From elf@halcyon.com Mon Feb 28 02:02:37 MST 1994
Article: 113819 of alt.sex
Path: cwis.isu.edu!u.cc.utah.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!nwnexus!elf
From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories
Subject: Journal Entry 093 / 1025  [ Planetfall: Chartography ]  (new!)
Date: 27 Feb 1994 03:31:09 -0800
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Lines: 934
Sender: news@nwfocus.wa.com
Message-ID: <2kq09t$jm8@nwfocus.wa.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: nwfocus.wa.com
Comment: 
Xref: cwis.isu.edu alt.sex:113819 alt.sex.stories:19177


     Journal Entry 093 / 1025

     Another day, another session with frustration  Fortunately, tonight 
was one of the bi-monthly camp get-togethers, a chance for everyone to 
sit around and look at each other, to be together and have fun.

     I made my way slowly over to the circle, illuminated by a huge 
bonfire that must have been visible for klicks.  I took my time and 
tried to conserve my strength.  I must be tired, I thought to myself.  I 
couldn't believe just how unruly my muscles were, they didn't want to 
behave at all.  Some days are like that.

     Aaden and P'nyssa had arrived at the circle already, and I found 
them in one small corner of the circle.  We were listening to a band 
made up of three males and two females, people from the expedition who 
had joined up together and decided that they could work together and 
provide live music.  They were pretty good, and the lead singer was 
actually very cute in an intellectual sort of way.  He wore glass PADDs 
that reminded me of Trianna's.

     I hugged P'nyssa first since she was closest.  "Hi!"

     "Hiya, sweetheart," she said softly, wrapping a ten around my arm 
and hugging me back just as tightly.  "Day go well?"

     "Kinda sorta.  Lots of ideas, lots of strangeness with no 
explanation."

     "Like the rest of this planet," Aaden said grumpily.

     "Something like that," I said, releasing P'nyssa to stand up and 
give my favorite Mephit a strong hug.  His return hug damn near broke my 
spine, and we laughed at each other and kissed intently.  "Take a seat," 
he said.  I decided to lie down instead, using, with permission of 
course, P'nyssa's thigh as a pillow.  Her mitt played with my hair 
gently and casually.  "Love you," I said, looking up at her.

     "Love you too."

     "Is there anything left to eat?"

     "Hasn't been served yet," she said.  "Rosh was having trouble 
getting the cook fire lit."

     My eyes roved.  I saw M'Vahn sitting cross-legged on the grass, 
making notes on a PADD.  Next to her sat Amanda Ohadi, looking far 
healthier than she had when I had found her four years ago.  Further 
around the circle I spotted Kathy, and on a leash she had Trianna, who 
was dressed very strangely, in lots of very colorful loose cloth over 
her entire body accompanied by bits of gold jewelry and beadwork on her 
arms and legs.  It even looked like she had a bell on her tail.

     I didn't see Rainy or Perry since they were still in space, but I 
found Tasha, the only member of The Rat's Inquiry to decide to stay 
planetside while David was out gallivanting about the local star 
systems.  I was more than a little surprised by the lap in which she 
sat, which belonged to one Kurt Winters, an old Tindal friend of both 
mine and Dick Reedhon's.  Since when did he have an interest in Katckin?  
I smiled; it figured.  Kurt was one of the most egalitarian people I 
knew.

     I found Noah, that was easy enough.  He was standing next to two 
males, a Felinzi, standing, and a Ssphynx, lying on the ground propped 
up on one arm.  It had been a long time since I had felt the kind of 
reaction I was having at just that second.  I shifted in my shorts 
uncomfortably.  "Aaden," I hissed.

     "Huh?"

     "Who are those two?  Standing there just next to Noah?"  I pointed.

     "Oh, that's Tonni and Dao.  Beautiful, huh?  I don't anything about 
them other than their names, but they make quite a couple."

     "Goddammit, Aaden, they're making my hormones percolate."  Tonni, 
the one standing up, wore almost nothing except a pair of shorts and a 
silver armband around his grey-furred left arm.  He was broad of chest 
and just seemed to radiate an open-faced and honest sexuality.  Dao, the 
Ssphynx looked even more boyish than my sixteen-year old son standing 
next to him.  He also seemed to be half-asleep.  He was wearing a cream-
colored robe that was not closed at all.  "They're gorgeous.  Are 
they..."

     "A couple?"  He nodded.  "I understand they are.

     I sighed.  "Oh, well."

     "I didn't mean you couldn't have one or the other."

     "Which do you want?"

     "Are you two going trolling again?" P'nyssa asked, giggling.

     "I'm thinking about it," I laughed.  "Look at them, P'nyssa."

