Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Zaxan's Paradise 2: Cassie of Earth By Mannheim Knot

   - NOTE: This story was originally published under another of my pen
names.  Same author, different incarnation.  - PREVIOUS CHAPTER:
BACKSTORY--Denubis Prime is a planet where the males still possess the
ability to empathically feel the emotions of others but the females have
lost touch with all emotions, even their own.  Their females once ran the
planet, their dominance tempered by their empathic bond to the males.  But
generations ago, the females attempted to increase their power by removing
their empathic bonds to their males through viral genetic engineering.  The
failed experiment, now known as The Great Betrayal, left the females unable
to feel anything at all.  The once mild-mannered males became dominant, and
have turned to seeking their sexual and emotional pleasures by abducting
females from other worlds.  The males' generational memories of The Great
Betrayal have left them with a burning desire to dominate all females and
to feed off whatever emotions the experience can generate.

   CHAPTER ONE: As a reward for his son's hard work at the Academy, Sarcon
sends fourteen-year-old Zaxan to a new planet called Earth to seek his
first sexual conquests.  Sarcon is one of the wealthiest men on Denubis
Prime and wants to indulge the boy by letting him be the first to take a
human female.  Zaxan lands outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his first
conquest is a beautiful Latina teen named Tierra.  He abducts her from a
mall and the physically superior Zaxan rather casually rapes her.  He finds
the intense emotions of human females beyond belief, and he thrills to her
terror and hatred.  When Zaxan's vibratory ejaculation stimulates the girl
to forced climax, he finds her arousal equally intoxicating.  After his
orgasm, Zaxan realizes that the chemicals in his semen, originally evolved
to create bonding between Denubian parents, have a profound effect on
humans.  Tierra immediately becomes his love slave.  Zaxan feels his first
inklings of fondness for a female.  IN THIS CHAPTER: Tierra agrees to help
Zaxan explore a variety of sexual relationships with more Earth girls.  He
has electronically tagged a busty blonde co-ed as his next conquest.

   Alien, teen male/teen female, romance, consensual sex . . .

   Zaxan sent Tierra home after their third go-around that afternoon.  She
left reluctantly, but he promised to see her again the next day.  He needed
a sleep cycle to process his thoughts.

   The next afternoon, Tierra reported to the agreed-upon transport site
earlier than expected.  Judging by the timing of her arrival, she had
either left her track practice early or run to the location.  Zaxan asked
Tana to transport the girl to the shuttle, and instructed the computer not
to anesthetize her upon arrival.

   "Zaxy!" Tierra cried upon seeing him and ran across the cargo bay to
give him a kiss.  "I think I missed you.  I was fine through school all
day, but when I knew it was going to be time to see you, I got really
excited.  You know...  down there.  It was kind of cool."

   "I'm glad you like the way you feel now, Tierra, although I will miss
raping you," he said, not bothering to hide the fact that it was quite a
fond memory for him.

   "But you liked it when I was willing, too, didn't you?" She seemed
afraid he might have lost interest in her.

   "Oh yes.  Fucking you is fun no matter what the circumstances, Tierra.
And if I need a really intense experience like that again I can always rape
another girl."

   "I'll help if you want me to," she said and then got a strange look on
her face.  It was an odd mix of anticipation and regret.  "I should feel
awful for saying that."

   "Well, you know how she's going to feel afterwards," he offered.

   "I do.  And that somehow frees me to do it.  I've...  I've always had
this sort of anger inside me.  My brother has it, too.  Our parents were
kind of awful to us when we were little.  Now, my dad's long gone, and my
mom just ignores us since we're too big for her to hurt us anymore. 
Hector's always gone out and looked for fights, but I've never been willing
to hurt anybody.  Now, I could sort of do that without causing any
long-term damage.  Do you know how that feels?"

   Zaxan thought carefully before he answered.  Then he realized that
whatever Denubian secrets or shame he shared with her were safe.  She was
his slave in many, many ways.  "Every Denubian male feels that way, Tierra.
Our females betrayed us in the worst way.  Now, we take other females for
our pleasure, but if they are unwilling to pleasure us and we take them by
force, we always release them with no memories of what happened.  No
permanent damage, just a brief period where we were in total control."

   "And you would have done that with me?" she asked.  "Released me with no
memory of the rape?"

   "Yes.  But now there is no need.  Your bonding to me is very deep, and
it leaves you feeling happy."

   "I am happy.  But I think I'm a little evil now, too."

   "Maybe," he said, wondering if the term `evil' applied to him, too. 
"But it seems that you've become a little like we are.  You see the chance
to exercise complete control without doing harm, and you're willing to take
it.  But I doubt you're nearly as evil as you feel you are.  I think
the--what was the word you used to describe my control over you?"

   "Thrall?"

   "Yes.  I think the thrall can only go so far.  I don't think you would
murder someone just because I told you to."

   "No, I don't think I would.  But Zaxan, I would die for you."

   Zaxan thought about that for a while.  He essentially owned this girl
now.  She was his love slave, without a doubt.  But he was also fond of
her, too.  As a matter of fact, only his fondness for his father could
compare with what he felt for her.  And Denubians did have a moral code,
even if it was far different from that of humans.  He owed this girl
something more than occasional pleasure.  Yes, he was certain of that. 
"Tierra Lopez, I would die for you, too."

   For the second time in his association with this girl, Zaxan felt a
powerful emotion come from inside him instead of just feeling it from her.
Of course, Tierra had a very strong emotional reaction to his declaration
as well, and he ended up with the not-at-all unpleasant task of holding the
tall and slender Latina as she completely fell to pieces.  She had bonded
to him because Denubians had evolved to have chemicals in their semen that
brought about that reaction in some species, but despite the fact that she
was induced to love him, her feelings were very real.  Zaxan still didn't
have the same powerful emotions that humans possessed, but he absorbed the
passion in her embrace.  While it faded somewhat when he wasn't physically
near, Tierra loved him desperately whenever he was in the room with her.

