Kniam: A Terraneu Novel (6 page)

Amber stretched like a cat in the luxurious bedding. What a crazy dream!
She had fallen in some vortex, been sold as some kind of animal, and met the
most engaging, wildly exciting man ever. Sighing she sat up, all good dreams
have to come to an end. Only she froze when she didn’t immediately recognized
her surroundings. It hadn’t been a dream. She wasn’t in the quaint B&B in
the Highlands of Scotland. She rolled across the massive bed, and as soon as
her feet hit the floor she had one thought…shower! If that cavernous bathtub
had a shower!

“We’re leaving together…but still its farewell!” She was in the middle of
singing one of her favorite 80’s songs…“and maybe we’ll come baaaack, to Earth
who can tell! Yeah…” It hadn’t taken her long to find the “shower” part of the
bathtub. It was the farthest from the edge, against the corner of the wall.
When she had pushed a bunch of buttons it went from a trickle against the wall,
to a shower, to a full fledged waterfall! It was currently on the waterfall
setting, and she was having the time of her life! She had found soap, please
let it be, and was busy washing. She had scrubbed ever inch of skin and was
just turning to rinse off by facing the bathroom...“It’s the final
countdowwwwnnn…arrrrrr!!!!” her voice ended on a startled scream! Was every man
that lived on this planet crammed into her bathroom? “What the f___!” She
instinctively attempted to cover herself, but didn’t think it was very
effective. Eyes flashing around at all the gaping men, she was able to pick out
Knollig, Ailech, Kneus and Kniam.

“What the hell! Why are you in my bathroom?” she shrieked the question at
all of them but expected answers from Kniam. He had a lot of nerve! She had
expected him to at least check on her last night. They had talked for so long,
and she though they made some kind of connection. She scoffed at the “love at
first sight” theory some people had, but she would definitely subscribe to lust
at first sight!

There was a chorus of “Uhhh…” and “Umm…” and just general hemming and
hawing.

“Oh forget it!” She decided to grab for the towel she had set out.

“GET OUT!” She jumped a foot in the air, her eyes locked on Kniam, his
purple eyes were shooting sparks. “NOW!” If he had yelled that there was a bomb
set to go off, you couldn’t have cleared a room faster. As all the other males
scrambled to get out the door, bumping and jarring each other. He stormed over
and despite his obvious displeasure, grabbed her gently and shielded her from
the sight of the retreating men. He reached around her to turn off the waterfall,
brushing the front of his chest against hers. He was in his black leather
outfit again, and she sure hoped it was waterproof.

“
What the hell was that all about?” she asked, since she was still
pressed against him. “Am I allowed to take a shower in privacy? I was singing
and minding my own business.” Now that the others were out of her bathroom, she
was in the mood to vent. “Does every male in a hundred mile radius need to see
me naked…”

“Be calm Amber. The council members and I were waiting for you to wake in
order to hold a meeting. Knollig and Ailech both heard sounds from your rooms
that worried them, something about a Sacath being strangled, so they called for
help. Since every male is interested in finding out more about you, they all
came to your rooms out of concern and perhaps a bit of curiosity.” He gently
pulled her into the bedroom.

“A Sacath? You mean one of those saber cat things? Someone thought my
singing was the sound of one of those things being strangled?” She was
developing a twitch in her right eye…she could feel it!

He decided to ignore her obvious irritation, and instead gestured to the
bed. “Here is an article of clothing and footwear for you.” She looked down,
and saw that there was a piece of strange cloth and some type of sandal. “We
put your dimensions into the computer, with some parameters for openings and
such. This is what came out.” He handed the cloth over to her. It was a silky
material and was of course her favorite color purple. Had she told him that
yesterday? Had he remembered and asked for this color on purpose?

She fingered the material then held it up to examine the structure. What
was she supposed to do…maybe she was supposed to just wrap it around? After a
few minutes of trying to figure it out, Kniam decided to help. His hands were
on her shoulders trying to tie, then her waist trying to tuck, across her
stomach with a fold.

“Enough helping.” She finally croaked out breathlessly. The most
frustrating part was he didn’t have any idea what he was doing to her. She
looked up and had to re-evaluate that last thought. His eyes were the purple
velvet she was coming to love, and when she chanced a peek further down…he
wasn’t unaffected by her!