     She looked in the direction.  "Yeah, I've seen them before.  You're 
right, I would have trouble saying 'no' to them.  But they're both 
entalie'."

     "Completely?" I asked.

     "Yes, afraid so.  We girls will have to suit ourselves with lesser 
men."  She looked up at me with a gleam in her eye.  "Like you."

     I pouted, and she laughed.  "I'm just giving you a hard time, love.  
If you want to, go on over and talk to them."

     I gulped.  "I never know what to say."

     "Try starting with 'Hello,'" Aaden suggested.

     "You make it sound easy," I said.

     "It is easy," Aaden replied.  "You're just not a very brave man, 
Ken."

     I sighed.  "Yeah, I'm a coward.  At least I admit it."

     "Oh, I admit it, too," he said, smiling.  "I'm just not as 
attracted to them as you are."

     I nodded and slowly rose to a standing position, just as an iron 
triangle began ringing in the distance.  Over the large speakers mounted  
left and right on the bandstand I heard, "Okay, Rosh has just told me 
that the dinner is ready.  Please form two lines and we'll try and get 
you... and me... all fed before the night is out."  The music began 
again.

     I stood in line for about twenty minutes, with Aaden and P'nyssa 
joining me.  Most of the conversation while we waited centered on the 
circles we were investigating and what they might mean.  He was 
intrigued with Olivia's ideas around a possible insect connection with 
the plants.  "That's one thing we've noticed while we've been here, is 
the insects.  A lot of the entomologists are telling us that we can't 
look at the insects and plants as separate species, but almost as 
individual organisms in their own right.  Their is a lot more symbiosis 
going on between them than found on LTP.  Much more than I would have 
believe necessary with the complete absence of animals from the ground."

     "Hmm," I said.  "That doesn't make any sense."

     "No, it doesn't," Aaden said.  "We're working on it."

     We got our hot sandwiches made of the (synthesized, but I really 
couldn't tell) meat of some large prairie-roaming animal once found on 
llerkindi and headed back to our previous seats.  When we got there, 
Nance found us and asked if he could sit with us.  "Sure," P'nyssa said.  
"What's the problem?"

     "I HATE when you do that," Nance said, smiling.

     "You've been my powerpath for nearly eight hundred years and you 
expect to be able to hide from me when you're bothered?" P'nyssa asked, 
laughing.  "Okay, sweetheart, out with it."

     Nance took a deep breath and said "It's really nothing."

     "Is this something you want to talk about alone?"

     "No, it's okay if Ken and Aaden hear.  They're family.  You know 
how, every once in a while we sleep together and sometimes we have 
dreams?"  P'nyssa nodded.  Aaden and I did too.  Very rarely, P'nyssa 
gave us her dreams as well.  "You know how those dreams have a flavor, 
like, you know they're coming from someone else, that you're sharing 
your dream because it feels different?  I had one of those dreams last 
night."

     "Were you sleeping with someone?"

     Nance nodded.  "Her name is Varanya.  But they didn't come from 
her."

     "You're sure of that?"

     He nodded.  "I'm not sure who this dream came from, but it wasn't 
Varry.  She's not a sensitive, for one thing."

     "Neither are you, really," P'nyssa pointed out.

     "I know.  But this was one of those dreams.  It's like, some... 
thing was projecting, and I picked it up."

     "Do you want to describe the dream for me?"

     "It's hard to describe.  It was like... It started with me just 
kinda being, you know?  I was just... there.  And then my feet were 
cold."

     "Cold?"

     He nodded again.  "Frozen, you know?  And it wasn't like I could do 
anything about it, because they were so far away from my hands.  But the 
cold was moving, slowly, up my legs, and someday I knew it was going to 
reach my brain.  And I had to get out."

     "How?"

     "I don't know," he said.  "All I knew was that, if parts of me 
could get away from the cold, maybe someday they would get somewhere and 
grow into me's again.  Does that make any sense?"

     "Since it was a dream, yes," P'nyssa said softly.

     "That's all it was.  But it was so... intense.  So vivid, and it 
had that feeling to it, like it came from someone else.  I wanted to 
talk to you about it."

     P'nyssa hugged Nance softly.  "I think you'll be okay.  Do you feel 
better having just told me?"

     He nodded.  "A little.  It's just so weird."

     "Nance, is it okay if we talk about this with other people?  Not 
using your name, you know..." I said.

     "I don't care if you put it on the camp bulletin board," he said.  
"I just had to get it off my chest."

     "That's good," I said.  "Because something very weird is going on 
here."  I mused for a moment.  "That's the third time today I've said 
that."

     "Why do you want to talk to other people about it?"

     "'Cause I think there's something here.  Something..."  I was 
interrupted by a blare from the speakers.