   "My sweet little girl," he said happily when she had regained her
composure.  "I do want your help with the next girl, but I don't think I'm
ready for quite the experience I had yesterday.  I slept for a
cycle-and-a-half after you left.  Physically, I could go all night, but
emotionally...  Let's just say that raping Earther girls is for special
occasions and we need to come up with some other plans for getting girls to
fuck me."

   They spent the next few hours coming up with schemes and scenarios. 
Tierra had a very creative mind, and her ideas ranged from synthesizing his
semen into something that could be injected to elaborate ruses and
deceptions.  Zaxan didn't like the notion of just injecting girls.  It
lacked the powerful emotional experience he craved.  But he did take the
idea and have Tana set her logic fibers to weaponizing his semen as a way
to pacify humans if he and his lovely co-conspirator ever found themselves
in a sticky situation.

   After exploring plans that were often so complicated or ridiculous that
they sent the two fourteen-year-olds into fits of laughter, they settled on
one that seemed workable for each of the two girls he had tagged.  Zaxan
checked on his two prospective conquests.  If neither was in a good
position to be transported, they would have to go somewhere and find a
different girl.

   The tween redhead was at someplace called The New Mexico Academy of the
Dance, and was surrounded by people.  Zaxan still believed the only way to
bring her to the shuttle unnoticed would be to take her from her bed at
night.  It was considered the classic method, after all.  Still he longed
for something more than that with her.  No being had ever struck him as
being a beautiful innocent the way that girl had.

   The NMU student was another matter.  She appeared to be in an isolated
study room in a library.  Zaxan understood that.  He spent many hours in
solitude working on his studies.  Even his vacation here on Earth was going
to provide him with plenty of material for his essays in linguistics class.
But there might never be a better opportunity to snatch the otherwise very
social creature away without her friends immediately noticing her absence.
Zaxan instructed the ship's computer, Tana, to transport the girl.  They
initiated what Tierra had dubbed "Operation Seduction," a plan in which the
college girl was actually going to seduce the alien in the end.

   The blonde girl was immediately anesthetized upon materializing in the
transport tube.  Zaxan pitched her onto his shoulder and carried her to the
room that had been set up per Tierra's plan.  Zaxan found the new design to
be rather chilling, but his beautiful co-conspirator emphasized that the
frightening appearance was rather the point.  Zaxan stripped the new girl
down to her cut-off shorts and bra before he placed her on one of the cold
metal tables they had hastily assembled.  Tierra stripped to the same level
of undress and hopped up on her matching table wearing only her sports bra
and running shorts.

   "Damn," Tierra whispered, "look at the body on that girl.  You're gonna
have some fun with those big tits and that flat belly.  And she's gonna
have some fun with you." Zaxan grinned just like any fourteen-year-old
human boy would if he was told he was going to have sex with a gorgeous
college girl.  He fastened both girls down with restraints as he fought the
urge to just take advantage of the blonde's vulnerable position.  He
reminded himself that he really wasn't in the mood for another rape.  He
waved a vial of antidote under the blonde's nose and left the room in the
few seconds it took her to come around.  He turned on the cameras and
intercom so he could spy on them.

   "Hey, blonde girl!  Hey, you awake, over there?" Tierra whispered
urgently.

   "Wha--what?  Oh god, where am I?" the girl asked, taking on the same
whispery tone.

   "I'm over here.  Can you see me?" Tierra asked.

   The girl turned to her and saw that the pretty dark-haired girl in the
room with her was bound to the table in the same fashion.  "Where are we?"
the blonde asked in hushed tones.  "What are they doing to us?  What the
hell is that thing with all the needles?"

   "This is gonna sound crazy, but I think we're in a government lab or
something," Tierra said in what sounded convincingly like a terrified
whisper.  "There's this big guy, and he comes in every so often and looks
at that computer and then leaves.  He won't answer any questions or
anything though, and I haven't been able to get a good look at his face."

   "Why would they grab me?" the blonde asked.  "I'm not involved in
anything with the government or military."

   "Me neither!  I'm a freshman at Albuquerque East."

   "I'm a freshman at the U.  Did they do anything to hurt you at all,
sweetie?" On the other side of the door, Zaxan couldn't get the full effect
of the emotional vibes from the girl, but he could tell that she
instinctively felt an earnest sense of protectiveness toward the younger
Tierra.

   "No," Tierra said.  "But they took my shirt and shoes and I didn't have
my cell phone with me.  Do you have yours?"

   The blonde wiggled her backside for a bit.  "Yeah, it's in my back
pocket.  I'll see if I can reach it."

   "Who can we call?" the younger girl moaned.  "I don't even know where
we're at!"

   "I think if I call 9-1-1 they might be able to trace the location of the
phone."

   "God, you're smart!  What's your name?"

   "Cassandra.  Cassie.  You?"

   "Tierra."

   "Stay strong, Tierra.  We'll get out of this yet." Zaxan was impressed
that Cassandra tried to put on a brave face even though her inner emotional
vibrations indicated that she believed they were very unlikely to escape or
get rescued.  He watched the monitor as she tried to wiggle her hand down
to her pocket.

   "Tana, you have her signal blocked in case I don't get there fast
enough, right?"

   "Sure thing, handsome," the computer purred in Kathleen Turner's voice,
Zaxan's personal adjustment to the original programming.

   As soon as the girl got to her phone, he rushed into the room and pried
it from her hands.  He was amazed by how close Cassandra had gotten. 
Denubians were far more agile than humans, but Tierra had warned him that
teenage girls dialed cellphones remarkably fast.  She hadn't even been able
to see the phone, but she had already gotten 9-1-1 punched in.  He had
gotten to her right before she hit `send.' "Hey, who are you?" Cassandra
called after him as he left with the phone.  He gave her no reply.

   "Did you see his face, Cassandra?" Tierra asked.  "He looked like he
was..."

   "About your age, and as scared as we are.  I know.  Tierra, I don't
think this is a government lab."

   "Then what the hell is it?"

   "I'm an engineering major, and my dad is a physics professor, and I have
never seen any of this kind of equipment before.  Plus, did you see how
fast that kid moved?  I don't think he's from around here."

   "Is he...  Russian?" Tierra asked as if that would explain any of the
things Cassandra said.

   "No, sweetie.  He's from further away than that."