Well here goes nothing, she leaned into him slowly, using her hands
around the back of his head to gently pull forward. When there was a wisp of
breath between their lips, she paused giving Kniam plenty of time to pull back
if he wanted. When he just waited, she brushed her lips ever so slowly along
his. Like a butterfly afraid to land, back and forth she brushed his mouth. She
let out little puffs of breath, finally chancing a glance up she almost laughed
at his expression. His eyes were like saucers, and his mouth dropped open a
little. Emboldened that he hadn’t moved away, she gently suckled his lower lip
into her mouth. She slanted her head just a tad to the side and pressed herself
fully against him. Without knowing it her hands had gone from kneading the back
of his head, to wrapping around his silken hair. Her mouth had become hungry on
his, and for a man who hadn’t been around a woman he sure took to kissing.

Their lips were moving and slanting on each other. She opened her mouth a
little more and her tongue sought out his. He froze for two seconds then his
hands found the back of her head and with a guttural moan, held on tight. He
was fisting her hair, his mouth and tongue clashing with hers. She had managed
to get one leg wrapped around his upper thigh and was trying to figure out how
to climb up. Suddenly she didn’t need to try because he grabbed her and lifted
her higher against his chest. She was now lined up perfectly to be able to rub
just the right places. Just as swiftly as she lifted, she was dropped. It was
either let go of his head, or hang there like an Amber necklace. With a
frustrated groan, she let go.

“Kniam…what?” her voice came out husky and when she opened her eyes to
look into his face, he had that distant look again. She knew that meant he was
“talking” to someone, and wasn’t paying attention. She took the time to fix her
outfit, putting on the sandals. She waited for Kniam to get done with his
conversation.

“We have to go little female.” His voice was deep and throaty, and it was
nice to know that he wasn’t unaffected by their kiss. “Before we leave for the
council meeting, I need to tell you…that is…” he sighed and she was becoming
worried about this upcoming meeting. “I know you don’t know me well. That I
wasn’t able to make sure you were settled last night may have bothered you…but
I need you to try to trust me. Can you do that?”

Amber thought for a moment,
You can
try
to trust him, that
doesn’t mean he has earned it!
Her logical side counseled.
It’s not like
he has done anything to hurt you on purpose. He has been really sweet and
attentive, and any man that can kiss like that! WHEW! Trust…schmust!
Her
effervescent side just wanted to kiss Kniam again.

She realized he was waiting for an answer so she hurriedly said, “I will
keep an open mind.”

“Good, that is all that I ask.” With those words he grabbed her hand, and
gently led her from her quarters. She almost had to run to keep up with his
longer stride, and although she was trying to take in her surroundings, he kept
hurrying her along.

“Kniam, could we slow down please? I would like to get a look around.”

“I am sorry Amber, but we need to hurry. The council was ready to meet
when we interrupted your shower.” His smoldering look told me what he was
remembering. “I want to get this matter settled as soon as possible. Please be
patient. I will give you a tour when the meeting is over.” He wasn’t saying
something, his eyes averted from hers, and she could sense there was more.
Before she could ask, they had arrived at their destination. The doors opened
without needing him to touch a console, so that told her the doors weren’t
locked, at least for now. With a flourish he swept her through the doors. The
inside of this dome looked just like a conference room. There was a crescent
shaped table with seven chairs, one in the middle and three on each side. Fanned
out from that were separate seating areas. Six of the seven chairs were
currently occupied, and all of the seating and standing room was taken up with
men. All of them were tall and muscular. All were wearing the same black
clothing. And every last one of them had some shade of purple eye color. The
only differences she could discern were the hues of hair colors, some facial
features and skin tone.

With a gentle squeeze to her shoulder for reassurance, Kniam deposited
her in a chair at opening of the table, and walked around to take a seat
directly in front of her at the head of the table. As he pulled his chair out,
all of the men in the room stood and did a low bow. Only when Kniam was seated,
did they stand upright and resume their seats.
I need to ask him about the
bowing thing! What is he? Some kind of King or something…

Amber let her eyes roam around the table. Kneus,
Knollig, and Ailech were among the men seated there. She gave them a small
smile and finger wave. They all got amused grins that faded when Kniam used
some little hammer thing to tap the table.

