Chapter 34

The Fonduush was originally 874 metres long. She was shot up and extended to 953 metres because she was the only major ship Rontem had.

We turned down a lot of corridors. I could see the fields we had to walk through. I was not positive but I was being scanned for all sorts of weapons. We stopped in front of an imposing door marked with Aristis glyphs. It said security.

The door opened and I walked in. There was no Aristis here but another Tomma woman. She looked tough even though the Tomma were strange to me. My communicator said to me, "Why do you have crystals fragments in your skin?"

"What is your rank, servant?"

This made the woman bristle. She got up and I figured she was going to strike me but I just glared at her as if daring her to do it. She asked or rather shouted, "I am the head of security."

"A Tomma female? Where are the Aristis and especially the one in charge?" I sent out the feeling that I was being slighted and people were going to die. This is what the Aristis were like though I got little of this indication from the Aristis computers.

"There are twenty four Aristis onboard, not counting children."

"Call the one of highest rank!"

"Why should I?"

"I am not just a tech but part of the human aristocracy. I came to repair an Aristis ship. The Aristis should greet me."

"Answer my question first."

"I will answer to the Aristis, not their servants."

The woman wanted to hit me again but didn't. I glared back at her as hard as she glared at me. It was fifteen minutes before the first living Aristis came into view. He was big and angry at the interruption. Before he could start to rant and rave I went into the standard greetings between equals of the aristocratic caste.

He bellowed, "Who do you think you are?"

"The person that might call blood feud with you."

"You are only a native of the nearby world."

"I am a member of the aristocracy on that world. Our king needs a tech and I endeavoured to learn. I will be protecting my world and that makes me a member of the warrior caste. Do you challenge me or my rights?"

"You are here to repair the ship and that is all."

"Show me the armoury and the salle."

"Do you honestly think you could best me?"

"Probably. You look out of shape from easy living."

The Aristis reached forward as if to rip me apart but stopped. "You will have your wish."

The Aristis left and I pointed at the bags and said to the Tomma head of security, "Have them transported to my suite."

The hard faced woman looked worried now and possibly even for me.

We walked without an escort to a room that carried the weapons because I could see inside. The door did not open to the Aristis commands to do so and there was some quiet talk between the Aristis and Rontem. The Aristis hissed but said nothing. He turned to me and said, "Your exercise in baiting me has given you an enemy."

"Your mouth and attitude has given you an enemy. If you will not use a weapon then use your hands instead of your mouth."

"Our king forbids this until you are done, then you are mine."

"If I do not kill you first." I turned around and started to walk back. This was another Aristis insult and I could almost feel the hate coming from the man.

I heard, "Rokla will kill you easily young one."

"Possibly. I do not gather status by beating servants."

"You gather only death."

"What is life without a challenge? I said before that I will be of three castes and I still claim that right even if I am a human."

"So be it but repair the ship first."

"Certainly my king. Just have a servant show me the way."

"What is in your skin?"

"I do not access Aristis medicine always. A tech makes mistakes and some die. I survived. I would hazzard to guess that the better techs have had a lot of fragmented crystals explode when they work on them. They have the option of having the small pieces removed. I want more than a class seven med unit to do that work."

A Tomma came to me. I said to Rontem, "Is she my servant?"

"If you wish her, then she is yours."

"Thank you, my king." I looked at the female and said, "Lead me to the computer."

The woman was not haute and looked worried. She did lead me to the computer room. Once there I said, "Fetch my bags from our suite."

The woman was startled but hurried off to get my equipment. Rontem opened the armoured door then one more inside that. The last door was thin ceramic like I had seen and made for the computers. I climbed into the 72 as if it were an old friend. There was still a lot of damage from the fight with the Wikki. The automatic features had done some repair work but not much.

I got out of the computer and said, "My king, the easiest route is to take the computer on earth and place it inside here. The second way is to shut this computer down while you keep the link open from earth. Working on a computer with a living entity already in place will be hazardous for this computer and for the person that must repair it."

"I am well aware that the computer should be shutdown. You must be careful and work with the system still operational."

"As you wish, my king."

I worked for three hours and came out. The Tomma woman was waiting for me with my bags. I said verbally now, "Sit," to her as I sat down too. I opened my bag of food and took some bosta out. When she was sitting I asked, "What is your name?"