   "You're out of your mind!  An alien!  Come on, Cassandra, keep it
together."

   "You explain how they got me out of a huge library without anyone
noticing.  Where'd they get you from?"

   "Track practice," Tierra said as if the location was leading her to
realize that something unearthly must have happened.  "Oh, God.  They're
going to cut us up or something."

   "Maybe not, Tierra.  Think about the number of people in New Mexico who
claim to have been abducted and returned.  We're going to be okay, honey.
We'd rather have it be them than some black ops government thing right? 
Those guys scare me worse than aliens ever would."

   Zaxan felt Tierra suppress a laugh.  She couldn't help but agree with
the college girl.  Tierra's experience with aliens had been pretty fun so
far.  "What do we do, Cassie?"

   Cassandra was quiet for a long time.  When she spoke, she tried to sound
far more certain of herself than she actually was.  Zaxan could feel some
of the stress she was under, but her protective urges and concern for her
fellow captive kept her together.  He desperately wanted to be in the room
with her and be able to absorb more of what she was feeling.  Tierra was
brave, but this girl went beyond that.  He felt like the right human word
to describe her was probably `noble.' He knew his opportunity to truly feel
the emotions inside her would come soon.  When Cassandra spoke, she was
feeling slightly guilty about what she was suggesting, even though she was
in a life or death situation.  "Well, he does seem to be male, and scared,
and probably lonely.  And you're a very pretty girl about his age."

   "You're prettier than I am.  Look at your body!  Sorry, that was weird,
Cassandra."

   "It's okay, Tierra, and I'd kill for long legs like yours.  We'll both
try, okay?  Do you have any experience with boys?"

   "I'm sorry, Cassie.  I'm really shy with guys.  I'm scared of doing
stuff, and my family is very, very Catholic.  I'll try, but..." Tierra
stopped speaking as the door opened.  Zaxan moved in and looked at a
computer display.

   "Hey.  My name's Cassie.  What's yours?" Zaxan froze but didn't reply.
He waited for his co-conspirator.

   "I'm T-tierra, let's be friends, okay?"

   Zaxan again didn't respond, but this time he took a quick peek back at
Tierra.  "My friend is pretty scared," Cassandra said, picking up on the
glance at Tierra.  "Could you please be a nice guy and tell her that you're
not going to hurt her?"

   Zaxan didn't turn toward them, but spoke in a shaky whisper.  "I'm
sorry, but I'm not really supposed to talk to the visitors."

   Zaxan felt a profound sense of relief coming from Cassandra, and a
heightened sense of hope.  "Visitors?  Come on.  We're strapped down."

   "I really am sorry about that," he said, still not turning toward them.
"Safety regulations.  There are parts of the shuttle that are dangerous to
humans."

   "Please," Tierra said softly.  "We're scared and lonely.  Haven't you
ever been scared and lonely?" Zaxan sensed pride in Tierra coming from
Cassandra.  She really did seem to care for the younger girl.  Her
protectiveness wasn't tied to anything but the decency of her soul. 
Cassandra had no sexual or romantic feelings for Tierra; Zaxan would have
sensed that.  The blonde beauty was just...  nice.  "Can't you tell us
anything?"

   "We won't harm you," he said.  "But we can't let you go for quite a long
time, either.  That could lead to our being detected.  I really...  I
really am sorry for all this.  My superiors mean well, but sometimes they
don't think about anything but the mission." He turned and faced them. 
"And they've found that emotional attachments to the visitors complicate
things." He looked at Cassandra and then to Tierra.  He held the gaze at
each for a moment longer than seemed normal.  "Our species forms
attachments easily," he whispered.

   Zaxan felt something stir within Cassandra.  She was a romantic soul,
and she sensed that this vulnerable young alien was truly falling for
Tierra.  "We form attachments, too," she said and moved her eyes toward her
fellow captive.  "Don't we, Tierra?"

   "Yes, we do," the younger girl whispered and blushed.  Zaxan felt a bit
of sexual arousal coming from both girls now.  Tierra was really into her
role as the innocent young girl, and Cassandra was being swept up in the
vicarious romance of it all.

   "Do you feel an attachment to Tierra?" Cassandra asked in a sweet voice.

   He turned to the blonde and looked at her like answering the question
would make his life more difficult.  She tilted her head slightly and
pleaded with her eyes.  Zaxan sighed.  It appeared as if she had broken him
down.  "Yes," he said and hung his head slightly.  "She reminds me of my
little sister back home.  I just want to hold her and tell her it will be
alright."

   "Oh," Cassandra said.  "I'm sorry, I thought I was picking up on
something else.  You almost seem like you're hiding some romantic
feelings."

   He looked at Cassandra with his mouth slightly open.  When he spoke, he
rushed his words like a seventh grade boy asking his first crush to the
Valentine's Day dance.  "You're like the dawn over the mountains," he told
the blonde and fled the room.  Once outside, he grinned.  He figured it was
about damned time he left a human girl with a metaphor she couldn't
understand.  He heard Cassandra's breath catch, and felt a warm response
from her heart.  She took his phrase to mean exactly what he'd hoped she
would when he made it up.  Tierra's plan was working incredibly well.  A
direct romantic approach with Cassandra would have frightened her off, or
at least left her feeling queasy.  First opening her mind to the idea of a
romance blossoming between the other two and then using her receptiveness
to the idea to turn it around on her would catch her off guard.  The onus
of seducing the vulnerable boy fell on her now.

   Zaxan returned a few minutes later with a tray and two tiny patches.  He
crossed to Tierra.  "Little one," he said softly and stroked her hair.  "I
have to give you some medicine.  The voyage to our mother ship is only a
few hours, but the effects of warp can make humans violently ill.  This
medicine will prevent that.  It will give you a euphoric feeling for a few
seconds, but then it will make you sleepy.  Please know that I will never
let any harm come to you, and that when we get to the big ship we will be
able to let you move about.  May I?"

   "I'm scared," Tierra said.  "What if it doesn't work right on humans? 
What if it poisons me?"

   "It's okay, sweetie," Cassandra said.  "I'll go first.  Then you'll know
it's safe."