     "Okay, we've made this big circle for you all to dance in tonight, 
to work out those muscles that you camp-bounds are letting atrophy."  
There was some good-natured booing and hissing from around the camp.  
"And to remind you lazy chair-herders how to dance, and put you to shame 
at the same time, Rianna Tazal is going to open up tonight with a few 
moves."

     Huh?  I looked across the open circle, about thirty meters across, 
just in time to watch Kathy undo the leash about Trianna's throat and 
give her a comforting pat on the rump.

     Trianna took to the center of the circle.  With her stood a Mephit 
carrying a twelve-string guitar.  The Mephit wasn't familiar at all to 
me.  Dressed in a brown tunic and flowing grey pants clasped about the 
waist with a belt or sash made of some gold and glittery cloth, she had 
a boyish quality to her face that had nothing to do with androgyny and 
everything to do with raw beauty.  She was gorgeous, and for the third 
time tonight a complete stranger was making me feel lust.

     The Mephit began playing, a steady four/four beat, and Trianna took 
to dancing the way I would to breathing.  The cloth, in primary red and 
primary blue, swirled around her head and arms while her four feet 
propelled her about the circle in smooth, calm steps.  That beautiful 
combination of Felinzi torso and big-cat body, the Ssphynx fel'taur, 
Trianna made herself even more beautiful with a grace and ease of 
movement that any being could be proud of.

     As she moved, the music built around her, the sound technicians as 
masterful at directing where the music should go as the Mephit who made 
it.  And she was good, going with the flow of Trianna's dancing easily.  
The flavor of the music, a combination of American western and fiddle, 
was completely wrong for belly dancing, which is what Trianna's 
costumery reminded me of, but it worked well tonight.  Trianna stepped 
to one side, her four feet striking the ground in easy simpatico, two-
by-two.  He body shook freely from side to  side, always in time with 
the medium, easy beat.

     Then the music stopped, and she stood stock still in the center of 
the circle.  There was a pause, a momentary analog squeal from the 
guitar, and then the music began again.

     The beat began much faster, much deeper and much louder than 
before.  Trianna's feet kicked the dirt as she tossed her head, much of 
the heavy cloth she'd been trailing the previous song flying away from 
her.  With movement that seemed almost calisthenic, she danced for her 
own pleasure as much as she did ours, her eyes wild with glee and her 
muzzle smiling.  Even her tail moved in time with the music.  Under the 
cloth that slowly laid multi-colored patches along the grass she wore a 
straightforward black spandex halter that only accentuated her new, more 
athletic body. 

     I nudged Aaden playfully.  "Good job on her."

     "Eh?" he said, glancing across the circle.  "Thanks.  She wasn't 
hard at all.  It's amazing the devotion she shows to anything Kathy asks 
of her."

     "Is she becoming more independent?"

     "A little," he replied.  "It's hard to say.  She was very obedient 
when Kathy told her she was under my direction for one hour every other 
day.  But inside that hour she had a lot of initiative, but not so much 
that she took dangerous risks with the weight.  A perfect student."

     I nodded, watching her with open amazement.  She was gorgeous, 
standing in a full rear with her forepaws two meters in the air and her 
arms a fully erect a meter up from that.  P'nyssa shifted slowly against 
me, a surprisingly lusty growl coming from her throat as we watched.

     "You like?" I asked.

     "Mrrrr..." she sighed.  "Yes.  The Mephit too.  Why do you always 
get all the pretty ones?"

     "Probably because you have no predator instinct, lover."

     She laughed softly.  "That's probably it."

     "Besides, she's not mine.  She's Kathy's.  Period.  And I don't 
even know who the Mephit is."

     P'nyssa nodded.  Actually, I was surprised at how true my statement 
was; Trianna was still Kathy's lover, despite everything else that had 
occurred over the past three years, and I had had a few opportunities to 
play with Trianna.  But those few times that I had would remain in my 
memory for a long time as some of the most pleasant experiences I'd had 
in a long time.

     The music ended on an abrupt note, and so did Trianna's movement; 
as if hit with a strobe light she stopped, her four paws mounted firm to 
the ground and her arms over her head, one hand grasping the other 
wrist.  Her chests were both heaving, and I could well imagine the quad 
of lungs in her body working hard to recirculate the air she needed.  
Around her feet the dust she had kicked up slowly drifted away in the 
night's gentle breeze.

     The crowd erupted with applause, and she took slow, careful steps 
to where the Mephit stood, shaking her hand.  "Rianna Tazal and Loki 
Mespotam," the speakers announced.  The applause doubled.