She was hesitant to speak but then did so. Her name was long with a lot of pauses in it. "Your name is beautiful. The people of my planet have the custom of shortening a name for ease of use. I will call you Holly. When we have to, I will use your complete name but when we are in an informal situation we will use the one I gave you. You will call me Wally. When the Aristis are around you will call me Wally of the high glen by the waterfall."

I had to wait again and she said, "I will do that Wally of the high glen by the waterfall."

"That is good Holly, now say Wally. That is the one I prefer."

"Yes, Wally."

I had drank from the bottle of bosta and handed it to her. This had significance to it beyond giving simple food. She looked at me questioningly.

She took a small sip and I took the container back and took a similar sip from it. I then reached out and held her long thin hand in mine and smiled. This was the same way that the Tomma did it because we had nearly the same facial muscles. They did have thirteen smiles ritualised and I gave the one that said I am happy to meet a friend after a long absence. I did not release her hand.

It might have been against her will but a similar smile came to her face. I said in a voice not like the Aristis would use, "I have to work within the computer. We need to make some type of platform to support me so that I do not touch the power crystals. The gravity will have to be lowered in this section too. Will you bring me two grav-pads and some insulated blankets?"

"I can do that, Wally."

"Thanks Holly. I'm going back in. When you come back just tap my leg and I will come out. If you have to leave for some reason then do so. I do not want you standing at attention."

"I will follow your orders, Sir."

"They are only suggestions Holly. There are no Aristis nearby so it is Wally." I released her hand now but did it as if reluctant to do so.

"Yes, Wally."

I went into the 72 but came out when I figured that Holly had left. "My king would you reduce the gravity in this area to one third?" I did not use the communicator, just my voice. There was no reply but the gravity was reduced.

I pulled out some burnt out crystals and found some replacements before going back in. I put the new crystals in place then felt the lightest of touches on my leg. I wiggled out slowly and found Holly holding the grav-pads and some insulated blankets from the tech sections.

"Thanks Sweetie." I took the supplies from her instead of asking her to set them on the deck. This way it looked like she had brought me a gift which is what I intended. When I stood I took my hand and cupped her face. Her eyes shot open as if I had slapped her. "You did that quickly, Sweetie. Now put your bum down on a blanket. I will do a little more then I have to exercise. I didn't get much sleep recently and this work gives cramps easily."

I felt a question though and it had to be telepathic, I just stood and waited. I looked at Holly's face in the meantime. She would be more beautiful than Erica and Erica was beautiful in my books. Her breasts were lower like the Aristis females were supposed to be. Hers were small but suited her thin muscular body. I let my feelings show through as an inducement.

"Wally, why did you call me Sweetie."

"Sweetie is a word from my language. It means that you are nice to be around and I find you pleasant to look at. The meaning extends to something I may covet as a child may want something that is sweet."

"I am not of your race."

"Nadac, the entity that came to us, told me that a long time ago your people came to my planet and modified themselves. The Tomma empire fell apart and the group on earth lost contact with those on Cralto or other Tomma planets. Humans have mutated to fit our environment. While the original Tomma race managed to stay uniform and very beautiful to my eye. Humans call each minor variation we have as races. You may not be of my race but you are very close. If you talk of our genetic heritage, then we are still of the same people."

"I was not told that."

"You did not ask. The Tomma are usually satisfied with what they have. I sometimes wish that humans were this way. Now I have to get back to work." I reached out now with two hands and cupped both sides of Holly's face and then slowly dragged my fingers down. Her eyes were wide again but she did not flinch.

I put a blanket in the computer and went back to work. I stayed nearly an hour before I had to come out.

Holly had taken a seat and was waiting. I said, "I need a rest and some exercise after. Take me to the other Tomma so that I may be introduced."

"Why do you want this?" She then shut up as if she had overstepped her bounds.

I sent out some warm thoughts and tried to express the feeling that she had done something good in questioning me. "The Tomma are very interesting. The one that is head of security is hard as her job dictates. All Tomma are hard and warlike but that does not mean that we have to act like we are going to war now."

"I will show you."

"Thanks." I pulled the blanket out and placed them in a pile. Rontem closed the computer and the second door. There was room between the two doors to put the blankets and the grav-pads. Holly tried to take all of the luggage but I took two of them from her and got her to lead.

I found my suite to be large but I asked, "My king, is there a larger and vacant suite that I may use?"

"I will send a servant. Do not carry your burden."

"Yes, my king."

A male Aristis servant arrived. He treated me like an Aristis of the aristocratic caste. I played my part but made some of the movements that said that I was pleased with the service. This could not be done with words or thoughts.