   Zaxan felt a huge spike of emotion come from Tierra, and he actually
felt a small one coming from his own heart.  Cassandra was risking her life
for a girl she had just met several minutes before.  "Are you sure,
Cassie?" Tierra asked.

   "Yeah.  I should go first.  I'm the oldest." She looked at Zaxan with
her intelligent blue-grey eyes.  "Please don't let me die," she whispered
to him.  "That wouldn't comfort her very much."

   "It's safe," he said, turning away from Tierra after gently brushing her
hair back from her face and kissing her on the forehead.  "You'll feel a
slight euphoria, Cassandra, and then gently drift off to sleep." He began
to open the package containing the patch.

   "You never did tell me your name," Cassandra said and smiled hopefully.

   "Zaxan, Son of Sarcon."

   "That sounds manly.  Zaxan the Brave.  There's a hero inside you,
Zaxan." She was a jumble of emotions.  There was hope, curiosity, fear,
affection, and a touch of arousal.  Zaxan was already learning that
anything with a sexual or romantic overtone aroused humans a bit.

   "I'm just a worker class, Cassie of Earth."

   "No.  You're a kind boy with real compassion.  Given the opportunity,
that could be turned to bravery."

   "Please, Cassie.  I get confused when you look at me like that.  If I
defy orders I could be punished severely.  I can't risk it, even for....  I
can't risk it.  Hold out your arm, please."

   "What you said to me before, Zax.  What did it mean?"

   "I shouldn't have said it.  It was wrong to make such a declaration to a
girl strapped to a table.  I sensed your goodness, and you are so
beautiful. Ugggh!  It was wrong of me to say that now, too.  You just make
me feel so..." He took a deep breath.  "Cassie, you're in a vulnerable
position, but I would never take advantage of your fear or loneliness. 
Your arm, please."

   "How old are you, Zax?"

   "Twelve," he said and felt the disappointment in her heart.  "Twelve in
our years would make me twenty-one in yours.  We tend to look younger than
you do." Her romantic side did flip-flops, and he soaked it all in.

   "You know, Zax.  You're every bit the prisoner I am here.  You get the
three of us out, and maybe we can see the actual dawn over the mountains
together sometime.  The Sandias are close by." Her arousal spiked at her
own suggestion of a romantic interlude, and Zaxan felt it like a warm
shower cascading over his body.  She wasn't lying.  She would go through
with it, willingly, even if she had already been freed from captivity.

   "Please, Cassie.  I'm really not supposed to get attached to you, and
it's hard enough as it is." He pleaded with his eyes and she gave him her
hand.

   "There's that euphoria," she said when he took her hand.

   "I didn't put the patch on yet."

   "I know," she said and smiled.  He applied the patch, and she drifted
off to sleep.

   As soon as she was under, Zaxan freed Tierra from her restraints.  "Holy
shit, Zax!  She's like the nicest girl I've ever met.  I really wasn't
expecting that.  Girls as hot as her can usually get away with being sort
of selfish."

   "You want to just let her go, don't you?" Zaxan asked.

   "No.  That's you, ya big sap.  I want to do something even sappier.  I
want to give her exactly what she thinks she's getting, a romantic
adventure with an impossible hero and a lovable girl sidekick."

   "No more Operation Seduction?"

   "No," she said with a sigh.  "Now we're into Operation Give a Girl Such
a Perfect Moment that Her Panties Will Melt Every Time She Even Thinks
About It."

   "That's a very long name, Tierra."

   "Operation Panty-Melter for short, then," she said and smiled.  They
exited the room.  "How long is she going to be out?"

   "Eight hours or until I wake her."

   "Good.  Let's get started.  Tana is going to have to help us with this
one." Tierra froze as she heard music.  "That's not my phone.  Cassie's
getting a text." Tierra picked up the phone from the counter.  "Someone
named Kelly-Bean wants to know where she's at.  Let me see...  I have it."
Zaxan watched as she texted a reply.  "My cousin showed up out of nowhere,"
she typed and sent it.

   Almost immediately a reply came back with another question.  "The cute
one?"

   Tierra typed in another reply.  "No, the crazy drunk one.  Be out all
night.  See ya soon."

   The next reply from Kelly-Bean was one they'd hoped they'd get.  "Tell
Bex I said hi.  Have fun."

   "I'm glad you're my ally," Zaxan said.  "You're deviously clever."

   "I'm also deviously horny, and it won't take me eight hours to set up
Operation Panty-Melter," she said.  Zaxan liked the feeling he was getting
from her at the moment.

   "Conspiratory fuck?" he asked and raised an eyebrow, a trait he had
already learned from his human companion.

   "My first one of those," she said.  "Bet it's not our last, though.  I'm
having a blast!" Zaxan took her standing up this time.  The idea had been
stuck in his head since their first encounter.  The thing he remembered
most when he reflected back on fucking Tierra while standing was the fact
that she told him he was strong thirteen separate times.  He hadn't
realized that a willing girl looked at brute physical strength entirely
differently than a girl who was being forced.

   Zaxan's strength had terrified her when he first took her, but this time
it filled her with admiration for him, and it made her feel safe to know
that a being of his strength was willing to use the very last of it to
defend her if necessary.  As her long legs wrapped around him and propelled
her hot sex up and down his shaft, she found her climax long before he ever
began the vibratory phase of his ejaculation.  But when that began, she
found it again.  When the encounter ended, she slid down to the floor and
knelt, cleaning the last of his outpouring of lavender semen from him.  "I
never tasted a human guy's cum," she said, "but I bet it doesn't taste this
damned good."

   "Bet it doesn't make your tongue purple, either," he offered.  "So, what
does it taste like?"

   "Cinnamon chewing gum." She reached down and took some of the overflow
that ran down her leg.  "Cinnamon gum cum, wanna try it?"

   He was tempted, but he wasn't quite ready for that.  "I'll just get some
gum later," he replied.  He wasn't quite sure why she laughed so much after
he said that, but he was glad that she was happy.