     The two fems split up, Trianna padding off in a light trot towards 
Kathy.  Reaching the rim of the circle, she immediately collapsed 
against Kathy, and the crowd immediately near her reacted with alarm, 
but I watched Kathy shoo them away and put a plastic gallon jug to 
Trianna's muzzle.  By the time I shifted vision, the guitarist had 
vanished.

     The rest of the camp decided to try and at least make a show of 
putting out as much energy as Trianna had.  I used the commotion of two 
or three hundred people to make my way over to where Kathy and Trianna 
sat, Kathy lounging against Trianna's side.  "Hi, Uncle Ken!" Trianna 
said as I approached. 

     I smiled and reached out to scratch her between the ears.  She 
tilted her head to within my reach and I indulged us both in a minute or 
more of vigorous scratching of her head and down the back of her neck; 
for support she leaned against me, her head against my waist.  Despite 
her apparent proximity to my crotch, I didn't get an erection.  I found 
that amusing.

     "Congratulations," I said to Kathy as I sat down.

     "What for?" she asked, smiling as she said it.

     "You've done an incredible job with Trianna here.  She's becoming a 
fine, grown-up fem.  You were beautiful out there, Trianna."

     "I hope so," Trianna doubted.  "I tried my best, but there were 
some moves I could have done that I didn't use, some things I knew how 
to do but I didn't feel sure of using them.  And with a live musician, 
it was much harder."

     "That's probably best, then," Kathy said.  "There'll be other 
picnics," I said, "and you'll have more chances to show them off then."

     Trianna nodded, looking at me.  "I'm glad you both liked it!" she 
said.

     "I'm glad I liked it too," I smiled.  Kathy smiled and nodded.

     "Excuse me," a soft male voice with a slow-going, slightly glottal 
accent said.  "The fem over by the band said these were yours, and I 
volunteered to bring them over.  I wanted to compliment you on your 
dancing tonight."  He held out some diaphanous strips of cloth that had 
fallen from Trianna's costume during her whirling dervish imitation.

     I turned to look over my shoulder... right into the eyes of the 
sexy melSsphynx I had been staring at earlier.  "Thank you, Sir..."

     "Dao," he said.  Gods, he has a sexy voice.  "Dao Togianni.  You're 
welcome.  That was wonderful."

     "Thank you," Trianna said.  Her blush was so strong I could feel it 
from here.

     "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to return to my coimelin."  Trianna 
nodded, and I abruptly stood up.

     "Dao," I said.  "My coimelin is over that way as well.  May I walk 
with you?"

     He turned and looked at me.  Inwardly I sighed as I watched the 
expression of surprise cross his face.  "Vatare'?" he asked.

     "Yes, it's me," I said resignedly.  "May I?"

     "Surely," he said.  "Please, I'd be honored--" I held up my hand.  
He smiled.  "I understand.  Ken, I'd be pleased if you accompanied me."

     I grinned and said, "Invoke often.  Let's go."  We started walking 
around the edge of the circle, making our way behind the band.

     "What does that mean?"

     "What?  'Invoke often?'"  He nodded.  "It's a comment a shaman who 
lived on Terra around the first century once said.  Most shamans, 
despite their obvious flaws, are often good psychologists.  Crowley was 
one of the finest.  He observed that if you want to change something, 
quite often all you had to do was change the name.  Shakespeare was 
wrong, in other words.  A rose by any other name would not smell quite 
like a rose.  By insisting you call me Ken, and only Ken, you reinforce 
your image of me as just another being, and not some mythical creature."

     He smiled, and I felt my knees go weak.  "An interesting 
observation, and one that has nothing to do with facts."

     "It has a lot do with facts.  The fact is, I am Vatare' Shardik.  
The fact is also that I'm Ken, just another guy on this expedition along  
for the ride."

     He smiled.

     "Do you realizing you're carbonating my blood?"

     "You were diving today?" he asked, looking concerned.

     "No, dammit, and that's not what I'm trying to say."  I faltered 
for a moment, then found my voice.  "I just wanted to say that I've been 
staring at you and your coimelin for the past hour, and strictly on 
visual terms you two are very beautiful."

     He blushed.  "Thank you sir."

     "You're welcome," I said, giving him a smile.  I reached out and 
touched his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.  "By the way, 
what's my son doing with you two?"

     "Noah?  We were doing some geological work.  He's part of the team, 
apprenticing to Tonni occasionally."

     "What do you do?"

     "I'm a cartographer.  Technically that means I shouldn't even be 
out and about, but I like to actually look at the land I'm mapping 
rather than just let the satellites and computers bring it to me."

     I grinned.  "That's admirable.  Bet it's fun, too."

     "Yes it is.  Besides, it lets me be with Tonni.""

     "You're coimelin's name is Tonni, yes?"

