Chapter 4
Atac had decided that having a pet was a lot more work than he had originally thought. Although he was the first Quatyl in all of history to have a pet, the Quatyl were not unfamiliar with the concept. Other space faring races had pets. Up until the Quatyl had run into humans, it was impossible for them to have pets. Being able to control an animal prevented it from being a pet.
A factor that complicated taming the beast was that it kept different hours than the Quatyl. That was nothing compared to the fact that he wouldn't be able to train it to do tricks until he figured out some way to communicate with it. For the moment, the beast would pick him up and pet him whenever he rubbed against its leg. That was a start, but he couldn't figure out how to take the training further. At least Atar had forgiven him for making the love noises.
The other thing that made taming the beast difficult was its energy. It seemed to move around almost the entire time it was awake. It seemed that the beast kept moving from the kitchen to the desk to the bathroom and back to the desk. Sometimes the beast went outside. It was a strange pattern of habits that Atac couldn't figure out. All of the movement was taking its toll. Atac was exhausted from trying to follow his pet around.
On some of the trips outside, the Quatyl would find a mouse. They would keep it under control until after the beast went to bed. In the dark house, they would gather around the mouse and exchange information. After the first night, they took their time talking as a way to extend the amount of time the mouse would last before losing its voice.
This particular evening, Star was particularly upset. She said, 'He said that he's leaving here tomorrow.'
The others had begun to learn the language being used by the beast, but the extent of their knowledge concerned food, water, and rest. Atac asked, 'What does that mean?"
'He said that he was leaving here for good tomorrow morning, ' Star answered.
'What about us?' Atar asked getting worried. Without the beast to feed them, they would be in serious trouble.
'He wished that he could take us with him, but didn't think that was possible, ' Star answered.
All of the Quatyl sat around the mouse lost in thought. The mouse wasn't all that pleased at being the center of attention, but that is another story best told from the mouse's perspective. The Quatyl knew they were facing a major crisis. After an hour had gone by, Atac said, 'We must go with him.'
The others agreed with his decision by not objecting. Now the problem was convincing his pet to take them. Without coming to a solution, the meeting broke up and they released the mouse. The Quatyl curled up in pairs to sleep the rest of the night. Atac spent the next few hours trying to think of some solution that would force the beast to take them along with him.
James stood at the door of the cabin. The trash had been carried out to the trash pile. The suitcases were packed with his clothes and stacked by the front door. The laptop was in a carrying case on the desk. The external monitor and keyboard were on the desk where they would remain. James didn't want to carry a monitor around in the back of his plane and was leaving it there for the next occupant of the cabin to decide what to do with it. He figured that the next occupant would take them into town and sell them. In short, since everything was packed, stored, or thrown away, he was ready to leave.
It took James ten minutes to load everything into his rental car. The only reason it took that long was the delay created by the need to keep the screen door from hitting the animals each time he went in and out of the house. They followed him every step, keeping him in sight the entire time. Slamming the trunk shut, he went around to the driver's side door. He paused and looked down at the eight fuzzy faces that were looking up at him. He sighed and asked, "What am I supposed to do with you?"
The Quatyl did not reply. They were incapable of answering, but they had learned enough of the language to know what was asked. As a result of James' idle comments to the Quatyl, Atac had decided that he was just going to follow James everywhere he went and not allow any obstacles to get in his way. Of course, James knew nothing about this decision; he had slept through the whole discussion and wouldn't have recognized it for what it was even if he had been awake.
"I'd take you with me, but I'm worried about getting arrested for smuggling a rare or endangered species," James said shaking his head. He opened the car door and was surprised when Scout frantically tried to climb into it. Frowning, he asked, "You want to come with me?"
Frustrated, Atac struggled to get inside the car. The height was just too much for him and it didn't seem to him that the beast understood that they wanted to go with him. After the experiences in the swamp and on the journey to the cabin, the Quatyl knew that they couldn't survive on their own. This planet was just too dangerous for them.
