From elf@halcyon.com Mon Feb 28 02:02:25 MST 1994
Article: 113817 of alt.sex
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From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories
Subject: Journal Entry 291 / 1024  [ Planetfall: Around and Around The Mulberry Bush ]  (new!)
Date: 27 Feb 1994 03:29:06 -0800
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     Journal Entry 291 / 1024

     "Are you going to hum that song all day?  If so, I'm going to put 
in earplugs!"

     "Huh?"  I hadn't even been aware that I'd been humming.  I stopped 
for a moment and hummed a few more bars of what had been left in my 
head, then blushed with embarrassment.  "Oops."

     She smiled at me with those glittering eyes of a Mustel.  "That 
song is so OLD!"

     I shrugged.  "It's not like I meant to make that something of a 
species-wide anthem, you know."

     "It still is in a lot of way," she giggled, trotting out into the 
tall grasses again.

     There are few things sillier than watching a Mustel running through 
a field with a butterfly net.  Sometimes the grasses grew over her head 
and all I could see what the wave of the net as she sampled the flying 
insects found on this corner of the planet.  Every once in a while as I 
followed her I would hear an "oof!" or a "hey!" and once a "Come back 
here, dammit!"  I tried not to laugh... too much.  Still, I had picked a 
beautiful day to choose chaperone duty, with an alien sun illuminating 
lovely waves of grass and wildflowers running over hill and vale and 
disappearing into the horizon.  And to my pleasure my companion was 
equally lovely, a mature female Mustel named Olivia who managed to put 
out a playful and energetic personality despite her four centuries of 
age.  We clicked well on the 'cycle trip over, and although she seemed 
to be a little obsessive at collecting and filling her kill jars, I was 
enjoying spending my morning following her about these apparently 
infinite meadows.

     Hours rolled by rapidly and she finally stopped and retraced her 
path back to me.  "You're not helping, Ken."

     "I'm supposed to help?" I asked.  "I'm supposed to make sure that 
if you get hurt, someone's here to call for assistance.  You're the one 
who said you'd rather have a 'ganic come along than use a seccor, and 
you got me.  Besides, I know next to nothing about bugs."

     She didn't correct me.  I guess it shows my ignorance that I found 
that surprising.  I asked her about it.

     She shrugged.  "'Bugs' is a convenient and accurate description.  
We don't even have a name for the planet yet, never mind how we're going 
to break up the kingdoms, phylum, ect.  You know, 'insect' isn't even a 
subphylum, it's a superclass under the subphylum Uniramia to include the 
Myriapodia.  Spiders are part of a different subphylum, Chelicerata.  
About the best we could agree is that these are by physiognomy some sort 
of local Phylum Arthropoda--  You're not really interested in this, are 
you?"

     "Do you see anything in Class Mammilia I can examine up close?" I 
gestured over the meadow.

     "Well, there's me," she pointed out.

     "I'm sure I could examine you up close," I laughed.  Was that a 
come-on?  I took a drink from my canteen and said "Are you ready to 
continue onwards?"

     "Yep."  She took her net in hand.

     "Good luck, great furred huntress."

     "Very funny."  She stood up and struck a mock-heroic pose.  "What, 
Ho!  On guard ye six-legged beasts of meadow!  The terror of entomology, 
Olivia Larandi, is a*comin' for you!"  She bounded off into the grasses 
again, leaving me to sputter with laughter into my canteen.  I wiped the 
water off with my hand and gave chase.  Although she was jogging through 
the grasses and I merely chose to walk, I managed to keep up with her, 
mostly because I would simply walk towards her while she would take a 
winding, hunt-and-seek path through the grasses, and because sometimes 
she stopped to put something into one of the hundreds of little jars she 
carried with her.

     "It takes centuries to unravel the mystery of one world in all its 
depth," she said as she dropped a hard-shelled brown beetle into a jar.  
"Even now we don't know nearly one percent of what Pendor has to offer 
and here we are, thousands of light years away from the world of our 
birth, trying to figure out another."  She looked up under her wide-
brimmed safari hat.  "I think it's going to be dark soon."