     He nodded.  "We met on board the Nyano Handele, but we announced 
our commitment amidst our friends just a few weeks ago.  It was on the 
News."

     "You met in the past two years or so?  Isn't that a little fast to 
announce to your coimelinship?  Wouldn't you feel safer calling it a 
hermelinship at this point?"

     "Safer, maybe," he smiled.  "But not as honest.  No, he is the love 
of my life, I'm quite sure of that."  We were silent as we approached 
where his coimelin stood, watching the dance.  Noah was nowhere to be 
found.  "Tonni?"

     "Hello, Dao," Tonni said, turning slowly.  A tall Felinzi of almost 
perfect solid grey but for some darkening about the nose into a 
sealpoint, Tonni had a full chest and narrow waist.  He looked me over, 
then smiled.  "You find the most interesting friends, Dao.  I'm very 
pleased to meet you at last, Ken.  I had heard you were on board the 
mission and I was surprised that I hadn't actually run into you yet."

     I was equally surprised.  This mel was gorgeous.  The kind of 
handsome maleness that makes you wonder why his coimelin even let him 
out of the house!  I reached out and he took my hand; we shook.  "My 
pleasure," I said.  "It's not as if I've been hiding or anything; my 
email address is a matter of public knowledge, after all.  You could 
always come by my tent.  The flag flying is blue with a white wave 
facing away from the pole."

     He nodded.  "I know which one that is.  Did you just wish to 
accompany my coimelin on a walk or was there a specific reason for your 
coming over here?"

     "Just social," I said.  "I was hoping to meet up with my son, but 
he seems to have flown again."

     "Actually, he's out in the circle."

     I nodded, giving the mass of moving bodies a cursory examination to  
look for him.  "I should probably get back to my coimelin myself.  
They're right over there."  I pointed P'nyssa out, but Aaden seemed to 
have vanished as surely as Noah.  "Hmm, I seem to be misplacing much of 
my family tonight."  I shrugged.  "Oh, well.  It was a pleasure to meet 
you, Tonni.  And you as well, Dao."

     Dao grinned.  Again I was struck by just how beautiful he looked.  
And that pure white fur.  Walking away from them was something of an 
effort.  My chest felt tight.

     "So," P'nyssa said as I leaned over to kiss her, "Did you manage to 
make a date with either one of them?"

     "Nope," I said.  "But at least we've made contact."  She chuckled.


     The next day brought stormclouds to our immediate campsite, and by 
noon the threat of rain had materialized into the real thing.  I pulled 
a cloak over my shoulders and ran to Mission Control to check the local 
terminals and see if there was an available hi-resolution cartography 
station open.  I could have conducted my search using my own local PADD 
but I wanted the resolution that the in-place stations had to offer.

     I found the room where they had been installed, and found a free 
one.  Right next to Dao Togianni, just as I had hoped.  "Hello, again," 
I said, pleasantly surprised.

     "Oh, hello... Ken."  I smiled.

     "You'll get used to it."

     "I don't know.  Maybe I will."  He grinned quietly.  "What brings 
you into my domain?"  A sudden thundercrack outside prompted him to add, 
"Other than the rain?"

     I chuckled and sat down in the chair next to his bench.  "I'm 
looking for distinctive circular growths of a certain kind of plant."

     "What do you know about the plant?" he asked, his hands flying over 
his keyboard.  I wished idly for Lance so I could do this with a real 
expert system watching over my shoulder, not this stupid networked 
simulated intelligence we were using.  But The Rat's Inquiry was fifty 
light years away checking out something that Rainy had described as "a 
wasteland."

     "Not a whole lot," I said.  "It may be more than one kind.  I 
figure we'll only find it on the very low-flux infra-red satellite maps.  
What we're looking for is a disk or series of concentric rings made up 
of a single kind of vegetation.  The largest example we've seen of what 
I'm looking for is probably around eleven kilometers, maybe more."

     He typed commands faster then I could probably wire them in.  I was 
astounded at the rate screen changes came across.  "Do we know anything 
about the locale?  A given environment, a given latitude?"

     "Equator plus or minus 200 klicks, probably inland, a water source 
seems to be imperative."

     "Water source," he said.  "Big or small?"

     "Not sure.  Probably small.  Stream, small spring, things like 
that."

     "Fresh water."

     "Yes."

     I watched as the maps scanned beneath his eyes.  He was a beautiful 
melSsphynx; slim and boyish of chest in his humanoid half, with an 
orange color to his eyes that seemed almost surreal.  His fur was pure 
white and very long, a little like Trianna's that way.  His lower half 
seemed more like a blown-up housecat then any real big cat variant.  I 
was tempted to call it a lynx-model, but even that didn't come close to 
expressing him.  It was hard to keep my eyes off of him, but fortunately 
he seemed unlikely to notice.  The task at hand seemed to have him 
completely absorbed.