The male carried two bags and Holly one. I wanted to help because the guy was only a little larger than me. The gravity on the ship was a third more than what was on earth. I should have had those little wheels put on the containers like what we used on earth but then again they would not be used to show that the servants had something to do.

We had to walk a long way. The decor in this area was much better than where I had been. The other suite was beautiful but I had to put on airs to gain status to fit the new suite.

We came to a wide door that looked much thicker when it opened. The walls were covered in fabrics and the furniture was Spartan. The deck had a hunting scene done with small coloured stones with a geometric design that filled the remainder of the very large room. The deck above had sculptured designs in it with another scene of a large Aristis city. This looked to have all been chiselled from one large piece of stone. There was no colour added except what was in the stone itself.

The servant continued but I had to put my arm around Holly's waist to get her to urge her to move forward. The servant called for a platform from the wall and placed the two bags on them then called for another so Holly could do the same. He then stood back and waited.

"You may open the largest container by pushing the two buttons away from each other. There is only clothing in it. The other containers are supplies that have to go back and forth."

"Thank you my lord."

The man was surprised when the lock sprang open in his hands. He opened the suitcase and took out the articles that were obviously clothes. One was the dress uniform of an Aristis military. The commando badge was prominent. The rank badges showed that I was as high as I could get. Since I was the highest ranking soldier in our group, I could do this. It looked like the servant and Holly were impressed. Below that was the toga like uniform of the aristocracy, and this too was of the highest ranking below that of the king. The next was a similar uniform of a person of the tech class. After that there was only casual clothes and the boots or slippers that matched the respective uniforms.

The man left after my body language told him that he did well and I was happy with his services. He seemed to be very pleased with that.

Holly had not said a word. She was still staring at me. "Holly, this is just a very fancy room. It is nice but you and I are still the same."

"But your uniforms?"

"They are pieces of cloth. The rank is of my choosing. I am the highest in rank of each of those groups but our groups are small. I am the only tech on my planet."

"Why are you telling me this? The Aristis would never do that."

"In case you did not know, the Aristis are just a group of Tomma that chose to change their DNA more than my group did. They were very successful but I do not agree with the way their race has gone. I choose to fit in within the Aristis to gain authority. The Tomma are warriors and know that to win you must risk all."

"You will be killed by Rokla?"

"Possibly. I need to practice my combat skills. If it pleases you, one of those sessions would be a mating dance with you."

"Me! You hardly know me."

"I find you beautiful. You must find me ugly but I will fight you for the honour to mate with you."

"Why do you do this?"

"Humans have to interact with the Aristis and the Tomma. I am the first living human to meet both races. To dare less may lose me all."

"What if I choose not to dance with you?"

"I choose you above all other Tomma and I issue my challenge. You cannot refuse."

Holly considered for a moment and said, "I will fight you."

"I am sorry for putting this burden upon you Holly. Part of it is duty but I do think you are suitable."

She said nothing and I added, "Show me the food replicators."

"I do not know," her eyes opened then she went to another room in the suite. A portion of the wall rose into the deck above.

I requested a menu from the smaller computer that presided over this suite. There was a lot of choices. I gave Holly equal power so she could make changes. Full range food replicators were large. Pneumatic tubes delivered the food to stations like this when it was requested.

I ordered the smallest portion of one kind of food. It arrived in less than ten seconds. I tasted it. It was different than anything I had tasted before. It was good but not great. I ceremonially took some of the food in my fingers and tried to place it in Holly's mouth. She looked at me and I could feel her mind trying to search out mine. Eventually she opened her mouth and I placed the food within. Her lips touched my fingers and I then put my fingers within my own mouth and licked them clean. This was not in the customs but it seemed to fit.

"Holly, you pick one now."

She gave me the stare again as if trying to find my motives. She picked a dish and she tried it. After a moment to think she picked up some in her long slim fingers and I had my mouth open by the time it got there. Against custom I took her wrist and didn't let her fingers go until they were clean. It was fun to watch her eyes as I attacked her fingers with my tongue. She put her saliva soaked fingers into her own mouth then.

I said, "I didn't leave you much."

"It was enough."

We sampled eight more dishes before I called it quits. We took a sonic shower and I pulled a slightly resisting Holly to bed. She looked at me from beside the bed and I said, "We have not had our dance yet, but I would like to hold you to me until that time."

She nodded and we climbed into bed together. It felt right to be where I was. Holly snuggled closer and my hand found a comfortable place to rest.