James bent down and lifted the little animal into the car. Scout scampered over to the far end and turned to watch him. Thinking that Scout was the only one that wanted to go, James was surprised when another of the animals was at the door trying to climb into the car. One by one, he lifted them into the car. He was surprised since this was the first time that seven of the eight animals had ever let him touch them.
Upon getting into the car, each Quatyl moved across the seat in order to make room for the next Quatyl. The last to get into the car was Leac, the Quatyl that had been injured in the crash. James noticed the small patch of disturbed fur and said, "Oh my; that must have hurt."
Leac trembled slightly and then cleared space for the beast. He wasn't sure what the beast had said, but it didn't sound too threatening. Of course, he was the most risk adverse of the Quatyl after his injuries. The beast settled down right next to him. Leac looked over at his mate wishing that he could ask to be moved further from the beast.
It was time to head for the airport. James started the car and pulled away from the rental cabin knowing that he would return when it was time to work on his next book. While driving, he said, "I'm going to have to load you on the airplane with my luggage before turning in the rental car. The way you little fellows follow me around just might be a problem."
James made his way to the local airport where his airplane was parked. The distance wasn't that far, but it took time to make the trip. The dirt roads were rough and the poor little animals struggled to stay on the seat. He glanced over at them thinking that it would have been better for them to be on the floor, but he feared that they would soon be underfoot. He drove slowly trying to minimize the impact of the uneven surface that passed for a road.
James preferred to fly his own plane over taking a commercial flight. When he flew his own plane, it was a seven hour flight to Brownsville, Texas. He would stay the night there and then fly on to Tulsa, Oklahoma the next day. Even though his travel plans took longer, he was able to avoid lines, cramped seats, and bad airline food. From his perspective, that was a net gain.
Under the current circumstances, it was also the only way he was going to be able to take the cute little animals with him. He wished that he had a spare suitcase in which to carry them. He'd stop and get one, but that would be too much like smuggling. With them running around loose, he could always claim that he didn't know they were in the back of the plane if someone discovered them.
Reaching the airport, he parked the car next to his airplane. He took half an hour to inspect the plane despite knowing that it had been well cared for while parked there, but James was a careful man. Once he was satisfied that all was well, he went about loading his gear into the plane. It took several trips and the animals watched him from the front seat. Atac was fully prepared to jump to the ground if he thought that the beast was going to leave them in the car.
Believing that the little animals were unable to jump out of the car, James waited to take them until he had stowed the rest of his gear. He carried the animals to the plane and put them in it one at a time. Each scurried to a place where it could hide when he released it.
Lear had been the first to go into the plane. Being carried by a huge untamed beast was the scariest thing Lear had ever experienced. She had immediately sought out a hiding place convinced that this entire adventure was a mistake. It wasn't until Leac had joined her that she stopped shivering although he wasn't in much better shape.
Once the last animal had been put on the plane, James went over to the door and put a hundred dollar bill where it would be seen by the customs official who would come to inspect the plane. He'd made this trip for each of his books and knew that the bill would expedite the inspection. He closed the door on the plane and went to take care of the business necessary for leaving.
It took thirty minutes for him to return the rented car and to file his flight plan. Once he had filed the flight plan, it was time to go through the process of getting out of the country. The border official gave him a ride to the plane and then went through the process of inspecting it to make sure that James wasn't smuggling anything out of the country. The inspection consisted of opening the door of the plane and taking the hundred dollar bill. His normally sharp eyes did not see any other money lying loose or bundles of drugs. He wasn't looking for unusual eyes watching him.
Stepping back, the man put the hundred dollar bill in his pocket and, with a grin, said, "Adios."
"Gracias," James said pronouncing it 'grassy ass.' He took one last look around before climbing into his plane. He went through the startup checklist and then taxied out to the runway. Five minutes later he was up in the air and winging his way to Brownsville, Texas.