     "Ken?" his voice interrupted my thoughts, loudly.  Apparently he'd 
caught me.  "Is that what you're looking for?"

     "Where?"

     He pointed to the screen with a finger; simultaneously, a small 
hand appeared on the screen with the word "HEY!" attached to it.  I 
laughed, recognizing the "HEY!" pointer from something I had written 
years ago.  Both pointed to a circular object that stood out in the 
upper right corner of the screen.  "It's at plus 4127, minus 31."

     "The other side of the continent.  And almost right on the 
equator."  I looked closely.  "And it's almost on the ocean.  Damn."

     "What's wrong with it being near the ocean?"

     "Well, part of our theory is that insects build these rings.  But 
the organic glue we found holding them together dissolves in salt 
water."

     He nodded.  I asked, "Can you blow that up to fill the screen, and 
put the visible spectra photo on standby?"

     "Done, and done.  On the mural," he added, grinning.  The screen 
blinked and suddenly the entire mural display that covered one cloth 
wall of the tented room we were in wall came to life, the image filling 
it.  "What's the spot in the middle?"

     "Dunno.  It's warmer than the surrounding environment, but not by 
much."  He bit his lip thoughtfully.  "Do you want the visible pic?"

     "Yeah," I said.  The image changed appreciably.  The nicest thing 
about exploring pristine planets is the lack of air pollution; the 
picture was beautifully clear.  And dead center of the circle was what 
looked like an insect mound.  "Have we got a satellite that can take 
pictures of this at an angle?"

     More dancing fingers.  "Yes.  Twenty-four minutes."

     "I'm waiting around."

     "Me, too," he said.  We watched the display come over in realtime, 
watching as the image processors gave us better and better resolution.  
"There we go.  Coming over the horizon.  The picture's not as clear as 
what we'd like, but there's a little weather at that angle."

     "Looks like a giant egg.  Can we get a scale?"

     "Like that?" he smiled.

     "You live to show off, don't you?"

     "Yes," he grinned.  I had to force myself away from that smile and 
back to the screen.  I whistled low.  The tower was nearly seventy 
meters across, tapering to a tip at the top.

     "How about the plants?"

     The close-up of the plants was fascinating.  They apparently lived 
in fresh water.  Unlike most of the plants visible on this world, the 
leaves of this species were completely black.  "Could they be dead?"

     "Possible," he said.  "But the sensors say those are alive."

     "What are those white spots?" I said, gesturing.  "Give them more 
contrast and pull back to a full view of the circle."

     The result startled both of us.  "Wow."  I took me a moment to 
catch my breath.  The white spots were arranged in perfect concentric 
circles around the insect mound.  It was like staring at a dart board or 
pistol target.  "What do you think those are?"

     "I don't know," I said.  "How close is the circumference to the 
ocean?"

     He blew up the overhead view again and said "The edge of the circle 
is seventy meters from the apparent high-tide mark."

     "What?"

     "That's what the data says." 

     "And you can't find any others like this further inland?"

     "Not yet.  I'll keep looking."

     "Do that.  Meantime, give me command control of that sequence to my 
station."

     "Okay, done."  I spent about twenty minutes composing a post for 
the Weird Findings newsgroup.  I included the conclusion and theories 
Olivia and Niaro had come up with, including pointers back to their 
articles in the database, and added the satellite photos as part of the 
presentation.

     We had spent nearly three hours looking over the charts and 
relevant data.  I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes.  "Tired?" 
he asked.

     "No, just eyestrain.  Can we find any others?"

     "I've got two others.  They're like the first.  On the ocean.  
They're both much smaller, though.  One's about three kilometers across, 
the other is less than a kilometer in diameter."

     I sighed.  "Let's take a look at them, too."  Another hour slid by.  
Outside, the storm surged and screamed.  "You hungry?" I asked.  He 
nodded.  "We can grab food out in the other tent.  Let's go."

     He nodded and we headed out for the food dispensary, where a pretty  
femVulpin was working behind the counter.  "Jessica," Dao asked her, 
"What are you doing back there?"

     "I can't do spectra analysis of photosynthetic variants every day 
or I'll just go crazy.  This is a nice, quiet little task that requires 
no brain power whatsoever.  A few days from now I'll go back to my other 
job, but in the meantime, I want to stop being a mad scientist locked 
and my lab and meet people!"

     I chuckled and thanked her for the sandwich.  A llerkindi had 
informed me recently that the meat we were using this week as our heavy 
red meat was properly referred to as Pundat, but it still tasted like 
pure Roast Beast to me, especially when slathered with authentic Terran 
cream cheese and put on a bagel.  Dao followed my lead and got the same 
thing.