     "That happens when the day is only seven hours long," I sighed.  
"It drives me crazy."

     "You and me both," she complained .  "Listen, I want to stay the 
night."

     "How come?" I asked, curiously.

     "Ken, a two-day cycle on this world is less than the length of a 
Pendorian day.  We've both put in thirty-hour days back home, and I'd 
like to stay up all night and collect samples of nighttime bug life as 
well."

     I pulled my uPADD and called Lance, advising him of our intentions.  
He said that was fine and would call back if there were any conflicts.  
"So," I said, "we're going to spend the night together."

     She gave me a curious look, then nodded.  "We have to head back to 
the 'cycles.  I've got night traps in a couple of formats."

     "Then let's head back."  I walked in the direction the uPADD 
indicated.  Climbing over one particularly tall hill we looked down on a 
misshapen hemisphere of a gnarled tree that was the only outstanding 
clump of vegetation in the whole world of unending yellow-green grasses.  
Sitting at the base of the tree, apparently unmolested but for a buzz of 
incurious insects, were our two 'cycles, one with a large trailer behind 
it.  Olivia dove into the trailer and pulled out a couple of plastic 
cylinders each about the size of an average liter canteen.  "How do you 
feel about climbing this tree?" she asked.

     I looked up.  The tree was very densely laid out with branches 
going everywhere.  Plenty of handholds.  "My ancestors were tree-
dwellers.  I think I'll do okay."

     "Good," she said.  "I need to put these at five different points, 
far away from each other, up in the tree.  Could you do it while I set 
out the field traps?"

     Picking up the first one, I examined it closely.  "Just turn the 
bottom to activate it, right?"

     She nodded.  "And make sure you tie the top securely to the 
branch."

     "I know my knots," I said.

     She gave me that funny look again and said, "I'm sure you do, 
Shardik."  With that, she picked up a sixth cylinder, larger than any of 
the ones she had assigned to me, and tromped off into the grasses again.  

     Climbing the tree was as easy as I had predicted, minus the 
annoying inconvenience of having to brush so many branches out of the 
way.  I climbed out until I felt almost precarious, high in the branches 
of the tree, and tied down the first one.  Then I retrieved the second, 
and found another spot.

     On the fifth try, night had started falling with all the speed of a 
steel curtain.  Olivia had returned several times while I was up in the 
tree and now was off again in the grasses somewhere, setting up another 
trap.  I tied the fifth one and began making my way down when I 
miscalculated my footing.  The branch I was using gave way and I pitched 
forward, landing painfully on the thick branch in front of me.  "Oof!"  
I scrambled for control, but there was nothing to grab onto.  I swung to 
left and slid off the branch, falling with a shout.  Thinner branches 
whipped past me as I fell but they also slowed my descent.  I landed 
with another "Oof!"  As I tried to clear my head and brush away the 
leaves, my ankle throbbed painfully to get my attention.  "Oh, Hell," I 
growled.

     "Are you okay?" Olivia asked, bounding back through the grass.

     "I twisted my ankle.  It might be sprained."  I pointed up.  "I 
fell."

     "I heard that."  She looked up.  "Still, you got the trap in place.  
The only question now is, how do we get it down?  How bad's the ankle?"

     Typical scientist.  I'm lying here maimed and the first thing she's 
interested in is her work.  "Get me the medkit from my bike, would you?"

     She retrieved the instrument in question and handed it to me.  A 
quick look through the neutrino imager revealed that the ankle had 
momentarily dislocated and returned, but nothing was torn.  That didn't 
stop it from hurting immensely.  "Get me a splintcuff, would you?"

     "It's in the box next to you.  I figured you would need it either 
way."

     "Smart fem," I said, opening the box and programming the cuff for 
an ankle.  It twisted itself into the proper shape and I eased it over 
my foot and into place.  Then, with a touch to the medkit, it solidified 
into a functional restraint that would keep me from stressing the ankle.  
I sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree.  "Ouch."