   Several hours later, they were aboard his father's massive Sarcorp
cruiser.  They had asked Tana to use her normal voice and make semi-regular
announcements in Denubian.  She also employed her holographic equipment to
create several Denubian characters that moved about the ship.  Cassandra
needed to believe they were not alone on the big vessel.  Zaxan revived her
in a chair in one of the many cabins that had remained unused during the
trip.  The cruiser could house thirty people for a long trip if needed. 
Zaxan had taken such a big ship only because its range was needed to reach
Earth.

   "Zax," Cassandra said softly as she came to.  "I'm glad it's your face I
woke up to.  How's Tierra?"

   "Still asleep on the bunk over there.  I revived you first.  I...  I
need to talk to you."

   "You look worried, handsome.  What's wrong?" She touched his cheek.

   "You said I was a prisoner here.  It's not true.  At least I don't think
it's true.  I'm going to take a job on a hospital ship when I get back
home. They don't make you stay at an assignment you hate.  I thought it
would be fun, seeing a new world.  I never realized that I would play a
part in making someone like you unhappy.  Most species don't mind so much
being captive if they're treated well.  You and Tierra hate it, don't you?"

   "Yes, Zax.  We do hate it.  We're scared, and worried that we'll never
see our families again."

   "I have a friend in the shuttle bay.  If I can get you there, I can get
you home." Zaxan loved the feeling of joy he was getting from her, and he
loved the pride she felt in him.  Even if he didn't have the same pride in
himself at the moment, he could feel hers.  Sometimes he loved being able
to borrow emotions.

   "Won't they come take us back?" she asked.  She was worried, but not
panicky.

   "A computer glitch erased all your specific biographical information,
and to everyone else aboard you're just another human.  They won't even
know which continent we originally took you from.  There are almost seven
billion of you humans.  They won't be able to track you down."

   "A `computer glitch?' You are clever." There was that pride again, but
this time there was admiration, even definite romantic feelings.  Zax
realized that Tierra was a genius at playing on other human's emotions. 
"But Zax, won't they know that you were the one who helped us?"

   "I-I erased that information, too," he said just the way that Tierra had
taught him.  It sounded like a lie.

   "Zax, you brave boy.  What will they do to you?"

   "I don't care, Cassie.  I just don't care."

   "I do."

   "They won't kill me, and they probably won't even incarcerate me. 
Whatever it is, it won't be as awful for me as keeping you for years and
then erasing your memories of your time with us will be for you.  Do you
really want to go through the rest of your life wondering what happened to
you for three years?  It would give me nightmares."

   "You're the most heroic man I've ever known, and the kindest," she said
and kissed him.

   "You don't have to repay me by pretending you feel the same way about me
that I feel about you, Cassie."

   "Who's pretending?" she said and kissed him again.  Zaxan recognized the
feeling she sent him this time.  As unlikely as it seemed to him, she was
falling in love with an alien teen she had only known for a few hours.

   Tierra had told him she would.  The part he played for her was just the
right combination of vulnerable and heroic.  Tierra said that the way he
looked didn't hurt either.  She'd said he had `bedroom eyes.' Metaphors. 
If this one meant what he thought it did, it was a very nice thing to hear
from a gorgeous girl.

   Zaxan gave Cassandra a vial and told her to wave it under Tierra's nose
a few times.  He left the room and made sure that Tana was ready with the
holograms and the lighting system.  Then he got a surgical mask and cap
from the med kit.  When he first walked in, the girls both reacted as if
they were startled.  Only one of them truly was.  "It's me," he said.  "I
have an idea that might get us past the people in the corridor.  I'll tell
them that there needs to be a radius of ten feet around you until you're
decontaminated.  People tend to just hustle away and not ask questions when
they hear that."

   "He's really smart," Tierra whispered to Cassandra.  Cassandra nodded.
"Kind of cute, too," the younger girl added.  Cassandra nodded again.

   The holographic characters strenuously avoided them when told of the
radius.  Zaxan could feel Cassandra's confidence grow as they progressed
through the ship.  Then, Tana sounded a claxon and began making frantic
announcements in Denubian.  "They know!" Zaxan whispered urgently.  "Run!"

   They sprinted down a hallway and skidded to a stop as four characters
appeared at the far end.  Zaxan led the girls down an adjacent hallway and
to an access panel that led to the ladders for use in case of power failure
in the lifts.  They climbed down two ladders and he opened a panel.  There
was a bright flash of light in the hallway.  Zaxan had no idea what a ray
gun was, but Tierra had assured him that the flash would make Cassandra
think they had been fired at with one.  Zaxan closed the panel and his keen
hearing led him to be able to hear Cassandra's heart pounding out a rapid
rhythm.

   Tierra had told him to make sure he did something that displayed his
strength.  "We have to go faster," he said.  He took one girl in each arm
and lifted them off the floor.  "Hold on tight.  Keep your heads and limbs
close to me." They threw their arms around his neck and wrapped their legs
around him.  He leapt down the ladder shaft.  Just as Cassandra caught her
breath, he leapt down a second and then a third.

   "Oh, my god!" Cassandra said.  "Did you really just...?  That's a
fifteen foot drop with a girl under each arm!" Tierra had again correctly
diagnosed what would `push the girl's buttons.' Cassandra was completely
aroused by his display.

   "Muy macho!" Tierra gushed.  She hadn't realized that Zaxan showing off
in this manner would push her buttons as well.

   "We're right across from the shuttle bay," he said and hoped Cassandra
couldn't tell that he too was aroused.  The girls' proximity and reactions
had made him feel sexy.

   Two characters in what Tierra had imagined would look like alien
security uniforms appeared in the hallway as the trio attempted to cross.
Zaxan shoved the girls into the shuttle bay and closed the door.  The
character that was supposed to be Zaxan's friend beckoned the girls to the
open hatch of a shuttle.  "I have to go back for Zax!" Cassandra declared
and ran back toward the door.  Tierra smiled.  Cassandra was a hell of a
woman, no doubt about it.

   Just as Cassandra reached the door, Zax staggered in.  There was a large
black mark on his shoulder.  He'd had just enough time in the hallway to
change into a shirt Tierra had scorched.  "They winged him with a stunner,"
the friend declared.  "Get him on the shuttle before he passes out!"