     We took our meals and some canned drinks and found a seat on one of 
the wooden picnic tables arranged in the big, open center of Mission 
Control.  The rain was still coming down hard.  "Vatare', can I ask you 
a favor?"

     "Depends," I said.  "What is it?"

     "Tonni is my coimelin, and I'm completely sure of that.  Recently, 
though, he's been wanting to try S and M, and I don't know how to give 
that to him."

     "I don't understand.  He wants to try S/M games, but you're not 
comfortable with that?"

     "No, that's not it.  I'd love to, but I don't know what to do."

     Something dawned on me.  "He wants to be bottom?"  said.  

     "Well, yeah.  Isn't that where everyone starts?"

     I laughed.  "No, that's not where everyone starts.  Where were you 
when I was holding Rhysh Alanailen parties on board the Rat's Inquiry?"

     "It wasn't something I was really thinking about at the time," he 
said, placing his hand on my arm.  I caught my breath, my heart beating 
solidly within my chest.  "Tonni wants to be submissive, but I don't 
know how to do that for him."  He also looked away.  "I also don't think 
I have the right attitude for it."

     I smiled, reached out and touched his chin, turning his face to 
look at me.  "You're silly, Dao."

     "Am I?" he asked.  "I'm so... I dunno.  Everyone think I'm a boy.  
I'm three hundred years old and people still talk at me with kid talk."

     "Well, you are very youthful looking.  And very beautiful."

     "You think so?" he asked.

     "Hell, yes.  I wanted to fuck you the first time I saw you."

     "Thanks," he said, blushing.  "I guess.  I'll remember that."

     "Please do," I said, smiling.  "Anyway, are you making this request 
for Tonni that I... ?"

     He shook his head.  "I don't think Tonni would believe you if you 
told him.  And, he has this thing about fems..."

     "Misogynist?" I said, sourly.

     He nodded.  "It's nothing you can really do anything about."

     "I don't know about that.  Aaden was something of a misogynist 
before I met him.  Although I've met women who knew him when he was very 
young, and they say he was very polite to them."

     "Well, Tonni would just be suspicious of you just because you like 
girls.  He wants Aaden to do it."

     "Really?  Did you point out to him that Aaden sleeps with girls?"

     "He sleeps with P'nyssa.  He doesn't have sex with her," Dao 
pointed out carefully.  "To Tonni, that would make a big deal."

     "My Gods, how old is he?"

     "Around a hundred and ninety.  We don't keep track that much, 
either of us."

     I nodded.  "Do you want me to talk to Aaden about it?"

     "Would you?" he asked, surprised.

     I grinned mischievously.  "You heard, though, about what I did to 
Aaden at the first major Alanailen party on the ship, huh?"

     He nodded.  "Don't do that to Tonni.  I could take it, it wouldn't 
bother me at all, I don't think.  But please, don't do that to him."

     I nodded.  "Okay, Dao, you have yourself a deal."

     "Swak?" he said.

     "Huh?" I asked.  "What does that mean?"

     "It's a Terran expression, isn't it?"

     "Swak?" I said aloud, rolling through my mind the four or five 
Terran languages I knew.  There were meanings for the phenome "swack" in 
two of them.  Then I came across the acronym, in Anglic, that he was 
referring to.  I grinned wide, leaned over, and gave him a hug.  "No, 
that won't be necessary."

     Hugging Dao was something of a stunning realization in just how 
fascinating someone earnestly new can be.  Even Trianna, by the time 
Kathy had gotten around to using me in a scene, had been so familiar to 
me that the essential edge of novelty had somewhat worn off.  His body 
against mine made my chest feel tight, constricted; I felt myself 
wishing, willing for the right to touch him, to run my hand over his 
hard, white-long-furred chest.  I controlled myself, resigning myself to 
kissing him, feeling his lips against mine, his tongue briefly touching 
my own.

     We leaned away from each other briefly.  I just stared at him.  He 
smiled sheepishly, although I think I could almost see a hint of 
disappointment in his eyes.  "No matter what, Ken, having your attention 
is still an honor."

     I smiled tiredly.  "I guess that's okay, as long as you keep the 
right perspective on it."

     "I will," he said, smiling.  "At least, I'll try."

     "I'll talk to Aaden."

     "Thanks."


     I rolled over in bed slowly, feeling my back complain from a day of 
doing nothing but sitting in a chair.  P'nyssa straddled my butt and 
began rubbing my back slowly, easing the kinks and pains out of it.  
"So, is Dao as hot as he looks?" she asked, picking up the conversation.