     "Oh, come on," she said.  "I thought your kind liked pain."

     "That joke is so old!" I said, getting back at her for earlier.

     "I was only joking," she pointed out.

     "I know.  But I'm as tired of hearing it as you are of hearing that 
stupid tune."

     She looked down at the bright blue cuff about my ankle.  "Do you 
want to head back and have a real doctor look at that?"  She tapped the 
side of her head thoughtfully.  I felt warmed by her concern.  "I mean, 
I can come back and retrieve that traps.  Or if they're too full I could 
reset them."

     I reached up and took her hand.  "Olivia, my lovely weasel, I am a 
real doctor.  I just don't advertise that much.  I think my ankle will 
be okay.  I just shouldn't walk on it very much."

     She nodded.  "How are we going to get the traps down?"

     "We'll shoot them."

     "What?"

     "Trust me.  I'm a really good shot, and none of them are more than 
five meters away.  I could easily shoot the line down with my pistol."

     Her expression told me she still thought that was an at least 
dubious proposition, but she didn't have anything better.  As night fell 
we camped out under the tree, trading self-warming packages of field 
rations and cups of hot tea.  "Sorry about your ankle," she said.

     "Nothing to be sorry about," I said.  "My stupid accident."

     She sighed and looked down at her dinner.  "Do you ever wonder," 
she began, "Why we're here?"

     I figured she wasn't asking about why were on the expedition.  "A 
lot," I started.  "I don't have any answers yet.  Well, I have a few, 
but they're all based on assumptions, not facts."

     "Like what?"

     "I... I'm not really sure."  For some reason, I felt very 
uncomfortable talking about this subject with her.  "I mean, I think I'm 
here to make other people's lives worth living.  And that very act makes 
my life worth living.  But that's just an assumption, you know?"

     "Does making a new species make everyone else's life worth living?"

     I smiled uneasily.  "I think so.  It makes my life more worthwhile, 
at any rate.  I want to bring beauty into the world.  Beauty and 
intelligence and diversity and caring.  Something I try to give every 
individual in a tliel, and even in the hrairs."  I smiled and tried to 
change the subject.  "Something I see I succeeded with in you."

     She looked away, shaking her head.  "You're an impossible man, 
Kennet Shardik."

     "I like you, Olivia," I said, waving my hand dismissively.  "You 
don't treat it as some sort of great honor that I'm your chaperone."

     "It's nice to be liked, especially by you," she said.  "But I know 
how you want to be viewed, and I know enough about you to appreciate 
your warts as well as your successes."  Her eyes were thoughtful.  
"You've changed the subject."

     I snapped my fingers.  "Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't notice.  
Okay, Olivia, why do you think we're here?"

     "I'm here... to find out what there is to life.  I don't think 
there's an answer, Ken."  She touched her chest, looking down.  "If it 
weren't me, Olivia Larandi, saying these words to you, it would be 
someone else, maybe of a different species, saying them.  I can't 
imagine my... my spirit is so unique that I'm the only one to ever have 
this privilege."

     "No, you're not.  Not now, not in the future either.  I think 
you'll ask it of other people--"

     "Already have," she interrupted.

     "Yah, see?  And other people will ask it of me.  All we can do is 
accept each other's answers.  I'm here to make the universe an 
interesting place from the center.  Other people want to go to the edges 
to see what makes it interesting to them.  I think, if there is a God, 
he wants his creation to live fulfilled."

     She nodded, sliding up beside me to lean against the tree trunk.  I 
put my arm around her and held her close.  "Thanks," she said.

     "What are you feeling, Olivia?"

     "Awed."  She pointed out under the canopy of the tree, out to the 
millions of stars that dotted the unpolluted sky.  "All those stars out 
there, and every fiftieth or so has life.  And every fiftieth or so that 
has life has sentience on it, or so it seems.  Or had, I suppose, since 
I'm counting those four species that left us nothing but ruins.  It's 
all one big wonder.  I... I want to know it all."