“Kneus you can start.” Amber’s eyes flew to Kniam, and she was shocked at
the change in him. She had seen him in different settings, but he had put on a
mantle of leadership, almost like a tangible thing. She could see it in the way
he was holding himself, and in the way he spoke. “These proceedings will be
spoken out loud so the Earth female can understand. I tried during our time
together in the medical dome, and she is unable to hear in the mind.” What? She
had no idea he had been trying to get into her mind the whole time! Her eyes
sought out his, but he avoided looking directly at her. That stung a little,
but she figured maybe he had to appear aloof.

Kneus spoke up, “We, the council members have had Kniam’s memory of
yesterday played out during our last meeting. Everything we talk about today is
being relayed to all members of the community. Just so there is no doubt, I
want it known that the Earth female is absolutely no threat to us. I have gone
over every test the medical unit conducted on her, she is 100% disease free.”
Kneus pushed a button and Amber gasped as a holographic x-ray image of her came
up. It floated and spun around, until “she” was facing forward. Her only consolation
was that it was just x-ray vision and not the real deal. Every male in the room
strained forward to get a better look. Not that they needed to try, the stupid
projection was floating right in front of her as big as day!

Kneus continued with his medical accounting of her body. “From what I was
able to determine by looking into the oldest records in the archives, the
original fathers had their genetics altered before they left the home
world.”
 
Kneus paused as the males
mumbled over this information, it must have been something they didn’t know.
“The original fathers were made to be unable to perform sexually, without the
presence of females. This was done to ensure that the males didn’t fight or
become overly aggressive, since there were no females on the scout ship, and
they didn’t know how soon they would be able to contact the home world. In a
sense, it would take the human female putting off sexual pheromones, to awaken
the instinct to want to mate in our men. With no females around for all these cycles,
we have never had the desire for sexual contact.” Kneus paused and looked from
Amber to Kniam. “The Earth female must have been putting off sexual pheromones,
and Kniam was the first to break out of the genetic manipulation. There is a
strong drive among animals to further their chances at getting offspring. Kniam
must have picked up the Earth females pheromones and his body reacted to
further his genetic line.”

Amber was burning with embarrassment that they were discussing her
attraction to Kniam in such a public way. Kneus was describing it like she had
woken Kniam from some kind of sexual hibernation! She figured she had better
get used to it, she didn’t think the floating Amber holographic was going to be
the only surprise!

Kneus moved on in his presentation, “Given enough exposure, we all will
break out of the genetic hold, and have erections and desire for sexual
contact.” He said this cheerfully, though the other males, including the
council members didn’t act like it was good news. “We will be having further
discussions about this matter separately. This council meeting is more about
the Earth female, and more importantly, her reproduction system.”

 
“Starting with the mammary
glands, or breasts.” Kneus clicked a button and zoomed into and enlarged her
breasts on the projector. She could feel the heat flaming her face, and she
struggled to stay calm. Her reproduction was of interest to them was it? “The
mammary are useful in stimulating sexual desire as stated by the female.
However, a more important role is if the human female were to reproduce an
offspring, it would feed on the substance prepared in the mammaries.” There
were some murmurs in the group over the word offspring, but the council members
stayed still in their seats. So this wasn’t news to them, only the other males.
Kneus continued on.

“The offspring would reside in the female, here…” again Kneus clicked and
her x-ray zoomed out, then zoomed in on her pelvic region. “This is the
“uterus” and its sole purpose is to hold offspring.” There were louder
mutterings as this information was relayed.

Kneus paused and looked up at Kniam. If she hadn’t been so embarrassed,
and exclusively watching his face she would have missed his slight nod.

Kneus clicked again and the x-ray zoomed in even more, showing her
ovaries, “These are the Earth humans ovaries, which she has a set of two, one
on each side of her uterus.” Kneus clicked again, and the projection zoomed in
even further. She could actually see her eggs floating around! “These are the
Earth female’s eggs…” at these words pandemonium broke out.

She heard things like, "That is just one side. There are so
many!" and "She is like an egg machine...” and “These are not
stripped for cloning!?" She wasn't sure what it all meant, and hoped this
meeting was going to answer some of the questions she had racing in her head.