     "He's wonderful," I said.  "You're not jealous, are you?"

     "Nine hundred years and you haven't stopped asking that question.  
No, I'm not jealous, you know that."  There was silence for a moment.  

     "I hear a 'but.'"

     "Sort of," she said.  "Tell me why making love to Dao would be so 
different from making love to Aaden."

     "Well, mostly it's in the newness of it.  I like things that are 
familiar.  I like when things stay mostly the same, when there aren't a 
lot of changes in my life.  Making love to you, or to Aaden, doesn't 
really... well, it doesn't really excite me so much as it reassures me.   
I hope that doesn't sound bad."

     "Just go on," she said, working her way down my lower back.

     "I mean, when I hold you, or see you naked, or Aaden for that 
matter, I feel comfortable, reassured.  This is my home, my safe place.  
It doesn't really matter where this happens, so long as I have you.  One 
or both of you.  I get excited, I get erect, and yeah, I want to make 
love, but it's more a sense that all is right with my world.  You make 
me feel that life is worth living.

     "But Dao is just new; he gives an edge, a sense of adventure and 
explorations that I don't have and don't need with you.  And I don't 
really want."

     P'nyssa leaned over and kissed me behind the ear.  "Thank you," she 
said softly.

     "That doesn't sound wrong, does it?  That... what I said about you 
not exciting me?"

     "Uh-uh," she said, lying down and kissing my cheek.  "It doesn't 
sound wrong at all.  It sound just like how I feel.  Do you know what's 
funny, Ken?  Just hugging Aaden makes me feel that way, too."

     "We really work, don't we?" I asked her.

     "We really do.  All three of us.  It's amazing," she said, her 
fingers finding my soft penis and stroking it insistently.  "Now, if you 
don't mind, I'd like a little of that familiarity inside me."

     "It's all yours," I said, smiling at her.  She slowly pushed me 
over onto my back, my erection standing straight up into the air under 
her guiding hand.  My back felt much better from her wonderful 
ministrations, and as she straddled my hips I smiled up at her and ran 
my hands over her soft breasts, feeling the rich blue fur slide under my  
fingers.

     She slid herself down over me, taking all the weight she could off 
her legs and sitting down fully on my cock.  P'nyssa's vaginal barrel is 
shorter than average, and my cock is just a little longer than average.  
The combination presses the head of penis up against her cervix very 
snugly when she takes the full length like that.  She gasped hard and 
slowly slid herself up a fraction.  "Hurt?" I asked.

     She nodded.  "It's a good hurt," she smiled.  I laughed and tweaked 
her nipples playfully.  She squealed.  "Don't do that!" she said, 
smiling.

     I pushed up with my cock, making her gasp with surprise.  
"Familiar," I said, "down to those 'thousand natural shocks that flesh 
is heir to.'"

     She leaned over and kissed me.  "You and your Shakespeare."

     We began to move in synch, her hips meeting mine on every thrust.  
As we made love, I found myself feeling more aroused than usual.  I 
think I surprised P'nyssa with my Felinzi-taught growls as I reached up 
and grabbed her by the buttocks, in one smooth move turning us over so 
she was lying on her back on the mattress. 

     I felt aggressive, almost attacking, as we made love.  Her eyes 
were  wide, her mouth open and gasping for breath.  A spasm ran through 
her, making her cunt grip me tighter, then she loosened, then tightened 
again.  I gasped as my cock broke free of her grip; I was pounding her, 
fucking this gorgeous blue-furred and yellow-eyed female I'd been living 
with for nearly a thousand years, and as her eyes became the sum total 
of all I could see, all I could pay attention to, I dropped down and 
screamed her name into her shoulder, muffling my shout so as not to wake 
up Sheja sleeping just across the hallway.  With a few more, less 
powerful thrusts, I shot the remainder of my come into her, whimpering 
softly with release.

     Then I slowly pushed myself back up to look down at her.  "Oh, 
P'nyssa, I love you."

     She laughed.  "Oh, Ken, I love you so much.  I've never doubted 
it."

     "I lied, by the way," I said, rolling over to my side.  "You still 
excite me.  A lot."

     She nodded.  "But it's different."

     "Yeah."

     "Are you two done?  Some people have to get up tomorrow!" a new, 
female voice from across the tent shouted.

     P'nyssa whispered in my ear.  "And they say 2 is a terrible age.  
They never mention how difficult the twelves can be."

     I laughed.  "Remind me to talk to Aaden tomorrow."

     "I will.  If he's around."

     "Either way," I said.  We snuggled down to sleep. 

--
"Planetfall: Chartography"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales 
are copyright (c) 1994 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  May be freely distributed 
by electronic media; hardcopies are limited to single printings for 
personal use.