     I petted the top of her head, my hand trailing down to the small of 
her back, then back up to stroke again.  "I do too."

     "Ken?" she asked.

     "Yeah?"

     "Totally different subject, but... earlier you said that in me you 
saw beauty and intelligence and caring.  Do you really?"

     "I really do.  Does it mean more, coming from me?"

     "Yeah," she sighed.  "It does... a little."

     "Then I'm glad I could tell it to you."  I let my hand stray down 
her back until I found her tail and followed that down as well.  As I 
did so, I let my fingers close down and paid some close attention to the 
bone structure.  "You're not a Nivali."

     "No, a Frenata," she said.  "It's not easy to tell the two apart."

     "Apparently not, and to think I made you," I chuckled.

     "That feels good."  She looked up at me and said, "Would you be 
surprised if I told you I would like to sleep with you... but I'm afraid 
to?"

     I paused for a second, thinking about my answers.  "Surprised?  I'm 
not sure.  Some people do just because of who I am without knowing 
anything about me.  Other people have better reasons.  I wonder if you 
have a good reason or not.  But why would you be afraid of me?"

     "A couple of times today we... we made jokes about your being a 
sadomasochist.  I tried that once and I didn't like it.  I know how you 
folks are always talking about the difference between good pain and bad 
pain, but, to me, it just hurt.  You know?  I didn't like it and I 
didn't want it to hurt."

     I tightened my arm around her to give her a reassuring squeeze.  
"Olivia, I don't expect everybody to like SM; I don't even expect a lot 
of people."

     "But the way you talk about it is so convincing.  About the 
challenges of the spirit and the journey of the flesh and all that.  I 
mean, sometimes I thought there was something wrong with me because I 
didn't want to take that journey or face that challenge."

     I leaned over and kissed the top of her head gently.  "Olivia, 
everybody's challenges are different, and your... path, to use another 
esoteric term, is not the same as mine.  Look at me."  She raised her 
head slowly until our eyes met.  "I would love to make love to you, my 
little weasel.  Just plain old lovemaking.  Which I do like very much."

     A smile tugged on the corners of her mouth as she wiped away a tear 
with the back of one hand.  She lunged and hugged me close, holding me 
tightly.  "Thank you," she sighed.

     I kissed the top of her head again, and she tilted her face back to 
reach her muzzle.  Her tongue was narrow and soft, a little pointed 
thing caressing my face as she playfully licked my cheeks until I was 
laughing.  "All right, already!" I giggled.  She touched my chest with 
her hands, undoing the buttons of my flannel shirt and pushing it open.  
"Are you sure the... the bugs won't stick me?"

     "As far as I know, none of them know to use their stinger against 
you as food; there are no animals, so they haven't evolved a way of 
extracting sustenance from creatures like us.  So unless we make one 
angry, we should be perfectly fine."

     "One stuck me when I first got here," I said.

     "Coincidence.  Very few bites have occurred since then."

     I nodded and pulled her close, crossing my legs to make a cradle of 
sorts and pulling her into it, face-up.  I buried my face in her 
bellyfur, wiping my cheeks back and forth to get the feel of her fur 
against my face, then slowly leaned over and licked under her chin.  She 
whimpered her pleasure, but at my touch or my compliance, I couldn't 
tell.  Her hands found my hard-on through the cloth of my denim pants 
and pulled down on the zipper, seeking within.  She found it pretty 
quickly, too.

     She wiggled herself down to where she could get it into her mouth 
and close her little muzzle around it.  As I watched, she closed her 
eyes and suckled on my cock like it was a new source of sustenance for 
her after many days of starvation.  She was in an awkward position and 
to get more of it she literally lunged towards my crotch; I repositioned 
my legs to make it easier for her.

     I scratched at her body slowly as he mouth did obscene and 
wonderful things to my erection.  The wetness of her sucking trailed 
down to the base of my shaft and down my balls, and the tight stroking 
her tongue sent surges of pleasure into my belly.