I had dreams of a clearing in the woods. The trees were odd with red foliage. A nearby group of houses were made of sod with a roof of branches. A lot of children were playing in the area. They ranged from infants to males larger than me. Meat was being cooked over the coals of a fire. A stream ran between the huts with one part artificially widened and deepened. The air was warm and wet.

There were no adult males around but there were females. Only one stood out and this was Holly. She looked at her children and then turned her head to me and smiled. This smile was of love.

When I woke up my hand was at Holly's mons. I was playing with her clit gently. It took only a few seconds to know that Holly was awake and shaking to my touch.

"I am sorry for doing this to you. I was asleep."

"I know that. It is still nice."

"Nadac told me a lot about your people. Some questions he could not answer. I have three human mates. I please them as a man but we please each other with our lips and hands. This brings joy to all of us."

"You mean you use your mouth on a woman?"

"Yes I do. Human and the Tomma have different ideas of family. Your males live outside the village except when they come to mate or to visit their children. Humans stay together as a unit. Your way is saner because you can produce children from different mates without any problem. Humans can be happy living together but there is this instinctual need by the male to only allow his females to have his children while he seeks to have other females to have more of his."

Holly could not understand this. "We can talk later about this. Would you consider me mating with you if I slid down your body and made love to you with my mouth?"

"That is not mating."

"Then there is no need to dance just yet?"

"That's right."

"May I make love to you this way?"

"And not mate?"

"Not until you are ready."

"Try it. If I do not like it I will tell you to stop."

"Humans hold faces like I did but we also touch lips that mean the same thing. It means love." She just looked at me. I moved around and started to give her small kisses. She liked this. I moved the warrior woman around and kissed her all over her head including her neck. Her hands came up but ready to push me away. I thought to her. "I would not harm you until I dance and then only the least possible." Her hands stayed but I could still kiss her throat.

Holly had a thin fur over her and I kissed all of her chest until I got to her breasts. She pushed up now to make sure I treated her nipples right. She loved this as much as a human woman and held my head in place. It was difficult but I pulled out of her grip and went south at a leisurely pace. I took fifteen minutes getting to her mons with the stiff finger sticking out of it.

I kissed around this area and held Holly's hands in mine. She struggled a lot when I went down the inside of her leg. I kissed until I reached her knee and then straightened her leg out and kissed behind the joint before moving to her foot.

I had to fight her off more as I concentrated on what I wanted to do. I pulled away and reached over the bed and took the sash that held my toga together. The sash went around Holly's waist and I placed her hands so she was holding it.

"I have tied your hands to your body. You are my captive."

Holly's eyes were wild. "They are not tied."

"They are tied with love. You cannot get loose."

"I think I understand."

"Good, because I am going to test the strength of your bindings. Add what love you need to strengthen the bonds while I torture you."

"I'll try."

I went back to Holly's leg and I didn't have to worry just yet about being forced to go to her clit. This was a voyage of discovery. I found many of the places that were ticklish, erotic or uncomfortable. I made it back to her mound in a roundabout way and treated her the way I did Erica. I found that Holly orgasmed just as hard as my women and she fled consciousness.

When she woke up I started again and again. Her conscious shut her down once more and four other times it was close.

The Tomma female has a very resilient. One of the odd facts I learned about a female was that of control. From seven years of age, they began to show the same signs that a human would as a teenager. That was a difficult time for a single parent. The Tomma woman got support from the fathers of her children but she had to do more than half of the rearing. When a female started to fight with her mother, the mother would wrestle and push her long thin hand into the vagina of her child. The child instinctually froze. At this point the mother's words gained more weight. During a mating dance the male had to fight for real and seek to push his cock into the female to get the same reaction. In some cases he used his hand too. The anal orifice was the same way and stretched wide. This was something that the humans had lost or perhaps never had.

The females of a village formed a pecking order. Female only sex was common for fun, while the male villages seemed to do this very little. When it came to a fight it was the women that did the fighting while the few males were kept out of the way. Roughly only one birth in ten was a boy.

During the last few orgasms my fingers had penetrated Holly. She knew this and seemed to accept it. I could make her agree to having intercourse if I chose. My hand did work into her as I sucked on her clit. I made no demands of her, just made sure she enjoyed herself to the maximum. Of course this meant that her next orgasm caused her to try to crush my hand and for her mind to go for another nap.

I pulled my hand out of Holly. I washed up and tried my best to wash my lover. I climbed up and just held her to me. When she woke up she said, "Do you do all that to your mates?"