The eight Quatyl had not recognized the flimsy craft as an airplane. Their fear of harm would never have allowed such an unsafe form of transportation. None of them had realized that they would be flying when they had made the decision to go with James. The risk adverse Quatyl would never have gone alone with him if they had known they would end up thousands of feet in the air in such a flimsy craft. As far as they could tell, it didn't even have a single failsafe system to protect them in case of a crash. They could hardly believe that the beast would be willing to risk its life in such a craft.
Once in the air, James looked over his shoulder to check out the animals. He could just make one out that was tucked away between pieces of luggage. He shrugged and said, "Well, that's one hurdle out of the way. I wonder how the US customs inspection will go. They usually send in a drug dog. A few sniffs and it'll be over."
He was silent for a moment while thinking about the rest of his trip. After a minute, he slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand then said, "Oh shit. They're going to send in a drug dog."
For the rest of the flight, James was just as worried as the Quatyl although it was for completely different reasons. He kept imagining what would happen when the drug dog found the animals. The dog would either let the handler know it found them or attack them. Either case was pretty bad. The Quatyl had other worries. They kept imagining the plane crashing into the ground. Each little bump in the flight just increased their tension.
By the time the plane landed, all of the occupants of the airplane were emotionally worn out. James hoped that he'd have a minute or two to get himself together, but that wasn't to be the case. When James guided the plane into the customs area, a Customs Agent and Border Patrol Agent were waiting for him. He stopped the plane and waited for the prop to stop spinning. It took a few minutes to shut down all of the systems.
James opened the door and stepped out with his paperwork in hand. He walked over to the Border Agent and handed his passport to the man. While he was doing that, the Customs Agent led a dog over to the plane and watched as it jumped into it. The Border Agent looked over his passport and, in a very bored voice, said, "You're good to go once you clear customs."
"Thanks," James replied turning to watch the dog. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach as images of being arrested for smuggling animals flashing through his mind.
Fortunately for James, the Quatyl had seen the dog coming. It was not the first time they had encountered a dog. They knew they couldn't control it enough to make it do things, but they could have it ignore them. They focused on it and it had sniffed all around them without noticing them. In a way it was good that they hadn't been able to fully control it. If the dog had sat down next to the luggage then that would have been a signal to the handler that something was the matter.
After a few minutes, the dog returned to the door and jumped down. The Quatyl relaxed a little when it had left the plane, but kept up the mental compulsion to prevent it from returning. The Customs Agent said, "Looks good to me. Take the plane over to there and park it. Once you leave this hanger, you've cleared customs."
Looking inside the plane, James expected to see blood everywhere. Instead he saw eight pairs of eyes staring at him. Relieved, he turned to the Customs Agent and said, "Thanks."
Ten minutes later, James had taxied the plane out of the customs area. He got out, leaving behind some rather worried Quatyl, and picked up a rental car. That took more time than passing customs. Upon returning to the plane, he unloaded a suitcase from the plane containing a change of clothes under the watchful eyes of the eight animals. Once his gear had been transferred to the rental car, he carried the animals to it one at a time hoping that the customs agent didn't glance his way.
He got in the car and leaned down towards the animals clustered on the seat beside him. In a soft voice, he said, "Well, that was a long trip. I'll get us to the hotel. I should probably stop and get you some food. I bet you are as hungry as I am."
Driving through the busy streets of Brownsville, he said, "I'm going to have to get a box or something so that I can carry all of you in a single trip."
Rather than going directly to the hotel, James stopped at a convenience store. Again, the worried Quatyl were left behind. Searching the shelves, he tried to figure out what would be good for the animals. Experience over the past week had them eating watermelon and applesauce, but he didn't think that represented a healthy diet. He purchased some baby food thinking that would be a good way of expanding their food choices. Just in case they didn't like any of them, he picked up a jar of applesauce.
While paying for his purchase, he asked for a box and was told to get one out of the garbage. After collecting his change, he went out to the dumpster and found a reasonable sized box in which to carry the animals. Holding the box reminded him that he needed a litter box so he picked out a second box for the purpose. Holding the two boxes, he said, "I never thought that having a pet would be so much work."