   "We can't fly this damned thing!" Tierra said.

   "It will fly itself.  It's programmed that way.  Zaxan wasn't sure he'd
be there in the end, so he had me set it up to fly you home.  Hit the green
button, and then when you're outside the ship, hit the square red one.  The
square one.  That's the stealth mode." The door to the corridor groaned. 
"They're overriding the lock!  Go!"

   The girls helped the wobbly Zaxan aboard the ship and turned back to
thank the brave friend.  "Wait!" he called.  "Zaxan, stun me!" Zaxan pulled
a prop stunner from the panel next to the door, but dropped it to the
floor. Cassandra picked it up and fired.  It whirred and emitted a bright
flash.  The holographic friend character slumped to the floor.  Tana
provided a nice thud sound effect.

   "Why did we have to shoot him?" Tierra asked.

   "So it looks like we forced him to open the door.  Go press the
buttons," Cassandra said in a calm and commanding voice.  "Green first. 
Square red one after we clear the ship." Cassandra guided her wounded hero
to his seat.  "You okay, baby?" she asked.

   Zaxan was stunned, but not by any weapon.  This amazing Earth girl was a
treasure beyond his imagining.  If this was what Denubian females had been
like before the Betrayal it was no wonder they had been dominant for so
long.  Zaxan was no longer playing his role to take advantage of her.  He
was playing it to give the noble girl the perfect moment Tierra had
predicted.  No girl had ever deserved such a moment more.  "Brudel?  He
okay?" he asked, mimicking grogginess.

   "I stunned him.  They'll think he's innocent.  Later, tell him how brave
he was, okay?"

   Zaxan rolled his head a few times.  He looked at Cassandra like he was
trying to focus on her face.  "Bravvve and boot-full," he slurred.

   "Yes you are," Cassandra said, tears in her eyes.

   "Gonna pash ouwat.  Wear offff in coupllle hoursh," he said and let his
head slump down.  She took him in her arms and held him.

   "Cassie, come up here!" Tierra called.  Cassandra kissed Zaxan on the
lips and rushed to the cockpit.  He felt the love she now freely gave him.

   "Problem?" Cassandra asked as she stood behind Tierra.

   "No.  Look.  Is that...?"

   "Oh my god.  It's Neptune!"

   "Long ways from home," Tierra said.

   "Yeah, long ways.  But thanks to him, we're going to see home again,
Tierra."

   "Thanks to you, too.  You're kind of amazing, Cassie."

   "You did well, too, Tierra.  Most girls your age would have panicked. 
You were as brave as could be." Zaxan could feel that Tierra was
embarrassed to receive the praise after deceiving Cassandra, but the blonde
just took it as a humble girl having trouble with such a compliment.  "I
have to go check on Zax."

   "Give him a kiss for me, Cassie." Tierra waited a moment and then
pointed out the window into space and added.  "Hey Cassie...  I saw Neptune
and pretty soon I'm gonna be able to see Your Anus!" It was the closest
Zaxan came to giving up the whole thing.  He was supposed to be out cold,
but he had to open his mouth and moan to keep from laughing.

   Cassandra really was in space, just not nearly as far out as she thought
she was.  Tana kept the shuttle orbiting the moon for a few hours and
projected the image of the solar system onto the windows.  Cassandra
checked on Zaxan many times, and only left him when Tierra called her up
front to see some wonder of the stars.  Zaxan wished they could show her
every planet, but he knew she was too smart.  The planets didn't line up
along a straight route like they did in textbooks.  A physics professor's
daughter wouldn't fall for that.  Still, the effect on her was profound. 
"I think that maybe engineering isn't my calling," she said quietly at one
point.

   "What are you going to do?" Tierra asked.

   "Get back here, to space.  I want to be an astronaut."

   "That kind of sounds like something I would have said when I was a
little girl, Cassie."

   "I know.  Everyone dreams of it sometimes, I suppose.  But there are a
handful of people who actually follow the dream, aren't there?"

   "You're smart enough, Cassie.  And you're physically fit and brave as
hell.  You could do it." Tierra paused for a moment, and then Zaxan could
tell that she was looking at him.  Cassandra's eyes would have followed. 
"Sometimes dreams do come true, don't they?" Tierra added.

   "Yes," Cassandra answered.  "Sometimes they do." Zaxan could sense that
she was thinking of him as well.

   He rose shakily to his feet shortly before they landed.  Cassandra was
there, helping him.  He asked her to bring him a medicine patch to help
revive him.  It was actually just a nutritional supplement patch.  He stood
up straight and became alert.  "I'm going to the cockpit," he announced and
took two steps in that direction before turning back to Cassandra.  He
kissed her and held her in his arms.  "You truly are the dawn, Cassandra of
Earth," he said and proceeded up to the cockpit.  She did not move
immediately to follow him.  Zaxan could hear her breathing heavily, and he
felt the romantic urges within her reach what he believed was an all-time
high.

   A few moments later, she joined them in the cockpit.  Zaxan had taken
the ship off of autopilot and was on final approach to Earth.  He guided
the stealth ship down over Albuquerque and made a pass right over the city,
strangely quiet in the hours just before dawn.  "I believe we should drop
you off first, Tierra," he said.  "You have likely been missed, as you are
so very young." Tierra nodded and didn't bring up the fact that she was ten
months older than him.  When he was over her house, he put her in the
transporter tube and kissed her on the forehead.  Before he could close the
tube, Cassandra ran to her and hugged her tightly.  Zaxan couldn't help but
be aroused at the two beautiful teenage girls wearing nothing but bras and
short shorts embracing.  The fantasy he conjured in the moment wasn't to
be, however, not if he wanted to give Cassandra the perfect adventure and a
clean ending.

   "You have my number, right?" Cassandra asked Tierra.

   "Yeah."

   "It'll probably be a couple days before I get a new phone, but you can
call me anytime you need anything, okay?" Cassandra squeezed Tierra's hand.
"After all, I'm probably the only person in the world you can talk to about
all this."

