Page 58 of Mazorium Buys a Human

“I’ve loved all of them!” she assured me, putting a hand to her chest over her heart. I’d come to learn she did this gesture when she wanted to convey sincerity. “The picnic near the waterfall, the trip to the beach with all the beautiful shells, and watching the meteor shower were all perfect. But I feel like you’ve been doing everything. I haven't contributed anything. I wanted to do something for you.”

Her explanation made my worries disappear. “Your enjoyment is everything to me. There’s nothing else you need to do.”

“Not even if I recreated a traditional mating ritual from Old Earth?” she asked with a look of excitement.

I was intrigued. “I would enjoy participating in your mating ritual. What do I need to do?”

She held out her hand, and I wrapped mine around her smaller, delicate one. She led me through the ship to the room where all the outside equipment had been stored during our trip here. I’d emptied out the room to set up the bot stations outside, but now there were three rows of chairs facing a wall. There was a box sitting on one of the chairs in the first row and a small stack of fluffy blankets.

I looked around and found Nadia in her little movable bed, sound asleep tucked away in a corner.

“Come sit here,” Mika said, pulling me to the center row and indicating the two seats with pillows that didn’t have any barrier, such as an armrest, between them. I sat where she pointed and she sat next to me. Then she grabbed an information square from an empty seat in front of us.

The room’s lights dimmed, and the wall in front of us lit up as if it was a display. I looked behind me to find an image-caster mounted to the opposite wall.

“Normally we’d watch something called a movie from Old Earth,” she explained. “Mom said her grandparents would do it before they left Old Earth. I didn’t have any movies, but I found the first episode of my favorite Ugarian soap opera for us to watch.”

“What’s a soap opera?” I asked. It made sense to do something pleasant and recreational together, but I was surprised she’d want to engage in an activity that would pull our attention away from each other.

“Sorry, that must've been translated literally. It’s an Old Earth term that meant an episodic drama, usually containing many characters and often with complex interwoven story lines.”

“Oh, you mean an extended drama,” I said. “We have some verbal ones based on our histories that are a tradition to listen to every year. They're very moving.”

“How interesting,” she said. “I’d like to listen to them when you want to.”

“I have copies of several different versions," I said, eager to share my species’ dramatic past with her. “I’ll put together a sampling, and you can decide which one you like best.”

As we talked the vid started to play, showing an aerial view of a typical Ugarian seed pod farm. There was soft music, and words in both Universal and Ugarian appeared on the screen.

“Two years ago, the planet Riglor was colonized by two Ugarian families,” Mika read for me. “The Solic and the Misnie were large and distinguished families, ready to work hard and care for their young. Come with us as we learn of the trials and tribulations as they try to keep a small farming colony going while dealing with darkness that would see both of them destroyed.”

My attention was captured. “What’s the darkness?”

Mika giggled. “I’m not going to spoil it for you. You’ll have to be patient.”

I understood the importance of delayed gratification, but it was hard to keep from asking Mika more questions.

Thankfully there weren't any more written words on the screen and my INT translated the words spoken by the Ugarian actors. I wasn’t an expert on Ugarians, but even I could tell these were beautiful members of their species. They were also impeccably groomed, which I found odd for agricultural workers.

We were quickly introduced to all the matriarchs of the two families and then the most important husbands. I could already tell that one of the husbands had hidden motives.

I was so engrossed in an intense conversation between two matriarchs that I didn’t notice Mika shifting around until she covered us both in a soft blanket.

“Are you chilled?” I asked. “Do you want me to set the temperature higher?”

“Nope,” she answered, snuggling closer to me. “I want to enjoy your body heat.”

The last thing I wanted to do was talk her out of pressing herself against me. I was still trying to avoid holding or picking her up too much because I’d read human courtship had very specific stages to touching. The item I’d read said there were stations called first base, second base, third base, and a homerun, but I hadn’t found a description of the bases and how to achieve them.

I was close to asking her about it so I didn’t miss a step, but I really wanted to do this on my own. Now didn’t feel like the time, though.

Hidden by the blanket covering the two of us, one of her small hands slid over my thigh. I sucked in a breath and went still.

Perhaps I’d misunderstood and it was the females who decided on when bases were achieved.

I lost track of what the Ugarians on the vid were saying as Mika’s hand kept moving. First she rubbed up and down on the top of my thigh. Then she shifted her movement so she was stroking a circle that stretched down into the area on the inside of my thigh, not far from the apex of my legs.

She wasn’t touching my mating pouch, but it was close. Did she realize what she was doing? I was wearing pants, so she wasn’t touching my plate covered skin, but it was almost as if there wasn’t any clothing between her hand and my leg. Her touch burned everywhere she put her hand.