James returned to the car and slid the boxes into the backseat. On getting into the driver's seat, he looked over at the animals and said, "We'll go to the hotel now. I hope you don't mind staying there alone for a while."
That he had bothered to explain what was going on had relieved the Quatyl of some very serious concerns. It looked to them like Atac's plan was working and that the beast had understood that they wanted to be with him. James had no idea how happy the Quatyl were as a result of his words.
It was a short drive to the hotel. After checking in, he drove the car around to his room. He loaded the animals into the larger box and carried it along with his suitcase to the room. Once inside, he let them out of the box. They were very happy to be on solid ground again. James opened up the jars of food that he had purchased and set them on the floor. The animals quickly discovered the apple sauce.
Atac tried some of the baby foods and decided that he really liked two of them. One was the pureed peas and the other was the pureed carrots. The pureed peas actually contained some nutrients that had been missing in their diets. The pureed carrots made him feel a little light headed. He backed away from the pureed carrots concerned about the effect that it had on him. There was no way for him to know that Carotene acted like a rather power tranquilizer.
Cear discovered the pureed carrots and decided that she really liked them. After all of the tension of the trip, she enjoyed the relaxed light headed feeling they produced. By the time she was done, she felt dizzy and stumbled around for a few minutes. All of a sudden, she collapsed on the floor, rolled over onto her back, and went to sleep. Her mate, Ceac, was disturbed by her behavior and pushed her over on her side. After checking her over, he decided that she was just exhausted. Despite the fact that she was in plain view, he curled up around her and joined her in sleep.
James came out of the bathroom and found a ball of fur in the middle of the room. It took him a minute to locate three other balls of fur under the bed. He grinned and said, "Looks like you settled in alright. I'm going out to get something to eat. Don't tear up the room while I'm gone."
He put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and went off in search of a place to eat. He was confident that there wouldn't be any problems with the animals. After a week in the cabin, they hadn't disturbed anything and he didn't think their behavior would change now.
It was an hour later when he returned to the hotel room. Just as he expected, all of the animals were still asleep. He climbed on the bed and turned on the television to pass the time. After flipping through the channels, he came to one of the cable news stations. Having been away from the news for three months, he decided that it was time to catch up on what was happening.
The news stories on the television were identical to those that he had watched before going on his trip. He was about to change the channel when there was a short blurb about someone finding the remains of some strange animal that looked a lot like a centaur. The most interesting part of the story was that it was found about a mile from the cabin he had been renting. Shaking his head, he said, "That's strange. I can't believe that there was a centaur just a mile from where I was staying. I would have liked to have seen that."
He looked down at the ball of fur that was in the middle of the floor and asked, "Did you know there was a centaur there?"
Of course, the animals didn't answer him. He didn't expect them to answer. He flipped the channel and settled in to watch a movie on the premium channel. It was a lame movie without much of a plot, but there were naked women and that was more than sufficient to keep his attention.
When the movie credits rolled past, he said, "I'm going to have to figure out how to get one of my books turned into a movie. Maybe I'll get to watch them make it. There's no maybe about it; I'd demand that I get to watch them film it. I don't have a book with lots of naked women in it. That's a problem.
"I guess I'll have to write one. I think I'll call it Dr. Dud Does Debbie. Of course, it will include lots of naked women. It'll be kind of hard to incorporate them standing around in the background in usual poses, but I'll come up with something provided that I'm given the proper motivation.
"I can just see it now; a bevy of Hollywood beauties comes running up to me. They are all shouting, 'Oh James, you just have to include a part in your next book for me. I'll do anything for you.' I'll laugh maniacally and then explain that authors have very active imaginations and that anything covers a lot of territory.
"I'm sure that my maniacal laugh would scare half of them away. Still, I'll be happy with a half bevy of depraved Hollywood beauties. I know they'd be depraved because only the depraved ones would remain. Hmmm, what would I do with a half a bevy of beauties?" James said while scratching his chin thinking over the possibilities. Oh, there were so many possibilities to be had there.