   "Thanks, Cassie." Tierra leaned back into the tube and the glass closed
over her.  In a final dramatic gesture, she pressed her hand to the glass,
and Cassandra placed hers opposite it.  With a shimmer, Tierra vanished.

   "To the university?" Zaxan asked.

   "I promised you something," Cassandra said, taking his hand.  "Dawn over
the Sandias?"

   "I won't hold you to that, Cassie."

   "I like it when you hold me, Zax."

   They landed the shuttle facing west in a small clearing and opened the
wide hatch at the back.  Zaxan left the stealth generator on, and kept a
force field in place against the morning chill.  He fetched a wide mattress
from one of the beds and placed it on the floor right in front of the
hatch. Invisible to the world, they had a perfect view of the mountains. 
"We'll have to wait a bit for sunrise," he said.

   "We'll occupy ourselves, I imagine," she answered as she snuggled in
close to him.  Zaxan was beginning to realize that perfection, even when
stolen, was still perfection.  "What is going to happen to you, Zax?"

   "I can't go back to the ship, but there's enough charge in the shuttle's
core to get me to our colony in the Quarlon System.  My cousin is there. 
He'll help me out.  He's been trying to get me to come there anyway.  It's
a rough place, and they need medics."

   "You can't go home, can you?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

   "No.  Not for a long time at least."

   "You gave up your home so that Tierra and I could get back to ours." She
wept softly and leaned her head down onto his chest.

   "Cassie, thanks to you I did the right thing.  I have never felt more...
free."

   "Stay here, Zax, with us...  with me."

   "I would be stuck inside the shuttle.  They can't detect me while it's
in stealth mode.  But if I stepped outside, they would recognize the
Denubian life form and come for me, and that could lead right back to you
and little Tierra.  And I fear that even a human as brave and strong as you
could not survive in the Quarlon System.  It's not compatible with your
bodies."

   "So, there's only this moment for us then," she said and touched his
cheek, waiting to see how he would respond.

   He paused for a moment and then proceeded cautiously.  "Cassie, how do
your people...  I mean I understand the actual act is much like ours... 
but now that you are free....  How do your people initiate lovemaking?"

   "I'll show you, sweetie," she said and pulled his face down for a kiss.
As they kissed she lowered herself so that she was lying crosswise on his
thighs.  She reached up and took his hand and brought it to her bare belly.
It was flat and smooth and warm, and Zaxan loved the feel of it.  Subtly,
she pushed his hand upward just a bit.  Momentum and desire took it the
rest of the way for him.  Soon he was cupping one of her full breasts in
his big hand.  She made a soft purring sound, and Zaxan could feel the
pleasure flowing out of her.

   "These are very beautiful," he said in honest fascination.  He lifted
the bottom of her bra, but her breasts were big enough that it didn't slide
over them smoothly.

   "Let me help," she said and sat up.  She unclasped the bra and cast it
aside.  She turned back to him and lifted his shirt over his head.  "Oh,"
she said, touching the simulated burn on his shoulder with her fingertips.
"Does it hurt, Zax?"

   "It did, until just now," he replied.  He had been worried that the
sight of the burn might revile her, but Tierra had assured him that a
slight wound taken in defense of the girls would turn her on.  Cassandra
gently kissed it and then climbed into his lap, straddling him.  She leaned
her head back and offered her breasts to him.  He kissed his way down her
neck and then buried his face between her breasts.  As he kissed them and
teased her nipples with his tongue, Zaxan felt her physical passion build.
Cassandra was a true romantic, but that didn't preclude her from feeling
the lusty desires any teenage girl felt.

   But Zaxan realized that he felt something within her that he had never
felt with Tierra.  Buried deep within Tierra was a bit of shame that she
was enthralled by the creature that had raped her.  She now accepted that
he was more than a brute, and had come to care deeply for him, but the
shame would always be there for her.  With Cassandra her love was given
freely to a being she saw as being brave and noble.  There was a certainty
in her heart that was entirely new to Zaxan.  It showed itself by allowing
Cassandra to release unreserved passion for him.  Each kiss and caress was
an opportunity for her to experience romantic perfection.  Zaxan alone
could not have matched her unrestrained emotion, but he had Cassandra there
to fill him with it, and he allowed it all in so that he could give it
right back to her.  As long as her love was pure, the love she received in
return would have the same quality.

   Zaxan had been content to let the beautiful girl lead in the beginning,
but he desired to become more commanding, and he was certain that she
wanted him to be that way as well.  He brought one leg back underneath him,
and almost effortlessly he stood, even with her straddling his lap.  She
simply clung to him and let him bring her up far enough that she could
stand on her feet.  Wordlessly, he opened the snap on her shorts and
brought the shorts and her panties down to her knees so that she could step
out of them.  His long hand reached down to her sex and cupped it. 
Cassandra slowly rose and fell against his fingers, her head snuggled to
his chest.  Occasionally, she would kiss his chest, but mostly she used it
for support so that she could seek pleasure at his fingertips.

   She had become quite ready to receive him, so she pushed his
loose-fitting pants to the floor and let his organ spring free.  As he
stepped out of his pants, he sensed a thrill from her.  She would have had
slight worries about what he would look like beneath the trousers, but
seeing that he simply offered a large version of what human males
possessed, she knew that their coupling would result in physical pleasures
that would match the romantic experience they were sharing.  "We're much
the same, Cassie," he whispered.  "I wish that I could make a child with
you, but we are vaccinated against that before being allowed to interact
with other species."

   "A child from you would have been beautiful, Zax, and well-loved," she
said.  He could sense that while she meant it there was some relief there,
too.  She reached down and took his shaft in her hand and began to stroke
it, acquiring a feel for it.  While she did it, he could sense her
anticipation.  She was fairly certain what was to come next and entirely
certain that she desired it.

   Zaxan sank to a knee and gently cradled her in his powerful arms before
placing her on her back on the mattress.  He moved over her and kissed her
as his legs found their way between hers.  She spread for him, reaching for
his shaft and guiding it in.  For the first time in his life, Zaxan
penetrated a female who had given herself willingly from the very start. 
It was an amazing moment for him.  Never had anyone given him so much
trust. Cassandra strained to take him in, but she was not in pain.  She had
taken lovers before, just never one with quite his mass.  He could sense
her ecstasy as he filled her more completely than anything had before.