     Then she stopped.  "Lift up your hips for a second," she gasped as 
she wiped her mouth.  I lifted my hips as she asked and she pulled my 
pants down to my knees.  "You're not going to be going anywhere real 
soon, so this is probably the best way."

     She straddled my hips, spreading her short and stubby legs very 
wide as she lowered herself over my cock.  She reached down with one 
hand and pulled my cock up until the head pressed against her lips and 
then slowly slid down onto it.

     I could feel her tight, tiny hole straining to keep me out and I 
could feel the wetness of her juices and her saliva aiding in letting me 
in.  Slowly she pressed down until her cunny gave way and allowed me to 
slip into her.  "Yeah," she smiled.  "Oh, that's good."

     I grinned.  "I'm glad you approve."

     Her eyes reflected the soft light of our single lamp.  "There are 
few things I adore more than the feeling of a mel inside me.  And you're 
an added benefit."

     "There are few things I adore more than the feelings of a sweet fem 
surrounding me," I replied.  We leaned forward and kissed as she rose up 
off my cock, then slid back down again.  Even she took as much of it 
into her as she could, she quaked with her passing pleasure and let out 
a muffled moan.  "Did you just come?" I asked, surprised.

     "Every time," she grinned, slowly sliding up again, then back down; 
again, her body shook with ecstasy.  I was amazed, but I wasn't about to 
stop her.  Her cunt was going into contractions that got my attention.

     As she speeded up, her hands reached up to grip my shoulders, but I 
grabbed them with my hands and gave her more leverage.  "I'll stop," she 
gasped, "when one of us can't go anymore."

     "Either I'm going to come or you're going to pass out then," I 
said.

     "That's... usually... what happens!"  We made love faster, speeding 
faster and faster.  Her hips were pounding against mine and little 
whimpers of pain came alongside the moans of pleasure; she was losing 
control of her strokes, going too deep.  I worried about her by figured 
she knew how to take care of her own pleasure.

     Our lovemaking reached frantic speeds and she was shouting with 
pleasure almost continuously.  I felt my cock tighten and bind; it felt 
like I was being wrapped by my approaching climax.  She was going into 
convulsions; her eyes had rolled back into her head and she was waving 
back and forth like an exotic dancer lost to the dance, and suddenly my 
screaming was joining hers as I came, shooting into her sweet and 
ecstatic body until my voice went hoarse from lack of breath and I just 
collapsed.

     So did she.  "My Gods," I whispered.  I couldn't believe how tired 
I felt.  "I'm going to need a nap after that!"

     "I... already... do," Olivia panted.  "Ohh, that was, that was 
incredible."

     "I'm glad you liked it.  I certainly did!"

     She nodded slowly in agreement.  "Let's... let's get a nap, at 
least."

     I agreed.


     Dawn came too early for both of us, part of the painful cycle that 
we had not yet adjusted to in the slightest.  I groaned and rolled over, 
being careful to make sure that I didn't roll over onto Olivia.  She 
raised her head and blinked.  "Dawn, already."

     "Yep.  Damned short day schedule."  I groaned and stretched and she 
did the same.  For all my years, I appreciated her body all the same in 
the tight, tense pose she held at the end of her stretch.

     A few minutes later she was peering over my shoulder.  "Now, the 
spent casing is going to go that way, so just watch out for it if it 
does."  She nodded.  I aimed up into the tree, my pistol out at full 
arm's extension, one hand out, one hand pulling in to steady the  
muzzle.  I thought about where I wanted the little yellow dot to go.  
There would be no drop on the bullet at all at this range.  I breathed, 
aimed, relaxed, and squeezed.

     The bug trap fell to the ground, landing harmlessly in our pile of 
bedding.  The other four were just as easy.  Olivia examined the 
contents carefully, assured that they were in perfect condition, and 
packed them away in the trailer.  After a short check to make sure that 
everything was stowed and stowed right, we took to the air and headed 
back to camp, real food, real beds, and real sleep.

--
"Planetfall: Around and Around The Mulberry Bush"
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.