"My mates do not stretch that far or I would do that."

"You did not take me. You could have."

"I gave my word."

"Your word is that strong?"

"Yes, and especially to you."

"Why me?"

"Does not a mating dance indicate that I wish to give you my child?"

"That is the original meaning but we do it now for fun. Would you really wish to make me give you a child?"

Now I had to think. I felt close to Holly and it was not just from having sex with her. "I would dance with you and then practice having children until we know each other well. If we have another dance, it will be for children."

"That may be fun but I do not know if our children would be accepted."

"My children will rule the earth. They will be accepted." This seemed to be the right thing to say because she hugged me. In a moment she said, "We can practice what we would do if you won the dance."

"Would this hurt your standing within your community?"

"Not really, we are losing our old ways since our king came to us."

"Then let's practice."

Holly and I fucked in every common human position and some of which were new to her. She slept through the last of the doggie position but I put her superior the next time as she rode her stallion.

Holly had lots of endurance and she ended up taking everything I had to give. We slept for just a bit more and then made tender love again before I went back to work.

Work on the 72 was a lot more pleasurable now. I knew that next time we were going to do a different exercise and more of what we just did too.

Holly was waiting as I came back out. I said, "Sweetie, do you have something to study when I am busy?"

"I do not have anything to study."

"Will you study Tomma and Aristis history for me? You will be less bored."

"I am not bored watching you."

"That is because you are a horny woman. Study for me. I can pump baby juice into you as you recite the names of the Aristis kings."

"I could not do that."

"Because you have a poor memory?"

"No, because I cannot think much at all."

Holly did study for me. When I came out for a break I taught her how to kiss the human way and usually we did it the Tomma way at the same time. I learned that Nadac had understated how tightly Rontem had tied the Tomma to him. He was revered as a god because he commanded the Fonduush. He softened up Cralto with his energy weapons then his drones. It took only a few generations before the numbers of Tomma were up to where they had been before he arrived. All resistance was beaten out of the race now. I had known only part of this and wondered how humanity would fare in the same situation.

That night we went to a small gym that we knew would be empty. I told Holly how little I really knew and she tried to teach me what she knew. Her martial arts training was not what the humans or the Aristis knew but distinctly Tomma. I worked very hard with her and then went to bed.

The next day we fought twice with work between. Rontem helped by uploading what information he knew about this type of fighting. I was introduced to Holly's friends. They must have picked up a lot from her because they were much nicer to me now.

The Tomma were very open about sex. I was asked if other humans did as I did to please their lovers.

"Not all but the ones that want the most for their lover do."

Four days later I was holding my own when I fought Holly. She called the head of security to fight me. I named her Sara for short. She was the best on the ship I was told. She was far better than I was but I tried to do as good as I could. Rontem gave me strategies to use and this helped some.

By now ten percent of the damage to the computer had been corrected but I was actually monitoring the clock instead.

I saw Rokla infrequently and I treated him as an equal but still endeavoured to be polite. He ignored me. I met the other Aristis on the ship. Two were soldiers on guard duty that would man the weapons if Rontem were disabled. There was three low grade techs but they could do little with the crystals. All the males had wives and some had children. There were six married couples that were from the ranks of the servants. Six children were here too but they were all less than six years-old. I felt very bad about my upcoming plan but there was no other way to proceed.

My acceptance by the Aristis was not as I wished. Rokla was their only flesh and blood leader. I was also consorting with a Tomma female. The males would take one once in a while but never the same one twice. I had shown love while they would never do that to a race other than their own and of their own caste too.

There were two hundred and ninety three Tomma females and sixteen males. The males could not take being away from their planet long and the majority had to stay in suspended animation. It was enough for the women to know that at least one male was awake and with them. Seventeen of the women were pregnant at the moment and this helped stabilise the population mentally.

By the ninth day I finally knocked Sara on her butt. She smiled at me and knocked me down within seconds. It was my time to smile.

The 72 had to have grafted substrate put between the new crystals. There was radiation damage from when the shields were down long ago. This contributed to a small portion of Rontem's erratic behaviour.

I estimated that I would need forty to forty five more days to complete the computer. This was a longer time because I fought more with Sara and Rontem saw the reasoning for this and allowed it. Seventeen days was a critical time for everything I had planned.

Just before the due date, I knocked Sara on her ass twice and she had difficulty getting revenge. We both got some satisfaction about that. I had a break then called on the Tomma to witness a dance. Holly was shocked because I was doing this formally.