   The rest of her body was not idle as her sex accepted him.  She kissed
his chest and dug her fingers into the flesh of his broad back.  Her legs
clutched at his bottom and urged him forward.  She did not speak, but she
gasped and cooed softly as she found gentle pleasures in his lovemaking. 
After only a few minutes, she sent out vibes that told him that her climax
was near at hand.  He kept up the gentle pace, and she released with a few
soft sounds and an urgent clutching at his back.  "Incredible!" she
whispered then.  "Incredible!"

   He held her close for a bit, but found that she was beginning to stir
beneath him, signaling him that she was ready to continue.  He began to
move slowly, gradually increasing his pace.  He did not stop when he
reached the pace he had set before, but continued to make his thrusts more
rapid and forceful.  Cassandra's body was ready to accept the things that
Zaxan's powerful form was capable of doing.  He rose to his knees and took
her tiny bottom in his hands.  He felt her thrill at the display of his
strength, so he took her hand and pulled her up into an embrace.  Her legs
wrapped around his waist as he began to both thrust into her and easily
move her petite form up and down.  She clung to him desperately, lest she
be flung about like a ragdoll.  It was a passionate and powerful coupling,
but it never veered into anything less than a display of two star-crossed
lovers' desperate desire to live their single moment together to the
utmost.

   Cassandra was young and strong and passionate, and the moment was filled
with every bit of romance a girl in her late teens could imagine.  She
found her release a second time.  This one was more intense than the first,
but it was still quiet.  Cassandra buried her mouth in his neck, and her
squeals were muffled by it.  When she finished, she kissed the side of his
neck feverishly as he continued to take her.

   Zaxan was nearing his moment now, and though he was nearly beyond being
capable of thinking, he smiled knowing that she was completely unaware of
his final gift for her.  He pushed hard and deep into his willing lover's
sex, and let his process of release begin.  Cassandra's eyes opened wide as
his first slow, powerful twitches began deep inside her.  She knew he must
be beginning to orgasm, and was starting to realize it was going to be far
different than any human lover's release.  Then, Zaxan's vibratory phase
began in earnest.

   Cassandra had been well-satisfied already, but as the rapid vibrations
stimulated her from deep within, she began to lose control.  She clubbed
Zaxan's broad back with her tiny forearm and then dug her nails into his
flesh.  She bit into his shoulder and then tossed her head back in a
throaty scream.  Her third orgasm of their lovemaking shook her to the core
of her being.  Never had she imagined that pleasure could become so intense
that it could make her body react in such a way.  Her mind swirled, and her
heart shouted to her that this, this was the moment of her life.  Never
would there be anything like this again.  What she was experiencing was
beyond what her world had to offer.  Then came her lover's actual release,
and as her womb was flooded with his jets of lavender, she felt such a bond
with him that she wanted to crawl inside of his body and stay there
forever. She clung desperately to him and wept tears of joy, love and
regret that this was to be their one and only time.  Still, she knew that
she had experienced something that she could treasure forever, and she was
too strong to lapse into bitterness.

   Her body exhausted, and Zaxan overwhelmed by the power of her emotions,
the two lovers wrapped themselves in one another's arms and watched the
dawn over the mountains.  They kissed many, many times that early morning
in the Sandias, and they touched and caressed one another at every moment.
Zaxan knew he had her now.  The effects of the bonding created by the
chemicals he had poured into her at the end of their lovemaking made this
girl no less his love slave than Tierra.  He could tell her everything, and
she would forgive him and desire him and be at his beck and call any time
he wanted to enjoy her body again.  But he owed her something more than
that.  He owed her the perfection that could only be offered by playing the
scenario to its end.

   He told her he had to go, and they got dressed.  Most of her clothes
were in a room only a few feet away from them, but there was something in
retrieving them that felt too convenient.  Zaxan decided that he wanted to
keep them anyway.  He was growing sentimental after only two days with
humans.  Then he realized that human sentiment could offer Cassandra one
last meaningful gift.  He gave her his shirt, the one with the scorch mark
that had come from a fictional ray gun, whatever that was.  She wrapped
herself in it as if it was the greatest gift any girl had ever received. 
Zaxan noticed that she sniffed it many times, hoping to embed the memories
even deeper than already were.

   At the end, Cassandra did not weep as he placed her in the transport
tube.  She was going to be brave for him one final time.  "Goodbye, Zax,"
she said, "I will always love you."

   "Farewell, Cassie of Earth," he replied.  He subtly used his thrall over
her.  "Remember me, but do not abandon other lovers for the memory.  Live
happily, love deeply and follow your dreams.  I will never forget you." He
closed the glass.  Cassandra leaned her forehead against it, and he
returned the gesture.  "Now, Tana," he whispered, and Cassie of Earth
disappeared in a shimmer of light.

   He kept the shuttle in stealth mode and moved it quickly to the park
near campus to which he had transported her.  He found her sitting on a
bench, weeping softly.  He watched her through the viewer for some time,
and felt a great temptation to go to her and comfort her.  But then, she
lifted her head, kissed her fingertips, raised them slightly and waved the
kiss off to the heavens.  She smiled bravely then rose and began to walk
back to campus.  "Tana, record the last thirty seconds into memory and back
it up."

   "Yes, sugar," Tana said in her sexy voice.  "Where would you like me to
back it up?"

   "All possible locations on the shuttle, the cruiser and at home.  Never,
ever lose that video, understand?"

   "Understood," Tana said.  She used her normal voice.  It was almost as
if even the computer understood the import of the moment.

   Zaxan told Tana to return the shuttle to the desert and then headed to
his bunk.  He'd now known two human girls, and each had provided him with a
profoundly emotional experience.  Yet each experience had been entirely
unique.  As his exhausted brain gave way to sleep, he realized that there
were over three billion females on this planet, and each and every one of
them was probably unique.  He would rest now, and dream of Cassandra, but
when he had gathered his thoughts he would go back to exploring Earth
girls. The human female, he decided, might just be the greatest treasure
the universe had to offer.