her. She slithered all the way down, her hips meeting mine, and I could feel the ring of her opening just below my circumcision scar, and we lay there, together.

"I do not believe it," she said. Her legs were trembling.

"You've got it, Anni."

"Yes, yes I do." She began to rise off of me, and I could feel the coolness as the air hit my cock. She sank back down onto me.

She was so tight I wasn't even sure I was going to enjoy this. But it felt powerful as she began to fuck herself atop me, riding me. After a while I did feel the same old feeling, that wonderful tightening as she screamed and came and kept on stroking, going for another, and another, and I grabbed her hands as I began to respond, meeting her hips for every stroke. I groaned through clenched teeth as I rode closer and closer to it under her, and when I came the tension loosed from me with an enormous scream of satisfaction.

She stopped then, when I came, realizing that, for me at least, it was over, and when the drive was gone she simply collapsed on top of me. We lay together, gasping for our respective atmospheres. She laughed a little as my softened cock dropped out of her. "I am... amazed," she said. "And you may be right; I may never seek a llerkindi male again."

"I hope you do."

"I will; I was only making a joke." I laughed. "Thank you, Shardik," she said.

"You're welcome, Princess."

---

I awoke by daylight in her bed, next to my cool, alien princess. She stirred as I cuddled close to her, and awoke. We bathed together in a small pool next door. She provided me with clothing suitable to my day.

We returned to the royal palace and Arraon was there, waiting for me, biting a claw in nervousness. "You were gone all night!" he hissed.

"On my request, Mister Ambassador," Anni said.

"Apologies, Princess. It is my duty to be concerned for the soul of Vatare' Shardik, if not the body." I chuckled at that.

"Rest assured, Arraon, his body is quite... excellent. Excuse me." She walked off.

"You didn't," he said.

"I did. You'd be amazed how well the BCA's work."

"I am impressed. And I will have to debrief you. Will this one go into a Journal Entry?" he asked.

"Should. Wonder what the political clime will be in five hundred years?"

"More to the immediate point, I wonder if I should take Anni up on her offer," he said.

"You mean she offered... ?"

"Let's discuss it at the embassy. We have to be back in about four hours, and you have an exercise regimen to go through."

"Yeah, yeah."

---

The treaty was signed later that day. Queen Stevves was quite... politic about the whole manner. But then, I was starting to expect that from this family.