Glancing at the movie credits, he said, "I wonder how many beauties there are in a bevy. I hope it is an even number that is greater than twelve. It has to be even number. I don't think I'd have much fun with half a woman. In fact, that would be rather disgusting."
It was late and he had a long flight the next day. He turned off the television and turned off the lights. It didn't take him long to fall asleep dreaming of a half bevy of depraved Hollywood beauties performing natural and unnatural acts upon his body. In the middle of the night, the Quatyl woke and sought out a mouse but were unable to find one. Disappointed, they spent a boring four hours listening to the soft snores of the sleeping beast.
The next day was a repeat of the previous day without the hassles of dealing with officials. In short, the day was spent with a trip to the airport, returning the rental car, flying to Tulsa, getting a rental car, and then driving home. It was tired group that arrived at his house.
The animals went to sleep after eating some watermelon. James went to sleep after eating dinner at a local restaurant. With the different sleep cycles, the Quatyl woke in the middle of the night. With the beast asleep and being in a new place, they decided to explore the house.
There was a different feel in how James had acted when arriving at this place compared to how he acted at the cabin or the hotel. The Quatyl correctly interpreted this difference to mean that this was his normal den and they wouldn't be moving for quite a while. Accepting this, they felt it was time to start making longer term plans on how to manage their situation. The first task was to make arrangements for comfort.
To say that James' house was heaven would be misleading. It was the first place the Quatyl had found acceptable. The soft carpet was much nicer than the hard floors of the cabin. There were lots of hiding spots with multiple routes of access. The furniture was low to the ground with skirts that gave privacy. The television stand had a nice secret area underneath it that they could access from the rear by squeezing between it and the wall.
The fact was that James' house had lots of little places where the Quatyl could hide. None of the hiding spots were perfect, but they were far better than they had encountered since leaving the crashed spaceship. Although they weren't able to discuss it, the cavernous area under the couch was to be the communal meeting area.
After spending close to two hours exploring the house, the pairs of Quatyl selected their own hiding spots. This included the area under the television stand, a chair in the living room, and the cupboard. Once the pairs had selected their sleeping spots, they went back to sleep. The tensions of the back to back days of flying demanded that they sleep.
There was one thing that James had done before going to bed. He had called his girlfriend, Nancy, and let her know that he was back in town. She had wanted to come over immediately, but he begged off saying that he was exhausted from flying. It wasn't unexpected, but she did tell him that she would be over first thing in the morning with the makings for an omelet.
At 7:30 in the morning, the doorbell rang three times and then Nancy let herself into the house with her key. She was juggling a bag of groceries and didn't see the eight animals scatter to their hiding places. She didn't notice the eight pairs of eyes watching her from under the couch when she walked from the front door to the kitchen. Her mind was on the reunion with James.
It should be noted at this point that the Quatyl did have the ability to detect the presence of a person from thirty feet or so, but they weren't able to influence them regardless of distance. The Quatyl believed they were impervious to the mental state of a person for the most part, although they could judge the mood of the beast and they could also get a feel for its basic temperament. Watching Nancy, they felt that she was basically as non-threatening as the beast. They didn't quite understand her mood, but they didn't have that much experience with others like the beast.
What the Quatyl didn't know was that humans could affect them. It started out subtly. When the new beast went into the room where the first beast was sleeping, all of the Quatyl started feeling a little jumpy. After a few minutes, they all started feeling really unusual sensations that were quite distracting to the higher regions of their brains.
About ten minutes later, Atac came to the realization that he was mating with Atar. He looked around and realized that the others were busy mating as well. This wasn't normal behavior for a Quatyl. The Quatyl had established control over all predators around them for thousands of generations. They had evolved, through necessity, a very low sex drive. They would mate only when the female was in heat and that only happened about once every five years. It was just frequently enough for the Quatyl population to grow as they established new territories.
On the other side of the closed door, Nancy and James were very busy saying hello to each other. This involved lots of nudity, touching of bodies, and inserting a part of one person into the cavity of the other. There were also grunts, groans, and moans along with sweat. The hello was very personal and intense. It should be noted that they did bump heads once and there was a little problem with the insertion, but in the heat of the moment neither of them gave the incidents more than passing notice.
While Nancy and James were quite pleased with their reunion, the Quatyl were embarrassed and confused. Being shy, the idea of actually mating where others could see them was beyond comprehension. The females were absolutely mortified by their behavior. This was equivalent to a human female getting up on a conference table during an important meeting and performing a strip tease. It was something that just wasn't done. Mating belonged in an enclosed place far from prying eyes.
The males were shocked that they could actually engage in mating activities when the females were not in heat. In a way, their reaction was a lot like a teenage boy discovering masturbation. It felt good, but those good feelings came with a huge dose of guilt.
Making the situation even worse, the Quatyl could not discuss their behavior. Each pair was left staring at each other and then glancing at the others in the area. Just when they thought it was over, it all started again. They tried to resist, but it was impossible. Atac found he was excited and then saw that Atar had positioned her body for easy access. His control crumbled and he climbed up on her.
In the other room, Nancy was experiencing her second orgasm and was working her way towards a third. James was just barely hanging on hoping that he could last to her next orgasm. It was a close race, but James lost. He came first, but it didn't matter since she followed right after him.
Out in the hall, the Quatyl were devastated. Three times in less than a cronon was amazing, but three times in thirty minutes was miraculous. Their little bodies weren't designed for that kind of activity. The males were unconscious and the females were absolutely exhausted. The males had collapsed atop the females pinning them in place.
Inside the room, Nancy rested her head on James's chest. She cooed, "That was amazing. I've never come that easily and so hard."
"You must have missed me as much as I missed you," James said feeling like quite the stud. He'd never brought a woman to so many orgasms in such a short period of time.
"Three times! I've never had more than one orgasm, even when I masturbate," Nancy said. After believing that being multi-orgasmic was some sort of urban myth, this session had convinced her she was wrong. Purring with satisfaction, she said, "It felt like every nerve in my body was alive."
The explanation of what happened was actually quite simple although the how is quite complicated. Somehow, the nervous system of the Quatyl and the pleasure center of the human female entered into a resonance. The pleasure of the human female had excited the Quatyl and the excitement of the Quatyl had increased the pleasure of the human female. The net result was a very happy human female, a proud human male, and eight exhausted Quatyl.
It should be noted that this resonance phenomena had no effect on the human male other than the boost in ego at so thoroughly satisfying the woman. In terms of the big picture, this was a very good thing. After all, the human male didn't need any extra stimulus that might cause him to orgasm even quicker.
After recovering from her orgasms, a very happy and satisfied Nancy climbed out of bed and said, "Let me fix you breakfast and then maybe we can do this again."
"Okay," James said sitting up and watching her. He really liked her body and the fact that she was more than happy to walk around the house naked. In many ways, he considered that one of her best habits. He asked, "Can I help?"
"You can come watch me," Nancy said knowing that is what he really wanted to do. She opened the bedroom door and spotted the four piles of animals at the door. Bending down, she looked at them but couldn't make out their features. Glancing back at James, she asked, "What are these things?"
"Oh, you found the critters. I have no idea what they are, but I think they are the cutest things I've ever seen."
She knelt down to examine them closer. It took her a minute to realize that each pile was actually two animals with one sleeping on top of the other. In that high pitched girly voice that only women can manage on seeing cute animals or being presented with engagement rings, she said, "Oh, there are two of them in each pile. They are so cute. Can I pick them up?"
"They don't seem to like being handled much. The only one that has let me touch it is Scout. It's the one with the darker fur," James answered wondering if his ears would ever recover.
Nancy ignored his answer and picked up one of the pair in front of
her. It happened to be Cubby. They were so small, soft, and cute that
she fell instantly in love with them. She cooed, "They are so cuddly."